Need Help With Roleplaying, I Seem to be in a D&D Rut

[Sargon the Kassadian]

Disclaimer: I am also a teenager in a group with teenagers

Can't seem to get into a groove, my roleplaying falls flat. Advice, friendly comments, or laughter at my sad state of affairs welcome!

P.S. It might just be that I suck at D&D...

 

[Bodah]

Well, from my own experience with roleplaying troubles.. try any of the following:

1.) first, obviously, have a concept. Remind yourself often how your character would respond to things, and percieve things. Rather than how you would. I know this one is obvious, but it does truly help to remind yourself of it.

2.) It used to help me back in the day to think from a 'novel sense' Often people get #1 above down, but still roleplay using words and mannerisms of themselves, rather than the character. I would try to think of what I'd be writing about my character doing, and then just using that out loud. This one may be sorta of confusing it. Its kind of hard for me to explain. I used it mostly because I write alot. Any format could work though, if your character was in a movie, how would he be saying things and behaving? This practice helped me because it puts the character into a totally imaginary state, its just a matter of taking him out of that and applying it to current game events.

The teenager thing could make it a bit rough though. If you have some hardcore roleplayers in the group than its easier. One thing I often notice with teenage groups though, is that everyone is embarassed to roleplay fully. Those that do want to roleplay keep it a minimum, because no one else is doing it, and they dont want to be singled out or critcized. If this is the case I'd try to reccommend to the other players to get into it also. That way if its embarassing, at least you are all having fun laughing at it together, rather than a single player being laughed at. Of course if some of the players are already good RP'ers than this shouldnt be a problem at all for you. Good luck.

 

[wedgeski]

Disclaimer: I am also a teenager in a group with teenagers

Can't seem to get into a groove, my roleplaying falls flat. Advice, friendly comments, or laughter at my sad state of affairs welcome!

P.S. It might just be that I suck at D&D...

Doubtful. I've been playing and DM'ing for 20 years or so and am still not entirely comfortable roleplaying under certain conditions. However, I've found the best way to put players at ease as a DM is, simply, to roleplay to them. Even if they're not comfortable, or are trying and falling a little flat, I keep at it, and I never, ever, *ever* criticise. It's all a matter of patience.

So, I guess what I'm saying is you need to ask your DM to help out a bit. Get him/her to encourage the rest of the group to put the same effort in that you are (assuming they're not). Other than that, just keep plugging away.

How does everyone else in your group do? Better or worse?

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Like Bodah says, try and find a good concept of character. I would try and stay away from a character concept that is too much like yourself, or you might find it difficult to keep your own reactions different from your character's. I know one person whose characters are always a very strong reflection of himself and he often has that problem.

If you are playing in an ongoing campaign and cannot try other characters, you may have some trouble. I have found that certain characters "click" nicely when I try and roleplay them, while others that I have tried, even though I think they are well thought out, fall flat.

Best thing you can do is just keep trying, and if you have some people in your group who are very good at roleplaying, watch how they do it closely and then see if you can do the same. I've found for most people that good roleplaying is something that takes experience, and some people never get great at it, just keep in mind the pbject of the game is to have fun.

 

[Ghostknight]

Hmm, last time I checked being a teenager was hardly a criminal offense. Of course, from what I remember of my teenage years (aargh, I am getting way too old), embarrassment was far easier to achieve.

Anyways, my tips would go along the lines that others have suggested:

Choose a charcter concept (rather than a cool set of abilities)
Design a character to fit that concept, even though it may not be the optimised set of abilities.
As part of the character creation process write up a character history, use that to decide on is motivations, goals, family etc.
Try to keep away from the cliche - "I was orphaned when orcs killed my tribe and now I adventure to kill all orcs and avenge my family" The character history can be varied, and provide direction for your character.
If physical play acting/accents aren't your thing, don't do them! The game needs to be fun and not everyone is into acting style role playing. Rather let your characters actions show his personality and goals, let those in between combat scenes be something significant instead of just collect the gold from the king and find the next adventure (of course you need a DM who will support this style of play)

Just my 2c worth, hope something is of use to you.

 

[Sargon the Kassadian]

Thanks!

Thanks for the help everyone. All your suggestions hit me close to home. I especially like the one about thinking about it like writing, as I am an amateur writer myself. I don't know, however, if I can come up with stuff on the spot well enough. That may be my weakness.
Any more advice?

 

[cybertalus]

Have you considered having your character keep a journal, which you would actually write up between sessions? I did this once, and while it was a lot of work (I found it impossible to do without taking detailed notes during the session, so it felt a bit like being back in school), I really discovered my character's personality through his journal. That in turn made it much easier for me to roleplay him.

 

[babomb]

If you have trouble coming up with stuff on the spot, try joining a play-by-post/play-by-email game. You have plenty of time to think about what to say, and the practice might help you come up with stuff faster in your normal game.

 

[Bodah]

If you have trouble coming up with stuff on the spot, try joining a play-by-post/play-by-email game. You have plenty of time to think about what to say, and the practice might help you come up with stuff faster in your normal game.

This is very good advice, when it comes to helping you come up with stuff in a normal game.

The thing that actually helped me most in coming up with on the spot character stuff, was DMing. Not sure about your past experiences with DMing, whether you do it at all, etc. After I got some experience DMing it seemed to help me a great deal when it came to anything on the spot, including character behavior, and all that other stuff.

 

[SpringPlum]

I don't know, however, if I can come up with stuff on the spot well enough. That may be my weakness.
Any more advice?

That was my weakness for a long time. I was a newbie in a game with some very experienced roleplayers. Well, I got nervous and self-concious and turned into a lump in the corner who just roled dice for combat. I wasn't willing to just jump in and contribute because I was so worried about saying something stupid. Also I had a character that I didn't like but for some reason I thought that making a new one meant that I was a failure. Silly me

One thing that helped me get over nervousness was that I tried MU*ing for a little while. When you game online, you have to jump in or you get ignored. But you know what, it doesn't matter if they think you're silly. You never have to see the people and if they're mean you just find another game. After a month or so, I got better at thinking of things to say in our tabletop game.

My best advice--if you have something to say, say it! The others in my game say stupid things but no one cares. We're friends and we want to help each other.