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The irony. When he said "thats gunna make people unsubscribe" reminded me to check to see if I was subscribed and then I subscribed. Ive been bamboozled
my biggest roleplay session was completely improv lol. I had set up an adult green dragon as an enemy in a region that the group was exploring, in a new-found continent overrun by many dangerous enemies. After i set a scene for my players i usually walk away from the table for 5 minutes to allow them to come up with a plan, i don't want to have knowledge of their plan just as much as they dont want knowledge of my story ahead of time. It keeps us all on our toes. They went into the encounter with the dragon and instead of slaying it, through the clever use of some calm emotions and charming spells plus clever wordplay persuasion from the bard and paladin, to make sure the dragon didnt get too upset when the charms wore off, they were actually able to befriend the adult dragon and learn about an entire chromatic dragon kingdom I hadn't even been prepared to reveal to them yet. Intention was for htem to gradually find the information out over the course of 5-6 sessions, instead i had the dragon do a complete data dump (some lies or slightly misleading, because green dragon) for an hour+ as they asked him questions about the continent they were exploring and they gained an ally.... 6 months later the entire dragon kingdom who i had always intended on being enemies of the players are now actually the players biggest allies as they go about the kingdom doing quests for the various dragons. This is why i love homebrew, i never know what the players are going to do and i can just change my story if i have to if they pull ona thread i didnt expect them to. They were able to broker a semi peace between the chromatics and their exploring force and stop the conflict early on. This has been very beneficial for the party lol.
You know, my second group I’ve ever hosted for was complete improv. I was mostly pulling details from the back of my head. We had no books, only prepped sheets with minimal details. I planned maybe 3 players tops. I had 7. I nearly ran out of character sheets, meaning I dictated the enemies of the players. I had NOTHING, so I changed setting to this massive Roman-like empire and a massive zombie horde with bears littered in the ranks. They tamed the bears while the bars held up. The bears killed the zombies. “Ah fuck. The kingdom survived. The necromancer was attacking the inside to kill it from the head.” Had a 6th player. *Takes blank character sheet, creates new class in 15 minutes* fook mi life. *players found a religion, and I want it to boost them as they’re already quite rich* OH GOD NO *and that’s how my improv-campaign turned into a one-shot introduction to D&D. My Boy Scout troop is now planning on adding a D&D group to gather around and do dumb things. Will DEFINITELY have to teach some younger scouts how to DM, since I’ll be gone from the troop in two years*
I recently had a beloved NPC literally be drug into the underworld by shades in front of them when she attempted to commit suicide upon finding her parents corpses. The tension and loss was palpable. This moment was crucial for several of my pc's development and is referenced often still.
Well, when you offer yourself up to the God of the Underworld himself on the Greek inspired plane of Theros, he kind of takes that offer seriously. Lol What they don't know yet is that she's now one of his undead oracles. Mwahahaha
I like collaborating with my GM in regards to the backstory kind of things. More than once we exchanged some ideas about what might've happened in my characters past but he ultimately decided what the reveal would be. It's nice because it was still in character and despite having my help I was caught by surprise too with the reveal.
Yes. For roleplay purposes I keep loose backstories and have the DM introduce the areas/characters (whicj I dont know)when they deem fit. More roleplay for me is always fun!
Luckily my fist time DM'ing has been made easier by a party who intentionally planted the seeds for this kind of stuff for me, having parts of their background that they left unsolved or open for me to integrate. It seems to be working out very well for everyone so far. :)
I used to have a standard rule for my games that if a player didn't provide a basic outline on their character's family then I was free to make up whatever I wanted.
Awesome, dudes! These are all cool ideas. As a DM I enjoy collaborating with my players on character backstory, usually by asking two main questions once their baseline personality has been established. 1. Is there anything in your backstory, secrets or mysteries, your character keeps hidden about themselves and you don't want other PCs to know about? 2. Is there anything in your backstory, secrets or mysteries, hidden from your character that you don't want to know about? And from there we collaborate to set up some potential to surprise other players in the party, as well as potential to set up the playerin question with a few surprises of their own.
When I made my 1st character. I was joining a campaign that had been running for half a year. I spent 2-3 hours with my dm crafting my half-elf princess-in-hiding warlock. She didn't know they were a warlock because the fiend (I can't remember who it was) had been their handmaiden/bff for the all their life and had shown them a magic ritual when they were really signing a pact. They did the ritual because her 1000s of years old high elf wizard mum/queen was a tyrant (she became the new bbeg after we beat the last one) and they wanted to escape into the rest of the world. This was because the others players were really combat and strategy orientated and the dm wanted to do some roleplay, which I ended up loving. This resulted in fantastic conversations between Ara Darkiir and her patron, that were more like teenage girls on the phone to one another, a massive war scene and my alltime favourite boss fight, that everyone at the table loved.
@@Taking20 I LOVE your videos. They're super helpful.....think you may have gone a little far on the haircut though. Full honesty from someone as pale and baby-faced as you, it definitely is making your face look even rounder and flushed out.
I really enjoy adding characters into player's backstory. My party was visiting the hometown of one of the characters and while they were at the tavern the barkeep mentioned to make sure to go visit your mother. Introduced the mother character along with an unknown sister to the character. When the mother was questioned about the past brought up the first "love" of this character and filled in some backstory on why they couldn't be together and where she was send to. Now the character is being driven to find this long lost love.
Psyker That’s good, “Oh, Draknor, your mom & my mom still chat. You should go see her - be a good son... bring her some of ‘Wil-burn’ - ha! I mean Wilmer the baker’s fresh raspberry tart & you’ll make her day!”
Heavy roleplay is my favorite part of DnD. Combat is fun, but rolling dice and doing math gets old very fast. Players can spend hours upon hours making and developing complex characters, I find much more joy exploring those characters and seeing how they interact with the DMs world. You dont get that with combat.
I actualy find there is quite a of roleplaying in combat. Roleplaying monsters is essentially in order to make the often time long combat sessions engaging. The few times I dmed I found to describing in detail the monsters attacks made people more engaged in combat. I also find describing my charecters action in combat is much more fun simply stating than I attack with my great sword.
Number 2: Introduce a 2nd party! A literal 2nd party of adventurers run into our party of heroes and they exchange adventure stories. This is my favourite.
I was a player with a random #1 happen to me. No clue and was completely against the background I had in mind for them. I rolled with it and will never admit it (sorry scott I have my pride) where it ended up was FAR better than what I had in mind.
One of the best characters the party of a campaign I ran ever met, was entirely by accident. After a night of rolling the d100 carousing table, the party's fighter woke up several cities away, in the bed of a princess. The Princess's dad was an all powerful lord within the town and he was naturally fearing for his life. Not only that, but he found himself engaged to her as well. After a very tense stand off with the King, he soon found out the truth; the king was glad someone finally came to reign his daughter in. She was a bit of a reckless individual and tried repeatedly to flirt with various people all around town. The Lord felt that her marrying some strong adventuring type would be good for her. Only problem was that the fighter didn't love her that way. However, the princess loved him. Her name was Qtiffanyg (the Q and G are silent. The part determine her name of "Tiffany" had to have them based on her accent alone. It was a very shallow teen girl type voice). The party soon reunited along with their new member, finding out that she was a Bard from the College of Whispers. They all learned to love her... Except her husband. Three sessions later he demands a divorce, not knowing that she really did love him. Turns out, he was fearful his past war crimes would put her off, and thought she deserved a better man. Naturally, she stayed with the party to spite them (after she had stolen an important artifact and fled home. The cleric went and brought her back after talking with her). So she continued with the party. Later on, they discovered the High Queen was the big villain, with her conscious mind having been trapped in an ancient artifacts they assembled. The Queen massacred numerous NPCs the party had met.... And then Qtiffanyg went to work. The Queen was fey, and with how stealthy Qtiffanyg was, she snuck up behind her with a dagger made to kill get specifically. She had left her most priceless possessions (gloves of theiving and a silver flask) with the party, and attempted to stab the Queen in the back. Unfortunately, the Queen caught her before she could, and one Power Word Kill later, Qtiffanyg was dead. The party fled the Queen, along with Qtiffanyg's body, and attempted to revive her. Unfortunately, they discovered that the Queen tasked one of her acolytes with holding her soul hostage. While Qtiffanyg could be revived if they retrieved her soul, they would need to kill the acolyte to do it. However, killing this acolyte would only put a bigger target on their backs, as the rest of the Queen's private forces would come after them in revenge. The Fighter was the most adamant about fighting her though. They killed the acolyte and retrieved Qtiffanyg's soul. They've now slain five of the seven Acolytes. They're almost home, and soon Qtiffanyg will be revived, just in time for the final battle. Her ex-husband will also try to win her heart properly this time. TL;DR this bard princess with a basic bitch name became the most beloved NPC the party knew. And she drove them to some pretty great roleplay.
Great video ! Our party surprised me with one of these a little while back. What I'd written into the story as a 1-session shopping stop turned into 3 months of urban intrigue. It was fun and I just rolled with it. The key things I learned were to have multiple factions in the town and tensions in the town between them sketched out, as well as the key NPC power-brokers in town and a selection of assorted civilians (shopkeepers etc). The info on the factions really helped improvise the attitudes and goals of the NPC's as they interacted both with each other and the players, and the random civilians were useful to keep casual interactions consistent, interesting and not too stereotyped (plus a couple of them developed into interesting NPC's in their own right).
GM here. Found that my players are thinking to join a fraction but without consensus in which one they should choose. So I gived them 2 quests from 2 fractions with the totally opposite target so now they could not complete one without failing another. They are totally excited ;)
@@randallbaumgardt3424 It's more than a "test drive". A test drive would be giving the PCs a mission from one, then a mission from another, then they _still_ have to make a decision that they were having difficulty making. It would just be postponing the decision OP's idea _forces_ a decision point. The PCs can do one (or neither), but not both. Choices that a party will hem and haw over endlessly when it's just talk can often become crystal clear when you put them on the spot. Though I'd be inclined to give them "test drive" quests - as you say - that aren't mutually exclusive first before putting them in the hot seat.
