Enticing Roleplay

[PaperFire]

I am a first time player, part of a group of first time players. Our DM is an experienced player but this is her first time (I think) running a game. We have been playing for a little less than 6 months and I am having a fabulous time. I only wish that we got more into the roleplay side. A large portion of the other players (we are pretty large, 6 players) are all about the smash & grab and don't really seem to be too interested in roleplaying. A couple others would get into the role playing, but like me, aren't really sure how to go about it.

What are some ways I can enhance RPing for myself and anyone else? At this point, I am not really interested in direct conversation about it with the other players, because I don't want to come off as "I am not happy because you aren't playing my way"

Also, what does roleplay look like at your table?

[Urpriest]

One thing I found really helpful was to start out with situations where roleplay helps you achieve things. The first game I DMed that really had strong roleplaying was a mystery, where the players were assisting the city watch. Rather than killing defeated enemies, they'd typically interrogate them. That sort of situation, where you have a clear goal in your interactions, can often help players who otherwise wouldn't know what to do while roleplaying.

[Blackhawk748]

I find having an accent helps roleplay. I played a goblin once and a buddy started roleplaying more just to hear the crazy things i could think up and then say in a crazed smeagol style voice. It was a lot of fun actually.

[atemu1234]

As nerdy as it is, dress the part. And accents help, too.

[Eisenheim]

Talk in character with other players during downtime, that's a surefire way to start getting people a little more immersed. Talk to NPCs in character too if you can. If you set the tone, a good group will follow you.

[Honest Tiefling]

Find those players. Establish how your characters feel towards each other. Start making camp near each other, and RP what you do. Starting with the small details can help.

And sometimes, toss in a bit of RP in combat, such as behaving recklessly, smirking while critting, etc.

[Vhaidara]

Honestly, my groups do it casually. Our characters have quirks, and they have a couple of things they will not stand for, and they have things they do. For example, I had a warforged who had been a bouncer alongside our shifter barbarian. I always referred to him as "kid" which drove him nuts. He, meanwhile, abused my lack of knowledge of human society, resulting in my character's "human" name, Glad I. Ator. Yes, I had a middle initial.

[atemu1234]

Honestly, my groups do it casually. Our characters have quirks, and they have a couple of things they will not stand for, and they have things they do. For example, I had a warforged who had been a bouncer alongside our shifter barbarian. I always referred to him as "kid" which drove him nuts. He, meanwhile, abused my lack of knowledge of human society, resulting in my character's "human" name, Glad I. Ator. Yes, I had a middle initial.

What did the initial stand for?

[Vhaidara]

What did the initial stand for?

Nothing. His name was Gladiator. He needed a first name, a last name, and a middle initial. So he split it into 4-1-4.
Remember, abuse of my lack of understanding of human society. I didn't know it was supposed to stand for anything.

He also tricked my into giving someone a crossbow bolt. Luckily, the rest of the party topped me and explained that it should be handed over, not fired.

[Flickerdart]

It's pointless to encourage RP, because people who don't RP won't find it rewarding. What you need to do is get your players invested in the game world such that they start making choices based on outcomes beyond numeric ladders. Have NPCs that routinely elude, trick, or cause problems with the party, and your players will let rewards go to get back at these guys. Have NPCs who are more than just quest sources - who show up to lend the party a helping hand, or give them what they need without having them go to Place X to fetch Item Y first - and your players will let rewards go to help these guys.

It also helps to show how the PCs (and NPCs) send ripples through the world when they do anything. Have a quest that doesn't involve running at top speed across the continent for a month, so that the party can hang around a small enough area to become familiar with it. Did they kill a bandit? Now there are fruit in town from the nearby orchard, because the cart isn't being robbed anymore. A farmer waves at them as he walks by. Or if they killed some guards when escaping, there's no more cart or farmer - the bandits came back to take advantage of a weakened militia.

Give more interesting rewards. The PCs cleared out a bandit hideout? Maybe there's not that much gold inside, but now they have a hideout. You know what a hideout is useful for? Laying low while you're scoping out the BBEG's massive treasure vaults. Hideouts also need all kinds of stuff - maintenance, cleaning, various crafting services - which NPCs can provide, so your PCs might go out and find some people like that.

Basically, make your NPCs memorable and have their actions do more than affect the binary success/failure of the main quest, and RP will come organically out of that.

[Crake]

It's pointless to encourage RP, because people who don't RP won't find it rewarding. What you need to do is get your players invested in the game world such that they start making choices based on outcomes beyond numeric ladders. Have NPCs that routinely elude, trick, or cause problems with the party, and your players will let rewards go to get back at these guys. Have NPCs who are more than just quest sources - who show up to lend the party a helping hand, or give them what they need without having them go to Place X to fetch Item Y first - and your players will let rewards go to help these guys.

