Role-Players vs. Actors

[Hussar]

Heh. Good, [MENTION=4937]Celebrim[/MENTION], you took that in good fun. Posting can be tricky sometimes and I didn't want to rub things the wrong way.

That being said, again, I don't see it as my job to move anyone "out of their comfort zone". That zone is comfortable for a reason and I have zero interest in trying to push anyone in any direction. If they want to go all thespian on me, great. If they want to say, "I diplomatize the NPC" that's equally fantastic.

To me, it's not about entertaining me. It's about knowing that I provided a fun experience for the group. If everyone is happy, I'm happy. I don't need the players to entertain me.

Then again, I do not view D&D as any sort of "art". It's a game. I just played Cribbage with a buddy for three hours over beer. It was pretty much the same experience as a 3 hour D&D session. Lots of fun. I don't treat D&D as a learning or growth experience. It's my fun time to unwind and decompress. Accepting how others want to engage the game has led to me having a much, much better time at the table.

 

[dragoner]

In other words, if you aren't going to get into character in the same way that thespian-type players do, what are some goods ways to still contribute to immersion?

Both get rewarded in different ways, but both are real archetypes of people; the real question is what to do when the player goes off on an speech that has nothing to do with the situation? How does one handle that?

 

[S'mon]

Both get rewarded in different ways, but both are real archetypes of people; the real question is what to do when the player goes off on an speech that has nothing to do with the situation? How does one handle that?

"Let's move on"?

I have to say though I have never encountered this issue!

 

[dragoner]

"Let's move on"?

I have to say though I have never encountered this issue!

Count your lucky stars? Just kidding. However, the let's move approach I feel sometimes is more just discouraging in general, which I don't want to do. They are not being malevolent like the one player who decides to not go in the dungeon when everyone else goes; they just are attention deficit in a way that some other idea interrupts their chain of thought. They are with the group, and going along, only not on the same page, as it were.

 

[pemerton]

One area I am particularly sympathetic to abstracting it to a die roll is romance - not too uncommon for a male player to be keen on a romance sub plot but not keen on playing out the courtship in character!

There's certainly an intermediate possibility here - the player can describe elements of the courthsip, which help frame checks etc beyond just "I woo VIolette", without having to actually narrate "Oh Violette, your hazel eyes do move me so . . . " etc.

 

[MNblockhead]

There's certainly an intermediate possibility here - the player can describe elements of the courthsip, which help frame checks etc beyond just "I woo VIolette", without having to actually narrate "Oh Violette, your hazel eyes do move me so . . . " etc.

This.

There are some characters, such as those that are exceptionally wise, witty, threatening, evil, good, in ways that I could never convey convincingly. Trying to improv such character's talk would destroy immersion. But that doesn't mean that I have to settle with "I threaten him." You can describe the threat without having to act it out.

 

[Lanefan]

Both get rewarded in different ways, but both are real archetypes of people; the real question is what to do when the player goes off on an speech that has nothing to do with the situation? How does one handle that?

If it's in-character and has something to do with what's going on in the fiction, even if it's just a conversation with another character, I handle it by letting it go on more or less as long as it wants to. To me this sort of thing is part of the entertainment.

But if it's out-of-character e.g. a long discourse on last night's hockey game, then on we move ASAP.

 

[Hussar]

If it's in-character and has something to do with what's going on in the fiction, even if it's just a conversation with another character, I handle it by letting it go on more or less as long as it wants to. To me this sort of thing is part of the entertainment.

But if it's out-of-character e.g. a long discourse on last night's hockey game, then on we move ASAP.

Heh, it all does come down to what you want out of the game, yeah?

For me, as a player, if another player decides to go on and on in an in character conversation, I'm pretty much checked out after a pretty short time. I just don't care. Sorry, but, I don't. My gaming time is extremely limited. I get my 3 hours a week, and that's it. Spending an extended time on stuff that isn't really moving the game ahead bores me to tears. Ok, you've talked to that NPC, let's move on.

Not that I'm in any way saying anyone else is wrong here. Just that for me, spending significant amounts of time on the "in character conversation" is about as much fun as watching paint dry.

 

[Sadras]

Sadly RL time constraints are a thing so I'm with @Hussar on this. Currently I'm only getting roughly 6 hours per campaign a month (2 campaigns). I try as best to harry my players during combat or during the making of decisions by organising their thoughts quickly and framing their options.

Our entire session last time included, (1) apportioning several magical items amongst the characters, (2) a brief montage journey to Nerovain's Stronghold (RoT), (3) general exploration within the stronghold including setting off two traps, (4) a combat involving the cultists and 3 Ettins (played humourously and very dim-witted), (5-6) an extended and tactical ToM combat with an adult Green Dragon who successfully fled into an underground lake connecting two caverns after being bloodied in its first encounter with the PCs and then spent HD healing itself to full only to engage with the PCs some 45-game minutes later while they were leaving as well as (7) a final social exchange leading to a discovery/story-line twist.
The above, as well as a quick supper break, took us all the way from 5:45pm - 1:00am.
For this campaign that is our only D&D for the month of March.

So I'm all ok for actor stances but not for any frivolous time-wasting.

 

[S'mon]

For me, as a player, if another player decides to go on and on in an in character conversation, I'm pretty much checked out after a pretty short time. I just don't care. Sorry, but, I don't. My gaming time is extremely limited. I get my 3 hours a week, and that's it. Spending an extended time on stuff that isn't really moving the game ahead bores me to tears.

As GM I tend to do this stuff at the very end of the session, so anyone bored can leave!