D&D 5E How to force emotions down your players' throats?

[Lanliss]

Did the catch line work? Good, now for the real question. How do you, as experienced DMs handling new players, get them to think from the point of view of their character? All of my players are fairly inexperienced, maybe about 5-10 hours total of Role playing, but a couple have grasped it much better than one. This makes the one feel like the odd one out, so I want to try and help him. Should I set role play guidelines, like @iserith, where you do in game actions instead of asking questions? Are there any helpful videos that I could point him toward, to get him in the right frame of mind? It doesn't help much that he has trouble on the backstory part too, so his characters are rarely entirely his own.

EDIT: also Iserith, sorry for the individual callout here. I thought I was going to have multiple people, but then realized I do not know anyone else's immersion tactics.

 

[hawkeyefan]

What kind of character is he playing? Class, race, background, alignment, etc?

I've always found that the best way to get a new player into the RPG mindset is to start simple. Don't ask for a detailed background ahead of time, let him play a simpler character such as a fighter or barbarian. Go with Neutral as an alignment so that he's not really expected to act in a specific way. At certain points in the game, maybe ask for a detail about his past or his homeland or family. Let him decide on the spot.

Depending on the player and how familiar he is with tropes, let him play a dwarf or elf...sure, it's basically going to be Gimli or Legolas, but that's just fine. Having an archetype like that to lean on for roleplaying is something we've all done.

Let him get the basics and feel comfortable. His involvement in the more roleplaying elements of the game can be less then the other players, that's fine. Whatever amount it is should be what he is comfortable with. The best way to engage him more is to start small and simple. Simple characters are not bad characters. And characters with elaborate backstories and tons of story elements tacked on are not necessarily good ones.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I don't recommend it.

And by it, I mean anything remotely heavy handed.

I recommend using backstory. Ask them questions about their origins, family, mentors, goals, blah blah. Also talk to them by their character name during play.

 

[Lanliss]

What kind of character is he playing? Class, race, background, alignment, etc?

I've always found that the best way to get a new player into the RPG mindset is to start simple. Don't ask for a detailed background ahead of time, let him play a simpler character such as a fighter or barbarian. Go with Neutral as an alignment so that he's not really expected to act in a specific way. At certain points in the game, maybe ask for a detail about his past or his homeland or family. Let him decide on the spot.

Depending on the player and how familiar he is with tropes, let him play a dwarf or elf...sure, it's basically going to be Gimli or Legolas, but that's just fine. Having an archetype like that to lean on for roleplaying is something we've all done.

Let him get the basics and feel comfortable. His involvement in the more roleplaying elements of the game can be less then the other players, that's fine. Whatever amount it is should be what he is comfortable with. The best way to engage him more is to start small and simple. Simple characters are not bad characters. And characters with elaborate backstories and tons of story elements tacked on are not necessarily good ones.

He is a Water Genasi Wizard, no alignment or background. He has a bit of backstory, based on him living in the city of Genasi, but it has not come into play much. By the players own description his Character is analytical, and prefers planning over acting in combat. The whole "spend 6 hours sharpening my axe" thing. The issue with this is that both of the others' characters are extremely forward and very much people of action, so while they are in a super intense fight, he will stop everything at his turn to ask tactical questions.

It may be a simple lack of experience, but I feel like he just hasn't grasped how to get in that frame of mind, while the other two hit their stride easily. I can't speak for myself, as I am lackluster at best when role-playing the NPCs, but I don't want him to feel left out of the game.

As far as tropes, the most I can say is maybe. He has chosen all of his characters, and they tend to be either odd or blank. Maybe he is just swinging for the fences, and falling short by trying too hard, but he has yet to be interested in trying any sort of basic cliche or classic trope.

 

[Lanliss]

I don't recommend it.

And by it, I mean anything remotely heavy handed.

I recommend using backstory. Ask them questions about their origins, family, mentors, goals, blah blah. Also talk to them by their character name during play.

