My Players wont Roleplay

[Kugar]

Don't look at your players - change yourself.

You only have control over one thing - the way you DM.

I would say look at the way you DM and see if the encounters and the way you describe encounters are promoting roleplaying. Be animated, entertaining, dramatic and suck your players into their character's shoes. Remember DM is a fine art that none of us ever perfect. The way you DM and roleplay will affect the way the players see the game.

That being said. I have 2 advice nuggets:
1) Look at the way you are running the game and the way you want to run the game. If there is a gap then work on any weaknesses. In addition ask the players what they want or think is cool in the game and give that to them.

2) Go to a local convention an play with more players and DMs. We all steal from each other and everyone has their own tips and mannerisms. Playing with good DMs will naturally improve your own DMing. More importantly you will learn what you DO NOT like and can take steps to avoid it. Plus I've run some tables that make me want to scream for my home group That's always refreshing.

Kugar

 

[Aaron2]

Hey all, im a DM at D&D for about 6 months now.

Well, just to show that the RPG world isn't united, I'd suggest -not- changing to giving out XP for roleplaying. I've found that only serves to punish those characters who don't do it well. A guy who only cares about the tactical aspects of the game will suddenly find himself behind the other characters in term of power. Now, he's the worst at doing what he cares most about (i.e. fighting etc).

I found that, other than roleplaying out NPC myself as DM, the thing that makes the characters role-play the best is for them to actually care about the game world. To do this, I started using NPCs through multiple adventures. The party will care more about rescueing a character if that character has helped them out in an adventure before. Keep the adventuring area small and keep the party from travelling excessively. Used sparingly, monster characters cause the party to take notice. I had a mummy wizard NPC that, although he often helped out the party, still radiated evil (being undead). The party cleric was just looking for a reason to kill him while the party fighter respected his advice. The fact that they could only talk to him a few minutes each day (while his Change Self spell was active; they didn't know what he was) made it even worse.


Aaron

 

[Ourph]

Bad habits like, "I am the DM, and I have a story to tell, dammit, so the players just better learn to dance to MY tune!"

Wow! When did not wanting your players to kill every NPC they meet on sight turn into a DM power-trip? It's one thing for the players to be the kick-in-the-door types and the DM to be a I'm-a-soap-opera-writer-wannabe type. In that case, I agree, somebody has to find a new group.

But it sounds like TheFlame just wants to be a DM, rather than an MMORPG server for his players. There's no reason a compromise cannot be reached.

For example, in the case of the goblins, maybe the PCs could take the time to trade a few insults before whacking their heads off. Then everyone is happy.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Wow! When did not wanting your players to kill every NPC they meet on sight turn into a DM power-trip?

Since the DM decided that blood-thirsty goblins were soap-opera NPCs who didn't deserve to get their heads whacked off on sight.

If the original post had said the players whacked the mayor, or the tavern wench, you'd have a point. But no... He's grousing because the players killed a group of goblins, which is what adventurers are supposed to do.

Does the scene in Fellowship of the Ring, in Balin's Tomb, get your blood pumping? Would you want to play in a game that trades Gandalf's war cry and heroic charge for a friggin' tea party?


Wulf

 

[Ourph]

Since the DM decided that blood-thirsty goblins were soap-opera NPCs who didn't deserve to get their heads whacked off on sight.

So the days of:

Hobgoblins: "Who sent you?"
Silverleaf: "Gary sent us!"

are just outdated monstrosities that deserve to be pitched without ceremony into the dustbin of history?

OK. :\

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

So the days of:

Hobgoblins: "Who sent you?"
Silverleaf: "Gary sent us!"

are just outdated monstrosities that deserve to be pitched without ceremony into the dustbin of history?

OK. :\

But that's not the scenario that was presented, is it? Must we continue with straw man arguments?

 

[Conaill]

On to roleplaying, over the years I have had a few who were either intimidated or not interested. The two best ways I combat this:

1) Roleplay my heart out as DM. Ham up the monsters, describing their maneuvers and shouting insults or challenges at the characters in the heat of battle.

2) Really ham up the NPCs, one of which will always seem to target the un-roleplaying PC with a bunch of personal questions I ask in-character.

The result is this sets the 'theme' of the table, and everyoine slowly starts getting into it. Lead, they'll follow.

Best advice yet.

Just don't complain that you have to do all the work. If you're the one who wants to introduce more roleplaying, it falls upon you to put in the effort. There's a small chance that some of your players will get annoyed at your theatrics. (If so, "listen to your players" is probably the second-best advice in this thread.) Much more likely, they'll start to pick up on it and increase their own roleplaying as well.

Personally, I've probably learned more about roleplaying from the good example of other players and DMs, and thank god they've been there to give me that experience.

 

[Ourph]

But that's not the scenario that was presented, is it? Must we continue with straw man arguments?

Right. My thoughts are that the scenario presented wasn't very conducive to roleplaying (the whole "bloodlust in their eyes" comment) and that TheFlame could probably change a few things to encourage more RP. Others in the thread already pointed that out.

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.

 

[Psiblade]

For me, the best way to get people to roleplay is through the spy type of adventures. The party has to actively avoid force or they will have a bad day. This still gives the party a chance to come up with excellent tactics and ideas, but puts them more into the characters shoes. Most important rule thou is the game should always be fun for everybody.

-Psiblade

 

[heimdall]

A lot of good advice, let me post something from my own, recent, experience.

I had a player who has been a friend of mine for years. He played in my D&D game but everytime we went into more than surface roleplaying, he got very unhappy. Put a battle board out there, let him move figurines around, he was giddy. We finally had to agree to part ways on the game because the way I like to run involves heavy role-playing. My games have been described as "LARPish" on occasion and thus weren't a good fit for him. I just added two new players and for one, he's having an absolute blast. The other one started last night, so he hasn't time to develop an opinion, obviously. Each player is different.

As has been said, you've got to determine what your players want. If you can have fun doing the same thing, then great! If not, there are other ways to spend time together as friends. No need letting a game get in the way of that.