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Hey man, seriously I watched then rewatchied a bunch of yer videos, found a few FANTASTIC things I never thought of! I've been DMing sense the mid 90s so thank you very much! Everyone else? Listen to this dude n take notes!!!!
Hey man, seriously I watched then rewatchied a bunch of yer videos, found a few FANTASTIC things I never thought of! I've been DMing sense the mid 90s so thank you very much! Everyone else? Listen to this dude n take notes!!!!
I listen to your content often... Been subbed for a long while. I'm happy for your Kickstarter... But having note taking and prepping as separate books......... 👎👎👎👎👎👎 It's pretty average brother. I get you're trying to max profits... What kind of businessman would you be if you didn't... But pretty sure the "secret art of GMing" would include these things man... Goodluck tho I won't be buying. Edit: If they were all in one book... I 100% would have pledged. Just fyi.. I like you... I enjoy your content and I really do hope you do well brother
Another tip: have some things written down. You don't need an autobiography for each NPC, but having names of people/places important to them, their fears, and their goals can be handy to have as little reminders.
I haven't done it myself but I feel like prewritten conversation blurbs are okay as long as they are short, they fit into larger, improvised conversations, and have specific triggers. e.g. If you ask the innkeeper what plagues him and succeed on a persuasion check, he goes into a flowery speech about how his trusted business partner betrayed him, absconded with the innkeeper's wife, and stole the inn's safe. You'll still have to be ready to improvise though, in case the players interrupt the speech or something like that.
I agree that read aloud text is good and is in fact very useful, but no monologues. Focus on short lines that you can deliver in the right moment. This allows you to have a list of peices of information that you want to give them players (ie: goals for the conversation), but you can still be flexible and improvise.
Perhaps it's the writer in me, but I tend to write short stories or journal entries in the voice of the major NPCs around the primary events of their lives - i.e. the events that made them into a villain. Not for the PCs - unless they're interested in lore - but for myself. It helps me flesh them out in my mind so, when I play them in interactions, it is natural and informs the conversations they have with the PCs. I do this to specifically avoid scripted dialogue, which can go tits up fast if you're not prepared to alter their monologues and dialogues on the fly.
@@John-ir4id That’s a really interesting idea. I’m running Curse of Strahd right now, and am kind of struggling with improvising dialogue when the PCs ask questions I wasn’t expecting.
@@evolution031680Specifically with Strahd or with the NPCs in general? In any case, the best way I know to avoid getting stuck is to get to know the NPCs as though you were their therapist or the voice in their head and then practice, practice, practice ...and, then, practice some more. Don't worry about being pitch perfect, the more you play the character, the easier and smoother it will get. *Also, I made it sound like I never use scripted dialogue. I do, but only as reference for specific events, a la their final confrontation with Strahd. His big speech moment before the final fight.
I've found that It's OK to prepare an NPC's "monologue" but *not* "dialogue", even if you might need to tweak it in the moment. You could even prepare answers to specific questions if you find that helps keep the NPC "in character" and make sure that all the information points that are needed get covered.
Having some prepared NPC lines is actually really helpful, it can help you get the tone and their communication style clear at the start of the dialogue - of course you need to know what they're about too, but if you're running a game with multiple tent pole NPCs and you need to get them straight - plan a few lines that encapsulates them and use and adapt them during the game.
I usually have to write out some things each npc might say in small talk situations because it gets me into character by seeing it written down. I usually dont use most of it but it gives me flavor for each one.
The way I think of it is like the last questions the Vorlons ask Sheridan. "Who are you." "What do you want." And yes, sometimes you want the beings asking to get the hell out of your galaxy.
I actually have my NPCs talk to each other in down time. That way the party can have continuity. If you act horrible to that Barkeep or shopkeeper then the rest of the town will know soon. Remember kids your deeds do have consequences and will be remembered. And also remember there are always more people than you.
And here I was hoping it was actually about roleplaying. Stuff like how you convey your character through different actions and such, not just talky-talky.
A few years ago I was running a game where the player characters were interacting with the head of a powerful branch of the oppressive country's secret police. The secret police in this country are made up of lycanthropes and intelligent undead, so of course silvered weapons are illegal. One of my players was playing a College of Eloquence Bard with expertise in Persuasion. The player of the Bard straight up asked this head of the secret police (a powerful vampire) to just give the party silvered weapons. He then rolled a persuasion check. My ruling was, that no she wasn't going to hand over these weapons to the player characters, rather his high roll meant that she was impressed by his moxie, and would not outright kill them. This ruling upset the player of the Bard, and he subsequently quit the campaign. My rationale was simple: there was no way she would do what he wanted. His rolling high meant that she was amused by his gall, rather than angered by him. But the player wanted to create a character that would steamroll social interactions in this horror campaign, so he felt personally insulted.
On the 'don't do pre-written dialog for NPCs', I fully agree because my current group has made it pretty much a recurring trend to just interupt villain monologues. So I come fully expected my villain to not finish their monologue and react accordingly to being interupted.
