How Can a DM Encourage Roleplaying?

[RedTonic]

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.

I've been the woman at the 'otherwise all men' table playing a guy; I left for a while and came back to discover that my male paladin became mysteriously female in my absence. Keeping the pronouns straight was evidently way too difficult...

I have never been successfully able to force players into roleplaying. Even in games which I've notified everyone were RP heavy (and mechanics light) from the start attract someone inexplicably unwilling/unable to actually roleplay--but when I do set up the RP bomb in advance and make sure everyone knows that roleplay makes up a fundamental expectation of the table, I have far fewer problems. Do your players actually understand that you expect them to act? Did they know that from the start of your stay in the DM hotseat? A mutual understanding of goals and expectations can help set the tenor for roleplay to staring.

Sometimes if the usual practice has been extremely roleplay light, it's hard to break the ice. That's one of the times the DM needs to set the initiative with a challenge, IMO.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

For me the type of campaign can make a lot of difference.

I enjoy roleplaying but my level of roleplaying wavers depending on the type of campaign that I'm in. I usually slip more easily into roleplay my character when the adventure has plots that link to my character's backstory, plots that sync with my character's motivations, and a cast of NPCs that are regularly interacted with so a relationship develops.

On the other hand if that same character is thrown into a campaign that doesn't incorporate my character's background or motivations and the NPCs are ephemeral, I often find myself actively roleplaying less often.

I don't think it's that the former has more opportunities for roleplaying but the former immerses me into my character easily and gets me more invested in the campaign, and roleplay follows naturally.

 

[wlmartin]

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.

Getting people to RP is very hard and often depends on the people themselves.
Some players just dont want to, they play D&D as a wargame. Other players will roleplay even the simplest actions and some might want to Roleplay but are not confident in doing so.

Here are some tips

1 : Make sure you are Roleplaying too. Use voices, describe as many actions as you can etc. Often when you keep telling players what they are doing in battle such as "Your Longsword plunges into the belly of the beast" eventually they may decide that you are stepping on their toes and they want to narrate their own actions... the result is they will roleplay the action more.
2 : Give people who Roleplay positive attention. I am not saying to lord over them like they are the only ones in the room but players are people too, they want to be social and in D&D the DM holds all the cards and if there is anyone to impress, it is him. If the non-RPing players see that the DM is spending time with the Roleplayers by Roleplaying back at them, they may decide to get involved more
3 : Ask players what more can be done by you to help them Roleplay more. You may get demanding answers such as "we need more minatures dude, and would it kill you to put down a realistic scenery?" but really what you are looking to do is tell the players that RPing isnt going on enough and you want it to improve.
4 : Offer XP bonuses to those who RP. This is harder with a party that levels up at the same time since the RPer would be ahead all the time and perhaps even level before his friends. Might be worth trying....
5 : Offer GP/Item rewards to those who RP. Wargammers and the ones that don't RP not because they can't but because they don't want to. They love gold, they love items and Min-Max their PC to become the best. Extra GP helps these types of players even if you have to trick them to do what you want to get it.

If the above fails and the majority if not all your players are in it to just play a wargame, they hate it when you give them non-combat encounters and seem annoyed when you narrate... Some DMs dont mind this, its just a game and they get their fix of RP from the game with what they do themselves, however if you need RP and your players are not just incapable of rising to the challenge but activly working to not RP then you need to either get used to it or leave the group.

DMs sometimes think that because it is their world they have more at stake but you are just another person at the table. Imagine if you were just another player and the other 4 (and perhaps the DM) didnt like to RP but you are itching to do it all the time.. it would annoy you and just as you might not enjoy playing Warhammer and other Wargames, they dont like playing the D&D you like and it would be worth getting a group that works for you.

Hope these tips help