My favourite thing to do as a DM when doing heavy roleplay is to give one player information in secret that incentivizes them to do something covert without the rest of the party noticing. Recently I had a friendly NPC on a ship that the players were travelling on that everyone seemed to like. Then to one player, I slipped a message that said that she found a picture of his face in the bounty office with a hefty reward and a message saying he was wanted for "QUESTIONING REGARDING CRIMES AGAINST THE QUEEN." Now that player is forced to decide whether or not she wants to turn him in to the authorities for a crime she's not sure what it is, and potentially piss off the rest of the party.
Here's the thing. Roleplaying is the activity of taking on the role of a fictional character in a fictional world and making the decisions you think the character would make if they and their world were real. So technically, a player trying to win a combat _is_ roleplay, since trying to win is what their character would do. It's _lighter_ roleplay only because trying to win is what _almost any_ character would do, not because dice are hitting the table. The key to enabling "heavier" roleplay (IMHO) is to give the players situations where multiple courses of action with different outcomes are equally plausible for the PCs to take. Intrigue in a city, for example, where the PCs need to make allies but could plausibly ally with any of a number of factions and NPCs based upon what their goals and values are. Allying with one faction or NPC closes off the possibility of allying with another. The choices the players make will show what their PCs value (or reveal their lack of values). Technically a "shopping episode" _can_ be heavy roleplay, but only to the extent that it reveals what the PCs value. Are they trying to become even better at things they are already good at? Trying to compensate for their weaknesses? Trying to gain additional abilities? And how do they actually _treat_ NPCs? Like people with their own interests and priorities? Like "marks" to be cheated if they can get away with it? Like "nobodies" to be pushed around at will? These too are choices that reveal what the PCs value and what they don't.
Finding DM plot hooks I find very rewarding and fun and helps the DM. The difficulty there is balancing character decisions and meta decisions, but overall i think it's important to prioritize the plot hooks in that situation.
Had a session where my plan was to have them discover the villain's mole in the mage college and out him. Despite failing their checks to catch him in a lie, they tried relay their suspicions to the headmistress. She in turn failed her sense motive and continued to trust the mole. So the session produced a scene like when the kids in Harry Potter try to convince McGonnagal that someone is trying to steal the philosophers stone. Course while they were doing that the mole was trying to steal the mcguffin from their ship, but he botched that and they caught him in there.
A tip I've found helps me engage players in introducing an NPC into their backstory is to describe the NPC and their reaction to the PC you've decided they know and then pose them a leading question! "Sir Dormo, when was the last time you saw Grandma Ness?" "Kerran why does your heart rise to see this old familiar face, what did they help you with in the past?". Gives the players agency over their own backstory and gets them thinking about fun ways to interact with the NPC.
I've just started my first character with an actual backstory (bless my DM for dealing with my boring fighter and paladin with zero identity before). I'm excited to try and RP for the first time, as he made EVERY party member give a backstory, which has ALREADY made the first session more interesting and the future more exciting than before. For once, I'm more excited to see how the party pans out, rather than the entire story per se. Can't thank my DM enough, he's a legend.
I love how much creative control my players give me over their backgrounds. They know what they want their characters to be all about as long as I keep it in line with their personality I'm good.
Honestly I am DMing for the first time with a few of my buddies and every time I watch a video I learn more and more and I feel like each session that I go into I'm able to make it more and more interesting thanks to your videos! Thank you soo much!
For heavy RP quite often I will create visual aids such hand written notes, maps, clues. In one instance the clue was a piece of paper that was torn into four pieces that were written, and torn in a way that would set the players on the wrong path if they acted before getting enough pieces.
As a player who tends to like dungeon delving and combat more than social interaction, a few things that I think are important for RP focused sessions: 1 - I know there are people who would be perfectly content if the dice never entered a session, I am not among them. Having a chance to use something on my character sheet every now and then is important for me to enjoy a session. Initiative might not be rolled, but if talking my way out of things (with the dice rolls de-emphasized) is my only option, that's not fun. I could talk my way out of things in real life. 2 - Advancing the plot is always better than just having the session be a glorified shopping trip. RP can make for some epic moments if you advance the plot or bring in character backgrounds, but I don't like felling like we spent 3 hours playing but got nothing done (especially if sessions are fairly far apart). 3 - Railroading is far more annoying in social situations than in exploration. If there is no way out of a situation, just hand wave it away. There is no reason to RP a scene where nothing anyone says will matter.
@@ravenfrancis1476, well, I guess we have different styles of gameplay that we enjoy. But also, do not mistake my stated preference for me insisting on my way of having fun. If someone else enjoys a dice free game where they could leave their character sheet at home, by all means, that's a perfectly valid way to have fun, and I would never interfere with that, even if I'm at the table with them, but I probably won't get much out of that session.
thehulkster94 Yeah we’d be fundamentally incompatible. I mean, I’ll still roll dice occasionally for stuff like perception or insight or non-combat stats but I get really bored if the campaign is just a glorified dungeon crawler.
Sounds like a way to use the "I know a guy/gal/them" rule or one could call it, "The Lando Rule." Basically, the character calls on a buddy but they have to RP through ala the cloud city sub-arch.etc
I do try to incorporate background stuff for players into the story. Right now one of my players has ties to two overall enemies in the upcoming game. Being a Tiefling Wizard she randomly determined her background using the Xanathar's guide, and her parents are a tiefling and a devil. We worked together and decided that her character's father was an aspect of Mephistopheles. That connected to the Cult of the Nine, and her mother, who had to give her up at birth to someone she trusted to take better care of the child, fell in love with the fallen paladin I have created as a second in command to the Lich in the setting before he had become a fallen paladin.
An idea yet used: When working with a bunch of first time players. Especially when they start out in places they would likely not meet. Perhaps have them hear of an adventurers training program where they meet a master of their class or some trainer that would show them the ropes. That way they meet npc's, get to roleplay and have a submersive gameplay that is like a tutorial but one that can be used to introduce both the character and player to the game. Talk about a meta tutorial. I have an noc that is a bard so that he can entertain the players.
I once managed to get three hours of pure roleplay session out of getting a seven-player party to (re)move an unwanted (and, frankly, hideous) tapestry from the royal palace on the king's behalf. Cue three hours of the entire universe being convinced this national treasure, this work of art by a master, this piece of *history* had to be in its alcove. Surely the king couldn't be so...downright *uncultured* as to have it removed merely because he didn't like the way it looked? Surely that was mere madness, and all involved had to be mistaken. That quest was eventually resolved when someone threw a necklace of fireballs at it. The entire necklace. At once. The party loved it.
My personal favorite character to play is entirely build around rp. I am constantly looking for opportunities to have my character interact with the others in the party (usually one on one) in order to prepare for it I plan and analyze previous sessions to discover what thoughts and attitudes my character has. In order to keep it interesting I keep most of my character information secret unless it is revealed through rp, the party has yet to learn of many motivations behind actions and habits.
My other favourite thing to do is to give players time limits to decide things in roleplay scenarios. The players are at a bard's show and see that he has the magic mcguffin on a string around his neck. I will secretly (or sometimes not secretly) set a timer for two minutes and give them that much time to figure out what they want to do. This cuts down on the lengthy and tedious discussions on what exactly they want to do, and forces people to make rash decisions that might have interesting roleplay consequences. Did they rush the stage? The crowd rises up to defend the bard? Did they try to shoot the string with an arrow? Now they're wanted by the local guards for assault. All sorts of interesting things can happen when people act under pressure.
I find that having a decent selection of fleshed out NPCs can really help the flow of the RP and make the experience and meetings really flow across into later sessions and really make the world feel alive.
One of my personal favorite episodes. I honestly have a background in improve acting and working renaissance festivals my entire life So i love the heavy role playing sessions as it forces me to be at my beat as a GM. I do minimal prep, usually only having 1 or 2 treats or hooks for the group, and i let the rest organically grow as the role playing happens
My brother and I roll dice in 5e, we have had a truly phenomenal time working on back stories for our characters. It's really important for us and the rest of the troop to have strong RP.
I liked the idea of a wizard doing experiments on a cat. I'm gonna have to use it in my game, and it'll involve some rather awkward situations and character embarrassment. Thank you for the cool concept
There was number 4 in the weirdest of ways in my most recent session. The party was in a dungeon and found a pool that was a portal to a pocket dimension that was kept up by a rock spewing out water a la decanter of endless water. So taking it away slowly collapsed the whole place and killed all the fish in there who had lived in there for who knows how long. I didn't think this would become a moral dilemma but it ended up being one. Oh and the debacle ended when the roque stabbed the warlock (Whose upper half was in prime material and the lower in said pocket dimension) in the foot to convince her to leave it be.
For extra rp heavy stints i typically bring down reference humor in character and place names. In-jokes, quippy shop names, something spiffy to keep them interested. They'll want to go anywhere if there's a fun shop name involved are a complete joke of a character they meet for a one-off encounter.
Heavy roleplay session prepped today actually, before watching this video. I'm introducing a new enemy next session, a little side arc. I reinforced my NPC's traits, bonds, ideals, and flaws, so I can use those motivations to fuel their actions later.
I find one of the best tips to engage your players in heavy RP sessions is "make it about the player" if your for example mentioning a characters backstory and working it in than it will make them feel good. Players love being the centre of attention and if you can make them feel important than they will get a thrill.
I've taken to using a facebook group to discuss/roleplay stuff like downtime, and those events help set up hooks for future games. That way when we do meet up, we can focus more on everything else. That's not to say we don't have any role-playing during sessions, it's just that with the group page the players have an outlet to flesh out theirs characters and what they do without having to worry about time constraints.
As a GM I like downtime reports. Some side stuff that does not drive a main or subplot and that only includes one or two PCs can leave the rest of the players feeling left out. I have the player(s) give me a short write up that describes this side foray that I later approve or tweak and perhaps roll into the larger story. Again, I only use this for some side junkets that seem like they could eat a lot of game time and leave a large chuck of the party feeling left out.
