How do I get more roleplaying out of my players?

Mitchbones · Dec 11, 2006

My group and I have been playing for about 5 months now, we just started a new campaign (Savage Tide AP). I told them that it will include a lot more roleplaying than the previous one. I gave them some background information on the city and the adventure and asked them to provide me with a short backstory to work with.

I didn't get any backstorys, even after I asked them individually the usual questions to get them to think about their character (What does he Fear? Why is he doing this? etc). During the game I only have one player who Roleplays and is usually rewarded a lot for it (not too much). I encouraged everyone else, saying that I would even give them 300xp for a 1/2 page - full page bio. The only person they roleplay with is Lady Vanderborien (npc) and that is very minor. They say they think Roleplaying is just as fun as combat (except one person) but they always get Players-Block (writers block for players haha) when it comes for them to do anyting

Any suggestions to help get them to Roleplay?

Dykstrav · Dec 11, 2006

Unfortunately, there's only so much you can do to get your players to play a certain way. I've gamed with many a player that stare at their dice in abject boredom if they aren't killing things... XP awards for roleplaying tend to create the idea that the DM isn't validating how they want to play the game.

That's probably the biggest thing I hated about the last game I DMed. Only one player did a background (and his characters kept getting killed off), they wouldn't even stay in town long enough to get their next hook. It was always, "we rest long enough to heal and prepare spells and strike out across country looking for fights or new dungeons."

I don't have a solution for you, but I'd certainly like to hear about other people's experiences.

LogicsFate · Dec 11, 2006

Hmm, a toughy.

Get new players? kidding! kidding!

I'd try a few short one on one games with each person, placing them in postions where they have no other choice. To see how they react.

How are they getting through your current RP encounters? Is the one player doing all the talking? Ask him/her to pull back and let the other speaks.(whether they like it or not)

Do they really find it fun? :\
If they like watching you could always just let them, or switch to a tactics game.

Umbran · Dec 11, 2006

Mitchbones said:
Any suggestions to help get them to Roleplay?

Well, it depends upon what kind of roleplay you want to see.

One way to get them to open up is to create challenges that are best overcome with words rather than swords - if talking their way out is the best bet, they may rise to the challenge. Create NPcs that react to personalities as much or more than they react to information and requests.

If you, as the DM, consistentnly roleplay heavily, and make it clear that there's more going on that simple stats and mechanics, the players will have a reason to engage in that way.

(Psi)SeveredHead · Dec 11, 2006

Mitchbones said:
My group and I have been playing for about 5 months now, we just started a new campaign (Savage Tide AP). I told them that it will include a lot more roleplaying than the previous one. I gave them some background information on the city and the adventure and asked them to provide me with a short backstory to work with.

I didn't get any backstorys, even after I asked them individually the usual questions to get them to think about their character (What does he Fear? Why is he doing this? etc). During the game I only have one player who Roleplays and is usually rewarded a lot for it (not too much). I encouraged everyone else, saying that I would even give them 300xp for a 1/2 page - full page bio. The only person they roleplay with is Lady Vanderborien (npc) and that is very minor. They say they think Roleplaying is just as fun as combat (except one person) but they always get Players-Block (writers block for players haha) when it comes for them to do anyting

Any suggestions to help get them to Roleplay?

Maybe you shouldn't focus on backstories. Believe me, writing those can get annoying. I've been in a number of internet campaigns, and they almost always require long backstories. (In a face-to-face campaign, I was supposed to answer 100 questions. Literally. I answered about 90 of them.) Ask for something short that you might find in a DnD novel.

Note that backstories don't always affect RP - wheeling and dealing with the local lord might not involve my backstory at all. It's a function of how creative I can be and what sort of abilities my character has. (On the issue of social skill checks, check out Rich Burlew's great Diplomacy rules in my signature.)

I don't want to write out details about my character's family, or his last girlfriend, or anything like that. It's not relevant to the campaign and (hopefully) will never show up. Only ask for things that might become plot hooks.

