Author Topic: How much roleplaying do you actually do in your sessions?  (Read 1825 times)

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Offline Druss_the_Legend

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How much roleplaying do you actually do in your sessions?
« on: August 03, 2017, 11:04:49 AM »
How much roleplaying takes place in your sessions?

This will vary depending on your players. Dice rolling versus actual roleplaying can be a tricky balance.
I know when I started off in my early campaigns there was much more dice rolling and I was really aware you could have encounters that just used role-playing.
fast forward 30yrs and I can see there had been a shift in the number of role-playing encounters versus combat or skill based encounters.

I have two players in my campaign who are very good role-players. They get inside the inner workings of their characters and use character motivations and goals as the driving force for playing their characters, even if it is a detriment to the rest of the party or their actions work to slow the advancing of the story. That is real dedication and I think a rare thing in role-playing from my experience.

I am actually happy we are moving a bit away from hack and bash encounters and my players are thinking of clever ways to defeat their enemies without actually killing them outright with a weapon.

Rewarding equivalent XP for non-combat encounters is important to give the non-combat orientated characters a chance to advance at equal speed. It also shows the players there is more than one way to solve encounters. Thinking your way out of situations or talking your way out can be just as good and often times safer.

Be interested on what is the breakdown of role-playing versus roll-playing that takes place in your campaign.
Id say its about 30-40% role-playing for my current campaign. There are battles and minor combats but these are much less that in the past. This may be due to the growing wisdom of my players as they adventure about the city in which the campaign is based. Dungeon crawls have their place and I still enjoy throwing my players into sewers, underground lairs and temple ruins... its just not the only way to play and i get just as much enjoyment (am i think my players do too) out of adventures to spy and infiltrate and steal key items that further their goals.

Offline intothatdarkness

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Re: How much roleplaying do you actually do in your sessions?
« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2017, 08:44:33 PM »
I feel this is going to vary quite a bit based on gaming genre, too. Stuff with no magical healing is likely (in my experience anyhow) to have a higher percentage of role-playing activities, or at least things that don't center on combat. My espionage games are usually around 50% roleplaying or higher. This was especially true in the old James Bond game and Gangbusters. Both games had quite a bit you could do without combat, and in some cases the XP rewards were actually higher.
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Offline Sable Wyvern

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Re: How much roleplaying do you actually do in your sessions?
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2017, 09:16:22 PM »
Oh, I thought that this was going to be about out-of-character conversation and jokes vs actual gaming.

I genuinely don't think the distinction being drawn in the OP is a useful one. I'm running a Blades in the Dark game at the moment. Every important action carried out under pressure in that game is a discussion followed by a die roll potentially followed by a decision to resist consequences, a die roll, and then another conversation. Is that "roll" playing or "role" playing?

In my Hackmaster game, during combat, when a character stands firm against an enemy, aware that in choosing not to fall back he may very well die, because in doing so he knows he is protecting his fellows and increasing the chances of victory, is that "roll" playing or "role" playing?

Offline Hurin

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Re: How much roleplaying do you actually do in your sessions?
« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2017, 10:55:09 PM »
I had typed up a post similar to Sable's, but then hit the wrong key and wiped it all. But I agree with Sable: I don't see role-playing and rolling as diametrically opposed. Some systems (like Exalted IIRC) have rules for social combat, and that can be very roleplay-heavy, while at the same time involving a lot of dice rolling.

I've played both with hack and slashers and roleplayers. Our present group ranges from the 'I love to roleplay and would like to do more of it' (me) to the 'I feel that I suck at roleplaying and would just like to narrate in third-person what my character does' (several other players). The rest of the group falls somewhere in between, though they lean towards hack and slashers. We have more combat than roleplaying.

Overall, I appreciate both, and am happy doing either. I don't try to force the non-roleplayers to roleplay, though I encourage them (ideally with alcohol) to give it a try.
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Offline Majyk

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Re: How much roleplaying do you actually do in your sessions?
« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2017, 11:31:30 PM »
As mentioned, there are many player types that fall between third person("Rogayne parries the BBEG") and others that take on the role of their PCs("I jump up, do a 1-1/2 twisting aerial somersault and use part of the wall to parry my foe's clumsy swings".
Most of it is merely adding adjectives to actions to spice things up whether first or third person narration, though.

