This is a fairly simple question, but one that's important for most players: what makes a good RP encounter?
Whether you're a PC or an NPC, I find, it's really easy to tell when you've had a solid RP encounter. It's a feeling. For me, the best RP encounters are understated: a mostly unspoken understanding that occurs between players. Something you can't really describe, because it belongs so wholly to a particular moment. As an NPC, it's rewarding for me when this happens-- it means, in a somewhat limited time frame, I've facilitated a meaningful narrative. As a PC, good RP anchors me to the gameworld. I'm easily distracted, and I need this.
As either an NPC or a PC, how do you know/intuit that you've had a good RP encounter? Of what does a good RP encounter consist? Moreover, how do you work towards positive RP encounters? Or do you try not to think about it?
Whether you're a PC or an NPC, I find, it's really easy to tell when you've had a solid RP encounter. It's a feeling. For me, the best RP encounters are understated: a mostly unspoken understanding that occurs between players. Something you can't really describe, because it belongs so wholly to a particular moment. As an NPC, it's rewarding for me when this happens-- it means, in a somewhat limited time frame, I've facilitated a meaningful narrative. As a PC, good RP anchors me to the gameworld. I'm easily distracted, and I need this.
As either an NPC or a PC, how do you know/intuit that you've had a good RP encounter? Of what does a good RP encounter consist? Moreover, how do you work towards positive RP encounters? Or do you try not to think about it?
So many feelings.*
* Yes. I'm aware that I just sabotaged the integrity of my own blog.
I think the key to good RP encounters is keeping in mind that the same asymmetry that makes NPC/PC relationships run in combat applies to roleplay encounters too.
ReplyDeleteWhen I go out and thug, I know my job is to make the PCs feel cool for beating me. Providing a challenge is a good way to do that--no one will feel cool if they feel like they won just by default--but challenge isn't the point; the point is providing the experience to the PCs.
When I go out and NPC, I want to make the cool experience happen right away and then try to keep it happening. I may want to challenge the PCs to figure out the key to extracting some info from the NPC--but I can't get hung up on that challenge, particularly if the RP encounter starts to drag while the PCs just "bounce" off a difficult NPC.
Dogs In the Vineyard has some good advice about NPCs, which I'll just past in its entirety because it's so good:
The [plot] you’ve made has secrets. It has, quite likely, terrible secrets—
blood and sex and murder and damnation.
But you the GM, you don’t have secrets a’tall. Instead, you have cool
things— bloody, sexy, murderous, damned cool things— that you can’t
wait to share.
There’s this interesting hump I have to get over every time I GM Dogs—
maybe it’ll go away eventually. It’s like this:
The PCs arrive in town. I have someone meet them. They ask how things
are going. The person says that, well, things are going okay, mostly. The
PCs say, “mostly?”
And I’m like “uh oh. They’re going to figure out what’s wrong in the
town! Better stonewall. Poker face: on!” And then I’m like “wait a sec. I
want them to figure out what’s wrong in the town. In fact, I want to show
them what’s wrong! Otherwise they’ll wander around waiting for me to
drop them a clue, I’ll have my dumb poker face on, and we’ll be bored
stupid the whole evening.”
So instead of having the NPC say “oh no, I meant that things are going
just fine, and I shut up now,” I have the NPC launch into his or her tirade.
“Things are awful! This person’s sleeping with this other person not with me,
they murdered the schoolteacher, blood pours down the meeting house walls
every night!”
....Or sometimes, the NPC wants to lie, instead. That’s okay! I have the
NPC lie. You’ve watched movies. You always can tell when you’re watching
a movie who’s lying and who’s telling the truth. And wouldn’t you know it,
most the time the players are looking at me with skeptical looks, and I give
them a little sly nod that yep, she’s lying. And they get these great, mean,
tooth-showing grins— because when someone lies to them, ho boy does it
not work out.
Then the game goes somewhere.
As a PC I haven't quite figured this out I don't think. There are times when I think an RP encounter was way cool/interesting, but I'll hear other PCs lamenting after game how they either didn't like it or didn't think much of it. And times when an encounter happens where they're all going "ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG" but I'm like "meh". So far the only difference I denote is the info-dump style encounters I don't latch onto. The improvisational "how this NPC verbally reacts to these PCs in the heat of the moment" ones really grab me, even when the NPC has revealed nothing significant information-wise. I guess I like an encounter more when the NPC can banter or verbally play chess with the players at hand, rather than regurgitating scripted lore as if an incarnation of wikipedia just took the field.
ReplyDeleteI would say this is just a matter of style and personal preference, rather than not figuring it out yet. Info dumps are just that, info dumps. They often reveal great and powerful world secrets (*tm), but sometimes (not always, just sometimes), they the NPC sacrifices character for plot. in other words, it is more important to get accurate information out quickly and accurately than it is to live and breath the character's every motivation right then.
DeleteI also think there is a middle ground. I have gone out and had long info dumps staged as research/philosophical discussions with the PCs, which allows for interaction, and allows information to come out in response to questions and comments. This is somewhat difficult logistically simply because you need to have all the information you may be asked about.
That's what I try to do anyway, but I personally fall on the all character all the time, but I am a crazy RP fanatic.
I love the philosophical model of info dumping. It makes so much more sense to me. I hate going out as some uber being, and saying, "Why, hello there. Let me tell you everything about myself." It feels artificial. I would much rather have PCs ask the right questions, and get the right answers. Info dumps are essential sometimes, but I think they're more effective when staged as conversation.
