I have a habit of doubting my DM abilities and I expected to watch this video and feel like I don't do much of those and I should be better, but I actually came away realizing I might be a better DM than I give myself credit for, because I genuinely do all of these and my players are having fun
Bad people never question whether or not they're "good" and I think that applies to GMs as well. The ones that just assume they're the bees knees are usually terrible lol. "The problem is that idiots are full of confidence while smart people are full of doubt" xD
Let go of the need to be perfect. Ignore others when they ask you to be perfect. You are you. You are enough. Your players want to build an adventure with you.
You're a great DM, because you *are* the DM. As long as you're listening to your players and not making them genuinely uncomfortable, they'll come back time after time to enjoy your game.
I noticed the amount of interparty roleplay and banter go WAY way up when I changed "Is there anything you'd like to do?" whenever they had downtime or traversal time to "Is there anything you would like to do or discuss?" Suddenly a lot more roleplay was coming out either discussing what they were going to do, asking each other how they were doing after that last encounter, or even asking npc's questions (if they're traveling with npc's). I also make sure to address them by name whenever I can. "Ok, while they're off doing that, Elik, what are you doing?" And if the player is doing general descriptions as opposed to specific roleplaying. I make sure to respond with specific roleplaying even if they choose to continue the general. "I go shopping at the apothecary." "Afternoon, my good sir, what can I do for you." "I want to buy some health potions." "Certainly sir, no finer potions in all the land. What specifically can I interest you in?" Often as we are having that back and forth they slowly start being more specific in their conversations. But I never pressure them to be too specific if they don't feel like it. Cause, quite frankly, as a dm, I often have nights where I don't feel like being specific and I am a little more general too.
I just wanna say I saw this comment a few weeks back when I was prepping for a new campaign. It's actually low-key genius. I immediately stole it and use it every time, it feels great to put the 'Discuss' option on the table whenever I ask what they wanna do. My players are already very interested and engage in a lot of RP, but this just redoubled their efforts
Anytime a DM asks how to encourage their players to do X thing, I respond the same way. You encourage the thing you reward. If you reward players for good roleplay, not taking advantage of meta-knowledge, and truly embodying their characters, they WILL do it more. Also, I know this video is about players roleplaying with each other, but one thing that I've always found as a DM is creating compelling and likable NPCs will get players to engage with the world more often.
True, though the latter can sometimes backfire if you overdo it. Had a DM with so many wonderful and engaging NPCs but there was little bonding or roleplaying in-party. Everyone had different favorite NPCs they'd want to help or even try to hire/recruit, so when tense moments or party conflict came up the response became splitting the party rather than working out the differences. Party was split more often than it was together for the last year of the campaign. (Though I must admit, while most of the roleplaying was "f*ck you I'm goning to go hang out with Gary the Innkeep" I suppose it did encourage roleplay between party members either way)
I think that's the heart of the question though, the real question. I, personally, am just looking for ideas on how [good] GMs accomplish that. What do they reward for? How do they reward? What rewards are to be given for what?
I'm a very shy role player and 100% the thing that most got me to open up in my group was just the other players (and GM) getting excited about my rp choices with me. Ending a session and immediately having everyone excitedly discussing something *I* did is literally the best feeling I've gotten out of the game
I've been on the other end of that. Trust me, seeing a shy player's face light up when you support them (in-game and outside of the game) feels great too!
It's not easy, but something that's helped my players is having your NPCs talk to each other. If your players see you having a conversation with yourself in silly voices then it can help them break out of their comfort zone for more Active RP.
I found a way to have my players remember that they have inspiration on their own by using some child psychology i learned during my aprenticeship. basically people (especially children) remember stuff better if there is some kind of little ritual attached to it so i bought a small mimic chest and filled it with three kinds of differed coins, gold, silver and copper. (bought some fantasy coins that have different collors and shapes) and everytime i award ispiration i call out what kind of ispiration like "you get silver ispiration for that" and they then have to reach into this (tothy) chest and find and fish out the right coin. none of my players are actually children but this does in fact still work (at least at my table)
Do your different kinds of inspiration differ in effect, or are they still regular inspiration but you color code them to make the player focus on it when taking them from the mimic chest?
@@darmakx99 they differ in effect with a higher valeu coin giving them a higher benifit, like a gold coin gives them advantage when used, a silver coin lets them add a d12 to a roll and a copper coin lets them add a d10. but no player can hhold more than one coin at a time and if they get inspiration again they can upgrade the coin they already have to a better one.
@@cthrion_uroniziir that sounds really inspired (hehe), I might try using that system myself! Even down to pulling the specific type of coin from a mimic chest (mostly because I love mimics lol)
My group's DM created an atmosphere for roleplaying called "close quarters". While we are journeying across the sea to get to different places, two or more of us are randomly selected to be at a certain location at the ship, and we can choose what we want to talk about, or our DM can suggest a topic. The amount of times each of us has ended up in our hot tub with our Pastafarian Cleric is amusing and has created quite a few laughs XD
A recent session I DM'd was 3.5 hours of straight RP. All I did was describe places they decided to go to and asked for a few rolls, kept the music fitting to the mood and such. Best session I'ver DM'd
Something else that may help with understanding: Make sure your players know the *setting*, both the world at large and the scene at hand. Sure, player attention is vital, but a player that's checked out might not have a grasp on the scene or know enough about the world to have context for character expression/decisions. It's especially important to relate that in homebrew and unique settings.
Just to play devil's advocate for a moment: do you ask about the context beforehand or even during the scene? I can just see this being both ways: the DM should provide relevant information but the DM can't know everything that a player would find helpful to be able to play in character.
@@Sam-pi5bh oh for sure. Loads of questions. But each time I ask a question 'out of character' it becomes harder to role play. And my character can't very well ask 'wait, how many people are in the room?' partway through a conversation. So it's a frequent interruption of any attempt to RP.
@@UnproductiveSunbeam yeah, definitely. That's something I thought about after replying. I know I've done that myself and it takes a couple moments to get back into character. Additionally, I know for me it feels bad when I learn a seemingly minor or insignificant piece of information that would have drastically altered the way my character would have acted. Then I feel like I either missed a great opportunity to show off a character quirk , or worse, that I know it would have led to entirely different dialog/ actions.
Yeah, my friend and I have been world building and we're finally running some games in that setting, and parts of it are very different and I have to rein in my desire to infodump too much. Did a little exposition at the beginning and now I just describe things as they come across them. I'll note if it's a thing that's "normal" to them so they'll be like, "Ahhh, this entire culture designs their buildings for humanoids AND full sized dragons". Or sometimes I throw in a random factoid here and there for no real reason. Hopefully they'll slowly learn about the wider world we've come up with, while both players and us DMs learn about the local area we've started playing in (just making up this town and local surroundings as we go along, using our worldbuilding as a framework)
As a player, I tend to struggle with roleplay when the tone of the campaign gets too serious before our characters have had the time to become friends. I tend to play down-to-earth characters that are prone to lashing out if they feel some people in the group are putting the rest of them in danger, but I don't want the other players to think I have a problem with them. Therefore, I find it much easier for characters to get to know each other in a more relaxed context first, so that the characters care about each other before a stressful situation shows up and causes friction.
I second the "shutting up" point. My DM was in the habit of rushing to the next thing. After briefly speaking with them about it, they eased up, and the amount of inter-player roleplay that grew to fill the gaps was great!
It took me so long to get comfortable with 1st person RP , I just thought I was bad at DnD/ttrpg. My first DM assured me I can always go 3rd person and descriptive and it would still be cool/in character. It helped so much to jump start my comfort in the hobby. I always think of my DM being supportive and teaching me how to do fun 3rd person. Anyway, Nostalgia aside, great video today! 🧡🧡🧡 Especially the leaving moments of silence bit. 💯
I love that you mentioned the silliness inherent in D&D. acknowledging the absurdity was one of the things that helped me most as both player and dm when i first started out.
