Adding more role playing to my RP?: [Archive] - Wizards Community

Adding more role playing to my RP?: [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Godzilla
02-24-05, 04:14 PM The thing is, I'm more of a combat DM, but the player in my group is getting tired of just room hopping, and fighting. I do make the fighting funny, at times, and I've made the last boss in almost every dungeon someone we hate, but he even told me that he thinks is still a bit boring. What was I talking about? Oh, I remember. So, how could I add more role playing to the RPs? I do have a good beginning story, but the rest is mostly what I've said before, room hopping and fighting.
Ack'noth Necrom
02-24-05, 04:40 PM Well first off stop just room hoping. Create adventures where the PCs have to face challenges that can be resolved by a diplomatic or combative approach depending on their actions.

Giving the PCs a chance to RP between eachother while you take a break is good too. When theyre discusing what to do let them talk in their voices to eachother so the PCs acctually know eachother and want to be together rather then them just being some people who know eachother.

What Ive found works best is to give the PCs information and let them talk in character about what their going to do. It gives them a chance to discuss options and even have disagreements which makes the characters more realistic rather then just a bunch of numbers and letters on a sheet of paper.
Loopy
02-24-05, 04:41 PM You need a good balance of the two. As time passes, you too will tire of mindless hacking. I would try to base yor adventures around the same city... a site that the players continually return to. This will aid you in that you will keep using the same NPCs over and over again and the players will get to know them and they may even start giving a crap about their welfare. "Nobody steps on a church in MY town!!!" I think that as the players clear out the dangerous areas in the area, they will become more and more popular and that will be a great role-playing catalyst as well.
Teshub
02-24-05, 05:27 PM The best thing you can do is give them a role to play. By this I mean create some factions in your game (interest groups) and make it so your players have a loyalty to one of these factions. Give their characters duties and responsibilities within some sort of culture or institutional hierarchy in the game world.
Sometimes this is difficult to do after you have already created characters and started adventuring. But if you think about it, the idea of freelance adventuring ir ridiculous, ie. let's have some rogues and fighters and wizards and clerics meet up at the ole inn and start chasing rumors of treasure and glory. Tough to find anything to relate with there.
A character has to belong to something, somewhere. They were trained for a reason, and their stories should reflect who they are and what they came from.
A cleric comes from a temple, that temple has political interests, and its clerics must serve them.
A fighter was trained to be a soldier or knight or whatever. In the end his/her profession is to do battle, not for themselves but for whoever trained them.
This can best be set in motion through solo adventuring, where you have the characters interact with NPC's who are higher-ups or agents within the PC's faction. They can give the PC's the low-down on what's happening and what needs to be done to make their masters happy.
I've found that war and strife are the best backdrop for running this sort of game.
Halzmar_of_Geoff
02-24-05, 05:57 PM Have you considered letting the monsters speak? If "upon opening the door everything encountered charges the party - roll initiative!" is the norm of the campaign it can get rather boring - because the players no longer have options besides combat. You'd be surprised how upon opening the door hearing "who the heck are you?" will throw a party off and make them actually interact verbally with the encounter rather than engaging in combat.

Not every encounter has to be a challenge as far a combat goes to be entertaining. A chumpy encounter encourages the use of diplomacy or intimidation that generally can carry over to other encounters. If they actually engage the twelve 1st level warriors with their 9th level characters it is still alright. It's an generally much needed ego booster - a feel good excersise - a release for the players - that shows them just how strong their characters have grown since 1st level.

Reward the characters for overcoming challenges regardless of how they overcome the challenges. If they intimidate the troll into giving the party free crossing of the bridge give them XP.
aaron3579
02-24-05, 06:40 PM So, how could I add more role playing to the RPs? I do have a good beginning story, but the rest is mostly what I've said before, room hopping and fighting.

Hack and slash is not an evil term, it's just another flavor icecream. RPing and H&Sing are both perfectly legitimate playing styles that both have the potential for years of fun. Any argument given in favor of one or the other is completely subjective, and is therefore irrelevant to the topic at hand. Having said that, I feel moved to offer a disclaimer: the following advice is to be taken with a grain of salt. If the shoe fits, wear it. If it doesn't just ignore me. :)

**************************************** *******

I get the impression that you are not the type of DM that feels comfortable with serious RPing (by serious, I mean anything non-humorous). But you are a dungeon master, and as such you are being called to be a pseudo-thespian. This means that you aren't allowed to feel silly when trying on the accents, mannerisms, and quirks of your NPCs. Get into character. Do not be afraid to make believe your way through the entire spectrum of human emotion. No one is asking you to give an Oscar-worthy preformance. What is asked of you, however, is to make some kind of attempt to immerse your players in an imaginary world.

