Role Playing During Battle

[Bullgrit]

There can be, and should be, role playing in combat. And role playing in combat doesn't even require the PCs and NPCs utter a word at each other.

In my last D&D campaign, we had role playing in combat:

The war cleric in full plate, shield, and warhammer, usually stood toe-to-toe with an opponent.

The Spring Attack barbarian moved all around the field, jumping in to slash, and then jumping back out to reposition.

The halfling monk was a freakin' super bouncy ball of dodge and evade.

The almost-evil wizard threw in poorly placed area-affect spells to the annoyance of the above three allies.

The druid stood back and summoned animals left and right.

The support/healer cleric moved around the outside of the battle, stepping in to heal and buff when necessary.

That is all role playing, no less than doing talky-talk when in a king's court. If a player stops role playing when the initiative dice are rolled, it is his own fault. Combat and role playing *are not* contradictory. They can be very smoothly integrated.

Bullgrit

 

[P1NBACK]

Give your NPCs/Monsters a goal besides "kill the enemy".

If they are intelligent, have them talk about their goals during the fight.

"Get the wizard's spellbook! It'll be worth a lot to Crug!"

"The boss said bring back a girl! Grab her!"

"They've desecrated our holy site! Let us drive them from here!"

If they aren't intelligent, have them flee as soon as they realize how tough the PCs are. Most animals won't fight a losing battle, no? That'll speed up the encounters. But, maybe give them a reason for fighting too. Do they have eggs nearby? Maybe the drake flees to the corner of the wooded glade and makes a valiant stance in front of her eggs... Sure, the PCs can't talk it out with the drake, but maybe they talk amongst themselves.

"Maybe we should let her be. She's just defending her eggs..." "Screw that, you see the gems lying beneath them!"

Or, whatever.

When you're creating your random encounter tables, try to write this kind of stuff in there.

Instead of 6 goblins, write "6 goblins - they work for Crug, a bugbear who likes collecting human scalps and minor magical tokens" or something.

You don't have to know who Crug is, or where he is at first. If the PCs pursue it, talk to the goblins, etc., then you can come up with that kind of stuff on the fly.

As for the Fighter guy who doesn't talk a lot, I wouldn't try and force it onto him. Some players are happy to just sit back and let the others do their thing until it's time to bash skulls. But, maybe you could tailor some NPCs to his character? Maybe fighter-types who respect him above the other party members.

Ask him questions. Who taught him to fight? Where did he get his first sword? What made him want to become an adventurer? etc.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

Get the players roleplaying with each other. It might be easier to encourage this out of combat, given the stated issue, but once rolling, it will naturally occur most of the time. This works even when you aren't 100%.

A good way to get them started is to reward them for doing it. Make it explicit. Even when roleplaying with an NPC, encourage the PC talking to the NPC to include more of the players in the scene. The reward can be anything your group is comfortable using. I prefer action points (or the equivalent), but more XP, choice treasure, in-game favors, etc. can all work.

 

[Storminator]

I've always tried to do this same type of thing. But I seem to fail miserably. Once combat starts, I go into tactical mode and throw roleplaying out the window (and I'm the DM). Every once in a while I will remember to roleplay an NPC during combat. But it seems forced and none of the players ever really react to it.

Why does it seem so hard to be a roleplayer and a tactical player? We always seem to be one or the other.

Write in on your initiative cards. When enemy Captain of the Guard's turn comes up, start with a comment, then pick his action. I've also thrown an extra card into the initiative order that just says "QUIP." When that comes up I ask if anyone's got one.

Using the initiative cards constantly prods you to ham it up.

PS

 

[Thasmodious]

Get the players roleplaying with each other. It might be easier to encourage this out of combat, given the stated issue, but once rolling, it will naturally occur most of the time. This works even when you aren't 100%.

A good way to get them started is to reward them for doing it. Make it explicit. Even when roleplaying with an NPC, encourage the PC talking to the NPC to include more of the players in the scene. The reward can be anything your group is comfortable using. I prefer action points (or the equivalent), but more XP, choice treasure, in-game favors, etc. can all work.

Jerome beat me to it, I was going to respond with much the same. The key to bringing out more RP in combat is not just for the DM to initiate but to get the players RPing their characters to one another during combat. Incentives are a great way to do this. There are other ways to encourage it to, a rule during combat that all conversation must be IC, including tactics can work.

This is a topic near to my heart and I started a thread about it a few weeks ago: http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/304099-rp-versus-combat-not-when-i-play.html