Creating roleplay scenarios [Archive] - Wizards Community

Creating roleplay scenarios [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
DMDaddy
04-04-07, 06:57 PM I have a new member in my group who says he loves roleplaying. Usually I create a dungeon or quest and roleplay just happens or I accidently think of a roleplay situation for them to face in the dungeon. However, when I went to create a roleplay session, I was stumped.

My definition of roleplay is any interaction with the world, specificaly NPCs. This is mostly a mechanical system were skills are used (diplomacy, bluff, intimidate, gather info). Then there is roleplay were the players play the part of their characters and discuss tactics they wish to use to achieve goals. Maybe I have it all wrong.

How do others brainstorm and create roleplay scenarios? Or, list some roleplay type scenarios, especially those that can be universally used over and over again.
Seeker95
04-04-07, 08:02 PM One of the easiest environments to begin roleplay scenarios is through the marketplace. Have your PCs go shopping "in game" rather than just assuming they buy what they need. Raise list prices a bit, and get your PCs to negotiate a better deal. Have another customer in the shop try to buy the last of item X out from under the PC. Have a shopkeeper try to convince a PC to buy a few of the accessories for an item.
BrotherCadfael
04-04-07, 11:13 PM You might want to consider a scenerio where the PCs are faced with a moral dilemma. This will give the PCs the opportunity to act according to or against their alignment. In this way you create a situation where the players will have to roleplay their PCs amongst themselves. Maybe the lawful way is obviously not the best way to reach the objective. The neutral and chaotic PCs would have to convince the lawful PC that the proper way to reach the objective is still lawful or maybe they just have to put the lawful PC to sleep until they get past their morally ambiguous obstacle. Such a scenerio forces the players to create their own drama.

What if the only way to get the information your PCs need to stop the plague from laying waste to the village is to give the little girl to the wicked child molesting henchman that lives under the bridge? The Lawful Good PCs would throw up at the thought of it, but giving over the girl would save hundreds of other innocent lives. The neutral or chaotic neutral PCs might be OK with such a trade off. How does the Lawful Good PC react when another PC offers the little girl his amulet of immunity to poison and proposes that they dip the girl in poison so the wicked pervert dies or goes into a coma if he tries to touch her?
Stormonu
04-04-07, 11:29 PM ^^ Moral dilemmas are great, but you don't have to go to that extreme to start the RP. A troll shaman at the edge of town, who has a potion the party needs to stop a plague demands human flesh in return for the potion. Someone in town argues to give the troll a condemned prisoner as payment. Will the party agree or try and find another way to satisfy the troll?

The "talk with the bartender" is another type of roleplaying scenario you can throw at players. Rather than just making a bunch of Gather Information rolls, you can set up a NPC who has some information and he's willing to talk, if the PCs ask him the right questions. But the PCs have to come close enough to "the right question" for him to spill the beans. The NPC doesn't have to be a bartender; it could be a bard, a ranger, the local gossiper, a butler, a town guardsman, a powerful dragon or whoever.

In the end though, if you want to design a RP encounter, you have to prevent it from being easily resolved by a handful of thrown dice - and that's the hardest part because players are so unpredictable. In the 1st example, a simple Diplomacy check should not be able to change the troll's mind, and it should be a reasonally powerful enough creature that attacking it/charming it is unlikely to work and might make the situation worse.
swallowyersoul
04-05-07, 06:06 PM my games have a lot of roleplay elements. part of this comes from a willingness to really run with it if a player wants to interact with a random npc.

most of it comes from encounter design. when i design an adventure, i create roleplay encounters the same way i do combat, trap and puzzle encounters. it has its own set up, challenges and consequences for action.

my players know this, and know that roleplay is a valid way of getting through an encounter. so they look for it and they play.
TheChilliGod
04-05-07, 07:46 PM My roleplay encounters, even in the dungeon (actually, especially in the dungeon) are brought on by people that don't initially fight the party.
Seriously, it's the only way to have a roleplay encounter. You can't be having a roleplaying encounter where the enemies instantly lunge at your throats.

...
Okay, that was a bit too generic.
But it's true. Have an enemy occasionally surrender to the party, and tell them stuff about the dungeon in exchange for life. It's an instant moral dilemma (what if they stab our backs?), and a reward if done properly (getting dungeon info) at the same time!
What's more, if you can refrain from having the guys who surrender stab the party's back, you might gain an interesting new NPC buddy!

