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[quekwoambojish]

Hey all,

I'm playing with a Dnd group in the campaign Oota (out of the abyss 5e).
The DM isn't bad and we've only had a couple sessions, but I feel like I'm not really 'soaking in' the world like I should be. I understand mechanics well, but I have a really hard time roleplaying. I can't help but think of the NPCs as talking experience points that I have to keep pushing until they leak information.

What are some ways that help you engage in the world without feeling like you're pushing some agenda or initiative to progress things forward, and instead really feel like your being present? Everytime I do something with the environment, I feel like I'm just trying to nod some sort of quirk my character has and not truely interacting.

(I've only played dnd once through the campaign of mines of phandelver, so roleplaying isn't something I do often)

[nullBolt]

Just do it, pretty much. Think about it as reading a book rather than playing a game.

I suggest hamming your character to hell, too. Subtle characters are very difficult to do and the payoff is never worth it.

[Jimmy]

Pick a silly accent. I do my Wizard with a evil German doctor accent, or my Druid with an Australian accent, my Paladin with an outrageous French accent, my dwarf Fighter in a terrible Scotsman accent, etc. It helps to define when you're talking in character.

Pick a personality quirk that defines your character. My Wizard is a smug narcissist that would probably marry themselves if they could (and once they learn the Simulacrum spell, probably will). My Paladin was obsessed with arresting people and bringing them to justice, demanding they drop their weapons and lay down on the ground before each fight. My Druid enjoyed growing copious amounts of cannabis using his plant growth spells whenever he rested and getting high shortly afterwards. My Fighter would drink anything even vaguely resembling alcohol if he could get it, including any kind of alchemical liquids on the basis 'better safe than sober.'

Lastly, remember that your character is a person. They have hopes, goals and dreams the same as the rest of us. It's the interpersonal stuff that's the most memorable part of the session, not who managed to roll the highest on their dice.

[TempAcc]

Its easier and usualy better to go full ham with your characters rather than trying to create someone that seems realistic, which makes sense, since DnD doesn't have very realistic settings :v. Its hard to not fall into normal character stereotypes, though, IE mad scientist eske/power hungry/smug holier-than-thou wizards, greedy/dodgy/shady rogues, conan the barbarian/crazy tribesman/huge viking barbarians, i'm totally sexy and/or annoying bards, dalai llama/stoic martial art master/karate kid quote repository monks, etc.
This usualy doesn't matter much since as your character interacts with other characters and the plot, it should start to become his/her own thing, and eventualy nobody will care about the walking stereotype he/she used to be like. Its the whole reason people end up loving the Baldur's Gate series characters, even though they are, at first, walking stereotypes, except maybe for Korgan, the rare non duergar mean as all hell dwarf mercenary.

[quekwoambojish]

It's not that I'm trying to make my person realistic, I just want to avoid playing my character playing out as a personality metal detector as I feel like it's hampering my ability to immerse myself in the game.

Example: My guy likes religious stuff, so  every time I hear about something religious I feel obligated to have my guy speak up or mention his fervor for his god.

I feel like instead of playing a person, I'm waiting for some trigger reaction just to allow an opportunity for him to express himself, and that inevitably leads to me caring more about leveling/pushing the story forward since my character doesn't actually feel emotionally invested (more like a walking billboard).

I've been trying to ham this guy, but maybe I'm hamming wrong or haven't done it long enough to the point where it feels like I'm not trying anymore.

[NJW2000]

Be your character, mentally. Or think of a character from a novel, preferably Wodehouse, and wonder what they'd say.

And the golden rule, for me, of roleplay: it can't be good roleplay if it doesn't have an effect on the world. So get into fights and hamper the party occassionally, so your character means something, and you aren't just grinding through the game.

[nullBolt]

You've got to give us some more idea about your character.

What religion, what god, what race, what alignment, what does their alignment mean to them etc etc.

If my character is religious, it could mean a lot. I had a lawful evil anti-paladin of Asmodeus. His religion was his justification for his right to rule and he believed in it firmly. However, he was loyal and steadfast, as an oath given is an oath that should never be broken. The fact he was an anti-paladin was a secondary thing to the facets of his religion itself.

In a RuneQuest Glorantha game, I had an Uroxi berserker. Urox, known as Storm Bull to some, is the god of chaos killing, but his followers more often spend their time pissing in cups and making arses of themselves. My character hated this. He, instead, wanted to reform the Uroxi into true fighters of chaos. Those who would go into lands corrupted by this evil and destroy it at it's heart.

Think of it as religious characters being defined by their religions, not by the fact they're religious.

Be your character, mentally. Or think of a character from a novel, preferably Wodehouse, and wonder what they'd say.