My internal rule that helps reward roleplay is that when it comes to speech checks if they can give a really good argument for how they persuade them I always either lower the DC of it or at least role with advantage. Because I think the thing I personally feel in speech checks is if my character doesn't have decent charisma I might not bother. But at the same time people don't need to have charisma to make a good or valid point. So when the reigns are in my hands as DM I try to alleviate that like "Damn that's a good point, roll with advantage."
I have two different groups I DM for. My one is very roleplay heavy and its hard to get them into the action while the other is very action oriented and rarely ever roleplay.
Here’s another slight edge tip I stole from Zipperon Disney: instead of asking “what does (name) do?” Ask “what is (name) doing?” It’s subtle, but it invites the player into a space of ‘right here, right now’ instead of just ‘hmm…. Let’s plan out what my character might be doing today…’
I suppose i'm fortunate that most of my players really love immersing themselves in their characters. it perhaps helps that i hand out extra XP for good Roleplay. also my more experienced players are always happy to support the less experienced who want to have a go at roleplaying. equally they dial down their own role play when there is a player who isn't comfortable with that element of the game.
My DM is wonderful with this, one of the things that helps the most for me is getting bread crumb trails like "Elektra,. You'd know *thing* from your time in the temple,"and it gives me an engagement point to share with the party
definitely! Ive been thinking that rather than having everyone roll for knowledge or whatever you focus on the character whose background means they should know about thing or notice a thing.
If a player shows up with a backstory, heck yeah! The DM can dump exposition, but it's often more exciting when you can hairpin it through a player like this. I like to tell the player more than the party needs to know, and then prompt "that's what you know about it. What do you actually tell the party?" This little bit of telephone game results in great PC to PC role play! Bonus points: include bits that would be dishonorable or embarrassing for the PC's order/village/priesthood and watch them dance around those bits in what they relay to the party 🤣
I love that tee! It gives me an idea for a barbarian noble who's a fashionista of some kind, and might pick a fight with the big bad in order to get that new purse or shoes it has. Heck, I'd even go reckless, in order to take disadvantage, and have everything even out in order to keep from hitting the accessory
It's all true, but depends on the situation. I think there is a distinction between the player and the character, and that means sometimes you should act in a way you don0t personally think is right, but you understand that's what your character would do. At the same time, sometimes all you can say is "I try to persuade", because your character can, and maybe you don't have any idea how to.
I don't think that's a good Idea to say that if the answer is correct. I think this is the phrase to metagame a bit if your player wants to do something that will obviously lead to bad consequences. Like punch a royal guard in the face or jump from a cliff. It's like "I warn you". If he's going to die that's on him. What I think is a good idea is "do you touch?" Or "Are you just opening that door standing right before it?" If they are in a town just entering a shop. If at first they will say "Nope, I slowly open it standing at the corner and try to see the insides before anything on the other side sees me" and all they will see is just a confused shopkeeper, they later will try to think in character if they would really be worried to open a door to a shop.
Our method of reward is just a little turn of table at the end of the session in which you tell one of your favorite moments of the session that you/your character didn't cause. Sometimes an action or phrase really stuck in everyone's mind, sometimes we all have a different moment we thought was cool or interesting, but it gets us thinking about our characters I absolutely LOVE your beginning question idea though, I shall become rogue and steal it from you, D&D lady
Oh man, this ad would make a GREAT set up to a one shot... King/Queen gives the party an easy task, and then uses their success as an excuse to abdicate the throne. The party soon learns WHY the nation's sovereign was so eager to abandon their post: They don't have time for fun anymore! Also, assassins, but mostly the fun thing
My problem isn't lack of encouragement; sometimes I have a really hard time finding my character's "voice". I'm getting better at this as I practice, but it can be really tough.
my dm started doing a thing in our campaign where he gives out dm inspiration at the end of a session to a person in game that he feels roleplayed well / made an pivotal or really clever character decision / had a defining character moment. its not necessarily a motivator to RP as our group is pretty good with it, but it feels really nice to be rewarded for playing your character or interacting with the world in an interesting way.
I love that the day my group plays dnd is also the same day Ginny releases videos. Always lets me have some new tips and tricks to take to the session.
Thank you, Ginny! It's great to know that you're listening to us! Good intel! It was also really helpful to me for you to say that "roleplaying and acting aren't the same thing"!
"Just like any effort to control other people's behavior, you cant!" You know this is true, because if Ginny knew a way these comments and her Twitter replies would look *a lot* different.
l Dm for my high school early college kids and thier friends... they are mostly theaters kids... we order food and watch critical role for every Thursday.... most of the kids are ok with longer play , if they get to stretch thier 'chops' a little bit . l usually give that space. l , however miss the opening , l like those and your singing ... thanks for those.
I love the idea to warm up the roleplaying muscles at the top of the session. I spend between fifteen minutes and an hour before each session putting myself in the mindset for the world and the game, but I've never thought to prompt my players in this way.
I enjoy the roleplay aspect of D&D. I happen to find the idea of prewriting ideals, bonds and flaws to be limiting just because I end up discovering them through roleplay. My first D&D character was so difficult for me to create because ideals bonds and flaws felt more like a limit than a help. I'm fairly new to the channel, so you probably already did a video on how to come up with good ones, though. This is totally just me, though. Other people may greatly benefit from coming up with all of those beforehand
As a DM, I personally enjoy witnessing both player roleplay and NPC-Player roleplay. For example, my two friends got their characters into a relationship. At one point, they were having problems in there relationship, & had a whole discussion about them in character, & I would say little inputs as the current NPC, Shelby. It was quite fun & made me happy that they were interacting with each other in character.
On my first ever game dming, I started out by role playing a very loud character and adding some weird things in the dialogue. It was a guard called Olivia, she kept complaining about life being boring and that she was tired of rescuing cows that kept ending up on roofs after parties for some reason. My players found her so strange and ridiculous that it made them relax instantly, making it easier to get into character. It was their first time ever role playing and they did great!
If you REALLY wanna get your players to try role play, suggest a one shot/quick campaign of Fate. The character creation requires you to write in a connection to a few of the other characters, as well as connections to the world. You dont have to see the story through to the end, but its got a system the gives bonuses to players for role playing, and they're handed out by the table agreement. So as long as everyone at the table agrees something should be reward for role play, or can even suggest role play moments themselves, the players may be more open to just goofing off and getting into character cuz its a mechanic to be taken advantage of. It helped some of my players, might be an option to consider!
In my current group, the other PCs are always having to babysit my fairy rogue. She's easily bored and curious about everything. It gets her in trouble. A lot. So, even though she's great at a lot, she gets sidelined often because she almost accidentally started a war on more than one occasion. Not to mention she sets off as many traps as she disarms, since she likes to play with the triggering mechanisms. More "Oooh, what does this do?" than "Is this a trap?". It's so much fun for all of us to roleplay this. One guy wishes his character was a gnome or artificer just to make toys to distract her with. I love this group.
