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8 months ago ::
Nov 06, 2012 - 10:37PM
#1
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Hey, I play a bit of D&D but this problem can relate to any tabletop game that I play. I am pretty good at building characters, but I have found that I am horrible at roleplaying. I have tried making social characters with great charisma and good skills to try and counteract this by utilizing the "the character is his own person and not exactly you" thing so that I could replace my bad roleplaying with some good skill checks and minor roleplaying. Thing is, I am so bad at roleplaying that even when I played those characters I could never roleplay well enough to get to the skill checks or anything and would screw many things up (I will list an example or two a little later in the post). And characters that I don't build to be social I figure won't have any problem, but they seem to always be put into social situations where I end up not being able to do anything and henceforth screwing up again. I am a bit tired of having trouble with roleplay, screwing things up for the party, and most of all having my character developed throughout time with the party as one kind of character but then when interacting with important NPCs end up breaking character and fumbling around trying to figure out what to say. Some examples of this follow (you don't have to read these if you don't want to):
- Most recently I was playing a Fighter/Warblade in 3.5, and we are looking for a woman who could be dangerous for information on a big bad guy we are looking for. We recently went through some magic which is enhancing our abilities, so for the moment he didn't have bad charisma. So we found out that she was somewhere in or around a local tavern/strip club that we were familiar with. Everyone started scouting except for me and the cleric. I was hoping the cleric would be able to handle the talking with everyone since he was great with words and also had connections with the ruler of the area which everyone feared. Instead his character told my character to go out and see what I could find out while he watched over everyone to make sure there was no trouble. At that point I was personally worried, but as my character would do I agreed. With my charisma a bit higher, a character that has attracted plenty of women in his past, and a woman we are looking for I asked what woman I saw around the place other than the ones I came in with and the ones on the stage. Out of all the descriptions there was one that the DM said looked sad, I immediately thought "That's her." I sat next to her and ordered a drink. I then attempted to flirt with her to get information, but I ended up giving her the information I had. Unfortunately it was her, and now because I failed at roleplaying well she knew that we were looking for her. She said she had some information on the person we were looking for and led me outside (which I wasn't worried about splitting the party due to our current situation). She then tried to attack me swearing that no one could stop her from getting revenge on the gods. Now that magic I mentioned earlier actually turned my party temporarily into gods, so I thought she knew and was saying this because of my holy aura. So I ended up saying something, telling her that I was a god thinking she already knew, and causing even more problems for my party.
- A little while back I played a Beguiler also in 3.5. Now that class, whether it be their skills or spells is all social. I had developed him with extremely high social skills, gained every language, and had a lot of awesome social feats that let me do a lot of nice things. It was built as a social tank, anything social that needed to be done it could do. The only problem was my personal roleplay. A few problems came up with this, but one of the simplest (since last example was so long) was that I tried talking down the price for an item for a party member. I ended up not being able to lower the price, plus the man put some extra cost for inconveniencing him. My barbarian party member was not happy. But the point is, I roleplayed with the merchant so horribly that I never got to the point of being able to make a roll to try and convince him.
I will leave it there since those examples took up some room, but if any of you could give me advice on how to improve, that would be great. Thanks. ^_^
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8 months ago ::
Nov 07, 2012 - 7:07AM
#2
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Some players struggle with roleplaying, even ones who have been playing the game for many years. I'm going to offer the same suggestion I offer to anyone trying to get the hang of roleplaying.
One key part of roleplaying is "Make the decisions the character would make, and not the player." In other words, you are acting (playing the role) of someone other than you.
One easy way to learn this, is for your first real RP character or two, just borrow from fiction. Take characters that you already know how they act, and act like they would.
"Your party is in a private room in a large tavern. You are having a meeting with a small but powerful baroness and trying to negotiate an agreement between him and another less powerful baron who shares a land border."
- Sarek (of Star Trek), would use logic and try to negotiate a peaceful settlement.
- Han Solo would put his feet on the table and try to charm the baroness.
- Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) would kick the table over and put his sword to the baroness' throat.
Once you get the hang of playing someone else, it becomes easier when you create your own character.