And the golden rule, for me, of roleplay: it can't be good roleplay if it doesn't have an effect on the world. So get into fights and hamper the party occassionally, so your character means something, and you aren't just grinding through the game.

Also this.

[Fniff]

If you feel your character is only reacting to things, try being proactive with the quirk. Not to an annoying extent, but maybe mention setting up a shrine for them to pray at or asking other characters about their faith. As NJW says, maybe get in fights over your faith. Make sure everyone at the table is cool with it first, though.

Role playing is tough. It's a challenge making your character interesting enough that they don't blend into the background while making sure not to drown out other players.

[nenjin]

I know as a GM, what I love is when players aren't feeling their characters, they just turn into obnoxious hammy cartoon characters wearing giant fantasy clown shoes so they can stay amused. Really elevates the game for everyone else.

[TempAcc]

Yea, you have to be careful with the whole proactive character acting. If you do it too often you'll probably end up annoying the other players, specially the DM (depending on what kind of DM he/she is), and you have to gauge what a certain situation would cause your character to act in one way or another.
Ex: if charity is part of his religion, then he should criticize the other party members for asking for gold or rewards for fulfilling a task, offer to help others for free, have arguments about it with outher party members (when appropriate), etc. Try to bring out his background in his persona, too, like, if a family member of his was attacked by an elf when he was a child, then maybe he has developed an aversion/genera distrust of elves since, and maybe this conflicts with his religion, etc. You can create all sorts of little situation by putting one character's background at odds with his current profession/role, which is probably why this is so overly used :v

[quekwoambojish]

For background on the character, he's a blue Dragonborn sorcerer who was raised as an acolyte of Taimat. He's lawful evil, his optimism is never shaken, and he often quotes or misquotes religious texts. He seeks power, and wishes to be the top of his religious hierarchy. I rolled basically everything about him, and I think it came out ok.

[mainiac]

What does lawful evil and unshakable mean?  What motivates him?

[quekwoambojish]

What does lawful evil and unshakable mean?  What motivates him?

Sorry, I don't think I understand, is the first question rhetorical? I'm guessing it means he does lawful evil things, and regardless of the outcome of the result, he is optimistic (thanks god for failures as it must be a part of a higher plan?). He's motivated to recover the lost remnants of his temple which were pilfered/taken into the under dark, he is also motivated by seeking religious power, but by means right to Taimat.

[nenjin]

That doesn't say much about him as a person though. Players always focus on "wants power" but never really explain why they want power. In every day life, most people don't just "crave power." Only a select subset of humanity (usually who have gotten a taste of real power) crave it as a life goal. Being that this is fantasy roleplaying, you don't need to provide realistic motivations to all characters for them to work.

But from your description, it sounds like your character needs actual fleshing out. You've got the who, what, when, where, and how....but absent is the why.

Put it this way: a guy wants to be pope. Wants religious power, yadda yadda. WHY does he want to religious power though? Why does he want to be pope? Potential answers are: current popes be fuckin' everything up and he thinks he can do a better job. He grew up under a corrupt and oppressive regime of church leaders and it became his life goal to reform the church. Current popes poorly represent god and it's dragging the church down. Current popes are popes in name only and don't truly worship the spirit of Christ. This guy wants to be Pope because they want a better, more truthful, more spiritual church than the one they have now.

In this case, for this character, being Pope has an end goal, a result they're trying to achieve. Power is the path to achieving that goal but it's not the goal in and of itself. That's an actual, believable motivation. That has actual content so things in the world can interact with or bounce off your character's personality.

Currently playing with a fair number of what I'd call power gamers, it's really frustrating sometimes when nothing you do in your world has any effect on them when their motivation is "git power" and is essentially immune to almost all considerations which don't involve "killing people" "taking their shit" or "screw with people because they don't have anything else going on."

[quekwoambojish]

Thanks for the advice nenjin, yah, maybe if I look at each component of him and elaborate on 'why', it would make this feel a little more fluid.  I'll do that.

I'm still afraid though that even if I do that, it will still fairly triggery though, I'll just have a reason as to why I acted on said trigger.

New Example:
NPC of other religion talks to us, these are the thoughts going through my head: "ok religious NPC, I'm religious too, my character would probably want to exert religious dominance of him due to his trait because of (reason here)"

I guess I'm asking, when an NPC the dm is using to try and get me involved, what's a more immersive thought process I should take myself through? Should I not even acknowledge that the dm is potentially making this interaction as a means to involve my character, and thereby not determine that my character must act a particular way towards this? What SHOULD be going through my head at those very basic interaction to make the game more immersive for me and our group?