{"id":3658,"date":"2017-09-18T13:39:28","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T20:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=3658"},"modified":"2017-09-18T13:39:28","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T20:39:28","slug":"how-to-be-a-good-roleplayer-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=3658","title":{"rendered":"How to be a Good Roleplayer, part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maybe you play Dungeons and Dragons. Maybe you play Delta Green, Numenera, or any of the other amazing tabletop role-playing games given a spotlight by Megan, Aser, and the rest of the cast of The Redacted Files. Whatever game you play, I hope you\u2019re having fun. I also hope you read my piece on etiquette for the gaming table<\/a>. In it, I highlighted what I consider the cardinal rules for anyone who wants to play these types of games. Even more than the actual rules laid out in any game\u2019s rulebook, these rules will guarantee that, even if you struggle with the rules from time to time, or you\u2019re just learning a game, the other players and the DM\/GM\/whatever they choose to be called will appreciate the effort you put into it and show you an appropriate level of respect.<\/p>\n

But TTRPG\u2019s are about more than the rules.<\/p>\n

I play these games because they allow me to escape, to step out of myself, with all of my neuroses, anxiety, and other issues, out of a world that is often unpleasant. When I play in any of the countless game settings out there, I get to take on the role of the hero (or, occasionally, the villain) and live the fantasy of being an important figure to the shape and future of the worlds in which I play. I get to, for a couple of hours at a time, be somebody else, and forget about everything that is going on in my real life.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To do this, however, I have to do more than fill out a few boxes on a stylized piece of paper, read some rules, and roll some dice. I have to get into character, and actually let myself become the character I\u2019m playing. It is something that I see players struggle with from both sides of the DM\u2019s screen. Now, no game is going to be fun if your DM isn\u2019t creating a proper immersive experience for you, so don\u2019t be afraid to bring up any issues you may have with a DM, just be sure to do it respectfully, like I discussed in my piece on etiquette. Even if you think your DM sucks be respectful, because disrespect will only deepen any tension that is already there.<\/p>\n

Beyond the responsibilities that fall to the DM, there are some things that you can do as a player to help yourself get into character and have more fun at the gaming table.<\/p>\n

The first tip for immersive, enjoyable role-play is to invest in your character. Sure, if you aren\u2019t familiar with the game or setting, you can ask your DM to make you a \u201cpre-gen\u201d (a pre-generated character), but how much are you really going to care about them? Making a character is a bit like becoming a parent (I know, I know, \u201ceww, children\u201d amiright?). When you take the time to actually invest in building your character from the ground up, by fleshing them out with stats, flaws, special abilities, and backgrounds, you will inevitably care about them more than a character that is just given to you. And yes, part of this is coming up with a backstory for the character. In a home-brew setting, this means sitting down with the person who\u2019s going to be running your game and asking questions about it to learn more about the world in which you\u2019re going to be adventuring. For official settings, this ties back to the rules of etiquette and actually reading the rule-books. Some popular settings for adventures are D&D\u2019s Forgotten Realms, Warhammer\u2019s 41st Millennium, or Firefly\u2019s The Verse. While reading through the setting, ask yourself some questions. Where did your character grow up? Where did their family fit into their community? Why did they leave? What prompted them to become an adventurer? How did they train? Why are they with the current group and how did they meet? Some games incorporate aspects of this directly into their character creation, but I like to have my players write me at least a page of backstory. And, just a tip, but it\u2019s far too easy and clich\u00e9 to simply say that they have amnesia or come up with some tragic horror story where everybody they ever knew and loved is dead and they had no choice but to set out on their own, but that isn\u2019t interesting. Be interesting. Everybody will thank you for it.<\/p>\n

Role-play tip number two is one that usually goes without saying, but I\u2019ve seen it happen: always refer to your character in the first person. It’s role-playing, play your role. Your character is you, not some third party you\u2019re controlling, so don\u2019t talk about them like they are unless that\u2019s a very specific quirk about the way they talk (like The Rock back in his WWF days).<\/p>\n

Tip 3 is to develop a voice for your character. Accents, vocabulary, timbre, and more all combine to give a person their voice, and a person\u2019s voice is even more unique than their fingerprint. Is the primary language of the world not your character\u2019s first language? Then they probably don\u2019t speak it fluently unless they\u2019re really smart and\/or charismatic. Does your character smoke or drink? Their voice is probably going to be a bit rough. How much do they curse? How educated are they? How loud are they? What size are they and what race? All of these things have an effect on how a person\/character sounds when speaking, and coming up with a character\u2019s voice can be just as personal and interesting as any other aspect of getting into character. And no, it isn\u2019t easy. It may take practice, but it will be worth it to not only flesh out your character and help you immerse yourself in playing, but also in distinguishing when you\u2019re interacting with the group on the level of your player vs when you are actually in character, speaking to other characters. If you aren\u2019t sure how to do any of this, that\u2019s fine. I do a bit of voice acting work here and there, and it isn\u2019t easy, but there are plenty of resources on YouTube and elsewhere to help you learn.<\/p>\n

