Markdoc Posted June 24, 2009 Report Share Posted June 24, 2009 Re: How to encourage RP? To be really annoying' date=' use a horde of mere agents with fairly small attacks but excellent teamwork. Work their tactics up in advance[/quote'] I guess I'm just an annoying GM. This has been my standard tactic to train players that teamwork is good. Having your team of 150 point heroes whupped up on by a slightly more numerous team of 25 point NPCs - without any special attacks even - can open people's eyes. Of course last Tuesday, the team almost got eaten alive by a swarm of 25 point vermin, because they ran around getting swarmed individually before they finally realised that backing together meant they could protect each other from being attacked by 5-6 vermin each .... sigh. A GM's work is never done. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted June 24, 2009 Report Share Posted June 24, 2009 Re: How to encourage RP? Two other points - nothing fosters roleplay like attachment to your character. That takes some time to develop, normally, but once players start saying things like "I sneak up on the guard" instead of "MegaMan sneaks up on the guard" you'll know it's working. Give them some non-combat interaction. I started my current group off with a series of contests, which involved only occasional fights, as a way to learn the rules in a situation where death was unlikely. The contests themselves which involved things like brutal full contact sports, drinking contests, poetry contests, races, running gauntlets, etc opened their eyes to the things one could do apart from roll to hit. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDestiny Posted June 24, 2009 Report Share Posted June 24, 2009 Re: How to encourage RP? When I was running Champions, I found "Blue-Booking", as described in Strike Force to be the most effective way of starting players role-playing. Because they're writing down what their characters are saying, rather than speaking it in a room full of friends, I found they were much more open to playing aspects of their characters that did not initially come out in standard play. They started by just having sessions with me, then branched out into conversations via the books with each other, and soon all inhibitions about role-playing were lost and the sessions became much more vital. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolflaughing Posted June 25, 2009 Report Share Posted June 25, 2009 Re: How to encourage RP? One thing about Champion sessions is that once combat tends to take a lot of time compared to other games. This can make some players very focused on the tactical situation. Having said that may have a few options for you. 1. Clueless npc's- have the contact or whoever throw the situations back at the characters. examples:"I can't shut down the doomsday device what do we do?" "What possible reason could Dr. X have for stealing _____?" "Your the expert on _____ player character. Give us some advice." 2. Plumb those backgrounds-psych limitations,skills,hunteds and general background. Any of these can provide meat for a scenario and the other players will be forced to seek the opinion of a spotlighted P.C. 3. LOUD villains- by this I mean a coordinated villain team that yells out their maneuvers and combat ideas. Hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dronf Posted June 25, 2009 Report Share Posted June 25, 2009 Re: How to encourage RP? "No RP, no XP" That gets their attention. Then have a hero team of wimps beat up on whoever beat up on the PCs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steamteck Posted June 25, 2009 Report Share Posted June 25, 2009 Re: How to encourage RP? Chatty NPCs who pull them into conversations with each other might also be a possibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Querysphinx Posted June 25, 2009 Report Share Posted June 25, 2009 Re: How to encourage RP? Start with younger players, preferably in their teens, who are not afraid to act out alternate personalities and who still think make believe is part of the fun. Generally adults are not interested in or invested in make-believe and as such make lousy soft-skills/ character development role players. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CourtFool Posted June 25, 2009 Report Share Posted June 25, 2009 Re: How to encourage RP? Browbeating them is full of fail. It will only piss them off and frustrate you. If they do not want to role play, they are not going to. 2. Plumb those backgrounds-psych limitations,skills,hunteds and general background. Any of these can provide meat for a scenario and the other players will be forced to seek the opinion of a spotlighted P.C. +1 As Wolflaughing suggests, Look over their Disadvantages. These are the hooks the players want to see come into play. Of course, this assumes they took some Disadvantages. If the characters sprung, fully formed from beneath a rock without friends, family or any semblance of background, feel free to make one up. Uncle Joe Bob shows up because he lost his job and he figured Super Guy is…well…super, surely he could put him up for a night or