I'm saying this not specifically for you, because I totally don't know the situation and group! But in general, for anyone reading: Be careful with characters that go off track, don't learn, always push the red button, etc. That kind of PC can get *extremely* aggravating for the other players. (Sometimes even in small doses, lol.) Making other PCs clean up your messes, have to pay attention to make sure you don't get into trouble, and so forth means that you're putting extra work on them. It may be fun for you to play, and they may laugh it off outwardly, but they may become very frustrated with you over time. Some tips for successfully playing a chaotic button-pusher or mistake-maker: 1) Perhaps make an agreement with another player ahead of time that your characters know each other, so they can have a "babysitter" dynamic already established. 2) Read the room in each situation, and try to determine the scope of the problems your character might cause -- if the stakes are too high, get creative to find a less harmful outlet for their energy in that moment. 3) Have your character show growth, learn from their mistakes, and try to be more accommodating; even if they fail sometimes (like my chronically curious black dragonborn rogue who just wants to PUSH EVERY BUTTON but knows she's gotten people hurt too many times), party members will see that they're trying, and that goes a long way!
@@annafantasia Totally agree with you. The only reason this is working for my group is because my character may be curious, but she's not an idiot. If she knows something will cause too much trouble, she tries to distract herself. A lot of the trouble came because I didn't realize there was going to be trouble.
One other subtle advantage - when you're not talking, you can listen to your players - the things they discuss and how they discuss them will tell you far more about what intersts them as players than nearly anything else, and you can also learn which players need something else by noting who isn't as involved int he discussion.
Getting ready for tomorrow's first real session for a 12 player group, and I'm happy to have found this video. Nail biting while I prepare for the session, despite having been a DM for over 30 years. Ginny, your content is great, and I can nearly always hear something I didn't think of, or just need a reminder on.
Mostly great advice (as always), but I STRONGLY disagree with the tactic of having an NPC respond to out-of-character statements. It's passive-aggressive and petty. Very negative experience whenever a DM does that.
Great video. My group is very fortunate - most of us have theater backgrounds, and several us have even performed together for years doing improvisational comedy. So are games are filled with fun roleplaying, character act-outs and various shenanigans. HOWEVER - this not always the case (we have multiple campaigns going) - while most of the stuff in this video we either already do, or don't need as much - you ABSOLUTELY nailed the problem in one of the games I am running - GM - SHUT UP!!! Excelling point on the power of silence. Ironically, some of it comes from my improv experience - where, if unintentional - dead air can hamper a performance (again, intentional silence is a dramatic tool...) thus I noticed that I was not letting enough silence for my players to fill. Thanks for the video - proved that you have great info for both novice, learning and experienced dm's alike.
Hey, thank you for this! I've been GMing a short while now with my homebrewn set of rules (not D&D) and it's been fun, but players roleplaying more is something I've wanted to see. These were all solid advice on how to achieve just that, and I think I'll be trying them out soon. This is a great channel, by the way. Even if we don't play D&D, I've gotten plenty of great tips and just general support for my first GMing campaign from your videos. So thank you for doing this. I really appreciate it, and the effort you put into making these videos!
My group and I need to be reeled in sometimes cause we’ll just be yakking away in character for 45 mins trying to plan our next move. It was hard at first but once you are comfortable with your table just remember everyone is there for the same thing and no one is going to think you are weird for participating in the game you are all playing.
I like using the traits as a help for character design. I either let my players pick from the tables or roll on them and they come to me later with backstory built on it. I find my players think it’s easier to build a backstory based on personality rather than the other way around and that helps them roleplay their characters more since the character is more defined by these traits then they might be otherwise
Hot take: rewarding roleplay is BAD. If a person at the table feels uncomfortable role-playing, you want to help them - not "punish" them by giving them less inspiration / whatever the reward is than the players who do roleplay. You can encourage role-play in a multitude of ways, but if your table is role-play heavy (or tries to be), the role-players are having more fun anyway, and as a DM you should find ways to include the other players and make the game fun for them too.
heya baby DM here, never having been on the players side, it took me a while to realise that my players may struggle to Roleplay, which a few of my current party do, especialy with 2 out of my 5 players having 0 experience out side of my games and 2 others only having 2-3 games under their belt. one of the simplest things i do to help when i spot someone struggling to keep up is asking "i noticed you are having some dificulty, how can i support you?" this allows me to poke around in what it is they are struggling with and offer up advice, for my curnnt party that mean holding mini no combat sessions out side of the plot as a "practice session" this can be 1 on 1 me and who ever's available or the whole party joining in. aiming to not just encourge them but understand what roleplay means for them can not only helps them grow confident faster but foster the bond between you and your players as well as create a safe enviroment and encourge them to ask for help should they need it this question is not limited to to roleplay, combat, magic, anything dont be afiraid to offer a helping hand, even to vet players just because they've been around the table for a while dosn't mean they don't need help.
Just yesterday I commented on one of your videos that I'm not a good role player because I don't do voices and don't act, and I play in third person talk, and now I'm watching this videos (awesome as always) and the first thing you say is "you don't have to act and do voices to be a good role player", thanks I needed to hear that.
I haven’t played D&D in a long time; my jam these days is lots of other great RPGs. But I’m subbed to this channel because your ideas and presentation, the thought you put into your content, is just fantastic, and almost all of it is applicable no matter what system you’re playing or running in.
"I persuade them" is what is called 'roll-playing'. Saying what your character would say roleplaying (even if you don't use a funny voice). This is a long established differentiation used by experienced players and DMs. Never require roleplaying, simply encourage it. Let the player play the way they are comfortable and find fun. Some players (even after 30 years of playing) won't roleplay.
Especially helpful when playing high charisma characters! It's still good to get more in detail, though, like "I buy them a drink, sit down with them alone, and use my knowledge of abc to try to steer the conversation towards xyz."
And again I love your video!! My party is doing an outstanding job at the roleplaying part. I didn't expect them to go all out like this! It's so fun to just see them have fun and whenever I introduce a new npc make them completely different from the last! And like you said, when you go all out yourself, its easier for the party to join that vibe! Thank you so much for the lovely video and amazing advice!!
My youngest dared me to insert Dr. Doofenshmirtz voice into the game, so 2 sessions later, when the group made their way to the Helios Observatory, Professor Dumm greeted them. Two of my players were laughing so hard, the others had to do the questioning, and I refused to break character for this. Try explaining how Dunamancy works in that voice. lol
Even when one of my groups isn't playing we kinda RP in discord with jokes and memes or plan for downtime activities. One of the best groups I've had in awhile
Really love these videos, also the new throne is a great addiction to the props! I have a great party of players who all love roleplaying their characters. So much, in fact, that sometimes is too much: it's amazing while playing in the main campaign, where the rhythm is loosely set on what and how they progress trough all the stuff they're in, but when we're playing three-hours oneshots and after half an hour they're still roleplaying the intro picking up shells from the beach and talking about bard music and past adventures and shared common interest... I love them, I really do, but sometimes I gotta tell them "folks, c'mon, stay on track". And it's not that they're not interested in the lore, they take notes and make crazy theories and are so passionate about their own characters and NPCs... It's just sometimes they get too into it. Insanely, maybe, but I'd also like some tips on how to make players roleplay a bit less in certain situations, lol. There are times when I have to almost shut them up so we can get half the things done (again, we're talking one-shots) and I feel really bad about it, because they're having fun...
4:01 Nailed it! Thank you for being clear about what roleplaying is and isn't - that stymies so many conversations around this topic. I also found that the best thing I could do to encourage my players to roleplay - was to get out of their way!
One thing I do for rewarding roleplay if I'm having them role a check if they said something to persuade or deceive depending on what they say I might have them role with advantage or lower the dc to make it more likely for that check.
