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Message: <blockquote data-quote="swrushing" data-source="post: 1893006" data-attributes="member: 14140">IMX player will do two things... what their last Dm taught them to do and what you, now as their current GM, teach them to do.You as Gm tell them what to do in combat two ways...1. By how you run your NPCs. if your NPC move like minis on a map grid and you speak of them in wargame tactical mode- "he takes a 5' step and flanks you and swings"- they will pick that up. in instead you describe it as "The hulking brute moves closer, crowding you up against his comrade, and with a black toothed grin, he raises his axe..." then they will pick that up from you.2. In what your system, mechanically speaking, rewards and punishes. if you use a rather complex system which puts much tactical emphasis on position (flanking, AoOs) and little on style, then expect your players to learn from that. After all, you, by the bonuses and penalties you hand out, are showing them what is important. Say the barbarian gets hit and hit good. if the barbarian's player says "Leon runs his hand across the bleeding cut on his face, looks at the blood and licks it off with a smile before raoring back at the ogre..." do you charge the barbarian a half action for the blood schtick (hope not) or give him an intimidate roll as a free action and if he rolls good give him a +1 (or maybe +2) to hit the startled ogre? (Hope so, if thats the kind of stuff you want to encourage.) if you show your players that "style matters", that "in character flourishes" inside of combat will earn as much or more of a practical bonus as the "precise movement of wargame minis" will, then you will get back what you sow, probably several times over.Consider the rules you use, where you can tone down the tactical benefits and consider things you want to see done "as roleplaying" and start doing it yourself and ALSO start giving players at the table bonuses for doing it. CAUTION: Do NOT under any circumstances get that order reversed. you do NOT want to start having your bad guys do the snarling overacting style bits and introduce the "bonuses for style" by giving your NPCs the benefits first. Once your players are into the style thing and reaping the benefits, they wont mind you giving the NPCs "their fare shake." But if the first time they hear about "style bonuses" is as a bonus the NPCs get, they will probably let you hear about it. In a system</blockquote>

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