Of course, you can just kill them, take their stuff, and get it over with. If the party instantly does that, then they either don't trust the enemy not to stab them in the back, or they don't really care about roleplaying while in the dungeon. Either way, moral dilemma = fail.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DMDaddy 04-04-07, 06:57 PM	I have a new member in my group who says he loves roleplaying. Usually I create a dungeon or quest and roleplay just happens or I accidently think of a roleplay situation for them to face in the dungeon. However, when I went to create a roleplay session, I was stumped. My definition of roleplay is any interaction with the world, specificaly NPCs. This is mostly a mechanical system were skills are used (diplomacy, bluff, intimidate, gather info). Then there is roleplay were the players play the part of their characters and discuss tactics they wish to use to achieve goals. Maybe I have it all wrong. How do others brainstorm and create roleplay scenarios? Or, list some roleplay type scenarios, especially those that can be universally used over and over again.
Seeker95 04-04-07, 08:02 PM	One of the easiest environments to begin roleplay scenarios is through the marketplace. Have your PCs go shopping "in game" rather than just assuming they buy what they need. Raise list prices a bit, and get your PCs to negotiate a better deal. Have another customer in the shop try to buy the last of item X out from under the PC. Have a shopkeeper try to convince a PC to buy a few of the accessories for an item.
BrotherCadfael 04-04-07, 11:13 PM	You might want to consider a scenerio where the PCs are faced with a moral dilemma. This will give the PCs the opportunity to act according to or against their alignment. In this way you create a situation where the players will have to roleplay their PCs amongst themselves. Maybe the lawful way is obviously not the best way to reach the objective. The neutral and chaotic PCs would have to convince the lawful PC that the proper way to reach the objective is still lawful or maybe they just have to put the lawful PC to sleep until they get past their morally ambiguous obstacle. Such a scenerio forces the players to create their own drama. What if the only way to get the information your PCs need to stop the plague from laying waste to the village is to give the little girl to the wicked child molesting henchman that lives under the bridge? The Lawful Good PCs would throw up at the thought of it, but giving over the girl would save hundreds of other innocent lives. The neutral or chaotic neutral PCs might be OK with such a trade off. How does the Lawful Good PC react when another PC offers the little girl his amulet of immunity to poison and proposes that they dip the girl in poison so the wicked pervert dies or goes into a coma if he tries to touch her?
Stormonu 04-04-07, 11:29 PM	^^ Moral dilemmas are great, but you don't have to go to that extreme to start the RP. A troll shaman at the edge of town, who has a potion the party needs to stop a plague demands human flesh in return for the potion. Someone in town argues to give the troll a condemned prisoner as payment. Will the party agree or try and find another way to satisfy the troll? The "talk with the bartender" is another type of roleplaying scenario you can throw at players. Rather than just making a bunch of Gather Information rolls, you can set up a NPC who has some information and he's willing to talk, if the PCs ask him the right questions. But the PCs have to come close enough to "the right question" for him to spill the beans. The NPC doesn't have to be a bartender; it could be a bard, a ranger, the local gossiper, a butler, a town guardsman, a powerful dragon or whoever. In the end though, if you want to design a RP encounter, you have to prevent it from being easily resolved by a handful of thrown dice - and that's the hardest part because players are so unpredictable. In the 1st example, a simple Diplomacy check should not be able to change the troll's mind, and it should be a reasonally powerful enough creature that attacking it/charming it is unlikely to work and might make the situation worse.
swallowyersoul 04-05-07, 06:06 PM	my games have a lot of roleplay elements. part of this comes from a willingness to really run with it if a player wants to interact with a random npc. most of it comes from encounter design. when i design an adventure, i create roleplay encounters the same way i do combat, trap and puzzle encounters. it has its own set up, challenges and consequences for action. my players know this, and know that roleplay is a valid way of getting through an encounter. so they look for it and they play.
TheChilliGod 04-05-07, 07:46 PM	My roleplay encounters, even in the dungeon (actually, especially in the dungeon) are brought on by people that don't initially fight the party. Seriously, it's the only way to have a roleplay encounter. You can't be having a roleplaying encounter where the enemies instantly lunge at your throats. ... Okay, that was a bit too generic. But it's true. Have an enemy occasionally surrender to the party, and tell them stuff about the dungeon in exchange for life. It's an instant moral dilemma (what if they stab our backs?), and a reward if done properly (getting dungeon info) at the same time! What's more, if you can refrain from having the guys who surrender stab the party's back, you might gain an interesting new NPC buddy! Of course, you can just kill them, take their stuff, and get it over with. If the party instantly does that, then they either don't trust the enemy not to stab them in the back, or they don't really care about roleplaying while in the dungeon. Either way, moral dilemma = fail.