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killem2
2013-05-05, 08:57 AM
I mean like really role playing, really getting into character, speaking in a different voice, using hand gestures as best you can to describe what you are doing?


Do you have trouble getting your group to do this?

SiuiS
2013-05-05, 09:06 AM
Funny voices != role playing, as an aside.

We do pretty well. Word choice, vernacular, inflection, presentation based on situations. Pantomime, though, is actually a non-Roleplay mechanism; we use pantomime so an action can be done without interrupting the flow of things, and occasion to keep someone from filibustering the spotlight to hedge out other players' decisions. It's just smoother to keep talking in character and pantomime hammering a rock or something, than to end your quip with "and [character] keeps hammering the rock" you know?

Rhynn
2013-05-05, 09:24 AM
I mean like really role playing, really getting into character, speaking in a different voice, using hand gestures as best you can to describe what you are doing?

Acting is not roleplaying. To me, roleplaying is all about what your character does - the choices you make, the reactions you take. Getting involved in the setting and the characters and the story.

Nobody acts at our table. I'll sometimes speak in character, but the players rarely do, at least entirely. Nobody generally gestures, makes in-character facial expressions, or uses voices. Personally, as the GM, my voice is deep and low enough that I can "do" precisely one voice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_grunt) (and since I don't do that for a job or as a hobby, it hurts my throat pretty fast).

valadil
2013-05-05, 10:12 AM
Acting is not roleplaying. To me, roleplaying is all about what your character does - the choices you make, the reactions you take. Getting involved in the setting and the characters and the story.


Same here. I mean, I think acting is great if you can do that too but none of us are particularly into it. We're more into making the decisions our characters would make than expressing the behaviors of those characters.

killem2
2013-05-05, 10:16 AM
Acting isn't role playing?

I call bs on that.

Sorry I didn't post a novel before starting :smallannoyed:.

So aside from me doing the typical d&d character choices as my abilities and alignment and possible flaws and traits (as you both have assumed I don't do) would dictate you both see being able to bring an accent and voice, and at least subtle hand gestures equal to me, myself just talking in regular casual voice? So you would just see this as annoying rather than me being in character?

How can that possibly be? Immersion of role playing comes in so many different ways.


Lets try this again.

I mean like really role playing, really getting into character, speaking in a different voice, using hand gestures as best you can to describe what you are doing, using hand gesture to accent your characters tone and inflections.

Sticking to your flaws and traits even if the results may turn out poorly.

Treating every ability score properly and makes sure every facet of the game play is true to character and keep any OOC influence out?


Do you have trouble getting your group to do this?

Water_Bear
2013-05-05, 10:17 AM
It depends on who we're talking about.

As a GM/DM/ST/etc. I like to play my NPCs as very distinct and memorable, both in terms of appearance personality voice and mannerisms. While this can cause problems when the party mistakes small-talk for quest-hooks, my Players are usually able to remember bit-parters by name so I'm happy.

Some Players get deep into their roles, which can be fun but risks stealing the spotlight from the more reserved Players and causing infighting in the party. They tend to have put more thought into character appearance, describe what they're trying to do IC more clearly, and even come up with voices/mannerisms to match their personalities.

Others are less into it, but they can still RP well. I don't see why a direct quote is inherently any better than describing the character's actions, or why having a written backstory necessarily makes a PCs personality any more defined. Letting them play to their strengths means everyone has more fun and less confident Players get drawn out of their shells.

As for the "Roleplaying =/= Funny Voices" thing, I agree with the principle but there is no force on this earth which will stop me from doing funny voices. If that's wrong I don't want to be right. :smalltongue:

killem2
2013-05-05, 10:21 AM
As for the "Roleplaying =/= Funny Voices" thing, I agree with the principle but there is no force on this earth which will stop me from doing funny voices. If that's wrong I don't want to be right. :smalltongue:

I didn't know talking a really good accent was considering just a funny voice.

You guy have really twisted this thread around, and really, its coming off as arrogant. I do all the crap you all are talking about, and because I go a bit further, I'm less of a role player.


