Copyright 1994 by Scott Nicholson. No part of this may be reproduced in any way without the expressed written consent of the author.
We have been roleplaying since we were children - cops and robbers, house, post office... However, we have not been doing it effectively. What does it mean to "roleplay effectively"? Can you enjoy yourself and be "effective" at the same time? Of course.
This booklet is targeted towards RPGA competitions and other Role-playing contests. Many roleplayers do not handle the transition between playing around a kitchen table and facing off, brow to brow (or drow to drow...) with some of the best roleplayers in the area.
I hope to show you the differences between casual and competitive roleplaying, and how to be a more effective competitive roleplayer. Hopefully, with this knowledge, you will be able to win roleplaying competitions and enjoy yourself at conventions.
In most RPG contests, you are provided a character. At home, you make your character. It can be difficult to roleplay off-the-cuff with a character someone else provided. GMing will assist you with this more than anything. When you GM, you roleplay many different characters. Thus, it is easier to roleplay a character given to you. There will be more on this later.
You will only be playing a scenario, instead of a campaign. You will not have time to become familiar with your enemies or companions in that time. For that reason, you need to take notes. If you can refer to things in your background or things learned in game quickly and in character, you will be rated much higher. Also for this reason, you need to get "into" the game as quickly as possible. Imagine you are actually in the situation. Get into character as quickly as possible. You do not have long to play, so get every minute out of it.
Remain in character. You are here to roleplay. Do this. Try not to break character for any reason. Many GMs will occasionally break character to crack a joke or some such nonsense. Don't fall to the temptation to join them. The only way the other players and the GM can judge you is by how you play your character. The longer you don't play your character, the less time the others have to judge you. Try to stay in your character's state of mind throughout the whole contest. Even if things get boring, a good roleplayer can keep things fun. If you stay in characters, the other players and the GM will be more likely to stay in character and bring about a better roleplaying experience. This can be more difficult to do if you are competing against people you normally game with.
If you must drop out of character (OOC), do something to signify you are OOC. Many GMs use the hand over the head technique. Ask your GM before the game what signal you use to go OOC. However, don't abuse this. Only use this for game mechanic questions. Never use this for roleplaying or information you could acquire in-character.
Take the scenario seriously. Some author has spent a lot of time working on this. Enjoy and attempt to get involved with the scenario. Put aside your everyday cares and woes - get involved with the other characters and the place that you are in. When you are only playing a 4-hour scenario, you cannot just have an "off-night". You only get one shot - make it a good one!
In competitive roleplaying, you usually don't know much about the other people you are playing with. Don't crack off-color jokes of any type. You may offend some of the others in the group. Don't make assumptions based off appearance. Don't play your character based off of stereotypes. If people were upset at the way you roleplayed, you will not rank as well.
As you read your character the first time, pick up on the traits your character has that you can portray well. Jot these down on a piece of paper. Try to keep them to two words or less. This will be a handy list. Whenever you are presented with a decision that you must make, glance at the list, and make the decision based on the attributes there. Rank the attributes in order of importance to the character. If you don't know, take a good guess. While you are presented a character, you can shape and mold that character as you wish. The top characteristic on the list should come out every second or third time you say something in character. That way, you drive into the other player's heads what type of person you are portraying. Make sure the decisions you make reflect that trait. By doing this, it will appear that you really care about the character you play, and get into character easily.
Read the descriptions you have about each other character. Write the other character's names on scratch paper in a circle, so you can quickly find the name of the other characters. Always call other characters by name. If you can't pronounce their name, give them a nickname. On this paper, jot down 3 things about their character. You should bring out their traits whenever possible. The best roleplayers bring out the roleplayers in others.
You will not be able to roleplay every aspect of your character, so don't try. Play off of a few traits, and occasionally throw in background information, when convenient. Just pick out what YOU can do well, and build the character around that. If you cannot easily hold a voice for the entire length of the contest, don't try. If you spend time fighting with an accent, your roleplaying will suffer. Just doing an accent is not roleplaying, contrary to popular belief. Good roleplaying comes in working through the viewpoint and traits of the character. Roleplay with what you say, not how you say it.
