COMING SOON! -- Presents for Goblins: Festive Resources for 5E on Kickstarter! A festive softcover of holiday-themed D&D 5E resources, including the short adventure 'Presents for Goblins'.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7637432" data-attributes="member: 29398">Ah - you're thinking movie actors where I was thinking live-stage actors; and yes, there is a difference.But portraying a different emotion than what one really feels at the time?  That's common to both stage acting and RPGs.  If my PC has reason to be mad at someone about something then I'm going to portray it - through my words, expression, and tone - as being mad, never mind how happy I-as-player might be feeling at that moment because someone just fed me a slice of yummy pizza."Tonight the role of Julius Caesar will be played by Sir Alec Guinness", a live-theatre MC might have said 40 years ago in the UK.  And thus, when we see Sir Alec on the stage there's an expectation that we the audience will see him as Julius Caesar even if for just the one night we happen to see the show; and there's a corollary expectation that says Sir Alec will do his best to make us think he really is Caesar during that same period of time.The difference in an RPG, of course, is that we see the same people playing the same roles for much longer than just one "show".  Add to that it's pretty much all unscripted and that the actors (rather than the writer and-or director) are responsible for defining the personality and traits they're trying to portray, and it's a different breed of animal once one gets past the common root: playing a role and acting are largely synonymous.</blockquote>