D&D 5E (2014) How to force emotions down your players' throats?

[iserith]

Wait, what's wrong with the Q&A? Why wouldn't the players want to know the size of the room and how big the obstructions are, etc?

What's wrong with it? Nothing. What don't I like about it? Plenty.

Ideally the size of the room and the basic scope of options are described by the DM in Step 1. In Step 2, the players can describe their characters as doing something to get additional information they need. The DM can then, in Step 3, narrate the result of that. (Repeat.)

In my experience, if the players are asking a lot of questions, there are likely two things going on: (1) The DM is not providing enough context in the description of the environment for the players to make informed decisions or (2) The players are seeking pre-approval on their actions before taking them as a form of failure mitigation.

The end result is that the players are having a conversation with the DM rather than the player establishing what the character is doing and potentially identifying with the character more easily which appears to be the OP's goal.

 

[cmad1977]

Is player having fun?
If no: figure out what could help by talking to him/her.
If yes: leave it alone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[robus]

[MENTION=6801219]Lanliss[/MENTION] you might want to check this out if you haven't already: http://angrydm.com/2014/01/gaming-for-fun-part-1-eight-kinds-of-fun/

Expecting everyone at the table to enjoy the game in the same way is unrealistic. I'd also suggest that combat is when nuanced role-playing goes out the window and people just look at their attack options and go for it.

Asking tactical questions seems like he's having a hard time visualizing the scenario - so perhaps clearer communication of the situation could help. But also he could just be suffering analysis paralysis. Too many choices and too much time.

I always find it funny that I'm running multiple NPCs many of which are spellcasters and I always have a pretty good idea of which spell I'm going to cast when the NPC's turn comes up. But the players will procrastinate for ages if you let them...

Anyway - this is an excellent article for speeding up combat if it's taking too long: http://theangrygm.com/manage-combat-like-a-dolphin/

 

[hawkeyefan]

Ok, basic backstory, provided in the form of bullets.

• Family has magic come up every few generations
• Inherited magic books from great-great-grandfather
• Grew up in Nexus, city of the Genasi
• Wants to clear the Chaos from the world, is on a quest to study Chaos, hoping to find it's source

That is pretty much everything he gave me. I know how I can tie in his quest, but we have not reached that point just yet. A major problem is that he has had no real tragedy or problems in his characters life. I suppose I could see if he was interested in playing his Character like a high class city boy thrown into a jungle (basically literally what he is, with the current campaign location).

okay, understood. That seems more than sufficient. And plenty of material there for you to draw from.

I know you said you know how to incorporate his quest, but not just yet. What if you introduced some agents of chaos as opponents? Perhaps some entity that is representative of chaos has learned of his mission, and wants to stop him. Maybe intro a few minor villains who are agents of this entity. Maybe they can challenge him more ideologically.

If you take his stance on chaos and build some interactions around that, it may lead to him being more engaged by non-combat encounters.

Plenty of other good advice on this thread, too!

 

[BookBarbarian]

I've had some really good people play some really emotionally stunted characters before. For some they don't even realize that their characters are behaving like sociopaths. It's actually really easy to do since the other Player's Characters and the NPCs aren't actually people and only exist on paper. I've had remarkable success just pointing this out to a player and asking them to try harder to treat all characters (including their own) like they are actually people.

Sometimes I do have to prompt them again, but it has improved things.

 

[Bawylie]

While there's nothing wrong with an analytical or calculating character, if you want more emotional involvement, you'll need to create investment.

1st, you'll need to understand what the player likes about the character & about your world. The 8 kinds of fun, referenced up thread, can help you understand what you're seeing, but your own observations of what engages this player are better.

2nd, you'll need to reward involvement. Reticence is often due to fear of failure, fear of ridicule, vulnerability. So you will need to reassure, comfort, accept and build on the player's offerings and actions. You may need to solicit and reward. "Brian, how does [genasi wizard] feel about what's going on here?" "What does [genasi wizard] do about this monstrous injustice?" Prompt, express reassurance, and build.

3rd, you'll need to nudge or gently push the player to offer this kind of input without overt solicitation. Once they're comfortable, that is. When the other players have done their thing, take a direct moment and ask "Ok, X & Y are doing A & B. How about [genasi wizard]?" This doesn't work before the player becomes comfortable or understands their offers are accepted. It has to be primed and cultivated.

