Roll Playing & not just rolling dice

[tarchon]

To me, roll playing is when the players settle their difference with baguette duels.

 

[barsoomcore]

In my experience the Players generally never ever try again to be the leader type that makes big speechs to lead people into Heck if you make fun of them for trying to make the speech that you want them too. What helps is positive encouraging words.

I'm not Snoweel, nor do I play Snoweel on TV, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but I'm reasonably certain Snoweel was being facetious.

I totally agree with you that positive encouragement (is there such a thing as negative encouragement? "Do this or I'll smack you!" -- right, there is) and kind words are the correct way to go about helping your players have fun. I suspect Snoweel does, too.

BTW, Snoweel, I wanna play in YOUR game. Can I? Huh? Can I?

 

[Snoweel]

During a particularly poignant in-character moment, Snoweel screws up his face and looks at barsoomcore like he just grew an extra head. This is accompanied by a derisive snort.

He then points and laughs at Talon5's dyslexia...

 

[dren]

Diplomacy: I handle it mostly through role playing. If you are trying to convince someone of something, and you handle the situation "correctly" giving a good lie, argument or bribe, etc; I will adjudicate in your favor without a dice roll. If it's something that I believe would be difficult to convince the person, then I roll the dice, and I would give you a bonus / penalty to the dice based on your speech or other actions. If there's no speech, there's no adjustment to the dice roll.

Aprox 80% of the time, in standard situations, I won't roll the dice to determine success. If it's reasonable... you will be successful, as I assume you are taking "10."

 

[Mort]

To the “give bonuses based on the speech of the player” crowd:

Bob: I’d like to break out of this cage, my character attempts to bend the bars.
DM: Right, *tosses Bob a steel pipe* here bend this and depending on how far you bend it, I’ll give your character a bonus.
Bob: Uhh… what was that?

If the players have fun giving speeches and the like that’s great and the DM should encourage it. That said, players who don’t like giving speeches (or are not good at it) should have fun too.

Even worse, giving a player any significant bonus based on their own oration makes charisma an even bigger dump stat than it already is.

I do it pretty much the same way Snoweel explained.

 

[Talon5]

(reading the rants from another thread gave me this idea- hope I can get it out the way I want)

Sure you can say- "gonna roll here, what I want to do is give a cool little talk here to my men, get them to want to follow me through the gates of Heck," the player rolls and the the player goes off on some long winded beautiful rant about how great his men are, how they know what has to be done and how they all must sacrifice for the good of their country and their friends/family/etc. The DM knows this guy sucks at this whole thing, but lets him go because the Player is trying- that to me is good role playing.

Knowing the expertise of your character is part of it- knowing your character is an expert in something while you are not is a point to make- "I am not an expert climber and my character is, my character needs to climb this cliff then get seven people up it that have little to no climbing experience. He will keep that in mind while he's making this climb." That should be okay, its honest and its clear.

I guess some times I have trouble making my point and after way to many hours of no sleep, I get a little fuzzy on clear thought and all. Will try again.

I prefer the rousing speech to come from the player. Should thir character be this Mr/Mrs Cha then they will have that as a bonus to what they roll. If they are like me and can't get a clear thought out of their finger tips or their mouths then they will suffer no negitives to their roll aside from what their character has on their character sheet (Diplomacy is a -1 then your nat 20 is now a 19, make no speech and your still at a 19, make a speech and impress me, I might give you a bonus).

(Note- never said or implied that I imposed negitives for not doing the speech)

If we all sit at the table and just- "move over there. Climb that rock rolled a 15. Use sword, hit 20 AC, 12 hp dam." That is way boring and that is what I am getting from some of you. I would rather not play in that kind of campaign. Its not... interesting, no flavor text.

Maybe its just to many players at my table that don't give any real effort, they roll dice and say where they are, they role play when the moon is more blue then white, and its getting to me.

I guess it boils down to what you wan to get from the campaign. When I play Mr Diplomacy then I try to be more diplomatic in my manor of speaking, Mister Wizard thinks more and analysis things out- is shy and lacks confidence, while solo ranger archer guy is a harsh dick, that doesn't like large groups, and stays away from social interaction.

My characters all have personality, when I try to do something then I try with the character's mind set in mind. If you think I would ask the player that most obviously does not have a 18 Str to bend a bar to get a bonus then your missing the point, none of my players have an 18 str.

Need sleep. Hopefully I will soon- I need to get some before Saturday for sure.

 

[S'mon]

I give bonuses for good description - that applies equally to climbing a rock face, bluffing a bugbear or orating a speech. I try to avoid penalties for poor description though, but if the PC is doing something idiotic it may be necessary. Also I dislike players who won't even attempt to get into character when conversing with an NPC, although this is rare.
For Diplomacy etc, I would not negate the result of the roll, but I would not treat it as a magic 'charm' effect no matter how good the roll or how persuasive the real-life speaker is. Generally speaking I let a player rely on the die roll & their Diplomacy (etc) ranks if they want, but they'll get bonuses for being real-life persuasive since that adds to the roleplay experience & enjoyment for everyone else including me!

 

[ichabod]

Bah. If I wanted to be in drama club, I'd go back to high school.

 

[Arnwyn]

To the “give bonuses based on the speech of the player” crowd:

Bob: I’d like to break out of this cage, my character attempts to bend the bars.
DM: Right, *tosses Bob a steel pipe* here bend this and depending on how far you bend it, I’ll give your character a bonus.
Bob: Uhh… what was that?

Hey, look! It's another one of those idiotic arguments that tries to compare physical actions to mental/descriptive ones in a mental/descriptive game, and assumes that the DM doesn't know the preferred play style of his/her players! Wow! Whooda thunk we'd see another one of those?

It works like this for an inspiring, charismatic DM like yourself, barsoomcore, but I prefer to deadpan stare, slack-jawed at my awkward players, Tom Green-style, thus making them even more uncomfortable and awkward.

And then I giggle myself to sleep about it afterwards.

Remember, we game to have fun, and I make damn sure I do.

Serious or not, that's still funny as hell.

 

[ssampier]

I totally agree with you that positive encouragement (is there such a thing as negative encouragement? "Do this or I'll smack you!" -- right, there is) and kind words are the correct way to go about helping your players have fun. I suspect Snoweel does, too.

I agree. I know the stereotypical gamer doesn't wash and is opinionated, but mine are generally quiet, reserved, and not very social (hell I'm not very social). Players can suprise you though. My loudmouth players tend to overlook clues and just charge in. The quiet players may surprise you with excellent tactics and skillful negotiation. It can happen.


BTW, I believe there is there is negative reinforcement, however. Then again, I'm not a psychologist.