Overact or play characters prone to be overacted, works for Nicolas Cage :p
I.e. a Dwarf barbarian has got that "stereotype" label: speak loudly, drink beer, etc.. not original, but works.
About the natives attack, maybe the DM just wanted to put you in a situation where you have to think and realize that you have to flee.
Another good way to do is forget about your character and his motives, think of your own. Serpents' Skull, your on a beach, you feel sick, you just got attacked by ugly lobster things how would you feel think or whatnot.
A lot of times its easier when your still learning to roleplay if you think more about what you would do/think/feel and than start adding little things like PathfinderEspañol suggested dwarves drink, elves talk about nature etc... or weird things your character might do like say 'eh' all the time or something or other.
Just keep trying, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it :).
Hope you don't take my words as an attempt to intimidate anyone....i've been a player and a GM for about 30 years now, and like me many many others on these threads. I could tell you that anyone has his way of how he thinks a char should be played, but that won't help much. I usually start thinking what a char of a given heritage/race/profession/whatever is doing in whatever environment he is atm; a great help is usually given by race/class description in the rulebooks: a dwarf would react very differently in some situation than an elf. In an outdoor quest usually rangers/druids/barbarians are the ones who should act the most, since they are in their professional area....the same characters will be hindered in an urban setting, where fighters/rogues are usually best suited for.That doesn't have to mean that if you are a ranger and your party is traveling in a city you have to set yourself on "stand by modality". You are a living person in a living world,you have needs and wishes like anyone else, and surely if your group is in that city you are there for a reason.To let you have enough info to allow you to enjoy your role is your GM's job...so maybe you just need to talk more with him.
Some people take their fun very seriously indeed. Sometimes the play style of players at the table can be incompatable. I know that sometimes we all think that "we are all gamers and everyone should just get along" but not all gamers can or should. Have a think about if you want to continue playing with that group.
To answer your actual questions try some of these:
Try to minimize Out Of Character chatter at the table - if your talking about last nights TV your not focused on the game.
Try to talk in character as much as possible, especially in combat, when descibing actions your PC takes.
Use first person instead of second or third. "I open the door" instead of "Hastor the Strong opens the door" or "My character opens the door".
As for reading other people emotionally, that is a skill you can develop, and the gaming table is a good place to practice.
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You don't give anyone's specific ages, but I'd guess the reason the older players will be more serious about staying focussed, is not that they are luvvie actors or drama majors, but that they simply don't have as much free time to game as they did when they were teens.
Heavy workload, commuting, meals to cook, kids to put to bed, all of these eat up potential gaming time, especially for the GM, who has an adventure to read (or write!), statblocks to copy, obscure abilities to check, minis to paint, etc.
Every moment of potential game time is valuable to those older gamers.
And it's not just the five minutes wasted on a side conversation, or on a 'pointless' activity; it's the five minutes after that, reminding everyone where they were and what was happening.
If you can show them that your side-chat isn't interfering with you following the action, you're having the perceived problem.
GMing, preparing and running the game are big heap of work, so you can earn yourself a lot of brownie points if you offer to share some of that load.
Start by ensuring that you, personally, are as organised as possible.
Have a neat PC sheet, with all typical modifiers (Power Attack, Raging, Wildshaped) worked out in advance.
Print out any domain abilities, school powers, feats, spells, etc that you're likely to need during the session.
Apart from saving time (which is reason enough to do it), by reducing page-flipping, you avoid having to break character, to discuss what page the rule is on, or what book.
If the GM hasn’t already done so, build a deck of cards with the stats of the usual summoned creatures, so the conjurer/druid/summoner player can get through his turn quicker.
When it’s not your action, offer to help look up things for the other players or GM.
Not only does this save time during complicated encounters, it gets you used to the layout of the books and improves knowledge of the rules (which you say are new to you).
Improved knowledge of the rules allow you to make believable decisions for your PC.
Keep track of the initiative, and number of rounds elapsed for spells and status effects. Make sure to mention things in the GM’s favour, like when that fleeing creature shakes off its panic, or the ray of enfeeblement wears off the ogre.
If you’re doing this, you’re showing that you’re paying attention to what’s going on around your PC, so his actions are based on his reality. And you’ll get the benefit of the doubt, if you can show that any off-topic talk you do slip through hasn’t caused you to forget what’s going on.
Do you have a minis collection, for wargaming, CMGs or other RPGs?
Build your PC around a specific figure you already own, especially one that is already painted and based, and been used in a game. If it’s a unit champion, or solo hero, you may have already practiced getting into that character, talking smack across the table in a challenge (“It’ll take more than a stupid troll to knock Gotrek Gurnisson off this bridge!”).
Offer to help find appropriate figures for the other PCs, animal companions and alllied NPCs.
As GM, I have far better things to do than look for figures to represent PCs, cohorts and henchmen.
Finding figures to represent the GM’s forces is more tricky, since he’s not going to give out spoilers, but if you stopped on a cliffhanger, and you know full well what you’re going to be facing next week, let him know that you’ve got (for example) a tribe of spear-wielding natives, or a lizardfolk army, so he doesn’t spend his weekend needlessly rooting up in his attic.
Do you hang out, outside of the game, at all (either with the oldies or the other newbie)?
If you don't see each other between sessions, more time is likely to get eaten up by out-of-character chatter.
Even if you don't, if you meet up with the other new player just before the game, to catch a bus, hail a taxi or get a lift, use that time to get it all out of your system, whether it be last night's TV, the performance of your sports team, whatever. Get your game head on during the journey, so you can hit the table running.
Sounds like you doing everything you need, and as you say Roleplaying is a skill and it does not jump up fully formed when sit at a gaming table for the first time. A character background is always a help in getting into character, even if no one else ever sees it, it can help you start thinking "what would X do or say?"
Good Luck and may all your dice roll well!
Well I think you can try to model you characters on celeb characterrs you know, be it from TV, comics, novel etc.
Don't try to play a "difficult to roleplay" characters, make it simple, give him some simple traits then you'll see that, with the "field" experience you can add more and more flavour based on the adventure yout characters has lived.
I have a friend who always do that : he makes a simple character with basic background and his character evolved along what he live in game... For example if his character is betrayed by an elf in game he will be very cautious with every elf... If some native attacked him for no reason he'll have a grudge against this natives for a long time, except if his character learn that he was on the native sacred territory and then he can excuse them and be repentant etc. etc.
Briefly : make it simple at the beginning, and make your character evolve... ;)
Check out episode 29 of this podcast Narrative Control
The episode is called ice breakers and theres a great explanation and example of an excersize that can help get you into roleplaying (your dm and group members would need to participate or at least your dm). Barring that, pick up a copy of the card games werewolf and/or once upon a time. Both of those are great intro's to some of the basic elements of roleplay (free form story telling with potential concequences in particular). These you could even play with your wife and other friends to get the hang of them.
These things or things like them have worked wonders for begginers at my table in the past, I really recommend them strongly.
Having detailed backgrounds and motivations for your characters is important, but the MOST important things you need to pick up to be a competant roleplayer is (in my opinion) Thinking on your feet, and building on a story other people give you. The 3 options above (the excersize in the podcast and the two card games) are a great way to practice both of those.