DM: Encouraging More Role-Playing in an RPG

[Fusiox]

I tend to ramble a lot; this next part in quote-format is simply back-story to why I've posted about this issue. I would advise skipping the next part and getting to the real question, unless of course you're interested in my back-story--in which case, I greatly appreciate said interest!

I'm part of a group where the DM's role is passed around a lot; this lets all the players have a chance to experience the game behind and in front of the screen, keeps the ideas fresh between adventures, and makes sure that the DM isn't "burned out" by the increased workload involved in running a game (we're all students, so time is quite short, especially heading towards the end of the school year.)

However, this method has a number of inherent issues; we had to incorporate a "dungeon-of-the-week" episodic campaign in order to tie the often wildly disparate adventures together, meaning continuity is often ruined as the DM role is shifted around.

This is the heart of what is seeming to happen with my game group.

Since there is very little continuity between the sessions, it seems that some of the gamers in my group are "losing focus" and starting to lose immersion in the world, the nation-shattering wars and problems within it--and unfortunately, even with their own characters and the adventures themselves. It's becoming increasingly hard for the current DM to keep the group on track, which is unfortunate because I enjoy the story he's spinning for us.

It will soon be my turn to run the group. I quite enjoy participating in and making stories with detailed characterization and a plot where the stakes are often just as personal and emotionally-driven as they are epic (I've even had to handle romances between the characters in a different party); however, I'm viewing the current situation and it's becoming obvious that such an approach could fall short if the gamers aren't willing to take the world seriously.

I am quite prepared to change the focus of my adventure completely if it doesn't seem to be working at all with the game group, but I think good role-playing is integral to an RPG ("RPG" does stand for "role-playing game," after all), and would rather try to bring back good-old RP'ing rather than simply go along with the "gaming" aspect of RPG's--or worse, scrap the setting if gamers lose interest entirely.

All my dithering aside, what are some effective methods that a DM can employ in order to promote immersion--to tell the players that spending hours making detailed back-stories, belting out archaic speech in hammy voices, viewing the NPCs as real people rather than figments of our group's collective imagination, and taking the time to learn the inconsequential details about the world they roam is in fact a worthwhile task?

Thanks for reading! I apologize for the wall of text, but... well, I tend to really get way too deep into things, as you may have inferred by now.

 

[annonn2]

I don't really have experience with this as whenever my group changes DM, we usually start a new campaign but I'll offer some ideas. How often is the DM role passed around your group? Maybe try to get your players (and their characters) to do something particularly meaningful that affects something in the setting. It could be a morally grey choice that doesn't really have any good outcomes, just have them see that anything they do can seriously affect the world around them. It gives them a goal that can easily span multiple DMs, let alone multiple sessions. Forgive me for this being very long:

For example, in my campaign I had the group hired by a dwarven King to escort his men into what was said to be an abandoned dwarven city. The King however had a hidden agenda; a rival dwarven faction lived in this city, seperated from the rest of the Kingdom for centuries. His plan was to kill the rival dwarves, to avenge an ancestor, using a psionic bomb. Essentially, he was tricking the party into taking this device into the 'abandoned' city.

Eventually they realized they were being tricked and had to decide between desroying the city, and killing the other dwarves, in exchange for unimaginable sums of gold, or destroy the device to save the other dwarves, ensuring they would remain poor for the foreseeable future. Needless to say, they chose to spare the city but, in a series of incidents too convoluted to describe here, the city was destroyed anyway. A war erupted around them, and they recieved little reward for their part, and were forced to continue on. However, theyve had to continuously deal with this issue every so often, which I believe invests the players into the story of the world.

So, my point is, get them invested in the world around them, not just what they are doing at that particular moment. Have things happening behind the scenes, or even in plain sight, that don't have anything to do with that 'main story'. It'll make the world far more interesting to your players. Also, try discussing issues of continuity with your others DMs, and think about ways you can link your adventures together behind the scenes.

 

[Gilladian]

I've been in a situation similar to yours. We did round-robin DMing for about two years. The express purpose (besides just playing) was to give newbie DM's experience DMing without having to take on a whole campaign.

We did two things that you might be able to try to boost cohesion in the overall campaign. First, we set up a world where the adventures all happened in separate worlds; when we changed DM's, we left the main world and entered the new DM's world via a gate device that Farlanghn had created. We had the overall plot of trying to seal these gates as we left each world. And catch the rat-b*tard rogue who was opening them.

Only the main DMs (I and a friend) ran scenarios set in the main world, and we discussed them thoroughly to know how they affected the campaign.

We had a fair amount of player/DM turnover as well as DM changes, but the game still worked, because each scenario began with me or the other main DM (John) giving an outline of what the current world situation was, then handing the reins over to the new DM. 2-5 weeks later, the PCs were back home, and one of us ran a session or two in the main world, before passing the baton again.

I would suggest that if you can somehow "separate" the scenarios your DMs run so they have less impact on the "main world", you may have a better chance of building cohesion and continuity IN that world. People will still treat the NPCs, etc... that they meet "out there" pretty casually, but if they know that what they do "at home" has long-term ramifications, they will start caring more and building those bonds more strongly.

The second thing we did is talk constantly (John and I) about how to USE what happened in the other games in our main world; often we reflected damage in the secondary worlds into the prime world, and if things went well, then conditions at home likewise improved. It was subtle, but players noticed it and liked it. We also sometimes had NPCs cross over - once or twice players rescued someone and brought htem home!

