What Part Does the Role Play in the Role-Playing Game?

[Emberashh]

And I think that's only true in a way that is sometimes unimportant. Its one of the arguments I see people bring up when immersion is discussed, and it just seems dismissive there, and the same here.

If you're going to cherry pick and not acknowledge everything I've said then I can't fathom why you keep responding.

You clearly don't want to talk about this and now its become necessary to point out you're not really engaging what I'm saying. You don't have to reply.

 

[Thomas Shey]

If you're going to cherry pick and not acknowledge everything I've said then I can't fathom why you keep responding.

You clearly don't want to talk about this and now its become necessary to point out you're not really engaging what I'm saying. You don't have to reply.

You weren't required to either, you know. I've expressed my objection. You keep trying to dismiss it. The easiest way to make an exchange you don't like end is stop responding yourself.

 

[Emberashh]

You weren't required to either, you know. I've expressed my objection. You keep trying to dismiss it. The easiest way to make an exchange you don't like end is stop responding yourself.

Considering I actually want to talk about the subject at hand, I'm not really the one thats needs to stop replying here.

But thats okay, because we can make this easy as you want to insist on the last word.

 

[DragonLancer]

I'm in the minority I'm sure, but as a very long term RPer, to me role-playing just means playing a role. It doesn't mean being an amateur actor or deep immersion. It can be just as simple as playing Grimgor the Barbarian kicking in doors, killing monsters, taking their stuff and spending that gold in the tavern.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'm in the minority I'm sure, but as a very long term RPer, to me role-playing just means playing a role. It doesn't mean being an amateur actor or deep immersion. It can be just as simple as playing Grimgor the Barbarian kicking in doors, killing monsters, taking their stuff and spending that gold in the tavern.

Token play has been in use for a long, long time, and the fact some people deride it doesn't make it illegitimate. What you're talking about is probably a layer above that (your phrasing suggests at least a schematic idea of characterization) but even if it wasn't its only a problem if people demand more, and that can't be but a matter of taste.

 

[Emberashh]

I'm in the minority I'm sure, but as a very long term RPer, to me role-playing just means playing a role. It doesn't mean being an amateur actor or deep immersion. It can be just as simple as playing Grimgor the Barbarian kicking in doors, killing monsters, taking their stuff and spending that gold in the tavern.

Its all a spectrum really. I can get into all 3 pretty easily, but at the end of the day, a lot of people seem to forget we are playing games.

Like, when my group plays DCC, we're always going in on the same sort of style you're describing. Its lovely for that. But if we go for COC or heck even Vampire once in a blue moon, we go in a whole other direction.

 

[uzirath]

I'm going to go out on a limb and define role-playing as taking on a role and responding to situations as if you were that person.

This has always been the heart of playing TTRPGs for me, too. I mean, I can have fun just playing the "game" part of it, especially if the game itself includes engaging choices (e.g., I sometimes enjoy GURPS tactical combat without any RP), but this isn't why I play the games. I like creating characters rooted in a culture with their own hopes and dreams. Throw them into an imaginary world with a team of other characters and see what happens. I find the experience quite captivating.

To your specific questions...

Regardless of the setting, when you play a character do you try to take on a role that is different from who you are as a person?

Yes. However, there's only so far I can go. I tend to be fairly gregarious in real life. Playing a silent stoic type is not fun for me. I also don't usually enjoy playing characters who I despise. (I don't mind making terrible choices at times or being a deeply flawed person, but I wouldn't choose to play a full-on sociopath as a protagonist.)

When that character deals with something in game do you do what the character would do or what you think should be done?

That's my goal, though I'm imperfect at inhabiting a fictional personality. Sometimes more of "me" bleeds into it than other times.

 

[overgeeked]

Two longish videos related to the topic for anyone interested.

 

[overgeeked]

I’m more on the low end of roleplaying on Matt’s scale. Somewhere near pawn stance and occasionally going a bit higher than than, or deeper into the character. But my goal is not to lose myself in the character or subsume my personality with theirs. I’m not an actor. I have no interest in bleed (transfer of emotions). It’s mostly about the game. But Ido try to make decisions for the character based on what the character would do rather than what I would do. Basic stuff like not metagaming is, to me, an absolute baseline.

 

[Clint_L]

I role play almost any game that I play, at least in my head, and usually out loud, too. As soon as we start something like Pandemic, I announce my character's backstory, relationships with other players, and quirks. It's entertaining.

My favourite RPGs emphasize RP.