Eventually, you'll have your player trained to respond to prompts with actions of their own. Those actions will show you what the character/player finds important. That's the investment. Play with that a little bit. Try one thing, then another and see what works best. A & B. Is the character just or merciful? Just. Ok, is the player Just or Vengeful? Still Just. Ok, now confront them with injustice. Ask them about the injustice of whatever situation. Impede justice with an obstacle and provoke them to anger at the obstacle.

It comes down to this: find what they want, and put something between them and what they want. That tension will give you the emotional investment you're looking for.

Always, always do so in a reassuring, friendly, and supportive manner. We're not toying with people, we're creating an emotional space where pretending to be a genasi wizard is good silly fun, and not mocked or ridiculed.


-Brad

 

[Lanliss]

Ok, a lot happened in the past few hours. I like it all, but here are responses to a few specific ones.
[MENTION=97077]iserith[/MENTION] they could not think of good ties to each other, considering their backstories all took place nearly across the country from each other, so they chose to go without them.
[MENTION=6704184]doctorbadwolf[/MENTION] as Iserith said, it breaks things up pretty bad. I actually have both problems. I do not think I am describing the environment fully enough for the Player which this thread is about, but another seems to get plenty enough to construct odd plans, which he then asks questions to get working.
[MENTION=6785785]hawkeyefan[/MENTION] In my world Chaos doesn't really have "agents". It is a force similar to magic, or lava. Someone might worship it, but the most that would be is a cult that knows nothing, so it would be a dead end for his research (plan to do it anyway, just know it won't lead to anything). They have fought a couple of creatures spawned by chaos, but he has not taken the chance to dissect them yet.
[MENTION=6776133]Bawylie[/MENTION] that is a lot of good stuff, and I did plan on slowly bringing him in like that.

For those recommending I find out what the Player wants, I did, and he wants to be a better role player. He just doesn't know how to go about it, so I was looking for some good tips I could try on my end, to promote role playing more.

I know all of their goals as characters, so next session I plan on giving them each a few rumours that might help with their goals. For this player, I will give a few locations where chaos has seemed to make really weird things happen. Unfortunately, this means weird monsters, that are probably too deadly for the players at this point.

 

[robus]

For those recommending I find out what the Player wants, I did, and he wants to be a better role player. He just doesn't know how to go about it, so I was looking for some good tips I could try on my end, to promote role playing more.

Given the heated arguments on this website on what exactly is "role-playing" - can the player offer any insight into what they consider to fall under "better role-player"?

 

[hejtmane]

What's wrong with it? Nothing. What don't I like about it? Plenty.

Ideally the size of the room and the basic scope of options are described by the DM in Step 1. In Step 2, the players can describe their characters as doing something to get additional information they need. The DM can then, in Step 3, narrate the result of that. (Repeat.)

In my experience, if the players are asking a lot of questions, there are likely two things going on: (1) The DM is not providing enough context in the description of the environment for the players to make informed decisions or (2) The players are seeking pre-approval on their actions before taking them as a form of failure mitigation.

The end result is that the players are having a conversation with the DM rather than the player establishing what the character is doing and potentially identifying with the character more easily which appears to be the OP's goal.

Not always the case; some times our descriptions do not make sense in their mine they see something different had that happen several times

 

[iserith]

Not always the case; some times our descriptions do not make sense in their mine they see something different had that happen several times

Sure, there are lots of reasons why a player might not understand the fictional situation as clearly as the DM does. However, that doesn't necessarily require the litany of questions I see at many games. Players can instead describe what they do to get the information they seek. "How tall is the tree?" is easily described as "I take stock of how tall the tree is." Or "Can I jump over the pit?" might be "Tordek tries to judge if he can safely jump over the pit." Or "Do I know anything about trolls?" can be "I try to recall what I know of trolls."

The information the player seeks gets imparted, but again, it's a difference between the DM and player having a Q&A session before play can continue versus the player describing what he or she wants to do and the DM narrating the result of the adventurer's action. The latter produces better results in my view, especially as it relates to the OP's goal.