I do a similar thing with charm spells where the save is with disadvantage if their explanation of how they charm is really fricken charming, and with vicious mockery I ask what the sick burn is and if it's a really good one it auto-crits
Wow. I'm so glad I rediscovered your channel! I found it quite a while back but really only saw some of the CR cosplay stuff, and kind of figured that was your whole thing. This other side, of insight, advice, opinion, etc. was something I never saw before and I absolutely love it. Not only do I agree with most of your ideas, but there have been a number of things you've created or suggested that I now look forward to using. Hell, I think you're my new favorite D&D resource channel. (No hate on the cosplay stuff, that's also amazing, and you're absolutely friggin' adorable XD ) Keep up the great work! :) On the topic of this video: have you heard of/tried the "stories by the campfire" system? I gave it a shot in my first campaign as a DM. It worked beautifully and my players loved it.
Pro tip for helping new players, or players who don't know how to roleplay to learn the skill: In order to avoid the pitfall of battle being entirely mechanics, and just having players call their target and roll dice, I do this... During their turn, if they DESCRIBE their attack, rather than just rolling dice, I give them a +1 +1 bonus. So instead of "I attack monster number 3 *rolls dice*" my player says "I feign a slash to the orc's right shoulder, then twist my blade downward and attempt to thrust it into their left thigh as their guard is raised. *rolls dice*". This gives them practice with describing their action, instead of just saying what the character tries to accomplish, and lets them ease into RP with their actions, which can make dialogue RP less daunting. And really, +1 to hit and +1 damage is a negligible bonus, but you'd be surprised how much players will do to get it. The rule is, at my table, if you describe your action with 10 words or more, you get the "RP Bonus" It makes battle more interesting and cinematic, and helps new RPers learn by practice ^_^
It is also important to roll with whatever the players are roleplaying amongst each other unless it disrupts the game or your setting. So if a player decides to invite the party to a cup of coffee - why not have coffee be a thing in your world... and make it be something rare and valuable so the one inviting all will have to spend a bit of gold for that. The players will have an additional thing for roleplaying and you could note "find coffee to earn money" as a possible sidequest for the future. Of course this should stop when players start to make up worldchanging stuff like a new god or country without talking to you before or when players force their ideas onto other players who don't really like to do that stuff.
DMs and players need to trust and embrace silence. Rushed talking merely to fill silence for fear of it can rob a moment of its weight or a player of a thought-out statement. And your shirt is so clever.
There are also some things that other players can do to encourage this. In a current game one of the things that really has sparked a lot of roleplay is that one of the characters is not only a tiefling in an otherwise somewhat darker more biggoted world but that she is BASICALLY a character made to play against type and challenge the overall dark atmosphere of the world but within its confines. She is a Celestial Warlock pacted to the celestial embodiment of love and companionship... Yes... I made a D&D magical girl. I even worked very specific /me statements into her spellcasting so that she says specific phrases in celestial when casting leveled spells that has sparked no end of hilarity and both player and character interactions. The game master saw all the roleplay going on and actually went out of their way to both make room for it as well as slowing down the level progression some so the characters themselves have the room to grow within the narrative that we are partly building for ourselves within the context of the world, setting and story being told.
I will note that as a DM, you can gauge how your players want to play, with two different types of sessions, especially if they’re new to the game. You can first opt into the hack n slash session, and for the next one give them a story filled mystery to solve. Based on their reactions to the session and how they interacted during it, you can get a good read on how they’d like to play
I have heard from non-players that watching a game (at a local game store) with character voices is what piqued their interest in the game. The characters became real and the story became accessible beyond watching dice and spells and stuff they didn't understand.
My current campaign at points after telling them something I will say, at this time, I encourage you to role play amongst yourselves. Or I may say, at this time I ask you to role play what you are saying and doing. I find that they do role play more when I encourage it. I also let me players know I reward in XP for good role play, and more for great role play. Those that role play can and do earn extra XP which can make them reach a level sooner, or get other rewards such as Hero Points which can be used to change a dice roll, or even save their life and stabilize.
I just make every character no matter who they are sound like Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2. "YOU OKAY BOAH!?" "Sir, you're a blacksmith, I just wanna buy a sword please."
thanks for the roleplay vs. acting part. Too many times I see those two confused, you can have great Roleplay without any first person narrative at all.
My quandary is that I feel as though I do a lot of this (over the past 20 sessions DMing for a group of many new players to TTRPGs), I am met with mostly silence. Story/character beats go by with no reaction from the characters. I met with every player individually about halfway through the campaign and asked them if they were having fun, they said yes, and they had very little feedback for me. I'm at a loss. I'm planning a "state of the game" meeting to open up honest lines of communication, hoping that works.
As a DM "You you say that out loud?" is a very fun thing to say. HOWEVER I make cards. The cards have OLIC on one side and OOC on the other. They hold this up: OLIC stands for Out Loud In Character, OOC stands for Out Of Character. That way everyone know what is going on. If a player is just being silly, holds up OOC and says "Let's kill all the guards!" there is no misunderstanding.
Yeah, I mean it's not illegal but playing a ROLE PLAYING GAME and saying "I don't want to roleplay" its the same thing than not playing the game, after all that's a ROLE PLAYING GAME, a GAME that you play by ROLEPLAYING.
I give advantage when players do something their characters are good at, because it suck a little if you are a smith but the roll keep fucking you over.
The problem I have with the goobers I play with is that if you don't hit them over the head with the game every five seconds they derail and start talking about movies or anime. That is, nothing in character. I've pretty much given up on trying to get the lot of them to roleplay, rather then roll-play.
“Nothing breaks immersion like a player named Josh”
I took that a little personally 😂
I went "oof"
Same
Quit breaking our immersion, Josh!
:p
Ahahahahah
I have two players named Josh so I felt this by association lmao
I have a habit of doubting my DM abilities and I expected to watch this video and feel like I don't do much of those and I should be better, but I actually came away realizing I might be a better DM than I give myself credit for, because I genuinely do all of these and my players are having fun
You are almost certainly a better DM then you think you are.
Bad people never question whether or not they're "good" and I think that applies to GMs as well. The ones that just assume they're the bees knees are usually terrible lol. "The problem is that idiots are full of confidence while smart people are full of doubt" xD
Let go of the need to be perfect. Ignore others when they ask you to be perfect.
You are you. You are enough. Your players want to build an adventure with you.
Fun is the main reason we play, whether a character or DM. If everyone is having fun, that is all you need.
You're a great DM, because you *are* the DM. As long as you're listening to your players and not making them genuinely uncomfortable, they'll come back time after time to enjoy your game.
I noticed the amount of interparty roleplay and banter go WAY way up when I changed "Is there anything you'd like to do?" whenever they had downtime or traversal time to "Is there anything you would like to do or discuss?"
Suddenly a lot more roleplay was coming out either discussing what they were going to do, asking each other how they were doing after that last encounter, or even asking npc's questions (if they're traveling with npc's).
I also make sure to address them by name whenever I can. "Ok, while they're off doing that, Elik, what are you doing?"
And if the player is doing general descriptions as opposed to specific roleplaying. I make sure to respond with specific roleplaying even if they choose to continue the general. "I go shopping at the apothecary." "Afternoon, my good sir, what can I do for you." "I want to buy some health potions." "Certainly sir, no finer potions in all the land. What specifically can I interest you in?" Often as we are having that back and forth they slowly start being more specific in their conversations. But I never pressure them to be too specific if they don't feel like it. Cause, quite frankly, as a dm, I often have nights where I don't feel like being specific and I am a little more general too.
I just wanna say I saw this comment a few weeks back when I was prepping for a new campaign. It's actually low-key genius. I immediately stole it and use it every time, it feels great to put the 'Discuss' option on the table whenever I ask what they wanna do. My players are already very interested and engage in a lot of RP, but this just redoubled their efforts
@@kainan613 Aww, that’s so sweet :)
I’m so glad that worked out for you :)
Anytime a DM asks how to encourage their players to do X thing, I respond the same way.
