How do you plan role playing?

[Infiniti2000]

As a GM I know how to plan for encounters, be they combat-focused or not, but how do you plan for other types of role-playing? Is that all role-playing could be boiled down into encounters? I'm trying to actually work into my game focused sections of role-playing and I find that I'm having a hard time planning for it.

Sorry for the generic nature of the question, or perhaps just how basic it might seem, and I'd be quite appreciative of links (especially to similar topics discussed here).

 

[Dice4Hire]

Well, to me there are two kinds of role-playing

Unstructured: This is typically moving around a new town and meeting people/gathering info/exploring, where each character moves at their own pace, and I drop tons of imormation about the locale, and the plaeyrs can roleplay with whoever htey want, though most RP sessions tend to be prety short and sometimes summarized.

Structured: The characters are in an "encounter-like" situation with specific goals and several planned outcomes. The characters may make more outcomes possible, but the others in the encounter have ideas how they want the encounter to go, also.

 

[fba827]

If it's something you can plan for (i.e. you know the PCs will meet the NPC) then I normally start with jotting down a) who the person is b) what are their goals and motivations c) what previous knowledge and perception they may have about the PCs (based on rumors or deeds if they're well known, etc) or if the person is a king or something would they treat the PCs are servants or important people, are any of the PCs a race that the NPC is prejudiced against (for better or worse) that might influence his/her reaction to him/her specifically, etc. d) what is their personality, description, etc e) a couple canned responses (at least one of which should be a 'conversation starter' if the PCs ever flounder around without a direct conversational path and need a kick to get the pace moving)

And then repeat those steps for any other NPC of note that would be present in the scene (i.e. probably not "guards that would be quiet in the room and only interfere if there is acombat" but an advisor or other may also speak up in addition to the main person the PCs are going to talk to).

The better you flesh out those items (specifically the part about motivations) the easier it goes. From there, you just have to be read to 'wing it' because you never know what the PCs will ask.

If you know the PCs well, you may be able to preemptively jot down some expected questions and answers... but i've found that players will always ask/do things unexpected even if i know them well...

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If it's an unplanned encounter (i.e. you don't know / didn't plan for this social encounter to happen), then, well, it's all winging it.

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If niether you nor your players are much in to "talking things out" (or otherwise really unplanned and don't know how to talk "in character" but know what information should be exchanged) and you wanted to simply treat it as a skill challenge (or a similar concept if not playing 4e) then just devolve it to some skill checks that the players want to use, and decide what new information the PCs learn based on how well that challenge goes (i.e. "after talking to the king for the next two hours about history, nature and rumors, he tells you about some bandits he does need help with but can't get involved with directly due to politics, he also seems to think you're rather unskilled in the ways of the woods due to the way you mixed up two common plant types in your discussion, so he gives you a suggestion on where to hire a scout to guide you ...")

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anyway, just my rambling thoughts on the topic.

 

[Ariosto]

If players are to role-play interactions with NPCs, then of course they must encounter (in the common-English sense) those characters. The encounter need not be set up with all the mechanical apparatus of what WotC defines (at least in 4e) as an "encounter" in game-company jargon.

So, for a plan, one needs:

(A) characters
(B) some way for player-characters to meet them
(C) some reason for players to interact with them

 

[Markn]

During my current campaign, I have found the followinig tactic to be pretty effective:

At major decision points in the campaign/story, particularly when the players are at odds on how to proceed to their goals, I often call for a break. We summarize what the players know, which in turn gives me a chance to remind them of key info and then we talk about where they think things are heading at least from the players stand point. Now this may mean just a campaign summary, but I then take it a step further and we explore what has developed for each character, what the major character change points have been and what motivations they may have. I have been astounded by how much it makes the players reflect on everything. During the discussion I jot down notes of things that are worth exploring more in depth than the player(s) may realilze. Forex, I had a MC wizard/cleric in my group. At a pivotal point in the campaign he forsake the gods, dropped the cleric MC and picked up the bard MC. He did this for roleplaying reasons and it fit in very nicely with the story. However, the player never really understood too much why he became a cleric in the first place and it was the weakest point of his character concept. It just so happened that the next adventure would take them to Hestavar where his ex-deity lived (Erathis). I knew that to get the most out of this scene I needed to find out more on why he became a cleric in the first place - and so as the players recapped I made note of this. Aftewards, the next session, I used a technique from the DMG2 that called for a flashback scene, allowing other players to play key roles in the scene and this really helped the player to understand his character even further.