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8 months ago ::
Nov 07, 2012 - 8:47AM
#3
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Date Joined:
Oct 12, 2012
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What I've always done with my characters is I made them a part of me, so it wasn't so much acting as putting on a different face.
For example: In Iron Kingdoms (d20 steampunk setting game) I played a Bodger. Looking at the class I got excited because they're mechanics and I've always been interested in stuff like that in my real life, I also grew up quite the little tomboy. So I took that part of my personality and put it into this character and exaggerated it a bit. She was still a part of me so it wasn't so much acting for me as narrowing down a specific part of my personality.
Also I have a bard who I look at myself and basically say 'what would I be like if I was rich (she's from a noble family, beautiful and intelligent' so I just place myself into the situation that my bard is in and I become the character, I'm not acting for that short session I am her. It's a difficult thing to explain but I had to come to do it this way because I cannnot act but I can put myself into situations and build on that.
What helps me a lot too is to picture how the character looks, for some reason that visual aspect really helps me along. I also try to write outside of the game, I've always loved the written word and though it's nothing I plan to publish I sit down for a few hours and physically write out what happened to my character in the past to bring her here.
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8 months ago ::
Nov 07, 2012 - 9:46AM
#4
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Date Joined:
Jul 21, 2004
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I'd like to clarify something: "roleplaying" isn't "talking." Roleplaying is: One key part of roleplaying is "Make the decisions the character would make, and not the player." In other words, you are acting (playing the role) of someone other than you.
You, Hooded_Boy, are already a good roleplayer. How do I know?
At that point I was personally worried, but as my character would do I agreed.
That's roleplaying.
But, you still want to know how to be good at interaction. That's a fair question, and a definite concern, so I'll try to address it.
Basically, if I were you I wouldn't expect to get good at it on my own. The characters we love who are good at it, are usually in a story written for them, in which the author makes sure they come across as a smooth, subtle, in-control character. You are not that character.
But look at what that character has that you don't have: an author rooting for you. What do you have? A DM. You need to get the DM on your side, to want you to be a hero who succeeds.
Talk to your DM. Tell them about the kind of character you want to make, and that you'll do your best being that character, but that you'll have to rely on the character's skills, and in-game description. Bear in mind that the description doesn't have to come entirely from you, but can also come from others at the table who understand what you're trying to do with the character.
This can be an uphill battle. Some DMs are deadset against dice rolls doing anything more than serving as a baseline that's modified by the player's performance. Some don't like rolling for "roleplaying" at all. Some players are happy with those approaches. If you find your DM's approach makes playing certain character types difficult, you'll need to talk to your DM about meeting you halfway. You seem like you're interested in playing a character, not breaking the DM's game, but you'd just like to play a character a little closer to what you imagine.
[N]o difference is less easily overcome than the difference of opinion about semi-abstract questions. - L. Tolstoy
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8 months ago ::
Nov 07, 2012 - 11:38AM
#5
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Date Joined:
Nov 30, 2010
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There is a diference between RPing and Acting, RPing is taking decisions based on the perspective from someone who isn't you and dictated under your character persona, i will say this...it was one of the hardest things for me to learn, because of my condition....thought now i have been got used to it, and only shyness would be a barrier for me when i am on a group i don't feel confortable...hence the reason i couldn't never DM for a group i am not confortable with....as of now, i freaking love RPing & Acting NPCs.
Acting is diferent, and it just how you convey those decisions into the game, this require alot more work and practice thought and it varies alot between people, and as a DM i should never expect my players to be very actors like (hence the reason i actually support social skill checks...it help players that are not very good actors...ofcourse they need to tell me what they want to tell to the NPC to convince him first...and the DC will change depending on what they say...but the way they say it...i will take it as a skill check, it would be very harsh for people that can't act as well to be hindered in game for that)
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8 months ago ::
Nov 07, 2012 - 12:00PM
#6
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Date Joined:
Oct 15, 2012
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In one of your examples, it doesn't seem like you roleplayed poorly so much as your character made a bad decision influenced by some feminine wiles. Nothing potentially out of character there. If your character is supposed to read people better than you played him, consider asking the DM to make insight rolls to see 1. how trustworthy someone seems and 2. what kinds of things you could say to win them over. If you can get the DM on board to help you figure out what kinds of things to say that can help especially in the short term until you become more comfortable making dialogue in character.