Not once did I imply those who don't do this are less of a role player, or less involved in the game, I just wanted to know if anyone else does this or has trouble getting other people as immersed and it doesn't have to be with voices.

Gotchya. I'm out.

Water_Bear
2013-05-05, 10:31 AM
I didn't know talking a really good accent was considering just a funny voice.

You guy have really twisted this thread around, and really, its coming off as arrogant. I do all the crap you all are talking about, and because I go a bit further, I'm less of a role player.


Not once did I imply those who don't do this are less of a role player, or less involved in the game, I just wanted to know if anyone else does this or has trouble getting other people as immersed and it doesn't have to be with voices.

Gotchya. I'm out.

I'm sorry for implying anything like that and I want you to know it's not at all my intention. I really appreciate players like you who get into their characters heads, and I tried to make that come across in my post. Obviously I didn't do so well at that, so my bad there.

Angel Bob
2013-05-05, 10:40 AM
My group is frustratingly casual, but that isn't to say they don't occasionally make an effort. With the exception of one player who's just there to hang out with us, and two players who just joined a month ago, I've seen all of my players take time to think about how their character would act, and make decisions accordingly.

Now, this doesn't happen every time they make a decision, far from it. Furthermore, when my players do roleplay, they don't put much effort into it, since they mostly play the PCs as glorified versions of themselves. (For example, the party wizard is snarky, condescending, and the only sane man both in-game and IRL.) The only players who roleplay different personalities than their own are the party leader (a nice, enthusiastic, and generally good guy IRL; a detached and pragmatic True Neutral in-game) and one of the new members (adorably cute IRL; murderous Chaotic Evil jackass in-game... everyone has one).

As for funny voices, I don't see what the problem is. A distinctive voice alone isn't roleplaying, no, but combined with a distinctive personality, a "funny voice" can help the players remember the character far longer than they would otherwise. I speak in a guttural Northern accent for dwarves, a smooth whisper in the Queen's English for elves, and so on and so forth. Voices help immerse your players in the world, so I see no reason to get riled up over their use.

Rhynn
2013-05-05, 11:04 AM
Acting isn't role playing?

I call bs on that.

Nope. That's why actors aren't role-playing and role-players don't have to act.

Maybe "role-playing isn't acting" would have been a better way to put it, but both have semantical inaccuracies. Suffice to say, "acting" and "role-playing" are not one and the same.


Sorry I didn't post a novel before starting :smallannoyed:.

Why are you getting (whinily) aggressive?


So aside from me doing the typical d&d character choices as my abilities and alignment and possible flaws and traits (as you both have assumed I don't do)

That's your inference, not my implication. I nowhere spoke about you or made any assumptions about you. You, on the other hand, are trying to pick a fight and making assumptions about me.


So you would just see this as annoying rather than me being in character?

Why are you taking this so personally? Where did I use the word "annoying," any synonym of it, or express anything even close to this?

Really, what's your problem?

Tridax
2013-05-05, 12:08 PM
I give so much XP for roleplaying my party tries their best at it.

...Though there is one fighter, whose monologues and descriptions of his actions take, like, 3 unnecessary minutes of blabbering. ('I, um, slice his head full of... dark thoughts into... two, no, three pieces!')

But I still give him XP for that. Strange.

Amnestic
2013-05-05, 12:11 PM
Nope. That's why actors aren't role-playing and role-players don't have to act.

So when actors play a role in a stage production or movie or whathaveyou, they're not roleplaying? Especially for method acting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_acting).

Roleplayers do not necessarily have to act, but role-playing is, in my mind, a key aspect of acting.

Remmirath
2013-05-05, 02:00 PM
Nearly everyone who I play with, in either of my usual groups and in a couple of the less usual ones, is an actor. Therefore, it's not surprising that most of us do have a tendency to act our characters and enjoy doing so.

In my usual group, where we all play several different characters at once, acting them is particularly helpful towards distinguishing them without always having to go into a line of "*name* says" after everything. Beyond that, I at least find that once I get into my characters' heads and think of what they're saying and doing, it comes naturally to act them. It's also just more fun for me.