Okay, moral dilemma stories time: My DM had us traveling for long distances to make it to the place of interest for our campaign. Along the road we were given the option of traveling with a slavers caravan that would speed up our travel time several-fold. Not only are we conflicted about whether or not to try to help the slaves in a world where slavery is common and socially accepted, but two players in specific had extremely divergent interests in the situation. There were about 40 slavers of level three classes and above (we're level 7), and we had an NPC noble traveling with us that one of our fighters had sworn an oath to protect as she began her career as a young adventurer. Picking a fight with this caravan of slavers would be an exceptionally deadly encounter for this fledgling adventurer. On the other hand, this particular shipment of slaves had come from my character's Homeland, with the slavers taking advantage of the chaos created by the civil war that was part of my character's backstory as a soldier, a war which he had joined in an effort to protect the small towns and people that he grew up with. The debate raged back and forth in private among our party as we traveled with the caravan. In the end, the other player shackled my character to the side of our wagon while he was asleep to keep him from nuking the slavers during their meal time using his hexblade warlock spells. He would have thunder stepped out of his bonds and injured the entire party if it hadn't been for the little adventurer being in the radius of the blast.
Right after this in the same campaign, we had the choice of whether or not we would destroy a nest of dragon eggs. It was at this point that are characters collided once more. The fighter still wanted to protect the fledgling from the danger of dragons, but my hexblade was entirely against the destruction of innocent sentient life. The hexblade was a warlock of the Raven Queen, with the specific task of being one of her grim reapers in this world, but part of his pack said that he would only be forced to kill evil creatures and beings and thus lived as a bounty hunter to cover up his activities. He loathed the destruction of innocence and was lawful good answering to hire cosmic laws of Good and Evil.
I essentially have a couple of charts with NPCs and their general likeness, and that's about it. Sometimes I introduce villains or scenarios but generally only when the PCs do stuff that allows me too.
Can confirm #3 can be really memorable. As a huge group with two DMs, we wanted a side villain to do quests against when the main DM was gone. We weren't sure how to abruptly add a villain, so we added a friendly follower, a bit like "Buddy" from Incredibles. Dwarf Artificer who knew all about them and was a huge fanboy, who they FELL in love with. He was stolen by a medusa several sessions later, "corrupted" (no player was actually good, and all did questionable stuff, so it wasn't hard to justify), and lo he thought HE was the good guy, adding a warforged militia to "defend and uphold the peace and law" to any town he "saved", and none of them have ever let me forget they hated (and loved) that villain.
What you call a heavy roleplay session sounds like a really light experience to me. Because I've played a game, where almost each one of two sessions consisted of intimate talking between players inside their own microgroups. The story was divided between those groups, and at some point nobody in the party even know why we are travelling together
It's important to remember that rpgs have their origins in strategy games, and that does heavily influence how people think about them. Sometimes, a slice-of-life 'breather episode' can be good for the campaign - if your 1-10 scale is always at 11, you're not going to last very long.
Be an infernal chain lock, have an imp that turns to beast shape then goes invis and you can cast spells through it...or at least I think you can...maybe just touch spells. Anyways, you Can raw give it a wand and have it blast away as a bonus action.
I prefer heavy role play sessions to heavy combat sessions. Role play is just so much fun in this game, I get to see how my fellow PC's and players react to situations where violence isn't preferred.
Heavy RP sessions are fun. a little down time for players to do their own thing is never a bad thing for theses sessions either. it definetly helps to have motivated pc's though. if you have pc's that love to make their own fun without necessarily always being presented with something to chew on this can be great. just make sure what they do doesn't derail the entire campaign
I love RP sessions. Last session in my main group we needed to get passage back north after completing a job. There was only one ship going north in the next weeks. The problem? The captain was a complete asshole. At first he demanded 100 gp (a reasonable price would've been 50) per person, then when we tried to essentially persuade him that "we won't be much trouble and we can help out on the ship" the response was basically "60 gp and you'll be doing heavy labour". A short while later we returned with totally-legit not-at-all-forged legal documents commanding passage on behalf of the capital in one of the largest countries on the continent. As such, we got free passage with minimal work instead. Wonderful roleplay opportunities where we got to show off our characters and really fun to show how trying to scam us ends up with the scammer getting scammed. Really fun session.
I do prepare for heavy RP sessions with good plot hooks but when they happen naturally it’s best. Party finds Wyrmling green dragon after killing its mother, Druid and barbarian want to keep it and raise it, nurture vs nature, and the paladin and cleric want to kill it. That was a fun session
RP was always fun to do, but recently (about two-three months ago) I had my first real in depth RP, and it was about 40 minutes to an hour of me and the other PC talking to each other in character, sharing all we could because it had come to light that in order to keep working together, absolute trust would be required. DM was quiet pretty much the whole time, apart from laughing at the occasional joke, and told us at the end that the next session would need to be extra long because it would essentially become 2 in 1 from all our chatting. Was a lot of fun though, and he wasn't mad, just slightly disgruntled at not getting to use about 80% of his prep.
One of my favorite RP sessions I have ever run was for a Star Wars (By Fantasy Flight Games) game when I had the prospective Jedi PCs find their Kyber Crystal's. I spent a few weeks talking with the players about their flaws (under the guise of fleshing their characters out a little bit more) then the fateful night came when we sat down at the table and the PCs began to delve into the crystal cavern in search for Rubat. I gave them so combat opportunities at the beginning and then, when they had gotten into the final leg of the cave, the Force split each of them. (I had 3 people going through the caves) at this point I took what they had told me about their characters (and what I had actually observed about their characters) and I applied it, giving each character a sort of dream sequence where the Force tried them to see if they were worthy. After they got their crystals they walked back to their ship only to find an Imperial task force was waiting for them, then I ended the session. My players loved it and were excited to return for the next game.
A former associate once just sent his players to visit one of the PC's father and sister, to discover that his ex moved in with them. It was a funny session, especially with party wizard determined to prove the ex is a vampire (she wasn't).
Heavy role play sessions are my favorite, my main goal is to be able to deliver a rousing and heart felt speech to convince some one or group to join our cause.
Warning: This is not intended for an RP session, but instead for an entire RP game starting from 1st level to final level and spanning all sessions. Could also "up the ante" as it were or so to speak a bit as well, by getting the pc's to slow down, and use more tactics and roleplay to succeed. Like introducing more unforgiving rules from the DM's Guide lol. Like the Gritty Realism rule for resting... Works for me. That alone sets the tone of a game, if you do it up front, before anyone has yet to roll any dice. The players quickly find they, when session 1 finally begins, that they need to roleplay and use tactics with a simple rule like that to succeed and be more conservative with resources. It actually encourages roleplay and tactics. And don't be afraid to make suggestions of things they can try, hold their hand for the first few sessions, that way they actually get an idea of what you mean. After that though, start slowly taking the pacifier away from them over the next few sessions. Be warned though, the Gritty Realism rule is for heavy RP games, and is very unforgiving if something goes wrong in game for the pc's; so talk it over with the players before introducing it, that way they know what to expect. But also you as the DM, will have to be willing to create small simple missions that will cause little to no harm for the pc's, on the side for when they are recuperating and that way they don't get bored. If you want say like for example, Dragon Heist, to be more RP heavy than it already is, then introduce Gritty Realism to the game. You will have to in turn, change the timed events and such for said adventure for the in case of things and pc's not quite being ready sometimes to take something on, but you will get the result you're looking for. Also, if you do introduce Gritty Realism, be sure to reward a player's efforts in roleplay and tactics a lot more often, as long as the roleplay and tactics make sense of course. For example, if they sneak up on an enemy without being detected, they don't roll for an attack and instead auto-kill said enemy, but only if they strike at a vital area to cause a mortal wound that will kill instantaneously or close to. Makes more sense this way as well, and should be done in any scenario like this regardless. That is the reward for making and succeeding all those stealth checks, and roleplaying, and using tactics to come up with a plan; assassinating the enemy target without fail, and the enemy doesn't fight back, because the enemy automatically drops to 0 hit points upon being assassinated. But here comes the real kicker: what do they now do to hide the body from the fallen enemy's comrades, and how well do they hide it? Have the player/s involved make a roll for deception (i.e. disguise check) when they try to hide it. A heavy RP game is an entirely different animal than your average "hack and slash and now let's steam roll everything and move on to the next area" kind of game. This is what a rule like Gritty Realism prevents from happening. Though there is still plenty of hacking and slashing, just in a different light most of the time, and that is why you need to talk it over with your players so they understand that. If the pc with a bow, shoots at an enemy's head, and the enemy is not moving, the enemy is automatically dead if the winds are fair for such a shot to be made and stealth is involved. But, if the enemy is moving or the winds are blowing, same scenario, then they need to make an attack roll. Keep a healthy mix of non-moving and moving enemies, to give options for the pc's with ranged attacks. If a spellcaster tries the same thing, was the spell as quiet as a bow and arrow? Did anyone notice? Etc. And, normal combat rules resume if an actual scuffle or battle breaks out. But then that also means the pc's need to rest a bit before trekking forward and deeper, because it will be 7 in game days before they get their HP and used HD back with a rule like Gritty Realism. And who knows how much things will change by the time the pc's return... In a game like this, the DM is allowed, if the pc's leave for a significant amount of time, to replace enemies. The whole scenario becomes a little more real. A heavy RP game is a very "High Risk, High Reward" game. Decisions, decisions, for the pc's. Do they continue on, and risk dying? Or do they turn back, and try again at a later date, risking enemy posts to be refilled? Hmmm?
I run a very, very roleplay heavy group. I can't imagine any situation in which my players would appreciate me shoving a character in their background without their permission or even giving them a heads up outside the table, and not cause FAR more issues than anything.
