Roleplaying 101 (mostly for new folks)

[thedougalbug]

Hey everyone,

I don't know if this thread exists yet and please forgive me if it already does or if I'm posting in the wrong place.

I figured it might be an idea (since this is the non FG part of the forums) to have a thread for people that have questions or maybe fears about roleplaying in the games that FG supports.

So here it is! Feel free to contribute tips or stories or ask questions about the art of roleplaying and help new players avoid common traps that new players might fall into!

I think I'm like most players on this forum and have played D&D for decades, but like any community, it only survives if more players join!

So welcome! And fire away!

[Zacchaeus]

As a DM you need to perfect the Pirate Voice in which all NPCs speak. :)

[thedougalbug]

As a DM you need to perfect the Pirate Voice in which all NPCs speak. :)

Having played countless games with Zacc as my DM, I can say this is absolutely true!

[LordEntrails]

Arrrgh!

[thedougalbug]

Arrrgh!

6/10 but points for effort!

[dulux-oz]

OK, my $0.02 worth (& its a good idea thedougalbug - well done),

Check out the blog posts as well as the forums here on the FG site - the more exposure both players and GMs have to others' ideas and ways of doing things the better a gamer we'll all become, and blogs are an excellent way for someone to get their ideas and such down and disseminated.

Newbies (& there's nothing derogatory in that term in my mind - I was an FG-Newbie myself back in 2011-12), if you haven't done so already, let me encourage you to take a look at some of the great Tutorial Videos available on the Fantasy Grounds Wiki (and on YouTube). Damn's are good, as are Xorn's, and people seem to like mine as well (mine are also available from the links in my sig, below). Start with the vids on the CoreRPG, because the CoreRPG forms the foundation of just about all the RPGs we play with Fantasy Grounds - so by learning how to use FG with the CoreRPG you'll learn about 80% of what you'll need to know to play any RPG with Fantasy Grounds. Once you've gone through the CoreRPG Videos you can then go on to Videos about your chosen RPG. When you get familiar with the basic Fantasy Grounds product the next step is to check out some of the Extensions (Plug-Ins) for FG, such as the DOE: Sound, DOE: Locations, DOE: Weather and DOE: Organisations Extensions (to name a but a few).

Don't be afraid of trying out different RPG-systems. Yes, 5th Ed D&D is big at the moment, but there are a fantastic lot of other games and game-systems out there, so give as many of them a try as you can - you will be glad you did.

If you have the unfortunate experience of ending up in a game or with a group that you just don't "jell" with - that's OK. We all have that happen to us at least once in this hobby. Don't make the mistake that just because you find an @sshole in a game that all gamers are @ssholes - simply move on to another gaming group and try again. Don't let a bad experience or two sour you on a particular RPG or on the hobby as a whole.

Don't be too concerned with "the Rules" - your job as a player is to have fun and tell the combined story that your gaming group is telling. It's the GM's job to worry about the rules and the mechanics - you as the player should simply enjoy the story/game. Having said that, do take the time to at least learn the basics of your chosen game-system, especially the parts that pertain to your character in particular. Learn how the spell-system works if you're a mage, or how the Turning rules work if you're a cleric, for example - you'll endear yourself to your GM by taking some of the massive workload of running the game off his/her shoulders. I know that this sounds contradictory, but what I'm getting at is learn the rules without focusing on only learning the rules and becoming a Rules-Lawyer - focus instead on the story.

Some people disagree with me on this, but most people who have gamed for a few years recognize and realize that what we're doing as we play is we are telling a story! We may be experiencing this passively or we may be super-active participants in the story's construction, but either way we are telling stories, and we're doing it in a way far better than a novelist or a director or a screenwriter - we're doing it as a group, which means none of us know exactly where the story is going and how we're going to get their in the end, even if we do know the end destination (as the GM). This, IMNSHO, is what makes RPGs so unique and so much fun - I can craft beautifully detailed plots and sub-plots for my players and yet, even after 3-4 years of the campaign and of knowing how these guys react to things, they can still surprise me and take the plot in directions which I would never of thought of - and that's great!

And finally, keep on asking questions - we're a pretty friendly lot here, and we love answering questions.

Cheers

PS For the record - AAARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! :p

[thedougalbug]

Wow Dulux, this is amazing!

I totally agree with all of your points and it's exactly what I had in mind!

Thanks for the contribution bud!

I guess my biggest tip for players is to try your best to get to know your own character. While this might sound a little strange since they're fictional but what I mean is look at his/her background, abilities, skills and try to shape how they would react or be in social environments.

My first D&D experience was when I was 5 years old and I joined my brothers at our dinner table to play. I was Thenek Rumblebelly - Dwarven Fighter that wielded a battle axe and wore a helmet with a huge spike on top. Now being 5, my initial reaction in any fight was to dip my head down and charge into the nearest enemy stupid enough to still be standing there, spiking them with the helmet without so much as a "by your leave." As an adult I'm far more cautious now... sometimes, but this is an example of acting as the character, not me.

Basically what I'm saying is don't be scared to suggest things that you wouldn't do, but your character might. The best moments in any RPG happen when the DM rewards something unexpected, out of the ordinary! And trust me if your DM thinks you're starting to become a distraction to the story or the game, a good one will let you know!

[drakonin]

As a DM I just pick a character or actor and imitate them the best I can, which is not even close most of the time but it gives every NPC a unique voice. Also assigning one quirk to each NPC really helps.

[Xydonus]

Don't be afraid to split the party up! ... Or 'let' the party split up!

Now, many GM's favour artificial glue; they'll go out their way to ensure that the party stay together, which is fine. Some GM's, particularly newer less experienced ones find that splitting up a party can be stressful on their workload and could in some cases hurt the flow of the story. Even veteran GM's may feel it can hurt the game if the party split up. It can also depend on the type of ruleset your playing. This is more down to personal choice than anything else.

For me, there have been many moments in my current campaign in which I GM that the party ended up separated. Usually there were valid reasons for such separation, and each time it happened, it impacted the story in a positive way. There was even a time that the party were split up over the course of 3 sessions into 3 different groups! Because of that, the story continued in a direction that I hadn't expected, and as a result, it created some hilarious moments in the story that I wouldn't have gotten if I decided to try and 'discourage' party splitting.

Now, lets not forget that this is a 'party' game after all and it could reach a point that it could actually hurt the game. That's where the GM needs to step in, if it gets to that point. I'm never a fan for what I like to call the 'God Slap' in which the GM will force players to commit to a certain way of playing or stop them from doing something. I've had it happened to me as a player, and its not nice when it does happen. My personal belief is that your better off without artificial barriers and invisible walls cause your group of players are here to get lost in a fantasy setting. Soon as you interfere in that setting, the immersion breaks away.

So the best way to actually discourage splitting up rather than outright saying 'No!' to the players (something you should never do) is to remind them of the dangers of splitting up. Something I did in my campaign to great effect. Two particularly nasty separate encounters resulted in the party being much more cautious and a willingness to stay together. A far better solution than getting god slapped by the GM. Should also point out that the encounters should feel 'right' cause you run the risk of breaking the immersion the same way as if you god slapped them by introducing encounters that obviously do not fit for the time/place/setting.