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8 months ago ::
Nov 07, 2012 - 3:06PM
#7
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Hey, I play a bit of D&D but this problem can relate to any tabletop game that I play. I am pretty good at building characters, but I have found that I am horrible at roleplaying.
I have tried making social characters with great charisma and good skills to try and counteract this by utilizing the "the character is his own person and not exactly you" thing so that I could replace my bad roleplaying with some good skill checks and minor roleplaying. Thing is, I am so bad at roleplaying that even when I played those characters I could never roleplay well enough to get to the skill checks or anything and would screw many things up (I will list an example or two a little later in the post). And characters that I don't build to be social I figure won't have any problem, but they seem to always be put into social situations where I end up not being able to do anything and henceforth screwing up again.
I am a bit tired of having trouble with roleplay, screwing things up for the party, and most of all having my character developed throughout time with the party as one kind of character but then when interacting with important NPCs end up breaking character and fumbling around trying to figure out what to say.
Some examples of this follow (you don't have to read these if you don't want to):
- Most recently I was playing a Fighter/Warblade in 3.5, and we are looking for a woman who could be dangerous for information on a big bad guy we are looking for. We recently went through some magic which is enhancing our abilities, so for the moment he didn't have bad charisma. So we found out that she was somewhere in or around a local tavern/strip club that we were familiar with. Everyone started scouting except for me and the cleric. I was hoping the cleric would be able to handle the talking with everyone since he was great with words and also had connections with the ruler of the area which everyone feared. Instead his character told my character to go out and see what I could find out while he watched over everyone to make sure there was no trouble. At that point I was personally worried, but as my character would do I agreed. With my charisma a bit higher, a character that has attracted plenty of women in his past, and a woman we are looking for I asked what woman I saw around the place other than the ones I came in with and the ones on the stage. Out of all the descriptions there was one that the DM said looked sad, I immediately thought "That's her." I sat next to her and ordered a drink. I then attempted to flirt with her to get information, but I ended up giving her the information I had. Unfortunately it was her, and now because I failed at roleplaying well she knew that we were looking for her. She said she had some information on the person we were looking for and led me outside (which I wasn't worried about splitting the party due to our current situation). She then tried to attack me swearing that no one could stop her from getting revenge on the gods. Now that magic I mentioned earlier actually turned my party temporarily into gods, so I thought she knew and was saying this because of my holy aura. So I ended up saying something, telling her that I was a god thinking she already knew, and causing even more problems for my party.
- A little while back I played a Beguiler also in 3.5. Now that class, whether it be their skills or spells is all social. I had developed him with extremely high social skills, gained every language, and had a lot of awesome social feats that let me do a lot of nice things. It was built as a social tank, anything social that needed to be done it could do. The only problem was my personal roleplay. A few problems came up with this, but one of the simplest (since last example was so long) was that I tried talking down the price for an item for a party member. I ended up not being able to lower the price, plus the man put some extra cost for inconveniencing him. My barbarian party member was not happy. But the point is, I roleplayed with the merchant so horribly that I never got to the point of being able to make a roll to try and convince him.
I will leave it there since those examples took up some room, but if any of you could give me advice on how to improve, that would be great. Thanks. ^_^
Here is your best bet...
If you are having issues knowing what to say or do, lean on the mechanical portion of the game. Let your DM know you intend to do this because it will help you learn. Now, when you go into situations that can be resolved with a mechanical solution like rolling Bluff or Diplomacy or what-have-you, tell the DM what you are trying to achieve (What! Not How!) and simply roll and get a resolution from that roll. For instance, if you are going to be attacked by someone and don't want that to happen you can roll a Diplomacy check to try to convince them not to attack you. Let the DM know that that is your intent ("I want to try to shmooze them into not attacking us") for instance, and then roll to see if this can be done. This could also apply to lying to get past someone or whatnot as well. At that point, it's your DMs place to come up with a reasonable lie or plea or whatever to create the resolution.
