Stories by the Campfire and How to Roleplay

[Bjarkmundur]

Saw a youtube video by MonarchsFactory recently about how she created a storytelling mechanic to encourage players to roleplay their characters as they are exchanging stories by the campfire at the end of a long day. Nothing more happens in this scenario, just a group of friends talking about their wants, dreams and past experiences.

I was wondering if you guys have any scenarios specifically included in your campaigns that encourage player-to-player roleplaying.

I love the idea of having a chapter within a session that revolves solely about the characters simply talking to each other, but realize that this either has to come naturally or be heavily encouraged.

Even if you don't have a mechanic that does this. If you were to create one, how would you do it? How would you help your players get started? How would you set the tone? What would the encouragement or reward be for this session-within-a-session?

I'd love to get a conversation about player-to-player roleplaying, so don't be afraid to share whatever experiences or opinions you have :)

Give out simple instructions to your players at the start of a session. This is a light non-relevant roleplay scenario that gets your players in the mindset and helps them find their character's voice. Having warmed up before going into a dramatic story makes it easier for players to roleplay on the fly later into the session. The following is a general format of one character having strong opinions about something, two characters calming and amping him up, respectively, and the fourth character adding new information into the conversation. This gives everyone a clear goal, and you can pick your two most comfortable roleplayers to be the first and fourth characters. It's a simple call-and-response formula that is easy to follow and gets people's roleplaying-muscles nice and loose.

The DM starts
- "PC 1, you just painfully banged your foot against the table, which set you off on a heated rant about how this establishment is run by wererats and half-brains."

He then gives simple instructions to the other players about how their characters react:

-"PC 2, you are trying to calm him down, telling him to not make a fuss out of little things. PC3 you are reminded of an ever ****tier tavern you have been to and are desperately trying to get the conversation to revolve about you. PC4, you are completely on board with the foot-sore character going on a full on rampage against the staff and other patrons, and are encouraging his over-the-top reaction of banging his foot."

To make this flow more naturally, give each player a chance to voice his character right after you've given him his instructions. At best, everyone gets a chance to roleplay a couple of lines. At worst, this whole thing is really awkward but still makes everything that comes afterwards less awkward in comparison. You then interrupt the characters talking with an event that sets the session's story in motion, in order the keep the players in character as you ask for their reaction to the event.

"And as you say that last sentence a man with a big hat, flamboyant scarf and purple breeches walks over to your table and says "Ah, there you are, I'm glad you found the place..."

[firelistener]

I did this for my most recent campaign. It was just the intro dungeon, but I threw in some shield guardians and magically locked doors that demanded info like "What is your greatest fear" and "Tell me the name of someone you love". If the players gave anything even remotely in-character, I let them pass and get some loot. If they were just making a dumb joke or said somethig contradictory, they took 10d6 psychic damage and got teleported to the entrance. This was for level 6 characters, so the damage was serious but wasn't going to insta-kill any of my PCs. I took notes on everything they said and plan to work it into the campaign.

If they would just fill out the background info like it says in the PHB, I wouldn't bother, but my players are all role-play challenged except one.

[Crucius]

You could design an inn that hands out a question with each drink (on the napkin or something), that way the players can decide how much they want to invest by ordering more drinks while also (artificially) creating a mood that, in real life, invites moments of transparency.

There are plenty of cool question lists online that delve into hopes, dreams, fears or even deep philosophical topics. I've done my fair share and it's always great fun.

As for 'encouragement': most people like talking about themselves, even when it's a made up character (since these cannot be completely separated from its maker in my opinion) so that should sort itself out ;)

[Inchhighguy]

First off, an important thing here is to add some Role Playing time to the game session. Far too many game sessions meet for only like a couple hours: long enough for a couple encounters and one Big Bad Evil Monster capstone. So there is no time to role play. So add an extra hour. Good times to add are ''before" the game or during the meal break.


Xp is always a good reward for role playing. As is any mechanic like a fate point or luck point(where the player can re roll a die).


Giving a nice little power or ability also works, even better if it's linked to the story

Player Bob makes a nice story about a demon horde that decimated his dwarf clan. So his PC gets the power to summon a tiny (1 HD) demon. Many players love tiny little powers like this. The tiny demon can't blow up a city or anything....but can say steal a key or snuff out a candle.