Post/Author/DateTime	Post
darkwarlock1114 04-14-04, 05:48 PM	I've been DMing the game for a while and my games are kind of hum-drum with no roleplaying. I'm about to be a PC(for my first time ever) and I was wondering if you have any roleplaying tips for me. I came on to the boards just recently and have noticed that some of the roleplaying mentioned on the boards is amazing.
flyingmoose 04-14-04, 06:05 PM	Having a piece of paper with numbers on it is one thing. Pretending to actually be these people is entirely different. I've never met an entire group that could do it without either making a joke out of the whole thing or getting horridly embarassed. Either ya got it or ya don't.
Nived 04-14-04, 06:34 PM	It's not that either you got it or you don't. Sometimes it takes sme time to get a good player to come out of their shell. Things to avoid, Corny accents, don't get me wrong voices can add to a game, but they can also detract, if you're going to pull off an IC voice you have to be consistant and solid with the voice. Unless you are a person who naturally does a lot of impressions, I'd avoid it. Try and actually say things instead of saying "I say this" or "my character says this". There's a huge difference between saying "My character walks into a bar and asks for a drink" and saying "I walk into the bar, 'Hey barkeep, mug of ale and keep them coming!' ". Pay attention to your DM, take notes! Because you're not going to remember every NPC name, write them down! Also when off camera (DM focusing on other character of group of characters and you are in limbo) start up random in character conversations with other players currently in limbo... that is if your in the same limbo location.
Thorak 04-14-04, 07:09 PM	To disagree with the previous poster, it's good to have an IC voice and an OOC voice, the latter being your normal one. Of course, your IC voice doesn't have to be some ridiculous accent or speech impediment. Even if you just remember to consciously deepen (or lighten, or speak with a slightly different cadence) your voice enough to make it distinct without being ridiculous, it gets clearer whether things are IC or OOC. And you don't need to worry about the "I says..." As for the rest, roleplaying is playing Pretend. Everyone knows how to play Pretend, they learn it before they even hit school age. If anyone claims to 'not be able' to RP, they've just forgotten how to play Pretend. All D&D is, is adult rules to make sure noone cheats at the game.
Rogue 04-14-04, 07:43 PM	One of the most important things is playing a character that you can roleplay. If you love animals, don't play someone who kills them on site, because you will screw up sometimes acting on your nature, not the characters. Good luck and have fun.
Thorak 04-15-04, 12:29 AM	And to disagree again with the previous-to-this poster (I think I'm doing it just to be difficult now), some of the most amusing and/or satisfying characters can be those who are utterly different from yourself. Amusing because of the sheer level of escapism inherent in that kind of deviation, and satisfying because if you can pull it off, you can gain insights into yourself and others from it. Authors do it all the time when they think up the most hideous villains they can imagine to push their protagonists up against.
canamrock 04-15-04, 12:58 AM	The 'easiest' characters to roleplay are either much like the player or diametrically different. It's easier to play what you know you're not than to play something which differs in more ambiguous ways.
Daybreaker 04-15-04, 02:02 AM	One of the weirdest things I've noticed about what people tend to be really good at roleplaying is when they let themselves engage in a bit of wish-fulfillment. And when you really think about it, isn't wish-fulfillment a huge unspoken part of this game anyway? If you've always wanted to be thin, be thin. If you've always wanted to be tall, be tall. If you've always wanted to be brave, be brave. If you've always wanted to be slutty, be slutty. If you've always wanted to be a hero, be a hero. These are the characters that are really yours, because no two people have exactly the same wish. And these are the characters that you'll hold on to for a long time, 'cause they really are a part of you. And heck, sometimes they're inspiring. :)
Asmodeous 04-15-04, 02:41 AM	I guess for me, the role playing all stems from the character that you create to begin with. I start with the character and his/her personality first, making notes about their traits, strengths and weekness's. Then, and only then, do I put pen to paper and create a character sheet for them. The character sheet is only a record of your character. I create a personality I want to role play, and then ask myself, what would that person become in the "real world" or DnD? The disadvantages is that the type of characters I have made tend to repeat to some degree. Ive never made a bard, druid, sorcerer or monk, and this is because I have never come up with a personality of somebody who would want to become on of those classes. Ive tried to make a druid a couple of times and never came up with a person I would want to role play who would become a druid. Disadvantages of role playing I guess. Cant simply choose to play any class when ever you feel like it. Trying to have in character voices is a bit hard when one of my current characters is a female. When I play her, I tend to speak in a soft and gentle voice, but there is no way im gonna try and sound like a woman!
