My Players wont Roleplay

Ourph said:
You seem to be saying that any attempt to encourage some roleplaying is tantamount to a DM power-trip targeted at involving the PCs in some hand-wringing soap opera. That's the part that I disagree with. :)


He did't say that, and nowhere does it even look like he said that. He said to learn the playstyle preference of his group, and NOT attempt to force roleplaying on a group that doesn't enjoy it.
 

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Aaron L said:
He did't say that, and nowhere does it even look like he said that. He said to learn the playstyle preference of his group, and NOT attempt to force roleplaying on a group that doesn't enjoy it.

May I direct you to post #20 and my reply in post #23.
 

Wulf Ratbane said:
Just cutting to the chase.

And in the process skip by the steps in which he learns what kind of chase it is? Poor guy winds up driving a motorboat in a car chase through downtown Detroit :)

For a DM who's been at it only 6 months, now is a perfect time to nip any bad habits in the bud.

Yes, and it is also time to establish good habits - like communication, and learning and experimenting with new forms to see if you like them. All things which your suggestion seems to skip. At 6 months is not the time to give up on cooperation and working with your players to find a happy medium, Wulf.
 
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Lot of good advice in this thread, including some good advice that disagrees with other good advice ;) Something else to chew on is this: I find that oftentimes people who are shy about roleplaying (particularly including "newbies" and "munchkins") are shy because they believe that all roleplay must consist of improvisational theater dialogue. Which they often suck at. If you think that this may be your problem then consider trying to show your players that there are other ways to roleplay (roleplay being defined here as expressing your character's unique traits for the entertainment of yourself and your friends)

Roleplay through description: Many characters who might not be so good at dialogue may still have a very good mental picture of what their character looks like. Encourage them to get that out. A nimble elven swashbuckler with a rapier and a stocky dwarf with a battleaxe are two very different characters and they can express their differences just as easily by playing up how they move, their body language and their fighting style as they can through witty banter about the superiority of elves vs dwarfs. Remind your players that combat is abstract, a single attack roll may encompass a great deal of action or not, and encourage them to make up any details they like to describe their characters actions so long as they don't alter the actual outcome of rolls. For example: the elf makes two attacks against the goblin, the first hits but doesn't kill the second kills. "I deftly sidestep the creature's spear thrust and in the same lightining quick motion my sword arm lashes out and I stab the goblin in the throat, with a quick flick of the wrist I slice his throat wide open." Does it matter that he basically described two attack rolls as the same action? Not a bit. Now the dwarf: "the little runt's wild spear attack glances off my armor as I lunge inside his reach, I slash him across the belly and as he doubles over in pain I raise my axe high and bring it down with a powerfull stroke that finishes him off." Now not every action needs description like that, combat would take forever if it did, but a little can go a long way. You can begin by describing the PC's and NPC's actions yourself and then as time goes on start asking your players to describe themselves like you have been doing with the eventual goal of letting them describe all their own actions. A key here is instead of describing the result of each roll as it happens begin each turn by resolving any rolls that need to be made then after you know what happened go back and describe how the entire turn happened. As an added bonus it relives you, the DM, of the burden of describing each play by play.

Roleplay through "internal" monologue: Many novels and stories take time to showcase a character through second or third person descriptions of their thoughts and feelings that normally wouldn't be visible to another character observing in the same universe. Many players who might feel self conscious engaging in first person dialogue might be ok simply describing their character's reaction to a situation. Example: dwarf vs goblin "disgusted by the loathsome creature before me I grip my well used axe tightly and charge into battle against the enemy of all my kin". There is no way the other players could know what the dwarf is thinking but that doesn't really matter as it mkes the fight more exciting and less routine. If you do decide to use some sort of roleplay award (poker chips, whatever) then remember to reward players who choose to roleplay this way as much as you reward the amatuer actors in the group.


Personally I find these sorts of roleplay to be far more intresting than 20 minutes spent in character discussing the weather with the shopkeep NPC. But as others have pointed out each person and group has their own prefrence. I hope you can find a happy balance for your group. Good luck!
 

Ourph said:
You seem to be saying that any attempt to encourage some roleplaying is tantamount to a DM power-trip targeted at involving the PCs in some hand-wringing soap opera. That's the part that I disagree with. :)

Fair enough. That was certainly my latter insinuation, caused more by some of the advice being given than the problem as described by the original poster. Mea culpa.

So: Do your best to encourage roleplaying by example, but you want to pull the players, not push them.

If neither pushing nor pulling works, realize that there are different kinds of gamers (a realization that takes some folks far too long to come to; indeed, entire theses have been on this study) and move on.

Wulf
 

Wulf Ratbane said:
Because it's possible to not enjoy roleplaying but still to enjoy social interaction with friends.

Pretty simple, really.


Wulf

Yeah, but me and my friends do LAN parties too. A case of beer and a night of Warcraft III or Counterstrike is a good time!
 

Someone else brought up - and I'm too lazy to do the quoting thing - that they may not feel comfortable role playing. It can certainly make you look like a fool. Best way is to jump in yourself. Funny voices, evocative description, don't be afraid to put yourself out there. If they're interested they may just start getting in on the act.

The comments about the setup are well made as well. If my group opened the door and saw a band of goblins grab their weapons with bloodlust in their eyes, well, the dice are going to be hitting the table. If instead they see a band of goblins chewing on some indeterminate type of meat look at them suspiciously and one says 'What are you doing here!' then we might RP a bit.

Then they'll kill them. :D
 

maddman75 said:
they may not feel comfortable role playing. It can certainly make you look like a fool. Best way is to jump in yourself. Funny voices, evocative description, don't be afraid to put yourself out there. If they're interested they may just start getting in on the act.

Along the same lines;
Not all hack and slashers are opposed to roleplaying, they may just be shy or feel embarrassed about acting out their character. Leading by example is all well and good, but I've found starting off with small steps is good too.
I don't know about you, but it seems like in my neck of the USA whenever someone goes to roleplay their PC, the first thing they do is assume a bad British accent. Some people, rightfully, realize they'll sound stupid doing an accent and as a result don't RP at all. Let your players know that they aren't obligated to make up a funny voice or 'emote' in order to play their part.
They can start off with whatever feels right; and if that means beginning with plain spoken dialogue then working up to adding feeling to it, then maybe an accent, so be it.
Being as this is a custom world (like mine) you have the opportunity to cut them loose from their expectations and say no one has to have an accent. I look at the map of my campaign world and I do not see Jolly Old England, nor do I see Japan, Russia or the US. So they can speak in whatever accent they are comfortable with.
 

A thought...

Try playing a few sessions of a superhero game with superhero dialogue, as a warm-up, if they can't work up the banter because they're embarrassed about being put on the spot. Everyone can manage some superhero lines, and with superheroes, the cheesier and more hammy, the better.

Once they've done that, perhaps they'll be able to carry some of it back to their D&D characters, and it won't need to be so hammed up anymore, so they'll be able to settle into a nice, normal repartee. Just an idea...
 

'nother idea

Log your sessions here and there. It's easy to add some drama into a write-up and hand that to the players to recap your last session. It can help them get an idea of what more could be happening when the dice are rolling (and when they aren't - but you've got advice on that already).

Another option that can be combined with this is to record a session and play it back to help you with a game log. Often you'll find player quotes can be modified slightly or taken exact and put into the game context.

Just recently did a log for one of my sessions and had the players commenting on all the role-play and that they hoped eventually we would play like that. 95% of the comments were made by them. I just cut out the ooc chatter and gave some setting description.
 

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