GREAT PC: How to encourage new players to role-play better!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2024
- An answer to a question from you: How to encourage new players to role-play better in your roleplaying sessions!
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Never apologize for promoting your own channel. This isn't a series of videos, it's an archive of creative inspiration. If you reference another video, it's pointing to parts of the channel like an index.
Excellent point and one that I didn't think of! I didn't want to sound too... promote-y but from this perspective it makes sense. Thank you!
Yeah, being new to the channel I could never know that he has such videos. Digging through a mass amount of videos just in the hope of finding one isn't really interesting. Therefore I am glad that he mentions such videos.
I remember my first D&D game like it was last fall. Mostly because it WAS last fall.
I also remember calling my friends by their characters' names outside of the game on an unusually frequent basis. Ah, good times. Good times.
30 years of role-playing d&d and I'm still learning. Thanks for some great reminders about helping new players to exercise their imagination.
30 years? wow
I think its really important to mention that to roleplay you dont need a silly accent or voice. I personally think its really jarring having a bunch of australians sitting around the table and suddenly you have french, english, russian, american, german (coz noone wants to have the same accent as others!) accents.
There's no reason why you cant talk normally, however address your fellow players as their character names instead of their player names.
You are right here in certain respects. An accent for an accent's sake is not needed. And there are many other ways to convey character - and perhaps there is a video in that? The definition of role-play is vague. Should one be a great actor to be called a Great Player? I don't think so. I ran a game last night and no one was doing accents (except for me who was the GM) and everyone had fun. Personalities and character came through in other ways. I guess I tend to use accents as a short-hand for different characters because for me it's really easy.
I think an accent for a player, or at least a prosodic difference for character (change in tone, cadence etc) helps to bring you out of yourself a bit, and helps to create a personality in your own head. My rogues tend to sound bogan (I sometimes start cockney and it slowly devolves) while my mages tend to lean toward more non-Australian accents and tone. As someone who studies this kind of thing academically as well as being a player, to me the marking of movement into another world through accent or whatnot seems to be a way for players to signal to themselves and others that 'this isn't me anymore' and lets them cognitively shift to another persona.
That and we sort of have pre-determined assumptions about accents that affect our characterisations; a wizard who sounds like he just came from the footy doesn't feel very... wizardy, unless for comedic effect, and maybe in a Discworld game (could be a very interesting character, actually).
My group has never used voices or accents in any of the games we've played. I think that sometimes "scares" new people away from trying it.
My character hates vegetarians because his father beat him with cucumbers has to be the greatest rping concept I've ever heard
I for one have been inspired
i have a character with trust issues towards people with purple hair cause their cousin with purple hair attacked them
Had a paladin I played who had an extreme fear and hatred of toast because his father had choked to death at the dinner table because of a piece of toast so his oath was that he vowed to vanquish all toast. Problem is, when he cut a piece of toast it become two pieces of toast (because he sliced it in half) and if he used divine smite on it, he only made the toast crispier and stiffer. It was by far one of my favorite concept. GM even made a BBEG that was a warlock chef who used his pact boon to infuse the spirit from the find familiar spell into a statue of an "Ancient Toast Dragon" to animate it. Amazing campaign 1 million/10
@@XX-cx7rt There is a "garlic bread" cleric domain homebrew floating around on the internet somewhere, and I fully believe the garlic bread god is your paladin's ultimate enemy
@@Ghilannugs omg that is perfect 🤣😂
Thank you for picking my question, you answered it very thoroughly and very well, I feel special hahah :)
As always, amazing video and advice. My second session with my group(I am the DM) is in 2 days, and I will definitely be rewatching this a few times for advice.
Thank you for encouraging me and people like me to get together and play, you make things much more simple and enjoyable :)
have a great day!
Glad it may help you and your team! Let us know how it goes!
Damn. Now I'm even more excited about my "How to act as a noble PC" video request!
:)
My trick was to start writing backstories in the first person, from my character's perspective. Since no one else is involved in it, I can really take the time to work out my character's own headspace. By giving myself that space to create something entirely in the mindset of the character I'm playing, it really zooms me in on his view of the world, and his fellow PCs.
