Roleplaying, and characters.

[Starshade]

I recently got into contact with someone who RP 5e D&D, and went from a non-RPing person, to, an active D&Der. First with an handout, but making a real character now. I got a question about, meta-gaming and character motivation.

What is usual among D&Ders, realising the "beholder must be scary" when you simply think, the beholder in question actually ought to be taken down, since it kidnap, kill random ppl? What happen was the "Lawful good" guys simply decided fighting was scary, and ran off, obviously the DM did not care, since the encounter ended a fun one anyway, and perhaps were meant to be that as well, a detour. It simply were not the end boss..

Is it usual to actually RP an character, or simply "play wow" and have fun on tabletop, equal to a tabletop board game? Or something in between?

[Zombimode]

What is usual among D&Ders, realising the "beholder must be scary" when you simply think, the beholder in question actually ought to be taken down, since it kidnap, kill random ppl?

I don't understand why you think there would be a conflict between those two statements.

That is: "A beholder is a dangerous opponent and confronting it may very well end in my death. But there are others being threatened by this creature and I have sworn to protect those in need. Thus I will steel my resolve and confront the foul beast!"

[SpyOne]

In my experience, everybody starts out playing "me, but a wizard".
Then there is a "just a game" phase. They will take great risks because the worst that can happen is you have to roll a new character. They will also be willing to commit heinous acts because the victims are purely fictional.

In the groups that I have played in, most players moved to a stage where they tried to figure out what sort of person their character would be, and make decisions that he or she would.

And most of us do that playing video games, too.

In fact, looking back we even played board games that way.
I remember as a small child being upset at any game of Clue where my playing piece turned out to be the killer, because I felt that if I were the killer then I should know that from the start, and should have been trying to thwart the others instead of racing to solve it first.

[KorvinStarmast]

I got a question about, meta-gaming and character motivation. Be careful about what you call metagaming is my advice.

What is usual among D&Ders, realising the "beholder must be scary" when you simply think, the beholder in question actually ought to be taken down, since it kidnap, kill random ppl? There are a few mistaken assumptions here.
1. There isn't a "usual" with D&D players. Player styles vary widely.
2. Beholders are (supposed to be) scary. They can kill the PCs. If it ought to be taken down - an assumption which may be false - you still have to be smart not to be defeated. Beholder are highly intelligent creatures, and it is possible that they might be bargained with. (Xanathar down under Waterdeep is one such example).

What happen was the "Lawful good" guys simply decided fighting was scary, and ran off,
So what? Alignment has nothing to do with tactical assessments of which fights you can win and which fights need more preparation.

obviously the DM did not care, since the encounter ended a fun one anyway, and perhaps were meant to be that as well, a detour. It simply were not the end boss.. Caution: I'd be careful not to overlay Video Game and CRPG and MMORPG assumptions on to D&D as a default.

Is it usual to actually RP an character, or simply "play wow" and have fun on tabletop, equal to a tabletop board game? Or something in between? There is no such dichotomy. There is a wide range of styles.

Have fun. :smallsmile:

[KillianHawkeye]

That's the beauty of D&D. You can do whatever you want, including ALL the things you mentioned and more.

[LecternOfJasper]

Is it usual to actually RP an character, or simply "play wow" and have fun on tabletop, equal to a tabletop board game? Or something in between?

Most people in my circles tend to go for an RP angle, but several also compromise their RP for the sake of something interesting happening, or mainly try to find and instigate interesting things for the sake of that. That said, most of them, when the shoe drops, try to live through it!

[Mechalich]

Is it usual to actually RP an character, or simply "play wow" and have fun on tabletop, equal to a tabletop board game? Or something in between?

Well, if a person wants/prefers the experience of playing an MMORPG (ex. WoW) or a Tabletop Tactical Board Game (ex. Gloomhaven) there is a strong argument that they should just do that instead.

Decades ago, TTRPGs were the only system for certain kinds of cooperative play, because co-op video games and the current generation of board games hadn't been invented yet. They exist now though, and there are many things that co-op video games or board games simply do better than RPGs. A simple example is large numbers of rapid combat encounters: if you go and play Borderlands with your buddies you can chew through enemies an order of magnitude faster than you could ever do in tabletop.

Character-driven play, with an emphasis on the ability to make meaningful choices, is the zone that remains mostly exclusive to tabletop. So yes, an emphasis on roleplay, including low-immersion comedy-driven roleplay, since 'how ridiculous can we make this look?' is a perfectly viable question to ask amongst friends, has much to recommend it.

[Easy e]

I like to pretend to myself that I am going to role-play a character really well, and get immersed in a game acting and role-playing deeply in character.

However, I ultimately can't "turn myself" off sufficiently and all characters end up being some exaggerated aspect of my own personality, thinking style and wants.

[Anonymouswizard]

There's nothing wrong with playing D&D as a board game, although I'd personally prefer something much simpler for such a game (probably HeroQuest).

As for characters, in my experience it varies, but a lot of players who do try to convincingly roleplay will develop a type. I went through the standard 'dark and mysterious phase, but now my characters tend to be big, dramatic, and principled. There's also a distinct tendency to go for archetypes and develop from there rather than trying to make a fully convincing character from day one.

[MoiMagnus]

Is it usual to actually RP an character, or simply "play wow" and have fun on tabletop, equal to a tabletop board game? Or something in between?

You might have heard about "session 0". An important note is that "session 0" does not need to be an actual session, it's just the name of the discussion that you might want to have with the other players in order to make sure everyone has the same expectations.

If the GM & Players around the table expect from D&D to have some "tabletop WoW combat", then the best way to handle this is for everyone around the table to shape their character's personality so that they don't instantly run away from those combats.

Similarly, if the GM & Players want the game to be fully cooperative (no PvP), then the best way to handle this is for everyone around the table to shape their character's personality so that they have a reason to stick with the group.

In other words, in the best possible world, "actually RP a character" doesn't go against what the table wants to do (which can be "play wow"), because the character were crafted for those to not be contradictory.

Obviously, reality doesn't always match the best possible world, especially when different persons have different expectations. And a discussion between rational adults at the end of this session about "how to behave the next time this problem occur" is welcome to find adequate compromises.

[Batcathat]

As for characters, in my experience it varies, but a lot of players who do try to convincingly roleplay will develop a type. I went through the standard 'dark and mysterious phase, but now my characters tend to be big, dramatic, and principled. There's also a distinct tendency to go for archetypes and develop from there rather than trying to make a fully convincing character from day one.

I think it's also funny to see what personality traits shine through regardless of character. In my case, I tend to play some pretty varied characters but like 90 percent of them are sarcastic and cynical in addition to whatever their unique character traits are. I've been trying to play more idealistic characters lately to challenge myself, with mixed results.