This tag refers to the aspect of RPGs that relates to the enactment of character roles, sometimes contrasted with combat mechanics.

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12
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6answers
243 views

How should a neutral character focused on balance be presented?

In many RPGs (or at least the ones I've heard of) the alignment system tends to have two definitions of a true-neutral character. Generally, they are something to the effect of what follows. ...
12
votes
5answers
576 views

How do I role-play as a dragon?

I have an NPC in our game that is called a "drake," but in terms familiar to most of you, he would probably be considered to be a dragon. In our game, drakes are classified based on the plane that ...
12
votes
7answers
395 views

How to design an RP-balanced party?

How do you build a party so that they all have social roles? In some games, I often find that one character ends up dominating the social part of the campaign. In our groups, we usually end up with ...
12
votes
6answers
271 views

Any advice for playing characters who are older (much older) than the player?

Several of the characters in our group are of long-lived races and have ages in the triple digits as a result. Presumably the game-mechanic effects of their ages are already factored into the rules ...
12
votes
0answers
262 views

As a GM, how can I create and role-play diverse NPCs better? [duplicate]

I am new to GMing (and role-playing in general, for that matter) and I am having a somewhat difficult time making plausible and interesting NPCs. This is especially true with NPCs who are not "typical ...
11
votes
6answers
416 views

What are the perils of having the players play themselves as characters?

I've never really managed to engage or have a good experience of a game where the GM has asked me to "play a version of myself". It feels a little self-conscious and wierd, to me at least. But Can ...
11
votes
5answers
1k views

Playing as, not with, ourselves

A few of the members of our gaming have had the probably-not-unique idea of statting ourselves as if we were player characters in a campaign. Our problem is trying to find a basis of comparison for ...
11
votes
5answers
754 views

How to roleplay a PC torture scene

How should a GM role-play a torture scene for a PC? In one of my games, one of my PCs will be captured by the enemy who wishes to get information from him, using... less than ethical methods. ...
11
votes
5answers
477 views

What can be done to encourage players/character to use rituals more?

An on going issue I have is with my players is that they leave a very large amount of power untapped in the arsenal of things they can do, namely rituals. As a DM I use them all the time, but the ...
11
votes
5answers
397 views

How do I encourage player-GM storytelling collaboration without “breaking” my game?

I've DM/GM'd for several gaming groups, young and old, and have found that one of the things that separates my younger players from older players is their eagerness to elaborate/collaborate in the ...
10
votes
4answers
501 views

How should one properly roleplay a Kender?

For my first campaign ever, we are playing 2E DragonLance. I, not content with my usual lot, chose to play a female kender handler. The first playsession went well, but reading up on kenders (from ...
10
votes
8answers
325 views

How do you make a new NPC likable?

The players in my campaign will soon rescue a woman who's been trapped in an awful dimension (think Jumanji, if that helps) for ten years, and bring her home. After 2 sessions, they'll realize that ...
10
votes
3answers
371 views

An insomniac character, how could that work?

I searched the player's handbook a while ago for the sleep deprivation rules but I don't remember finding anything, even though I recall having been told about such rules. Apart from asking if any ...
9
votes
2answers
184 views

What's an appropriate gift for a Faerûnian Dwarven girl?

I have a rough idea what I could give a Human or Elven girl to improve their opinion of me - flowers work pretty well in most cases, maybe one of those crystal flowers for a Drow, though with them an ...
8
votes
4answers
285 views

Are there any problems with spies amongst the players?

As GM, I'm planning to, at some point, invite a friend from out of town who plays RPGs, to join our game with a appropriately levelled character. This character (and the new player) is actually a spy ...
8
votes
3answers
345 views

Who should roll the dice?

Who throws the dice in your game? Do you want to see/know the numerical results? Does it impact your roleplaying? Personally, unless I'm in a formal tournament, I prefer not throwing dice and not ...
8
votes
2answers
198 views

Fantasy accent and dialect, or how do I speak like Tom Hanks in Cloud Atlas?

For example, inhabitants of Planescape setting say things like "chant" for news or gossip, "berk" or "cutter" for a kind of adventurer, "barmy" for crazy, etc. I want to portray a guy from a far away ...
8
votes
5answers
680 views

What does Drow Speech sound like?

I am about to play a Drow Rogue-Fighter and I want to roleplay my character well, and this includes doing a voice. What is the proper voice for a [charismatic] Drow [Rogue-Fighter]? I was thinking ...
7
votes
7answers
506 views

What is a good way to explain the difference between a Chaotic Neutral character, and a character who is just crazed?

When I first started playing with a group of completely new players, one of the first things I did was to explain the alignments as best I could at the time. When describing Chaotic Neutral, my exact ...
7
votes
2answers
233 views

Can Black/Red Dragons talk in Pathfinder?

In the Pathfinder Beginner's Box Gamemaster guide, it states that Reefclaws can understand language, but can't talk. I can't find anything in particular in the Gamemaster Guide that explicitly states ...
7
votes
5answers
339 views

Does the DM tell the players when a skill check can be used in a conversation?

Often times in adventures the players can make a skill check during conversation to learn some important information. Does the DM tell the players or otherwise give them a hint that a particular ...
7
votes
4answers
439 views

Exalted Limit Breaks - How do I get them to occur more often?

So one of the biggest problems I have had with GMing an Exalted game is getting the players to actually limit break. Flavor wise, it is one of the biggest flaws of an Exalt, Solars in particular, but ...
6
votes
5answers
1k views

Roleplaying and psychology

I've been told that roleplaying has been used as a form of psychological evaluation. Although I am not really sold on these things, I do know that a form of roleplaying is performed during some job ...
6
votes
4answers
212 views

Are there any groups that use role-play games as performance art?

