Leonine Roar

 Wish your playgroup roleplayed more often, or simply more creatively or naturally?  It’s much easier than you think – including how to start.

Over the years and editions, the quickest and most comfortable ways to get new or shy players to roleplay I’ve seen and used include:

* RP Your Face Off as DM!  That’s right, set the example as DM, and get into it!  Theatrics, different voices, lots of mannerisms.  Just go for it.  When they see you don’t care about or give any thought or weight to “looking or sounding silly” and are having a blast – they won’t give a damn either and will also enjoy it much more.

* Start Up Convos or Make Off-Hand Remarks!  Other PCs, NPC allies or monsters, all of them work!  That is, if they love fighting orcs or giants or dragons, make sure those monsters talk trash, make wise-ass remarks, crack jokes or remark how impressive they find the PC’s skill to be either during or outside of fights.  When the party camps for the night is an excellent place to encourage this kind of RP too. 

* Have the PC Describe their Killing Blows / the Monster’s Death Scene.  This one seems to work on the stingiest RPers!  Since it’s an exciting point in battle, usually everyone’s up for a flash of creativity here.  (Saw this idea on Sarah Darkmagic’s site, and she said she thinks she saw it on Sly Flourish.)

There’s other ideas too, as everyone’s style is different. 

For example, got someone who loves to write?  Encourage them to write in-character posts or publish an adventure journal between sessions.  I talk about this in How To Write Great-In Character Posts – I know I enjoy doing it once in a while! 

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention how the Despair Deck was a shockingly powerful hit on the RP front in our last Shadowfell session.  I was floored by how much fun everyone, myself included, had with those RP “cue cards.”  Incredibly good roleplaying all around, as everyone tried to really nail the emotional state they just “won.”  Jealous and lethargic were two of my favorites.  The combined RP flavor and mechanical hindrances and bonuses of Despair Deck cards were actually a blast!

For more Leonine Roar articles on encouraging RP, you might also like Adding Character to Your Character, Attack with Your Social Skills! and D&D 4e: Top 12 Ways to Stop Sounding So Metagamey. 

What are your top 3 roleplaying tips to get everyone into character as quickly, smoothly and immersively as possible?  How do you get the quiet, shy or new players’ RP going in a way they enjoy?  What engages their RP most from your experience?

by Kilsek on June 1, 2011

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 1st, 2011 at 12:00 am and is filed under Characters, Storytelling & Roleplaying. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.