Actually, there are things you can do to help yourself:
GM: So on the way to the faire, you pass a man with a pig on the road. He tells you that he is headed for Londria...
(The GM is not playing the NPC's role...)
PC: Okay, so I approach the man (what does he look like?), and I say: "Pardon me, Sir, but you and your pig are going to Londria? Why ever would you take a pig all that way?"
GM: He looks like your typical peasant. He has no weapons or valuables, except the pig. (GM, still not getting it, continues...) He tells you that he is taking his prize pig to the faire, there, to compete.
PC (refusing to fall for it): "There's a faire in Londria, too? I didn't know that, Sirrah! And you're taking your prize pig all that way? That's a long trip, for a pig, don't you think?"
GM (beginning to get it): "Well, yes, it IS a long trip, but..."
PC: "Don't you have a cart, or a wagon? Won't your poor pig lose weight, walking all that way?"
GM (now RPing the random encounter): "Well, no, I don't... I wish I did!" (He looks sadly at the pig) "I hope he don't lose no weight!"
PC: "Wouldn't it be better to go to the faire here in Localsville, instead? After all, you're already here..."
GM (falling back into narrative mode): Yeah, but he's already paid the entry fee for the faire in Londria, and doesn't have enough for this one...
PC (refusing to be sucked back into narrative mode): "What's that? You've already paid the entry fee for the Londrian Faire? But however will you get the poor pigger there, without melting all the fat off of it?"
***
Y'see what I mean?
In a game I once ran, I had my own random encounter tables, and rolled a werewolf against a party of 10th level PCs... Now in those 1e days, a werewolf was no danger to them, so I had him creep around the camp very quietly, spying on them. The Elf sentry spotted him, and (being a Druid) cast Entangle and awoke the party.
They proceeded to question the werewolf in Human form. Being wary of mind-reading, the randomly-encountered were stuck as close to the truth as he possibly could. When asked what he was doing there, he said "I could ask you the same thing!" He explained that he was a "hunter in these woods", and was investigating to see what all these strangers were doing here! (All true enough!)
The PCs questioned him, offered him some food (which he WOLFED down - pardon the pun!), and finally let him go. When a party member (whose player had moved away) disappeared, they were sure that the hunter was somehow involved!
The thing that made this random encounter so memorable, however, was that I RPed the hunter with a pseudo-australian accent, and did all of his dialog in-context, that way. The player's responded the same way, and the whole session was RPed because of it.
The entire deal was JUST a RANDOM ENCOUNTER, totally unplanned, unrehearsed, and off the top of my head. For years, the PCs had no idea WHAT they had encountered. And the Werewolf? He knew just how lucky he was to get away! ;-p
***
So, the moral of the story is: If you want more roleplaying, you've got to respond to all NPCs in "Non-Narrative Mode", regardless of how the GM presents them!
In the first example, the NPC on the road SHOULD have said:
"I, sair? I be a'goin' to the Londrian Faire, sairs... You see me pig? He be a PRIZE pig! He won the Localsville Faire, the last five years running! This year, I be taking him to Londria! MUCH bigger prizes, if he win!" (The Peasant's chest swells with pride, as he discusses his pigger)...
See the difference?
GM: So on the way to the faire, you pass a man with a pig on the road. He tells you that he is headed for Londria...
(The GM is not playing the NPC's role...)
PC: Okay, so I approach the man (what does he look like?), and I say: "Pardon me, Sir, but you and your pig are going to Londria? Why ever would you take a pig all that way?"
GM: He looks like your typical peasant. He has no weapons or valuables, except the pig. (GM, still not getting it, continues...) He tells you that he is taking his prize pig to the faire, there, to compete.
PC (refusing to fall for it): "There's a faire in Londria, too? I didn't know that, Sirrah! And you're taking your prize pig all that way? That's a long trip, for a pig, don't you think?"
GM (beginning to get it): "Well, yes, it IS a long trip, but..."
PC: "Don't you have a cart, or a wagon? Won't your poor pig lose weight, walking all that way?"
GM (now RPing the random encounter): "Well, no, I don't... I wish I did!" (He looks sadly at the pig) "I hope he don't lose no weight!"
PC: "Wouldn't it be better to go to the faire here in Localsville, instead? After all, you're already here..."
GM (falling back into narrative mode): Yeah, but he's already paid the entry fee for the faire in Londria, and doesn't have enough for this one...
PC (refusing to be sucked back into narrative mode): "What's that? You've already paid the entry fee for the Londrian Faire? But however will you get the poor pigger there, without melting all the fat off of it?"
***
Y'see what I mean?
In a game I once ran, I had my own random encounter tables, and rolled a werewolf against a party of 10th level PCs... Now in those 1e days, a werewolf was no danger to them, so I had him creep around the camp very quietly, spying on them. The Elf sentry spotted him, and (being a Druid) cast Entangle and awoke the party.
They proceeded to question the werewolf in Human form. Being wary of mind-reading, the randomly-encountered were stuck as close to the truth as he possibly could. When asked what he was doing there, he said "I could ask you the same thing!" He explained that he was a "hunter in these woods", and was investigating to see what all these strangers were doing here! (All true enough!)
The PCs questioned him, offered him some food (which he WOLFED down - pardon the pun!), and finally let him go. When a party member (whose player had moved away) disappeared, they were sure that the hunter was somehow involved!
The thing that made this random encounter so memorable, however, was that I RPed the hunter with a pseudo-australian accent, and did all of his dialog in-context, that way. The player's responded the same way, and the whole session was RPed because of it.
The entire deal was JUST a RANDOM ENCOUNTER, totally unplanned, unrehearsed, and off the top of my head. For years, the PCs had no idea WHAT they had encountered. And the Werewolf? He knew just how lucky he was to get away! ;-p
***
So, the moral of the story is: If you want more roleplaying, you've got to respond to all NPCs in "Non-Narrative Mode", regardless of how the GM presents them!
In the first example, the NPC on the road SHOULD have said:
"I, sair? I be a'goin' to the Londrian Faire, sairs... You see me pig? He be a PRIZE pig! He won the Localsville Faire, the last five years running! This year, I be taking him to Londria! MUCH bigger prizes, if he win!" (The Peasant's chest swells with pride, as he discusses his pigger)...
See the difference?
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Stock brokers do it too. 