Right now, I'm playing an Irish Paladin named Padraig MagTighernan, and writing up a first person background. So I played around for a while, listened to Irishmen speaking, along with taking a moment to consider his life, given the times. I got tired very early on as a player of the "Orphan Brigade" mentality that persists in so many parties. I have a GM who is absolutely fascinated right now, in my Starship Captain for a game called StarShatter, where I'm writing home to my father, setting up an arranged marriage to further my clan, and various other details that most don't bother with. You become very clear, very quickly, about the fact that my character sees something far beyond his own trevails, and it's giving the GM a TON of fodder for stories that he can play with.
In truth, it's actually made me shy away from the standard Treasure Hunt mentality of most groups. Yeah, loot's nice, I'm not a hippie, but in so very many groups I've played in, loot has become the main drive of the party, sometimes to the exclusion of the world we're playing in.
Then I see the players who have only a single goal for their character, like that they want to build a mecha for themselves, or there's one person that they need to kill, and so I started to ask my players a question, "Say you do it, say you get what you're after... then what?" It's a question I don't require an immediate answer to, but more one to think about.
I think your self appreciative plug is a good idea. I have already introduced my players and fellow DMs to your videos. I'm the most seasoned GM in our group but not the most seasoned player. and we have a lot of relative newbies. I have been applying things from your videos for the last two weeks to great effect. I really hope it sticks with my players as a few of them have issues with staying in character and metagaming. thank you for your videos and please make more!!!
this accounts for why he's very angry, and hates vegetarians.
I fucking lost my shit, I think we've all been there when our dad get's pissed and beats us with cucumbers, y'all feel me?
I feel ya! :)
Yeah, I choked on some soda listening to that one. That was great.
And it sounds like a great background for an orc. :P
My father preferred the rutabaga, but yes, I feel ya
There are worse things he could do with a cucumber than beat you...
I love the advice of give a signal when a player is not role playing.
I think I'm going to do something like an encouraging hand motion.
Thank you for posting this. It is very useful to me personally as someone who is completely new and interested in role playing fantasy stories/games. It is much appreciated. Subscribed. :)
Feed them.
Have your players share a meal you describe to them, have them order from a range of drinks.
People break bread to get closer, figure it should work in this context as well. (It works in my games)
like a meet and greet session with a potluck or some such. Then role play the tavern around the meal
Standing out as the Tiefling baker who enjoys chocolate cakes(baking)beer & meats too much hm...
I don't know why but I loved the barbarian conversation mode imitating the Hulk like dialogue without the strength talk but instead the misunderstood monster that a barbarian will be mistaken as like a tiefling who is very good.
PASS ME THE CHIPS!!!!
Thank you so much; very helpful!! Now I'm off to order my cattle prod at Amazon, and then I'll be ready to signal the new guy when he's breaking character! Thanks again!!
thank you for these videos. I am constantly referring to them and suggesting them to others.
Thank you for these. They're a new discovery for my RP guild, and the ones we've watched so far have provided useful insights!
As a new player on my first adventure, I think your videos are a great tool to help me improve in the game overall and makes playing it way more fun than I initially thought it would :>
Subbed~
This is something I've struggled with for a while, and I am currently trying to make my newest player enjoy the game more. This video might just have given me the solution. Thank you.
Ik this is an oldy but I love your videos. I think they are genius. One thing I would like to suggest is if you could organize the videos so the first one appears at the beginning of the Playlist. Ik it's a bit of work but it will make watching the playlist as a whole much more enjoyable. Rn i need to manually go down to select the next one. And watching them backwards is a bit confusing because you reference older videos in the latest ones.
This video helped me as a New GM with a group of friends who have never played before, I've been doing session zeros with all the players and helped them in the character creation process through explaining the different races, classes and the setting of my world. The hardest part for me was when I would suggest several general questions as to their background. Questions like were you from a noble/wealthy family, or a poor one.
Started into a new chapter with my mates who play DnD and these videos have given me so much to think about ! Excellent channel!
Thanks so much and glad you have found use in these videos. Please note we are moving all our new content on how to be a great role player and great game master to our other channel: th-cam.com/users/HowtobeaGreatGameMasterChannel
Your videos are really helpful, Bacon. I'm wanting to get into D&D, and your videos are very inspiring. Thanks!