Did you ever play in a cardboard box as a child? Did you and your friend ever pretend like the box was a rocket and that you were going off to visit some wild and distant world? Do you remember the personalities that you manufactured? To me, Dungeons and Dragons is a glorified refrigerator box. It is my chance to be someone that I am not. I think that your friend may yearn for this same escape, and as his DM, he is asking you to give it to him.

Because you have given me the impression that you heavily favor a H&S style of play, I am led to believe that you, having forsaken the teachings of Mr. Rodgers, have forgotten how to truly play make-believe. :( My suggestion to you then, is to go commando (aka diceless). Start with simple NPC interaction, and build from there. Put on new accents/ages/genders/political orientations. Leave the combat rules at home for a session or two, and practice flying to the moon.

**************************************** ***

Recomended reading for any serious RPer:

http://diggity.schwag.org/~user0830/wild.html
Godzilla
02-24-05, 07:17 PM Can someone give me at least a quick example of what I'm trying to get better at? I learn best from example, and what you're telling me is good, but i still don't quite understand it. I'm not stupid, but reading is not my strong suit.
Here's an example of what I'd do in a dungeon:
Me - "You now see three doors; one to the north, one to the south, and the one you used from the west. Which do you want to go out of?"
PC - "North!"
Me - "You travel north, and then find another door, and a turn to the west. Where do you go?"
PC - "I open the door!"
Me - "When you open the door, you are attacked by 3 ogres!"
Battle
Me - "Now that the battle is over, you may either go out the west door, the south door (where you came in from), or the eastern door."
And I know "hack and slash" isn't bad, but it does get boring after a while.
aaron3579
02-24-05, 07:38 PM Can someone give me at least a quick example of what I'm trying to get better at? I learn best from example, and what you're telling me is good, but i still don't quite understand it. I'm not stupid, but reading is not my strong suit.
Here's an example of what I'd do in a dungeon:
Me - "You now see three doors; one to the north, one to the south, and the one you used from the west. Which do you want to go out of?"
PC - "North!"
Me - "You travel north, and then find another door, and a turn to the west. Where do you go?"
PC - "I open the door!"
Me - "When you open the door, you are attacked by 3 ogres!"
Battle
Me - "Now that the battle is over, you may either go out the west door, the south door (where you came in from), or the eastern door."
And I know "hack and slash" isn't bad, but it does get boring after a while.

You are only appealing to 1/5 senses here, and not even very well. What does the corridor smell like? What is the lighting like, do the stones under my feet shift about unexpectedly, or are they sound? Can I hear anything? Does the door make a sound? What does the handle feel like in my hand? Also, sight should very rarely be used as the first indicatior of an encounter in a dark dungeon, even for demi-humans.

And these shouldn't be idle descriptions. Little pieces of information should be assembled by the players to form a big picture, to which they react accordingly. When your players begin to automatically ask questions like “can I smell anything?" then you know that you have done an adequate job of encouraging them to pay attention to little details.
Clarity
02-24-05, 09:41 PM You might consider advising your player to seek another game. It sounds like you are pretty firmly attatched to H&S style. In fact, what you described could really be used as a definitive example of extreme H&S.

There's no crime in running a game that not everyone enjoys. You should be honest with yourself though and decide if you should try and change your style or go with what is natural and let your player adjust or leave.
Halzmar_of_Geoff
02-24-05, 10:46 PM Can someone give me at least a quick example of what I'm trying to get better at?
PC - "I open the door!"
Me - "When you open the door, you are attacked by 3 ogres!"
Battle

Options. It sounds like your player wants to have options on how to handle encounters beyond combat.

For example - Compare your example with this one :
PC - "I open the door!"
Me - "When you open the door, you see three large humanoids armed with clubs. What do you do?"

Now knowing PCs they probably attack - but they may wish to say something to the ogres - "Hi there. We are new here. Would you happen to know the way to the treasure vault?" At which time you get to decide what the ogres would say -
"Intruders! Kill!"
or " three doors to the north"
or "why you want vault?"
or "halfling burgers yum"
or whatever you think is appropriate in response to the PC's comments.