I'm no good at accents, so I don't do those (I'd rather do no accent than a poor one), but I do certainly change mannerisms, vocal inflections and pitch, facial expressions, and so forth. Hand gestures occasionally also, but in the way that some people make hand gestures when they talk. I prefer to describe actions rather than mime them, because that just comes more naturally to me. The only times in which I will describe what my character is saying as opposed to saying it, however, are times when I am for some reason unable to say exactly what it is (if I've failed to memorise something the character has memorised, for instance, or if I've rolled particularly well on a diplomacy check I'll just give the gist of it).

I have, frustratingly enough, occasionally had trouble getting the other of my usual groups to roleplay, because sometimes they tend towards hack and slash to the exclusion of all else. It always seems to be better when I'm DMing, though, since I think players have a tendency to take the cue about how much roleplaying there is at the table from the DM.

As far as acting versus roleplaying goes, I personally do believe they are different things. When I am acting, it is similar in that I am getting into the head of the character and figuring out how to portray them properly, but I didn't create the character -- I'm interpreting a character that somebody else created. A good portion of roleplaying, I feel, is creating the character to begin with, and that isn't so of acting. There is a good deal of crossover, especially with improvisational acting or method acting, but even then I don't feel it's exactly the same (because then, you're coming up with everything on the spot and often largely with regards to a particular situation in the case of improv, and in the case of method acting when it gets to the stage or screen you're still saying the lines written for you and not coming up with what your character is saying).

SiuiS
2013-05-05, 02:45 PM
I didn't know talking a really good accent was considering just a funny voice.

Somewhat. There is a phenomenon known as 'the Role Play Voice', which is when a new player speaks in the same slow and measured, poor British accent that everyone (I've met or heard of) uses. There's a psychological connection, that goes fantasy -> mediaeval -> ancient Europe -> Britain. And to a one try all speak slowly, carefully, and in a stereotypically 'refined' and airy tone of voice. They don't change their behaviors. They don't step into character. Rey just use that voice and think its role playing.

You'll actually find this a lot on LARP forums. It's hard to get people to Roleplay when they don't make a role, they just talk different.

At tables you'll get the same thing. The character is a straight port self-insert mentally, or some caricature, represented solely by a funny voice. It's a known phenomenon, and you were unclear enough I wanted to distinguish things.


You guy have really twisted this thread around, and really, its coming off as arrogant. I do all the crap you all are talking about, and because I go a bit further, I'm less of a role player.

Watch the accusations, friend. You're including me in there, and I'm not guilty.


So when actors play a role in a stage production or movie or whathaveyou, they're not roleplaying? Especially for method acting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_acting).

Roleplayers do not necessarily have to act, but role-playing is, in my mind, a key aspect of acting.

Aye, you beat me to the lot. Thanks~ :)

I don't think there is a meaningful enough difference between acting and role playing to point out. Unless you are 'merely' demonstrating what you're describing. Slippery slope.


Oh! Worth noting. I will describe rather than enact something wheni fin it embarrassing for unfit or the group. If the table would be unable to handle romance with me having to defend my own honour with a book, I'll be vague :smallredface:

Remmirath
2013-05-05, 03:42 PM
Somewhat. There is a phenomenon known as 'the Role Play Voice', which is when a new player speaks in the same slow and measured, poor British accent that everyone (I've met or heard of) uses. There's a psychological connection, that goes fantasy -> mediaeval -> ancient Europe -> Britain. And to a one try all speak slowly, carefully, and in a stereotypically 'refined' and airy tone of voice. They don't change their behaviors. They don't step into character. Rey just use that voice and think its role playing.


Thanks for the clarification, there. I wasn't too sure what you were talking about, but I had assumed that it was something other than a blanket category of anyone who alters their voice when roleplaying, so I wasn't going to say anything about it. I had been wondering what you meant, though.