It also helps to show how the PCs (and NPCs) send ripples through the world when they do anything. Have a quest that doesn't involve running at top speed across the continent for a month, so that the party can hang around a small enough area to become familiar with it. Did they kill a bandit? Now there are fruit in town from the nearby orchard, because the cart isn't being robbed anymore. A farmer waves at them as he walks by. Or if they killed some guards when escaping, there's no more cart or farmer - the bandits came back to take advantage of a weakened militia.

Give more interesting rewards. The PCs cleared out a bandit hideout? Maybe there's not that much gold inside, but now they have a hideout. You know what a hideout is useful for? Laying low while you're scoping out the BBEG's massive treasure vaults. Hideouts also need all kinds of stuff - maintenance, cleaning, various crafting services - which NPCs can provide, so your PCs might go out and find some people like that.

Basically, make your NPCs memorable and have their actions do more than affect the binary success/failure of the main quest, and RP will come organically out of that.

That's all well and good, this the OP is a player, not the DM :smalltongue:

That said, bringing all these points to your DM is a great place to start.

[Honest Tiefling]

Maybe I got a little confused along the way, but is the point to RP with the ones who want to, or to try to encourage everyone to?

[PaperFire]

Maybe I got a little confused along the way, but is the point to RP with the ones who want to, or to try to encourage everyone to?

Both, I guess. We're probably too casual to dress up, etc.. I just want to start integrating more roleplaying into our game, hoping others will join. Players in our group mostly talk in 3rd person and in generalities, even with NPCs. There is little dialogue between PCs, etc.

[Honest Tiefling]

Honestly, I'd skip dressing up and accents. Done well, and they add to it. Done poorly, and people will ask why you are in a dress and spitting all over the place.

[atemu1234]

Honestly, I'd skip dressing up and accents. Done well, and they add to it. Done poorly, and people will ask why you are in a dress and spitting all over the place.

Or both, in most cases.

[Flickerdart]

That's all well and good, this the OP is a player, not the DM :smalltongue:

That said, bringing all these points to your DM is a great place to start.
Do I look like someone who reads other people's posts? Sometimes I don't even finish reading the thread's title, which makes for some very awkward moments in the occasional "Help me kill my player's character" threads.

On the PC side, it's in many ways easier to drive RP, since you're the one who gets to choose what to do. Ask random NPCs their names. Strike up conversations. Do stuff like leave behind a calling card to build a myth around yourself. It might be fun to beat up the duke's personal guard, but how much more fun, you can propose, would it be to impersonate him, gain entry into his castle, then polymorph his furniture into dragons?

[jedipotter]

What are some ways I can enhance RPing for myself and anyone else?

Also, what does roleplay look like at your table?

A good first step is to create your characters personality. This should be at least five paragraphs or so.

Step two, fill out a 10 minute background:


Step 1: Write five things about your character’s concept and background. These five things should be the most essential parts of your character. You don’t have to stop at five though, it’s just a minimum.

Step 2: List two goals for the character that you, as a player, would like to see accomplished in-game during the campaign.

Step 3: List two secrets about your character. One is a secret your character knows, the other a secret he is involved with but isn’t aware of yet.

Step 4: Describe three people who are tied to the character through blood, romance, honor or plain friendship. Two of them are friendly to the character, one is hostile or unfriendly. All can do something useful for you if you can get the situation to line up.

Step 5: Describe three memories that your character has. They don’t have to be elaborate, but should provide some content and flavor.




Then for step three, tie it all together.



Now talking in ''3rd person is fine'', some people just do it that way.

Words, phrases and speech patters are another thing you can add to a character to make them more unique and enhance your role play.

Words are are the words your character knows and uses. For example, what do you call that big rectangle in the kitchen that keeps food cold and frozen? I call it an ''Icebox''. Why...because my parents called it that. A thesaurus can give you lots of alternative words to use, as can any old timey book. And making your own words is easy. Compound words work great. Take ''CoinSword'', what is that? That is a mercenary that works for money and will do anything. See it just put coin and sword together. Don't forget insults and swear words. You can stick to the nice ones like ''goblin brains'' for a dum person, or you can get worse.

Phrases are easy: just take our (not so modern) phrase and add fantasy too it. So ''hitting two birds with one stone'', becomes to a dwarf ''it's like beheading two orcs with a single axe swing''. ''That is the way the cookie crumbles'' becomes ''That is the way the leaves fall from the tree'' to an elf.

[Troacctid]

If your idea of roleplaying is spending time chatting up NPCs and having conversations in-character, there's a pretty good chance you are decreasing the fun level for the players who want to spend their gaming time actually adventuring and overcoming obstacles using their characters' abilities. This is especially true in a large group like yours--while you are doing your improvisational theater with the DM, everyone else is sitting there drumming their fingers, waiting for you to get on with it.

[The Insanity]

Also, what does roleplay look like at your table?
Awkward and embarrassing.