Role Play vs. Roll Play (and why this is a stupid concept)

On a recent episode of Kicked in the Dicebags, Jonathan's girlfriend, Kristin, had previously asked some listeners to provide the podcast with some questions, a typical Q&A session. One of the questions was something along the lines of, "What is your favorite RPG system and why?" Her answer is the reason for this post you are about to read.

It isn't because of her preference to one system over another -- it was her reasoning behind it. She said that she wasn't really into D&D because she's, "more of a r-o-l-e roleplayer than a r-o-l-l player." Despite her claim to having some experience with the system, it is obvious that she really doesn't. It probably isn't her fault, but instead the fault of the DM running those games for her. Or it could be something that she's missing entirely in a role-playing game.

Before I go on any further, there are some terms that need to established: roll, roll play, role, role play, and roleplaying game (RPG). Roll is, obviously, as in to roll a die to determine the result of any action you may take in any given RPG. Roll play refers to people more or less declaring the use of a given skill (say, Diplomacy), rolling a die, and then accepting the result and not following up with any actual speaking or interaction except for the rolling of that die/dice. Role is simply the role you play in a game, your character. To roleplay, is the act of playing that role, your character but not just a sheet full of numbers and stats. It means to speak as your character would (funny voice or not) and do the things he would do in the scope of the world provided for him (not go against his personality, despite what certain stat numbers might say). A roleplaying game is a game in which you the player take on the role of a character. However, because an RPG is in fact a game, to effectively roleplay within its boundaries requires the use of certain mechanics to be in order to decide how you succeed and fail at various things throughout your character's life.

My players all roleplay thier characters and they do it well. Its all in how you play the game. I run mainly 4E D&D campaigns and roleplaying is a must. Now, contrary to popular belief, a die roll is not required for all roleplaying situations; it is only required when a situation has a chance of failure having an adverse effect on the rest of the game. EXAMPLE: The PC's stumble into a small village in the middle of a swamp. Under normal circumstances, one PC could simply just walk up to a local and say (literally, in-character) "Pardon me, do you know where some weary travellers may find refuge for the night?" Of course, the NPC would just simply point the way and all is progressing. But, suppose that the locals resent and distrust outsiders and would prefer that they stay any place but this village, and then you have to work within the scope of the game's mechanics.

Take a look at your character sheet there, do you see all those numbers listed next to abbreviations like Str, Int, and Cha? That's not you, that's your character! Based on what a 17 Intelligence translates to in game terms, most regular people fall short of that, generally in the Average 10-11 range. You are not as smart or as charming as your character. Especially if you're playing a character who's world is defined by one of those stats. Sometimes, it works the opposite way. If your PC has a low Int score you most likely are smarter than your character. It can be really hard to play something you're not. I've seen several rogues and most of their players simply aren't charming enough to play them up to what their Cha score suggests. That is why dice come in when failure to do something can alter the course of the game. Suppose you need to convince a nation's beloved king to impart a secret of great importance upon you so that you may vanquish a foe quicker and easier -- without it, it will be a long, ardous battle that may see the very end of some of your beloved companions. Of course, the king isn't going to just tell anybody this secret... You get the idea.

You don't need dice for the menial things, but if a single word or phrase is all that hangs in the balance of begging to not be thrown in prison or getting a well-reputed freelancer to accompany your group on their next adventure, the dice define your character's abilities in the context of the game world.

There are certain caveats: If a player, in-character says or tries something that is so profound, or just plain creative (I'm thinking of the token one-liner that just makes the whole group start cracking up -- as long as its appropriate to the situation), they should either get a nice bonus for the roll (+2 to +5) or just an auto-success as warrented by the situation. If someone says something like what was said by Jim Darkmagic, a character in a recent D&D podcast, "Now that your wife's dead, let's dance," would totally earn something at my table -- for that it would probably be a +2 to the attack roll.

Basically, the dispute between roll-playing and roleplaying is a ridiculous concept when it is directed at RPG's. You are not your character, nor is the DM really that NPC. You are not as skilled as your PC's are at certain things, mechanics help you describe that better than simple play-acting ever could. Just because you roll dice to determine success or failure in any given task does not mean you shouldn't portray your character. Even a simple, "Please sir, I'd never survive in a prison," along with your Bluff roll is acceptable.

Next time on 1d4+5...
Perhaps this calls for a discussion on Skill Challenges? Or maybe I'll talk about religion in RPG's, something I had been planning on doing for awhile now and today found out that The Podgecast had a discussion about it on their last episode. It don't matter, I have other things on the subject that they failed to discuss upon. Until next time, keep rolling those 20's!

What am I doing here?

That really is a good question.

Alright, so as a long time DM who feels he can help others with their roleplaying needs by offering insight, advice, and wisdom. Granted, I know that there is a lot of this around already, and that mine is a singular voice doomed to be drowned out by other, louder voices that are already in place. Podcasts, for one.