My understanding is that they are comics, or comic books/strips, so calling them comics is ok. Graphic Novel refers to a book made with art or comic panels to help tell the story. These are usually published as is without being broken up into issues that get released separately. Trade Paperback usually refers to a collection of comic books that all relate to a larger story. These pages will have been released before as separate comic books, and now are collected in one paperback. Hope that clears the terminology up for ya ;)
I collect a ‘quote library” for my characters . Things they would say, or might have in posters in their wall. I might never directly use them but they greatly inform the type of stuff they might say, and bits and chunks of them make their way into conversation. The same thing might happen with an important npc: it means at a glance I have an idea of the sorts of things an npc might think or say about most topics.
Most of my NPCs take up a single line on an index card. It forces me to concentrate on the key aspects of the character. I also leave the line below blank, to add anything that happens to the character during the game.
While I do believe that a character's build can be used to express who they are as much as things like conversation, I still refer to conversations as roleplaying.
I've seen examples where ppl put DnD (colorfuly called by other things) in as skills on their resume. Because DM or player (if good) requires skills that are dang useful in the workplace. Group skills, communication skills, creative problem solving, and so forth.
It is still okay to say "comics," if slightly vague if context doesn't make it whether you're referring to a self-contained publication, a page of the newspaper, or a performer on stage (all of which can be valid inspiration for your game). Graphic novels are a more specific subset of comic books.
If you want to do accents better, a trick ive used and seen work for others: Rather than doing a regional accent, try imitating a specific person who has that accent. For instance, dont do scottish accent, do a sean connery impression. This works even better if you choose a person roughly of your same vocal range/age, as you wont need to change pitch as much. Even if you dont master the accent, you will find yourself picking up some of the rhythms of their speech, and the accent will come in time
The talky talky does equal roleplaying. Words can have variable meanings, so yes roleplaying is the whole game, but it can also mean specifically the talky bits. This started from the talky bits being described as "engaging in roleplay", since it's when most players take the extra effort to think what their character would do or say, rather than what's the optimal move to take out this vampire goblin. But more importantly, it's the linguistics that have stuck. If I refer to the talky bits as roleplay, then both veterans and newbies alike intuitively know what I'm talking about.
If i may, properly, "roleplaying" is playing a role; so when you are acting as a character and narrating his actions, you are playing his role. In a way, determining the course of his actions, by using the appropriate rules and dice rolls is a complementary extension of playing his role, but as far as we go from acting, going more near a simple conversations about strategy, statistics or the next snack we need in way to regain some real energy, the less we are in the role, even if we may be more in the play. :) Why this relative disctinction ? ...because there are many more aspects in this kind of game, so there are nuances... and you may put the accent on your preference, as much as the game help you reach the intended purpose, and the moments while playing serve you good !
Does anyone have any ideas for where to start for someone who is working on overcoming social anxiety? Most of these are quite daunting, since the times I've tried to do most of these, by brain crosswires and I can't even finish the sentence without dropping the mannerism, the voice, or whatever I'm trying to add. I have a hard enough time just answering the player's questions/actions before even applying anything else. My players are chaos incarnate and come up with the most off-the-wall stuff, whereas I'm the squarest square to ever square. I can react to the random actions just fine, but it's the stupid, illogical questions/dialogue that really gets me. I'm particularly guilty of scripting dialogue, because if I don't, my players are going to miss valuable information because I blanked on what it was in the moment it was relevant to be delivered. Right now, at my current skill level, it's either scripted information or no information.
I agree that read along text isn't great, However, I have written out an evil villains monolog before as the villain has the party restrained and gagged explaining that their end is coming and everything they love will be taken from them ect. Those seem to work nicely written out.
What I like to do for the roleplay one is I give my characters a deficit if they have a negative skill score. For my current character he has a negative 2 to dex. So every action I take, in battle or out, I roll a random num generator and if it's within a 5 number difference between x and y, my character falls flat on his face, tripping over his feet
One way I make npc interaction interesting is by having make Mental notes of the entire party. What they are wearing Words that might say or even. Just the way they look. Do you make the conversations a little More organic For instincts one of the player characters walks in to a shop wearing clothing similar to the shop keeper the shop keeper see it and may be more interested in that player Or fell a little relax
There is a diffrence between Comic Bokks and Graphic Novals. A comic book is a single paperback that is one story or a part of a story. Graphic Noval is a collection of Comic books put together to make a full story, some time a complete set.
I said this in another comment, but, in order to 'get into character' for major NPCs, I tend to write very short stories or journal entries in their voice around specific events in their lives - i.e. what awful thing happened to make them into a villain - not for the PCs, but for myself. It allows me to work out their motives, mannerisms, and attitudes in conversations without resorting to scripted dialogue that can go tits up very fast. ALSO The main difference between a comic and a graphic novel is that, where a comic is serialized, a graphic novel is a complete narrative unto itself.
Read-aloud text could be well used for one-sided "conversations" though - like a speech or the conversation opener of NPC approaching players and asking for help.. Especially for DMs who are socially awkward themselves and completely improvising conversation is very hard for them.
First time comment, I actually did that! I'm running a Game, where the BBGE's are based off the 4 Chaos Gods from Warhammer 40k...I ran a very similar game lol 20 years ago! But man it was Awesome!!!! :)
#9 using your player's own words against them. I've done that a few times. It's kinda fun to see their words come back at them especially when they flippantly "blaspheme" and the avatar of the god shows up.
About "roleplaying", in French, we do not have this disctinction to make. Simply because we have the same word for "game" and "play". So a "roleplaying game" is only called "un jeu de rôle",. It can translate by "a game of role", so for us this is not a combined name, we are not "roleplaying", we are mostly "playing a game of role", neither we say "je vais "jeuderôler""... So whatever we do in the game, we simply "play".
