Having trouble getting into character

[TwilightWhisper]

I have a problem. I'm one of the gamers that will sit completely quiet until something actually happens. It comes from years of Monty Haul and hack-and-slash playing. If I can have some help from you guys, or maybe you guys can direct me to some websites, it would help.

 

[Laman Stahros]

Need more info!

What type of character do you play (race/class)?
What campaign setting do you play in?

 

[jollyninja]

i've often found that the easyest way to do this is to actually sit down and make the character more then a set of stats on a character sheet. figure out where he is from, who his friends were growing up, his family, who did he apprentice with, what are his goals. make the character a person. then i ask myself the same question constantly: what would he do right now? the key to good roleplaying is to make your character a role, not just stats. once you can do that, leaving what you would do behind and seeing what the character would do, you, grasshopper, can be a most excellent roleplayer. for examples, pick up an old adventure at a used rpg product store and check out some of the npc descriptions. start doing that for your character every once in awhile. going over his accomplishments and goals, his opinions ect.... to many people just pick an allignment and make every character the same every time they pick it. no two chaotic neutrals should be the same or you are doing it wrong.

at least that's how i do it.

edit: or you could just check out the downloads at the wotc site for an old adventure or setting enhancement book ie cormyr, read the high level npc descriptions and do the same for your character on a smaller scale. ie in stead of running a kingdom effectively, he wants to keep old man jensen from marrying betty sue mahoney and is willing to go how far to do it?

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Create some goals ...

The best thing you can do to drive role-play is to create some goals. You can do this for yourself, for you and one or two other PCs, or for the whole group.

Start slow, and don't be afraid to go with clichés. Maybe you're seeking information, or wealth, or fame, or the famous Bloodcleaver, the waraxe said to have been wielded by a legendary Dwarven hero millenia ago. Maybe your goal is to avoid being found by someone. It doesn't really matter. Things to keep in mind:

(1) Talk to your DM, and make sure he or she is aware of the goal(s).

(2) It's more fun if at least some of your goals are actually attainable.

(3) Secret goals will tend to drive role-playing for you, while overt goals will tend to drive RP for the whole group.

(4) Make sure your goals are in-character, not solely out-of-character. An out-of-character goal to join an obscure prestige class nobody in the campaign has yet heard of is fine ... but it won't produce any RP until the DM introduces that prestige class.

(5) Don't use your goals as an excuse to monopolize the DM's time. Use them to drive RP between you and the other characters, especially when the DM is otherwise occupied.

 

[Three_Haligonians]

cheers, mate!

Sorry, I know this is off topic, but, jollyninja cheers on our avatars! Don't know if you know Keiths or not, but heres a 'glasses up' from Eastern Canada!

T, R, and J from Three Haligonians

 

[Whimsical]

I'm not a natural roleplayer, and I'm introverted, so I have been in your place also. What I have done in the past is to select a TV or movie personality and model my character's personality on that personality. Most recently, I have adapted Survivor's Sue Hawk for my female dwarven barbarian/cleric and it has worked well for me. She is pushy, demanding, critical of everything, but very loyal to her husband, a dwarven barbarian PC. I have also used Survivor's Rudy Boerch personality for a dwarven defender.

Another resource that has helped me greatly in role playing characters who are not like me is the personality book Please Understand Me II. It details sixteen personalities and they way they act and react to a variety of life situations. Not only have I been able to use this in real life to understand others but it has greatly enhanced my ability to role play characters in role-playing games. If you don't want to get the book, then using the astrology descriptions of each type of people born under each sign can also be a useful resource to model RPG personalities to.

After you have selected a personality, forge it into a character by answering the following twenty questions. They start off easy then get more involved as they go along.

1. What is the color of the character's hair, eyes, and skin?
2. What is the character's general appearace? Does the character stand erect or stooped? Dress anachronistically, stylishy, or inauspiciously? Look intimidating or casual? What might someone seeing the character for the first time think?
3. Where was the character born?
4. What is the character's age?
5. What was the character's family life like?
6. Has the character begun his own family?
7. When or how was the character educated?
8. Has the character ever done anything else for a living?
9. What about the character's political and religious beliefs?
10. What is the character's moral code?
11. Does the character have any goals?
12. What is the character's personality?
13. What special qualities does the character posess? This doesn't necessarily refer to skills, but to what the character can do well. Does he get along well with other people? Is he skilled at taking care of business? Prioritizing tasks? Planning ahead?
14. Are there certain things the character just cannot do? Get close to people? Perceive himself realistically?
15. What does the character hate?
16. What does the character love?
17. What is the character's full name? Nicknames?
18. How does the character perceive government? Those who are opposed to the government?
19. How does the character interact with other members of the group? Are they protective of some members? Has the character developed a rivalry with another character? Are there any romantic interests the character would like to pursue?
20. How did the character gain his abilites? What was his first reaction? What motivates him to act as a hero now?