See, I really wanted to do a podcast. There were a few things preventing this at the moment: First, the equipment is expensive and at the moment, there isn't room in my budget for it. Secondly, I don't have a reliable person to co-host such an endeavor with me, and despite the availability of Table Saw from The Podgecast, one-sided conversations of the audio variety can be kind of boring (no offense to The Tome Show, another great podcast). Lastly, there was the issue of "What can I talk about that hasn't been discussed directly already?" Most of the great RPG topics have been discussed at length and more often than not, discussed way further than they really need to be. That is not to say however, that there is no new information to be gleaned.

Anyhow, I decided that a blog was going to have to be the way to go so here is my first attempt. I plan to bring you the reader advice and tips that I learn (both as I play and part of the collective efforts of the many podcasts I listen to), cool or interesting products that I hear about (and probably use too!), and the possible review from time to time as well. My game of choice is Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition, so most of my ramblings will apply specifically to D&D 4E -related items. Although, most of my advice should be applicable to whatever system you're running, so hopefully we'll get some readers from outside the scope of D&D as well (and yes, I'd love to hear your feedback, whether its D&D-related or not). Oh, and I may talk about my current campaigns as well -- examples of play are something that I've always found interesting, I'm sure others will agree.

Unfortunately, I don't really have a lot to discuss today. Both of my campaigns took the week off so I don't have any in-game stuff for you. Also, with this being my first blog, I don't want to go off in too many directions. I did attend World Wide D&D Gameday last week for the DMG2 and had a blast. That experience, along with some collective podcast knowledge, taught me something interesting, something that I've been hesitant of and used sparingly throughout my career as a DM. Breaking the rules is alright.

I've always been of the mindset that rules in roleplaying games are there for a reason. They create the structure needed for the players to interact with the environment in a (for lack of better word) controlled setting. I mean, its the rules that keep us from moving 10 squares across a battlemap when your speed is 6 and attacking with an Encounter power and an additional At-Will with an "Awesome" bonus of +20 to both rolls... and you can just make up the rest. Why even play a game at all if you can just do whatever you want.

Okay, yes I know. A gross overstatement and obviously very embellished. But that isn't the point. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, the point was not as obvious as I had assumed either. The point is found in the 4E PHB initially. I'm not making an exact quote or citation, but basically it says there is a basic structure for the rules but the various character races and classes all break those rules in many different ways. Every class feature, heck every paragon path feature, and every racial feature break the rules. For instance, you have 22 points to create your ability scores, no more and no less. However, your race gives you a special bonus to two different ability scores (determined by your race of course), which clearly breaks the rule about a point limit to setting up your ability scores. In theory, your two plusses could either fall in your two lowest ability score values, your two highest, or any combination inbetween, effectively changing the value of the +2 anywhere from 1 point to 6 or more! And this is just one example. Of course, not all the rulebreaking fun goes to the players, the DM's get quite a bit as well also (and I'm not talking about monsters that appear out of thin air, or how a monster's Reflex value suddenly changes from 16 to 22 on a whim... bad DM's, I'm talking to you)! Monsters and traps/hazards all break rules in small ways too. The goblins' ability to shift after being missed by a melee attack for instance is a great example of this. And also the most obvious because its spelt out in the Monster Manual or in the Dungeon Master's Guide. You don't actually realize the potential of this until you start looking at modules.

In a podcast (I don't remember which one so I'm not crediting anybody, sorry) I heard a discussion about how module authors are constantly breaking the rules. Then, at Gameday, when setting up the encounters with my group a few small rule-breakages were suggested. I of course was hesitant, but soon I was convinced that it would be all right. One of my collaborators was a man I had never met before, but he was the organizer of my local D&D Meetup groups. Knowing that he had vast experience in gaming as well, his presence inspired me to try it out. We made up a power that the underground stream possessed related to healing and death, and converted a group of standard soldiers into minions that die, get back up, die again, get up again, etc unless they were killed in the water (or fell four times, whichever happened first. Four was the magic number, by turning standards into minions, it was like adding nine more monsters for a total of 12 from 3, perfect math in D&D encounter building). Of course, we added clues and hints, there isn't any point if the players have no chance in figuring out your little mystery.

All in all, the group I DM-ed for loved the adventure. Afterward, one of the guys was close to joining one of my ongoing campaigns, though the drive was too much for him; another guy, a future DM, picked my brain for half an hour for tips, which is also part of my inspiration for this blog. I learned that breaking the rules in minor ways actually led to a more entertaining engagement. Little rule breaks are what keep the game together, despite what their name implies.

Next time on 1d4+5...
I haven't decided yet. Perhaps I'll continue with Breaking the Rules and explore when its too much or just not acceptable. Maybe I'll offer a mini-review of DMG2, the latest book every DM should have a copy of. Maybe I'll create a character, or a monster, or a trap. Maybe I'll talk about some of my upcoming game sessions, or tell anew about my previous ones. Maybe I'll share the story behind the name of this blog. Either way, it'll turn out much better than this first one, hopefully I'll get some sort of format in mind.