Thanks so much. Let us know how your games go and also we are uploading our new Great PC videos to our other channel which you can find here: th-cam.com/users/HowtobeaGreatGameMasterChannel
I subbed to that channel :D I'm looking into being the GM for my future group. I'm a writer so I know I'm creative enough, I just lack the know-how, and your videos will surely help with that. Thanks a lot!
that was a really good funny video. im going to a game tonight and one of my friend is not really good so i was trying to find a way to help him. thanks you it was really good advice
I am and always have been an MMO RP kinda guy but I thought I would check out these videos to get an understanding of traditional roleplay culture.I find these series of videos very entertaining and informative not to mention the production value is also very nice, keep up the good work bro!
Awesome thank you very much! Which MMO's? I used to be on LotRO, SWtOR, and GW 2.
I used to play a lot of roleplay in Elder Scrolls Online but since my gaming rig broke down I can only play on my potato of a computer. So lately I been playing but not RPing in The Secret World and The Repopulation which is a SWG spiritual successor, just waiting for a few more bugs to be worked out before I try RPing in that game.
I seriously gave this video a like before I even got to the half way point just because of the joke! :D
My GM is actually very good for this, although not exactly subtle as you suggest. All of the players in our game are relatively new and if he finds anyone slipping out of character or referring to themselves in third person, he'll correct them, which is good. Also, if you roleplay your character well, he'll reward us with a reroll which we can use at our discretion
My first game was a blast! I had 3 first timers and a first time DM (me).
still rolling on the floor since I heard that joke!!! awesome video
Glad to make ya laugh!
Came from the "Playing the Adventurer" video... it seems the video advertised there is not the one I got. I was told this would be a video about swapping out characters mid-game (one that is very applicable to my current situation due to story reasons) and one where you wore some military-style uniform, but I got this one instead, and I can't for the life of me find the one that I was interested in... anybody know where I can find that one?
I only used to play Warhammer TT, am tempted to get the D&D players handbook
Nice background!
1 The GM's hammer hits the gavel and says softly, you're braking character. Come back to that.
Should one enforce it? Or guide it? Is it absolutely necessary? I guess it's up to the group?
With the ones who usually talks out of character in out group...It needs to be enforced, and yes it becomes absolutely necessary.
We prefer players to try stay in character as much as possible, but some players need a little practice and 'gentle' reminding. So it does depend on the group but making the characters and playing them is what makes roleplaying so if they don't stay in character most of the time, they are missing out on the experience.
I can recommend the ear tugging.
I did that to my players, they went straight back to the game.
For those that say they are uncomfortable with the idea of role playing, of course do not force them to do so, but let them know that they are in a safe environment, and no one will think any less of them, should they want to make the attempt, later on. Have the group tell that new player about the awkwardness of their own first attempts at role playing. Setting the new player's mind at ease, that it is okay, and expected, to stumble in his or her first efforts, might set that player at ease.
Speaking only in character. I might do that next session. I have a character with his dead sister inhabiting his brain (or so he thinks), and they both speak, she literally never shuts up. It will be amusing to stay like that for the whole session, even when talking about something else! I hope I don't break something in my head, though...
Nothing beats putting new players in with experienced (or good/natural) ones if you have that option. One newbie with 3 regulars who are all comfortable and in-character will naturally lead to the new guy mimicking the style of the others. If they have any sort of inclination towards roleplaying at all they will quickly find their stride.
It's much much harder to get the ball rolling if you have two or more new players. It slows the game down, they get distracted ect. Sometimes that's all you have to work with, but it's not ideal.
And the hardest job is starting with a full group + GM newbies, it's really a pain for those people who wants to discover roleplay but knows no one to be the leader/experienced guy.
Is it bad if my first few sessions I’m a bit passive? I just want to make sure I know what is (and isn’t ) acceptable.
i wonder, as a player, how might you go about encouraging the other players, and even the DM/GM to role play?
we're all playing//GMing for our first time see, and i think it could be due to that 'first time awkwardness' people seem to get with things.
this is especially true for myself in fact, i'd love to just ask straight up, if they'd like to role play more but i'm not a very confident person and i don't know any of them particularly well.