You encourage the thing you reward. If you reward players for good roleplay, not taking advantage of meta-knowledge, and truly embodying their characters, they WILL do it more. Also, I know this video is about players roleplaying with each other, but one thing that I've always found as a DM is creating compelling and likable NPCs will get players to engage with the world more often.
I definitely try to mix up 1st person and 3rd person RP when playing NPCs to signal to the players either way is valid.
Basically, more carrot, less stick.
Ngl I kinda love seeing you in this comment section so often. From one rat to another, have a nice day, Crispy
True, though the latter can sometimes backfire if you overdo it. Had a DM with so many wonderful and engaging NPCs but there was little bonding or roleplaying in-party. Everyone had different favorite NPCs they'd want to help or even try to hire/recruit, so when tense moments or party conflict came up the response became splitting the party rather than working out the differences. Party was split more often than it was together for the last year of the campaign.
(Though I must admit, while most of the roleplaying was "f*ck you I'm goning to go hang out with Gary the Innkeep" I suppose it did encourage roleplay between party members either way)
I think that's the heart of the question though, the real question. I, personally, am just looking for ideas on how [good] GMs accomplish that. What do they reward for? How do they reward? What rewards are to be given for what?
I'm a very shy role player and 100% the thing that most got me to open up in my group was just the other players (and GM) getting excited about my rp choices with me. Ending a session and immediately having everyone excitedly discussing something *I* did is literally the best feeling I've gotten out of the game
I've been on the other end of that. Trust me, seeing a shy player's face light up when you support them (in-game and outside of the game) feels great too!
It's not easy, but something that's helped my players is having your NPCs talk to each other. If your players see you having a conversation with yourself in silly voices then it can help them break out of their comfort zone for more Active RP.
True, this is why you always have a comic relief NPC that can make jokes to a more serious NPC and make everyone amused
"Do you say that out loud?" is *absolutely* going in the arsenal.
It's very simple too. Not like ", you're not there" which would potentially devolve into a shouting match.
I found a way to have my players remember that they have inspiration on their own by using some child psychology i learned during my aprenticeship. basically people (especially children) remember stuff better if there is some kind of little ritual attached to it so i bought a small mimic chest and filled it with three kinds of differed coins, gold, silver and copper. (bought some fantasy coins that have different collors and shapes) and everytime i award ispiration i call out what kind of ispiration like "you get silver ispiration for that" and they then have to reach into this (tothy) chest and find and fish out the right coin. none of my players are actually children but this does in fact still work (at least at my table)
That's a very interesting idea! Might look into this for my own group! :)
Do your different kinds of inspiration differ in effect, or are they still regular inspiration but you color code them to make the player focus on it when taking them from the mimic chest?
@@darmakx99 they differ in effect with a higher valeu coin giving them a higher benifit, like a gold coin gives them advantage when used, a silver coin lets them add a d12 to a roll and a copper coin lets them add a d10. but no player can hhold more than one coin at a time and if they get inspiration again they can upgrade the coin they already have to a better one.
@@cthrion_uroniziir that sounds really inspired (hehe), I might try using that system myself! Even down to pulling the specific type of coin from a mimic chest (mostly because I love mimics lol)
My group's DM created an atmosphere for roleplaying called "close quarters". While we are journeying across the sea to get to different places, two or more of us are randomly selected to be at a certain location at the ship, and we can choose what we want to talk about, or our DM can suggest a topic.
The amount of times each of us has ended up in our hot tub with our Pastafarian Cleric is amusing and has created quite a few laughs XD
I recall a session where I didn’t speak for nearly 45 minutes, just letting the in character planning happen. It was fantastic
A recent session I DM'd was 3.5 hours of straight RP. All I did was describe places they decided to go to and asked for a few rolls, kept the music fitting to the mood and such. Best session I'ver DM'd
Something else that may help with understanding: Make sure your players know the *setting*, both the world at large and the scene at hand. Sure, player attention is vital, but a player that's checked out might not have a grasp on the scene or know enough about the world to have context for character expression/decisions. It's especially important to relate that in homebrew and unique settings.
I really relate to this. I find it quite difficult to role play when I feel like I don't understand the scene
Just to play devil's advocate for a moment: do you ask about the context beforehand or even during the scene? I can just see this being both ways: the DM should provide relevant information but the DM can't know everything that a player would find helpful to be able to play in character.
@@Sam-pi5bh oh for sure. Loads of questions. But each time I ask a question 'out of character' it becomes harder to role play. And my character can't very well ask 'wait, how many people are in the room?' partway through a conversation. So it's a frequent interruption of any attempt to RP.
@@UnproductiveSunbeam yeah, definitely. That's something I thought about after replying. I know I've done that myself and it takes a couple moments to get back into character.
Additionally, I know for me it feels bad when I learn a seemingly minor or insignificant piece of information that would have drastically altered the way my character would have acted. Then I feel like I either missed a great opportunity to show off a character quirk , or worse, that I know it would have led to entirely different dialog/ actions.
Yeah, my friend and I have been world building and we're finally running some games in that setting, and parts of it are very different and I have to rein in my desire to infodump too much. Did a little exposition at the beginning and now I just describe things as they come across them. I'll note if it's a thing that's "normal" to them so they'll be like, "Ahhh, this entire culture designs their buildings for humanoids AND full sized dragons". Or sometimes I throw in a random factoid here and there for no real reason. Hopefully they'll slowly learn about the wider world we've come up with, while both players and us DMs learn about the local area we've started playing in (just making up this town and local surroundings as we go along, using our worldbuilding as a framework)
As a player, I tend to struggle with roleplay when the tone of the campaign gets too serious before our characters have had the time to become friends. I tend to play down-to-earth characters that are prone to lashing out if they feel some people in the group are putting the rest of them in danger, but I don't want the other players to think I have a problem with them. Therefore, I find it much easier for characters to get to know each other in a more relaxed context first, so that the characters care about each other before a stressful situation shows up and causes friction.
I second the "shutting up" point. My DM was in the habit of rushing to the next thing. After briefly speaking with them about it, they eased up, and the amount of inter-player roleplay that grew to fill the gaps was great!
It took me so long to get comfortable with 1st person RP , I just thought I was bad at DnD/ttrpg. My first DM assured me I can always go 3rd person and descriptive and it would still be cool/in character. It helped so much to jump start my comfort in the hobby. I always think of my DM being supportive and teaching me how to do fun 3rd person.
Anyway, Nostalgia aside, great video today! 🧡🧡🧡 Especially the leaving moments of silence bit. 💯
I love that you mentioned the silliness inherent in D&D. acknowledging the absurdity was one of the things that helped me most as both player and dm when i first started out.
My internal rule that helps reward roleplay is that when it comes to speech checks if they can give a really good argument for how they persuade them I always either lower the DC of it or at least role with advantage. Because I think the thing I personally feel in speech checks is if my character doesn't have decent charisma I might not bother. But at the same time people don't need to have charisma to make a good or valid point. So when the reigns are in my hands as DM I try to alleviate that like "Damn that's a good point, roll with advantage."
And not every point made by someone with really high charisma is good or valid. That's why popular people make some bad takes sometimes
I have two different groups I DM for. My one is very roleplay heavy and its hard to get them into the action while the other is very action oriented and rarely ever roleplay.
Ooh this is a good idea for a video too! What do to when your party gets stuck in roleplay and won't take action hehe
@@annafantasia this is not a problem… not at all, as long as they’re moving throughout the plot
Same!
I love the empathy and sensitivity you show to your players. So much respect. Thank you!
We need just a few more characters for the Ginnyverse and we'll be ready for the one-person LARP movie series.
