"Roleplaying": Thank you, Mr. Baur

[el-remmen]

Word.

In fact, I am only interested in combat encounters in as much as they are "role-playing encounters", despite my love of environment and tactics.

 

[Hussar]

I love the Wolf.

I agree that combat encounters can be roleplayed, and SHOULD be roleplayed...that's what makes them fun.

However, I must raise a point of contension. The reason a lot of people make the afrorementioned differentiation between "roleplaying" and "combat" encounters is clear to me:

Many people STOP roleplaying when the fight begins. The focus goes away from engaging their fellow players and the DM as their character, and they become a strategist staring down at pieces on a board and metagaming the situation as an abstract exercise of tactics and numerical equations.

When you are roleplaying your character in "talking scenes," you are roleplaying because you are stepping into the skin and acting (and reacting) as that character. This can be hindered by combat in my experience...especially when there is a battlemat involved. The battlemat becomes the focus. You can watch people's eye contact vanish as they stare at the table at the pieces they were embodying moments ago. We as players become forces moving "that piece" that is our character. Therefore the portrayal of the role can, and often does, take a backseat to strategy.

When this doesn't happen and the players are totally wrapped up in the heat of the fight, and even making bad (tactically) decisions because they are so into their character is what I truly love about roleplaying combat encounters. Just doesn't happen enough in my experience. This is why I shall NEVER use a battlemat when I DM.

Down with the battlemat.

At least for me.

Bless you if you like the battlemat.

If you are having difficulty getting into character in combat, I would humbly suggest This thread for help. There's lots of great ideas here.

 

[Fishbone]

Preach it, brother. Staying in character when fighting and acting as your character would IS roleplaying. I wish more people would get that.

 

[Quickleaf]

Set the bar for your role-playing skill checks ahead of time and stick with them. The rough rule of thumb is that the DC should be roughly equal to 12 plus the party's level, so that a skill-based character with maxed-out ranks and an ability bonus expects to succeed 75% of the time -- and a character without skill ranks and no ability bonus succeeds less than 50% of the time.

This advice about setting the DC is worth its weight in gold! Has anyone read clear guidelines like this before or is Wolfgang Baur the first to officially say it?

 

[seskis281]

In 25 years I've never used a battlemat, and only use a dry erase board for the most basic of exploring needs and reference. And I've run many a game without even that - i.e. no minis, no nothing on the table... and those games were outstanding because they relied on the imagination of the players, which keeps them in the characters. I love it when a player starts to do something, but then thinks twice and says "hey this may not be smart but it's what my character would do here."

John

 

[wayne62682]

You call that good roleplaying, I call it intentionally screwing yourself by not choosing the best maneuver for the job...

 

[seskis281]

You call that good roleplaying, I call it intentionally screwing yourself by not choosing the best maneuver for the job...

So you'd rather a barbarian with a dangerously low INT suddenly become a master tactician in the middle of combat?

 

[Hussar]

Neither. But, I'd also like to know where everthing is in combat, since my barbarian character, assuming he has eyes, would also know. The idea that battlemaps somehow limit role playing was pretty much debunked in the link I provided above. It might limit roleplaying for you but, it's hardly a problem with the battlemap then is it?

 

[FireLance]

You call that good roleplaying, I call it intentionally screwing yourself by not choosing the best maneuver for the job...

Sometimes, it's not about winning, it's about winning in style (e.g. All Power Attack, All The Time) .

Actually, I find that people are more likely to roleplay when faced with combat than when faced with traps (see Quasqueton's Is this fair? thread) because there are fewer unknowns and the players are more assured of their characters' survival.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

II love it when a player starts to do something, but then thinks twice and says "hey this may not be smart but it's what my character would do here."

John

I agree.

I remember readin in a dragon magazine decades ago the line "I don't care what the numbers on the character sheet say, I'm going to do what I think of" - it may have been Len Lakofka.. can't remember. That always left a really bad taste in my mouth. If you aren't going to care about the numbers on the character sheet (like the Int score of 5) why bother roleplaying - go wargame or something.