Unfortunately it usually takes just one person to break out and 'role-play' for the rest to follow. And it's a big step but someone has to do it. I'd suggest you take the leap! Put on an accent, or act out being hit. Unleash the 5 year old actor and have fun! If they see you having fun, they'll follow along.
sound like as good a plan as any, i'll give it a go.
thanks, and great video c:
LOL @ 1:04 I wasn't expecting that XD
"Yes, it seemed like the right thing to do. Let us kill!"
I'm getting mixed messages here.
To me, if they are having fun, I tend not to push that aspect. I do remind them "as your character, do x." We had our first session last night, we had a ball.
Very helpful! Here's a question. Say you have a player who's a really good friend and really wants to roleplay, but he has social anxiety and is very nervous about it. When he does roleplay it's like he's bursting with ideas but can't quite get them out, and I'm always nervous that I'm putting him on the spot if I ask him what his character is doing/thinking/etc. I know this is a bit more complicated because of the anxiety but I want him to have fun and I know he has a lot of ideas. Any suggestions?
It is difficult. My suggestion would be to play a couple one on one games - to build his confidence. Then add in a player at a time building up to a multiplayer game of four or so. But your fellow players that you want to bring in should be aware that this anxious player is the HERO and they shouldn't dominate or take the lead. It's a long long road and could take months to get done, but that's the way - in my opinion of building his or her confidence and then bringing in the hordes :)
+Bacon Battalion RPG ah, that's actually brilliant XD thanks
Luckily RP is a great way to help get past a bit of anxiety. After all, what would I have to be anxious about if I am Grognor, the barbarian king?
man, you seem like a really good friend, whoever this person is, they're lucky to have one like you.
I have some social anxiety, it's why I've never played dnd until recently (New player! my second ever game is tomorrow!) since going into someone elses home/inviting people into my home fills me with anxiety, i looked into online options.
I'm better at online interaction, but not through mics/video, so i wanted text only, found roll20, and found that i can do that! i still feel nervous, but it's easier to push aside.
maybe start your friend there, and build up to an in person setting?
i hope to be able to do an in person setting one day, but am trying not to over do it too early.
1:03 Well played.
I had to! Otherwise the Marketing Goblin screams and hisses :)
Roleplay being a good friend.
Sean Connery;
Klingon Warrior.
Let us journey together!
And please pass the snacks!
Any advice for GMing abnormally large groups of PC's? I'm often trying my best to give each player attention but I feel like I'm spinning plates and I find it difficult to maintain a mood or tone to each scene when I'm jumping back and forth.
Sometimes I think I have the worst gaming group on the planet lol. I often give my PC's special information to share with the group and instead of telling anyone ever, they just .....don't. Then when others say "we need to share our info more" they reply with stuff like "well you never asked"
So last night I ran the Curse of Strahd Ravenloft game for D&D with 7 players. I call that a large group. We ran from 15h00 till 23h30 which I consider a good length of game for a weekend. I was running it like a Convention module where you typically get 6 players anyway. I'll release a video on it for both GM and Player as I feel there is duel responsibility in those types of games. My players and I discussed the principle of GM's contract. Which I found interesting! So watch this space!
Bacon Battalion RPG AWESOME! :D
Well, yes! I did!
:)
So, help them build their backstories and don't indulge character breaks. Keep the action going. Be a good example. Got it. Group I play with is pretty great fun, but gah, they can be a bunch of buffoons sometimes. Sometimes it's fun, of course, but it gets out of hand sometimes, and hopefully if I can get them more involved in RP, it'd smooth things out better.
What if you're RPing through Discord? Are there any suggestions on audio ques to bring them back?
I just DM them. Send em a message like "You're slipping!" or something similar.
Tip #4,
Never tell them their Backstory...
I've never thought of it that way...
How do you fight in Role-play
Fighter - *attacks the Like button *rolls a Natural 20*
I have an awkward situation. so I have a group that loves to role play and one of the members insists on bringing his awkward gf that will just sit there and judge silently, sometimes with little bursts of laughter at inappropriate times. she says she wants to join but never puts in effort so the question is should I ask the player to not bring the gf or just let it go even though it makes it quite awkward.
besides that I love your vids :)
Hey man, tough place to be in. I made a video called: Are you a Dick a few weeks ago. Maybe show that video to your player? Ultimately though - as tough as it is - you just need to be honest with them and lay out there. Do not let it go though!! That will ruin your group if everyone else has the same issue with the GF. Let us know how it goes as we've all been there and that conversation is never easy. But if said with friendship and love, is the best thing you can do.
