What advice can you give to people on Roleplaying?
What are some ideas that you have to help people get started into their "fantasy world"?
If someone was new to roleplaying...how would you explain it?
Why not help out some people to understand this fact? Perhaps we'll be able to make a small effort here to try and push roleplaying throughout the game. Heck...why not try and make a change?
reg
A great example is Improv. I'm sure most of you have seen Live at the Improv, or dozens of other TV shows or comedy acts on the stage, where people get together, come up with a concept or issue, and create personalities to deal with the concept or issue.
In Gemstone, you are "becoming" an elf, or a dwarf, or a halfling, or maybe you are remaining human. But you are also learning things that you might not be able to learn in real life, such as casting spells to heal wounds, or picking pockets, or killing horrible monsters. The trick is to envision yourself in that character's shoes.
If I'm playing a dwarf, and I just bumped into a giant, am I gonna gonna just say "hi" and wait for a response? Not if I'm submerged in my character's personality.
I mean - c'mon. I'm what, around 4 feet tall, and I didn't just bump into a giant. I bumped into a leg that is probably wider and taller than myself. So what am I going to do? I'm going to stop in my tracks. I'll look slowly up, trying to figure out where this leg ends..and eventually see, WAY UP THERE, the face of a massive humanoid person. How I react, as that dwarf, will be determined by the personality I've decided he will have. He might grumble and mutter something about moving tree trunks. Or he might fidget nervously and apologize and hope the giant doesn't step on him. Or he might be bold and brave, extend his hand UP..and introduce himself, hoping to find an ally in the giant.
My dwarf's life will run not only on how I plan it to run, but also by the responses he gets when he interacts with others. If he's a grumpy dwarf, he should expect a bit of ribbing from the more light-hearted halflings. If he's a proud, noble dwarf, he'll probably present himself in a manner that will earn him respectability and esteem. Skills, levels, age, will be irrelevant to how I as a player would expect my character to be treated. They are only a function, a small part of his character. It's his personality that will determine his place in the world.
R
reg
I should've started a new topic: Race selection.
When someone chooses a race nowadays it's usually b/c of the stat growth, etc. (In my opinion). Of course there are the few that actually choose a race for the reason of roleplay.
reg
The reasons why different races are picked within GS are mainly for STAT placements and growth -- which race makes a better optimized character.
One of my main gripes agout GS is that there is almost no RP'ed distinction bewtween the races. And, there never will be. There are far too many players with the attitude of "who says I have to play an <race> like that?"
Why do we have giants that walk around speaking as if they all are Harvard grads? I'm not saying that they need to be or are slow witted or dumb - there's a difference between being extremely articulate and being intelligent, but 'slow' in speech and mannerisms. And why are there giants that are, for example, as 'nimble' as a halfling?
The first step to good RP is to know and understand racial differences. Yes, there are stereotypes within the races. That's part of 'fantasy'. Yes, there should be some type of 'racism' within this world - again, that's part of fantasy. Too many people bring real world political correctness into this game, so what we end up with is no distinction between races.
Look at any fantasy movie or book - from Star Trek to Lord of the Rings. What separates the races are not only how they look, but how they act. How do we know the difference between a Romulin(sp?) and a Vulcan? (coz they kinda look alike) It's the way they act.
In Lord of the Rings.. what's makes a hobbit different from the elves? It's not just a matter of how they look - their physical makeup, but their cultural differences - how they act.
For good role-play -- know the race. Know it's stereotyes and know it's history. reg
Do we really think that a 16 year old is going to care anything about the race they pick? No. That's why we need to have a way to convey to each player exactly what their race is about.
There's other games that out there that are simply sticklers for RP'ing based on your own personal race choice.
A hobbit that's evil and doesn't like smoking pipes in GS? Doesn't make sense (Of course there are some evil halflings).
My point being: Not all halflings _have_ to like tarts. They have plenty of other likes and dislikes.
The best racial RP'ing is probably done by the Dhe'nari. They don't accept halflings at all.
reg
quote:
Originally posted by Omni:
Do we really think that a 16 year old is going to care anything about the race they pick? No. That's why we need to have a way to convey to each player exactly what their race is about.
That's a blanket statement you just made there. I know many 16 year olds who play their character as they see them, not as the numbers dictate. Please don't make assumptions like that, no matter how tempting it is to pin the blame on one group of individuals.
[This message has been edited by Taernath (edited 09-10-2001).] reg
quote:
Originally posted by Taernath:
That's a blanket statement you just made there. I know many 16 year olds who play their character as they see them, not as the numbers dictate. Please don't make assumptions like that, no matter how tempting it is to pin the blame on one group of individuals.[This message has been edited by Taernath (edited 09-10-2001).]
Taernath...thank you for your opinion.
However...it's sad that I will have to point out every single time when an exaggeration/over justification/assumption/opinional statement of mine is made.
1. I'm not pinning it on any group
2. It's sad that's the way things happen
3. When I started the game...I had absolutely no interest in which race I chose...I just wanted to get started
4. My main point is that something needs to be done about it...there needs to be more interest in race...something that will grab each player's attention to be interested in knowing their race reg