I haven't actually ever run into that myself, either in person or hearing tell of it. Perhaps because almost everyone I know who roleplays either fits into the category of "is an actor" (this being the majority of the people I know) or "doesn't bother to roleplay at all" (thankfully the minority, but also has some overlap with "is an actor"). The few roleplayers I know who don't fit into either of those categories fall into the category of "has been roleplaying for more years than I've been alive".


Oh! Worth noting. I will describe rather than enact something wheni fin it embarrassing for unfit or the group. If the table would be unable to handle romance with me having to defend my own honour with a book, I'll be vague :smallredface:

Ah yes, I forgot to add that I'll do this as well, for anything that I feel would be too uncomfortable (either for me or for the other players) to enact. Or, in some cases, too dull to warrant enacting -- for me, romance typically falls into this category, as do things such as purchasing ordinary goods in a shop.

Mastikator
2013-05-05, 05:18 PM
Voice acting helps with immersion and gives the other players and the DM a better idea of what your character is like, dressing up as your character too.
It's fine if you don't do it for whatever reason, but it IS roleplaying.

I often insist on doing the voice and mannerism of NPCs when DMing, it sets the mood and encourages the players to do it, I accept that it's hard for some but I have zero tolerance for those who mock it. Just as I have zero tolerance for those who are rude to the other players.

When I'm a player I do it less, being a player energizes me less and I often don't have the energy to do it if I'm the only one.

SiuiS
2013-05-06, 02:22 AM
Voice acting helps with immersion and gives the other players and the DM a better idea of what your character is like, dressing up as your character too.
It's fine if you don't do it for whatever reason, but it IS roleplaying.

I often insist on doing the voice and mannerism of NPCs when DMing, it sets the mood and encourages the players to do it, I accept that it's hard for some but I have zero tolerance for those who mock it. Just as I have zero tolerance for those who are rude to the other players.

When I'm a player I do it less, being a player energizes me less and I often don't have the energy to do it if I'm the only one.

Dress up is where I draw a line for table play. If you're going to do that, go LARP. Not as the pejorative; just that sitting there in a costume not only doesn't actually utilize the costume at all, but your ridiculousness is based on the proportional clash with everyone else wearing T-shirts and cargo shorts and stuff.

Unless very one else dressed up. In which case, boffers are $1.50 and fifteen minutes of time away, and then go LARP!

Vitruviansquid
2013-05-06, 03:04 AM
I have a rule at my table: you roleplay how you want and let other folks roleplay how they want.

So we have all sorts. I've had players who can't even come up with an original, plausible sounding name for their characters (his last character was a dwarf named Aegon Targaryen, and then before that it was an elf named Sin'dorei) and players who go the whole nine yards with accent, gestures, playing all their scores, elaborate backstories, and such.

As for the OP's question of how to get your players to really get into RP... the way I see it, it's kind of the wrong question. There are two reasons people won't roleplay. 1, they're afraid they'll be laughed at for roleplaying, and 2, they are the type of person who laughs at others for roleplaying.

You'll never get the latter type of person to roleplay, because when they realize they're expected to, they'll just find something else to do with their time. You might be able to get the former type to roleplay, but only by making it a comfortable atmosphere for them to experiment, by which I mean, whatever you do, DO NOT tell them "you're gonna have to step up your roleplaying, man, because your not doing accents is really breaking immersion for me."

TuggyNE
2013-05-06, 03:47 AM
I've had players who can't even come up with an original, plausible sounding name for their characters (his last character was a dwarf named Aegon Targaryen, and then before that it was an elf named Sin'dorei)

Huh. What's wrong with those names, except for sounding a bit cliched in a vague sense?

Mastikator
2013-05-06, 04:09 AM
Dress up is where I draw a line for table play. If you're going to do that, go LARP. Not as the pejorative; just that sitting there in a costume not only doesn't actually utilize the costume at all, but your ridiculousness is based on the proportional clash with everyone else wearing T-shirts and cargo shorts and stuff.

Unless very one else dressed up. In which case, boffers are $1.50 and fifteen minutes of time away, and then go LARP!