It doesn't have to be complicated. Just keep it simple. Give the players a chance to decide how their characters react to the encounters. Try it out and it does become easier and more natural with time.
Guy Humual
02-25-05, 02:35 AM This is an old post of mine, but I think there might be a small titbit that you could use. So here ya go, 5 quick hints for being a better DM:

1)Don't give all the answers. You might think that this is your job as DM but it's not, you need to give the critical stuff (the room you enter seems to be filled with barrels with danger written on them . . . you think you can smell sulfur . . . your torch flickers brightly). You should avoid giving exact or definite answers when ever possible. Why? Because there are few certainties in real life and keeping these certainties out of the game adds to the tension, and it forces the PC to take action. In my example you'll note that I used the word "seems" is used (I LOVE that word), is the room really filled with barrels of black powder? Is the torch going to set them off? Maybe the barrels are filled with poison . . . maybe that smell of sulfur is only a recently summoned devil . . .

2)Whenever possible let the PCs make the adventure. I'm pretty lucky in the fact that I have a lot of experienced gamers. They are always planing and looking for stuff for their characters to do. Encourage this. As a DM keeping your PCs happy will save you a lot of stress, and the best way to keep them happy is to let them do stuff that interests them. This is not to say be a push over, it's always your game, don't tell them that they can’t do something that seems unreasonable (like swim a ragging river in full plate mail) but let them try, when they finally fail that last Swim check and they drown, they'll probably come to the idea all by themselves that it wasn't such a good idea. Having said all that, you as DM will have a lot of work to do in keeping people happy, and sometimes the players won't want to do anything (or won't know enough about the game to explore on their own) so you'll have to place encounters and adventures right into their laps. It's funny how many monsters a PC runs into, whereas the average NPC might never see one his hole life. :)

3)Be fair when using NPCs. If every bar tender they meet is a polymorphed Dragon just itchn' for a fight, or the opposite, if every major villain they come across is a push over, your players are going to get discouraged. The players should be allowed to feel a cut above the average Joe and yet still feel wonderment and fear at the sight of a dragon. That might be a little tough to handle at first, but as you get more experienced as a DM and your players get less "knowing" about the world they live in it will become easer.

4)Learn to tell a good story. (This should have been higher on the list but as you'll see with my last point: "Plan ahead" even old timers like can me can make mistakes). What I have always found exciting about RP is the story . . . being given the chance to save the world, having Tea with Odin, getting to ride a "real live" unicorn, these acts are the stuff of legends and being a good DM is all about making these things real and special to the players. Becoming a good DM has a lot to do with being able to tell a good story. Work on you vocabulary. Read lots of books. RPing is all about imagination. Understand what it is that excites you about Fantasy or Science fiction and give it to the players. Or, having failed that, Give'em combat. Lots and Lots of combat :D

5)Plan ahead. I cannot stress this enough! If you know that everybody's coming over to your house at 6 for some all night RPGing and you have nothing planed then that's your own darn fault! In this day in age, even with DM's block, there’s no good reason not to have something planed! There are tons of great fan pages out there with lots of adventure ideas. Heck, even this site has lots of pre-made adventures, if another DM has used them already, change them slightly, add new monsters, change the plot, add something new to the map. If you have a pre-made adventure - READ IT!! Know what's going to happen before the players do (and keep ‘em guessing).
weasel fierce
02-25-05, 03:43 AM Even the most old school dungeon crawl should have plentyt of traps, tricks (some deadly, some just to confuse) and some neutral or friendlies that the group can interact with.

A dungeon might very well have a gnomish mining expedition, a halfling searching for his fathers sword, or a cowardly orc that doesnt want to fight anyone.

Even the enemy may be negotiated with, tricked, bargained or pleaded with, if the players are good.
City and political adventures are excellent for giving RP opportunities.

Remember to also award roleplaying or thinking solutions, instead of just killing things on sight.
Gabriel Dian
02-25-05, 01:01 PM PC - "I open the door!"
Me - "When you open the door, you are attacked by 3 ogres!"
Battle

Did you try using non-monster (i.e. intelligent humanoid) villians?
It's easier for the players to talk to Drows/Evil human sorcerers/Halfling thieves etc than with monters which can grunt at the most. It will also be easier for you to play the said villians.

