GM Advice on Teaching new players to RP

[Asphere]

I usually DM for people who have played roleplaying games for years. Currently, however, I have a group of players who are completely new to tabletop rpgs. We are approaching level 3 and they all have a pretty good grasp on the basics and how to play their characters but they are terrible at RPing. They discuss things out of character, RPing encounters are awkward and mostly silent. How can I encourage them to stay in character, discuss tactics in character, and to role play?

[Dorje Sylas]

That's like asking them to act when they've been taught how. First question, how old is everyone? Age can play a big part in how comfortable they feel roleplaying.

Personally I've take a few lessons from some rather well done video games over the years (most notably Mass Effect) when it comes to dealing with staying in character with RP encounters.

Here is my general layout to break the ice.

1) Have them pick two Traits from this list and then create/pick one that would a contradictory trait. Do not use the Stat's element, just the RP guideline parts. These will help give them a way to feel consistent.

2) Posse to them a set of hypothetical RP questions and have them create 3 general responses to most situations a Good (Paragon), Neutral, and Evil (Renegade). These can two or three words to maybe a short sentence. Then help them expand that to a thematically more appropriate response.

3) Go look up some of the Star Wars Old Republic dialog footage, and read up on how that works in multi-player situations. Frankly it's rather brilliant.

[pjackson]

You seem to be equating acting with role-playing.
They are not the same and it is possible to do either without doing the other.
For me most role-playing occurs in the mind - thinking about what the character thinks and about how the character would act.
Talking in character I find difficult, especially when playing characters with more social skills than I have.
I do recognize that acting out what my character would say helps other players.

To answer your question though, if your players are adults treat them as such and discuss the matter with them.

[Asphere]

Not really. They don't have to act. They don't have to do funny voices or express emotions or anything like that. I do want them to use their character names, make decisions that agree with whatever personality and set of morals they have given their character, and I would love it if they would describe what they were doing not like "I am moving my figure two squares to the left so I can flank" and more like "I am running 10 feet to my left to get behind this guy". Little things like that...

They have no problems with it and are excited to add this dimension to their game - I am just looking for more methodical ways to encourage them to do so (very much like what Dorje Sylas suggested..thanks by the way).

I get what you are saying about actors though. I DMd for a group of strangers once and this guy played a half-orc and he opened his mouth and this weird grumbly voice came out and I nearly fell out of my chair in a giggling fit. This other girl would speak in a British accent when talking as her elf - why is the elf British? She annoyed the hell out of me.

[Gnomezrule]

Use what little background if any they gave you, if none get one from them. Use it in the plot and when you address them probing for response.

Its okay to pull it out of them at first. Probably most important is to do a lot of RP as DM. They need ot see it in action. People want to play characters that cool to them. If they are not talkative in character have the cute barmaid point out one of them is not much of a talker, even insult the character. When they comment causlly to a serious mater have the NPC react like that they are not taking the matter to heart. I learned more from my mistakes rping my first few characters based only on the NPC's reactions. When their heroes are disliked by a few NPC's for being sarcastic to the NPC quest giver.

[Mandisa]

First off, I'd agree that you have to be the example. If you want them to respond in-character, then address them in character. When we're playing (as opposed to metagaming), I try to always address the PC's by name and keep eye contact. It's also an old teachers' trick for grabbing wandering attentions :)

Discussion of tactics is a bit tricky, because you have to give them a sense of what you expect and what you'll allow. If you want in-game maneuvers rather than on-mat maneuvers, try keeping your descriptions mostly in-game, and then just indicate on the map what corresponds to what. You can also try describing stuff that's not readily apparent on the map, but lends to the immersive feel, like what's on the ceiling or walls, or odd looks from the NPCs (or environment sounds). I'm still trying to coax my players to try *using* stuff in the environment, but they seem to be getting the feel at least.

Also, I like to encourage PC-PC roleplay in addition to PC-NPC scenarios. It's easier to introduce outside of combat, but in a situation where all the PCs are unlikely to have the same/similar plan of action, otherwise it may devolve into one person taking the lead for the group. One-on-one PC-PC interaction is a bit less stressful, since there's less fear that there's a "right answer" or that a misstep will piss off the DM (or NPC).

Along those lines, a trick I picked up in the 4E DMG2 was to set up a couple players as NPCs to act out something rather than just describing it myself. I whispered just a quick setup/end to each player separately, and then had them act it out however they liked. I've given them the endpoint, the "right answer", and so they're free to trip up or hesitate however much they like. Minimizing that fear of performance failure seems to be the main/first challenge to getting players to loosen up.

[Hama]

pjackson wrote:

You seem to be equating acting with role-playing.

They are not the same and it is possible to do either without doing the other.
For me most role-playing occurs in the mind - thinking about what the character thinks and about how the character would act.
Talking in character I find difficult, especially when playing characters with more social skills than I have.
I do recognize that acting out what my character would say helps other players.

To answer your question though, if your players are adults treat them as such and discuss the matter with them.

I will have to respectfully disagree with you.

Roleplaying is acting to an extent. You act out your character's emotions, ideas, opinions and decisions.
I think that using voices is quite silly, unless it helps immersion.
Roleplaying in the mind isn't really roleplaying, as nobody else is privy to that. Acting on what your character thinks, however, is.

I, for one, insist that nobody uses third person when refering to their character, and to actualy say what their character says, not i say this.

The point of roleplaying games IS to an extent to play people different than yourself, perhaps vastlt different. And the challenge is to roleplay that.