I'm not saying it's not ridiculous, but it is roleplaying. Same with voice acting. Roleplaying is a lot of things, and you can do all of them, or some.

Vitruviansquid
2013-05-06, 04:13 AM
Aegon Targaryen is the name of a character in the Song of Ice and Fire series, and Sin'dorei means "blood elf" in Warcraft.

TuggyNE
2013-05-06, 04:15 AM
Aegon Targaryen is the name of a character in the Song of Ice and Fire series, and Sin'dorei means "blood elf" in Warcraft.

Ahhh, OK. I didn't recognize them because ASoIaF is well beyond my limits for "all the peoples die!" and I've never gotten into Warcraft. :smallwink:

Lorsa
2013-05-06, 04:27 AM
Huh. What's wrong with those names, except for sounding a bit cliched in a vague sense?

Maybe becasue they are stolen right from literature which means everytime you hear the name your brain will assosciate it with certain books.


As for the question and topic itself, I am sure this will bring up the interesting point (again) that the roleplaying hobby is incredibly diverse. No two people want the same thing out of a game and no two people will have the same view of what is roleplaying. The Big Model wiki brings this up fairly well.

Myself when I roleplay I like to feel like someone else. I want to think like my character and get my imagination to carry me away to wherever the game is set. Thus I will want to communicate my character in as good manner as possible and prefers when the other players does the same.

So yes, I will try to change my choice of words, the flow of them and the resonance and pitch of my voice when speaking in-character depending on what / who I play at the moment. Likewise I find it saves time to smile yourself rather than say "I / my character / [insert name here] smiles". Similarly body language and gestures can go a long way (what you would normally do when talking) to communicate your character. Most actions though need to be stated verbally. Very rarely will I stand up as GM to actually show a course of events. Once as a player I did leave the table to show what my character was doing since my character declared he was done with this conversation. So yes, when possible I like to act when roleplaying. It helps my immersion and comes back to what I was saying first. I like to feel like I am someone else at someplace else.

I had no idea that this "funny voice" phenomenon existed either. It seems like a weird way of over-acting to me. I would like to echo whoever said before that no accent is better than a bad accent. You only need slight alterations to your speech to distinguish characters anyway.

As for dress-up I do believe it isn't necessary and unless you can pull it off naturally will do more harm than good. That being said, I do think about what I wear depending on which character I play. For some it feels better wearing more white or light colours while others are darker or more black. Also, for some characters I want to give off a "I care about the way I look" while others can look however. Some characters gets to have my "cool T-shirts" etc. It's not much and probably so subtle most people doesn't even notice or care but it helps myself somehow.

Craft (Cheese)
2013-05-06, 05:18 AM
Voice acting helps with immersion and gives the other players and the DM a better idea of what your character is like, dressing up as your character too.
It's fine if you don't do it for whatever reason, but it IS roleplaying.

I often insist on doing the voice and mannerism of NPCs when DMing, it sets the mood and encourages the players to do it, I accept that it's hard for some but I have zero tolerance for those who mock it. Just as I have zero tolerance for those who are rude to the other players.

I dunno about you, but I'm short, soft-spoken, and quite underweight; I'm about as close to the old stereotype as it gets. Trying to act intimidating is just about the most immersion-breaking thing I could possibly do at the table.

I deal with this problem by taking the role of a "narrator" of sorts, describing things to the players instead of trying to act them out myself. For me, it's more effective: It's easier for the players to suspend their disbelief and imagine what I'm describing, than to look at my "acting" and try to imagine a scene built around that.

Mastikator
2013-05-06, 07:13 AM
I dunno about you, but I'm short, soft-spoken, and quite underweight; I'm about as close to the old stereotype as it gets. Trying to act intimidating is just about the most immersion-breaking thing I could possibly do at the table.

I deal with this problem by taking the role of a "narrator" of sorts, describing things to the players instead of trying to act them out myself. For me, it's more effective: It's easier for the players to suspend their disbelief and imagine what I'm describing, than to look at my "acting" and try to imagine a scene built around that.
There's no reason you can't do both, though if you are unable to do one it doesn't mean that if you were able it wouldn't be roleplaying. All I'm saying.

