KC: Bringing Your Roleplaying to the Next Level

Good morning, and welcome to another Koibu's Corner. If you missed the last one (which contains an intro on what Koibu's Corner is), it can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/koibus-corner-be-12252073

Today's topic will be on how you can bring your character to life through your game play. By describing your actions in detail you enrich the scene and give everybody at the table a better sense of who you are. You increase the immersion and breath life into the game.

Let us start with an example: Your character has been trying to talk down a merchant who is refusing to lower their price and your character (or maybe even you as a player) is fed up with it and leaves. The most basic form of this exchange goes something like this:

Merchant: I'm sorry, I can't lower my prices any more for anybody.
Player: What an asshole. I leave. Screw this guy.

Well, that was frustrating to everybody. The player got annoyed and just left the encounter. It's understandable, it happens, and it's fine. But even being that frustrated, we could have made that scene so much better. Let's try again.

Merchant: I'm sorry, I can't lower my prices any more for anybody.
Player: What an asshole. Screw this guy. I turn around, and storm out of the shop.

Alright, that's a little better. Now the player has still expressed their frustration, but rather than leaving the scene as a train wreck, they've managed to salvage it by giving their character some description on their actions - actions that show the character's frustration. But we can do even better.

Merchant: I'm sorry, I can't lower my prices any more for anybody.
Player: "What an asshole", my character thinks to himself. Screw this guy, I'm going to show him he's messed with the wrong customer. I whirl around in anger, and march for the door; but, as I do so, I reach my arm out across a shelf, sweeping the contents of it onto the floor before slamming the door on my way out.

Heeeeey, that's pretty good. While the player is still just as frustrated with the merchant as in the first example, they've taken their frustration and really used it to fuel their character's action and build the story. Maybe that merchant comes after them for damages, maybe he's now terrified of the PCs, maybe the PC starts to get a reputation for being a dick. However it turns out, the player has made the best of a bad situation.

Let's look at another example. A PC is going to try and get some information out of the bartender in a tavern.

Player: I walk over to the bar and ask if he's heard of any jobs that need doing.

Short and direct. But also boring. It tells us nothing about your character or your setting. Let's try again.

Player: I stand up, pick my way through the busy tavern floor, and find a seat at the bar, signalling to the bartender I want to speak with them.
DM: The bartender finishes up with his other customer and comes over to you. "What can I do for you?"
Player: "Have you heard of anybody looking for a strong arm?"

Oh man, soooo much better. Now the player has not only helped fill in the details of what the tavern is like, but also implied to the bartender that they're looking for work that involves some muscle. Let's try one more time.

Player: "I think I'll get us another round." I give a belch and get to my feet. "Make way peasants, there's a big strong man that needs some more ale. Make way, make way." How's the bar looking?
DM: It's pretty crowded and a lot of faces have turned to look at you.
Player: I make for a spot between two customers, resting my arm where my sword meets my belt to let them know I'm armed and then use my belly to push between them and get to the bar.
DM: Yeah, they're happy to move out of your way. The guy on the right even gets up and gives you his seat. The bar tender stops what he's doing to quickly make his way to you.
Player: "Hey there handsome fellow. Another round or my table over there. And while you're doing that," I flip out a gold coin and press it to the table with a finger, "why don't you wrack that brain of yours for any jobs that would be worthy of me and my brave companions. You've heard of us, haven't you?"

That's the stuff. We've taken the most basic and mundane task and turned it into an opportunity to showcase our character - a big fellow who carries a sword, considers himself better than the people in the bar, personable, a braggart, and has some money. Sometimes this amount of detail is too much, and we want to use something closer to the second example, which is fine. Not every moment can be a shining example of your character.

Now, there's another reason we should describe out actions in detail: It gives everybody (PCs, DM, and NPCs) a clear idea of what we're doing and how we're doing it. Let us take the example of a PC following an NPC through the streets of a town.

Player: I follow this guy to see where he goes.
DM: Alright, as he's walking down the street he gives a casual look back and the two of you make eye contact. He bolts for the nearest alleyway.
Player: Seriously? I wouldn't have been just following him down the middle of the road. Obviously I would have been doing my best to not be seen by him.
DM: Well you didn't say that, you just said you follow him.
Player: Yeah but I'm a 5th level rogue! I'm not an idiot. 

And the argument continues. I think we've all be in situations like this, where a player says something pretty general and vague and when the DM goes to play off it, things fall apart. Whenever you give an action, if you don't specify the way in which it is done, it is up to the DM to detail it, and they might have a different interpretation of the actions than the PC. Generally speaking, the DM will take the most basic and direct form of action that you describe - to do otherwise would be playing your character for you. It can be frustrating when that interpretation has unpleasant consequences for the PC - but that's something a player can fix through good play. Let's try this scene again.

Player: I'm going to follow this guy to see where he goes, but I want to keep my distance. I'll stay 50 feet back and walk down the right side of the street. If he stops to look at something, or begins to turn around, I'll bend down and pretend to tie my shoe.
DM: Alright, as he's walking down the street he gives a casual look back. Right away you move to tie your shoe - let's do an opposed charisma vs perception check to see if you can pull off your deception.

Much better. By being clear, the player has given life to their character and has made the follow scene more interesting and less prone to argument and error.

