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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Humanophile" data-source="post: 231661" data-attributes="member: 1049">The best way to avoid rollplaying or metagame thinking in a game is to package it with metaplot and atmosphere, and indundate the players with the idea that this is a story, that this is acting, that this is high drama instead of a simple game.  White Wolf does this exceedingly well, and they've proven it to be a very effective sales strategy.However, this tactic seems to end the moment everyone starts playing.  There are several reasons that roleplaying is different from other forms of fiction, and one of them is the difficulty it has focusing on in-depth character motivation plots with a sole protagonist.  I would love Vampire if their fiction and games played were anything like what the major sourcebooks hint at, but it's like the difference between Crow 2 and Crow 1.  In order to do it right, you need an excellent group of players, and that caliber player could pull the same style off in Toon if need be.You can also make the game highly deadly.  In which case, you either encourage social interaction, or else you put your players into a situation where they're encouraged to strike first.  Be aware, though, that by this logic high-level play is already "conductive to roleplaying": is there really much difference between a bullet that can kill you almost instantly, and a spell that can do the same?One thing I would like to see is a tack-on rule for social acumen and background.  Again, WWGS games come close here, but makes it too easy to "munchkin out" backgrounds, or else just dump the wad into the one or two of them that actually give you a numerical benefit.  Still, if anyone's game to play around, I'd like to see something that lets D&D characters come in with a bit more cash, close friends, reputation, etc. depending on how they want to play their "background points".But I guess all it really comes down to is both an initial world and a metaplot that make you think "wow, this is cool, I wanna be part of that".  Which is all well and good, but which carries its own drawbacks.  (Such as getting on your nerves when you need piles of sourcebooks to figure out what the latest one is talking about, or making people afraid to change things for fear of "messing things up".)  I mean, if I want a specific flavor to my roleplaying experience, I'll look for games with rules that encourage that flavor, but there's something to be said for D&D's Saturday Morning Cartoon flavor, too.</blockquote>

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