Boudewijn Brendergast 04-15-04, 04:36 AM	A few points to consider that help me create a "real person": -When writing down character traits, make sure some of them are (slightly) negative. No person is perfect so neither should a character. Is he really afraid of certain situations? Is he grumpy in the morning? -Think of some friends and just write down the names and where your character met them and why they became friends... Are they still friends? If not what happened? If so, do they meet often, what is the friend doing for a living? -Whatever you do, don't do caricatures. They will distract from rather than add to your character.
Thorak 04-15-04, 09:12 AM	Originally posted by Boudewijn Brendergast -When writing down character traits, make sure some of them are (slightly) negative. No person is perfect so neither should a character. Is he really afraid of certain situations? Is he grumpy in the morning? I think this point can't be emphasized enough; every character, IMHO, absolutely should be flawed in some way. One reason; nobody's perfect. But more importantly, people don't remember someone's perfections; they remember their flaws. This is true of characters as well. My last character was a Tiefling monk who was admittedly too bland; it was my first 3.X character, and I was more concerned with figuring the system out than building character. However, one 2nd edition character I played about 8 years ago still gets mentioned in conversation with friends. He was a dwarven Vindicator (fighter/cleric Battlerager, a Battlerager being almost a Frenzied Berserker, but not quite that insane. Close though). He had an int of 6. He became party leader because he had the attention span of a gnat, and got fed up with the party debating which way to go in a dungeon. So he went left, and everyone followed along to avoid splitting up. And the rest, as they say, is history. Every choice for the rest of the campaign was 'left'. His idea of tactics was "I run at full speed at the nearest/biggest enemy and hit it with my axe until it stops moving." He had a 5-round build-up to his rage, and he tried to get it going in every combat, despite the fact that he lost casting ability while raging. Simple-minded to the extreme, and absolutely hilarious. And a little insane and prone to weird fits. And people remember that; they don't remember the many fights he utterly annihalated the enemies. They remember the one fight he took 2 rounds to chop down a tree (magical axe - DM said wood was like butter) and given that he had a Girdle of Giant Strength, proceeded to wield the tree. Now, this was silly enough, but we were testing out the new critical hit system in Combat and Tactics, that had location and severity ratings. First and only time I ever rolled perfectly on that was the first swing with the tree; dwarf with 30' tall tree comes charging out of the woods, screaming like a banshee, whips the thing around, and crushes the skull of the giant alligator crawling out of the water. So ridiculous, and so in-character. Then there's my more serious (I'm getting older now, and a bit less oddball) character I'm playing now. He's a fallen nobleman, his family lost almost everything in the wars early in his life, and he piddled away the rest unthinkingly in his youth. Now he has only the title, and his heroic uncle's sword left to his name. And a burning desire to restore his family's honour, combined with a personal hatred and dread at continuing the failure he has already begun. Still early, he's a 1st level paladin (who may Fall soon, due to this self-loathing), and I intend to have him go into the CW Kensai class, restoring his uncle's blade to it's rightful glory, and that being a symbol of his family's honour. I could just as easily have made a sword-saint type guy, but that would be hokey and dry. This character, IMHO, has a great deal more 'meat' to his bones, and it centres around his inner conflicts. We've had some interesting RP sessions, in the village we start in. My character's a noble, but he's been so self-degrading thus far that he treats the peasants better than himself, because to him, they are better. And as a result, the ones he's dealt with are starting to treat him really well, since he seems to both care about their welfare and not consider himself better than they are by the accident of his birth. It should be interesting how it turns out when he starts saving the village from it's issues, and they start praising him for it. Ahh, conflict. Conflict is the heart of any story worth hearing. Unless your character is designed with inner conflict, their story will probably be boring to anyone but yourself.
pjackson 04-15-04, 11:09 AM	And as a result, the ones he's dealt with are starting to treat him really well, since he seems to both care about their welfare and not consider himself better than they are by the accident of his birth. That is likely to annoy some peasants. If he takes away the accident of birth excuse they will have to confront the possibility that they are "inferior" for other reasons, perhaps it is even their fault. Cant simply choose to play any class when ever you feel like it. If you feel like it, you can play it :)
Reg Shoe 04-15-04, 11:31 AM	I know it's been said already, but having flaws and negative points is so often underlooked, it's crazy. People unnacustomed to roleplaying often play a capital-H Hero, and frankly, that's boring. Who's the cooler superhero, Batman or Superman? Having these flaws will lead to more realistic experiences, and it's a heck of a lot easier to RP a "real person", after all, you are one.