Why not have an NPC ask those questions?
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As above, one of the simplest ways would be to have an NPC try to initiate a conversation between the characters.
That should ease the players into the practice of talking about each other, then they may start doing it naturally over time.
Another method, though not to everyone's taste, is to have the players taken prisoner somewhere where they know they'll be interrogated and asked about each other.
Most of the time I'll give out little rewards for good interactions... normally something small like a temporary bonus to knowledge or other skill checks (sort of as if they learnt something from the other player).
If the players really get into the characters and excel as a group with their roleplay then I'll consider a permanent boon or a chance to find something rare in our world.
Another thing that can be useful is to encourage players to make characters who are interesting enough to be worth talking to in the first place. Ask them questions during character generation: "What was your relationship with your parents?" "What secrets do you have that you would only tell a trusted friend?"
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Id caution "in-game" bonuses in my experience they always lead to secondary problems. Players will engage because it gets them a treat, not because they want to. Not in every instance, and not at every table, but in my experience it comes up too often to make it a viable strategy.
Id try and plant the seeds through campaign and/or players guide. You could also simply say to the group, "I'd like to see more of this at the table." I find folks usually respond positively to player/GM requests when they realize what they happen to be.
Good luck.
Maybe try Savage Worlds' Interludes?
In most heroic tales, characters engage in small talk that reveals something about their past or further develops their personality. Such “Interludes” are rare in roleplaying games where we focus primarily on action and the next encounter. The system below formulizes these scenes and rewards players for roleplaying their character and revealing their backstory to the rest of the group.Running an Interlude: The Game Master should run an Interlude during natural down-time such as when healing up after a fight, performing research, or between legs of a long trip. To start, pick a player and have her draw a card. The Suit determines the general topic as shown on the Interlude Table below. Each entry requires the player to tell a story in the voice of her character. The tale should be substantial enough to take a few minutes and may draw in other characters’ participation as well. The next time the Game Master feels an Interlude is appropriate, he should pick a different player so that everyone has a chance to participate and reap the rewards.
► Rewards: After a player completes her tale, award her a Benny or an Adventure Card—her choice.
Interlude Table
• Clubs—Tragedy: Describe a tale of tragedy or misfortune from your hero’s past, featuring one of his Hindrances if possible. If the teller has a dark secret of some kind, hint strongly at it, drop clues, or otherwise give the rest of the group a glimpse into your hero’s dark side during your narrative.
• Spades—Victory: Tell the group about a great victory or personal triumph in your adventurer’s past. How did it affect him afterward? Was there a reward?
• Hearts—Love: Speak fondly of the character’s greatest love—lost, found, or waiting on him back home. What is her name? Where does she live? Why is the traveler not with her now?
• Diamonds—Desire: Tell a tale about something your hero wants (or already has). It might be a material possession, recognition, a political goal, or even a trip he wishes to take to some amazing destination.
Set it up so everybody tells an Interlude if they want, around the campfire or at the table in an inn or something. Bennies in this case are replaced by Hero Points.
One of the reasons I prefer games that start with the assumption that the players know each other, even if just loosely. As GM, I create connections between the characters.
What did [PC#1] do to earn your trust?
What family member does [PC#2] remind you of? Why?
At first you thought [PC#3] was dead weight, how did they prove you wrong?
[PC#4] helped you out of a jam. What was it and how did they do it?
I give the nucleus of what the relationship is, but they fill out the details that are appropriate for both characters.
Backstory Cards can be a useful tool. You can use it if you have a developed setting, or you can even use them to develop the setting.
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Id caution "in-game" bonuses in my experience they always lead to secondary problems. Players will engage because it gets them a treat, not because they want to. Not in every instance, and not at every table, but in my experience it comes up too often to make it a viable strategy.
Id try and plant the seeds through campaign and/or players guide. You could also simply say to the group, "I'd like to see more of this at the table." I find folks usually respond positively to player/GM requests when they realize what they happen to be.
