Weem’s DM Tips for RP Prompting and Immersion

[Kannik]

This does surprise me honestly. I'm not 100% sure how comfortable I'd be on either side of the screen with this - either as a player having the DM sit in the driver's seat of my character or as the DM driving someone else's character.

I suppose if the touch is very light, most people wouldn't object. How much character background do you have to work from? I tend to be pretty light in the character background area - as a player I generally just do a paragraph or two and as a DM I don't want much more than that.

Yeah, looking back on it from this perspective I’m almost surprised it worked out as well as it did. }

I was fortunate that each player did write a backstory of between one to three pages, so I had a lot to go by. I read them carefully and managed to nail their ‘headspace’ well, such that mostly what I was doing was putting their creation into a first-person story that was a small recap, wove in the foundation for the campaign to come and reflected that ‘headspace’ of the character such that reading it in first person put them right there into that headspace ready to relate and interact with the game world as the character.

Hrm, a thought occurs. I wonder if I could get my players to rotate this. Everyone takes someone else's character and does up the summary from that other character's point of view. Would take the onus off the DM to "get it right" and if you rotate it around every "chapter" the differing views of a character could help a player see how his character is being perceived.

Iiiinteresting! I'd love to hear how that goes...

Kannik - thanks for the reminder to use note cards to pass along perception or other info to individual characters. It will help them stay in character and describe what they've perceived.

You’re welcome. } It works great... except for that one time when a player just took the card and passed it around. (I spoke to them afterwards and explained what the card was for... they said OOPS! and was totally into it next time)

Gamingly,

Kannik

 

[buddhafrog]

One other technique that I’m using is to before the game write the results of certain known and important insight, perception or other checks onto the back of small cards. When a player succeeds at one of those checks I’ll give them the card with the result – and then they have to convey it to the rest of the party. I’ll also make them on the fly too if necessary. This solves the case of you explaining something to one player (usually when they’re away from the party) and then they get back and say “I saw something... what the DM said.” Giving them the chance to convey the information opens the opportunity for them to describe it as their character would, and thus be in character.

I know different people use this technique, but I've never got around to using it (call my lazy). However, after reading this post I prepared it for my game last night. The PC's meet a powerful and very important NPC/mentor who they knew was in danger and who might have been killed. When the PC's saw him, they were thrilled he was alive and were glad to have his support b/c they were in a very tough bind themselves.... except for the fact that one of the PC's perceived something that led him to believe that the NPC ally was actually not himself at all - he was an impostor. I slipped him the card with the info. He couldn't directly tell the other PC's b/c the immediate situation was too dangerous to show his hand. This created a great role playing situation that lasted quite a long time. It worked wonderfully.

The PC's were 7th grade students; the looks on all ther faces were priceless, "What? What is it?!! What did you see?" Of course I quickly replied "Anything you say is in real time as your character." The PC who had the hidden info loved it as well. He knew the secret the entire scenario and kept looking for ways to either share the info (which I made it very difficult to do with my multiple, urgent NPC's and guards) or find the best time to make a sudden attack - but at great risk to the PC's life.

 

[buddhafrog]

EDIT: sorry - double post

 

[LostSoul]

Cool! I'm not familiar with "Kickers from Sorcerer" so... time to do some searching (or if you/anyone has a handy link that would be great!).

They are pretty similar to Foregrounds. It's what the PC is doing right now that has turned their world upside-down, something that means they can't go back to the status quo. An "inciting incident". It's a more involved in Sorcerer since a lot of play and decisions that are made will focus on the Kicker and the resolution of it.

 

[weem]

They are pretty similar to Foregrounds. It's what the PC is doing right now that has turned their world upside-down, something that means they can't go back to the status quo. An "inciting incident". It's a more involved in Sorcerer since a lot of play and decisions that are made will focus on the Kicker and the resolution of it.

Ahh, I see - thanks. That's interesting.

I just now went and looked around and found this (you already explained, but I thought I would drop this in as well)...

Finally, you choose the Kicker – the event or realization that pushes your character into action. It can be finding a suitcase full of money or a mysterious stranger that only appears when no one else can see him. The Kickers are very important to Sorcerer; they make the PCs worth playing.

So in my example, I might say his kicker was that he hit bottom... he was homeless and had nothing, not even food or drink. Something needed to happen now, etc.