The module's "reading text aloud" is still VERY useful to me, even when I don't read it word for word. And probably for a lot of other people too. I get utterly lost when I have no idea what an NPC would say, I can improvise a little but I'm not very good when it comes to dialogue. Having to imagine all of the NPC's motivations is very draining.
I must respectfully disagree. Role-Play: Talky talky bits. Role-Playing Game: Talky talky and opening doors and combat and social encounters ect. But JUST the role-play is the talky talky bits. Love your channel. You have TONS of great info.
I love pre-written dialogue for little introducion snippets to a scene where there are multiple NPCs conversing when the party walks in. Improvising introductions when NPCs have specific names, titles, and locations associated with them is...does not go well for me lol
My NPCs have entire lives in my mind. People say my NPCs will not always help the party right off because they have some small matter that the party might be able to help with. Like not being able to go with them to open a temple door because they can't find a baby sitter for the two day trip it takes. I even had one NPC not like a player because he was recently cuck'd by a tiefling bard. He talked to the rest of the party but the bard was angry until he actually asked the NPC about wtf.
I'll write a couple bullet points about a NPC's character, including how they sound and any mannerisms, and then a brief summary of their history. It really helps.
I wish there was a #7 flipped to the players. My PCs area always so suspicious of, and combative towards, everyone they meet. The worst perpetrator, ironically (?), is the Way of Mercy monk in the party.
Some of these seem a little excessive for a home game, like acting out a whole conversation ahead of time. I mean, it's fine if that's what you're into and how you work, but I think it's a bit harsh to call it a mistake not to.
Troll Lord Games makes a very useful NPC book. It contains NPCs based on either job or in-game class to look up based on what you need. Each NPC has a short entry containing their name, looks, adventure hooks, personality, basic stats, and items carried. It's made NPCs, either planned or on the fly, much easier and it's fully of thousands of them. Though I do believe that mannerisms and speech is more important than silly voices. That a GM can pull off great NPCs either speaking entirely in the 3rd person or changing their own mannerisms without fighting to maintain a silly accent.
hey!! As an avid comic book reader, the term comic is absolutely fine. In fact, comics and graphic novels are two completely different things. Both comics and graphic novels use the same artistic medium, the visual storytelling, the speech bubbles, etc. but comic books are shorter form, generally more episodic, and released on a schedule, usually monthly or bimonthly, or one shots. Graphic novels are longer, and contain a more complete story, and are generally published all at once in a complete edition. Nothing wrong with calling comics comics, and don't listen to your English teacher who tries to say "oh, don't call them comics, they're graphic novels," graphic novels are just something different
for the read along text i did that once only & it was for the closing monologue of the BBEG of a campaign, why ? because i knew for a fact that i would not be able to remember it for the life of me. Also on the angle of "voice work" in english i'm great at it but in my native language im more limited & a lot of my npcs start to sound the same with very little variation.
I don't do the script for npc dialogues, but I kind of write down some bits. Even if I don't use them, it is a reminder of the way they might talk to pc, their character etc...And sometimes, they contain good ideas that I can use. Maybe not that specific moment, but...Is this a mistake too?
I don't think so. I participated in impromptu speech contests and most of the contestants wrote stuff down while preparing. Just get rid of the notes before you start the game or stick to a paper with just keywords. Practising conversation from your NPC view also helps to make it sound more natural.
Nope. Roleplaying is talking or acting like someone else - taking on a role. Everything in the game is not roleplaying, roleplaying is one aspect of the game. Rolling dice to make a persuasion check, instead of roleplaying it out, is called roll-playing. They are different, and the distinction has been around gaming for a long time. I rarely practice before voicing an NPC, but I do give a bit of consideration to how they would act when prepping. #10 is an absolute must. Not just limits, but what is automatic and doesn't require a roll.
I like the advice but I do have reservations when I have to interact socially using an arch devil. This guy is insanely smart and knows the laws of every place in the universe word for word. I can't simulate that not even a little. =)
one of the DM's I run with gets all bent when I disrespect people in power in his world as if every character has to be a king bootlicker. Currently banned from one of his cities.
13:45 Yes, you can call them comics. There is no real difference between comics and Graphic Novels. Except that Graphic Novels tend to be an entire story instead of being broken up in issues. The term graphic novels was created by comic artists and writers that wanted to be taken seriously but at the end of the day, it's all comics! Just like it's All Roleplaying! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Those games where every NPC hates the PCs, OMG are they miserable to play. There are DMs where players have to say the absolute right words the DM is thinking or else whatever the social interaction is will fail. Eventually the players will stop trying, and that's how you get murder hobos. Anyway, time to compliment Luke for a change instead of yelling at him. You're rocking that beard.
For the love of all that is holy, please timestamp videos for the points. I sometimes miss the switch of a point to a different point and then I'm trying to seek around to find it...
I have to ask, since i have noticed it several times watching old videos. Do you intentionally say NACROmancer, instead of NECROmancer? Because if you do...your trolling is working, I am going crazy.
Non-hostile NPCs would be easier if my players weren't jerks to most of my npcs. They always demand a deal in shops, larger payouts for adventures and every bit of information without being nice or courteous to my npcs.