Rhynn
2013-05-06, 08:17 AM
So when actors play a role in a stage production or movie or whathaveyou, they're not roleplaying? Especially for method acting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_acting).

They are not playing a roleplaying game, no. Neither are people who use roleplay in therapy, the bedroom, or whatever else. Acting as if you were portraying someone else is not a necessary or required part of RPGs. Acting a role and playing a game where you have a role are not the same thing.

The word "roleplaying" has multiple meanings, and conflating them does not make even a good semantic argument.

prufock
2013-05-06, 09:39 AM
Reference Material:

Wikipedia: Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play.

Dictionary: act v, to represent (a fictitious or historical character) with one's person

Thesaurus: act v, play role


They are not playing a roleplaying game, no.
They are still roleplaying, without the game aspect. A notable exception might be improvisation competitions - there is a score, there are rules, and there is no script, similar to a diceless RPG system.

The OP didn't reference the game aspect, nor did your original comment, which may be contributing to the miscommunication (more so than mixed definitions of roleplaying).

Tally:
Acting is roleplaying.
Acting is not necessarily a roleplaying game.
Roleplaying doesn't require a game.
Roleplaying games do not require acting.

Everyone ok with that?

Felhammer
2013-05-06, 10:14 AM
At my table we generally try to talk in 1st person, typically with in different voices, or at least with different affectations (so speaking with a deep, Russian accent, or a high pitched valley girl, etc.). Some players like to stay in third person (My character says this, etc.), so those players don't use accents or affectations, just their normal voice. We sometimes pantomime actions, especially in combat,, when describing how we are attacking.

Joe the Rat
2013-05-06, 10:33 AM
Works for me.

Mine has been an odd mix. Most of my game experience has been a shift from "my character does this" to more descriptive dialogue, with a fair mix of playing the role, and a bit of voicework. (As an aside, funny voices are a wonderful tool at the table - even a slight change of inflection, tone, or mannerism makes it very clear when you're "in character."). Roleplaying has never been an enforced issue, and only occasionally rewarded, but when at least part of the table is actively taking on the role, it tends to add to the immersion. Eventually we get everyone in on the act to a degree. I've described my roleplaying groups as bad community theater with the good sense not to inflict it upon an audience. I am by far the worst.

My current live group is interesting. Most of the characters are subtle shades on the players' own personalities - mostly with fewer inhibitions. Our druid player is slightly frenetic, spending half her time "OOC", but has gotten into specifically calling out when she isn't in character. but she still babbles more than her pseudodragon, and she likes to charge in and hit things with a club. She really likes that club. Our rogue is subtle to the point of shyness, but she is starting to break through and becoming a more active player, even if the character remains fairly soft-spoken. But she's the one with a plan to get out of any jam. Our fighter is an interesting one: psychotically violent and easily out-hams the DM. She has a decent backstory, is consistent in her characterization (proud and dangerous), and is playing to the rational concerns of her character. She's got no problems charging flaming goblins and ogres and evil trees, but doesn't want to go into the haunted house because she doesn't like fighting things she can't kill with a sword.

Snarky wizard is the idea man ("What happens if we do this?"), and grumpy cleric is the grumpy voice of reason ("You might want to check for traps... Don't touch the festering goblin, I can't cure diseases yet!"), but we're specifically trying to take a back seat to the other three.

prufock
2013-05-08, 08:40 AM
In my group, character conversation is done in first person. Sometimes we use accents or affectations, but mostly we just try to act as we feel our characters would act. Action is usually described in first person as well, though sometimes it flops to third for no real reason. We'll use gestures and facial expressions.