 

[weem]

I wanted to take a minute and thank everyone for the comments, they are much appreciated. This is a bit unorthodox, but I'm going to respond to some comments here...

rusty2667:
kudos to working in a Seinfeld reference!

Haha, AND 'Rosanne'! - who would have thought those two would be sharing space in a D&D related post

Oryan77:
Good stuff, but there could have been more nudity to spice things up.

Jack7:
I'll second the nudity thing. Otherwise, good ideas.

Next time. I will think about including something next time

Jack99:
Awesome. Should be in DMG3

You're giving me more credit than is deserved, but I appreciate it

Fridayknight:
just right

Awesome! You know, I had this fear that it would be 1) Too much, or 2) Too little, hehehe

 

[Prestidigitalis]

Interesting post, even though I'm a player who never DMs -- well, not since 1980 anyway. Teach me to spend all my time over on the 4e Rules forum!

Regarding backgrounds and such: I always feel selfish when I try to get the party to do something that advances my character's long-term agenda. I know the game is not all about me or my characters, but I think I probably overcompensate -- a lot. Suggestions for me or my DMs?

 

[Kannik]

The PC who had the hidden info loved it as well. He knew the secret the entire scenario and kept looking for ways to either share the info (which I made it very difficult to do with my multiple, urgent NPC's and guards) or find the best time to make a sudden attack - but at great risk to the PC's life.

That. Is. AWESOME. } Sounds like the whole table got immersed into the scene and into their characters. I can imagine them (and the PCs) squirm. Hooray for results out of not being lazy...

They are pretty similar to Foregrounds. It's what the PC is doing right now that has turned their world upside-down, something that means they can't go back to the status quo. An "inciting incident".

That's a great idea too, it gives an impetus for why the PC is interested in heading out into the world/adventure. I'm going to ensure that is included in any future background/foreground conversations I have about new PCs.

gamingly,

Kannik

 

[Hussar]

Interesting post, even though I'm a player who never DMs -- well, not since 1980 anyway. Teach me to spend all my time over on the 4e Rules forum!

Regarding backgrounds and such: I always feel selfish when I try to get the party to do something that advances my character's long-term agenda. I know the game is not all about me or my characters, but I think I probably overcompensate -- a lot. Suggestions for me or my DMs?

I wonder if this hits on something. I know I tend to kinda grind my teeth when the players won't pony up and start advancing their own goals. Could it be that the players are looking for some sort of sign or permission that they can put themselves forward like that?

I mean, just about every "good player guide" out there tells players not to hog the spotlight. To be polite and not dominate the game. I wonder if players take this a bit too far and become almost afraid of "being a bad player" by trying to take a bit of control.

I also wonder, thinking about the groups I have played with, if this explains a bit about why one or two players can so dominate a group. If one or two players doesn't feel bad about putting a foot forward, and the rest do, that player becomes the one eyed man in the land of the blind.

Sure, there are players out there who just aren't interested in getting behind the wheel, but, I wonder if there aren't at least just as many players who are too polite to drive.

Not sure how to deal with that.

 

[weem]

I wonder if this hits on something. I know I tend to kinda grind my teeth when the players won't pony up and start advancing their own goals. Could it be that the players are looking for some sort of sign or permission that they can put themselves forward like that?

I mean, just about every "good player guide" out there tells players not to hog the spotlight. To be polite and not dominate the game. I wonder if players take this a bit too far and become almost afraid of "being a bad player" by trying to take a bit of control.

I also wonder, thinking about the groups I have played with, if this explains a bit about why one or two players can so dominate a group. If one or two players doesn't feel bad about putting a foot forward, and the rest do, that player becomes the one eyed man in the land of the blind.

Sure, there are players out there who just aren't interested in getting behind the wheel, but, I wonder if there aren't at least just as many players who are too polite to drive.

Not sure how to deal with that.

That's a good observation - I had never really thought too much about this. I think my immediate assumption was simply that some are more comfortable with the spotlight than others, but there could be more to it than that - as you mentioned.

I would imagine that a good conversation before a game/campaign gets underway could go a long way - particularly if this subject was touched. For example, letting players know that there will be moments where the spotlight is fully intended to be on them and that they should seize that moment understanding that it (the spotlight) will make it around to everyone more than once, etc - don't worry about stepping on toes, etc.