I love how much you hate the social contract between most of the TTRPG community that the talky talky part, or social encounters are called Role Playing.
A really great video but there's some pretty crazy irony that your thumbnail about social interaction says role playing and your first tip is to stop calling it role playing. 😂
Yep, intended. It's because almost no one knows what it should actually be called. Calling it "roleplaying" even though it's erroneous communicates in terms that most people understand.
Just like there are multiple ways to pronounce tomato and potato, what you pronounce is social interaction, I pronounce as role-playing 😎 Fun, ribbing aside, this is a salad video with lots of useful advice
We have always insisted that players do not describe their actions like "Kolmar opens the door." or "my Character will do XYZ" or "Pilippe will say: 'FGHGHZZH' " They shall use "I open the door!" "I strike the head of the orc, trying to decapitate him!" Also, we have a Start and an End to our sessions anything in between is "in Character" but there is a hand sign for a "timeout" which can be used to talk about a rule or something like that. All those things of course are not set in stone but we adhere to them 99% of the time. This has worked very well for most of our gaming and I can really recommend it. (Ok, automatic exceptions are when we are rofl-ing from the latest stunt, joke or ridiculous action, or some exceptionally tragic event etc.)
the roleplaying rant was not enjoyable. from a linguistic point of view you are doing the soda vs pop debate. People use word to communicate, as long as the correct idea is transmited it is the correct use of the word. clarifying is ok but ranting and trying to impose your point of view on the language is not very inclusive of you.
You're not entitled to say what roleplaying is or is not. I'm sorry. You definitely can make an argument regarding what most people expect when they jump into the table for the first time. Or you can make an argument regarding games like D&D or PF2e being very combat-focused... Sure. But that does not make your argument any truer... Not in general, that is. If you happen to hang out with people who love ROLE-PLAYING focusing on describing WHAT and HOW they do things, (rather than calling for an ability check right away)... like I do🙂, then that's a huge part of the game. In fact, THAT part of the game is the ONLY shared part among ALL games. The rules/mechanics behind the ROLE-PLAYING part, can change dramatically (or even disappear😉) from game to game. EDIT: In case you feel inclined to use the bandwagon fallacy, or the appeal-to-authority fallacy... I have more than 30yrs of experience as both a player and DM , playing RQ2, Call of Cthulhu, DnD (2, 3, 5), StarWars, Vampire, Fate, Mythras, PF2e, and others.
Yeah....I thought at first that he was going to say ONLY relegating your roleplaying to the so called "talky-talky bits" was a mistake. And I would agree with that! I've seen too many people who act COMPLETELY differently in combat than their character does in social interactions. But no.....he had to claim that referring to the ROLEPLAYING part of ROLEPLAYING games is wrong....
@@PickleSurprise8 Im making a logical counter-argument based on facts. (and then preventing fanboys from trolling me) Or is it false that, in fact, THAT part of the game is the ONLY shared part among ALL rpg games?? As long as pure narrative-driven games are considered rpg's (and they will always be) , then the ''talky-talky bit'' MUST be considered what makes any game a ROLE-PLAYING one. (Plus... the laughs😂 )
@@takezomiyamoto1390 role-playing is the whole game not just talking. What are you arguing? Talking is the only part that is RP? Luke never said talking isn't RP lol at you insinuating I'm a fan boy. I think Luke is a bit if jerk, and I'm not a fan of him. I am a fan of the quality content they provide through dmlair mag
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Are these books coming on your website? Kickstarter wont accept anything except creditcard, and I only have PayPal
Hey man, seriously I watched then rewatchied a bunch of yer videos, found a few FANTASTIC things I never thought of!
I've been DMing sense the mid 90s so thank you very much! Everyone else? Listen to this dude n take notes!!!!
Hey man, seriously I watched then rewatchied a bunch of yer videos, found a few FANTASTIC things I never thought of!
I've been DMing sense the mid 90s so thank you very much! Everyone else? Listen to this dude n take notes!!!!
I listen to your content often... Been subbed for a long while. I'm happy for your Kickstarter... But having note taking and prepping as separate books......... 👎👎👎👎👎👎 It's pretty average brother. I get you're trying to max profits... What kind of businessman would you be if you didn't... But pretty sure the "secret art of GMing" would include these things man... Goodluck tho I won't be buying.
Edit: If they were all in one book... I 100% would have pledged. Just fyi.. I like you... I enjoy your content and I really do hope you do well brother
Solid advice. The about about hiding in the bathroom to think about what the NPC would say--I've been there!
If the prof said it's solid, count me interested
Been there too!
I’ve been in that situation! Just don’t do it too often or else it’ll become a habit instead of improving
Another tip: have some things written down. You don't need an autobiography for each NPC, but having names of people/places important to them, their fears, and their goals can be handy to have as little reminders.
10:17
I haven't done it myself but I feel like prewritten conversation blurbs are okay as long as they are short, they fit into larger, improvised conversations, and have specific triggers. e.g. If you ask the innkeeper what plagues him and succeed on a persuasion check, he goes into a flowery speech about how his trusted business partner betrayed him, absconded with the innkeeper's wife, and stole the inn's safe. You'll still have to be ready to improvise though, in case the players interrupt the speech or something like that.