DM here. I front load my prep for a given adventure. I try to know who the PC's are ahead of time, which means a solid Session 0, and I try to know who the major NPC's are. Most of my games involve some kind of background plot that influences the adventure in some way, usually a political subplot but I've done things that set up the next arc or a recurring villain. My players are used to this, but they know that most of the NPC's they meet have their own motivations and agenda. My players know that by allying with one, they can make an enemy of another. This isn't really a good answer because it involves a lot of work ahead of time, but when it pays off, it pays off big time. Interpersonal drama can be generated, between the PC's and NPC's as well as amongst the PC's themselves. It's never become a soap-opera game, but it has become more engaging. Great episode. This is a subject not talked about often, and it behooves gamers to not try out more roleplay and drama in their games.
Our group HATED having a competing group as a nemesis. It happened to us twice and each time we hated it. We have been playing together for about 35 years ... actually a few years more, i think.
I saw this really good one on Reddit about a medusa that left a journal revealing that the people that told them to kill the medusa were the real monsters all along (not actually monsters just really bad people)
I was running an Adventure League game with a rather air headed girl and it was a Curse of Strahd heavy roleplay session in Vallaki. She looked so bored the whole time, and kept trying to find stuff to steal.
I have a Beer 30 rule. Characters can declare it's Beer 30 and they hang up their adventuring gear and become regular people for a night. No trying to get information. No combat other than nonlethal arm wrestling or bar brawls. Throw darts, play cards, chat up or gossip with the gentlemen or ladies, sing and dance, you're off the clock. It lets them have fun, bond, and establish connections to the community.
Moral dilemma: in order to prevent an ancient dragon from awakening from a magical slumber there had to be a human sacrifice: "one life given to safe the lives of many". We play in a setting losely based on the Viking age and fate and nature spirits (who believe that death is a part of liefe to be accepted) play a huge role. That almost broke the group - real drama.
My group is currently playing Dragonheist with some modifications I’ve made myself or other supplements I thought would be fun. One of these was my cleric wanted to move up in ranking in his church. So I made faction missions like the other factions in the game. The first one was the Head priestess had the cleric track down a fellow clergyman who had developed a gambling addiction. They had to bring him back to the church and make sure he didn’t owe anyone money. The party found him in the yawning portal during a gambling night. (I made a group of people who go tavern to tavern and setup gambling games, blackjack, roulette, craps, etc.) They had a blast trying to convince him to stop, they failed the checks to persuade him. The cleric talked the addict into playing blackjack with him instead of the company running the games. We used real cards and the cleric lost all his money to the addict, which made the addict even more confident that he was hot. The ranger tried to physically stop him but rolled poorly when the addict rolled well throwing the ranger to the ground. So the addict went and lost the rest of his gold playing blackjack then begged the cleric to help him get out of this debt. Saying he would go back to the church and go through counseling with the head priestess. The ranger had loaded dice from his background which they had the rogue use to swap out the dice at the craps table with a sleight of hand check that the player used his inspiration on to succeed. They won back the addict’s debt and left with a little profit before the pit-boss became too concerned. After it was done all the players said they had a blast and was one of the best sessions they’ve played.
I personally talk to my players before the campaign and throughout the campaign to give vague ideas that they are willing to latch onto for the story. Even a simple one is for a Druid who had a fondness for an Elk that is smarter than the average beast and leads them to a cave filled with light from plants and animals living in harmony only to see a fire that spreads unnaturally quick burning everything. Only to find the Elk had been heavily injured. All to find out it was intentional from a lackey from (insert bad organization).
I like to have every player have a side quest written related to the backstory, and ask the player for help with that. Completing it gives you something to make the related character stronger. Maybe add closure to the backstory and get a feet or fun heirloom magic item that is specifically designed to work well with that specific character. I also think a role play session should end with at least one new enemy (maybe defeated) and one new ally depending on their choices. And the ally should act as an asset in someway.
As a player my dm tells us whether it'll be rp heavy or not. I used to be really uncomfortable with the thought of it (I'm a barbarian and it's my first time so I was stuck with the stigma of meat head) but our last session didn't have any combat and it was my favorite one.
Unless you're a Barbarian or Fighter. Because man, RP Heavy sessions without combat can make you feel useless, as you hardly get to use any of your class features compared to all other classes.
@@croyvdk5919 Especially when your character is established as the kind who doesn't mess around with formality and social graces. It basically means "Okay, I guess I'll talk to you guys after the game, because I will have literally nothing to do."
One thing to beware of is that the players may like rp heavy sessions. My group had a few sessions in a row that were rp heavy, and we learnt some new lore and met new NPCs and all the great things an rp heavy session brings. However last session we spent the entire session on an rp encounter that was only supposed to take uip an hour or so, making the DM hastily improvise a way to get the combat encounter over in as suck a time as possible to ensure next session would start smoothly. He underestimated our love for his rp sessions.
Been doing the Ashardalon arc in 5e. (It's been challenging) they get to Pandemonium and the very good cleric will not attack the angels if things go bad. Moreover the fighter formerly challenged Desayeus to a 1 on 1 for the soul totem. I rolled Desayeus was amused and made a formal group fight vs him, eliminating his adds as helpers. He over estimated himself lol
Downtime, heavy RP, or "Shopping Episodes" are the perfect place for me to mix in character backstory aspects, or advance character arc to the main plot. I find my players walk away from these sessions with smiles just as big as sessions that advance the plot significantly.
Just did a session where I surprised a player with an arranged marriage. It caused all sorts of fun as another character was developing feelings for the now engaged one
3:19 As a player, I wouldn't appreciate this at all. I'd be willing to play along, but now you'll have to explain why my character doesn't remember this person at all. Even if it's a childhood friend, rival, sibling, parent, or even lover, I'd rather have control over the important figures of my character's backstory than have the GM meddle with it without consent or warning.
Because you know 100's and 100's of people from childhood. Unless you're giving the DM a complete list of all of them, it's perfectly reasonable that your character might know and have interacted with someone that the DM introduces. I'm betting you even have 4-5 different 'best friends' from kindergarten through your early 20s, as you grew apart from old ones. Plenty of creative room here.
@@Taking20 I understand that my character can have ties to any number of people that the DM props up. However, if there's an important NPC that might come up connected to my character that I hadn't mentioned in my character's backstory, I'd rather be asked about making that change/addition, or at the very least, that the character's appearance be foreshadowed. By the way, I love the video, it's rather helpful, and it will help me watch out for stuff during RP heavy sessions, I just have a gripe about that point specifically.
There's no reason for the character to not remember the new npc just because the player doesn't. I do this all time because there's no way for a player to create dozens of connections in their backstory. Usually they name may be two or three. All you do is "This is John, you went to magic school together. You never very close but hung out a few times. He has on his forehead the seal of the Evil Necromancer". It would be very weird for the player to have included the entire class register in their backstory but it's someone the PC has a connection to. Is the school doing this? Another source? Who knows
Other than having names and ideas ready, I don't prep any for RP heavy sessions. I did a 5 hour RP only session with my players that was completely ad-libbed. I didn't even know what they were going to do. As always, Kenny went left.
As a DM: I try to make sure that I have all my names for NPCs and Locales down and ready. I hate when they go sideways and start asking for details that I haven't prepped for. I do OK "winging it" when it comes to activity, but Names kill me every time when I get put on the spot for it.
I ran a one-shot module for my group one week. The plot involved some mysterious, but brutal deaths in a town they were passing through. One of the things they discovered was a letter from one of the deceased, requesting a ‘special’ delivery to help defeat some mysterious entity that had been discovered in town. The party, seeking more information, showed the letter to the head of the local church. Unfortunately, as it turned out, said priest *was* the mysterious entity (a werewolf) and was planning to slaughter most of the town during a festival feast, where he was going to turn a young woman who had been infected with lycanthropy. So, they ended up entering the final fight *without* the blade which the deceased knight had sent off for. A blade which would have given their monk a weapon with which she could actually harm the werewolves. I could barely keep a straight face when they handed over the letter, but the look on their faces when the priest shifted into his ‘hybrid/battle’ form to kill them, and drew that blade to fight them.
Sorry, I could get through LotR books, after I realized I was 125 pages into Fellowship and I was still reading about fucking Tom Bombadil. Ugh, and I loved the Hobbit, quick fun read. As for LotR, give me Jackson's version.
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The irony. When he said "thats gunna make people unsubscribe" reminded me to check to see if I was subscribed and then I subscribed. Ive been bamboozled
this comment made me subscribe
"You dont detect any traps"
"They appear to be telling the truth"
my biggest roleplay session was completely improv lol. I had set up an adult green dragon as an enemy in a region that the group was exploring, in a new-found continent overrun by many dangerous enemies. After i set a scene for my players i usually walk away from the table for 5 minutes to allow them to come up with a plan, i don't want to have knowledge of their plan just as much as they dont want knowledge of my story ahead of time. It keeps us all on our toes. They went into the encounter with the dragon and instead of slaying it, through the clever use of some calm emotions and charming spells plus clever wordplay persuasion from the bard and paladin, to make sure the dragon didnt get too upset when the charms wore off, they were actually able to befriend the adult dragon and learn about an entire chromatic dragon kingdom I hadn't even been prepared to reveal to them yet. Intention was for htem to gradually find the information out over the course of 5-6 sessions, instead i had the dragon do a complete data dump (some lies or slightly misleading, because green dragon) for an hour+ as they asked him questions about the continent they were exploring and they gained an ally.... 6 months later the entire dragon kingdom who i had always intended on being enemies of the players are now actually the players biggest allies as they go about the kingdom doing quests for the various dragons. This is why i love homebrew, i never know what the players are going to do and i can just change my story if i have to if they pull ona thread i didnt expect them to. They were able to broker a semi peace between the chromatics and their exploring force and stop the conflict early on. This has been very beneficial for the party lol.