I am actually looking for the least heavy handed ideas possible. I doubt I could literally hammer these goals down his throat, so I am hoping for some ideas on how to trickle them down, just enough to get him hooked.

 

[Jester David]

Emotions are out of people's control. How people feel is often out of their control. So you have some flexibility telling players how they feel. But their reactions are theirs. You should never dictate reactions.

It's better to imply though. "You begin to feel anger bubbling to the surface" or "you feel a hint of jealously." Suggest the emotion and give the hook for the playe to work with. Possibly throw down inspiration as a "bribe" to encourage role-playing.

 

[hawkeyefan]

He is a Water Genasi Wizard, no alignment or background. He has a bit of backstory, based on him living in the city of Genasi, but it has not come into play much. By the players own description his Character is analytical, and prefers planning over acting in combat. The whole "spend 6 hours sharpening my axe" thing. The issue with this is that both of the others' characters are extremely forward and very much people of action, so while they are in a super intense fight, he will stop everything at his turn to ask tactical questions.

It may be a simple lack of experience, but I feel like he just hasn't grasped how to get in that frame of mind, while the other two hit their stride easily. I can't speak for myself, as I am lackluster at best when role-playing the NPCs, but I don't want him to feel left out of the game.

As far as tropes, the most I can say is maybe. He has chosen all of his characters, and they tend to be either odd or blank. Maybe he is just swinging for the fences, and falling short by trying too hard, but he has yet to be interested in trying any sort of basic cliche or classic trope.

Gotcha.

Can an you use whatever backstory he has provided, or hasn't provided, to come up with a couple of details you can use to motivate his character? Perhaps he has a sibling who can serve as an ally or enemy. Perhaps his family is gone, wiped out in a villain's attack.

Try ray to give his character clear and easily relatable hooks to latch onto. "This wizard killed your brother" is a pretty easy motivation for folks to grasp. Plus it gives you a memorable villain.

 

[iserith]

I don't so much encourage players to think form the POV of their characters, but rather try to get them to keep things in terms of the fictional acts that the character is doing in the context of the scene I'm describing. Describing what the players want the characters to do rather than asking questions of the DM is one way to do that, but doesn't necessarily put the player into the mind of the character. I also put Inspiration in the hands of the players by having them say when they've acted in accordance with their personal characteristics which at least encourages them to do stuff the character might do in order to get a mechanical benefit. Sometimes I ask questions about how a character feels about this or that, especially as it relates to character ties or connections that are established before play.

Otherwise, I don't think I do a whole lot to get players to identify with the emotions of their characters. I feel that's really only something a player can do on his or her own. My experience is that players by and large do a really good job of roleplaying in my games, even pickup players that aren't well-screened. So maybe I have more influence than I think - I don't know.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

You could try it the traditional way: Start off with an idealized power-gaming version of yourself projected into a Monty Haul campaign world where you plan to kill the gods and take their stuff eventually.

...although that works best if you're around 12-14, so you might have missed the window.

But having a really easy starter character that takes no effort to learn can help one get into the game and gain some role-playing experience. After that, hopefully they will start looking for more depth in a character and start getting into it (though some people just really aren't going to have that level of interest, unfortunately enough for their friends who'd like them to play the game).

 

[The Crimson Binome]

So he's kind of a cold and analytical player, and he's playing a cold and analytic character? I'm not sure what the problem is. I mean, it's kind of taking the easy way out, but it's just as valid of a way to RP than if an action-oriented player had an action-oriented character.

One suggestion that I would make is to definitely go for an alignment, though. Especially for new players, an alignment can serve as a useful tool for figuring out the character's perspective. It sounds like this character is Lawful (plan-oriented), and most parties tend toward Good (unless you're specifically playing an Evil campaign), so make the character Lawful Good and then he can just ask himself if a Lawful Good character would do something whenever he's not sure if he's in character.