In my F2F group I have trouble fostering character to character scenes and narrative engagement. We all largely come from trad 5e murder hobo background, so I think it’s largely an issue of just being less familiar with how to play those kinds of scenes/more story driven games, but I’m sure there are things I could do to help move us away from solving everything with violence. Any tips on how to ease a trad group into more character and story based play?
How do you foster player engagement with more story/narrative elements?
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My home F2F group struggles with that a bit. One trick I’ve found is to use a procedure for “downtime” moments that prompts them to interact a bit, without necessarily forcing them to play out full-fledged in-character scenes. This is the move I use:
I’ve found that it does a nice job drawing out interaction from players who are not disposed to “playing in character.” And for those who are, it provides a pretty natural invitation to frame a scene around one of their answers.
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You could introduce an NPC from a PCs past (i.e. parent, ex-lover, childhood friend…). This allows to explore a PCs past while presenting also current problems.
Generally, a focus on social conflict and drama may help. Check out Hillfolk/Dramasystem (Dramasystem basic text should be free).
It starts with creating dramatic poles between main characters and within each main character.
What also works well is to establish a PC-NPC-PC triangle, i.e. introduce a NPC that puts two PCs in conflict.
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Leading questions will certainly be your friend for a while, though for a more broad answer, I’d suggest asking them. There honestly will be some players who will NEVER want to initiate that kind of roleplay. Though for every one of those, there are half a dozen who can be taught to engage with one another more actively.
I wonder if a sort of multiplayer love letter situation might be useful here? Contrive interesting interstitial scenarios between session that involve two or more characters and encourage them to interact!
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to build on what Dissonance is saying…
If your players are former murder-hobo graduates, they may take time/never adjust to romantic comedies, but you can still lead them via examples into a way more cooperative and less combat focused game.
So they go to a tavern or castle, ask player 1 what happened last time they and player 2 were here, then ask player 2 why is NPC X important to them?. This way they are creating a little sub plot together, which they will be interested in because they created it.
Yes there is a danger they can say ‘its an ancient dragon who hands out vorpal weapons’ so you just say ‘No, try again. This is about making an interactive story.’
Once they are used to cooperating more you can ask for volunteers - eg Okay this merchant, who’s cousin is it? and they should answer, then you have the merchant talk to the character who is their cousin, asking to set up their child with an apprenticeship under another PC.
But it doesn’t have to just be people, it can be rooms/monuments/landmarks etc, eg what makes X different from things around it? why would your parents find it valuable? what makes it unexpected? who tried to kill you/propose marriage here?
Much of the cooperative gaming i’ve learned is from the fantastic podcast series Discern Realities, We Hunt The Keepers, and Comic Strip AP.
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In a fantasy game, find good moments and start with asking lots of questions. Campfire scenes are great. I never waste those opportunities. Start by just asking how people pass the time, what their characters are thinking about, what they think about “Thing X” that happened in the adventure. Get them reflecting on things and thinking beyond the danger and adventure. And then, later, just frame scenes where they have to talk. “Before we move on to Room Y, I’d like to have a quick scene between Thrangar and Bibbin about ABC.” And then I always do a jokey thing with my hands and say “Now role play!”
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Presenting situations that cannot be solved or won with combat or other murder-hobo behavior can help a lot.
I have also had good luck with campfire scenes, as well as incorporating hooks from their character’s backstory. Introducing NPCs that they grow to care about also can draw them into more narrative, emotionally substantive play.
Finally, speak candidly with them away from the table about the kind of gameplay you’d like to try and see if you can get them to buy into the idea, at least for a while. One indirect way to do that is to have them play a one shot of a narrative, entirely non-combat oriented game, so that they can see what that kind of play feels like. That might help them incorporate those elements back into their previously murder hobo game.
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Could you do a one-shot which has more of a narrative element baked into the system? That way the players can enjoy the story/character element without feeling like the system is pushing them into the next encounter.
Also a one-shot would mean they might feel more free to experiment as it won’t ‘mess up’ the campaign?