And I think it's cool that you're trying a new style. I know how hard that can be... :)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Godzilla 02-24-05, 04:14 PM	The thing is, I'm more of a combat DM, but the player in my group is getting tired of just room hopping, and fighting. I do make the fighting funny, at times, and I've made the last boss in almost every dungeon someone we hate, but he even told me that he thinks is still a bit boring. What was I talking about? Oh, I remember. So, how could I add more role playing to the RPs? I do have a good beginning story, but the rest is mostly what I've said before, room hopping and fighting.
Ack'noth Necrom 02-24-05, 04:40 PM	Well first off stop just room hoping. Create adventures where the PCs have to face challenges that can be resolved by a diplomatic or combative approach depending on their actions. Giving the PCs a chance to RP between eachother while you take a break is good too. When theyre discusing what to do let them talk in their voices to eachother so the PCs acctually know eachother and want to be together rather then them just being some people who know eachother. What Ive found works best is to give the PCs information and let them talk in character about what their going to do. It gives them a chance to discuss options and even have disagreements which makes the characters more realistic rather then just a bunch of numbers and letters on a sheet of paper.
Loopy 02-24-05, 04:41 PM	You need a good balance of the two. As time passes, you too will tire of mindless hacking. I would try to base yor adventures around the same city... a site that the players continually return to. This will aid you in that you will keep using the same NPCs over and over again and the players will get to know them and they may even start giving a crap about their welfare. "Nobody steps on a church in MY town!!!" I think that as the players clear out the dangerous areas in the area, they will become more and more popular and that will be a great role-playing catalyst as well.
Teshub 02-24-05, 05:27 PM	The best thing you can do is give them a role to play. By this I mean create some factions in your game (interest groups) and make it so your players have a loyalty to one of these factions. Give their characters duties and responsibilities within some sort of culture or institutional hierarchy in the game world. Sometimes this is difficult to do after you have already created characters and started adventuring. But if you think about it, the idea of freelance adventuring ir ridiculous, ie. let's have some rogues and fighters and wizards and clerics meet up at the ole inn and start chasing rumors of treasure and glory. Tough to find anything to relate with there. A character has to belong to something, somewhere. They were trained for a reason, and their stories should reflect who they are and what they came from. A cleric comes from a temple, that temple has political interests, and its clerics must serve them. A fighter was trained to be a soldier or knight or whatever. In the end his/her profession is to do battle, not for themselves but for whoever trained them. This can best be set in motion through solo adventuring, where you have the characters interact with NPC's who are higher-ups or agents within the PC's faction. They can give the PC's the low-down on what's happening and what needs to be done to make their masters happy. I've found that war and strife are the best backdrop for running this sort of game.
Halzmar_of_Geoff 02-24-05, 05:57 PM	Have you considered letting the monsters speak? If "upon opening the door everything encountered charges the party - roll initiative!" is the norm of the campaign it can get rather boring - because the players no longer have options besides combat. You'd be surprised how upon opening the door hearing "who the heck are you?" will throw a party off and make them actually interact verbally with the encounter rather than engaging in combat. Not every encounter has to be a challenge as far a combat goes to be entertaining. A chumpy encounter encourages the use of diplomacy or intimidation that generally can carry over to other encounters. If they actually engage the twelve 1st level warriors with their 9th level characters it is still alright. It's an generally much needed ego booster - a feel good excersise - a release for the players - that shows them just how strong their characters have grown since 1st level. Reward the characters for overcoming challenges regardless of how they overcome the challenges. If they intimidate the troll into giving the party free crossing of the bridge give them XP.
