DM role playing

[Sivar]

I have recently became a DM and after a few sessions I figured out I suck at the storytelling part of DMing. If anyone knows how to make players stop asking questions or how to RP better please comment.

[Doctor Awkward]

Preparation is often the key.

For starters, role-playing is basically improvisational acting. Reading a book on that subject or watching a few improv-acting shows might give you some pointers.

the players asking questions isn't necessarily a bad thing. At the very least it shows they are invested in the world you put them in.
If you are having problems with descriptions, visualize everything that would be immediately obvious to you upon first entering an area and write down some notes to say about it when they come across it. Anything that you don't want them to immediately notice, simply don't tell them, and if they start deliberately looking around ask them to roll Search/Spot as appropriate to find the thing.

[Troacctid]

There's nothing wrong with players asking questions. You just need to be able to have answers for them. A lot of that comes from knowing the rules, knowing the setting, and being able to improvise. Those are all things that come with experience and preparation. Rules are relatively easy--just read the rules, read articles about the rules (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/rg), hang out on forums like these where people discuss the rules, and you'll end up knowing the rules pretty well after a while. For other stuff, there are tips we can give you if you have more specific questions, but ultimately you will get better with practice.

As for how to RP better--know the material. Understand the characters you're portraying. And above all, don't be afraid to blatantly steal characters from other stories. If the head of your Wizard's Guild is just Dumbledore and his assistant is just C-3PO and all you did was change the names, that is totally fine. Those characters have well-established personalities and mannerisms that make them easier to write for than a blank slate. You don't have to come up with completely new personalities out of whole cloth. Nobody does that.

[Sivar]

Thanks for the help guys but about the hole question asking thing, I have very controlling PC's so they ask questions like if I do... Then... Will happen right? And I'm not sure how to respond to that. Plus I can't get them to role play

[Kid Jake]

That sounds like it falls outside of what their characters would know(barring a group of precogs), so just tell them that they'll have to see.

[Darth Ultron]

If the players ask a lot of questions, it could be that your not being very clear.

Do they often ask the same questions? If they do, you can just answer the question before they even ask it. A trick that works, if you have players that cooperate, is to ask them what they want in your descriptions. Then just add whatever they want.

Are they asking rule questions? Well, if you don't want to stop the game and teach them how to play, you could just tell them to read the rules. Try to get them in the habit of asking you how grapple works before the third round of combat with the giant snake.

Are they asking setting questions? Make then a handout with a FAQ.

Are they asking the dreaded ''can I?'' question? ''Can I do this?'' or ''Can I do that?''. I know a DM that has a little laminated sign that says your character can try to do anything. The best awnser is something like ''yes, you can try to do that, don't ask again"".

An easy way to role play is to pick a character from something else. It does not matter where. Then just use that character to cover the character.

Lets say I have a dwarf blacksmith. For a character, I will pick Spock, from Star Trek and I replace ''illogical'' with ''undwarflike''. So what is my dwarf blacksmith like? He is all business and logical: ''Thank you for coming into my shop, how can I help you to day?'' When a PC wants the dwarf to make a katana he says ''that is a most undwarflike request, I can not do it.'' He says ''Live Long and Prospect'' and likes to say math stuff ''There is a one in three chance that I'm gonna kick your arse!''

[Troacctid]

they ask questions like if I do... Then... Will happen right? And I'm not sure how to respond to that.

Then you have to decide if that information is something their character would reasonably know. Here are some sample exchanges.

Q: If I open this door, will it spring a trap on me?
A: You don't see any obvious mechanism. Would you like to make a search check?
---If they make the DC: You see a bucket of water balanced precariously on top of the door. It looks like it will fall on anyone who opens it.
---If they don't make the DC: You don't detect any traps.

Q: If I jump in the lava, will my fire resistance prevent me from taking damage?
A: Only if you have more fire resistance than it has damage.

Q: If I ask the king nicely, will he give us gold to help on our quest?
A: You'd have to ask him and find out.

Q: If we wake up the dragon, it will attack us, right?
A: Well, if you wake her up, you'll find out.

Q: If I cast Enlarge Person twice, they don't stack, right?
A: That's correct, the spell can only increase you by one size category.

Q: If we burn the stumps of the hydra's heads, they won't grow back, right?
A: Roll a Knowledge check.
---If they make the DC: Dealing fire or acid damage to the stump will cauterize it and prevent new heads from growing.
---If they don't make the DC: Your character doesn't know the answer to that question.
Basically, they don't get to see the future, and they don't get free access to information that they wouldn't know in-character. But they should generally be entitled to information about how their own abilities function in the rules, and some information should be available with appropriate skill checks.

[Flickerdart]

Thanks for the help guys but about the hole question asking thing, I have very controlling PC's so they ask questions like if I do... Then... Will happen right? And I'm not sure how to respond to that. Plus I can't get them to role play
When they are asking you those questions, they are asking for roleplaying hooks. It's a two way street. They are asking - as a character in your game world, is there anything my dwarf barbarian would know about this upcoming action that I, a fragile human nerd, would not? This is your opportunity to immerse them into the universe inside your head, not set up ambushes and gotchas.