After you have done this, see how you can integrate your character into the GMs game. Tie your character somehow to the major NPCs, organizations, region, and the plot of the game. Ask your GM if your character could be related to an NPC of the game, or if the featured organization has done something good or bad for you or your family. Try to think of ways on how and why your character is involved with the story or campaign. You may have to work backwards on this point by first determining what your GM is trying to do with his game, then create a charcter that would logically be in the center of all of it. Or just show your GM all of your character-building efforts and ask him to find ways to attach your character to his game so that you can be more personally involved in it.

If you are having a hard time tying your character to the game, either because the GM isn't willing to do so or he doesn't want to reveal what going to happen in the game, then tie your character to one or more of the player characters. That is what I did when I created my female dwarven barbarian/cleric. I selected a fellow player and decided that my character was married to his, after getting his OK for this. I asked him what his character was and build my character around his. Of course, there are other types of relationships. Siblings, cousins, parent-child, mentor-student, fellow apprentice, best friends who are also rivals, ex-friends, ex-couple, etc. This gives you a connection to another PC which can generate a lot of roleplaying opportunities. Plus, you have a player who has your back to a greater degree than the random stranger who joined your adventuring party.

These are the elements that have increased my partipation and enjoyment of role playing games, and have granted me some hard-earned ranks in playing roles that overcome my below-average Charisma and lack of roleplaying talent.

 

[TwilightWhisper]

I have a couple characters, all of them have good backgrounds but they all seem like wallflowers. The only time my githyanki is called upon is when they need my Holy Mercurial Greatsword to carve a scar in some poor sods meatbag. It's not my teams fault. I always have a problem trying to roleplay. I DM on a regular basis. I think what it is, is that I have become a control freak and cannot handle *not* being in control of a game. What can I do about this. It sounds like I need to let people be aware of this so they can help me. What do you guys/girls think? Can you help?

Thank you Whimsical. That helped some.

 

[Whimsical]

Developing character backgrounds isn't enough. They don't do anything if the GM doesn't make the effort to incorporate the player's characters into his game. Many GMs just create adventure for any four or six characters, just as if they were running a published module. Their adventures don't take into account who the characters are, and therefore are difficult for the players to connect with. My recommendation is that you use some Gather Information, Sense Motive, and Diplomacy on your DM so that he will be motivated to incorporate at least your character into what is going on in the game. And because you used Sense Motive on your DM, he will be more likely to do so because you have crafted your character specifically for the kind of game the DM is trying to run.

Another roleplaying tool that I use is when I encounter a situation where there is a variety of ways to react to it, I roll a d10 to determine what my character thinks about it. For example, in one game we started out in a prison cell and have escaped and are currently in a survival mode. We have encountered items, such as bags and leather armor made from human skin. I knew my opinion on the matter, but realized that my character may have her own opinion. So, I rolled a d10 to determine "on a scale of one to ten, what do you think about this?" and rolled a 10. I determined that my character finds the use of such items made from human victims to be absolutly horrid, offends one of her core values, and would rather die than use these items. Something that I wouldn't have been able to come up with on my own because I would tend to insert my own perceptions into my character by default. This roll result, of course, resulted in a large roleplaying opportunity which I have used to a great degree.

 

[Bigwilly]

Find a hook

Developing a character background is good, but what I try to do is find a single hook or concept for the character and the rest tends to grow from there.

Simple hooks for a fighter could be that the character will always charge into combat without regard for the odds - although this PC might not last long. Then you can start to work on why he does this and gradually his personality will emerge as you play.

Current PCs I have include a LG human fighter, his defining concept is noble commander - I don't have much else to go on for the moment, but whenever I need to make a choice in the game I try to think what would he do based on this concept.

Another fighter PC is a gnome knife fighter. He learned his skills on the docks of his hometown, so is much more of an easygoing character with links to the shadier NPCs in town.

So I have two very different PCs. Obviously attributes and feats play a role in defining these PCs as well, but even they reflect the concept, so the Human is a traditional longsword and shield man with high STR and CON while the gnome is a dex-based fighter specialising in TWF. The noble human also has skill points in diplomacy, while the gnome is a good swimmer.

 

[sir_ollibolli]

If you are afraid of letting go of your control of the situation, try to become the group's leader and decision maker. That way you still keep the reigns (internally that is), and you are forced to explain and/or argue decisions with the others.

Perhaps an interlude in an githynaki outpost forces your character to do the negotiations and supports your bid for leadership.

The other reason may be, that you are content to sit with the group and let the story slide by (just being a watcher). Mastering forces you to sculpt the story, but when you are not the one who forms it, you sit back adn enjoy the show. I was starting out like that, but mastering helped a lot, or co-mastering and just being some NPC's. The dialogue brings you forward...