(9:29) "My rogue starts dancing while singing 'Ooh Child' by The Fire Stairsteps." Demonstrate for the group.
"I'm distracting you, you big turd blossom!"
Haha yes. "Bonus points if you act it out." Best outcome would be everyone sings along
Got to love these tips, even for a long time DM they're good reminders. We can always hone our craft to further highs.
Here’s another slight edge tip I stole from Zipperon Disney: instead of asking “what does (name) do?” Ask “what is (name) doing?” It’s subtle, but it invites the player into a space of ‘right here, right now’ instead of just ‘hmm…. Let’s plan out what my character might be doing today…’
I suppose i'm fortunate that most of my players really love immersing themselves in their characters. it perhaps helps that i hand out extra XP for good Roleplay. also my more experienced players are always happy to support the less experienced who want to have a go at roleplaying. equally they dial down their own role play when there is a player who isn't comfortable with that element of the game.
My group plays with milestone level ups, but similar principle. I hand out inspiration like candy and they have a blast hamming it up
My DM is wonderful with this, one of the things that helps the most for me is getting bread crumb trails like "Elektra,. You'd know *thing* from your time in the temple,"and it gives me an engagement point to share with the party
definitely! Ive been thinking that rather than having everyone roll for knowledge or whatever you focus on the character whose background means they should know about thing or notice a thing.
If a player shows up with a backstory, heck yeah!
The DM can dump exposition, but it's often more exciting when you can hairpin it through a player like this.
I like to tell the player more than the party needs to know, and then prompt "that's what you know about it. What do you actually tell the party?"
This little bit of telephone game results in great PC to PC role play!
Bonus points: include bits that would be dishonorable or embarrassing for the PC's order/village/priesthood and watch them dance around those bits in what they relay to the party 🤣
I'm four minutes in and she's already said "fuck" twice.
This video is perfection in every way.
Voice of a mermaid, mouth of a sailor 😂
@@GinnyDi that's one of my favorite archetypes! 😂
I love that tee! It gives me an idea for a barbarian noble who's a fashionista of some kind, and might pick a fight with the big bad in order to get that new purse or shoes it has. Heck, I'd even go reckless, in order to take disadvantage, and have everything even out in order to keep from hitting the accessory
It's all true, but depends on the situation.
I think there is a distinction between the player and the character, and that means sometimes you should act in a way you don0t personally think is right, but you understand that's what your character would do.
At the same time, sometimes all you can say is "I try to persuade", because your character can, and maybe you don't have any idea how to.
I love it when my players just start engaging each other in character, and I can just sit back and watch the show until they need me. 😁
Choosing to play DnD with a couple of former theater kids/improv comedians was one of the best RPG decisions of my life.
My favorite way to scare players is to ask "Are you sure you want to do that?"
Especially when they have the correct answer to the puzzle.
I don't think that's a good Idea to say that if the answer is correct. I think this is the phrase to metagame a bit if your player wants to do something that will obviously lead to bad consequences. Like punch a royal guard in the face or jump from a cliff. It's like "I warn you". If he's going to die that's on him.
What I think is a good idea is "do you touch?" Or "Are you just opening that door standing right before it?" If they are in a town just entering a shop. If at first they will say "Nope, I slowly open it standing at the corner and try to see the insides before anything on the other side sees me" and all they will see is just a confused shopkeeper, they later will try to think in character if they would really be worried to open a door to a shop.
Our method of reward is just a little turn of table at the end of the session in which you tell one of your favorite moments of the session that you/your character didn't cause. Sometimes an action or phrase really stuck in everyone's mind, sometimes we all have a different moment we thought was cool or interesting, but it gets us thinking about our characters
I absolutely LOVE your beginning question idea though, I shall become rogue and steal it from you, D&D lady
As a DM I revert back to descriptive roleplaying when I am tired of doing a silly voice 😂
Oh man, this ad would make a GREAT set up to a one shot...
King/Queen gives the party an easy task, and then uses their success as an excuse to abdicate the throne. The party soon learns WHY the nation's sovereign was so eager to abandon their post: They don't have time for fun anymore! Also, assassins, but mostly the fun thing
My problem isn't lack of encouragement; sometimes I have a really hard time finding my character's "voice". I'm getting better at this as I practice, but it can be really tough.
my dm started doing a thing in our campaign where he gives out dm inspiration at the end of a session to a person in game that he feels roleplayed well / made an pivotal or really clever character decision / had a defining character moment. its not necessarily a motivator to RP as our group is pretty good with it, but it feels really nice to be rewarded for playing your character or interacting with the world in an interesting way.
I love that the day my group plays dnd is also the same day Ginny releases videos. Always lets me have some new tips and tricks to take to the session.
Thank you, Ginny! It's great to know that you're listening to us! Good intel! It was also really helpful to me for you to say that "roleplaying and acting aren't the same thing"!
Your shirt is incredible and I desperately need one to wear to my next session with my valley girl centaur barbarian character 😍😍
Running my first session this weekend! Thank you for all the resources I've been binging to quell my nerves!
Youv'e got this! Super excited for you!
"Just like any effort to control other people's behavior, you cant!"
You know this is true, because if Ginny knew a way these comments and her Twitter replies would look *a lot* different.
l Dm for my high school early college kids and thier friends... they are mostly theaters kids... we order food and watch critical role for every Thursday.... most of the kids are ok with longer play , if they get to stretch thier 'chops' a little bit . l usually give that space. l , however miss the opening , l like those and your singing ... thanks for those.
Ahh, dramatic un-cloaking adventuress! And I guess, Queen Noob the First now.
I love the idea to warm up the roleplaying muscles at the top of the session. I spend between fifteen minutes and an hour before each session putting myself in the mindset for the world and the game, but I've never thought to prompt my players in this way.
I enjoy the roleplay aspect of D&D.
I happen to find the idea of prewriting ideals, bonds and flaws to be limiting just because I end up discovering them through roleplay.
My first D&D character was so difficult for me to create because ideals bonds and flaws felt more like a limit than a help.
I'm fairly new to the channel, so you probably already did a video on how to come up with good ones, though.
This is totally just me, though. Other people may greatly benefit from coming up with all of those beforehand
Great video.. but I LOVE that T-Shirt holy shit
As a DM, I personally enjoy witnessing both player roleplay and NPC-Player roleplay. For example, my two friends got their characters into a relationship. At one point, they were having problems in there relationship, & had a whole discussion about them in character, & I would say little inputs as the current NPC, Shelby. It was quite fun & made me happy that they were interacting with each other in character.
I mostly use active roleplay but descriptive roleplay is really good to display the characters emotions, facial expression and body language.
Gotta remember these ideas, I need that time to learn how they see the game, to think about what is coming next, and enjoy my friends creativity!
On my first ever game dming, I started out by role playing a very loud character and adding some weird things in the dialogue. It was a guard called Olivia, she kept complaining about life being boring and that she was tired of rescuing cows that kept ending up on roofs after parties for some reason. My players found her so strange and ridiculous that it made them relax instantly, making it easier to get into character. It was their first time ever role playing and they did great!
This is the best!
@@annafantasia Thanks!
If you REALLY wanna get your players to try role play, suggest a one shot/quick campaign of Fate. The character creation requires you to write in a connection to a few of the other characters, as well as connections to the world. You dont have to see the story through to the end, but its got a system the gives bonuses to players for role playing, and they're handed out by the table agreement. So as long as everyone at the table agrees something should be reward for role play, or can even suggest role play moments themselves, the players may be more open to just goofing off and getting into character cuz its a mechanic to be taken advantage of. It helped some of my players, might be an option to consider!