Asking questions that can "screw" PCs, like "what does he fear?" almost never work. I don't want to say my character fears fire, because several sessions later, the trustworthy GM will (not deliberately!) introduce a scenario with a burning building, and then I have to sit outside or suffer some status condition because he's too afraid to be a hero! It's like asking questions about relatives - smart villains will threaten them (but won't kill them all, as that only makes the heroes angrier and have nothing to lose, etc).

Asking positive questions like "why do you adventure?" or "where did you learn to be an armorsmith?" works much better. It's also a great way to find out if someone just wants to play a psychopath *rolls eyes*

Dykstrav · Dec 11, 2006

I guess you could try to make combat boring. Give them nothing but such paltry critters to wade through that they start picking up on your plot hooks.

When they want to loot the dungeon, just say, "There was nothing but a pack of a dozen goblins and about 120 gp of treasure. You hack them to bits. A heroic effort on your part. What do you want to do next?"

pawsplay · Dec 11, 2006

I don't always want to write a backstory. Sometimes, I would rather just deal with the frontstory. Also, although l like roleplaying, I dislike People Yapping. I'm not a big fan of finagling over the price of saffron, or listening to the Duke's daughter's boring romantic dilemma. If they say they enjoy roleplaying but they don't do a lot of it, maybe they don't feel engaged with what you are offering them.

GeorgeFields · Dec 11, 2006

Stop giving XP for battles temporarily. Award XP solely on role-playing.

Psion · Dec 11, 2006

FWIW, I had a thread to this effect a while back:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=129358

Some responses were really excellent. Henry's was probably the best combination of succinct and insightful:

Henry said:
Like any administrative position, LEAD by example.

Learn
Engage
Act
Demonstrate

Learn what your players game for - what they enjoy about the game, whether gaining power or goodies, character development, butt-kicking, etc. Tie obtaining that goal to character interaction, no matter how small. They'll do more roleplay to get at that goal without even realizing it.

Engage your players - have the NPCs ask questions in the first person, addressing them by name, what have you. Even if the response is more out of character than in-character, challenging them to think more first-person than third will get them gently toward that mindset. BEWARE: Identify the players who just DON'T want to be center-stage, the more sociable players who mainly just enjoy contributing from the sidelines. Putting them in the spotlight can sometime make them resentful.

Act when you get a chance or see an opportunity. Anytime a player does take the initiative to roleplay, to speak in-character, to make a suboptimal choice because it's what the character would do, reward them tangibly and soon - a small XP gift, an action point, an M & M candy whatever sticks in all the players' minds.

Demonstrate how much fun you get out of in-character hijinks. Don't go making an NPC -to- NPC monologue for five minutes, or anything, but maybe one NPC interacts with another in a way that lets the players know that they don't get along, that there are factions to play off of or there are allies to be made, but only through engaging these allies mano-a-mano.

You're probably already doing several of these things, but I hope there may be one or two ideas in here that may spark a new technique or two for you.

Glyfair · Dec 11, 2006

Psion said:
FWIW, I had a thread to this effect a while back:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=129358

Some responses were really excellent. Henry's was probably the best combination of succinct and insightful:

This is very good. I was going to say that, in my experience, you can't force roleplaying. Usually you end up giving them a bad opinion of the "roleplaying fanatics." Leading by example is usually best. Have roleplaying in the group, give opportunities for it (and reward them when they take the initiative to roleplay).

Also, I recommend not confusing storytelling with roleplaying. They are related, but different. Writing character backgrounds can help roleplaying, but is really more about storytelling. Get them to roleplay in the game before you try to move to such things.

At most, ask a few quick questions about their backstories to give them some hooks to roleplay and for you to engage their roleplaying. For example, ask them to name a relative of their characters that they like. Then set up an opportunity for them to use that relative for an advantage in the game. DON'T kidnap or threaten the relative at this point. That will just convince them that having a backstory is only a disadvantage and will discourage the sort of behavior you are trying to encourage.