http://lookrobot.co.uk/2013/06/20/11-wa ... oleplayer/

Hey everyone,

Some of you may have seen this column before, but here's a relatively short article with some tips on being a better roleplayer. Some of these wont carry over as well to those of use who like to play via the play-by-post boards, but for the most part they all ring pretty true.

The ones that I related to the most were:

1 - Do Sutff : All too often I see people that go on autopilot once the combat ends and are just waiting till the next time the get to attack something. Its important that your character is actually a character with depth and not just an excel spreadsheet with a longsword. Talk to NPCs, have thoughts, interact with the enviroment... things to make your character feel like a person.

4 - Take full control of your character : Dont just fall into cliches and labels and then just stick to them, your character should evolve over time. If you're a character who is shy or doesnt like people you should actively show that and roleplay out the struggles that go along with those traits, rather than simply just not talking ever.

10. Embrace failure : We're all ready glad you poured over the books to make the ultimate badass fighter ever, but you just rolled a 2 on your daily power and missed the goblin. Whatever. Dont turn it into a huge deal, life goes on. The guards spotted you when you were trying to sneak in, dont turn it into a 10 minute arguement that the guards were probably too busy counting bricks in the wall and you're the best rogue ever. Learn to accept that these things allow for a more interesting story, and not ruin it. We just had a guy roll a natural 1, modified to 0 on his diplomacy check, and the whole story has changed over that, rather than it just becoming a big arguement.


So what do you think about the article? Things you'd add? Anything you'd remove?

Did anything in this article speak to you ?

#1 is a big one, in my experience. When I started playing I was a wee paladin with no sense of righteousness at all, I just killed whatever and sat around waiting for direction. Then again, I didn't know the rules very well. But I think that this is a rut people can very easily fall into. One of the best "do stuff" tips I've ever had is passing secret notes to the DM about things I want to do. I know I've found something good if their eyes bug out when they read it.

Aye, in both PbP and on the real table I've had issues with players who simply wont do anything until some combat rolls around.

They'll sit there bored and wondering why everyone else has jokes, and gets into funny situations, or gets makes friends with NPC, etc ... when they wont put any effort into speaking up. In PBP I've seen people 'feel like they were left out, or the game moved on without them' but they simply choose to write things like "I follow everyone else" or "I attack with deft strike" rather than adding any fluff to their character.

I've fallen victim to this of late in both the Mines of Madness and DS's Homebrew. I'm just following along in the Mines, though in my defense it's hard not to just keep walking when we've run from the only encounter we've been offered so far. In DS's Homebrew... I'm just a little lost in the world right now, but I hope to get a little more going on. I have tried to interact with the NPCs a bit, but so far it hasn't yielded any conversation or direction, I'll keep trying.

~SE++

Well the important thing is to never fester in it, if you realize you're doing it you have the power to stop. Dont overthink it too much, just think of something to draw you back in and do it, most of the time another player will see that you're making the effort and will help out.

Not to go talking about peoples games up here, but... in Mines of Madness I think the insta-death made the party cautious and slow to fight anything, and then the thanksgiving holiday has slowed us down and we've just not got going back at full steam. From the sounds of it, theres fun times ahead, so pull yourself back into the group and get ready for moaning dwarves. In DS's game, I agree, the world has a lot going on, but I think that once we're rolling its going to be amazing based on the amount of work she has put into it. Dont forget that theres a whole party to roleplay with too, if the NPCs arent filling your RP appitite...and vice versa.

Thanks for the link. It's a fun little article. Can't stress the importance of number five enough - I can't recall how many sessions have grinded to a halt because the rogue couldn't keep his hands to himself or the Paladin got self-righteous about something. Nothing worst than having to hold that Orc ambush off for a few minutes cause your busy stopping the party from killing itself.

...or ya know just launch the ambush anyway

Honestly, party conflict is the best time for ambushes.

#9 for me. If I have a sin in RP, it's bloviating dialogue. At the end of the day, I try to tell a good story on either side if the screen, but yeah.

There's some good stuff in that article, but also a number of things that read as, "Play how I play or you're a worse roleplayer."