Deleteabsolutely, plus it gives the PCs buy in on the information, it is active rather than passive
DeleteAs an NPC, I sometimes judge an encounter by how much I made the PCs sweat or work for the information and conclusion. It is really rough to tell a player, "No, you can't help me," (in the context that this NPC needs to talk to someone from group X, Y, or Z not Q) but sometimes if that is done right it can be a great encounter. Hit the core of that RP character - weep, growl, bark, hit the ominous deep voice - and even if you are with the wrong PCs and no info is being spread, it can be immersive and feel right.
DeleteThe RP encounter is often hooked on "I want to communicate with you." That is a core element of role-playing. So even if my non-player character doesn't want to communicate and is secretive or looking for specific folks, I try to encourage social interaction. The unexpected interactions and improvisations are sometimes the points where the rp magic really comes alive. At least IMHO...
Chris,
DeleteI agree with the strange deliciousness of the "No, you can't help me" encounter. I take a special (mildly sadistic) joy in going into town as an NPC, with important information, who will only interact with a certain group of people due to personal history/biases. I have a couple NPCs, in a few games, that *obviously* have important information, but are also severely damaged people with trust issues. It's interesting to watch PCs attempt to a) negotiate who is going to talk with them, and b) attempt to stifle their own dislike of the character for diplomacy's sake. I also enjoy watching unacquainted PCs come up, innocently enough, and say, "How can I help you?" only to be met with some less-than-hospitabileness.
With that being said, I very seldomly go out as an information NPC who will only talk to one or two people-- that can really mess up the appropriate timeline for an encounter. I may only deliver specific info to one PC, but I will deliver the gist to about a handful.
I think this is a really tough line to toe as a staffer. Because, on the one hand, it feels awesome to ask the right question as a PC and get a response that feels real and natural. On the other hand, few things are as frustrating and obnoxious as being in a position where you're a player who has been trying to figure out what an NPC is about for an hour, and some person with the right race/class/plot knowledge/intuition comes up and gets an amazing response in a minute flat. And "20 questions" style plot exposition HEAVILY favors players who already have a lot of plot knowledge and context, as well as players who are skilled at that particular type of questioning. You want all of the PCs to at least loosely comprehend major plot elements, not just the 3 investigative masterminds. On top of time/efficiency constraints, etc. Obviously, there's middle ground there, but NPCs who don't offer anything to start an interaction and just let PCs bounce are often a pet peeve of mine. Have something for everyone, even if it's just pushing them in a different direction.
DeleteI think for me, a good RP encounter is one where it feels like it mattered that each PC was there. No one wants to feel like just a warm body :)
Here is a better way of explaining what I get out of encounters as a PC... there is a fine line between an NPC talking "with" players and an NPC talking "at" players. When I feel like the NPC is talking "at" us my mind just checks out of the scene entirely the way you might daydream in a teacher's class. In a way maybe the difference almost IS like a lecture.... A good speaker can read the audience and know when they're feeling (or not feeling) engaged in the presentation. A poor speaker doesn't recognize the subtle clues that they've lost the audience, and plows ahead without doing something to mitigate it. But in both situations the audience doesn't have to be saying anything in return for the impact to be different.
DeletePost Script: incidentally this also makes me wicked paranoid as an NPC. I remember being mortified during a bit role for an RP encounter where they needed an extra body for flavor and kept saying "it's fine they won't have to talk to you". But what if somehow they did?? All I could think the entire scene was "please don't talk to me, please don't try to talk to me, please don't try to talk to me" because I just had utterly nothing to draw from. For peace of mind I must always know: what's my name, where am I from, what do I want? Can improv anything I need off that.
ReplyDeleteThis comes down to good briefing, in my opinion. For instance, I was recently at a game, where I went out as a crunchy to back a big, terrible thing. What was supposed to be a quick-starting fight, with a small amount of RP, turned into a 30 minute conversation between a select group of PCs and the big, terrible thing. I was *so glad* I had been briefed ahead of time on the general flavor of the fight, and the crunchy monsters-- I ended up having philosophical conversations with a handful of different PCs.
DeleteMy favorite RP encounters are ones where the NPC is speaking specifically to the PCs present, whether it's acknowledging their titles, headers, race, costuming... or even better, their backgrounds. It's also nice when they've clearly been given a bit more than just what the module needs- a background, a personality, whatever. It's hard as a PC to start these kinds of conversations because I don't want to be the person who is asking, "so, where are you from?" from an NPC who isn't actually familiar with the setting and just wants to deliver a plot hook or something.
ReplyDeleteSorry... I feel we need to narrow down the focus of this question a bit.
ReplyDeleteWhat is an RP encounter in the first place? Is it anything that doesn't involve combat? That's A LOT of ground to cover.
Politics, mystery, interrogation, romance, auctions, intrigue...
There are many different styles, and not all of them work for everyones tastes. Similarly, the measurement of quality differs for each style.
The only thing I can say that I like that transcends all the styles, is the growth of a IG relationship over time (I don't necessarily mean romantic relationship). An NPC will arrive, and exchange pleasantries for a time, possibly hook a module for someone else, and then return to interacting with you. It gives the feeling of a real person in a real world, not "Module Hook 42." The "Dinner NPCs" are good examples of this.
One other scenario that I have a soft spot for: the mid-field battle isolated conversation. The Big Boss comes to town with his horde of minions. They attack the town. For whatever reason, he is willing to stop attacking and speak to a PC (or small group). The minions know better than to attack the PC while the Big Boss is right there. It creates this very cool pocket of space, violence all around, and potential violence brimming in the center.