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Pretty soon I'm going to be GMing a campaign with a new group of players after I recently left my last group. I ended my last campaign due to a combination of life getting in the way and my discovering that the players were cheating - lying about die rolls when they knew I couldn't see the results from where I sat. In terms of play style, these two groups couldn't be more different.
The first group were all a bunch of SKIP TO THE KILLING AND THE PHAT LOOTS!!!1!one! This next group consists of, among others, 2 improv actors and a former Ren. Faire character actor. They love them some roleplaying, and whereas I'd like to say I'm a little rusty, the reality is I think I just flat-out stink at roleplaying.
Does anybody have any advice? I get the feeling this is probably a common issue (people wanting to know how to roleplay better). How much roleplaying is too much/too little? I should mention that the campaign will be the Anniversary Edition of Rise of the Runelords, in case that helps. Thanks in advance.
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Oh and their character concepts thus far:
Improv Actor 1: male half-orc archaeologist who's all about some Thassilonean ruins.
Improv Actor 2: female elf barbarian who wants to be PRETTY PRETTY PRETTY while she SMASH SMASH SMASH. Character inspiration was Muscle Princess from Adventure Time.
Ren. Faire Actor: Female Dwarven Paladin of Shelyn, who left Janderhoff and it's boring ol' obsession with Torag and see the world, and hopefully make it and everyone in it just a little more pretty. (Plans on braiding the barbarian's hair in between combat)
Fourth Player (who's not opposed to roleplaying): male halfling oracle with the Time Mystery and probably will be taking the Childlike feat from Advanced Player's Guide. Starts as a sideshow in a failing traveling circus (possibly arriving in Sandpoint for the Swallowtail Festival for this reason). The concept is pretty much "Marvel! Golarion's most well-spoken and intelligent human child!"
The halfling concept sounds a little weird. I guess it could be funny if combined with some naughty behavior on the side. Anyhow, if you're the GM you should already have a pretty good cast of NPCs to roleplay from the AP.
Some players enjoy roleplaying even fairly trivial stuff like purchasing starting equipment or how the PCs meet. Perhaps the archaeologist is seeking out some knowledge from somebody at the circus. Maybe an animal or freak escapes or gets lost. Maybe the fortune teller acosts the group of seemingly random strangers and tells them that they're fated for a great task (I suggest calling her Madame Violetta)
You might want to print out pictures of important NPCs. It also might help (or at least be amusing at times) if certain NPCs have unique voices or mannerisms. Roleplaying out what happens at the tavern between adventures or when a PC visits Ye Olde Magic Shoppe is fun for some players such as myself. If you have NPCs approach specific PCs with special offers and requests that might be nice too. You could even try getting the players to write background stories and consider including some events based on them.
You'll know there's too much roleplaying if the actors say, "Ok, enough talking, let's kill something!"
If you players are heavy into RP, they should really be helping you with it, as they are going to be stringing you along pretty well. usually its harder to GM the game the other way for me (quiet players)
Let them work with you. Use the story hooks their backgrounds provide. Keep them for the future. Maybe your halfling lost a game of dice while with the circus and somebody will someday collect. The archeologist might have an told training or reference tome that underneath the scraped vellum has the eldritch knowledge a forbidden cult is hunting etc.
Maybe your halfling lost a game of dice while with the circus and somebody will someday collect. The archeologist might have an told training or reference tome that underneath the scraped vellum has the eldritch knowledge a forbidden cult is hunting etc.
If you're doing the questionnaire approach, you could add in a line for "Describe an interesting event in your character's past, a dear item they are carrying or someone from their past. This event, object or person should be something/someone whose description helps flesh out information about the character, their motivations and perhaps their personality quirks."
If not doing the questionnaire approach, you could always give them a permanent +1 bonus to a skill of their choice or a free masterwork tool if the player will just write up a paragraph or two on the question above.
Also, if you're the writing type, posting a campaign journal could be fun, though if they're into that sort of thing, maybe they'd be willing to write up short entries about events themselves. If nothing else, it's a useful tool for looking up past events as you get further into a campaign.
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The halfling concept sounds a little weird.
No argument here, I feel it's the weakest of the 4. It is evolving somewhat, after I told him the common role of halflings in nearby Korvosa and neighboring Cheliax (slaves). He's also thinking of being the Short Round to the archaeologist character's Indiana Jones theme.
Thanks for the other advice, too.
I like the Hero Point system. It helps protect well played PCs from terrible luck and encourages people to take risks they otherwise might not take. Keeping the same PCs in the story longer also seems like it could work out well for a roleplaying heavy group and add extra gravitas to the situation if one of the PCs finally does die despite heroic luck and skill.
Another benefit of Hero Points is that they can allow the DM to run the monsters with solid tactics and "go for the kill" without worrying as much about eliminating PCs from the game.
If most of them are actors in some way or form, I imagine that it would be pretty easy to RP with them. They'll definately end up giving you hooks and what not that will make engaging them really easy. The hardest people to RP with are the ones that aren't all that 'in to it' and you, as the DM, ultimately have to fill in all the blanks and awkward silences.