As a way-too-long time GM, I always found I could get more out of third person RPrs by not looking at them when talking in character as an NPC asking for a response directly, or in a longer social interaction.
At least not unless I wanted to force a bit of uncomfortable eye contact during tense negotiations for surrender/boasting, etc...

That is a huge part of it, though:
how safe does a Player feel amongst his peers to act "in character"?
The more irreverent the group, the more RPing you'll find occurs as the feeling of being judged is non-existent.
I would use an old ShadowRun XP reward for making the table laugh due to PC shenanigans.
It helped set moods for having fun and loosening up those that love RPG games but less so for the social interaction and more for the crunchiness of combat or number-crunching character levels, itself.


Offline Cory Magel

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Re: How much roleplaying do you actually do in your sessions?
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2017, 10:14:46 PM »
At a glance, it seems like there's some slight overlap as to if we're talking more about 'diceless' vs 'dice' equating to 'role-playing' vs 'roll-playing'.  When you talk to our group we call 'role-playing' things like staying completely in character vs saying 'I tell the guy... (whatever)'.

We're roll-players in that case.  Our group has traditionally, almost entirely, been a bunch of hack and slashers.

We do, however try to act (within the game) in-character.  Good example was an old D&D party that had a barbarian and a paladin in the group.  Without a long explanation as to why the barbarian killed an innocent in front of the paladin and the paladin proceeded to kill the barbarian.  Barbarian player wasn't too happy about it, but the rest of us thought it was a completely appropriate response.
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Offline Spectre771

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Re: How much roleplaying do you actually do in your sessions?
« Reply #6 on: August 22, 2017, 08:50:55 AM »

I have two players in my campaign who are very good role-players. They get inside the inner workings of their characters and use character motivations and goals as the driving force for playing their characters, even if it is a detriment to the rest of the party or their actions work to slow the advancing of the story. That is real dedication and I think a rare thing in role-playing from my experience.

I admit that I too thought this was a question regarding "acting out in real life" vs. rolling the dice to get results.  From what I gathered from this section of your post, I would word it as "playing your character" i.e.: not meta-gaming.  John Smith knows that there are goblins on the other side of the door because he heard the conversation the GM had with Michael and Kevin.  However, Amalor the Bard should have no idea what's on the other side of the door because he was unconscious from a blow to the head and he's severely weakened and out of potions, limping along on one leg.  He decides he needs to find cover to try to heal, so John Smith sighs and says "Oh man.... Amalor opens the door to go inside...." knowing full well that Amalor will probably not make it out alive.

To me... that is great role playing and playing the character and the very avoidance of meta-gaming.  Meta-gaming happens, and I'm OK with that to an extent, but I hate when a player says "I'm not opening that door.  I'll get killed."  Well... your PC was unconscious and your PC has no idea what's on the other side of the door.  It could be the infirmary on the other side of the door.  I always reward "very well" for players who stick to their character and make a conscious effort to avoid meta-gaming.  When I'm a player, I try to do the same, and I've sent my PC into bad situations because the PC simply would NOT have the knowledge.  I've made unhappy gaming sessions because the party had to rescue or heal me.  Simply put... THEY knew the module, they knew what was in the room because they had all read the module, but my barbarian from the great plains doesn't know what's on the other side of that door.




I am actually happy we are moving a bit away from hack and bash encounters and my players are thinking of clever ways to defeat their enemies without actually killing them outright with a weapon.




I love that trend too and with RM2 and the plethora of skills available to PC's I love when they get creative and make use of skills other than Combat related ones.  One player invested in Engineering, Architecture, Mathematics, Tightrope Walking, Rappelling, Rope Mastery and a handful of other related skills...  He was a "2nd story man" (Burglar) and he came up with incredibly creative ways into and out of buildings or sticky situations, and for locating secret rooms.  He loved to avoid combat and he was very creative in doing so.  He was rewarded amply for his part and how well he played his PC.


Rewarding equivalent XP for non-combat encounters is important to give the non-combat orientated characters a chance to advance at equal speed. It also shows the players there is more than one way to solve encounters. Thinking your way out of situations or talking your way out can be just as good and often times safer.