In my current group, the other PCs are always having to babysit my fairy rogue. She's easily bored and curious about everything. It gets her in trouble. A lot. So, even though she's great at a lot, she gets sidelined often because she almost accidentally started a war on more than one occasion. Not to mention she sets off as many traps as she disarms, since she likes to play with the triggering mechanisms. More "Oooh, what does this do?" than "Is this a trap?". It's so much fun for all of us to roleplay this. One guy wishes his character was a gnome or artificer just to make toys to distract her with. I love this group.
I'm saying this not specifically for you, because I totally don't know the situation and group! But in general, for anyone reading: Be careful with characters that go off track, don't learn, always push the red button, etc. That kind of PC can get *extremely* aggravating for the other players. (Sometimes even in small doses, lol.) Making other PCs clean up your messes, have to pay attention to make sure you don't get into trouble, and so forth means that you're putting extra work on them. It may be fun for you to play, and they may laugh it off outwardly, but they may become very frustrated with you over time.
Some tips for successfully playing a chaotic button-pusher or mistake-maker:
1) Perhaps make an agreement with another player ahead of time that your characters know each other, so they can have a "babysitter" dynamic already established.
2) Read the room in each situation, and try to determine the scope of the problems your character might cause -- if the stakes are too high, get creative to find a less harmful outlet for their energy in that moment.
3) Have your character show growth, learn from their mistakes, and try to be more accommodating; even if they fail sometimes (like my chronically curious black dragonborn rogue who just wants to PUSH EVERY BUTTON but knows she's gotten people hurt too many times), party members will see that they're trying, and that goes a long way!
@@annafantasia Totally agree with you. The only reason this is working for my group is because my character may be curious, but she's not an idiot. If she knows something will cause too much trouble, she tries to distract herself. A lot of the trouble came because I didn't realize there was going to be trouble.
@@suddenenigma Aww, that's good of her! She sounds like me with my ADHD haha
One other subtle advantage - when you're not talking, you can listen to your players - the things they discuss and how they discuss them will tell you far more about what intersts them as players than nearly anything else, and you can also learn which players need something else by noting who isn't as involved int he discussion.
Rather than saying, "What do you do?" Or "What does Garthax the Toothless do?", I prefer to combine with, "Garthax the Toothless, what do you do?"
Also this is why Blades in the Dark is an amazing system. You get XP through roleplay. Roleplay is your primary resource.
Getting ready for tomorrow's first real session for a 12 player group, and I'm happy to have found this video. Nail biting while I prepare for the session, despite having been a DM for over 30 years. Ginny, your content is great, and I can nearly always hear something I didn't think of, or just need a reminder on.
Mostly great advice (as always), but I STRONGLY disagree with the tactic of having an NPC respond to out-of-character statements. It's passive-aggressive and petty. Very negative experience whenever a DM does that.
Great video.
My group is very fortunate - most of us have theater backgrounds, and several us have even performed together for years doing improvisational comedy.
So are games are filled with fun roleplaying, character act-outs and various shenanigans.
HOWEVER - this not always the case (we have multiple campaigns going) - while most of the stuff in this video we either already do, or don't need as much - you ABSOLUTELY nailed the problem in one of the games I am running - GM - SHUT UP!!!
Excelling point on the power of silence. Ironically, some of it comes from my improv experience - where, if unintentional - dead air can hamper a performance (again, intentional silence is a dramatic tool...) thus I noticed that I was not letting enough silence for my players to fill.
Thanks for the video - proved that you have great info for both novice, learning and experienced dm's alike.
Hey, thank you for this!
I've been GMing a short while now with my homebrewn set of rules (not D&D) and it's been fun, but players roleplaying more is something I've wanted to see. These were all solid advice on how to achieve just that, and I think I'll be trying them out soon.
This is a great channel, by the way. Even if we don't play D&D, I've gotten plenty of great tips and just general support for my first GMing campaign from your videos. So thank you for doing this. I really appreciate it, and the effort you put into making these videos!
I really hope these work, my party make it really difficult to get their investment.
Any other ideas people?
My group and I need to be reeled in sometimes cause we’ll just be yakking away in character for 45 mins trying to plan our next move. It was hard at first but once you are comfortable with your table just remember everyone is there for the same thing and no one is going to think you are weird for participating in the game you are all playing.
I like using the traits as a help for character design. I either let my players pick from the tables or roll on them and they come to me later with backstory built on it. I find my players think it’s easier to build a backstory based on personality rather than the other way around and that helps them roleplay their characters more since the character is more defined by these traits then they might be otherwise
Hot take: rewarding roleplay is BAD.
If a person at the table feels uncomfortable role-playing, you want to help them - not "punish" them by giving them less inspiration / whatever the reward is than the players who do roleplay.
You can encourage role-play in a multitude of ways, but if your table is role-play heavy (or tries to be), the role-players are having more fun anyway, and as a DM you should find ways to include the other players and make the game fun for them too.
heya baby DM here, never having been on the players side, it took me a while to realise that my players may struggle to Roleplay, which a few of my current party do, especialy with 2 out of my 5 players having 0 experience out side of my games and 2 others only having 2-3 games under their belt.
one of the simplest things i do to help when i spot someone struggling to keep up is asking "i noticed you are having some dificulty, how can i support you?" this allows me to poke around in what it is they are struggling with and offer up advice, for my curnnt party that mean holding mini no combat sessions out side of the plot as a "practice session" this can be 1 on 1 me and who ever's available or the whole party joining in. aiming to not just encourge them but understand what roleplay means for them can not only helps them grow confident faster but foster the bond between you and your players as well as create a safe enviroment and encourge them to ask for help should they need it
this question is not limited to to roleplay, combat, magic, anything dont be afiraid to offer a helping hand, even to vet players just because they've been around the table for a while dosn't mean they don't need help.
Just yesterday I commented on one of your videos that I'm not a good role player because I don't do voices and don't act, and I play in third person talk, and now I'm watching this videos (awesome as always) and the first thing you say is "you don't have to act and do voices to be a good role player", thanks I needed to hear that.
Yaaay my favorite cool haired girl on youtube
That look from Book when reading the flaw ... I'm dying over here.
I haven’t played D&D in a long time; my jam these days is lots of other great RPGs. But I’m subbed to this channel because your ideas and presentation, the thought you put into your content, is just fantastic, and almost all of it is applicable no matter what system you’re playing or running in.
these videos are so helpful!! always excited when I see you upload :D
"I persuade them" is what is called 'roll-playing'. Saying what your character would say roleplaying (even if you don't use a funny voice). This is a long established differentiation used by experienced players and DMs. Never require roleplaying, simply encourage it. Let the player play the way they are comfortable and find fun. Some players (even after 30 years of playing) won't roleplay.
Especially helpful when playing high charisma characters! It's still good to get more in detail, though, like "I buy them a drink, sit down with them alone, and use my knowledge of abc to try to steer the conversation towards xyz."
And again I love your video!! My party is doing an outstanding job at the roleplaying part. I didn't expect them to go all out like this! It's so fun to just see them have fun and whenever I introduce a new npc make them completely different from the last! And like you said, when you go all out yourself, its easier for the party to join that vibe! Thank you so much for the lovely video and amazing advice!!
I love the deserved sass in this episode (thanks, twitter), and of course all of the great points for GM’s!
My youngest dared me to insert Dr. Doofenshmirtz voice into the game, so 2 sessions later, when the group made their way to the Helios Observatory, Professor Dumm greeted them. Two of my players were laughing so hard, the others had to do the questioning, and I refused to break character for this. Try explaining how Dunamancy works in that voice. lol
Lmao, you had any thoughts on including Perry the Platypus in there somehow?
1:03 nothing important to add but that description of Caleb is sending me
Ironically, this really needs to be said.