I agree that read aloud text is good and is in fact very useful, but no monologues. Focus on short lines that you can deliver in the right moment. This allows you to have a list of peices of information that you want to give them players (ie: goals for the conversation), but you can still be flexible and improvise.
Perhaps it's the writer in me, but I tend to write short stories or journal entries in the voice of the major NPCs around the primary events of their lives - i.e. the events that made them into a villain. Not for the PCs - unless they're interested in lore - but for myself. It helps me flesh them out in my mind so, when I play them in interactions, it is natural and informs the conversations they have with the PCs. I do this to specifically avoid scripted dialogue, which can go tits up fast if you're not prepared to alter their monologues and dialogues on the fly.
@@John-ir4id That’s a really interesting idea. I’m running Curse of Strahd right now, and am kind of struggling with improvising dialogue when the PCs ask questions I wasn’t expecting.
@@evolution031680Specifically with Strahd or with the NPCs in general? In any case, the best way I know to avoid getting stuck is to get to know the NPCs as though you were their therapist or the voice in their head and then practice, practice, practice ...and, then, practice some more. Don't worry about being pitch perfect, the more you play the character, the easier and smoother it will get.
*Also, I made it sound like I never use scripted dialogue. I do, but only as reference for specific events, a la their final confrontation with Strahd. His big speech moment before the final fight.
I've found that It's OK to prepare an NPC's "monologue" but *not* "dialogue", even if you might need to tweak it in the moment. You could even prepare answers to specific questions if you find that helps keep the NPC "in character" and make sure that all the information points that are needed get covered.
Having some prepared NPC lines is actually really helpful, it can help you get the tone and their communication style clear at the start of the dialogue - of course you need to know what they're about too, but if you're running a game with multiple tent pole NPCs and you need to get them straight - plan a few lines that encapsulates them and use and adapt them during the game.
I usually have to write out some things each npc might say in small talk situations because it gets me into character by seeing it written down. I usually dont use most of it but it gives me flavor for each one.
Man, you can do whatever you want. If it works for you it works.
AS a DM of several years: i approve of this video. Very good advice right here.
The way I think of it is like the last questions the Vorlons ask Sheridan.
"Who are you."
"What do you want."
And yes, sometimes you want the beings asking to get the hell out of your galaxy.
Luke, as an old grognard DM, I gotta hand it to ya. Love the energy, the enthusiasm & the obvious love for the game that you have! Salute! 🫡
I actually have my NPCs talk to each other in down time. That way the party can have continuity. If you act horrible to that Barkeep or shopkeeper then the rest of the town will know soon. Remember kids your deeds do have consequences and will be remembered. And also remember there are always more people than you.
And here I was hoping it was actually about roleplaying. Stuff like how you convey your character through different actions and such, not just talky-talky.
A few years ago I was running a game where the player characters were interacting with the head of a powerful branch of the oppressive country's secret police. The secret police in this country are made up of lycanthropes and intelligent undead, so of course silvered weapons are illegal. One of my players was playing a College of Eloquence Bard with expertise in Persuasion. The player of the Bard straight up asked this head of the secret police (a powerful vampire) to just give the party silvered weapons. He then rolled a persuasion check. My ruling was, that no she wasn't going to hand over these weapons to the player characters, rather his high roll meant that she was impressed by his moxie, and would not outright kill them. This ruling upset the player of the Bard, and he subsequently quit the campaign. My rationale was simple: there was no way she would do what he wanted. His rolling high meant that she was amused by his gall, rather than angered by him. But the player wanted to create a character that would steamroll social interactions in this horror campaign, so he felt personally insulted.
On the 'don't do pre-written dialog for NPCs', I fully agree because my current group has made it pretty much a recurring trend to just interupt villain monologues. So I come fully expected my villain to not finish their monologue and react accordingly to being interupted.
If I had a dnd session for every time the difference between talking and roleplaying was explained to me, I'd have a successful dnd game
My understanding is that they are comics, or comic books/strips, so calling them comics is ok.
Graphic Novel refers to a book made with art or comic panels to help tell the story. These are usually published as is without being broken up into issues that get released separately.
Trade Paperback usually refers to a collection of comic books that all relate to a larger story. These pages will have been released before as separate comic books, and now are collected in one paperback.
Hope that clears the terminology up for ya ;)
I collect a ‘quote library” for my characters . Things they would say, or might have in posters in their wall. I might never directly use them but they greatly inform the type of stuff they might say, and bits and chunks of them make their way into conversation. The same thing might happen with an important npc: it means at a glance I have an idea of the sorts of things an npc might think or say about most topics.
Most of my NPCs take up a single line on an index card. It forces me to concentrate on the key aspects of the character. I also leave the line below blank, to add anything that happens to the character during the game.
While I do believe that a character's build can be used to express who they are as much as things like conversation, I still refer to conversations as roleplaying.
I hope D&D players appreciate all the ways GMs seem to be combining authorship, improv acting & team admin! 😆 Impressive.
I've seen examples where ppl put DnD (colorfuly called by other things) in as skills on their resume. Because DM or player (if good) requires skills that are dang useful in the workplace. Group skills, communication skills, creative problem solving, and so forth.
I agree with the read along text.
I like getting “into” character for the NPC
It is still okay to say "comics," if slightly vague if context doesn't make it whether you're referring to a self-contained publication, a page of the newspaper, or a performer on stage (all of which can be valid inspiration for your game). Graphic novels are a more specific subset of comic books.