We generally get pretty into our characters. I think I'm probably the most intense about it. I do research on my character concepts, and work real-world information into the character. When I play a bard with perform (motivational speech), I read up on motivational speaking. When I play a demolitions expert I read up on demolitions and post-concussive syndrome. When I play an ex-military bioluminescent light-controller superhero I read up on military command and bioluminescence. There are times I get so into character that I have trouble getting OUT after the game is over. I like to have a solid foundation for how my character behaves. I'll generally write a page of character description and another of background.

Party interactions run a gamut. We almost always work as a team, so there is little pvp. However, character conflicts are common. We have opposing ideas, opinions, plans, viewpoints, and this all comes up in our RP.

My current bard character is a friendly, diplomatic idealist. He usually takes the stance of "hey let's just talk to these guys first, maybe we can reach a mutually beneficial compromise." He would prefer if violence was never necessary and never attacks first, though he'll defend himself and others who are in danger. This is in contrast to the dragon shaman, who would prefer just to hit things until they're dead, or at least beat them into unconsciousness and ask questions when they wake up.

The duskblade usually takes a middle road, opting sometimes for negotiations, other times for negotiations with a glaive to the face. The duskblade was taught by a silver dragon, the dragon shaman by a black dragon, so they sometimes come into conflict.

The gnome is sometimes hard to anticipate. Usually the promise of wealth or more clients for his brothel is enough to influence his decisions, but not always. He shies away from combat much of the time, but loves to throw fireballs and phantasmal killers at enemies.

It's somewhat unpredictable who will side with whom in any given situation, but it's usually a given that the dragon shaman will oppose anything my bard says. Most recently, the duskblade was given the opportunity to decide the fate of a fully-grown black dragon, who just happened to be the dragon shaman's ex-tutor. That caused some nice drama :)

My bard is the most staunchly good member of the party, in that he will help anyone in need just because it's the right thing to do. The duskblade is likely to weigh the risks and rewards before deciding, and the gnome is mostly concerned about "what's in it for us?" The dragon shaman rarely cares about others who are "not our concern." So my bard sometimes takes heroic ideas into his head that he will do on his own if need be, though the others tend to follow suit either just to keep him out of trouble or because they get caught up in the wave of the situation.

They've recently made the ultimatum that they aren't going to follow him on any more goody-two-shoes side adventures and demanded that he stop going off alone (he can sometimes get a little overconfident in his own abilities, combined with a sense of curiosity, and has the worst luck imaginable - he's a magnet for bandits, monster, and so on, is usually the first to get hit and knocked out in combat, takes more critical hits than anyone in history, and since he's curious and confidant, is often the first to approach a situation). They also mandated that everything be put to a party vote before going through with it. This, of course, won't sit well if we reach a point where there are people he feels need help and the party votes against it. I'm prepping my motivational speech in advance ;)

Of course, sometimes something happens that seems out of character, and turns things on its head. The party was recently attacked by hired assassins, one of whom we knocked out and captured. One of them (not the one we captured) succeeded in murdering the gnome. However for some reason the rest of the party has sort of adopted this guy as an honorary member and seem to trust him almost implicitly because he helped us get the gnome raised and complete our mission in this town. Now he's tagging along with the party and is being treated as one of the gang. My bard, on the other hand - normally the one who almost naively trusts people and sees the good in everyone - can't help sensing that this is a ploy of some sort, that the assassin is just ingratiating himself to the group. This is a guy who murdered one of us for payment, and mocked us when he found out one of our number was dead.

So there's always an interesting interaction in this group. We get pretty into our characters.

Jay R
2013-05-08, 11:35 AM
My group is pretty good at real role-playing, in part because we eschew funny voices and hand gesticulation in favor of characterization.

Good role-playing: My 2E elf thief/mage grew up as an outcast orphan, sneered at as one of the "pointy-ears", and not able to carry his sword in public. (Only nobles and hired guards can walk about armed.) He is now the Earl of Devon. He has no use for the nobles who objected to his sword before. He's started a militia. Anyone in the county who reports for a month of training will be issued a longsword and allowed to carry it throughout the county. Outcasts are welcome here, and will be offered apprenticeships or land to farm.

Bad role-playing: Hark, thy fate sucketh. (http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=853)