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So I'm DMing a game with some really brilliant players but one of my friend has trouble getting into character and coming up with things on the fly in terms of character and role play. He's a really smart guy who loves the story aspect of RPGs but feels really uncomfortable engaging and coming up with dialogue in character on the fly. I was hoping that you could share some tips to help him feel more comfortable or to encourage getting into it a bit more. Thanks in advance.
Is this person shy or socially awkward?
If you are playing in a public venue (Friendly local gaming store) this can be a problem for people with social anxiety or shyness. Also can be a problem if your gaming table at "home game" is frequently beset with non-players.
If you have a secure environment, the next aspect you should assess is group dynamics. Are your other players judgmental and discouraging without realizing it? Often times trying to coax people to do something they aren't comfortable with doing, makes your encouragement feel patronizing or hostile to them. Make sure you aren't pushing too hard.
Lastly, and this one is the hardest part, as the GM you can alter the game so the story aspect hinges on a few important in-character moments. Essentially play up the "choose your own adventure" aspect of the story, but without obviously outlining the paths. Force him into a conversation with an NPC that really wants to know details about his mindset, and really cares about an emotional engagement. And the result of that conversation is the hook that pushes the next leg of the story.
It's not really a carrot or stick argument, it is more simply focusing on the value that role-playing moments can have on the narrative.
Alternately, you can get whoever is his closest friend at the table (or whoever he has the best rapport with) and put their characters in a scene that requires thought and interaction, and let his friend lead him in an in-character conversation. If two characters end up with a "buddy style" in play, it tends to pull more role-playing out of both players. A Dynamic to play off of can manifest entire scenes that you don't have to plan that they will create and drive with their own goals and motivations.
(Option 2 is probably the easiest to accomplish without making him feel manipulated)
I haven't played with my regular group in too long, but most of them would start each session being a little awkward getting into character, only to gradually get into the mood as the game progresses.
Essentially we'd get stuck talking in generalities, saying things like "Then I talk to the guard and try to convince him to let us pass," instead of actually saying, in character, what your character would say to the guard. This not only makes the game go by a little too quickly in some situations, but it feels bland and kind of cold. It's efficient for very minor conversations (arranging a room at an inn, etc) but it's a shame to gloss over more important scenes that way.
I think we all found that the phrase "My character would say something like..." really helped get the words into our mouths. It sounds really generic, but in no time you're speaking for your character and it's suddenly easier to get into it. Once an in-character conversation gets started, I find it's hard to stop, so it's often just a matter of getting over the initial hump.
Something else that could help is talking about tense and perspective. Some players are more comfortable speaking about their character in first person ("I open the door") and some prefer third person ("Thog opens the door"). Some people react very positively or negatively to one or the other, and if the majority of the rest of the table is using grammar that irks one player, it can help keep them from getting into it. Likewise, the GM should be using the correct person in response ("I open the door" and "You see an orc" vs "Thog opens the door" and "Thog sees an orc").
I know that sounds really nitpicky, but I this has helped some people I know get more loose and into it at the table. And I find that players who prefer third person, who think of their character as a completely separate person from themselves, tend to have more trouble speaking for them in character unless they imagine that they're explaining specifically what their character would say if they were real.
I hope that made any kind of sense. ^__^
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I have been role playing since 1986 and I have rarely felt comfortable engaging in In-Character dialogue or "acting" the part. It makes me self-conscious trying to use voices and I don't enjoy it most of the time . That is not to say that I don't or haven't ever really gotten "into character", but the times when I do, it is in my groups home games when there are not any spectators or non-gamers around (doesn't my screen name make sense now?). There is only one player in my group that really enjoys this aspect of the game enough to play it up, our resident LARPer ;) The rest of us, while we conduct our dialogues in the first person sense, don't go so far as to incorporate voices or over the top emotions of our characters. For my own baby-step approach to overcoming this, I've started a catch-phrase for my Dwarven Cleric of Torag that starts with "The Power of Torag compels me....!" usually to do something, or smite/channel something... But even with my dislike for the dramatic, it adds, well, character to my character!
Maybe a similar approach would help your friend.