There is nothing wrong with this. It also gives you the opportunity to observe how to resolve these situations.
Now, this is dependent on two things...1) that your DM allow you to use the mechanics of the game that exist to resolve in-game situations and 2) that your DM is able to reasonably come up with social solutions for his own situations.
If the DM doesn't allow #1 it's gonna suck for you...if the DM CAN'T do #2 it will also be rough for you but at that point he'd be punishing you for something he can't do either so that's a bit silly.
If you do run into #1 or #2, however, I'll recommend reading quite a bit and writing when possible. Sign up for some boards where you can do freeform roleplay in a genre that you like. Writing/acting in-character is a learned skill...it's a mind-set you're adopting...social interactions are also a learned skill...and these things have to be practiced. A forum board that does freeform roleplay is really good for this because you are under no time constraints to post. You post and write at your own pace. When you remove the pressure created by time it will give you the luxury to consider your responses and actions. As you repeat and practice this it will come to you faster, like most skills.
Hope that helps.
I'm on a journey of enlightenment, learning and self-improvement. A journey towards mastery. A journey that will never end.
If you challenge me, prepare to be challenged. If you have something to offer as a fellow student, I will accept it. If you call yourself a master, prepare to be humbled. If you seek me, look to the path. I will be traveling it. #SuperDungeonMasterIITurbo
My blog and stuff http://dmingtowin.blogspot.com/
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8 months ago ::
Nov 08, 2012 - 6:02AM
#8
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Date Joined:
Sep 24, 2011
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My best advice is to make your character real to you. Write a background that molds and shapes her personality. What I'd recommend is to give her goals, fears and (if your party is okay with it), sexual tastes. Maybe she dreams of one day setting down her blade or spellbook and becoming an author. Maybe she's terrified of kobolds (perhaps she was abducted by them at a young age)? These are just my thoughts (with a few examples) on what may help and I apologize if I am not much help.
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8 months ago ::
Nov 16, 2012 - 2:26PM
#9
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Date Joined:
Mar 16, 2001
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Here's how you get better at roleplaying: choose a character from a TV show. Think how that character would act in each situation and how they might grow in each situation.
In application, don't be afraid to have a belief for your character ()beyond combat that is).
Also, don't be afraid to STOP talking sometimes and let the other characters chime in.
What really works for the group is to ask the other players what they think their character would do in that situation (yes, you as a player, not always instigated by the DM).
Lastly, don't be afraid to be a dork. Yes, sometimes talk in a funny voice (my current character is a french-sounding elf with profession barber). Put your character in less than ideal situations becuause "that's just what he would do." Now, mind you the "what he would do" gets old really quickly when it annoys the other players so you've got to ask them, "How is your dwarf different from you Zach? What would his mother say about his choices?"
JH
Gamer Chiropractor - Hafner Chiropractic 305 S. Kipling st,Suite C-2, Lakewood, Co 80226 www.hafnerchiropractic.com
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8 months ago ::
Nov 16, 2012 - 3:17PM
#10
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Date Joined:
May 25, 2012
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I am in agreement with YagamiFire - Use game mechanics whenever you cannot come up with good role-playing. As YagamiFire said, this puts the impetus on the DM to describe the results. That being said, Whenever I am in the spotlight in game social situations, I typically ask for a moment and compose myself. I take that time to think about what my character's motivation is (what is it he/she wants to get out of the situation), sometimes I even jot down some notes. Once I know what I want to have happen, I just start talking to the DM like he/she's the NPC. I speak carefully and with purpose - make believe you are giving a speech/presentation to a group. And WHEN (it will happen) the DM responds in an unexpected way ask for another moment. YOU being flustered does not mean your character is, and your DM should know this and grant you the opportunity to re-compose yourself. If he/she does not...well /shrug I also agree with Sir-Zalphon regarding creating characters like yourself...to a point. I have seen too many players play the EXACT SAME character type over and over and over again simply because they fear trying something different. So, I would also recommend that you make a character that is the antithesis of you - if you have fears make your character fearless, if you are normally very out-going make your character introverted, etc. This way, you can have the same thought processes "what would I do?" but instead your character does the opposite 
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