How Can a DM Encourage Roleplaying?

[Fusiox]

Before I begin, I'd like to thank anyone who takes the time to read and/or post in response to my question. I really do appreciate the help.

As a DM, are there any good ways to encourage roleplaying within a group? I, for one, really enjoy the concepts of story and characterization, along with about half of my group. The other half, though, are "watchers"--there's a large amount of players within the group playing characters with little background, few mannerisms, and no personality--in other words, they're a nightmare for a DM like me, who is completely fine sprinkling a generous helping of interaction and roleplaying encounters within a session. Seeing as D&D is a "Roleplaying Game", how can I encourage these players to get out of their shell and start, for lack of a better explanation, playing roles?

There is also another question that's under big dispute within my group: one of my players, trying to encourage roleplaying amongst the four other "watchers," created a female character to urge them to drop stereotypes and venture out to act a bit more--despite the fact that he's a male player. The plan backfired, though, and those four players constantly insult and berate him when he tries any semblance of roleplaying. He wants to switch groups--or at least characters--because of this, and I am trying my best to introduce roleplaying, because I sympathize with him in his unlikely situation. Is there anyway I can solidly remind my group to imagine a bit more, and stop ruining this poor player's experience simply because his voice doesn't sound female? (if it did, I would imagine the unlucky guy would get even more fire from those four players, making it a lose-lose situation...)

Thank you for reading my lengthy post. I tried to shorten it as much as possible, but my group is unfortunately falling apart because of this schism between the roleplayers and the non-roleplayers. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[lostingeneral]

I was in this boat myself not too long ago, so I certainly understand where you're coming from.

If you feel your "watcher" players would enjoy this kind of thing, but haven't really had the opportunity to delve into it yet, then try reeling them in with hooks designed specifically for them or their characters. Run a short side trek or something based on what little background they've provided. Have NPCs that they would be particularly well-suited to converse with directly approach their characters and start an interaction with them personally.

If that doesn't work, then maybe these players just aren't really into the whole role playing scene, which in general is fine. If you want a campaign that's really heavy on the role playing, then maybe your game is not the one for them. Or maybe you could try and mix encounters that appeal to all styles of play.

As for the second one, not everybody's comfortable with people playing outside their gender. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of it myself; I strongly prefer if people play as their own sex. Unfortunately, it's something that's hard to get around, and really something that's going to be very difficult (if even possible) to eliminate at your table.

Shadis Magazine – Strip #3 | Dork Tower

 

[mudlock]

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that "What little background they've given" him is "none at all."

Which means you'll have to prompt them. I find a good one is to ask them who their character's parents are (or at least who raised them, if not their parents; heroes have a bad habit of being orphans) and what those people do (or did, or how they died; again, heroes tending toward orphans.)

And then ask them "Why?" Why did they do _whatever_, or why did that lead to you being a hero, or why... whatever they say, come up with a "why" to ask them. Iterate at least 3 times.

If they hem and haw, just make something up FOR them, and make them tell YOU why.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I don't want to rain on your parade, but I feel that it must be said, having dealt with a few players like this over the years, and one in particular who has been in my group for 13 years (for reasons I can't comprehend).

Be prepared to have your efforts fail.

Some players, no matter what you do, will not do anything without being prodded, prompted, poked, or pandered to. Sometimes, even that won't be enough. Some players simply cannot be bothered to do anything but roll dice. It's a sad reality sometimes. In the case I mention, we've tried everything - other players forcing him to interact, the DM, etc - and nothing works. I've been wishing he'd just quit for several years now.

I digress. I hope you have better luck than I have.

 

[Pentius]

In my experience, trying to make people roleplay works out badly. I'd suggest that you and your more roleplay-minded players lead by example. Roleplay it up, and see if it catches on. It's not guaranteed to work, but it will generally be less frustrating in the attempt.

 

[Kzach]

Cattleprods.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

In my experience, trying to make people roleplay works out badly. I'd suggest that you and your more roleplay-minded players lead by example. Roleplay it up, and see if it catches on. It's not guaranteed to work, but it will generally be less frustrating in the attempt.

Basically this. The roleplayers in my group just do their thing and let the watchers watch. We do our best to ignore the boredom-induced fidgeting, and huffing, and watch-checking - if you find it boring, watchers, feel free to find something else to do with your Saturday night!

 

[JoeGKushner]

The act of role playing itself is not to everyone's taste.

Some people are there to socialize.

Others are there to roll the dice.

Some are there to fiddle with the rules and see what shakes out.

Roleplaying, to me at least, is best brought about when dealing with a well grounded group that has a Game Master that is putting a lot of effort into the setting and providing a lot of things for the players to do that have little to do with adventuring proper, but may have impact on the adventuring itself.

Part of that though, depends on having players who are willing to work with the Game Master or willing to let the GM take some liberties with their character backgrounds, in the event that players make no background.

How do the adventure structures work in your games? How do the players get their leads? What effect does the national holiday, the national religion, the day to day diet, have on them? Are there roads closed due to military fighting between countries? Are there dragons or demons that make travel difficult?

Without hearing anything about the campaign, any advise I could offer on dragging some role playing out would be limited.

 

[Calzone]

If someone doesn't want to role-play, you won't fix things trying to force them to role-play. Something I've had some success with is trying to tie the roleplaying into an aspect of the game they do enjoy.

When my players create their characters, I have them choose two words or short phrases to describe their background. Any time they can explain how a particular action or die roll would be helped by their background, they get a bonus, usually a +2 to the roll. The mechanical edge gives them an incentive to play on the character's motivations more, and the short phrases are vague enough that I can add conflicts to the narrative that involve their backgrounds.

 

[Akaiku]

As for the second one, not everybody's comfortable with people playing outside their gender. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of it myself; I strongly prefer if people play as their own sex. Unfortunately, it's something that's hard to get around, and really something that's going to be very difficult (if even possible) to eliminate at your table.

Thing is, generally speaking the gm gets to play other gendered people. If not, that leads to some interesting world-building gender roles. Really, that particular thing is just silly, as it tends to mean just 'I prefer that guys play guys' as people tend to be more uncomfortable that a girl is at a table then if she plays a guy.

This, of course, doesn't apply when characters hit on people, but really, there are few situations where that isn't weird.