Right around bullet point number 5 it falls flat for me, then picks back up again at 9. Mostly because those are talking about actual personal behavior and group dynamics, rather than roleplaying.

I, for instance, am completely fine with PvP in my games. Also, IRL game sessions I play in are typically 8-12+ hours, so some amount of distraction is inevitable, especially when there's only one DM for many players and/or characters (I've long tried to get someone step up to be a second DM for more interaction with multiple party groups, but it rarely lasts).

I've got other stories that can contrast with some of the other bullets points, but I'll leave it at that. Take list with grain of salt.

Six seven and eight do have a bit of a "something happened in one of this guys games" feel to them, but at the same time I can relate to a degree.

The main thing about lists like this though is you have to realize that every group is different, and even with that said every game is different too. I could sit down and play a serious game where RP is a must and no one should be texting or surfing Reddit and such. But at the same time, with the same group, we're capable of agreeing on a more lighthearted game, or a 'joke' module where we're all goofy and its really laid back and if you text during the game so what.

Yeah, finding that my players are probably looking for (1) more combat and (2) an easier group of NPCs to deal with. Well, number one is gonna happen...

~SE++

Well not every group wants to Roleplay so much as just have a smash and grab adventure and theres nothing wrong with that. Somtimes you dont need to worry about why your elf is killing goblins and just enjoy killing some goblins.

Interesting article. I think I could add "be party-minded if you're in a party." I had a roleplaying group because one guy just always went off on his own, and the GM was his best friend, so if we didn't go and see what that guy was doing we'd be either left behind or the GM's attention would be divided for hours. Same thing happens when the GM is dating a player. Womp womp.

That's just a crappy DM, though. Hell, I asked TankHammer to come into my game here. He's an old buddy of mine and if he wandered off on his own in the game, he'd most likely end up dead in a few (in game) hours. Well, I do enjoy trying to kill them off...

~SE++

Ugh, DM dating a player... ugh.

Sounds like there's a story behind that ugh. Care to share?

A DM was dating a player, and things were bad.

Thats the story.

Heh.

It really is bad. I've never seen a situation where a DM dating a player didn't lead to egregious favoritism. Wow, someone give me a sticker for spelling egregious right the first time.

I am currently playing a game in which we are all level 1 (read: dirt poor and bad at everything) with the exception of one of us who, while still level 1, is the chosen of one of the settings deities. She is also the DM's girlfriend. I suspect the two may be related.

Having to DM for my GF among others for years, I am glad to say I'm past the blatant favoritism land. Then again, we met via D&D, so....

I'd rather not like to see a game with DM and DM's *new* S.O.

My reactions to the list

1) Yeah, this is important -- and something new players WILL struggle with
2) Generally true, but can be taken too far
3) I'm of two minds about this. I think that it's in general decent advice to roll with it, but I don't think that it is always and in every way true. I think one character intervening against another (especially if it's more than a broken nose at stake) can be interesting. It's a chance for those characters to go at it with words or with blows. Yes, you just used your action to stop his, but something *did* happen. A line was drawn, and you can build on that as well as on the line being drawn too late.
4) Basically agree. Again, caveat, good things in moderation, etc.
5) I'm with this in principle, but against the specifics. First, there's nothing wrong with Kender (though like Chaotic alignment or a paladin's Detect Evil, many players will use it as an excuse to f things up or bypass thinking, often for the lulz). Second, I think that the tag "in meaningful ways" needs to be added to this. So the ungentelmanly thief nicks 10 gold from the warrior to pay his bar tab. If your wealth by level is in the tens of thousands, making the stolen sum a rounding error at best, who freeking cares? Well, maybe people in character, but not the players at the table. Similarly, I don't think it is always and forever wrong for two members of a party to come to blows, so long as the game is able to keep moving forward thereafter (see item #3)
6) Yes.
7) Yes.
8) This actually needs to be said?!
9) This is certainly an opportunity to upgrade your skills, but the headline could be misleading.
10) Agreed. Failure is part of gaming. IF there was no risk, we wouldn't roll the dice.
11) Basically a summary of previous points.