Thanks for the sub! Although the GF isn't the player, I was thinking more of showing it to your group of players - as a how to have more fun type lesson - in the hopes your PC realized the situation and on his own chose not to bring the GF. I do still wish you the best of luck though!
+Bacon Battalion RPG lol good idea. I'll share your video to my friend.
+Kryxx07 I agree, it gets really annoying and makes it uncomfortable. probably the worst part is they always get high, and honestly it kinda ruins it if that's all you're going to do.
Sadly one of the best players I have ever met was a weed addict. Ruined his games and I didn't invite him to play with my group often, which is a pity because he was amazing.
My party members employ Active Role Playing with their characters, I, in my first adventure, find Descriptive Role Playing to be more comfortable. They keep asking me if my character is speaking in third person, 😆, I had to explain I wasn't comfortable acting out my characters voice or mannerisms. Descriptive Role Playing is fun, but I don't want to take away from the experience of my party members. Any thoughts?
Well that's a personal question that I feel only you can really answer! ARP versus DRP - sounds like a great video topic perhaps. Except that it's really up to the individual. I only ever do ARP when role-playing. On the other hand my players are a mix. As long as everyone is having fun, then it's ok. Your group however seem very anxious to get you into your character rather then you describing your character. If they don't let up maybe you might want to look for a DRP group? Do you find it uncomfortable to talk in first person as your character for performance reasons? For personal reasons? For confidence reasons? So many factors can be at play. I know personally I do it because it free's my mind up from Real Life and I can escape planet Earth for a couple hours when I AM my character.
Bacon Battalion RPG Yeah, I'm just shy and not yet ready to perform in first person, not for personal reasons, I just haven't fleshed out my character fully to aid me in my performance. I plan on watching your 6 questions video to help round out the characters back story. I was just wondering ,as a GM, how you view players that engage in DRP. Do you view them as a positive contribution despite not fully immersing themselves, or do you gently coax them into more Active role playing?
I totally understand. I usually GM in first person and third person. So it's a mix. If you respond in first, then so will I. So I guess I adapt as needed. I do prefer ARP though.
There's nothing bad about DRP, I prefer it, although I swap between ARP and DRP, sometimes you NEED both, you can't get across certain ideas entirely with one or the other. I think if anyone were to disparage one method or the other, they're just biased towards their preference.
At the end of the day tabletop RPGs are about having fun with a group, and if you're uncomfortable with something, you aren't going to have fun.
Harutan Great insight, for sure. I appreciate the opinion.
And the gm threw it against the wall.... so I'm not the only one.
Like all of your videos, I found this one very insightful but it did bring up a question of tolerance. Whether as a player or a GM, we all have certain things we are hoping for at the gaming table and your comment of throwing the cell phone against the wall really struck a chord for me. As a society that has become more and more "connected" while simulatanously disconnecting from social activities that don't require a power source, I find cell phones, tablets and other such devices at the gaming table to be a nuisance especially when I'm trying to describe the disemboweled corpse found rotting beside the dumpster or some similar scene and a player begins laughing at the cute cat they have just seen on Facebook. (This seems familiar. Was it part of the ""Dick" video?) Anyway, my players know this bothers me and will often leave the phones alone but after they get that ring, chime, beep or sound byte that says, "Hey you have a new Facebook message!", the urge is sometimes too strong to ignore and they simply must check out whatever has just been posted. Most of the time, this ends with that player offering a prompt apology allowing us to get back to the game but after the third or fourth interruption, it begins to get old. Now on the other side of the screen as a player, I try to stay in character and focus on the story before me but have low tolerance for GM's that are ill prepared. I know how much preparation it takes to craft an adventure but when the party has been on the same mission for months and the GM keeps coming to the table with a basic outline and "winging it", that can get old. It is absolutely fantastic if the GM is quick enough to keep the story moving but when he has to pause to try and figure out his next move, flip through a stack of books or fumble thorugh loose paperwork repeatedly, that can get old too. My point to all of this is tolerance and I would like to know more about your tolerance levels. Anyone still reading this comment should feel free to respond. What bothers you at the gaming table? How do you deal with it? If you were to name your top 3, 5 or 10 pet peeves at the table, as a player and/or as a GM, what would the list look like? What would hold the #1 spot at the top of that list?
