Roleplaying Advice

[Brother Shatterstone]

Anyone have any advice on how to spice up my Roleplay?

Try a different and slower format like PbP. With it being different you’ll find yourself (hopefully) spending more time thinking on it and with if being a slower format you can take any extra time that you might need to make sure you do what your character, and not you, would do.

 

[LostSoul]

Playing myself just isnt satisfying me... I stay out of inter-party conflicts because when I am RPing myself, it gets a little personal. Not that we have that many, but still. And as I'm a rather thoughtful, socially conservative person, I don't end up DOING that much. And there is the angle that I kind of think of RPG's as a higher form of gaming than say, video games (which I do love) because its also a creative exercise. So yes, I feel like I am doing it "wrong" and that makes it less fun.

I don't believe that you are doing it "wrong" by playing yourself. I tend to play myself, after a fashion. Usually there is some kind of issue that's bothering me that I want to explore via role-play. So I play a character where that issue is heightened. Hopefully, through the game, I get to explore that issue. For instance, I have issues with trust. So I play a loner-type character with the goal of learning to trust my fellow party members.

If that's your bag, maybe you should mention that to the DM. Tell him the kind of creative issue that you want to explore. It's possible that the DM isn't giving you enough to work with.

 

[Herobizkit]

My characters invariably take on aspects of my personality. It's part of their charm.

If you're truly looking for a test of RP, might I suggest randomly rolling a character in its entirety? One book I've used is AEG's Toolbox, which can generate everything -- attitudes, personality, quirks, race, class, and even your favourite weapon. Then see what happens.

If you're having trouble choosing a PC, maybe it's time to get out of the PC chair and into the DM chair for a few sessions. RP some different NPCs and you may accidentally find inspiration from them.

I DM a solo campaign and have a central core of NPCs that cling to the PC. Each one has aspects of my personality. Why not focus on a few aspects of yourself and try and leave out others?

One final note: There are NUMEROUS web sites about character development in creative writing. Give 'em a look-see and follow their guidelines to create anew and interesting character from scratch.

 

[Luthien Greyspear]

I'll have to keep an eye out for concepts that intrigue me. I picked up the greyhawk gazeteer and was flipping through faiths and pantheons looking for character concepts. I was thinking of a bard follower of Olidammara, maybe even CN, though I'm afraid of causing too much friction in what is supposed to be a heroic campaign. One question about Olidammara, though is how do you get a follower of a deity whose philosophy is "make life a playground" into someone willing to endure the hardships of adventuring?

Make it your mission to make it a playground for everybody. By helping to get rid of the goblins threatening a town, or by bringing back enough dragon-loot to finance a huge party, you spread the fun that Olidamarra enjoys. Sure, it's a hardship actually fighting the dragon, but that lasts only a couple of minutes. The good times to be had from the dragon's swag can last days or weeks. And the good feelings generated from the tales of the dragon's death can last lifetimes.

We had a cleric of Olidamarra in a party that I ran, and his answer to everything was, "Have a drink." The funny thing was, it worked. Everyone ACTUALLY went to the priest for spiritual and moral advice. He was laid back, and usually soused (except that he was immune to the negative effects of alcohol, thanks to his god ), and everyone trusted and liked him.

Combine that outlook with a slight adrenaline-junkie attitude, and you've got an adventurer raring to go!

 

[Aus_Snow]

I know someone who used to feel exactly the same way.

What she found broke her out of the rut was using random tables and/or just rolls. So, roll for race, roll for class, roll for alignment (within the bounds of the campaign guidelines - if any), roll for various traits, roll for background details. . . and so on.

Do this for your next few characters, play them to the fullest - well, as far as you want to - and enjoy!


Hey, just my 2c (from Real Life, mind you).