After listening to podcasts of the Penny Arcade folks playing D&D, I've been wondering, has anyone else tried to turn their role-playing sessions into performance-art pieces? Are there any ...
6
votes
2answers
158 views

Good modifications to the lycanthropy alignment change?

Related to my other question, my PCs who have become were-rats don't want to become Chaotic Evil, but do want to remain uncured. They're up for struggles and such, and aren't looking for it to ...
6
votes
3answers
150 views

Recommendations on how to coach an inexperienced roleplayer in playing Changeling: The Lost

I'm running a Changeling: The Lost game and one of the players is new to role-playing games. Her introduction to role-playing hasn't been helped by the fact that CtL has a very unusual setting. She ...
6
votes
3answers
636 views

Maid RPG: encouraging people to roleplay

Maid RPG is fun, but when we try to play it with our group we find that we're a bit too British: we're not extroverted enough, and too easily embarrassed. We end up playing it more like paranoia: all ...
6
votes
0answers
170 views

How do I effectively portray multiple characters in conversation? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How do you handle verbal exchanges between NPCs without taking the PCs out of the spotlight? You should be familiar with this set up: All the characters are at a party ...
5
votes
6answers
287 views

Role-play enhancing items

For my D&D 4E character, I would like to have some sort of role-play enhancing item, something that gives me more options for role-playing. For example, my previous character had an armor shard ...
5
votes
2answers
133 views

Is there an online service to convert play transcripts into narrative fiction?

Question Does anyone offer an online, session story telling service? I would like to submit transcripts/records of game sessions, and receive story-fied versions of them back. Context I'm DMing for ...
4
votes
5answers
319 views

How common is Detect Evil in the Forgotten Realms? Roleplaying VS Game Mechanic

I was about to make an evil non-Lloth Drow for my AD&D group. Most of the players have never played AD&D before, so they don't know much about the alignment system. But the player and the GM ...
4
votes
2answers
81 views

How can I do an interesting and engaging siege scenario in Werewolf: The Forsaken?

So, a long time plot arc is coming to a head where the pack has managed to organize all the local packs to undo a wound on the Arizona/Mexico border. Specifically, all the werewolves (about 17 in ...
3
votes
6answers
1k views

Which D&D spells are most likely to encourage creative role-playing?

Beyond the Cantrip/Wish spells, which are fairly open ended, which other spells are most likely to encourage creative role-playing in a D&D session?
3
votes
2answers
298 views

Stupidity in DnD 4th edition - how low stats does a fool have and how it should change gameplay?

One of my players want to play an extremely stupid Orc fighter (yes, I know, a classic one). How stupid is as fool? What stats govern this and how low should they be? How do I get them that low ...
3
votes
3answers
300 views

How to roleplay a divine character in Ravenloft?

My cleric just got sucked into the Demi-plane of Dread. I've been told that his connection to Moradin has been completely severed, but my spells still work. How should I roleplay that? Are there ...
3
votes
1answer
345 views

Does anyone know of a D20 system that uses the Harry Potter Universe?

Does anyone know of a D20 system that uses the Harry Potter Universe? I want to try something new with a few of my friends. We really want to try and get away from the usual D&D for a bit and try ...
2
votes
3answers
240 views

How do you keep players from using out of game knowledge when their characters wouldn't know the answer? [duplicate]

A lot of times I find my players using their knowledge about the game to there characters advantage even when the characters would have no way of knowing certain information. Here is an example. ...
2
votes
2answers
209 views

What is the term for a mean character role-played by a nice player?

Contradictory character seems to mean a character who defies stereotypes or exhibits traits that contradict one another, in a literary sense. I wish to distinguish what I mean from round characters. ...
2
votes
2answers
199 views

Avoiding meta-gaming in combat [closed]

What are some ways of avoiding meta-gaming (both as a player and as a GM) within combat. One of the basic decisions in combat is what to use on what, when and where and how to best position yourself ...
1
vote
2answers
117 views

D&D 3.5 mounted movement in battle

If my gnome rider has the dodge and mobility feats does my riding dog mount gain the benifits of the feats in battle movement?
0
votes
0answers
53 views

Is there a place where I can get good Pathfinder building maps? [duplicate]

Is there a place where I can get good Pathfinder building maps? Small keeps, manors and castles. I need a map with squares and I don't need it to be used with figurines or miniatures. I don't mind if ...
0
votes
0answers
156 views

What are the benefits of roleplaying? [closed]

I was asked what the benefits of role playing are and I was at a loss for an answer, I didn't have anything solid that was based off any facts. I know that there are benefits to roleplaying but at the ...
0
votes
0answers
99 views

Platform to design Role playing games [closed]

I just now began to deveop games with the help of construct-2. I plan to deveop a role-playing game. Which will be the best platform for developing role=playing games?
0
votes
2answers
393 views

What are the main Creative Commons powered tabletop RPGs out there? [closed]

I am kinda new to these tabletop RPG games, and since I really love the Creative Commons philosophy, I wanted to know what are the strengths & weaknesses of the main CC-powered RPG games, mainly ...
-1
votes
0answers
64 views

Where can I learn more about minotaurs? [closed]

I do plan to read up on general player character interaction. For now that I lack wisdom into the content I would be playing from (perspective maybe). My character is a minotaur. A wizard has placed ...

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