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nlitherl
2013-10-18, 02:54 PM
My latest piece over at Kobold Quarterly is a tip list for storytellers to help keep their players in character. Sometimes it's the simplest things that can really make a game fantastic!

Also, for those who are curious, keep an eye out for my monthly column at KQ starting next month, titled Loaded Dice. Hope you enjoy!

Keeping it in Character (http://www.koboldpress.com/k/front-page16993.php#.UmGQRb4o5Ms)

AMFV
2013-10-18, 03:13 PM
I've always just used a cattle prod on people that go out of character... was that not the industry standard, cause I was under the impression that was what everybody did.

AMFV
2013-10-18, 03:17 PM
My latest piece over at Kobold Quarterly is a tip list for storytellers to help keep their players in character. Sometimes it's the simplest things that can really make a game fantastic!

Also, for those who are curious, keep an eye out for my monthly column at KQ starting next month, titled Loaded Dice. Hope you enjoy!

Keeping it in Character (http://www.koboldpress.com/k/front-page16993.php#.UmGQRb4o5Ms)

I do like the article though, I tend to disagree with the blanket ban type thing on game terms. I think it depends on how involved your players should be, since different games have different levels of emotional involvement.

The one thing I think that you've missed is positive reinforcement, tell players when they do good roleplay, I've found that just encouraging people can work wonders on their roleplaying. Although that may not be a good hard and fast rule.

TheCountAlucard
2013-10-18, 07:52 PM
Per the first item on your list, "Don't just let them roll dice," Exalted 2e actually has a rule in place for "stunting," i.e., providing an evocative description of your character performing an action in a suitably-cool fashion. Better stunts provide bonus dice on rolls, and the best stunts also reward the player with XP.

nlitherl
2013-10-19, 03:40 PM
There are similar rules for that for situations like Dream Combat in Changeling: The Lost. It can be a very fine line to cross handling out bonuses, but it can work. You just need to be sure that players don't come to expect a bonus for solid roleplay, otherwise they might get truculent when you don't give them one.

IronFist
2013-10-21, 08:40 PM
I like how Shadow of Yesterday and Marvel Heroic Roleplaying do it - basically, staying in character is what gets you XP.

Jay R
2013-10-22, 11:16 AM
Give them points for being in character. Also, give them plusses for what they do in character.

nedz
2013-10-22, 12:24 PM
Have NPCs react IC to OOC comments. Don't overdo this, but it will make the point.

kyoryu
2013-10-23, 03:18 PM
My latest piece over at Kobold Quarterly is a tip list for storytellers to help keep their players in character. Sometimes it's the simplest things that can really make a game fantastic!

Also, for those who are curious, keep an eye out for my monthly column at KQ starting next month, titled Loaded Dice. Hope you enjoy!

Keeping it in Character (http://www.koboldpress.com/k/front-page16993.php#.UmGQRb4o5Ms)

I usually focus on two things:

1) Aggressively describe things "in-world". Periodically, I'll stop to "paint a picture" of the scene so far. Put decisions of the players in context of the game world, and not rules-first. In other words, practice what I preach.

2) "So, what do you *do*?" I generally will ask players to describe what their actual actions are, not simply the rules interpretation of those actions.

These may work better in some games than others. I find they work very well in Fate and AW, but they might not work so well in other games, where the mechanic and what you do are actually the same thing (Full Attack pretty much says what you're doing).

Basically, I just try to draw players back into the fictional world as much as I can, rather than setting rules and the like.

I don't know that I like things like barring game-speak. I think it just creates unnecessary hurdles in many cases.