Oh, wait! Of course, if you roll the usual type of wizard, roll again! (natch)

 

[Henry]

Here's a suggestion: (Just jumping in, haven't seen if this has been used yet):

You yourself can tell the difference, obviously, no matter if others can or not. So write down two or three sentences or phrases, of two to four words each, that best describes YOU. Your core values, your "fight-or-flight" instinct, the values that mean the most to you (such as honor, or truthfulness, or safety, or pleasure-seeking, or being well-off, or guarding your friends, etc.)

Then, write down two or three sentences or phrases, of two to four words each, that describe your character's core values, whether those are friendliness, or greed, or selflessness, or selfishness, etc.) Have them nearby, on your character sheet or such, so that you can refer to them often in-game. Anytime you're faced with a hard choice, such as: Do I jump in and rescue the wizard? Do I trust what this NPC is saying? Do I offer one of my rations to the dying man? Refer to these tenets, just for a second, to re-center yourself.

Remember, when we're acting on gut instinct, and when we're not thinking, we react as ourselves, rather than as someone else. Eventually, you'll be able to jump into your character's head and think, "what would LAUCIAN do?" with little hesitation.

I do the same thing myself. Whether I'm playing crusader or knave, I eventually start jumping in to save allies, start trying to plan ahead, I take the safer path, etc. But I try to check myself every chance I get to turn it back around. About a year ago, one of my tougher challenges in an RPG was playing a character with a 6 WIS, because I try not to be impulsive with my PC's. I just played him as very unintuitive and impulsive, and it took a lot to leap before I looked, but eventually I got into it.

 

[Hussar]

Heh, LN cleric of Cuthbert - exactly what I am playing. Except I've made him a member of a slightly heretical fire cult which believes that water is the physical embodiment of chaos and that sinners should be put to the torch. (Yeah, laid back he ain't)

An idea that usually works for me is to take an element from your own personality and exagerate it tenfold. If you have a bit of an anti-authority streak, then unleash it and go full bore anarchist. Like being in charge? LN priest of Cuthbert sounds like a good way to go. Take it to extremes and you might find that you create an alter ego of yourself that is an absolute blast since you can really inject a lot of yourself into the character.

Just a thought.

 

[The Lost Muse]

There are some very good resources available online as well:
http://www.dragondogpress.com/unclefiggy/index.html
http://www.roleplayingtips.com

Hope everything works out for you - I understand the frustration myself.

 

[Mystery Man]

Kind of afraid of the consequences of screwing that one up... two players are women and one is rather annoyed with guys playing female pc's badly.

Play a female lizardfolk! What do they know how a female lizardfolk acts? Plus the look on everyone's face when you dig a hole in the sand to lay some eggs would be just too good to pass up.

OK, I'll get off the female bit.

I think Henry has a good system for you to check whenever you have doubts about what you would do vs. what your character would do. There's an ask Gary Gygax thread around here somewhere as well, if you have any specific questions on character dynamics from particular regions he might be able to help shed some light on it for you.

 

[KenSeg]

Role-playing has nothing to do with the class, it is the character. The best advice I can give you from over 25 years of playing is to start with one thing. For instance, one of my more memorable characters was started by hearing Sebastian the crab from "The Little Mermaid", playing on the TV a few rooms away by our GMs daughter. Jamacian acent. That was it. From this, I started to craft a personality. The accent made me think of outgoing, flashy. From this came a 6 foot 6 inch bald jamacian wizard with a penchant for flashy spells. They weren't always the most appropriate for the occasion, but they were always flashy. Why use magic missles when a big old flaming sphere was available?!! He loved outragious colors and a drink that I stole from Highlander, Boom-boom.

Once you have crafted this character, the most important thing is to be true to him/her. Become the character when you are playing. One of his flashy spells just about got us all killed several times when we needed to be sneeky, but while it would have been the "smart" game thing to do to be quiet, it just wasn't him.

And don't be afraid to have fun with your character. Act goofy if that is what he would do. If your gaming friends don't have the maturity to not make fun of you for it or yell at you when you act within his character, might be time to find a new group.

-KenSeg
Gaming since 1978