[Blinded Guardian]

Hi, I have been playing DnD for four years now, and i always enjoy it.
However we find it hard to keep in roleplay throughout, looking back on games, i can see its impossible, with all the checks and stuff, but are there any tips to help the roleplay.
We tried adding LARP elements but then we thought why not just LARP then?
So any sugesstions would be good?
Thx in advance.

[3dom]

2 solutions from what I know;

1) For only one or two players, incur xp penalties for non-roleplay.

2) Get into the groove or the "stop to smell the flowers" theory.
Once I had heard of a really good idea, in which characters would go off on a mini-mission and roll no die whatsoever. With less "gamey" parts to worry about, roleplay is easier to focus on. That could work really well for you. Do something diplomatic, or a Challenge of champions from a dungeon magazine.

Hope this helps some.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Naturally, if you want players to roleplay, give them opportunities to roleplay. There's no point asking them to roleplay if you just let them roll Gather Information, Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidate checks at every turn.

A well-written backstory and personality is always a good thing to have. If there's lots of info on how the character acts and behaves, it's easier for the player to get an idea of how to roleplay them.

Lastly, for good PC roleplaying, try to roleplay the NPCs well too. The players will find it easier if they examples of how characters should act in-game, and well-done NPCs are a good method to do this. Mentor NPCs, parental NPCs, and other such rolemodel type characters are good, they generally have profound effects on their apprentices, and are well placed for both the backstory and personality of a character.

[Sitraahra]

when making anew character, If I don't jsut summerise a characters background, I'll write a very short story about whatever event lead them down their current path.

ASk yourself questions about the cahracter feels about different things: is he or she a foody? sarcastic? cold and collected? THen explain why they are that way. Lastly and most importantly, explain when they AREN'T that way...nobody is anything all the time, and it will lend more realism if your evil cahracter is head-over-heels in love and becomes tongue tied, or your cool and uncaring character gets really emotiinal when it comes to foriegn policy...or perhaps cheese quality.

In other words, doa nything to break a charact out of two-dimensionalism.

Another thing you can consider is a change in attitude midway. Perhaps the haughty fighter finds himself humbled by anothers simple actions, and begins to question his life, or the wizard who seeks goodness and new spells becoems despondant and depressed over the 'hopeless cause' of good. One thing that has sometimes bothered me is when people get so caught up in their character idea, they can't even imagine the character changeing, but change is part of life and will dynamiclly propulse the charter into becoming more three dimensional

[JosephBlackly]

Before I moved, and before our DM was brutally attacked by life and had to stop the game, I quite enjoyed playing my lizardman. Compared to, well, the rest of the party, I was horribly underpowered. I had the least equipment for the longest time (or at least tied with Celest), I had creature HD and level adjustment to deal with, and I was trying to be good when our self-proclaimed leader was terribly evil.

Good times.

He was one of those "was evil himself then saw the light" characters. A brutal preditor, humbled by a wondering monk who he happened to attack. With a feeling that the week should die to the strong, it blew his mind that the monk didn't finish him off. After that, he did the whole "soulsearching" thing, nearly starved himself to death, and was nursed back to health by fey. Horray for exalted druids.

A great quirk I got to play was when faced with combat, he often lost himself in battle. He often threw down his mace and shield, and proceeded to fight tooth and claw. No magic, no wild shape (didn't have it anyway), and not even that much Strength; just 2 claws and a bite. Was it safe? Nope. Was it logical? Not usually. But it was fun, and let me roleplay the fact that deep down, he still had that "killer instinct" that he was trying to bury.

...But I digress.

Good RPing tip, if you can trust a word I say... And I suppose Sitraahra already more or less said this... Always give yourself a quirk or flaw. Nothing causes roleplay like a character trait that is completely contrary to your basic character concept. The near-sighted archer, the barbarian of scholar-like knowledge, or the half-elf/orc who refuses to believe that he's not a full-blooded human...

[Blinded Guardian]

Cheers guys, i have taken this all aboard.