New players and roleplaying

[cuteasaurus]

Having been that "newbie" in a group of experienced RPGers, I can say it's hard. While you're learning the rules, RP isn't really on your mind. Now that you say he's "gotten" the rules, he's started to figure out how to use them to do what he wants to do. After this step is the real RP. This will take time (as has already been mentioned), but something that might be nice to know: do you hang out with the players out of game? Is this newbie in this social group as well? RP is hard (even if you really like it) in front of new people and being able to do it is usuaully directly related to your comfort with the group as a whole. Depending on the outside game social dynamics, I'd say it might speed things up to "hang out" with your group so that the newbie has a chance to let down his guard.

 

[Graybeard]

I have two guys in my group who are not much into RPing (yet). One is still fairly new to RPGs (tabletop anyway) so with him, it's amatter of time. He is trying a little each game. The other has been playing for awhile now but all his previous games were more combat with only a little role playing. He is slowly coming around to our way of playing (some combat and a lot of role playing). As long as they try, however little it might be, I'm happy. I figure eventually they will be really into role playing like the rest of us. I also will have NPCs specifically talk to these characters which forces them to do some role playing. I try not to overdo it though. All my PCs are rewarded with role playing XP as well as XP for combat. Just be patient. With some encouragement on your part, your player will begin to role play like the rest of your group.

Chuck