two. Players want their characters to be awesome. Use this to get them involved. When Mary Sue goes up to Smart Girl and tells her how smart her plan was to take out Dr. Evil and can she have Smart Girl's autograph, the player is likely to get engaged. Also, if Dr. Evil starts telling Smart Girl how non-smart she is, the player is likely to develop a real hate-on for Dr. Evil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoloOfEarth Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Re: How to encourage RP? Not sure exactly how your players interact with each other, and how they interact with you, but here's some things I've encountered with other players: Number one: It's way too easy to say "I tell him about (event)." Gently clamp down on that. Say "Okay, go ahead and tell him" or "All right, what do you say to him?" I've seen GMs do this too. "She tells you about the attackers. They were members of the Diablos gang." No. Unless you're running out of gaming time, play it out. I also agree that it's a good idea to run individuals through some things separately, or write them notes individually, or something similar. Make sure you provide some key details when you do this, too. If you set up a mugging so the heroes can discover that someone is arming gang members with high-tech weapons, make sure the hero experiencing it has something to report to the others. ("...and as soon as I knocked the guy out and picked up the blaster, it gave a high-pitched hum and then something inside went BANG! It smelled like overcooked microwave popcorn.") Also, you may want to be selective about who you involve in what. In the above example, the person that stops the mugging should NOT be the gadgeteer / engineer-type on the team. Maybe it's the martial artist. That pushes the martial artist to go to the gadgeteer with the burned out blaster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Re: How to encourage RP? Tangents, my group constantly runs off on tangents. It really sucks, but I am now as much a contributor as my group. It was a lot more focused when we gamed at University. Some of my better encouragements was to assign extra Character Points when GM to good Role Playing. As much as 1 to 3 extra CP and the occasional bonus cp for in game coolness. FYI QM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dronf Posted June 27, 2009 Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 Re: How to encourage RP? Another good one. The guy who roleplays talking to the (cop/stoolie/barista/whatever) gets him as a contact. The guy who says "I ask him about ____" and then roles dice doesn't get the contact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Main Man Posted June 27, 2009 Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 Re: How to encourage RP? Tangents, my group constantly runs off on tangents. It really sucks, but I am now as much a contributor as my group. It was a lot more focused when we gamed at University. Some of my better encouragements was to assign extra Character Points when GM to good Role Playing. As much as 1 to 3 extra CP and the occasional bonus cp for in game coolness. FYI QM My group can be tangental (?) too. I have the group rate each other's roleplaying (honors system here) based on a 5-point scale and I average it out for their rewards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CourtFool Posted June 27, 2009 Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 Role Playing Tips When was the last time I pimped Role Playing Tips? 4 Tips On Encouraging Roleplay 6 Ideas To Encourage Roleplaying Use "In-Character" Feedback To Encourage Roleplaying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nelson2208 Posted June 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 Re: How to encourage RP? One thing about Champion sessions is that once combat tends to take a lot of time compared to other games. This can make some players very focused on the tactical situation. Having said that may have a few options for you. 1. Clueless npc's- have the contact or whoever throw the situations back at the characters. examples:"I can't shut down the doomsday device what do we do?" "What possible reason could Dr. X have for stealing _____?" "Your the expert on _____ player character. Give us some advice." I really like this idea. Thanks for modeling some NPC conversation. I think I will be better prepared for our next session. I may also add Main Man's honor system for quoting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nelson2208 Posted June 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 Re: How to encourage RP? Roleplaying Tips is a great website. Thanks for the link and I have lots to read! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Main Man Posted June 27, 2009 Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 Re: Role Playing Tips When was the last time I pimped Role Playing Tips? 4 Tips On Encouraging Roleplay 6 Ideas To Encourage Roleplaying Use "In-Character" Feedback To Encourage Roleplaying I love that website too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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