The R in rpg

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don't think the DM is so much encouraging this behavior as he is being swept along in the tidal wave of it. DMs generally want to encourage role-play, so when you get someone who is doing it, you go along with it. But unless he's really on the ball, he may simply not notice what is happening until it's too late.

 

[Sunseeker]

I don't think the DM is so much encouraging this behavior as he is being swept along in the tidal wave of it. As a DM, you want to encourage role-play, so when you get someone who is doing it, you go along with it. But unless he's really on the ball, he may simply not notice what is happening until it's too late.

In my particular case, he was. It wasn't realy "encouraging role-play" because role-play exists within bounds. We're playing a tabletop game, not reenacting Macbeth, and he was very much attempting to get us to RP every moment of the game. It was excrutiating.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

In my particular case, he was. It wasn't realy "encouraging role-play" because role-play exists within bounds. We're playing a tabletop game, not reenacting Macbeth, and he was very much attempting to get us to RP every moment of the game. It was excrutiating.

What gaming system were you playing? Once you call it a table top, to me at least, you have crossed over from playing a RPG to playing a board game.

 

[Sunseeker]

What gaming system were you playing? Once you call it a table top, to me at least, you have crossed over from playing a RPG to playing a board game.

Don't split hairs. Table-top game is a regularly used phrase in regards to everything from Monoply to D&D because these games are generally played on top of tables.

And it was 4e a bit over a year back.

EDIT: sorry if that first line was a bit harsh Doc, if you're not familiar with that phrase, my bad. I'm posting here and on a politics forum where users regularly pull such phrase-splitting maneuvers.

 

[Umbran]

Once you call it a table top, to me at least, you have crossed over from playing a RPG to playing a board game.

Doc, around here "table top" is what many use to differentiate between what most of us are doing with D&D from computer RPGs, play-by-post rpgs, or live-action RPGs, and so on. "Tabletop" merely denotes that we are talking about a game akin to the standard "everyone around the dining room table".

 

[Hussar]

Sure, we can focus on how dysfunctional things can get if taken to extremes or if a player is neurotic about something, but that's not the only way things can work and the existance of extremes shouldn't be used to condemn an entire aspect of RPGs.

Totally agree. I like role players and I like roll players and I particularly like those who are capable of doing both at the same time.

As you said, anything taken to an extreme starts to suck.

 

[DumbPaladin]

I can tell from this comment that you've rarely played with a decent role-player.

Myth #1: Good role-players are interested in tedious details.

Myth #2: Roleplayers are self-centered.:

Myth #3: Roleplayers primarily want to talk to the DM.:

I pretty much agree with all these "myths" ... what is considered tedious to Captain Killcrazy is pretty much anything remotely resembling RP, so I can't really come to an agreement with someone with that viewpoint about what SHOULD be roleplayed and what shouldn't.

About 3 sessions ago, an entire hour passed where my character wasn't in the room, and an extended RP scene happened between other characters (specifically, a date). I never had so much fun sitting back and watching something else happen ... I think a GOOD roleplayer doesn't want center stage all the time, or even most of the time.

As for roleplay with the DM ... if he wants to engage my character, that's great, but I have 5 other characters in the party to talk to, and I do on a regular basis, whether the DM is paying attention or not. I've spent hours roleplaying brief conversations with other players when the DM isn't even paying attention, or doesn't notice it until it's over ... who cares? I enjoyed it. I wasn't doing it for the DM's benefit.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Do you play a role playing game or a roll playing game? Or do you try your best to do both?

If you pick one or the other do you sit back and disengage from the game with the other R shows up?

If you are playing D&D 4e, at the very least you are Roll-Playing. The mechanics are 100% those of a tactical game about small scale skirmishes in a fantasy setting.

How much roleplay you'll piggyback on that system (both during and between encounters) is up to you. I try for a fair bit because I want to care about my PCs struggles.

 

[Aus_Snow]

If you are playing D&D 4e, at the very least you are Roll-Playing. The mechanics are 100% those of a tactical game about small scale skirmishes in a fantasy setting.

Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Insight... there might be others that I can't recall. edit: Was Streetwise another?

Skill Challenges.

Some of the rituals? Again, I can't remember. Only read the first round of corebooks once, and that was a while back now...

 

[pemerton]

If you are playing D&D 4e, at the very least you are Roll-Playing. The mechanics are 100% those of a tactical game about small scale skirmishes in a fantasy setting.

How much roleplay you'll piggyback on that system (both during and between encounters) is up to you. I try for a fair bit because I want to care about my PCs struggles.

I agree that playing 4e very much requires engaging with the mechanical elements of the game. And those are dice and maths heavy.

I'll contest your 100% tactical skirmishes. There are also skill challenges, which have more roleplaying (= engagement with the fictional situation) built into them. And even the tactical game has elements of roleplaying (again, = engagement with the fictional situation) built in, via the movement and positioning rules at least.

I agree that getting more thematic stuff going requires building a fair bit on top of that mechanical base, but I think the base provides a good starting point for the piggybacking - lots of races, gods, and even powers (at least for paladins, warlocks etc) with strong thematic hooks built in. And at least some aspects of monster and encounter design also help motivate character-based roleplaying, because of the sorts of choices (who to help, and how, for example) that the game tends to force upon players in the course of playing out an encounter.

So while I agree the PC build and combat game could be played as a pure wargame, I think it tends to encourage something more.