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What games have your group been playing (outside of 5e) where this has been a problem? There’s a lot of great general advice here already but if you’re playing a story-driven game you should have tools available out of the box to facilitate these types of scenes.
With my more trigger-happy players—especially those coming from a D&D background—I like to point at some mechanic or reward (e.g., DW’s bonds, or BitD’s “Express the goals, drives, inner conflict, or essential nature of the crew” XP trigger) so they know we’re not just goofing off or whatever, but that this is a “real” part of the game.
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Thanks for all the great advice everyone!
We’ve mostly been playing dungeon world, though we’ve done a bit of messing around with different systems. The bonds and alignment bits have had some success bringing out character moments, as has offering xp for various things. I have started a discussion with them about this through our chat, and (assuming no one objects to more character/narrative story) will be trying out some of these ideas moving forward.
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Something that can be really useful in games that don’t otherwise focus on character: town episodes! That is to say, a whole session devoted solely to exploring character and expanding on existing plot points.
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I have always wanted to figure out some way to bolt Lady Blackbird’s Refresh Scenes into other systems. They are so good for this stuff. (For those who don’t know: in LB you have a dice pool to do things with. The only way to refresh that pool is through having quiet scenes either alone or (more often) with another character. Anyone participating refreshes their pool.)
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I’ve found that players from traditional RPGs (like D&D) are often eager to jump into world- and story-building if you give them a chance.
Basically: When they ask you about the world, thow their question back to them and let them answer it collectively. It’s OK to join their conversation about it, if they’re taking things in a direction you’re not comfortable with.
This has the added benefit of you, as the GM, learning what your players are interested in.
Example…
GM: As the sun sets and day turns to dusk, you see signs thay there is likely a village up the road. What do you do?
Player 1: What kind of signs?
GM: I don’t know. What would make you think there’s a village ahead?
Player 2: Um… we pass open farm fields?
Player 3: Yeah, and a pasture, with low stone walls.
Player 1: And it’s getting dark, so a farmer is leading a herd of cows to his barn.
Player 2: And we meet other travelers on the road.
GM: The farmer waves to you in a friendly manner as you pass. You catch up to the other travelers: Describe them. Are they heading into or out of town?
Player 3: They’re more farmers, heading into town for the evening to have a friendly drink at the tavern. They greet us and ask for news…
This exchange tells you a few things: The players have set a scene of a friendly farming village, where the villagers are open to meeting strangers. They have telegraphed that they want a place where they can relax and let their guard down. I would give them exactly that, and would set the next scene at a friendly local tavern.
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@Gerrit used to give the characters keys in our WoDu hack, and if you hit another player’s key, you would get an XP. That kind of tangible ‘reward’ for roleplaying might get some of your players to get into exploring roleplaying with the other characters a bit.
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Is this your Homebrew or did you add it to Stonetop?
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It’s in both! It started as a part of the Make Camp move in Stonetop, but playtesting quickly showed that the questions were useful on the road, or just leaving a dungeon, or even during a few weeks of downtime.
In Homebrew World it’s an optional move… I haven’t actually used it much there, because HBW is so focused on one-shots and you rarely have time for this kind of introspection. But it’s there if folks want it.
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Similar to what @beepeegee was saying about about introducing plot elements relevant to character pasts, one of my favorite tools to bolt on to any game (which doesn’t already have some kind of collaborative backstory procedure built in, but partciularly trad-style games) is Backstory Cards. I consider it a Session Zero kind of thing, but upon reflecting, I guess there’s no reason it couldn’t be done mid-campaign!
The gist of it is a deck of cards with questions and a few randomizing elements have the party constructing a grid of setting elements (people, places, events) and the relationships between them. This forms a backstory of connections not only between PCs, but from PCs to setting, and the collaborative setup means everyone has pitched in and (hopefully) gotten invested. Then, these backstory elements can be brought into the campaign proper and have meaning to the players, and not just the characters. I think it really helps engage people to the narrative!
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