I haven't run a game in years, but your videos are really helping me with my *writing*.
Luke, that was a spot on impersonation of the Barbarian, you really nailed his voice and mannerisms!
Phew! For a moment I was worried you would claim that the "talky-talky" bit is NOT roleplaying at all.
Thank you. I’ve done a meeting zero and it helped tremendously. Now I have even more to work with.
If you want to do accents better, a trick ive used and seen work for others: Rather than doing a regional accent, try imitating a specific person who has that accent. For instance, dont do scottish accent, do a sean connery impression. This works even better if you choose a person roughly of your same vocal range/age, as you wont need to change pitch as much. Even if you dont master the accent, you will find yourself picking up some of the rhythms of their speech, and the accent will come in time
The talky talky does equal roleplaying. Words can have variable meanings, so yes roleplaying is the whole game, but it can also mean specifically the talky bits. This started from the talky bits being described as "engaging in roleplay", since it's when most players take the extra effort to think what their character would do or say, rather than what's the optimal move to take out this vampire goblin.
But more importantly, it's the linguistics that have stuck. If I refer to the talky bits as roleplay, then both veterans and newbies alike intuitively know what I'm talking about.
If i may, properly, "roleplaying" is playing a role; so when you are acting as a character and narrating his actions, you are playing his role. In a way, determining the course of his actions, by using the appropriate rules and dice rolls is a complementary extension of playing his role, but as far as we go from acting, going more near a simple conversations about strategy, statistics or the next snack we need in way to regain some real energy, the less we are in the role, even if we may be more in the play. :)
Why this relative disctinction ? ...because there are many more aspects in this kind of game, so there are nuances... and you may put the accent on your preference, as much as the game help you reach the intended purpose, and the moments while playing serve you good !
Does anyone have any ideas for where to start for someone who is working on overcoming social anxiety? Most of these are quite daunting, since the times I've tried to do most of these, by brain crosswires and I can't even finish the sentence without dropping the mannerism, the voice, or whatever I'm trying to add. I have a hard enough time just answering the player's questions/actions before even applying anything else. My players are chaos incarnate and come up with the most off-the-wall stuff, whereas I'm the squarest square to ever square. I can react to the random actions just fine, but it's the stupid, illogical questions/dialogue that really gets me. I'm particularly guilty of scripting dialogue, because if I don't, my players are going to miss valuable information because I blanked on what it was in the moment it was relevant to be delivered. Right now, at my current skill level, it's either scripted information or no information.
I agree that read along text isn't great, However, I have written out an evil villains monolog before as the villain has the party restrained and gagged explaining that their end is coming and everything they love will be taken from them ect. Those seem to work nicely written out.
What I like to do for the roleplay one is I give my characters a deficit if they have a negative skill score. For my current character he has a negative 2 to dex. So every action I take, in battle or out, I roll a random num generator and if it's within a 5 number difference between x and y, my character falls flat on his face, tripping over his feet
One way I make npc interaction interesting is by having make Mental notes of the entire party. What they are wearing Words that might say or even. Just the way they look. Do you make the conversations a little More organic For instincts one of the player characters walks in to a shop wearing clothing similar to the shop keeper the shop keeper see it and may be more interested in that player
Or fell a little relax
There is a diffrence between Comic Bokks and Graphic Novals. A comic book is a single paperback that is one story or a part of a story. Graphic Noval is a collection of Comic books put together to make a full story, some time a complete set.
I said this in another comment, but, in order to 'get into character' for major NPCs, I tend to write very short stories or journal entries in their voice around specific events in their lives - i.e. what awful thing happened to make them into a villain - not for the PCs, but for myself. It allows me to work out their motives, mannerisms, and attitudes in conversations without resorting to scripted dialogue that can go tits up very fast.
ALSO
The main difference between a comic and a graphic novel is that, where a comic is serialized, a graphic novel is a complete narrative unto itself.
Read-aloud text could be well used for one-sided "conversations" though - like a speech or the conversation opener of NPC approaching players and asking for help.. Especially for DMs who are socially awkward themselves and completely improvising conversation is very hard for them.
First time comment, I actually did that! I'm running a Game, where the BBGE's are based off the 4 Chaos Gods from Warhammer 40k...I ran a very similar game lol 20 years ago! But man it was Awesome!!!! :)
Hey, come closer...
Closer...
CLOOOOSER...
Bacon
#9 using your player's own words against them. I've done that a few times. It's kinda fun to see their words come back at them especially when they flippantly "blaspheme" and the avatar of the god shows up.
About "roleplaying", in French, we do not have this disctinction to make.
Simply because we have the same word for "game" and "play".
So a "roleplaying game" is only called "un jeu de rôle",.
It can translate by "a game of role", so for us this is not a combined name, we are not "roleplaying", we are mostly "playing a game of role", neither we say "je vais "jeuderôler""...
So whatever we do in the game, we simply "play".
The module's "reading text aloud" is still VERY useful to me, even when I don't read it word for word. And probably for a lot of other people too. I get utterly lost when I have no idea what an NPC would say, I can improvise a little but I'm not very good when it comes to dialogue. Having to imagine all of the NPC's motivations is very draining.
Yes that's why all of that information should be included in a module.
I must respectfully disagree.