Good luck.
You definitely have to take caution when considering using rewards to encourage players to perform and interact, I find it best to not have a set in stone "you'll get x for doing y" but rather go for a more random when the situation seems appropriate boost.
Bigger rewards, I'd only ever do once or twice in a campaign when the players have taken the story to a whole new level with the way they're playing as a group.With temporary bonuses, I sometimes won't event tell the player they have that bonus.
For example in a stealth situation in a town/city where the player needs to steal from a target, I may reduce the DC by a fraction and say something like "because [player] is from this region and told you about the local customs, you find it easier to blend in with crowd as you stealthily close in on the mark".
The player making the check might then see that as encouragement that anything they learn from another player has the potential to benefit them later in the story.
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One of the things that I just can’t seem to get right in any of my PbP games (with one exception, and sadly, that player has left the boards) is how to get players to see something of interest to their characters in another player’s character.
I mean it’s one thing for a character to “say” something to another character, but I practically never see one character ask anything of another character like, “where do you come from?” or “How much did you pay for that axe?”
Let alone see a player in OOC thread ask questions about other player’s characters abilities, goals, ideas.
Does anyone have any ideas for how to encourage players to be interested in the other characters in a game, without making it seem like you, as the DM, are beating them over the heads about it?
No clue. In real-life RPGs, we have trouble staying on topic because of too many of these sort of things.
For the online game, are you allowing the PCs to view eachother's character sheets? Being able to see the character sheets of their allies would certainly reduce the need to converse in-game. Suggest making them keep the character sheets secret, so the players have to ask in game.
Doing introductions at the start of each session, is also a good option. Typically introductions include points of pride for the character, their projected role in the party, their name or the name they want to be called, and goals the character may have. And this should all be role played, and otherwise descibed using in-game terms.
For example, the classic arrogant elven wizard would be something like:
"And I, you ask, am Dadalus the Mighty, Master of the Written Spell, and a Proud member of the most superior Elven race. Yes, that Dadalus, I can tell by your looks, that you've heard of me. Although you are lesser races, I have graced your presence by the request of the Pathfinder Society, and will cover any arcane needs that should arise in the course of our adventure. I also dabble in cartography and linguistics, yes, I have those amazing skills too. You <looks for strongest looking party member>, yes, you will carry my things <hands the character a lightweight backpack filled with scroll cases, ink and quills>."
If you note, I haven't described the character as a wizard. He is a wizard, but he doesn't describe himself as one directly, because classes are mostly an out of character thing. Yeah, you can use the terms in game, but they shouldn't always reflect the actual classes (mostly because people make assumptions based on classes). He only mentions he's an elf because being an elf is really import to his sense of self and is a point of pride. Although unmentioned directly, the need for others to carry his things implies a lack of ability to carry them himself - he lacks both the strength and the constition do carry his lightweight backpack. He doesn't mention religion because religion isn't something he has particular interest in.
Although the character sounds like a very annoying person, arrogant elves can be really fun for the players to have in the party.
Hook ability to help into character interactions. Has the wizard grown up in an environment with that type of lock? Talking to the rogue might grant a +2 to to open a lock.
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You might try what I did for my meatspace Hell's Rebels game, which I shamelessly stole from Fate Core - the phase trio.
Basically, I handed out a blank index card to each of the players, and asked them to write a short adventure that they had in the city. After they finished, I gathered them up, and randomly passed them back out, ensuring that nobody got their own. That player had to expand on the story, describing how they assisted the original character in that adventure. The cards were gathered up again, and once again randomly distributed, ensuring that everyone had a card they had not seen in the previous two rounds. That third person would describe how they also assisted.
At the end, this ensured that each PC knew two of the other PCs, at least tangentially. My players really seemed to like it, so I'm probably going to use this again at some point in the future.
Not really, Substitute index cards for PMs and it works just fine.