Even when one of my groups isn't playing we kinda RP in discord with jokes and memes or plan for downtime activities. One of the best groups I've had in awhile
I love the reference to Edith, Ellie, and Na’Krasha!
"They don't need to be liam o'brien using a subtle German accent while looking constantly on the verge of tears" absolutely DESTROYED me. 😂😂
Really love these videos, also the new throne is a great addiction to the props!
I have a great party of players who all love roleplaying their characters. So much, in fact, that sometimes is too much: it's amazing while playing in the main campaign, where the rhythm is loosely set on what and how they progress trough all the stuff they're in, but when we're playing three-hours oneshots and after half an hour they're still roleplaying the intro picking up shells from the beach and talking about bard music and past adventures and shared common interest... I love them, I really do, but sometimes I gotta tell them "folks, c'mon, stay on track". And it's not that they're not interested in the lore, they take notes and make crazy theories and are so passionate about their own characters and NPCs... It's just sometimes they get too into it.
Insanely, maybe, but I'd also like some tips on how to make players roleplay a bit less in certain situations, lol. There are times when I have to almost shut them up so we can get half the things done (again, we're talking one-shots) and I feel really bad about it, because they're having fun...
Yes!! This would make another great video!!
4:01 Nailed it! Thank you for being clear about what roleplaying is and isn't - that stymies so many conversations around this topic. I also found that the best thing I could do to encourage my players to roleplay - was to get out of their way!
One thing I do for rewarding roleplay if I'm having them role a check if they said something to persuade or deceive depending on what they say I might have them role with advantage or lower the dc to make it more likely for that check.
I do a similar thing with charm spells where the save is with disadvantage if their explanation of how they charm is really fricken charming, and with vicious mockery I ask what the sick burn is and if it's a really good one it auto-crits
love these kinds of videos :)
After Ginny Di’s recent song compilation video, it’d be so fitting to make a similar shirt to this, except ‘BARDbie’! - Great tips! (:
Wow. I'm so glad I rediscovered your channel! I found it quite a while back but really only saw some of the CR cosplay stuff, and kind of figured that was your whole thing. This other side, of insight, advice, opinion, etc. was something I never saw before and I absolutely love it. Not only do I agree with most of your ideas, but there have been a number of things you've created or suggested that I now look forward to using. Hell, I think you're my new favorite D&D resource channel. (No hate on the cosplay stuff, that's also amazing, and you're absolutely friggin' adorable XD )
Keep up the great work! :)
On the topic of this video: have you heard of/tried the "stories by the campfire" system? I gave it a shot in my first campaign as a DM. It worked beautifully and my players loved it.
Pro tip for helping new players, or players who don't know how to roleplay to learn the skill: In order to avoid the pitfall of battle being entirely mechanics, and just having players call their target and roll dice, I do this... During their turn, if they DESCRIBE their attack, rather than just rolling dice, I give them a +1 +1 bonus.
So instead of "I attack monster number 3 *rolls dice*" my player says "I feign a slash to the orc's right shoulder, then twist my blade downward and attempt to thrust it into their left thigh as their guard is raised. *rolls dice*".
This gives them practice with describing their action, instead of just saying what the character tries to accomplish, and lets them ease into RP with their actions, which can make dialogue RP less daunting. And really, +1 to hit and +1 damage is a negligible bonus, but you'd be surprised how much players will do to get it.
The rule is, at my table, if you describe your action with 10 words or more, you get the "RP Bonus"
It makes battle more interesting and cinematic, and helps new RPers learn by practice ^_^
It is also important to roll with whatever the players are roleplaying amongst each other unless it disrupts the game or your setting. So if a player decides to invite the party to a cup of coffee - why not have coffee be a thing in your world... and make it be something rare and valuable so the one inviting all will have to spend a bit of gold for that. The players will have an additional thing for roleplaying and you could note "find coffee to earn money" as a possible sidequest for the future. Of course this should stop when players start to make up worldchanging stuff like a new god or country without talking to you before or when players force their ideas onto other players who don't really like to do that stuff.
Instructions unclear: voiced the queen like a regal slimy weasel.
I think the party is going to love Queen used-car-salesman.
DMs and players need to trust and embrace silence. Rushed talking merely to fill silence for fear of it can rob a moment of its weight or a player of a thought-out statement.
And your shirt is so clever.
There are also some things that other players can do to encourage this. In a current game one of the things that really has sparked a lot of roleplay is that one of the characters is not only a tiefling in an otherwise somewhat darker more biggoted world but that she is BASICALLY a character made to play against type and challenge the overall dark atmosphere of the world but within its confines. She is a Celestial Warlock pacted to the celestial embodiment of love and companionship... Yes... I made a D&D magical girl. I even worked very specific /me statements into her spellcasting so that she says specific phrases in celestial when casting leveled spells that has sparked no end of hilarity and both player and character interactions. The game master saw all the roleplay going on and actually went out of their way to both make room for it as well as slowing down the level progression some so the characters themselves have the room to grow within the narrative that we are partly building for ourselves within the context of the world, setting and story being told.
I will note that as a DM, you can gauge how your players want to play, with two different types of sessions, especially if they’re new to the game. You can first opt into the hack n slash session, and for the next one give them a story filled mystery to solve. Based on their reactions to the session and how they interacted during it, you can get a good read on how they’d like to play
So that was the whole point of buying that throne...MMMMmMMMMMmMM FUNNY JOKE!!!!
I have heard from non-players that watching a game (at a local game store) with character voices is what piqued their interest in the game. The characters became real and the story became accessible beyond watching dice and spells and stuff they didn't understand.
Tell your players when you do well, and award DM inspiration! Or possibly even some sort of boon related to whomever they're interacting with.
My current campaign at points after telling them something I will say, at this time, I encourage you to role play amongst yourselves. Or I may say, at this time I ask you to role play what you are saying and doing. I find that they do role play more when I encourage it. I also let me players know I reward in XP for good role play, and more for great role play. Those that role play can and do earn extra XP which can make them reach a level sooner, or get other rewards such as Hero Points which can be used to change a dice roll, or even save their life and stabilize.
I just make every character no matter who they are sound like Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2.
"YOU OKAY BOAH!?"
"Sir, you're a blacksmith, I just wanna buy a sword please."
thanks for the roleplay vs. acting part. Too many times I see those two confused, you can have great Roleplay without any first person narrative at all.
My quandary is that I feel as though I do a lot of this (over the past 20 sessions DMing for a group of many new players to TTRPGs), I am met with mostly silence. Story/character beats go by with no reaction from the characters. I met with every player individually about halfway through the campaign and asked them if they were having fun, they said yes, and they had very little feedback for me. I'm at a loss. I'm planning a "state of the game" meeting to open up honest lines of communication, hoping that works.
As a DM "You you say that out loud?" is a very fun thing to say. HOWEVER I make cards. The cards have OLIC on one side and OOC on the other. They hold this up: OLIC stands for Out Loud In Character, OOC stands for Out Of Character. That way everyone know what is going on. If a player is just being silly, holds up OOC and says "Let's kill all the guards!" there is no misunderstanding.
Yeah, I mean it's not illegal but playing a ROLE PLAYING GAME and saying "I don't want to roleplay" its the same thing than not playing the game, after all that's a ROLE PLAYING GAME, a GAME that you play by ROLEPLAYING.
I give advantage when players do something their characters are good at, because it suck a little if you are a smith but the roll keep fucking you over.
The problem I have with the goobers I play with is that if you don't hit them over the head with the game every five seconds they derail and start talking about movies or anime. That is, nothing in character. I've pretty much given up on trying to get the lot of them to roleplay, rather then roll-play.