Encouraging interactions in new adventuring parties

[mrrockitt]

Yeah, great ideas.

In last night's game I deliberately kept quiet for a few minutes at certain points to allow a bit more interaction between the players in a 'safe area' (the usual Tavern) and it worked well. They spoke about their characters openly and learnt a few good and bad facts about other characters in the party.
As mentioned we actually play on Fantasy Grounds so the chatting away from the table is a little difficult However this can still be achieved to a certain extent through private conversations in any chat program such as Discord. I might try to encourage in-character chat by adding a new channel, thanks for the idea PrometheanVigil

As to rewarding good role-playing it I actually give out 'hero points' occasionally. I never give more than 1 or 2 per session and they just allow the players a single one-time d4/d6 roll.

Thanks all

 

[Imaculata]

Another thing I like to do, is ask my players for a more detailed description of their actions. For example, in our last session the rogue of the party managed to tumble past a cultist opening a door, while he was invisible. So I asked him, what is it that your character does, that specifically allows him to get past the cultist in the doorway without him being noticed?

Similarly, if a character rolls a crit and it is the killing blow to an enemy, I ask my players to fill in those details. Do they pull off some elaborate movie stunt to defeat their opponent? I also ask my players to describe their spells, which has resulted in a lot of fun uniquely flavored spells. I feel this works a lot better than the DM simply filling in those details himself.

 

[S'mon]

Yeah, great ideas.

In last night's game I deliberately kept quiet for a few minutes at certain points to allow a bit more interaction between the players in a 'safe area' (the usual Tavern) and it worked well. They spoke about their characters openly and learnt a few good and bad facts about other characters in the party.
As mentioned we actually play on Fantasy Grounds so the chatting away from the table is a little difficult However this can still be achieved to a certain extent through private conversations in any chat program such as Discord. I might try to encourage in-character chat by adding a new channel, thanks for the idea PrometheanVigil

As to rewarding good role-playing it I actually give out 'hero points' occasionally. I never give more than 1 or 2 per session and they just allow the players a single one-time d4/d6 roll.

Thanks all

I had a message-chat with my Tuesday night 5e group and we're going to try out PrometheanVigil's suggestion starting next week! Start session with 5-10 minutes IC chat, and maybe do the same during Short Rests. I will hand out Inspiration to those who make an effort, and will allow Inspiration to accumulate during the session, resetting to 0 at the end.