What X gets in the way of roleplaying?

[drakhe]

Hmm, I just replied to the "Do you USE/HATE DM Management Software?" thread and it kinda got me thinking.

Every so often, when I'm well settled in character and the whole group is realy grooving, there's these little game related things you have to do that just break the mood of the session or the flow. For instance, I'm currently playing a bard in adnd (celtic type, harp and all) and last session, the rogue of the party wrecked my harp (he thought it a neat practical joke, but removing all the strings and kind of wrecking the whole thing in the process ...) and here I am, being all pissed and playing it out how they destroyed my soul and cut of a limb and getting all worked up about my harp when all of a sudden the DM ask's the rogue to roll some dice. BAM, gone tension, gone the drive. I never made a remark at the table as nobody did anything wrong and the DM was perfectly right to ask the rogue a dex test when he tried to put the strings back on the harp, but inside I was kinda anoyed that my "performance" was stumped, was cut short, and consequently I felt the rest of the session suffered (tho probably it didn't, it was just a feeling).

Any thoughts on that? You DM's out there, do you wait for a player (players) to finish of and ask for a roll afterwards? Do you roll behind the screen to avoid breaking the flow? Oh, and what about this: do you let your players finish a scene and then call a time out to go back a couple a steps and work out dice rolls? (hmm, might actualy be a cool idea to try it this way) Or willl you call out rules and rolls at the instant they occur?

 

[wolfen]

As DM I try to stay out of the way. I would very rarely interrupt a role play. In fact, there are times when I ignore people trying to roll a die because they'd be intruding upon someone's interaction. I will usually wait until the character has fully expressed himself and then turn to player #2 and calmly ask "Ok, what were you wanting to roll?"

Basically, all non-dice related events resolve first (as much as possible) and then dice are rolled. It isn't perfect, but the players seem to get the message that role playing is important. Whereas the games I play in role playing is not always important, and players tend to bark out their dice rolls no matter what is going on.

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

I agree. I feel that excellent roleplay has a mind of its own, and must be allowed to flourish in order to coexist harmoniously with roll-play. When players attempting to roleplay are cut short or ignored, in my experience, those players feel as if their impulses to add flavor to the game are unappreciated, and therefore they will be less likely to display such complete immersion in the future. Complete immersion is an utter necessity, IMO, to obtain the utmost enjoyment from any game session. If an entire session is spent on conversation among PCs, I often go home more satisfied than I would if I had gotten so much combat as to gain an unexpected level.

 

[Thanee]

You DM's out there, do you wait for a player (players) to finish of and ask for a roll afterwards?

Well, of course. Interrupting someone like this is rude.

Unless the player is starting to get annoying by over-roleplaying (hope you know what I mean with that ), then I might drop a hint to get on...

Oh, and what about this: do you let your players finish a scene and then call a time out to go back a couple a steps and work out dice rolls? (hmm, might actualy be a cool idea to try it this way) Or willl you call out rules and rolls at the instant they occur?

The latter, tho not exactly. I prefer to roll first and roleplay the results.

Altho, essentially, I don't have to call for dice rolls usually, as the players do them automatically, when they want to do something.

If done the other way around, which also happens, then the roleplaying just gives some modifiers on the roll and the roll afterwards decides the result. Or the roll is skipped and the result directly related to the roleplaying, IF, and only if, it is within the limits of the character's ability and wouldn't discriminate another player.

Bye
Thanee

 

[BASHMAN]

Soloing!

Nothing ticks me off more than 1 PC stealing the session for himself by soloing. Instead of just buying and selling stuff like the rest of teh party during the "break" from adventuring, these people have to go off on another adventure by themself. During the middle of the session. WHile everyone else has to wait for their thing to be over.

We had a PC who would seperate from the party and do this sort of thing EVERY session. Lucky players brought laptops to play videogames, etc while greedy PCs hogged the table time to themselves, but I had no such convenience. I had to sit there and wait.

Instead of just saying, "okay, fine, I will run that with you when everyone else is done," the GM was basically saying: "okay, I will run and adventure for the whole party as soon as John gets to play for 3 or 4 hours by himself."

That is crap. A very long extension of the problem you dealt with earlier-- where our roleplaying is entirely cut off by someone else's.

 

[Goblyn]

I may have missed the point but ...

I find that the social skills sometimes get in the way.

Great bits of roleplaying IME have been diluted to the point of uselessness because of an inopportune '3' rolled, despite a low DC of 15 and a charismatic character with a +11 to diplomacy/intimidate/bluff.

I guess that wouldn't be a problem about players/DMs interrupting or any problem produced by such; just the tyranny of the dice.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

A lot of it depends on your group. Some people don't have any patience for overly dramatic people; perhaps your DM is one of them.

I remember a game where the players dressed up as their characters. We were like, "Uh, yeah, we forgot our costumes in the car. Back in a sec..." tires screeching in the driveway

 

[Goblyn]

That reminds me of...

I remember a game where the players dressed up as their characters. We were like, "Uh, yeah, we forgot our costumes in the car. Back in a sec..." tires screeching in the driveway

I remember when a friend and I were starting a game with a couple of gamers we had never met before. These exact words were said beforehand:

"If anyone's in garb, or if any actual weapons are present, we're leaving."

 

[ThoughtBubble]

I find that players typically get in the way of RP. Laugh if you will, but we've got a whole range of things players can do to destroy a good bit of RP.

1. The guy who doesn't say anything at all, ever.
2. The guy who keeps talking, and gives no room for interplay.
3. The guy who keeps shutting down conversations. "Oh yeah. That's a brilliant idea."
4. The guy who is hyper reluctant about everything. "Well... Ok, if I have to, I guess."
5. The guy who says rude things about other people's decisions. Or anyone who makes someone at the table uncomfortable.
6. The guy who's so skilled and charming that everyone falls into line and looks at him before doing anything.

As far as your situation, offhand, I would guess that someone had thought you'd gone on long enough. Especially the wording "but inside I was kinda anoyed that my "performance" was stumped, was cut short," makes me guess that you had gone a little long.

As a DM, if one player's interacting with another, I'll usually wait around, and see if I can't give the others something to do while they wait (typically, only two people are ever interacting at a time). If an extra long time is being taken on something (typically w/o moving towards a resolution) I'll pull something out (dinner's ready, the prisoner tries to make a break for it, etc), if the more impatient of my players doesn't do something about it first.

 

[wolfen]

Given everyone's subsequent input, allow me to clarify my earlier post.

I give everyone about 5 minutes to come up with something productive in their role play. If they can't manage to engage the interest and attention of the rest of the group, the interaction is postponed for later.

Of course there are exceptions, but those are typically done in 10-15 minutes in another room while I leave the remaining players with some major decision or situation to work out.