My tolerance is based on how good a player you are. If you are a great player and the phone doesn't intrude, that's great. If you an OK player, and the phone is there and getting in my way of working with the players, you don't get invited back. Now I totally agree with you on - it swings both ways - and I am a total monster when it comes to GM's who are too slow or fumbling with material. So I know I'm an ass as a player with a poor GM (Unless I'm coaching them on GM'ing! That's a different story). So it is critical that both GM and Player respect one another. Generally phones are no where near my table.
James Rocker My tolerance is high, as a first time player that has always wanted to play but was never able to find a group, I'm not going to quibble about their quirks that would otherwise annoy me. I'm just happy to play, maybe my perspective will change with enough time.
That being said, I *do* have one major pet peeve at the gaming table. That would be showing up very late or not showing up at all. When only 3 players show up for our 4 player adventure, it bums me out and makes the social aspect seem much more flat.
It was a long, long time ago when I considered myself to be a new player but I do remember having a willingness to accept pretty much anyone that was willing to roll some dice with me. It can be tough to find a group but they are out there. You may find one that is great for awhile and then move on when another opportunity presents itself but after starting and continuing to play, you will most certainly find what works or doesn't work for your personal gaming tastes. It is a wonderful feeling when you find a group that not only checks off all the right boxes but completely clicks having many of the same interests as you around the gaming table and outside of it as well.
How can an experienced player play as a new adventuring PC?
Say during a campaign he runs into something familiar to most players, a mimic, a Bag of Holding, a certain creature with particular vulnerability to a certain element etc. The player knows how to interact with this but to play in character as inexperienced do we just blatantly walk into a mimic's trap? The only scenario I saw happen before was the The Master allowed the character to do a History check and if he rolled high enough his character would remember reading or eavesdropping on some other adventures in his past that hinted at the event at hand.
It's a good question: The question is simply answered by - the character doesn't know. So walk in. Otherwise you run the risk of saying: Well I've played DnD for 20 years and know all the monsters by heart so I will only role-play a level 13 or higher character. Your GM should also be changing up the stats of all the monsters. I take delight in using the skin of an orc and giving it an ogre's stats. The look on the experienced players when they expect 12 damage to drop an orc and it laughs at them is priceless. I have to say though it is hard at times to ignore player knowledge. Hence as a GM I don't bother with monsters manuals or magic items from any book. I make them up custom for my games. It's just easier :)
Awesome suggestions thank you! Anything on puzzles vs. roleplay? Some puzzles are designed by the GM for the players but what if you're playing a brawn over brain character, should you really try to solve a mental puzzle? I suppose he would try a more physical approach and break that Rubik's cube.
It's a good question. I'll add it to our list!
Do you happen to have a video about stuff like that? Improvising stats and encounters to make things more interesting?
*PASS ME THE CHIPS, BROTHER!*
0:55 - I see what you did there
I'm bit confused by "breaking character" part. literally everyone I've ever seen roleplay do it constantly. Everyone asks gm stuff like "can I inspect this item by doing a history check" for example. Or "what do I see if I sit on a bench in middle of this town and look around me?". Isn't that absolutely breaking the character?
Barokai Rein It's more about interaction. For example, talking about what your character does in third person, and talking to the players, not their in game characters.
Talking to the DM is impossible to prevent; but you have to minimize it. Like "I sit on this bench and look around, what do I view?" puts the fo us on your action, and your question is the side point. At least, that's what I gathered.
No, that is not breaking character; that is asking questions about the game and is unavoidable.
Breaking character would be like while roleplaying a serious interaction, the player starts laughing or talks about something outside the game.
Eh? No? Oh, jokes aside.
It would be too mean to joke about that indeed being a joke.
Intro...plus 10 mins... Wot?
Guy, you're British. You start out sounding pretentious just from your accent; you don't need to dial it up to 11 by talking like a tweedy professor.