Same
@@scarloss474 it was alot of fun :) (still is)
You know, my second group I’ve ever hosted for was complete improv. I was mostly pulling details from the back of my head. We had no books, only prepped sheets with minimal details. I planned maybe 3 players tops. I had 7. I nearly ran out of character sheets, meaning I dictated the enemies of the players. I had NOTHING, so I changed setting to this massive Roman-like empire and a massive zombie horde with bears littered in the ranks. They tamed the bears while the bars held up. The bears killed the zombies. “Ah fuck. The kingdom survived. The necromancer was attacking the inside to kill it from the head.” Had a 6th player. *Takes blank character sheet, creates new class in 15 minutes* fook mi life. *players found a religion, and I want it to boost them as they’re already quite rich* OH GOD NO *and that’s how my improv-campaign turned into a one-shot introduction to D&D. My Boy Scout troop is now planning on adding a D&D group to gather around and do dumb things. Will DEFINITELY have to teach some younger scouts how to DM, since I’ll be gone from the troop in two years*
I recently had a beloved NPC literally be drug into the underworld by shades in front of them when she attempted to commit suicide upon finding her parents corpses. The tension and loss was palpable. This moment was crucial for several of my pc's development and is referenced often still.
Damn. That's powerful.
Well, when you offer yourself up to the God of the Underworld himself on the Greek inspired plane of Theros, he kind of takes that offer seriously. Lol What they don't know yet is that she's now one of his undead oracles. Mwahahaha
@@luckaius91 gave a thumbs up just for the evil laugh at the end.
Well uh. I see. Very good very good.
I like collaborating with my GM in regards to the backstory kind of things. More than once we exchanged some ideas about what might've happened in my characters past but he ultimately decided what the reveal would be. It's nice because it was still in character and despite having my help I was caught by surprise too with the reveal.
Yes. For roleplay purposes I keep loose backstories and have the DM introduce the areas/characters (whicj I dont know)when they deem fit. More roleplay for me is always fun!
Luckily my fist time DM'ing has been made easier by a party who intentionally planted the seeds for this kind of stuff for me, having parts of their background that they left unsolved or open for me to integrate. It seems to be working out very well for everyone so far. :)
I used to have a standard rule for my games that if a player didn't provide a basic outline on their character's family then I was free to make up whatever I wanted.
Awesome, dudes! These are all cool ideas. As a DM I enjoy collaborating with my players on character backstory, usually by asking two main questions once their baseline personality has been established.
1. Is there anything in your backstory, secrets or mysteries, your character keeps hidden about themselves and you don't want other PCs to know about?
2. Is there anything in your backstory, secrets or mysteries, hidden from your character that you don't want to know about?
And from there we collaborate to set up some potential to surprise other players in the party, as well as potential to set up the playerin question with a few surprises of their own.
When I made my 1st character. I was joining a campaign that had been running for half a year. I spent 2-3 hours with my dm crafting my half-elf princess-in-hiding warlock.
She didn't know they were a warlock because the fiend (I can't remember who it was) had been their handmaiden/bff for the all their life and had shown them a magic ritual when they were really signing a pact. They did the ritual because her 1000s of years old high elf wizard mum/queen was a tyrant (she became the new bbeg after we beat the last one) and they wanted to escape into the rest of the world.
This was because the others players were really combat and strategy orientated and the dm wanted to do some roleplay, which I ended up loving.
This resulted in fantastic conversations between Ara Darkiir and her patron, that were more like teenage girls on the phone to one another, a massive war scene and my alltime favourite boss fight, that everyone at the table loved.
Holy Crap new hair cut!? Great Video bro, I’m new to DMing and your content is very inspiring! Keep it up
Thanks Gator! Happy you have found it helpful! Happy Gaming!
@@Taking20 I LOVE your videos. They're super helpful.....think you may have gone a little far on the haircut though. Full honesty from someone as pale and baby-faced as you, it definitely is making your face look even rounder and flushed out.
I like the hair. Tell your barber I said Well Done!
@@tyetoro that's real nice.
"That's gonna cause people to unsubscribe"
Well I'll subscribe and keep the count more neutral bud no worries
I really enjoy adding characters into player's backstory. My party was visiting the hometown of one of the characters and while they were at the tavern the barkeep mentioned to make sure to go visit your mother. Introduced the mother character along with an unknown sister to the character. When the mother was questioned about the past brought up the first "love" of this character and filled in some backstory on why they couldn't be together and where she was send to. Now the character is being driven to find this long lost love.
Psyker That’s good, “Oh, Draknor, your mom & my mom still chat. You should go see her - be a good son... bring her some of ‘Wil-burn’ - ha! I mean Wilmer the baker’s fresh raspberry tart & you’ll make her day!”
"that's going to cause people to unsubscribe" ... Subscribed - you got the balls to say it and risk it, you got me hooked
Heavy roleplay is my favorite part of DnD. Combat is fun, but rolling dice and doing math gets old very fast. Players can spend hours upon hours making and developing complex characters, I find much more joy exploring those characters and seeing how they interact with the DMs world. You dont get that with combat.
I actualy find there is quite a of roleplaying in combat. Roleplaying monsters is essentially in order to make the often time long combat sessions engaging. The few times I dmed I found to describing in detail the monsters attacks made people more engaged in combat. I also find describing my charecters action in combat is much more fun simply stating than I attack with my great sword.
Number 2: Introduce a 2nd party! A literal 2nd party of adventurers run into our party of heroes and they exchange adventure stories. This is my favourite.
I was a player with a random #1 happen to me. No clue and was completely against the background I had in mind for them. I rolled with it and will never admit it (sorry scott I have my pride) where it ended up was FAR better than what I had in mind.
One of the best characters the party of a campaign I ran ever met, was entirely by accident. After a night of rolling the d100 carousing table, the party's fighter woke up several cities away, in the bed of a princess. The Princess's dad was an all powerful lord within the town and he was naturally fearing for his life. Not only that, but he found himself engaged to her as well. After a very tense stand off with the King, he soon found out the truth; the king was glad someone finally came to reign his daughter in. She was a bit of a reckless individual and tried repeatedly to flirt with various people all around town. The Lord felt that her marrying some strong adventuring type would be good for her.
Only problem was that the fighter didn't love her that way. However, the princess loved him. Her name was Qtiffanyg (the Q and G are silent. The part determine her name of "Tiffany" had to have them based on her accent alone. It was a very shallow teen girl type voice). The party soon reunited along with their new member, finding out that she was a Bard from the College of Whispers. They all learned to love her... Except her husband. Three sessions later he demands a divorce, not knowing that she really did love him.
Turns out, he was fearful his past war crimes would put her off, and thought she deserved a better man. Naturally, she stayed with the party to spite them (after she had stolen an important artifact and fled home. The cleric went and brought her back after talking with her). So she continued with the party. Later on, they discovered the High Queen was the big villain, with her conscious mind having been trapped in an ancient artifacts they assembled. The Queen massacred numerous NPCs the party had met.... And then Qtiffanyg went to work. The Queen was fey, and with how stealthy Qtiffanyg was, she snuck up behind her with a dagger made to kill get specifically. She had left her most priceless possessions (gloves of theiving and a silver flask) with the party, and attempted to stab the Queen in the back. Unfortunately, the Queen caught her before she could, and one Power Word Kill later, Qtiffanyg was dead.
The party fled the Queen, along with Qtiffanyg's body, and attempted to revive her. Unfortunately, they discovered that the Queen tasked one of her acolytes with holding her soul hostage. While Qtiffanyg could be revived if they retrieved her soul, they would need to kill the acolyte to do it. However, killing this acolyte would only put a bigger target on their backs, as the rest of the Queen's private forces would come after them in revenge.
The Fighter was the most adamant about fighting her though. They killed the acolyte and retrieved Qtiffanyg's soul. They've now slain five of the seven Acolytes. They're almost home, and soon Qtiffanyg will be revived, just in time for the final battle. Her ex-husband will also try to win her heart properly this time.
TL;DR this bard princess with a basic bitch name became the most beloved NPC the party knew. And she drove them to some pretty great roleplay.
How did this epic tale finish? I'm dying to know!
I enjoy RP-heavy sessions every now and then, especially if they advance the plot
Great video ! Our party surprised me with one of these a little while back. What I'd written into the story as a 1-session shopping stop turned into 3 months of urban intrigue. It was fun and I just rolled with it.
The key things I learned were to have multiple factions in the town and tensions in the town between them sketched out, as well as the key NPC power-brokers in town and a selection of assorted civilians (shopkeepers etc). The info on the factions really helped improvise the attitudes and goals of the NPC's as they interacted both with each other and the players, and the random civilians were useful to keep casual interactions consistent, interesting and not too stereotyped (plus a couple of them developed into interesting NPC's in their own right).
GM here.
Found that my players are thinking to join a fraction but without consensus in which one they should choose. So I gived them 2 quests from 2 fractions with the totally opposite target so now they could not complete one without failing another. They are totally excited ;)
It's a shame that those fraction sidequests will leave them feeling so divided! :p
Fraction?
Like a test drive, smart.
@@randallbaumgardt3424
It's more than a "test drive". A test drive would be giving the PCs a mission from one, then a mission from another, then they _still_ have to make a decision that they were having difficulty making. It would just be postponing the decision
OP's idea _forces_ a decision point. The PCs can do one (or neither), but not both.
Choices that a party will hem and haw over endlessly when it's just talk can often become crystal clear when you put them on the spot.
Though I'd be inclined to give them "test drive" quests - as you say - that aren't mutually exclusive first before putting them in the hot seat.
@@nickwilliams8302 good point. Somehow I completely blanked the idea of indecisive players.
I noticed your hair lines up perfectly with the mountains behind and now I can't take my eyes off of it
My favourite thing to do as a DM when doing heavy roleplay is to give one player information in secret that incentivizes them to do something covert without the rest of the party noticing. Recently I had a friendly NPC on a ship that the players were travelling on that everyone seemed to like. Then to one player, I slipped a message that said that she found a picture of his face in the bounty office with a hefty reward and a message saying he was wanted for "QUESTIONING REGARDING CRIMES AGAINST THE QUEEN." Now that player is forced to decide whether or not she wants to turn him in to the authorities for a crime she's not sure what it is, and potentially piss off the rest of the party.
