Do you "roleplay" in non-TTRPG Games?

[Reynard]

A recent article on Polygon was singing the praises of a digital boardgame, suggesting it gave a truer "D&D experience" than VTTs. I have my doubts, and am not a big fan of Polygon's TTRPG coverage in general, but that's not really what this thread is about.

Rather, I am curious who effectively "roleplays" while playing other sorts of games. Do you roleplay (however you define it) when you play board or card games, miniatures wargames, or video games of various sorts? Do you talk in funny voices or make decisions based on your role, otherwise do that "play pretend" thing? If so, how far away, thematically and mechanically, can a game be before you don't? Do you roleplay with Candyland? Monopoly? Chess?

 

[DragonLancer]

I don't know about roleplaying but I tend to play other games narratively. Back when I played Magic, for example, my decks were all built around a racial theme rather than using a random mix of meta cards. If I play something else, from board games to wargames, I have to have a narrative in my head.

 

[Aldarc]

When I play MMORPGs, I give my characters backstories, motivations, and goals. However, I don't do the sort of "RP" in MMORPGs where two PCs sit at an in-game bar and take turns vomiting their respective backstories into each other's mouths in chat.

 

[payn]

Depends who I am playing with and what games. I have some folks that like board games, but like them in a different from card games like cribbage way. Obviously, they are not looking outside the mechanics of the game. Then, I have some gamer friends that would refer to themselves as gamers who are more likely to approach board/video/war games with RP.

A buddy of mine tends to get into this stuff with me. We will do occasional plays of deep board games such as Twilight Imperium or Android from FFG. I feel these board games make it easy as their depth leads to narrative bridges and on ramps for us to use. I also play a lot of Battletech the war game. Adding in RP elements has help grow my local community. It offers an additional interest point to a deeply mechanical game; yet one with a rich and deep universe history.

I find it depends more on the person(s) im gaming with, than the game itself. YMMV.

 

[Deset Gled]

Rather, I am curious who effectively "roleplays" while playing other sorts of games. Do you roleplay (however you define it) when you play board or card games, miniatures wargames, or video games of various sorts? Do you talk in funny voices or make decisions based on your role, otherwise do that "play pretend" thing? If so, how far away, thematically and mechanically, can a game be before you don't? Do you roleplay with Candyland? Monopoly? Chess?

To varying degrees, yes.

I have definitely played games like "Betrayal at the House on the Hill" where people pick a character, and essentially play the game as that character. When you have to make a decision, you choose what you think the character would choose, etc.

There are also plenty of party games where people essentially stay "in character" as a way to deceive others. "Werewolf" would be the obvious example here; you play your role and hope that no one finds out if you're lying. But other games like "Bang" where you have hidden goals do essentially the same thing. Heck, you could claim people roleplay in high stakes poker games all the time.

To a lesser extent, you could definitely say that I and other people I game with have "roleplayed" games like Catan, Power Grid, or even Monopoly. It's not uncommon to go in with a meta intent like "I want to have my own peninsula" or "I want to own the railroads" and play that out as a character goal. There really is a gradient for when a goal like that is a character goal vs a playstyle vs a strategy.

 

[Pedantic]

Role-playing, to my eyes, is primarily an metagame way of setting the goals of play. It's essential in a role-playing game that otherwise lacks a win condition, and deeply unwanted when that condition is baked into the rules structure itself. The closest I get is in translation game events back into narrative after the fact. Questions about "what would that move mean in the supposed fiction?" are pretty common table talk.

 

[Desdichado]

A recent article on Polygon was singing the praises of a digital boardgame, suggesting it gave a truer "D&D experience" than VTTs. I have my doubts, and am not a big fan of Polygon's TTRPG coverage in general, but that's not really what this thread is about.

Rather, I am curious who effectively "roleplays" while playing other sorts of games. Do you roleplay (however you define it) when you play board or card games, miniatures wargames, or video games of various sorts? Do you talk in funny voices or make decisions based on your role, otherwise do that "play pretend" thing? If so, how far away, thematically and mechanically, can a game be before you don't? Do you roleplay with Candyland? Monopoly? Chess?

The only non-(TT)RPGs where I do any roleplaying are to a limited degree CRPGs and unusual stuff like Fiasco or murder mystery parties that are more like RPGs than they are like anything else... but which also aren't really RPGs either. I could ... maybe ... be prevailed upon to do some minor roleplaying in a game like Arkham Horror or something like that, where you do in fact play a role, but it's a board game, so it wouldn't really occur to me to do so.

Heck, the more RPGs resemble board games, CRPGs or card games, the less likely I am to do any significant roleplaying in them either.

 

[Deset Gled]

Role-playing, to my eyes, is primarily an metagame way of setting the goals of play. It's essential in a role-playing game that otherwise lacks a win condition, and deeply unwanted when that condition is make into the rules structure itself. The closest I get is in translation game events back into narrative after the fact. Questions about "what would that move mean in the supposed fiction?" are pretty common table talk.

IMNSHO, having players sitting at a table asking "What would that move mean in the supposed fiction" sounds a heck of a lot more like meta-gaming than it does roleplaying.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I generally have a narrative and some character motivations, yes. I don't always share it with other players, though.

 

[RenleyRenfield]

A recent article on Polygon was singing the praises of a digital boardgame, suggesting it gave a truer "D&D experience" than VTTs. I have my doubts, and am not a big fan of Polygon's TTRPG coverage in general, but that's not really what this thread is about.

Rather, I am curious who effectively "roleplays" while playing other sorts of games. Do you roleplay (however you define it) when you play board or card games, miniatures wargames, or video games of various sorts? Do you talk in funny voices or make decisions based on your role, otherwise do that "play pretend" thing? If so, how far away, thematically and mechanically, can a game be before you don't? Do you roleplay with Candyland? Monopoly? Chess?

I think Polygon is 100% correct. An aggregate of D&D and Pathfinder games shows that the overwhelming majority of games are just combat events and combat discussion and combat rules. Which means that per-minute of D&D gaming time, the majority of players are engaging with its combat rules, not roleplay.

With that said, that means that Polygon is looking at D&D from the lens of combat and level up and feats and spells - all of which are combat oriented in such a way that it is a boardgame you talk over.

Interaction with roleplay events in D&D follow closer to boardgamey play, where you are looking for information and details on why the events of the combat occur or are about to occur or how to prepare for them better. Most all early AD&D modules followed this pattern, even more so with "tournament play". As well as Adventurers League and Pathfinder Society going as far as to add some few limitations and guidelines on their event play so as to stabilize expectations.

...

Think of it this way... if you removed EVERY single thing from D&D that did harm, did damage, aided in combat, and was a rule for combat = you would be left with a very very tiny book, of almost nothing. It's main selling point is its combat.

Do the same thing to say... vampire the masquerade, and you still have almost the entire book and game.

This means there is a strong correlation between Gloomhaven and D&D. They are closer together than D&D is to Vampire. And vampire is a game where roleplay is almost the only way to play. Ergo, it's not odd to 'roleplay' in Gloomhaven.