Roleplaying adventures

[Herolover]

I am GM'ing a Champions campaign set basically in the Champions universe. The seven characters are varied 350-400 points and working with PRIMUS as a group.

My question is what kind of adventures do you run to bring the roleplaying out of your group. I have run one or two really good roleplaying sessions and would like some ideas for some more.

The characters really don't "hang" out together so how should I get them to roleplay more together? Do you run players seperately and just switch between players or what?

[Harry Canyon]

Originally posted by Herolover
My question is what kind of adventures do you run to bring the roleplaying out of your group.

First off, seems like the PC's need to interact more frequently with each other period.

How to do this? Without knowing the players style, your GM'ing style etc., obviously I can only make general suggestions. So here goes.

Generally speaking, stories where action/combat can't solve the problem is one way to encourage role-playing.

I don't remember if Primus is puclicly visible or not, but having one or more characters do a PR stunt (press meeting, grand opening etc.) could fuel role-playing.

Have one of their landlady's complain about all the noise from training/equipment creation/etc.

Out of curiosity: Is it the players themselves? Or just lack of opportunity? Something else? (I know at least one guy in our group who can role-play regardless of what's actually occuring in the game.)

Take care,

Harry

[Mayday]

I always start off with "So, you wake up in the morning. Looks like rain/sun/snow/foggy out, what do you do?"

We always have ideas in our head about what our character does or would like to do, and so I let them work on it and splice in my plot as we go. Sometimes theirs is better so I go with theirs instead. Take each aside as necessary through the week to rp with them till a point when they all can come together at our next session.

This style only works if your players are very active though. Or motivated, perhaps competing with each other.

[Harry Canyon]

Originally posted by Mayday
I always start off with "So, you wake up in the morning. Looks like rain/sun/snow/foggy out, what do you do?"

We always have ideas in our head about what our character does or would like to do, and so I let them work on it and splice in my plot as we go. Sometimes theirs is better so I go with theirs instead. Take each aside as necessary through the week to rp with them till a point when they all can come together at our next session.

This style only works if your players are very active though. Or motivated, perhaps competing with each other.

"Very active" is an issue for some of the players in our group (regardless of the system/genre). A couple tend to only be reactive. It can get a bit frustrating when some of the players have to constantly be prodded into action.

Harry

[Herolover]

I think it is a combination of the players not having the opportunity, my style, and the players characters not really "knowing each other."

I can't/don't have the opportunity to get together or talk with the players through the week. We get together every other saturday so that is all the time we get.

[ShelleyCM]

Originally posted by Herolover
I am GM'ing a Champions campaign set basically in the Champions universe. The seven characters are varied 350-400 points and working with PRIMUS as a group.

The characters really don't "hang" out together so how should I get them to roleplay more together? Do you run players seperately and just switch between players or what?

Since you mentioned PRIMUS, I feel compelled to throw in.

Some ideas:
A PRIMUS reception to welcome some local dignitary (or if their relationship is particularly cordial, perhaps with the heroes as the guest of honor). There's interaction with the agents & dignitaries, but there are more possibilities.

- Interactions with each other. Set up a situation where PCs with similar interests have a chance to talk about them.

- interactions with pleasant/unpleasant/jealous agent types. How does one make small talk with a superhero, anyway? "So -- ah -- seen any good movies recently?"

- For the geek type, getting to test prototypical "new" equipment on a side tour (or maybe some new stuff just arrived from HQ) and having unexpected results.

- for the romantic type, an interlude in a secluded corner.

- for the misery type, seeing his SO attending the party with one of the PRIMUS agents -- and being way too cozy.

- for the kick-@ss, take names type, villains can always attack somewhere in there.

- Shelley

[Mayday]

Harry, if they are happy reacting, let them react. Or give it a try and see if my method gets them to thinking about their characters and working them out a bit more so that they develop into proactive players. Can't hurt.

I've always thought it would be fun if two unrelated heroes with DNPCs found those DNPCs carrying on a romance on the side, and even marrying. And the first fight. And the baby.... That would definately get some reactions going on, especially if the heroes knew who each other were and didn't get along.

There may be other Disads you can use to tie characters together and get them talking.

The more active players might be encouraged to take the reactive types in. In one group I was in the musclebound freak decided that the rest of us werent in as good shape as we could/should be even tho most of us neared or surpassed Normal Human maximums... so he turned into the Gym Teacher from hell during downtimes. Jogging, pushups, diet, he was merciless.

Another game I played a 16 year old girl, and we started off with the guys (generally hardbitten Soldier of Fortune merc types or stealthy Yakuza assassins) took her out to a nightclub for her birthday and then had to chaperone her against what they considered to be bad influences, or else kids they simply took a dislike to. Of course, a vampire and the Monster kidnapped her off the dancefloor leading to a merry chase, but it was interesting to put these guys into a situation they would never be in on their own. In a similar vein another PC drug the entire team (in civvies) to a cheap biker bar to hear his favorite garage band play.

Have the reactive type players select 2-3 adjectives to describe themselves. Dr Who the RPG had a good list for this and taught us alot about how to RP. One early character rolled up 'practical joker' which the player was not. But he soon realized that RP let him be more than himself without negative social consequences.

The two guys I began playing with in the beginning almost always played polar opposites and became each other's arch nemesis. That sparked alot of RP too.

Time travel (or the illusion of it) can also lead to interesting RP, as can losing your powers. In one Dr Who game we were on a space station and you had to check all weapons before being allowed on. When trouble started you could almost hear brain cells sizzling as they got very creative. Powers are sometimes a crutch that way. Block them from using their abilities for a session or two.

[BoloOfEarth]

We have two players in my group that tended to react more than act, though they've gotten better over time. I threw a few NPCs their way that were specifically for those players, to get them more into things. Some examples are: an irritating but useful fanboy; a friendly PRIMUS agent (sorry, Shelley, but in my games the PCs and PRIMUS tend to get along like cats and dogs, so a cooperative PRIMUS agent is a rarity); or a villain that particular player really loves to hate.

GMing a group can be a juggling act when one player is into combat, another into investigating, a third into romance, and so on. Tying two together (like having the Romantic's love interest kidnapped, forcing the Romantic and the Investigator to work closely together) is a great way to get the players interacting.

As to GMing individuals vs. the group, I bounce between individuals and small groups (my six players tend to break into groups of 2-3 during investigations and other pre-combat stuff), with some full-team stuff. Its also a good idea to highlight a player each game (ideally a different player each game). Making a reluctant roleplayer the focus of a game may help bring out the roleplaying.

[Mayday]

Hero, do you think it would help if in the next campaign the reactive guys played sidekicks of the active guys? If the Follower is their preferred style this would let them do that and be accepted as such.

We had a girl who insisted that she had fun but everytime we played she'd be in the other room reading a book, or asleep at the table. We didn't know what to do to get her interested either, I always thought she was there for the company and would have been just as happy to not play at all, just be in the room with her book or pillow.

[Mayday]

One more idea. I wasn't part of this but got to watch, most of our team got transported to the Jurassic and abandoned, a one way trip. The GM intended it as a finale to the game and so had no plan in mind for them to get out of this.

They spent weeks of intensive brainstorming working out and discarding plans to present to him, and their chosen plan was pretty good. They got back to the present with only a few weeks having passed.

Another do or die time was when I was forced to defend our base all alone from a PSI invasion while the rest were off dealing with what we later realized were diversions. I got to set up the base defenses, set traps in the corridors, fight off computer hackers... it was pretty cool and couldnt be done successfully with the old hack n slash gameplay.