"Dear JB" Mailbag #44

Somewhere over the Arctic Circle, unable to sleep despite really trying (it was a comfortable ride, just had too many amps running through my veins), I decided I might as well put together a blog post from the ol' Reddit mail bag. Call this one "a brief interlude"....

Dear JB: 

I don’t intend this to be a rant, so I apologize if it becomes one.

Over the last 4 years I have been apart of 6 in-person tables. 2 as a dm, 4 as a player, and in all but one I find a constant trope is that players are loath to do anything that even resembles role playing, and I just want to know if this consistent with other peoples experiences.

In the games I dm’d I found myself initially asking players, “do you want to role play that for me. (ie almost guaranteed success) or do you want to roll for it?”

And I want to clarify, when I say role play, I don’t explicitly mean voices or pantomime. I mean describe what you are doing. How you are doing it. Your robbing a wallet, ok, are you going in two fingers and pulling slow, and you going for a, “hey buddy, give us a hug,” and pluck it, or do you want to walking into them and do a, “hey watch it!”

More often than now I’d be met with a slightly cringing, “does it matter? I rolled a 19.”

In the 4 games as a player I found it was pretty much the same. A dm dying for someone to interact beyond the mechanicals, but players focused on being uber efficient and getting thru as much as possible per session.

The only game that I found any different was in a store one shot that ended up going for 3 sessions where I was playing with 14/15 year old kids who were happy to full send it.

And to be honest, I was considering that dnd was maybe not for me before those shop sessions.

So I want to ask, is this just the way things are now? Or do you have a lot of role play at your tables? 

Is Role-Playing A Bit Of A Unicorn?

Dear Seeker of Unicorns:

No, role-playing is NOT “a bit of a unicorn.” But when it comes to the objectives of play, it IS a false god to worship…or even seek.

And, yes, if me saying that means “Dnd is maybe not for you” then, yeah, that’s what I mean.

However, I will elaborate.

ROLE-PLAYING HAPPENS. Happens all the time. Yes, yes, I’m talking about in D&D…even “old edition” D&D like the kind I play. It happens All The Time. Because the people playing the game…the players…are human beings and human beings anthropomorphize the shit out of things in the course of play. That’s a natural, human thing to do. And it includes talking in character or acting in character (and by “acting” I mean behaving, not acting like an actor on stage or screen).

D&D is a game. In the game, players face perilous dangers hoping for fame and fortune. We call these things “adventures.” The CHARACTER of a player, is the vehicle for the player to have those adventures in the imaginary game environment…the SETTING that is created by the DM. We call an ongoing series of such adventures a “campaign.” Got that?

SO, given that you have this particular vehicle (your elven thief or your human paladin or WHATever)…you use the capabilities of that vehicle for navigating the imaginary environment, i.e. “for playing the game.” And what is the game again? Oh, yeah: exploring an imaginary world, facing perilous dangers in the hope of winning fame and fortune.

What part of that requires describing in vivid detail how your thief picks a pocket? Or how they interact with a shopkeeper? Or even spending time and energy narrating the way you swing a sword?

NONE OF IT.

The players you complain about…the ones “focused on being uber efficient and getting thru as much as possible per session”…they are trying to play the game. They are trying to face perilous dangers and win fame and fortune. And they know their time is limited and they DO want to get through as much of the session as possible. Because That’s The Game. They are Playing A Game. They are ACTIVE. They are ENGAGED. They are not interested in performing theater for the table.

These are the kinds of players that a competent Dungeon Master WANTS at the table. They are PLAYING D&D THE RIGHT WAY, rather than screwing around like a bunch of goofball 14 and 15 year-olds.

If that’s not what you want out of the game…if what you want is performative collaborative storytelling…then, yeah, D&D may not be the right game for you.

But, of course, if that IS what you want from the game, you’re not alone out there. This is the major issue with the (majority) of the D&D community these days: they believe that this is what D&D is. They think this for a variety of reasons, mainly misinformation due to A) poorly written and/or unread instructions, B) lack of support/direction from the game’s publisher, and C) learning the game through on-line streaming “shows” like Critical Role and believing ‘O that’s what D&D looks like!’

Go join a theater troupe if you want to celebrate your improvisational acting skills.

Is role-playing a “unicorn?” I’ll say again: no. Role-playing happens all the time in a D&D game. Players internalize and identify with their character…they ACT (that is “behave”) as their character would, given the situation and circumstances of the game. They even “talk in character” on occasion, with or without changing the tone of their voice. They do this BECAUSE THEY ARE ENGAGED in the game…so engrossed that they tune out what is going on around them, narrowing their focus to the action at the table.

No flowery narration from the DM required. Just good, hard, solid D&D being thrown in their direction. Keeping the pressure on. So that they (the players) don’t have time to think about how silly the premise of such a game is, with its underground “dungeons” full of gold and goblins.

Yes, praying for “better role-playing” is praying to a false idol. What you should be seeking is better D&D. If you’re the DM, the way you control that is by world-building and running a tight ship of challenging – yet rewarding – scenarios. But if that’s not your bag…well, you can always play with the goofball kids at the shop, I guess. They seem to be on the same page you are.

Sincerely,

JB