aaron3579 02-24-05, 06:40 PM	So, how could I add more role playing to the RPs? I do have a good beginning story, but the rest is mostly what I've said before, room hopping and fighting. Hack and slash is not an evil term, it's just another flavor icecream. RPing and H&Sing are both perfectly legitimate playing styles that both have the potential for years of fun. Any argument given in favor of one or the other is completely subjective, and is therefore irrelevant to the topic at hand. Having said that, I feel moved to offer a disclaimer: the following advice is to be taken with a grain of salt. If the shoe fits, wear it. If it doesn't just ignore me. :) ************************************** *** I get the impression that you are not the type of DM that feels comfortable with serious RPing (by serious, I mean anything non-humorous). But you are a dungeon master, and as such you are being called to be a pseudo-thespian. This means that you aren't allowed to feel silly when trying on the accents, mannerisms, and quirks of your NPCs. Get into character. Do not be afraid to make believe your way through the entire spectrum of human emotion. No one is asking you to give an Oscar-worthy preformance. What is asked of you, however, is to make some kind of attempt to immerse your players in an imaginary world. Did you ever play in a cardboard box as a child? Did you and your friend ever pretend like the box was a rocket and that you were going off to visit some wild and distant world? Do you remember the personalities that you manufactured? To me, Dungeons and Dragons is a glorified refrigerator box. It is my chance to be someone that I am not. I think that your friend may yearn for this same escape, and as his DM, he is asking you to give it to him. Because you have given me the impression that you heavily favor a H&S style of play, I am led to believe that you, having forsaken the teachings of Mr. Rodgers, have forgotten how to truly play make-believe. :( My suggestion to you then, is to go commando (aka diceless). Start with simple NPC interaction, and build from there. Put on new accents/ages/genders/political orientations. Leave the combat rules at home for a session or two, and practice flying to the moon. ************************************ * Recomended reading for any serious RPer: http://diggity.schwag.org/~user0830/wild.html
Godzilla 02-24-05, 07:17 PM	Can someone give me at least a quick example of what I'm trying to get better at? I learn best from example, and what you're telling me is good, but i still don't quite understand it. I'm not stupid, but reading is not my strong suit. Here's an example of what I'd do in a dungeon: Me - "You now see three doors; one to the north, one to the south, and the one you used from the west. Which do you want to go out of?" PC - "North!" Me - "You travel north, and then find another door, and a turn to the west. Where do you go?" PC - "I open the door!" Me - "When you open the door, you are attacked by 3 ogres!" Battle Me - "Now that the battle is over, you may either go out the west door, the south door (where you came in from), or the eastern door." And I know "hack and slash" isn't bad, but it does get boring after a while.
aaron3579 02-24-05, 07:38 PM	Can someone give me at least a quick example of what I'm trying to get better at? I learn best from example, and what you're telling me is good, but i still don't quite understand it. I'm not stupid, but reading is not my strong suit. Here's an example of what I'd do in a dungeon: Me - "You now see three doors; one to the north, one to the south, and the one you used from the west. Which do you want to go out of?" PC - "North!" Me - "You travel north, and then find another door, and a turn to the west. Where do you go?" PC - "I open the door!" Me - "When you open the door, you are attacked by 3 ogres!" Battle Me - "Now that the battle is over, you may either go out the west door, the south door (where you came in from), or the eastern door." And I know "hack and slash" isn't bad, but it does get boring after a while. You are only appealing to 1/5 senses here, and not even very well. What does the corridor smell like? What is the lighting like, do the stones under my feet shift about unexpectedly, or are they sound? Can I hear anything? Does the door make a sound? What does the handle feel like in my hand? Also, sight should very rarely be used as the first indicatior of an encounter in a dark dungeon, even for demi-humans. And these shouldn't be idle descriptions. Little pieces of information should be assembled by the players to form a big picture, to which they react accordingly. When your players begin to automatically ask questions like “can I smell anything?" then you know that you have done an adequate job of encouraging them to pay attention to little details.
Clarity 02-24-05, 09:41 PM	You might consider advising your player to seek another game. It sounds like you are pretty firmly attatched to H&S style. In fact, what you described could really be used as a definitive example of extreme H&S. There's no crime in running a game that not everyone enjoys. You should be honest with yourself though and decide if you should try and change your style or go with what is natural and let your player adjust or leave.
Halzmar_of_Geoff 02-24-05, 10:46 PM	Can someone give me at least a quick example of what I'm trying to get better at? PC - "I open the door!" Me - "When you open the door, you are attacked by 3 ogres!" Battle Options. It sounds like your player wants to have options on how to handle encounters beyond combat. For example - Compare your example with this one : PC - "I open the door!" Me - "When you open the door, you see three large humanoids armed with clubs. What do you do?" Now knowing PCs they probably attack - but they may wish to say something to the ogres - "Hi there. We are new here. Would you happen to know the way to the treasure vault?" At which time you get to decide what the ogres would say - "Intruders! Kill!" or " three doors to the north" or "why you want vault?" or "halfling burgers yum" or whatever you think is appropriate in response to the PC's comments. It doesn't have to be complicated. Just keep it simple. Give the players a chance to decide how their characters react to the encounters. Try it out and it does become easier and more natural with time.
