A roleplaying competition for a DnD club

[theonetruenerd]

Hi Playground!

I run a D&D club weekly for new players, and we play pretty much solely D&D 5e to help provide them with a slightly rules light form of D&D. To encourage roleplaying we are planning on running a day long roleplaying competition with everyone involved, in which the prize is a heroforge miniature.

I am uncertain about a few things related to how we're gonna run it, so I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions. Specifically, about the following:

- How to run the session for about 15 players (all in one big group? a few smaller groups?)
- What to run. We were thinking the 5e Tomb of Horrors, because its such a classic module, but I was unsure how easy it would be for them to roleplay in it (given they are new players and aren't used to RPing very much on the most part), but if anyone has better suggestions then I would love to hear them
- How to encourage RPing
- How to judge the roleplaying

Thanks in advance

EDIT: Having read the feedback so far it all seems very good, sensible and reasonable, thank you everyone! In terms of replacing the competition with something else, what would people advise in terms of roleplaying help? Generally people are fairly immersed in the setting, but most of them have no idea how to roleplay, and they have all gravitated towards Chaotic Stabby rather than anything else. In terms of judging, both the ballot and raffle seem like better ideas to avoid people hogging the spotlight, so I will probably go with one of those. Thanks again!

[Arvin Natsuko]

With all respect , I don't think a competition is the best way to improve the RP skills of your players. For definition, RPG are colaborative games, and that's, in my opinion, a important aspect of the game.

Also, a competition for best RP can easily became a competition for spotlight, and that's not good for the game or fun either.

My suggestion is to think in other strategies to engage more the players in the RP aspect, like the DM start lots of in-character interactions with the PCs, or create situations where they have to discuss issues in-character betwin themselves or with NPCs.

At the end, you can can raffle the prize betwin the participants.

As for the first question, 3 smaller groups seems the best way to go. Easier to control and gave attention to eath player.

Best of luck

[Honest Tiefling]

With all respect , I don't think a competition is the best way to improve the RP skills of your players. For definition, RPG are colaborative games, and that's, in my opinion, a important aspect of the game.

I'm going to agree with this. Roleplaying your character by yourself is fine and dandy, but most groups work best if people are working off of one another to weave an interesting story and group of companions, instead of sabotage and hogging the spotlight. Imagine how well the Lord of the Rings movie would work if every single character refused to learn each other's name and instead tried to monopolize every interaction with an NPC. Which your competition would encourage, and would NOT teach them how to roleplay with one other.

As a question, WHY do you need to encourage roleplay? Try addressing the actual issue, instead of dangling a carrot that doesn't reward the right behavior. For instance, if people are uncomfortable putting on silly voices for the roleplay, having an air of competition might make some more awkward and unable to focus. If people don't have inspiration or understand the setting, then try to make it clearer and reward out of session roleplay to establish things. If they aren't confident in their writing skills, encourage and try to foster simple backstories that lead to more interesting characters. You don't need a damn novel to roleplay!

[Kurt Kurageous]

I agree with above posters. Role playing should be collaborative. If you allow any form of PVP, it becomes fun maybe for one player (the attacker).

If you had to do this, let the players vote by secret ballot for the "winner." The ballot question:

"Which player/character in this session would you most likely want to play with again?"

[mephnick]

Do you mean "role-playing" or do you mean "acting"?

[History_buff]

How does one role play... competitively?

[KorvinStarmast]

I run a D&D club weekly for new players, and we play pretty much solely D&D 5e to help provide them with a slightly rules light form of D&D. To encourage roleplaying we are planning on running a day long roleplaying competition with everyone involved, in which the prize is a heroforge miniature.

- What to run. We were thinking the 5e Tomb of Horrors, because its such a classic module, but I was unsure how easy it would be for them to roleplay in it (given they are new players and aren't used to RPing very much on the most part), but if anyone has better suggestions then I would love to hear them Yer killin' me. I just cracked a rib laughing. :smallcool:

[Legendairy]

So pretty much what everyone above has said. Bad on picking that module too.

But none of that really helps you if you plan on going through with it. My best advice that isn’t mirroring what others have said is to convert something like pathfinders “we be goblins” it’s silly, you can ad lib, and try to give everyone goals to play up their voices and goblin song type things (advantage one a roll if they sing a random song or you can choose songs for each character) also I would suggest pre generated level 1 characters with a few sentences on personality and a picture. This way they may be slightly out of their comfort zone but have nothing to lose, no time in making the character and no real attachment so they can act in ways they may normally avoid.

Also for voting make it secret and ask things like who showed the most improvement or who stood out to you or who surprised you the most. I think it’s a neat idea but I wouldn’t say it’s a good one. I hope some of this helps.

[DerficusRex]

If you want to do the mini giveaway, you could always have it as a door prize and just draw for it rather than trying to set out criteria to turn things into a competition.

There's a group near me that does occasional open game nights at a local brewpub. Haven't been to any of their events yet, but as I understand it they have one or two one-shot adventures prepped for the night with pre-created characters that they run on multiple tables in parallel. Registration opens an hour before start time, and people get sorted into groups on signup.