Any tip and tricks to promote the "In character" part of roleplaying?

What tip and tricks do people have to promote the role playing part of their games? :)

The old recommendation in all games about colourful descriptions, instead of only telling that a roll was a success or fail, have always worked well for me.

Deciding early what realism level I want to run with, so the flow and descriptions goes with that. But games to the realistic end of the spectrum are usually only at the "Hollywood realism" level.

And trying to find the right mix of calm periods and frantic action to fit the current group. Few things works as good of shaking someone out from meta thinking as an ambush, starting from the player point of view by a near miss. If modern weapons, a bullet hitting the wall, just centimeters from one of them, getting fragments of the wall hitting the face. Then not letting them think to much, and the opponents are acting while they try to plan.

From the player's side, we've occassionally used nameplates like you'd find on a desk (pictured below). On one side is the character's name, which helps everyone remember the other characters' names (you know how that goes); knowing everyone's name helps people stay in and talk to each other in-character. Sometimes we'll also have other stuff like race, maybe even a pic if we've printed them out.

On the back side is the player's name. You can just roll the plate over to the player's name to indicate it's the player talking. This may seem like a pain, or hard to remember, but it becomes nearly second nature, and my friends have always been good about reminding people. The motion of the name-change itself helps keep things clear as to "who" is talking. You can easily do without the player name part of things, but we've found the character nameplate has really helped.

One thing I try to do is to flesh out the NPCs so that the players will consider them as friends or enemies and take an interest in their welfare.

That way it isn't just a redshift that got disinstergrated, but someone's buddy.

They killed Fritz! Those dirty stinking atrocity-ridden Rommies. - cribbed from Wizards

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Owen E Oulton

They killed Fritz! Those dirty stinking atrocity-ridden Rommies. - cribbed from Wizards

---

:D:D

Although I've never managed to see that film, everyone has mentioned that scene. I wonder what was happening during the rest of the movie?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tonyg

:D:D

Although I've never managed to see that film, everyone has mentioned that scene. I wonder what was happening during the rest of the movie?

---

Elves vs. Hitler.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King

Elves vs. Hitler.

---

Who won?

Not Fritz, that's for sure.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King

Not Fritz, that's for sure.

---

I'm not so sure. Fritz, in his deaths, has managed to achieve a form of immortality. Chances are one day people will use the joke without knowing the source. Much like the "Badges, we don't need to stinking badges!" line from Treasure of Sierra Madre.

Long story short. The Elves won. The good wizard said to his evil brother "I wanna show you a trick Mom showed me when you weren't around." and pulls a Luger out of his sleeve. No more evil brother...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Owen E Oulton

Long story short. The Elves won. The good wizard said to his evil brother "I wanna show you a trick Mom showed me when you weren't around." and pulls a Luger out of his sleeve. No more evil brother...

---

I heard about the Luger bit too. I just wonder if it is worth watching the other 90 minutes or so of the movie?

Opinions vary. Ralph Bakshi is a bit of an acquired taste. This is probably his best work. Much of the footage was recycled into his Lord of the Rings cartoon, which isn't worth watching. I'd say Wizards is worth watching at least once. I picked up my VHS copy at a used video store for $3.00, and I'd already seen it so I didn't get burned.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tonyg

I heard about the Luger bit too. I just wonder if it is worth watching the other 90 minutes or so of the movie?

---

Yes.

It's definitely one of the more entertaining Bakshi films.

Alright, Ralph Bakshi aside we should get back to topic before one of the real moderators show up.