This brings me to my second point, interrupting other players or the DM. We've all had moments where the DM finishes describing something and a player jumps in to say that halfway through what the DM was saying, their character took some sort of action.

DM: The priest continues chanting his hymns while walking toward the back of the church. As he gets near the door, he stops his hymn, hikes up his robes, and runs for it, laughing all the way!
Player: I block him at the door before he gets a chance to move there.
DM: He's already gone.
Player: Well I would have moved to block him at the door while he was heading there, but I didn't want to interrupt you.

We find ourselves in an awkward situation. Nobody likes retconning and it's especially annoying when someone declares an retcon action after seeing the results of their inaction. Often times players don't want to interrupt what the DM is saying, but that leaves the whole situation open to awkward interpretation. Here's a better way the PC could have handed that.

DM: The priest continues chanting his hymns while walking toward the back of the church -
Player: I move to stand in the doorway
DM: You're blocking the door? In the middle of the ceremony?
Player: Yeah, totally.
DM: With all eyes looking toward the back of the church, that's going to draw a lot of attention to yourself.
Player: I don't care, I do it anyway.
DM: There are glares and dirty looks all around for so rudely drawing attention to yourself during such a sacred ritual. The priest reaches the end of the pews, turns back to the front of the church and beings to walk -
Player 2: If there's another exit in the front, I want to skirt the edge of the room and move to that door.
DM: - while continuing the hymns. When he gets to the front, you totally see him eyeing the door and its new guardian.

Perfect. In this situation the first player interrupted the DM's description to make a small, but important, action. As the situation changed, the 2nd player did the same thing. It is rude (and annoying) to have people interrupt each other with their actions, but a small interruption that clarifies an important point is worth it. We just have to be careful we don't end up like this:

DM: The priest continues chanting his hymns while walking toward the back of the church -
Player: Does he look like he's going to make a break for it? If so, I want to block the door, but if he's just doing his thing I'm going to say in place. Fred, what spells do you have memorized?
Player 2: I've got entangle ready, just give me the signal and i'll cast it.
Player: There's no vegetation in here, what else do you have?
DM: Um, are you having this discussion right now?
Player: I mean, he would know there's no vegetation in here, right? He's a druid after all, he should know when the spell isn't going to work.
Player 2: Good point, give me a minute to look at my spells.
DM: He's still waking toward the door.
Player 2: Hold on, I'm looking at my spells! What weapon are you using Fredricka? Can I cast heat metal on it?
Player: I don't have gloves, it would burn my hands.
DM: ...

This is the worst. The players are so eager to cover all of their bases that they interrupt the scene and start crafting a master plan out of character. If you're going to interrupt another player (or the DM), that's fine, but keep it minimal, and keep it in character. If you need to exchange info that you think you would know, like if someone wears gloves or not, whisper it to one another if playing in person, or use the chat functions when playing online. You'll have to be quick about it because the scene is still moving, but you shouldn't be exchanging too much info anyway.

The last thing I want to talk about today is acting. If you want to give life to your character, or imply certain actions by your character, you can actually just do those actions yourself. Let's say the party is in a hot jungle, and you want to show how difficult that is for your character from a much colder climate. You can just fan yourself with your character sheet (or anything you have sitting around if you're playing online). This gives detail without interrupting. Maybe your character is trying to be intimidating - you yourself can sit more upright, stick out your chest, and get a nasty look on your face while talking in character. Or maybe the conversation at the table (in game) is really boring to your PC. In that case you can be looking around the room as if your character was looking for something else to do. This level of detail can help bring your character to life without interrupting a scene that's going on.

If you're playing online (in Roll20 for example), you can also use the online chat functionality to give actions to your characters. Use the /me function to emote things. In the example of the boring conversation above, you could write: /me looks around the room for something more interesting going on. 

TTRPGs are story telling games. To that end, we as players can bring the story to life by detailing our actions. The player who shows who their character is through descriptive action is more fun to play with than the player who just tells you who their character is. This next example would be an instance of introducing characters to the party.

Showing who your character is: The door opens but you don't see anybody walk in. After a few moments there's this red flop of hair moving between the tables heading toward the bar. Rath finds a spot next to a pack of other dwarves and is clearly a few inches shorter than the rest. He paces back and forth, his battle axe clanging at his side, and begins to unbraid and then rebraid his beard while waiting for service. Once he finishes braiding his beard and there's still no service, he cries out loudly, "What does a man have to do to get a drink in this dump! Bartender, get your lazy ass over here!"

Telling who your character is: Rath the dwarf is 2'9" and 120lb with red hair, a braided beard, and a temper. He frequently plays with the braid in his beard and uses that to try and calm himself down when situations get him frustrated. He's got a chip on his shoulder from being the shortest dwarf around.

Both examples work, there's no wrong way to play, but the first example gives us a much better idea of who Rath is than the second one.

At the end of the day, we all play for our own reasons. Some of us like the story, some of us like the combat, some of us just like the company of our friends. There is no definitively right or wrong way to play the game. But if you feel like you want more out of your game, like you want to to have a more detailed character and a more detailed game world, it is within your power to have those things. 

TTRPGs are a collaborative storytelling game. Both sides of the table, players and DMs, create the world, the characters, and the story. We can all breath life into the game with a little extra attention to detail.