Combining the two techniques - campaign summary/campagin future/character changing moments/character motivation with flashbacks really gave my players a better understanding of their characters and it actually increased roleplaying throughout the rest of the campaign during every single other encounter. I was pretty amazed by this.

So to summarize, this COULD be viewed as a specific roleplay scene in which there is NO roleplaying at all, just understanding which strengthens roleplaying for the rest of the campaign. Additonally it only happens as required by the DM or players when direction is needed.

NOTE - For those interested in the flashback sequences as something they want to use, be aware that it can feel very clunky at first. It takes time for players to adjust to being able to tell a scene. Its going to take quite a bit of practice but over time the technique gets better and better. Just set everyones expectations to start with and it can be pretty cool.

 

[howandwhy99]

If you think of roleplaying as strictly conversation with sentient NPCs, then determine some strategies for NPCs, which would likely lead to them seeking out the PCs to talk.

PCs can offer a lot to intelligent creatures. For example:

• Trading items
• Hiring one or more for a service
• Seeking information they might know (like one would a Sage)
• Diplomacy about contested territory
• Pleas for help (unpaid services)

 

[Mark]

Try to always think in terms of personalities and information. Even if the PCs don't discover how a particular NPC might be useful to them, try to always have some way in which meeting someone could be of benefit to them. The street urchin who, if given a bit of something to eat, might let on that he knows of a secret way into some building. The town guard who, if just given a little respect, will spill the beans about the town elder who slips out in the middle of the night to visit his mistress. The stablehand who, if given a decent tip, will pass along a map he found in the saddlebags of a stray mare that was recovered in the hills nearby. Try to come up with a few adjectives and traits for each person that is met and also have some sort of trigger that will result in some advantage for the PCs. These sort of encounters become addictive to players when their is potential reward involved and they are often the more memorable moments from a game session because they usually involve something surprising that dice-rolling, combat encounters just don't have.

 

[steenan]

I very rarely plan social interaction in terms of scenes and encounters. I just prepare short descriptions of my NPCs: a few lines for each one, specifying his or her goals, motivations, values and major personality traits (and social stats, if given system uses them). With these, I know what NPCs want from PCs and how they are going to get it and I can improvise how they react to PC actions.
I also always assume that my players may initiate social contact, even in a combat situation. If an opponent isn't mindless, it is possible to negotiate with him (although in many cases there won't be any resolution fully acceptable for both sides - while you may negotiate, it's not always a solution).

In general, my GMing style is quite reactive. I set up a world, with places, people and their actions, and let my players interact with it as they like. I create plot hooks, of course, but it is up to players if and how they are going to act on them.
For this reason, most interactions are either initiated by the PCs or are NPC reactions to danger or opportunity the heroes create. I don't try to fully predict how the plot will develop, I just prepare to handle the situations that may emerge.

 

[Pig Champion]

I'm a big fan of plug-and-play. In fact, I'm still looking for a system that lets me plug-and-play skills and abilities rather than classes but that's another thread.

I like to use the plot and sub-plot format where I'll quickly write out bulletin points of where I want the overall plot to go and if the players stray from that I can just plug in a couple of sub-plot points to steer them back onto the main plot point they tried to dodge.

This takes me about five minutes or something I'll do in game while the players are doing their upkeep or generic in town RP.

I find this works best for me because I don't like the plan anything too closely and if the players don't follow suit I can just plug in what NPC A was supposed to say, to NPC B and still get the same result even though the players went in a spiral from plot point A to plot point B instead of a straight line.

So basically, I plan plot points and just RP them naturally instead of planning an NPC encounter with a script.

I hope that makes sense...

 

[jcayer]

I'm even more basic than these guys. I tend to develop something the characters need to know or perform. From interrogations to just wandering a city. I'll then make bullets of relevant info they might get or that I want them to get. The rest is up to them. We tend not to do that many RP skill challenges, more just the RP when I want to give them info. Although, last night they ended up in Sigil and we had an improvised skill challenge to follow some vague directions to a weapons maker. It went off better than I expected.