 

[halfjack]

One of the things I've done that helps is to make sure that the characters have relationships -- with NPCs, with unwritten characters (a mother, an uncle, an ex-commander) and that the GM brings these relationships into the game in relevant ways. Ideally some facet of the adventure hooks into or even revolves around one of these relationships.

This does not require extensive backstory! A simple map of people connected with lines annotated with the relationship can quickly reveal a complex set of inter-relationships that will give you all kinds of ideas for complications that will bring up role-playing scenes and potential adventures. Make this map together and you might find players linking NPCs invented by others, and that will make it even cooler.

 

[nedjer]

I keep a site for epic rambling As it happens the current ramble is taking a look at RPGs and the psychology of improvisation, immersive play, intuitive gaming: grace under pressure. It's a sizable topic, so I'm gathering some ideas/ materials in here.

 

[Daztur]

All my dithering aside, what are some effective methods that a DM can employ in order to promote immersion--to tell the players that spending hours making detailed back-stories, belting out archaic speech in hammy voices, viewing the NPCs as real people rather than figments of our group's collective imagination, and taking the time to learn the inconsequential details about the world they roam is in fact a worthwhile task?

I don't know -all about how to run round-robin DMing, but the word "inconsequential" really struck a cord with me in your post. Frankly, I think it's impossible to make players care about details that don't matter. The best way to make the players care about details in the world is to make them MATTER as much as possible. The more their roleplaying makes a difference in actual play, the more they'll care about it.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

The best way to make the players care about details in the world is to make them MATTER as much as possible. The more their roleplaying makes a difference in actual play, the more they'll care about it.

Yeah, that's probably the bottom line. If you want your players to pay interact/pay attention to something, make sure it matters.

This is a lot easier when you're just starting up -- once your players have learned not to bother paying attention to the things that connect encounters together, it's damn hard to get that attention back.

-rg

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=97839]Fusiox[/MENTION]
There's a whole lot you can *try* to do, but IME if it's just the DM who wants a more immersive style of game while the rest of the players are happiest with a "dungeon of the week", then you're fighting an uphill battle. I don't know your group, but I've had this happen in the past, and I was much happier when I adopted a more casual mindset like the other players.

With that BIG caveat aside, here are some tricks to increase immersion...

1. Start by providing a real choice with multiple outcomes and game-altering consequences. In a round robin DM setup, "game-altering" could mean different things depending on the consistency (or lack thereof) between DMs. Might be worth conspiring with a like-minded DM. For example, a cursed artifact powered by absorbing souls...destroy it? free the souls? use it despite evil? give it to the temple for safe keeping? sacrifice kobolds to it to increase it's power?

2. Introduce a well designed tragic villain, and it's best if they begin sympathetic and helpful to the PCs, but over the course of an adventure their motives drive them in an opposite direction from the PCs. They don't need to be the "main" villain of the adventure either, actually might be more interesting if they oppose the main villain too (just in a misguided way). What's immersive about a tragic villain? The players expectations are subverted but the subversion is foreshadowed, and they may have differences of opinion about how to handle the tragic villain.

3. Have NPCs/the world call out specific features or attributes of the PCs as both a reflection of the NPC/dungeon designer/character of the city, and as a reminder that the PCs are more than just "dwarf fighter" (not that there's anything wrong with that!).


Those are my best tricks, and may help increase the group's immersion...or they might not, it really depends on your group.

 

[Yora]

The best way to get players to roleplay is to play a game with few rules. That gets players to think of the game as people interacting with their environment, instead of a mathmatical problem that can be solved through finding the optimal chain of calculations.

 

[Libramarian]

I don't know -all about how to run round-robin DMing, but the word "inconsequential" really struck a cord with me in your post. Frankly, I think it's impossible to make players care about details that don't matter. The best way to make the players care about details in the world is to make them MATTER as much as possible. The more their roleplaying makes a difference in actual play, the more they'll care about it.

This, mostly. You can get a lot of PC-advocating roleplay by just designing your adventures to make it matter. Instead of having NPCs summon the PCs to give them quests, put the PCs at the gates and tell them that they have to explore around and talk to people before they can find out what's going on. Force them to make and maintain relationships in order to advance in the game.

But there are little details that are amusing to everyone else, but don't really matter, like using an accent for their character or just playing them in a way that makes a little bit of effort to bring up established fictional facts about their race or background or whatever. Just being a fun, amusing player, basically.

I think the healthiest attitude is to consider this stuff an unexpected bonus. Give everyone a chance to DM ( looks like you're already doing this) so they experience the reinforcing vibes of seeing others enjoy their roleplaying. And then smile and nod when players do it in the game. I guess it goes without saying to try not to punish this behavior by teasing or mocking people for doing it, even in a playful way.

You can try giving XP for it. Consider giving everyone the power to give someone a little XP tip for amusing roleplay, rather than just the DM.

You can go to the players out of game and tell them that you would appreciate it if they roleplayed their characters a little more, but try not to guilt trip them over it. That's liable to freeze them up more and make things worse.

Basically it's just something that extra-good players do. Be grateful if you have players like this, and if you don't, adjust your own effort and prep so you don't develop resentment for doing more than your share.