If you do not know a system, don't pretend to. Ask questions. Make sure the other players and the GM know you are unfamiliar with the system. Ask the GM to explain mechanics you don't understand. Make notes of what you can do. Use abilities and skills to the fullest. Many people ignore the "Nonweapon Proficencies" in an AD&D game. However, if the characters are well-designed, they will have those abilities for a reason. Play the character first and the system second. The success or failure of your party usually matters little in an RPG contest. The amount of fun you have roleplaying your character matters a lot.
If you are allowed to make you own character, focus on your strengths. Once you have determined what you can do, do that! Design your character so that your favorite traits will come into play. Spend time developing your character as a person to roleplay...and not the mightiest person to ROLL-play. Many people like to write a complicated history and fix their scores until they are the best possible. Don't bother! Failure can be as fun as success, because you get to try again! Instead, spend your time making a simple character that you need no history for. In these sort of contests, you should be able to roleplay your character for 4 hours without looking at a character sheet. Focus on a simple, straightforward character with 1 twist. Then delve into that twist. Enjoy it - try to play off of it whenever possible. I won a "Player of the Year" AD&D competition with a totally blind fighter. He had no spells, no special abilities, was fairly useless (in comparison to other characters) in combat. But, I played off of his blindness whenever possible. I used it, referred to it, make jokes with it, and roleplayed the heck out of that 1 twist. I won the contest with probably the most useless character (out of 65), and had a LOT of fun. I allowed the other characters to play off me, and had fun with them. So, pick a character twist and play off of it.
Develop a strong character. Choose one or two traits, as discussed earlier, and emphasize them. This is the most important thing in short RPG contests. Having a strong character helps you to stay in character.
Stay involved with the game, the other players, and the GM. Game designer Donald Dennis suggests, "Interact with each other player three times - at the beginning, at the end, and somewhere in the middle." Use the sheet I suggested earlier to keep track of the times you interacted directly with each other character. Doing this will show each person your character traits, and help them to get involved. Many times, people will not take the GM's characters seriously. Treat GM characters just like other characters. Pay attention to them, and treat them no different than you would treat other people on the street. Lastly, stay involved with the scenario. At all times, you should know your objective, how you plan to get there, and what you are currently doing to get closer to your goal.
Think constantly. After a round of competitive roleplaying, I am mentally exhausted. Stay constantly alert. This will help you to react to situations in character, and not react to them as you (as a person) would react to them. Staying alert will help you to bring other characters into the game. If you roleplay enthusiastically, they will as well, and everyone will have a better time. Keep you mind open to suggestions. But always think...don't rest. Act - don't react.
Make the game enjoyable for others and GM. Get other players involved. Ask quieter players, "What do you think we should do?" Then, make sure everyone hears that suggestion. This will make them feel involved. Open yourself up for potshots from other characters. Make mistakes. Screw up-royally. Laugh at it. Enjoy yourself. Let another player come to your rescue. Ask for help. Get the GM involved in your solution. Bring in NPCs if possible. Encourage others to roleplay and act. By helping others to have fun, you will have fun and be ranked better.
Last, but not least.... DO NOT OVERBEAR. Many "top-ranked" competitors get that way by just overbearing the other players. This may be fun for you, but the other players will have a miserable time. Give each other player and GM time to talk and roleplay. Help others to roleplay. Play off of others - let others play off of you, but do not overbear. Don't interrupt the other players when they are speaking. Let them finish, then make your suggestion. Many GMs will not rank an overbearing player high. Don't let the "feeling of power" when you are the overbearing player control your play.
Stay in character - help others to play - enjoy yourself. You are here to "play." But, if you wish to win, take it seriously.
One final note - Occasionally, don't play to win. If you go to a con and play every game to win, you will be exhausted. Take a break...play some Paranoia or Toon.. be silly. This stress break will help you do better in your serious round. Just play to play. Hopefully, by occasionally doing this, you can take some of the aspects you enjoy in just "playing" and work them into your competitive strategy. This will help you enjoy yourself more of the time...and that's what this is all about, isn't it?