AH great points one and all but the reason for my question...they asked for more RP, so I have descibed it to them and given them many many examples. My oldest friend who plays has a "scottish" sounding dwarf he is famous for so he has given a slight demonstration. So my thought was I should find some more examples and let them read them, but its proven harder to find than I expected.
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Role Playing
- Thread starter Aremis69
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Traveon Wyvernspur
First Post
Oh okay, I see why now. Thanks for clarifying. Yeah, just take the advice that we've given you so far and check out those links I provided yesterday to you and see if those help them "get into character" better.
Another piece of advice I'd like to toss your way is to set the scene as the DM, be very specific with certain scenes that are important to your campaign. What I mean by this is to really delve into the the nitty gritty of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, textures, etc. I usually do this in places that have something specific in them perhaps a macduffin of some sort that you want your players to find.
Example:
You walk from the dank musty smelling hallway into a room filled with books, the smell is of musty old leather and parchment. You see cobwebs strewn about and hear the skittering and squealing of rats as they bolt for their nests. Within this seeming ancient library, there is a small candle on an old rotted desk lit and a few papers strewn about it as if someone was here recently, the wax is pooling at the bottom of the candle holder and the candle is flickering as a breeze enters the room from the doorway that you are standing in...
Don't know if you've tried stuff like this before utilizing the senses and really painting the picture in your players' heads about what they are encountering. I do it for monsters, powerful NPCs, places, and other things that I think are important to the story.
Another piece of advice I'd like to toss your way is to set the scene as the DM, be very specific with certain scenes that are important to your campaign. What I mean by this is to really delve into the the nitty gritty of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, textures, etc. I usually do this in places that have something specific in them perhaps a macduffin of some sort that you want your players to find.
Example:
You walk from the dank musty smelling hallway into a room filled with books, the smell is of musty old leather and parchment. You see cobwebs strewn about and hear the skittering and squealing of rats as they bolt for their nests. Within this seeming ancient library, there is a small candle on an old rotted desk lit and a few papers strewn about it as if someone was here recently, the wax is pooling at the bottom of the candle holder and the candle is flickering as a breeze enters the room from the doorway that you are standing in...
Don't know if you've tried stuff like this before utilizing the senses and really painting the picture in your players' heads about what they are encountering. I do it for monsters, powerful NPCs, places, and other things that I think are important to the story.
My advice: Go with an earlier edition of the game. I have found, starting around 3rd edition D&D, mechanics have become prominent. There is a dice throw for everything, official, in the rules.
Try going with the 1E AD&D rules. It's much less "I roled a 17...what do I know?" and more about the give and take between GM and player. Players had to ask questions. GMs answer with description. Remove a lot of the dice rolling, and the game lends itself better to role playing.
It's just a better rule structure in which to RP.
Example....
A simple situation where two characters are standing in a field and they hear howl--maybe an animal howl.
In 3E+, the DM may secretly (or not so secretly) throw a Listen check for both PCs to see if either heard the howl.
Let's say that one did. The player will say, "I want to see if I recognize the animal....I'll roll on my Knowledge (Nature) skill."
And, the game proceeds, sometimes rather dryly, under similair parameters.
In a 1E AD&D game, the DM probably won't bother with a Listen check. If he does, it's a modified version of the character's Listen at Doors check, because there is no standard roll for hearing things.
This leads to a strictly role-play situation with the GM describing what the PCs hear, see, feel, smell, and touch, while the players react to that.
The rules of the game encourage more roleplaying--because there are less dice throws built into the game--than in 3E+.
In order to take advantage of that, change your game version to one of the earlier rule sets.
You'll definitely get more role playing out of it. And, when a players says, "Does my character recognize the type of animal that would make that kind of how, you'll reply with description instead of out-right telling the players what their characters hear.
Try going with the 1E AD&D rules. It's much less "I roled a 17...what do I know?" and more about the give and take between GM and player. Players had to ask questions. GMs answer with description. Remove a lot of the dice rolling, and the game lends itself better to role playing.
It's just a better rule structure in which to RP.
Example....
A simple situation where two characters are standing in a field and they hear howl--maybe an animal howl.
In 3E+, the DM may secretly (or not so secretly) throw a Listen check for both PCs to see if either heard the howl.
Let's say that one did. The player will say, "I want to see if I recognize the animal....I'll roll on my Knowledge (Nature) skill."
And, the game proceeds, sometimes rather dryly, under similair parameters.
In a 1E AD&D game, the DM probably won't bother with a Listen check. If he does, it's a modified version of the character's Listen at Doors check, because there is no standard roll for hearing things.
This leads to a strictly role-play situation with the GM describing what the PCs hear, see, feel, smell, and touch, while the players react to that.
The rules of the game encourage more roleplaying--because there are less dice throws built into the game--than in 3E+.
In order to take advantage of that, change your game version to one of the earlier rule sets.
You'll definitely get more role playing out of it. And, when a players says, "Does my character recognize the type of animal that would make that kind of how, you'll reply with description instead of out-right telling the players what their characters hear.
I don't actually have any solutions for you, except to say: one of the reasons why "Evil" is discouraged as an alignment is that PCs are people who do things. PCs have motivations. PCs have goals. PCs are proactive. To borrow a term from grade 9 English, PCs are the protagonists. All of this is too often conflated with the Good alignment. PCs are trying to shape the world in a way that better suits them, which if they're intelligent, involves many of the precepts of Goodness, and often Law.
Evil is harder because in the grand scheme of things, it's self-destructive. Being evil is not a good way to accomplish long-term goals. If the rock you've been living under has an internet connection, you've already seen the Evil Overlord List.
Evil is harder because in the grand scheme of things, it's self-destructive. Being evil is not a good way to accomplish long-term goals. If the rock you've been living under has an internet connection, you've already seen the Evil Overlord List.
Wednesday Boy
The Nerd WhoFell to Earth
Seconded. I always find it easier to roleplay when the campaign revolves around my character's goals, backstory, relationships, etc. If I play a thief who is on the run after his guild got killed but the GM is running a storebought dungeoncrawl module much of that roleplaying fodder goes to waste.
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