The fourth and final tip I want to put out there is to not be afraid to cosplay for game nights. Regardless of how you actually play, either online or in-person, at somebody\u2019s house or at your friendly local game store (check with the store first to make sure it\u2019s okay before bringing props into a store, though, please, thank you), if you and your friends all bring props, costumes, etc, you\u2019re going to be that much more immersed in the experience of your character. This doesn\u2019t mean you have to wear a full costume with armor, setting-appropriate clothes, and the whole nine yards. If that\u2019s what you want to do, by all means, I won\u2019t ever tell a player they can\u2019t, but it could also mean little things. Maybe your character has a favorite hat that you can wear, or maybe they\u2019ve got a specific and identifiable magic item that you can bring a prop of. If you go on YouTube and watch a few episodes of Achievement Hunter\u2019s Heroes & Halfwits, you\u2019ll see a good example of what this looks like. And remember, you\u2019re playing and enjoying a game that many in society still mock and look down upon, if they don\u2019t outright think it\u2019s evil, so don\u2019t concern yourself with what they might think of you because your gaming group certainly shouldn\u2019t be judging you.<\/p>\n

All in all, how immersive your game is comes down to how immersive you want it to be. It is a collaborative effort with the other players around your table and everybody should be in agreement on how much time they want to spend in-character versus out of character, and how you all, as a group, will distinguish this. Every group will be different, and not every player will be as comfortable or as practiced. I\u2019m lucky in that I live in Hollywood and often game with actors and other entertainers, but not everyone does, so spend some time in your zero session discussing this, and everybody will have a good time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maybe you play Dungeons and Dragons. Maybe you play Delta Green, Numenera, or any of the other amazing tabletop role-playing games given a spotlight by Megan, Aser, and the rest of the cast of The Redacted Files. Whatever game you play, I hope you\u2019re having fun. I also hope you read my piece on etiquette… Continue Reading How to be a Good Roleplayer, part 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"How to be a Good Roleplayer, part 2 by @JoshuaNeverJosh","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[41],"tags":[71,145],"class_list":["post-3658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts","tag-advice","tag-joshua"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5r9Oo-X0","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3399,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=3399","url_meta":{"origin":3658,"position":0},"title":"Finding a System for Your Next Campaign","author":"Aser Tolentino","date":"June 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Every couple of months around here at TRF, we finish up one of the three or so ongoing campaigns we have running at any given moment. For some people, this might represent an opportunity to pause, bask in the afterglow of a satisfying finale and plot out what comes next.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bookshelf filled with RPG books","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/unnamed.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/unnamed.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/unnamed.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3221,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=3221","url_meta":{"origin":3658,"position":1},"title":"What’s Cool on Kickstarter","author":"Megan","date":"March 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"There's many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week. FAITH: The SciFi RPG I wrote recently about FAITH's starter set, A Garden in Hell. This core book expands the rules for FAITH, deepens the background for the world, and adds miniatures to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1590,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=1590","url_meta":{"origin":3658,"position":2},"title":"#RPGaDay2015 23: Perfect Game for You","author":"trfadmin","date":"August 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year we celebrated Autocratik's #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay! For August 23, What is the perfect\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-nyPBtQNDfHE\/VYFR2oGlEqI\/AAAAAAAABaA\/3w11H3DtVbU\/s1600\/RPG%2Ba%2Bday%2B2015%2B-%2BTwitter.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-nyPBtQNDfHE\/VYFR2oGlEqI\/AAAAAAAABaA\/3w11H3DtVbU\/s1600\/RPG%2Ba%2Bday%2B2015%2B-%2BTwitter.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-nyPBtQNDfHE\/VYFR2oGlEqI\/AAAAAAAABaA\/3w11H3DtVbU\/s1600\/RPG%2Ba%2Bday%2B2015%2B-%2BTwitter.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-nyPBtQNDfHE\/VYFR2oGlEqI\/AAAAAAAABaA\/3w11H3DtVbU\/s1600\/RPG%2Ba%2Bday%2B2015%2B-%2BTwitter.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-nyPBtQNDfHE\/VYFR2oGlEqI\/AAAAAAAABaA\/3w11H3DtVbU\/s1600\/RPG%2Ba%2Bday%2B2015%2B-%2BTwitter.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3714,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=3714","url_meta":{"origin":3658,"position":3},"title":"What’s Cool on Kickstarter","author":"Megan","date":"October 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"There's many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week. Seven Worlds I'm really interested in this new Savage Worlds setting. It's a near future sci-fi setting that really focused on staying true to science, including realistic space combat rules and receiving the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":692,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=692","url_meta":{"origin":3658,"position":4},"title":"You gotta have FAITH (The Sci-Fi RPG)","author":"John D'Auteuil","date":"February 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Review: FAITH is an innovative indie science fiction role-playing game (now crowd-funding through Kickstarter\u00a0that is distinguished by the use of cards rather than dice. The art is stunning and the production values are solid. The character board and replaceable tokens, coupled with Gear cards, make character sheets obsolete and save\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/image-300x118.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2589,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=2589","url_meta":{"origin":3658,"position":5},"title":"#RPGaDay 31: Best advice you were ever given for your game of choice","author":"trfadmin","date":"August 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Each year we celebrate Autocratik\u2019s #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay! For August 31, what is the best\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"RPG a Day 2016 image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/rpg-a-day-2016.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/rpg-a-day-2016.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/rpg-a-day-2016.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/rpg-a-day-2016.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/rpg-a-day-2016.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3658"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3659,"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3658\/revisions\/3659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}