Enchance your roleplaying

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 Enhancing your roleplaying

Some challenges for the avid GM

Improvisational-style challenges are fantastic for fostering creativity and quick thinking, as well as providing a new depth to connection between the player and the character. 

1. Encourage spontaneity. Force players to react to unexpected situations without overthinking. This can help stay in character and make authentic decisions on the fly, without optimising their thoughts.  
2. Foster collaboration. Players should build on each other's actions and cues and ideas, creating a shared narrative that is richer and more dynamic. 
3. Character depth. By focusing on emotions, physical actions or hidden motivations, the player can help himself get a stronger sense of who the character is, beyond the stats on the sheet.  
4. Problem-solving under pressure. High-stake situations requiring the players to solve problems creatively without relying to pre-planned strategies is absolutely a fun part. So, on the other hand, is forcing them to plan their strategy in character! 
5. Establish new quirks. Sometimes, you can use developments in the game to establish new personality aspects. Other players might also be helpful in coming up with some inspiration here. 
6. Reveal vulnerabilities. Involve personal or emotional stakes. If players find themselves roleplaying their character's insecurities, fears or desires in ways that make their characters feel authentic and human, you have succeeded in developing a multi-dimensional character. Try to overcome the urge to explain how a character is, instead of showing it. 
7. Reveal backstory. By letting small scenes expand on the present, future and past by having moments seep into the timeline of the group, you can expand the narrative. If the group is playing in a more cinematic style, some of these moments can also be used "off-camera" so the other players learn, but not their characters. 
8. Explore relationships. Forcing interactions to bring out the story will help create more natural and unscripted roleplaying moments that may end up surprising both players and GM. It transforms the game into a more immersive, character-driven experience. 
   

Some challenges for the roleplayer

When making characters, there are a couple of quick and dirty tricks that can get you going quickly and start exploring the newly birthed creation. 

1. Start with the core motivation. What drives your character, both on the surface level as well as some motives hidden deep beneath, that perhaps even the character himself is not aware of. Is it loyalty to his friends, family or a patron? Can it be revenge for a betrayal, or the death of a loved one? Perhaps redemption for having lost his job or status, having all around him lose faith in him? Or is it the thirst for adventure, or scientific curiosity that drives him?
2. Give him a flaw. No one is ever perfect, and flaws make any person more interesting by adding flavor and depth. Embrace the weaknesses - they will lead to the greatest moments, whether it's overcoming said weakness for the character, or riding it full out through the storyarc for the player. 
3. Create a simple backstory. A few key moments from your character's past will help both you and the GM relate to the world, and create a storyarc. If you look at your character's skills and characteristics, explaining some of them would make for an interesting point, especially if there are strange contradictions. So, you have pilot ship to a high degree, but no skill in swimming? Perhaps you were a sailor at times, and with some superstition about being able to swim indicating that you are a poor sailor with no faith in your own abilities. After all, a sailor is never meant to go into the water, right? Developing some really odd skills makes the character memorable. After all, all character have the bread-and-butter skills, but a high level of origami might require some interesting explanation.
4. Establish relationships. How does your character feel about the others in the group? Is there a rival, a special friend? Remember to separate those relations from the relations to the player - it is, after all, a game. And also remember connections to NPCs, other from your past and present. They might make interesting connections in the adventures to come, and give the GM something to build on. No man is an island. 
5. 
   Decide on a quirk or habit. Add something to the personality. It can be a special accent or dialect, a way of speech, fiddling with a locket or some glasses, or stroking your beard in a special way. It will make it easier for you to get into the character as well as make them memorable. 
6. Stay flexible. Be open to growth and change. In fact, making your character develop in views, opinions, personality would be an interesting ride along the storyarc. Let the experiences in the game evolve his personality, goals and/or beliefs. Some of this change you can actually plan for - where you want your character to go. Now, this would be the player on a meta-level, and not something the character would be aware of, naturally. 
7. What would my character do differently? In tough situations, try to think how your character would respond. For me, this is now always the easiest thing, as I tend to go back to my own thinking, so a good tip might be to always ask what your character would do differently. Might be nothing, which is a good answer, but for me it's easier to think about the changes or differences. It will also be more shocking if the other players know you, accentuating the character's different personality. 
8. Use dialogue and actions to show personality. Speak as the character, like the character, when it is dialogue. Small choices in the way the character talks make a huge difference, like choice of words, tempo of speech. One can also with great success use small descriptive gestures to illustrate the personality. If you play live, you might act it out yourself, but online, it might be easier to describe. Instead of just saying "Hey, how are you", act it out. "He leans heavily against the doorpost, whiskey glass in hand and the stumbling movement almost makes the golden liquid spill. With his left hand, he rips off the strangling tie, dropping it to the ground, and with a slurred voice, his sultry tones ring out seductively... "Hey, how are you?"
9. Play off the world around you. Use the setting, the NPCs and the lore of the world to inspire your character's actions and beliefs. It can provide numerous storyarc for great side quests and fun escapades and deepens the connection to the world. 
10. Challenge yourself as player. I find I get a lot of enjoyment about making a character that will be challenging. We all have our go-to type adventurers, but shake that up. A lot of that should be decided in collaboration with the GM. Why not play an alchemist who never leaves his lab? A stockbroker? A bartender who owns his own establishment? If you are a profound atheist, why not play a devout priest? Choose a culture that's distant from yours. It forces you to learn, expands your curiosity and teaches both you, the GM and the group in a fun way. 
11. Have fun! Don't stress about getting everything right. Don't focus on the mistakes, as they don't really matter. Let your character surprise you as he develops through play, and enjoy the journey.

With that, I hope you have salvaged something useful or thought-provoking. If you have any thoughts, questions, corrections or anything to add, please drop a line! You know where to find me.