Haha "idk if i can say that"
*says it 3 times
Peter?
@@killfacebalor2474 Phenomenal.
Here's the thing. Roleplaying is the activity of taking on the role of a fictional character in a fictional world and making the decisions you think the character would make if they and their world were real. So technically, a player trying to win a combat _is_ roleplay, since trying to win is what their character would do.
It's _lighter_ roleplay only because trying to win is what _almost any_ character would do, not because dice are hitting the table.
The key to enabling "heavier" roleplay (IMHO) is to give the players situations where multiple courses of action with different outcomes are equally plausible for the PCs to take. Intrigue in a city, for example, where the PCs need to make allies but could plausibly ally with any of a number of factions and NPCs based upon what their goals and values are. Allying with one faction or NPC closes off the possibility of allying with another. The choices the players make will show what their PCs value (or reveal their lack of values).
Technically a "shopping episode" _can_ be heavy roleplay, but only to the extent that it reveals what the PCs value. Are they trying to become even better at things they are already good at? Trying to compensate for their weaknesses? Trying to gain additional abilities?
And how do they actually _treat_ NPCs? Like people with their own interests and priorities? Like "marks" to be cheated if they can get away with it? Like "nobodies" to be pushed around at will? These too are choices that reveal what the PCs value and what they don't.
Finding DM plot hooks I find very rewarding and fun and helps the DM. The difficulty there is balancing character decisions and meta decisions, but overall i think it's important to prioritize the plot hooks in that situation.
Had a session where my plan was to have them discover the villain's mole in the mage college and out him. Despite failing their checks to catch him in a lie, they tried relay their suspicions to the headmistress. She in turn failed her sense motive and continued to trust the mole. So the session produced a scene like when the kids in Harry Potter try to convince McGonnagal that someone is trying to steal the philosophers stone.
Course while they were doing that the mole was trying to steal the mcguffin from their ship, but he botched that and they caught him in there.
A tip I've found helps me engage players in introducing an NPC into their backstory is to describe the NPC and their reaction to the PC you've decided they know and then pose them a leading question! "Sir Dormo, when was the last time you saw Grandma Ness?" "Kerran why does your heart rise to see this old familiar face, what did they help you with in the past?". Gives the players agency over their own backstory and gets them thinking about fun ways to interact with the NPC.
I've just started my first character with an actual backstory (bless my DM for dealing with my boring fighter and paladin with zero identity before). I'm excited to try and RP for the first time, as he made EVERY party member give a backstory, which has ALREADY made the first session more interesting and the future more exciting than before. For once, I'm more excited to see how the party pans out, rather than the entire story per se. Can't thank my DM enough, he's a legend.
I love how much creative control my players give me over their backgrounds. They know what they want their characters to be all about as long as I keep it in line with their personality I'm good.
4:03 "Baramir?" "Great Ring?"
Honestly I am DMing for the first time with a few of my buddies and every time I watch a video I learn more and more and I feel like each session that I go into I'm able to make it more and more interesting thanks to your videos! Thank you soo much!
For heavy RP quite often I will create visual aids such hand written notes, maps, clues. In one instance the clue was a piece of paper that was torn into four pieces that were written, and torn in a way that would set the players on the wrong path if they acted before getting enough pieces.
As a player who tends to like dungeon delving and combat more than social interaction, a few things that I think are important for RP focused sessions:
1 - I know there are people who would be perfectly content if the dice never entered a session, I am not among them. Having a chance to use something on my character sheet every now and then is important for me to enjoy a session. Initiative might not be rolled, but if talking my way out of things (with the dice rolls de-emphasized) is my only option, that's not fun. I could talk my way out of things in real life.
2 - Advancing the plot is always better than just having the session be a glorified shopping trip. RP can make for some epic moments if you advance the plot or bring in character backgrounds, but I don't like felling like we spent 3 hours playing but got nothing done (especially if sessions are fairly far apart).
3 - Railroading is far more annoying in social situations than in exploration. If there is no way out of a situation, just hand wave it away. There is no reason to RP a scene where nothing anyone says will matter.
Wow, you definitely do not sound fun to play with.
@@ravenfrancis1476, well, I guess we have different styles of gameplay that we enjoy. But also, do not mistake my stated preference for me insisting on my way of having fun. If someone else enjoys a dice free game where they could leave their character sheet at home, by all means, that's a perfectly valid way to have fun, and I would never interfere with that, even if I'm at the table with them, but I probably won't get much out of that session.
thehulkster94 Yeah we’d be fundamentally incompatible. I mean, I’ll still roll dice occasionally for stuff like perception or insight or non-combat stats but I get really bored if the campaign is just a glorified dungeon crawler.
Sounds like a way to use the "I know a guy/gal/them" rule or one could call it, "The Lando Rule." Basically, the character calls on a buddy but they have to RP through ala the cloud city sub-arch.etc
Great hair cut Cody, you're rocking it
Ha Ha, He looks like an Onion! :D
I do try to incorporate background stuff for players into the story. Right now one of my players has ties to two overall enemies in the upcoming game. Being a Tiefling Wizard she randomly determined her background using the Xanathar's guide, and her parents are a tiefling and a devil. We worked together and decided that her character's father was an aspect of Mephistopheles. That connected to the Cult of the Nine, and her mother, who had to give her up at birth to someone she trusted to take better care of the child, fell in love with the fallen paladin I have created as a second in command to the Lich in the setting before he had become a fallen paladin.
An idea yet used:
When working with a bunch of first time players. Especially when they start out in places they would likely not meet.
Perhaps have them hear of an adventurers training program where they meet a master of their class or some trainer that would show them the ropes.
That way they meet npc's, get to roleplay and have a submersive gameplay that is like a tutorial but one that can be used to introduce both the character and player to the game.
Talk about a meta tutorial.
I have an noc that is a bard so that he can entertain the players.
Solid ideas for making these types of session less daunting and unpredictable
I once managed to get three hours of pure roleplay session out of getting a seven-player party to (re)move an unwanted (and, frankly, hideous) tapestry from the royal palace on the king's behalf.
Cue three hours of the entire universe being convinced this national treasure, this work of art by a master, this piece of *history* had to be in its alcove. Surely the king couldn't be so...downright *uncultured* as to have it removed merely because he didn't like the way it looked? Surely that was mere madness, and all involved had to be mistaken.
That quest was eventually resolved when someone threw a necklace of fireballs at it. The entire necklace. At once.
The party loved it.
My personal favorite character to play is entirely build around rp. I am constantly looking for opportunities to have my character interact with the others in the party (usually one on one) in order to prepare for it I plan and analyze previous sessions to discover what thoughts and attitudes my character has.
In order to keep it interesting I keep most of my character information secret unless it is revealed through rp, the party has yet to learn of many motivations behind actions and habits.
My other favourite thing to do is to give players time limits to decide things in roleplay scenarios. The players are at a bard's show and see that he has the magic mcguffin on a string around his neck. I will secretly (or sometimes not secretly) set a timer for two minutes and give them that much time to figure out what they want to do. This cuts down on the lengthy and tedious discussions on what exactly they want to do, and forces people to make rash decisions that might have interesting roleplay consequences. Did they rush the stage? The crowd rises up to defend the bard? Did they try to shoot the string with an arrow? Now they're wanted by the local guards for assault. All sorts of interesting things can happen when people act under pressure.
I find that having a decent selection of fleshed out NPCs can really help the flow of the RP and make the experience and meetings really flow across into later sessions and really make the world feel alive.
One of my personal favorite episodes. I honestly have a background in improve acting and working renaissance festivals my entire life So i love the heavy role playing sessions as it forces me to be at my beat as a GM. I do minimal prep, usually only having 1 or 2 treats or hooks for the group, and i let the rest organically grow as the role playing happens
I was a bit surprised when he said that he would tell them to "Suck it up", interesting.
The fire breathing invisible cat and suck it up at 3:50 is why I subscribe 😂
My brother and I roll dice in 5e, we have had a truly phenomenal time working on back stories for our characters. It's really important for us and the rest of the troop to have strong RP.
I liked the idea of a wizard doing experiments on a cat. I'm gonna have to use it in my game, and it'll involve some rather awkward situations and character embarrassment. Thank you for the cool concept
There was number 4 in the weirdest of ways in my most recent session. The party was in a dungeon and found a pool that was a portal to a pocket dimension that was kept up by a rock spewing out water a la decanter of endless water. So taking it away slowly collapsed the whole place and killed all the fish in there who had lived in there for who knows how long. I didn't think this would become a moral dilemma but it ended up being one. Oh and the debacle ended when the roque stabbed the warlock (Whose upper half was in prime material and the lower in said pocket dimension) in the foot to convince her to leave it be.
Love your videos, they have given me so much inspiration! Keep them coming definitely a highlight when i see a new episode.
For extra rp heavy stints i typically bring down reference humor in character and place names. In-jokes, quippy shop names, something spiffy to keep them interested. They'll want to go anywhere if there's a fun shop name involved are a complete joke of a character they meet for a one-off encounter.
Great cut Cody! (great nickname too)
Thanks for the helpful tips, as always!
Heavy roleplay session prepped today actually, before watching this video. I'm introducing a new enemy next session, a little side arc. I reinforced my NPC's traits, bonds, ideals, and flaws, so I can use those motivations to fuel their actions later.
I'm so glad you made this video; I'm DMing for the first time soon and this really helps!
I find one of the best tips to engage your players in heavy RP sessions is "make it about the player" if your for example mentioning a characters backstory and working it in than it will make them feel good. Players love being the centre of attention and if you can make them feel important than they will get a thrill.
I've taken to using a facebook group to discuss/roleplay stuff like downtime, and those events help set up hooks for future games. That way when we do meet up, we can focus more on everything else. That's not to say we don't have any role-playing during sessions, it's just that with the group page the players have an outlet to flesh out theirs characters and what they do without having to worry about time constraints.
