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Advice on encouraging roleplay?; All the world's a stage, and he keeps forgetting his lines...
Topic Started: Aug 23 2015, 06:16 AM (833 Views)
Gatamigo
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Pokémon Trainer
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Alright, this is something I've been struggling with for a few weeks, and it's gotten to the point where my entire campaign is suffering. I'm a very new GM, hosting a weekly irl PTU session for my sister-in-law and a nice couple from work. I brought PTU to the attention of the boyfriend because he basically lives and breathes pokemon. Naturally, because I brought it up, I got volunteered to GM and he wouldn't take no for an answer.

After a few weeks of reading and planning and in-depth conversations about what kind of campaign the players wanted, we all agreed to run a campaign styled after the Anime, with plenty of Pokemon Adventures references thrown in- Episodic adventures with high focus on Player-Pokemon relationships.

The problem wasn't fully apparent until a couple of sessions in- The players started with a minor boss battle to give them a crash course in how the battle mechanics work, with plenty of chances to experiment with using the surrounding area to their advantage in battle, a few random encounters so they could experience catching new Pokemon, basic tutorial stuff just so everyone made sure they knew the base rules well enough to play. Sis and the girlfriend took to it like a fish to water; regularly interacting with their pokemon and each other, bouncing ideas for how a scene should go, and making sure their characters acted with the personalities they'd given them, even when smarter choices were to be made. The boyfriend took to it like a fish to a cactus.

Mechanically, he knows what he's doing. As I said, he lives and breathes Pokemon, so even with the changes made in PTU for the sake of balancing, he has a general grasp of what each pokemon they encounter is capable of AND has a very set in stone plan for how he wants his character and team to evolve over the course of the campaign. What he DOESN'T do is roleplay. Like, at all. He just gives his Pokemon a command and makes sure we know his character is actively tagging along behind the other two so they can handle anything that isn't punching something else in the face. I've tried having NPCs call him out on the fact that he just stands there, never talking or taking any actions that aren't absolutely necessary; the other players have attempted to call him out on it too, in character- but nothing changes. If his character were just the quiet type who keeps to himself, this would be fine; but the outgoing personality he gave his character clashes with how he actually "plays" it.

At first I thought it was just start-of-campaign jitters and that he'd get comfortable enough to properly join in once the game was properly underway... but it's gone on long enough to be ridiculous and it's dragging the rest of the campaign down. Have any of you ever experienced dealing with a player like this? I don't want to call him out on it out of character, but it's affecting everyone else involved in the game.
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Robot
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Giant Mecha Enthusiast
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Often with this sort of problem, it is usually best to find out what motivates the /player/ and use that to your advantage. Punch Stuff McMurderhobos are unfortunately about a dime a dozen. It's excessively common with players that are into the metagame, either from a Pokemon standpoint, or tabletop at large.

When you know what drives the player, it becomes a fairly simple thing to set things in his path that he wants, but can't get by being a quiet murderhobo. Basically if it was on his starter wishlist for example, give it to another trainer, who is considering trading it, but they want to know it will go to a good home. This forces the player to develop character, even if it's just in scene.

I myself have been guilty of running murderhobos, and often what pulls me out of that funk, is developing a character through circumstances where I had to be actively roleplaying to get what i wanted. Hope this helps!
Edited by Robot, Aug 23 2015, 07:40 AM.
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pholland
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My advice- don't worry. Badgering him will only make him less likely to RP, if he's having fun, then he's having fun. He may not be roleplaying, and it annoys me, but we have someone like that in our RP group- for some people the whole social aspect is more important or even the mechanics and mathematics. At the end of the day, forcing the player to RP will only make them not enjoy it.

Play to their character, give opportunities for them to RP in small ways- have an NPC who has similar interests of goals. Maybe set up a rival. Have their Pokémon interact with them, maybe set up an encounter where they can't just 'fight' through a capture- make it story based. They might all encourage them, they also might just go through it mechanically again. That's their choice.

Doing things like giving rewards for RP also works- an extra point of XP or an item reward for talking to someone. Give a bonus to skill rolls (and not just social ones- maybe they get a +1 boost to an Edu check because someone in the Library helps them out), that sort of positive reinforcement is more likely to work than 'negative reinforcement' by 'punishing' them for not RPing.
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Elemental Knight
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Knight of the Spread Sheet
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Some random thoughts:

  • You may need to shake him out of his meta - You don't want to do it too often, but if you confront him with a situation where he has imperfect knowledge or far lessened resources, he might be more inclined to use his or his Pokemon's skills. You could confront him with a new Type that doesn't fit nicely in the type chart, or Homebrew Pokemon that he won't know inside and out. You could also run an adventure with a Pokemon out on its own, so that he has to use that limited Movepool and skill set to its fullest. Even if this doesn't encourage him to use roleplay or social skills, it could still be a fun time for him.
  • Alternatively, you could bring the social aspects of the game into the meta. The Obsidian Skill Challenge System does this quite nicely, allowing for "meta"-like use and tactics for social challenges. This might help him bridge the gap between "tactical mastermind player" and "social butterfly character".
  • I agree with the idea of using positive reinforcement, rather than negative reinforcement. You don't want to punish him for playing his way, but you do want to draw him out of that shell and reward him for trying something new. I'd actually go a step further than Pholland's suggestion of "give a non-social bonus for being social" - set up a situation that just practically begs for him to roleplay an advantage. For example: Maybe Team Rocket's latest vehicular monstrosity is a giant robo-Pidgeot, and it's tearing apart the forest where Caterpie and Weedle live. The Pikachu in the forest might be ambivalent about this, since they're only thinking short-term - "no more Beedrill to sting us" - while not thinking long-term - "no more Caterpie to eat". The robo-Pidgeot might be one heck of a fight going toe-to-toe, but if he can convince all those Pikachu to Thundershock it all at once, it'll be a one-hit KO. With a setup like that, his meta-mind may well demand he try the social route.
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Gatamigo
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Thank you all so much for your advice. I'll be giving all of your suggestions a go and see what works best, but at the very least you've given me a lot more confidence about my situation.

Of course if anybody else has any additional advice they want to chime in with, I wouldn't be against it? :3
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