Can the DM drive roleplaying?

[Dagger75]

If the DM doesn't roleplay the encounter why should I. Thats how I feel. Same with everything else, if I write a background history and everything and DM doesn't use why should I care to try to make up motivations and quirks for my character. So yeah the DM can and does drive the roleplaying aspect of the game.

 

[Umbran]

The butt-kicker is second-hardest, but doable if you can find some way to reward social interaction with combat. Didn't say it would be easy, just doable...

Well, not so hard, actually, if oyu can setup with malice of forethought -

Place the game in a culture that recognizes dueling as a form of conflict resolution, but have there be social mores about how things start. You can't just go rip the guy's throat out with your teeth - you have to go through the motions first...

If I can come up with that one in less than a minute, I'm sure there's plenty of other solutions

As a general rule, having there be nasty reprecussions to wanton violence is a good way to encourage role-play. If your game is set up so that simply attacking each obstacle is likely to be a bad idea for some reason or other, players learn to pick their fights more carefully. Maybe the city guard is tough and likely to hunt them down. Maybe fights are deadly. Maybe the world is status-quo, so that the players never know if they're facing a 1 hit die orc or a 20th level fighter orc. Maybe the party's patron is a political figure that has to look good, or what have you. Just lean towards making violence a measured, considered response, rather than the default response.

 

[Celebrim]

As a general rule, having there be nasty reprecussions to wanton violence is a good way to encourage role-play. If your game is set up so that simply attacking each obstacle is likely to be a bad idea for some reason or other, players learn to pick their fights more carefully.

This is a very good point.

Alot of time DM's complain about how thier players are only interested in busting doors down, bashing things, and taking thier treasure. But if you've set up things so that every problem can be adquately solved by busting down doors, bashing someone, and taking its treasure, then what do you expect to happen?

One thing I like to do early in a campaign is set up an encounter with something which is totally beyond the player's abilities to handle in combat, and which - for whatever reason - just wants to talk with the PC's or be left alone or barter or what not. If the PC's aren't terrified and try to attack, then I have the uber-thing toy with them (a powerful creature taking the total defence action is pretty hard to hit), disarm them, cast non-lethal spells on them (charm, web, hold person, sleep, etc.), or deal massive ammounts of subdual damage, and maybe engage in some petty robbery (whatever is appropriate). I have had total party knockouts early in some games. The lesson I'm trying to instill in as gentle of way as possible is that I don't expect the characters to deal with every problem in my game by trying to be the first beatdown, and that the fact that they don't immediately have to roll for initiative should often be seen as an oppurtunity to avoid the fight if they can rather than an oppurtunity to try to get the jump on something. 'Total Party Knockout' teaches the lesson next time you do that you could all be dead.

 

[IronWolf]

I certainly think a DM can drive roleplaying. Making your NPC's dynamic and playing them in 1st person can certainly encourage it. Theatrical combats can help everyone get into the swing of it.

Now I think it makes things much easier if you have some players in the group that are good RP'ers already as it gives you someone to work with to lead by example.

With that said, this is one of my areas I need to work on, making myself a better roleplayer.

 

[Oryan77]

I've never had any luck with getting players to get involved with their PC's more & roleplay them better if they don't already enjoy roleplaying.

What I mean is, if they already try to roleplay and have fun, I've given them advice on how to roleplay even better. They'll like getting advice and will actually try to play their PC even better than they already do.

But for the ones that don't do much roleplaying unless they are forced to, they never change. They might try, but I never even notice a difference in their roleplaying. I still end up forcing them into a roleplaying scenario. Some people just can't do it, or don't care to.

 

[diaglo]

i am a referee. i let the players decide what they want to do. and i ref.

roleplay is upto the group.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

My experience is that no, the DM cannot drive the roleplaying. We can facilitate, encourage and reward it but it takes a player to spark it up.

 

[MonsterMash]

I'd say you can't really drive it, but you can reward it and usually I try to.

 

[gizmo33]

i am a referee. i let the players decide what they want to do. and i ref.

I second this.

I think it comes down to playing styles. People play DnD for different reasons and not everyone has an interest in RPing. Some of the posts in this thread assume that it's a matter of skill or knowledge, and if players are just rewarded for RPing they'll do so. This ignores the possibility that they might not enjoy RPing, or perhaps not to the extent that the DM would wish, or perhaps not in the style (1st person vs. 3rd person) that the DM would wish. So now you're going to hand out XP awards for the style in which a player would like to play the game? I suppose that to some extent that's your choice as a DM, but I think some players just aren't going to understand the criteria by which you are judging the situation. Ultimately I think this issue is best handled outside of the game, with perhaps a conversation on styles of DnD.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

You can do little things to encourage it, but the players have to want to.

Have the Monsters act emotionally at times, rather than cooly tactically. I ran a siege where the goblin army let a troll loose to knock down the town gates - the troll got distracted by a PC using a fire spell on him, and spent the rest of the fight trying to get at the guy who had hurt him, ignoring his original intent.

Setting up situations where fighting is a bad idea works, too. Give the PC's fights that they can win, but if they fight they bring worse reprisal down on them than if they don't.

Festivals where jousts and footlists are going on are great to get the bruisers into it. Treat it like a pro wrestling match, with opponents taunting each other and living through the (non-lethal) fights.