Guy Humual 02-25-05, 02:35 AM	This is an old post of mine, but I think there might be a small titbit that you could use. So here ya go, 5 quick hints for being a better DM: 1)Don't give all the answers. You might think that this is your job as DM but it's not, you need to give the critical stuff (the room you enter seems to be filled with barrels with danger written on them . . . you think you can smell sulfur . . . your torch flickers brightly). You should avoid giving exact or definite answers when ever possible. Why? Because there are few certainties in real life and keeping these certainties out of the game adds to the tension, and it forces the PC to take action. In my example you'll note that I used the word "seems" is used (I LOVE that word), is the room really filled with barrels of black powder? Is the torch going to set them off? Maybe the barrels are filled with poison . . . maybe that smell of sulfur is only a recently summoned devil . . . 2)Whenever possible let the PCs make the adventure. I'm pretty lucky in the fact that I have a lot of experienced gamers. They are always planing and looking for stuff for their characters to do. Encourage this. As a DM keeping your PCs happy will save you a lot of stress, and the best way to keep them happy is to let them do stuff that interests them. This is not to say be a push over, it's always your game, don't tell them that they can’t do something that seems unreasonable (like swim a ragging river in full plate mail) but let them try, when they finally fail that last Swim check and they drown, they'll probably come to the idea all by themselves that it wasn't such a good idea. Having said all that, you as DM will have a lot of work to do in keeping people happy, and sometimes the players won't want to do anything (or won't know enough about the game to explore on their own) so you'll have to place encounters and adventures right into their laps. It's funny how many monsters a PC runs into, whereas the average NPC might never see one his hole life. :) 3)Be fair when using NPCs. If every bar tender they meet is a polymorphed Dragon just itchn' for a fight, or the opposite, if every major villain they come across is a push over, your players are going to get discouraged. The players should be allowed to feel a cut above the average Joe and yet still feel wonderment and fear at the sight of a dragon. That might be a little tough to handle at first, but as you get more experienced as a DM and your players get less "knowing" about the world they live in it will become easer. 4)Learn to tell a good story. (This should have been higher on the list but as you'll see with my last point: "Plan ahead" even old timers like can me can make mistakes). What I have always found exciting about RP is the story . . . being given the chance to save the world, having Tea with Odin, getting to ride a "real live" unicorn, these acts are the stuff of legends and being a good DM is all about making these things real and special to the players. Becoming a good DM has a lot to do with being able to tell a good story. Work on you vocabulary. Read lots of books. RPing is all about imagination. Understand what it is that excites you about Fantasy or Science fiction and give it to the players. Or, having failed that, Give'em combat. Lots and Lots of combat :D 5)Plan ahead. I cannot stress this enough! If you know that everybody's coming over to your house at 6 for some all night RPGing and you have nothing planed then that's your own darn fault! In this day in age, even with DM's block, there’s no good reason not to have something planed! There are tons of great fan pages out there with lots of adventure ideas. Heck, even this site has lots of pre-made adventures, if another DM has used them already, change them slightly, add new monsters, change the plot, add something new to the map. If you have a pre-made adventure - READ IT!! Know what's going to happen before the players do (and keep ‘em guessing).
weasel fierce 02-25-05, 03:43 AM	Even the most old school dungeon crawl should have plentyt of traps, tricks (some deadly, some just to confuse) and some neutral or friendlies that the group can interact with. A dungeon might very well have a gnomish mining expedition, a halfling searching for his fathers sword, or a cowardly orc that doesnt want to fight anyone. Even the enemy may be negotiated with, tricked, bargained or pleaded with, if the players are good. City and political adventures are excellent for giving RP opportunities. Remember to also award roleplaying or thinking solutions, instead of just killing things on sight.
Gabriel Dian 02-25-05, 01:01 PM	PC - "I open the door!" Me - "When you open the door, you are attacked by 3 ogres!" Battle Did you try using non-monster (i.e. intelligent humanoid) villians? It's easier for the players to talk to Drows/Evil human sorcerers/Halfling thieves etc than with monters which can grunt at the most. It will also be easier for you to play the said villians. And I think it's cool that you're trying a new style. I know how hard that can be... :)