As a GM I like downtime reports. Some side stuff that does not drive a main or subplot and that only includes one or two PCs can leave the rest of the players feeling left out. I have the player(s) give me a short write up that describes this side foray that I later approve or tweak and perhaps roll into the larger story. Again, I only use this for some side junkets that seem like they could eat a lot of game time and leave a large chuck of the party feeling left out.
Okay, moral dilemma stories time:
My DM had us traveling for long distances to make it to the place of interest for our campaign. Along the road we were given the option of traveling with a slavers caravan that would speed up our travel time several-fold. Not only are we conflicted about whether or not to try to help the slaves in a world where slavery is common and socially accepted, but two players in specific had extremely divergent interests in the situation.
There were about 40 slavers of level three classes and above (we're level 7), and we had an NPC noble traveling with us that one of our fighters had sworn an oath to protect as she began her career as a young adventurer. Picking a fight with this caravan of slavers would be an exceptionally deadly encounter for this fledgling adventurer.
On the other hand, this particular shipment of slaves had come from my character's Homeland, with the slavers taking advantage of the chaos created by the civil war that was part of my character's backstory as a soldier, a war which he had joined in an effort to protect the small towns and people that he grew up with.
The debate raged back and forth in private among our party as we traveled with the caravan. In the end, the other player shackled my character to the side of our wagon while he was asleep to keep him from nuking the slavers during their meal time using his hexblade warlock spells. He would have thunder stepped out of his bonds and injured the entire party if it hadn't been for the little adventurer being in the radius of the blast.
Right after this in the same campaign, we had the choice of whether or not we would destroy a nest of dragon eggs. It was at this point that are characters collided once more. The fighter still wanted to protect the fledgling from the danger of dragons, but my hexblade was entirely against the destruction of innocent sentient life. The hexblade was a warlock of the Raven Queen, with the specific task of being one of her grim reapers in this world, but part of his pack said that he would only be forced to kill evil creatures and beings and thus lived as a bounty hunter to cover up his activities. He loathed the destruction of innocence and was lawful good answering to hire cosmic laws of Good and Evil.
I essentially have a couple of charts with NPCs and their general likeness, and that's about it. Sometimes I introduce villains or scenarios but generally only when the PCs do stuff that allows me too.
Can confirm #3 can be really memorable. As a huge group with two DMs, we wanted a side villain to do quests against when the main DM was gone. We weren't sure how to abruptly add a villain, so we added a friendly follower, a bit like "Buddy" from Incredibles. Dwarf Artificer who knew all about them and was a huge fanboy, who they FELL in love with. He was stolen by a medusa several sessions later, "corrupted" (no player was actually good, and all did questionable stuff, so it wasn't hard to justify), and lo he thought HE was the good guy, adding a warforged militia to "defend and uphold the peace and law" to any town he "saved", and none of them have ever let me forget they hated (and loved) that villain.
What you call a heavy roleplay session sounds like a really light experience to me. Because I've played a game, where almost each one of two sessions consisted of intimate talking between players inside their own microgroups. The story was divided between those groups, and at some point nobody in the party even know why we are travelling together
It's important to remember that rpgs have their origins in strategy games, and that does heavily influence how people think about them. Sometimes, a slice-of-life 'breather episode' can be good for the campaign - if your 1-10 scale is always at 11, you're not going to last very long.
Bwahahaahha! Fire breathing invisible cat...
Be an infernal chain lock, have an imp that turns to beast shape then goes invis and you can cast spells through it...or at least I think you can...maybe just touch spells.
Anyways, you Can raw give it a wand and have it blast away as a bonus action.
I prefer heavy role play sessions to heavy combat sessions. Role play is just so much fun in this game, I get to see how my fellow PC's and players react to situations where violence isn't preferred.
Heavy RP sessions are fun. a little down time for players to do their own thing is never a bad thing for theses sessions either. it definetly helps to have motivated pc's though. if you have pc's that love to make their own fun without necessarily always being presented with something to chew on this can be great. just make sure what they do doesn't derail the entire campaign
My Druid likes to talk to the plants usually trees. They can know a lot and are usually more willing to share than people
My players are almost all avid role players, so this advice us going to be golden for my DMing in general :D
"Tell 'em to suck it up."
*subscribes harder*
I love RP sessions. Last session in my main group we needed to get passage back north after completing a job. There was only one ship going north in the next weeks. The problem? The captain was a complete asshole. At first he demanded 100 gp (a reasonable price would've been 50) per person, then when we tried to essentially persuade him that "we won't be much trouble and we can help out on the ship" the response was basically "60 gp and you'll be doing heavy labour".
A short while later we returned with totally-legit not-at-all-forged legal documents commanding passage on behalf of the capital in one of the largest countries on the continent. As such, we got free passage with minimal work instead. Wonderful roleplay opportunities where we got to show off our characters and really fun to show how trying to scam us ends up with the scammer getting scammed. Really fun session.
I like heavy roleplay hooks that support the genre of my campaign. For example feasts, jousts, etc.
I do prepare for heavy RP sessions with good plot hooks but when they happen naturally it’s best.
Party finds Wyrmling green dragon after killing its mother, Druid and barbarian want to keep it and raise it, nurture vs nature, and the paladin and cleric want to kill it. That was a fun session
RP was always fun to do, but recently (about two-three months ago) I had my first real in depth RP, and it was about 40 minutes to an hour of me and the other PC talking to each other in character, sharing all we could because it had come to light that in order to keep working together, absolute trust would be required. DM was quiet pretty much the whole time, apart from laughing at the occasional joke, and told us at the end that the next session would need to be extra long because it would essentially become 2 in 1 from all our chatting.
Was a lot of fun though, and he wasn't mad, just slightly disgruntled at not getting to use about 80% of his prep.
One of my favorite RP sessions I have ever run was for a Star Wars (By Fantasy Flight Games) game when I had the prospective Jedi PCs find their Kyber Crystal's. I spent a few weeks talking with the players about their flaws (under the guise of fleshing their characters out a little bit more) then the fateful night came when we sat down at the table and the PCs began to delve into the crystal cavern in search for Rubat. I gave them so combat opportunities at the beginning and then, when they had gotten into the final leg of the cave, the Force split each of them. (I had 3 people going through the caves) at this point I took what they had told me about their characters (and what I had actually observed about their characters) and I applied it, giving each character a sort of dream sequence where the Force tried them to see if they were worthy. After they got their crystals they walked back to their ship only to find an Imperial task force was waiting for them, then I ended the session. My players loved it and were excited to return for the next game.
A former associate once just sent his players to visit one of the PC's father and sister, to discover that his ex moved in with them. It was a funny session, especially with party wizard determined to prove the ex is a vampire (she wasn't).
I’m literally running one tomorrow and this was very well-timed. Thank you!
Heavy role play sessions are my favorite, my main goal is to be able to deliver a rousing and heart felt speech to convince some one or group to join our cause.
Warning: This is not intended for an RP session, but instead for an entire RP game starting from 1st level to final level and spanning all sessions.
Could also "up the ante" as it were or so to speak a bit as well, by getting the pc's to slow down, and use more tactics and roleplay to succeed. Like introducing more unforgiving rules from the DM's Guide lol. Like the Gritty Realism rule for resting... Works for me. That alone sets the tone of a game, if you do it up front, before anyone has yet to roll any dice. The players quickly find they, when session 1 finally begins, that they need to roleplay and use tactics with a simple rule like that to succeed and be more conservative with resources. It actually encourages roleplay and tactics. And don't be afraid to make suggestions of things they can try, hold their hand for the first few sessions, that way they actually get an idea of what you mean. After that though, start slowly taking the pacifier away from them over the next few sessions. Be warned though, the Gritty Realism rule is for heavy RP games, and is very unforgiving if something goes wrong in game for the pc's; so talk it over with the players before introducing it, that way they know what to expect. But also you as the DM, will have to be willing to create small simple missions that will cause little to no harm for the pc's, on the side for when they are recuperating and that way they don't get bored. If you want say like for example, Dragon Heist, to be more RP heavy than it already is, then introduce Gritty Realism to the game. You will have to in turn, change the timed events and such for said adventure for the in case of things and pc's not quite being ready sometimes to take something on, but you will get the result you're looking for. Also, if you do introduce Gritty Realism, be sure to reward a player's efforts in roleplay and tactics a lot more often, as long as the roleplay and tactics make sense of course. For example, if they sneak up on an enemy without being detected, they don't roll for an attack and instead auto-kill said enemy, but only if they strike at a vital area to cause a mortal wound that will kill instantaneously or close to. Makes more sense this way as well, and should be done in any scenario like this regardless. That is the reward for making and succeeding all those stealth checks, and roleplaying, and using tactics to come up with a plan; assassinating the enemy target without fail, and the enemy doesn't fight back, because the enemy automatically drops to 0 hit points upon being assassinated. But here comes the real kicker: what do they now do to hide the body from the fallen enemy's comrades, and how well do they hide it? Have the player/s involved make a roll for deception (i.e. disguise check) when they try to hide it.
A heavy RP game is an entirely different animal than your average "hack and slash and now let's steam roll everything and move on to the next area" kind of game. This is what a rule like Gritty Realism prevents from happening. Though there is still plenty of hacking and slashing, just in a different light most of the time, and that is why you need to talk it over with your players so they understand that. If the pc with a bow, shoots at an enemy's head, and the enemy is not moving, the enemy is automatically dead if the winds are fair for such a shot to be made and stealth is involved. But, if the enemy is moving or the winds are blowing, same scenario, then they need to make an attack roll. Keep a healthy mix of non-moving and moving enemies, to give options for the pc's with ranged attacks. If a spellcaster tries the same thing, was the spell as quiet as a bow and arrow? Did anyone notice? Etc. And, normal combat rules resume if an actual scuffle or battle breaks out. But then that also means the pc's need to rest a bit before trekking forward and deeper, because it will be 7 in game days before they get their HP and used HD back with a rule like Gritty Realism. And who knows how much things will change by the time the pc's return... In a game like this, the DM is allowed, if the pc's leave for a significant amount of time, to replace enemies. The whole scenario becomes a little more real. A heavy RP game is a very "High Risk, High Reward" game. Decisions, decisions, for the pc's. Do they continue on, and risk dying? Or do they turn back, and try again at a later date, risking enemy posts to be refilled? Hmmm?