Role-Play: Talky talky bits.
Role-Playing Game: Talky talky and opening doors and combat and social encounters ect.
But JUST the role-play is the talky talky bits.
Love your channel. You have TONS of great info.
I Need your help, we have a sorcerer, a monk and a melee tank (I don't know well wat class he's playing) what should I play for a bilanceted party?
I love pre-written dialogue for little introducion snippets to a scene where there are multiple NPCs conversing when the party walks in. Improvising introductions when NPCs have specific names, titles, and locations associated with them is...does not go well for me lol
My NPCs have entire lives in my mind. People say my NPCs will not always help the party right off because they have some small matter that the party might be able to help with. Like not being able to go with them to open a temple door because they can't find a baby sitter for the two day trip it takes.
I even had one NPC not like a player because he was recently cuck'd by a tiefling bard. He talked to the rest of the party but the bard was angry until he actually asked the NPC about wtf.
Thanks for this video Luke. Good pointers for me and a few other dms I know.
I'll write a couple bullet points about a NPC's character, including how they sound and any mannerisms, and then a brief summary of their history. It really helps.
I wish there was a #7 flipped to the players. My PCs area always so suspicious of, and combative towards, everyone they meet. The worst perpetrator, ironically (?), is the Way of Mercy monk in the party.
Some of these seem a little excessive for a home game, like acting out a whole conversation ahead of time. I mean, it's fine if that's what you're into and how you work, but I think it's a bit harsh to call it a mistake not to.
Troll Lord Games makes a very useful NPC book. It contains NPCs based on either job or in-game class to look up based on what you need. Each NPC has a short entry containing their name, looks, adventure hooks, personality, basic stats, and items carried. It's made NPCs, either planned or on the fly, much easier and it's fully of thousands of them.
Though I do believe that mannerisms and speech is more important than silly voices. That a GM can pull off great NPCs either speaking entirely in the 3rd person or changing their own mannerisms without fighting to maintain a silly accent.
Is it a specific book or part of the core rule books?
@@Darkwintre a specific book called the NPC Almanac.
I just started the next campaign with my players. My tip: few NPCs with a lot of work is better then many with few.
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, just following instructions.
Aaaahhh?
Not as enthusiastic as yours, but there...
liking the shelf backdrop. I think I recognize the Dark Elf books, and a few of the other novels look familiar... Memory, Sorrow and Thorn?
nope, the camera focused on them near the middle.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! there, screamed at you... lol
hey!! As an avid comic book reader, the term comic is absolutely fine. In fact, comics and graphic novels are two completely different things.
Both comics and graphic novels use the same artistic medium, the visual storytelling, the speech bubbles, etc. but comic books are shorter form, generally more episodic, and released on a schedule, usually monthly or bimonthly, or one shots.
Graphic novels are longer, and contain a more complete story, and are generally published all at once in a complete edition.
Nothing wrong with calling comics comics, and don't listen to your English teacher who tries to say "oh, don't call them comics, they're graphic novels," graphic novels are just something different
for the read along text i did that once only & it was for the closing monologue of the BBEG of a campaign, why ? because i knew for a fact that i would not be able to remember it for the life of me. Also on the angle of "voice work" in english i'm great at it but in my native language im more limited & a lot of my npcs start to sound the same with very little variation.
Take a shot every time he says “talky talky” 😅
I don't do the script for npc dialogues, but I kind of write down some bits. Even if I don't use them, it is a reminder of the way they might talk to pc, their character etc...And sometimes, they contain good ideas that I can use. Maybe not that specific moment, but...Is this a mistake too?
I don't think so. I participated in impromptu speech contests and most of the contestants wrote stuff down while preparing. Just get rid of the notes before you start the game or stick to a paper with just keywords. Practising conversation from your NPC view also helps to make it sound more natural.
Nope. Roleplaying is talking or acting like someone else - taking on a role. Everything in the game is not roleplaying, roleplaying is one aspect of the game. Rolling dice to make a persuasion check, instead of roleplaying it out, is called roll-playing. They are different, and the distinction has been around gaming for a long time.
I rarely practice before voicing an NPC, but I do give a bit of consideration to how they would act when prepping.
#10 is an absolute must. Not just limits, but what is automatic and doesn't require a roll.
I like the advice but I do have reservations when I have to interact socially using an arch devil. This guy is insanely smart and knows the laws of every place in the universe word for word. I can't simulate that not even a little. =)
You don't have to simulate it perfectly, but it is your universe, after all. You do know everything.
@@monkeymox2544 I never thought of it that way. Thanks =)
With role playing the number 1 rule is to make the safe word simple and distinctive.
After 40 yrs of running and playing paper based RPGs, I concur with all of these.
one of the DM's I run with gets all bent when I disrespect people in power in his world as if every character has to be a king bootlicker. Currently banned from one of his cities.
Thanks for these Luke!
Fighting enemies, talking with the shopkeepers
Talking with the enemies. Fighting shopkeepers
I was wondering if we were going to get the usual Rant 😂😂😂😂
I have comics that are 40 and 50 years old. They will always be comics to me.
Great Thumbnail 😂
13:45 Yes, you can call them comics. There is no real difference between comics and Graphic Novels. Except that Graphic Novels tend to be an entire story instead of being broken up in issues. The term graphic novels was created by comic artists and writers that wanted to be taken seriously but at the end of the day, it's all comics!
