"Roleplaying": Thank you, Mr. Baur

[buzz]

From the latest Adventure Builder column.

Roleplaying Encounter?

One of the strange terms in the D&D game community is "roleplaying encounter," which generally means some kind of talking encounter. However, D&D is a roleplaying game. The Player's Handbook says so in the first sentence: "This is the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game, the game that defines the genre and has set the standard for fantasy roleplaying for more than 30 years." So aren't all encounters roleplaying encounters in a roleplaying game?

Yes, they are.

The word "roleplaying" means "an instance or situation in which one deliberately acts out or assumes a particular character or role" (from www.dictionary.com). When creating and playing a character in D&D, you are always roleplaying because the character is not you.

However, over the years there has grown a mentality in the community of people who play roleplaying games that a "roleplaying" encounter is a talking encounter whereas a combat encounter is a fight. In truth, a "roleplaying" encounter should be called a negotiation encounter or a talking encounter. But, since the majority of the community understands roleplaying to mean talking (as opposed to all the other ways you roleplay your character), this article uses the term "roleplaying encounter" to mean a talking encounter of some kind. Just remember that there are more ways to roleplay a character than merely through talking.

Bless you, sir.

 

[MerricB]

From the latest Adventure Builder column.


Bless you, sir.

Indeed. These are great articles.

Cheers!

 

[Klaus]

Yeah, bless the Wolf!

 

[Odhanan]

From the latest Adventure Builder column.

Bless you, sir.

Excellent.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

I also like the notion that a "roleplaying" encounter is more a "Talking Encounter". An intelligent, and well-written, article.

 

[Ry]

Every book is a children's book, if the kid can read!

 

[Nlogue]

I love the Wolf.

I agree that combat encounters can be roleplayed, and SHOULD be roleplayed...that's what makes them fun.

However, I must raise a point of contension. The reason a lot of people make the afrorementioned differentiation between "roleplaying" and "combat" encounters is clear to me:

Many people STOP roleplaying when the fight begins. The focus goes away from engaging their fellow players and the DM as their character, and they become a strategist staring down at pieces on a board and metagaming the situation as an abstract exercise of tactics and numerical equations.

When you are roleplaying your character in "talking scenes," you are roleplaying because you are stepping into the skin and acting (and reacting) as that character. This can be hindered by combat in my experience...especially when there is a battlemat involved. The battlemat becomes the focus. You can watch people's eye contact vanish as they stare at the table at the pieces they were embodying moments ago. We as players become forces moving "that piece" that is our character. Therefore the portrayal of the role can, and often does, take a backseat to strategy.

When this doesn't happen and the players are totally wrapped up in the heat of the fight, and even making bad (tactically) decisions because they are so into their character is what I truly love about roleplaying combat encounters. Just doesn't happen enough in my experience. This is why I shall NEVER use a battlemat when I DM.

Down with the battlemat.

At least for me.

Bless you if you like the battlemat.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

Okay, was I the only one that thought there would be a reference to "24" in the thread.

And yes, nice excerpt.

 

[blargney the second]

I love the articles that have come out lately that permit a peek behind the curtain. This one is going to help me a lot with my current game!
-blarg

 

[Hussar]

I <3 Wolgang Baur.