Absolutely!  If the player stumps me or makes me go "Damn.  Great idea."  I immediately give them 5xp in game.  5xp doesn't do much when leveling up when players needs 20k per level, but it encourages the other players to start being more creative.  I don't think RM is strictly about combat or there wouldn't be Companions after Companions with so many non-combat related skills.  Other gaming systems have all combat/stealth/magic related skills directed at dungeon crawls and that is perfect for that gaming system.  If players invested in non-combat skills, I try to come up with situations where they can use those skills and I'll reward them for when they do use the skills.  Region Lore, Herb Lore, Flora Lore go a long way in locating healing herbs and in finding the more rare herbs like bone healing, muscle/tendon repair, and maybe even life giving.  Those skills and the results are at least as important as killing the baddie in my mind. 
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Offline Dragonking11

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Re: How much roleplaying do you actually do in your sessions?
« Reply #7 on: August 22, 2017, 10:34:51 AM »
If players invested in non-combat skills, I try to come up with situations where they can use those skills and I'll reward them for when they do use the skills. 

I think that you nailed it right there. In order to motivate players to invest their precious DPs into non combat skill, the GM must find a way to put those skills at the forefront of the gaming session. Easier said than done most of the time, but so much rewarding when done well for everyone.

Offline Peter R

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Re: How much roleplaying do you actually do in your sessions?
« Reply #8 on: August 22, 2017, 10:53:11 AM »
If players invested in non-combat skills, I try to come up with situations where they can use those skills and I'll reward them for when they do use the skills. 

I think that you nailed it right there. In order to motivate players to invest their precious DPs into non combat skill, the GM must find a way to put those skills at the forefront of the gaming session. Easier said than done most of the time, but so much rewarding when done well for everyone.

It does help if you tell the players what sort of game you intend to run before they even create their characters. If it is going to be an urban, crime and the criminal underworld sort of game then you will get players that invest in those sorts of skills and less two handed swords and pole arms. If you tell them it is going to be political then you may get more spell casters as the chances of meeting orc hordes is slim but scrying magic could be extremely useful.
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Offline Dragonking11

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Re: How much roleplaying do you actually do in your sessions?
« Reply #9 on: August 22, 2017, 11:36:32 AM »
If players invested in non-combat skills, I try to come up with situations where they can use those skills and I'll reward them for when they do use the skills. 

I think that you nailed it right there. In order to motivate players to invest their precious DPs into non combat skill, the GM must find a way to put those skills at the forefront of the gaming session. Easier said than done most of the time, but so much rewarding when done well for everyone.

It does help if you tell the players what sort of game you intend to run before they even create their characters. If it is going to be an urban, crime and the criminal underworld sort of game then you will get players that invest in those sorts of skills and less two handed swords and pole arms. If you tell them it is going to be political then you may get more spell casters as the chances of meeting orc hordes is slim but scrying magic could be extremely useful.

Good point !

It definitely helps to share the campaign settings and themes with the players before they create their characters

Offline Spectre771

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Re: How much roleplaying do you actually do in your sessions?
« Reply #10 on: August 22, 2017, 12:06:24 PM »
If players invested in non-combat skills, I try to come up with situations where they can use those skills and I'll reward them for when they do use the skills. 

I think that you nailed it right there. In order to motivate players to invest their precious DPs into non combat skill, the GM must find a way to put those skills at the forefront of the gaming session. Easier said than done most of the time, but so much rewarding when done well for everyone.

It does help if you tell the players what sort of game you intend to run before they even create their characters. If it is going to be an urban, crime and the criminal underworld sort of game then you will get players that invest in those sorts of skills and less two handed swords and pole arms. If you tell them it is going to be political then you may get more spell casters as the chances of meeting orc hordes is slim but scrying magic could be extremely useful.

Good point !

It definitely helps to share the campaign settings and themes with the players before they create their characters

Agreed.  When I'm helping them sort through pages and pages of skills (RM2)  I tell them if they see a skill or combo of skills they think their PC would like to incorporate that I will find a way to let them use it.  It opens up worlds of possibilities if the players know that Engineering and Architecture won't be wasted DP.  The Burglar PC my friend made up was really awesome.  Adrenal Landing, Adrenal Balance, Tightrope Walking, Tumbling, Acrobatics, Diving.  He built this entire PC around avoiding combat yet still being an awesome Burglar.
If discretion is the better valor and
cowardice the better part of judgment,
let's all be heroes and run away!