I run a very, very roleplay heavy group. I can't imagine any situation in which my players would appreciate me shoving a character in their background without their permission or even giving them a heads up outside the table, and not cause FAR more issues than anything.
DM here.
I front load my prep for a given adventure. I try to know who the PC's are ahead of time, which means a solid Session 0, and I try to know who the major NPC's are. Most of my games involve some kind of background plot that influences the adventure in some way, usually a political subplot but I've done things that set up the next arc or a recurring villain. My players are used to this, but they know that most of the NPC's they meet have their own motivations and agenda. My players know that by allying with one, they can make an enemy of another.
This isn't really a good answer because it involves a lot of work ahead of time, but when it pays off, it pays off big time. Interpersonal drama can be generated, between the PC's and NPC's as well as amongst the PC's themselves. It's never become a soap-opera game, but it has become more engaging.
Great episode. This is a subject not talked about often, and it behooves gamers to not try out more roleplay and drama in their games.
I like to do the same. It is work but the pay off is so worth it. Gives the players a sense of agency and in proves enjoyment all around.
Our group HATED having a competing group as a nemesis. It happened to us twice and each time we hated it. We have been playing together for about 35 years ... actually a few years more, i think.
I saw this really good one on Reddit about a medusa that left a journal revealing that the people that told them to kill the medusa were the real monsters all along (not actually monsters just really bad people)
www.reddit.com/r/DnDGreentext/comments/2cc629/the_medusa/?
I was running an Adventure League game with a rather air headed girl and it was a Curse of Strahd heavy roleplay session in Vallaki. She looked so bored the whole time, and kept trying to find stuff to steal.
I have a Beer 30 rule. Characters can declare it's Beer 30 and they hang up their adventuring gear and become regular people for a night. No trying to get information. No combat other than nonlethal arm wrestling or bar brawls. Throw darts, play cards, chat up or gossip with the gentlemen or ladies, sing and dance, you're off the clock. It lets them have fun, bond, and establish connections to the community.
Moral dilemma: in order to prevent an ancient dragon from awakening from a magical slumber there had to be a human sacrifice: "one life given to safe the lives of many". We play in a setting losely based on the Viking age and fate and nature spirits (who believe that death is a part of liefe to be accepted) play a huge role. That almost broke the group - real drama.
3:45 *several people are typing*
I actually 100% with you tho 😂
Same. The less backstory you give to your DM the more likely they're going to fill in the blanks for you.
My group is currently playing Dragonheist with some modifications I’ve made myself or other supplements I thought would be fun.
One of these was my cleric wanted to move up in ranking in his church. So I made faction missions like the other factions in the game. The first one was the Head priestess had the cleric track down a fellow clergyman who had developed a gambling addiction. They had to bring him back to the church and make sure he didn’t owe anyone money. The party found him in the yawning portal during a gambling night. (I made a group of people who go tavern to tavern and setup gambling games, blackjack, roulette, craps, etc.)
They had a blast trying to convince him to stop, they failed the checks to persuade him. The cleric talked the addict into playing blackjack with him instead of the company running the games. We used real cards and the cleric lost all his money to the addict, which made the addict even more confident that he was hot. The ranger tried to physically stop him but rolled poorly when the addict rolled well throwing the ranger to the ground. So the addict went and lost the rest of his gold playing blackjack then begged the cleric to help him get out of this debt. Saying he would go back to the church and go through counseling with the head priestess.
The ranger had loaded dice from his background which they had the rogue use to swap out the dice at the craps table with a sleight of hand check that the player used his inspiration on to succeed. They won back the addict’s debt and left with a little profit before the pit-boss became too concerned.
After it was done all the players said they had a blast and was one of the best sessions they’ve played.
I personally talk to my players before the campaign and throughout the campaign to give vague ideas that they are willing to latch onto for the story. Even a simple one is for a Druid who had a fondness for an Elk that is smarter than the average beast and leads them to a cave filled with light from plants and animals living in harmony only to see a fire that spreads unnaturally quick burning everything. Only to find the Elk had been heavily injured. All to find out it was intentional from a lackey from (insert bad organization).
I like to have every player have a side quest written related to the backstory, and ask the player for help with that. Completing it gives you something to make the related character stronger. Maybe add closure to the backstory and get a feet or fun heirloom magic item that is specifically designed to work well with that specific character.
I also think a role play session should end with at least one new enemy (maybe defeated) and one new ally depending on their choices. And the ally should act as an asset in someway.
I find that roleplaying intends to be more exciting in the middle of combat
As a player my dm tells us whether it'll be rp heavy or not. I used to be really uncomfortable with the thought of it (I'm a barbarian and it's my first time so I was stuck with the stigma of meat head) but our last session didn't have any combat and it was my favorite one.
Heavy RP sessions are the best sessions
Unless you're a Barbarian or Fighter. Because man, RP Heavy sessions without combat can make you feel useless, as you hardly get to use any of your class features compared to all other classes.
Yeah, strongly disagree. It depends on the game, but most heavy RP sessions I've had have ultimately been pointless.
@@croyvdk5919 Especially when your character is established as the kind who doesn't mess around with formality and social graces. It basically means "Okay, I guess I'll talk to you guys after the game, because I will have literally nothing to do."
One thing to beware of is that the players may like rp heavy sessions.
My group had a few sessions in a row that were rp heavy, and we learnt some new lore and met new NPCs and all the great things an rp heavy session brings. However last session we spent the entire session on an rp encounter that was only supposed to take uip an hour or so, making the DM hastily improvise a way to get the combat encounter over in as suck a time as possible to ensure next session would start smoothly. He underestimated our love for his rp sessions.
Been doing the Ashardalon arc in 5e. (It's been challenging) they get to Pandemonium and the very good cleric will not attack the angels if things go bad. Moreover the fighter formerly challenged Desayeus to a 1 on 1 for the soul totem. I rolled Desayeus was amused and made a formal group fight vs him, eliminating his adds as helpers. He over estimated himself lol
Downtime, heavy RP, or "Shopping Episodes" are the perfect place for me to mix in character backstory aspects, or advance character arc to the main plot. I find my players walk away from these sessions with smiles just as big as sessions that advance the plot significantly.
Just did a session where I surprised a player with an arranged marriage. It caused all sorts of fun as another character was developing feelings for the now engaged one
Good timing with this video. I will have a heavy rp session tonight.
3:19
As a player, I wouldn't appreciate this at all. I'd be willing to play along, but now you'll have to explain why my character doesn't remember this person at all. Even if it's a childhood friend, rival, sibling, parent, or even lover, I'd rather have control over the important figures of my character's backstory than have the GM meddle with it without consent or warning.
Because you know 100's and 100's of people from childhood. Unless you're giving the DM a complete list of all of them, it's perfectly reasonable that your character might know and have interacted with someone that the DM introduces.
I'm betting you even have 4-5 different 'best friends' from kindergarten through your early 20s, as you grew apart from old ones. Plenty of creative room here.
@@Taking20 I understand that my character can have ties to any number of people that the DM props up. However, if there's an important NPC that might come up connected to my character that I hadn't mentioned in my character's backstory, I'd rather be asked about making that change/addition, or at the very least, that the character's appearance be foreshadowed.
By the way, I love the video, it's rather helpful, and it will help me watch out for stuff during RP heavy sessions, I just have a gripe about that point specifically.
There's no reason for the character to not remember the new npc just because the player doesn't. I do this all time because there's no way for a player to create dozens of connections in their backstory. Usually they name may be two or three. All you do is "This is John, you went to magic school together. You never very close but hung out a few times. He has on his forehead the seal of the Evil Necromancer". It would be very weird for the player to have included the entire class register in their backstory but it's someone the PC has a connection to. Is the school doing this? Another source? Who knows
Other than having names and ideas ready, I don't prep any for RP heavy sessions. I did a 5 hour RP only session with my players that was completely ad-libbed. I didn't even know what they were going to do. As always, Kenny went left.
This is great, in #5 I was wondering if there is a new enemy, normally they roll initiative
As a DM: I try to make sure that I have all my names for NPCs and Locales down and ready. I hate when they go sideways and start asking for details that I haven't prepped for. I do OK "winging it" when it comes to activity, but Names kill me every time when I get put on the spot for it.
I ran a one-shot module for my group one week. The plot involved some mysterious, but brutal deaths in a town they were passing through. One of the things they discovered was a letter from one of the deceased, requesting a ‘special’ delivery to help defeat some mysterious entity that had been discovered in town. The party, seeking more information, showed the letter to the head of the local church. Unfortunately, as it turned out, said priest *was* the mysterious entity (a werewolf) and was planning to slaughter most of the town during a festival feast, where he was going to turn a young woman who had been infected with lycanthropy.
So, they ended up entering the final fight *without* the blade which the deceased knight had sent off for. A blade which would have given their monk a weapon with which she could actually harm the werewolves.
I could barely keep a straight face when they handed over the letter, but the look on their faces when the priest shifted into his ‘hybrid/battle’ form to kill them, and drew that blade to fight them.
The fact that the movie's bastardization of Faramir made into this video as canon makes me want to cry
Sorry, I could get through LotR books, after I realized I was 125 pages into Fellowship and I was still reading about fucking Tom Bombadil. Ugh, and I loved the Hobbit, quick fun read.
As for LotR, give me Jackson's version.
Like the new cut!
Thanks! I haven't had a mohawk in years... but was feeling a change
Good points
I use moral dilemmas all the time.
Good video