Where's the Role-play?

After a good break from gaming we finally held another session - I closed down the Gloryseekers of Gildale game and started Hellbound much to the delight of my players. It proved to be a more immersing experience for the group but I still found myself thinking at the end of the session that something was missing.

I'm a bit spoiled in from the last few years of running games. I have had a group of rock solid role-players who knew how to focus solely on their characters and build upon them through the game. Something from those games has been missing in my more recent games and I think I have finally put my finger on where the trouble lies.

My moment of epiphany came a couple days after our game. Bob (a friend of mine and gamer in our group) posed this question to me in a chat session: "There are some things I wanted to RP but didn't want to waster the other 9 peoples time with. Can I pitch those to you some time?"
...Didn't want to waste the other 9 peoples time? I have never found role-play moments a waste of time, but when reflecting on the game I recalled a couple players in the group who groaned that an in-game argument between wizards seemed to drag out longer than what they were used to. To me such a moment was necessary; it developed some tension between players and drew some distinct lines that help define characters.

Such moments have been commonplace in my other games, so why isn't it occurring now? Where is the role-play? The answer is obvious but sometimes hard to sort out. Bob's question to me reminded me of what I always knew. The greatest opportunity for role-play occurs in the moments when the Game Master isn't focused on you.

For players, this means you need to start talking even when it isn't your turn. Bob had told me "...I wanted to RP but didn't want to waste the other 9 peoples time..." In this context it outlines the biggest problem I believe I am having with my group. They are too afraid to talk over one another. Perhaps it is a Minnesota Nice thing... we want to give everyone their moment, uninterrupted. That needs to be stopped though. Encourage your players to just talk to each other while in character - even when it is someone elses turn. You don't always need to be in the know about everything - GM included.

To say that this concept may be a little hard on the GM might be a bit of an understatement. Part of being the GM is maintaining control over your game. You usually want to know what is happening all the time, but when it comes to role-play you need to let your players go. Let them be creative, form the setting themselves.

For instance: When I ran Forgotten Light with my group in Duluth the biggest role-play moments were always happening when I was doing something else. Players developed their characters further by remaining in character an talking to each other when they were not in the spotlight. As a result, I ended up with people suddenly asking me (often in the middle of something else) what the cost of ale was at the locale tavern. I would discover that during the small skirmish I was ruling over, my players had taken it upon themselves to go to the local tavern because they had been talking for quite a while. I often didn't learn what was discussed until after the game when we discussed what events had happened over the course of the night.

Another group (this one was my friend Brian's) was quite a quite group when I started playing with them. I remember drawing Tima's character into a conversation with my own... WHILE Brian was trying to do something. The looks I got from some people probably could have curdled milk (if you'll excuse the cliche). It hadn't really been done before or at least that was the impression I got. It soon passed though, and most of the guys continued the trend, focusing on the interplay between their characters all the time rather than only on their turn. It is my hope that they continued this trend well after I moved (perhaps Brian can shed some light on this too if he is reading).

Encourage your players to be a bit more bold in game, and to stay in character. As long as you remember that a GMs job is to move the story and maintain the rules then things will be good. As the GM you can always pull players aside later to learn what was being discussed without your knowledge. Giving them a creative opportunity and the OK to keep playing even when they aren't the focus will help boost the roleplay going on in game. I know I'll be talking to my group and encouraging this behavior before I start my next session, and if you haven't yet perhaps you should too.