Just like it's All Roleplaying!
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Great video !
Number 7.) also a great way to deter murder hobos
You really really really should put time stamps on these videos
"accents" aren't the only way to change your voice even just a shift in the cadence makes a difference.
As a published comic artist, comics is fine, graphic novels is more for trades IMO.
Those games where every NPC hates the PCs, OMG are they miserable to play. There are DMs where players have to say the absolute right words the DM is thinking or else whatever the social interaction is will fail. Eventually the players will stop trying, and that's how you get murder hobos. Anyway, time to compliment Luke for a change instead of yelling at him. You're rocking that beard.
Thank you very helpful
For the love of all that is holy, please timestamp videos for the points. I sometimes miss the switch of a point to a different point and then I'm trying to seek around to find it...
I have to ask, since i have noticed it several times watching old videos. Do you intentionally say NACROmancer, instead of NECROmancer? Because if you do...your trolling is working, I am going crazy.
Non-hostile NPCs would be easier if my players weren't jerks to most of my npcs. They always demand a deal in shops, larger payouts for adventures and every bit of information without being nice or courteous to my npcs.
Brooklyn dwarves ftw!
I have a hard time doing a sultry female voice, and my dwarven blacksmith is Australian for some reason.
Well the dwarf come from down under, it does make sense :)
I love how much you hate the social contract between most of the TTRPG community that the talky talky part, or social encounters are called Role Playing.
I'm a boomer, call them comics. This "graphic novel" stuff is designed to jack the price sky high.
A really great video but there's some pretty crazy irony that your thumbnail about social interaction says role playing and your first tip is to stop calling it role playing. 😂
Yep, intended. It's because almost no one knows what it should actually be called. Calling it "roleplaying" even though it's erroneous communicates in terms that most people understand.
Ugh. I rolled a 1 on my initiative.
Just like there are multiple ways to pronounce tomato and potato, what you pronounce is social interaction, I pronounce as role-playing 😎
Fun, ribbing aside, this is a salad video with lots of useful advice
Pre-stop pre-reading this.
Multi-media.
Dwarves are miners who love singing. They should have Welsh accents, not Scots.
Ngl what your barbarian character reveals about your perception is disturbing
We have always insisted that players do not describe their actions like "Kolmar opens the door." or "my Character will do XYZ" or "Pilippe will say: 'FGHGHZZH' "
They shall use "I open the door!" "I strike the head of the orc, trying to decapitate him!"
Also, we have a Start and an End to our sessions anything in between is "in Character" but there is a hand sign for a "timeout" which can be used to talk about a rule or something like that. All those things of course are not set in stone but we adhere to them 99% of the time.
This has worked very well for most of our gaming and I can really recommend it. (Ok, automatic exceptions are when we are rofl-ing from the latest stunt, joke or ridiculous action, or some exceptionally tragic event etc.)
the roleplaying rant was not enjoyable.
from a linguistic point of view you are doing the soda vs pop debate. People use word to communicate, as long as the correct idea is transmited it is the correct use of the word.
clarifying is ok but ranting and trying to impose your point of view on the language is not very inclusive of you.
The number one mistake people make in roleplaying is playing D&D. There are a lot of other TTRPGs out there.
You're not entitled to say what roleplaying is or is not. I'm sorry.
You definitely can make an argument regarding what most people expect when they jump into the table for the first time.
Or you can make an argument regarding games like D&D or PF2e being very combat-focused... Sure.
But that does not make your argument any truer... Not in general, that is.
If you happen to hang out with people who love ROLE-PLAYING focusing on describing WHAT and HOW they do things, (rather than calling for an ability check right away)... like I do🙂, then that's a huge part of the game.
In fact, THAT part of the game is the ONLY shared part among ALL games.
The rules/mechanics behind the ROLE-PLAYING part, can change dramatically (or even disappear😉) from game to game.
EDIT: In case you feel inclined to use the bandwagon fallacy, or the appeal-to-authority fallacy... I have more than 30yrs of experience as both a player and DM , playing RQ2, Call of Cthulhu, DnD (2, 3, 5), StarWars, Vampire, Fate, Mythras, PF2e, and others.
Wrong. The proceeds to mention appeal to authority fallacy, and appeals about their own authority lol
Yeah....I thought at first that he was going to say ONLY relegating your roleplaying to the so called "talky-talky bits" was a mistake. And I would agree with that! I've seen too many people who act COMPLETELY differently in combat than their character does in social interactions. But no.....he had to claim that referring to the ROLEPLAYING part of ROLEPLAYING games is wrong....
@@PickleSurprise8 Im making a logical counter-argument based on facts. (and then preventing fanboys from trolling me)
Or is it false that, in fact, THAT part of the game is the ONLY shared part among ALL rpg games??
As long as pure narrative-driven games are considered rpg's (and they will always be) , then the ''talky-talky bit'' MUST be considered what makes any game a ROLE-PLAYING one.
(Plus... the laughs😂 )
@@takezomiyamoto1390 role-playing is the whole game not just talking. What are you arguing? Talking is the only part that is RP? Luke never said talking isn't RP
lol at you insinuating I'm a fan boy. I think Luke is a bit if jerk, and I'm not a fan of him. I am a fan of the quality content they provide through dmlair mag
Read, and watch again.