For those who've played TRPGs, how much "acting" is usually part of the experience?

[Forest Dweller]

So, I've never played a tabletop game, but it's something I'm looking into and am open to trying.

I watched this one-shot last night:



And honestly I found the acting to be super-cringe. And also all the little side conversations (with acting) just dragged the whole thing out. How common is this kind of behavior in a tabletop game?

 

[Sacibengala]

So, I've never played a tabletop game, but it's something I'm looking into and am open to trying.

I watched this one-shot last night:



And honestly I found the acting to be super-cringe. And also all the little side conversations (with acting) just dragged the whole thing out. How common is this kind of behavior in a tabletop game?

Acting has Zero importance in TTRPG. Just ignore it completely and play it as a game, as it's intended since the begining.

 

[Gandalf]

Didn't click the video, but from my experience players usually just talk with their nornal voice. DM or GM or whatever one calls a referee can sometimes spice up the game by making up voices for NPC's.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Depends on the DM and the players.

Some DMs (which I disagree with) demand that you "PERFORM" actions, like if you want to convince an NPC, he wants you to ACT THE SHIT OUT OF IT and if you don't, then he makes it unsurmountable difficulty roll.

Ask the DM the informal rules beforehand, see if you even want to participate in this shit. I'm not a fan of it. It makes it impossible for non-charismatic people to play charismatic characters, etc. It's a problem.

 

[Old One]

How common is this kind of behavior in a tabletop game?

Back in the old days TTRPGs were played a lot like TT wargames, with about the same amount of acting. There aren't any rules about it though.

 

[Baron Tahn]

It varies. If you are playing with actors it can be an acting exercise but usually its played more like a game but you know, occassionally someone will say something epic etc, like in TT 40k or whatever.

 

[Hag]

In all the TTRPG groups where I've played all talking was in normal voice, except when the GM plays one peculiar character or one player decides to act (which means he is about to do something very brave or very stupid, or often both).
But most of the time it's a laidback back and forth between the GM and the players or among them.

 

[Eldrin]

The problem with any kind of such recorded sessions 'plays' and tabletop livestreams is that the creators from the get-go assume that it will be shown to a 'wider audience' so they usually lean towards and encourage a more play-acting, theater-like atmosphere at the table. The standard tabletop experience is (or rather was - depending on in which circles you congregate) nothing like it.

It is perfectly valid to never make 'funny voices' of the characters you play, and to just describe everything of what your character does in third-person. It is perfectly fine to shorten the 'party breakfast' or 'shopping sessions' into a few lines narrated by the DM, with player's chiming in if their characters did anything of importance, instead of playing it out in real-time for half-an-hour or longer. It is perfectly ok to NOT dress up like circus clowns while going to a tabletop session - in fact, it is encouraged.

What matters is to Role-play the characters (/NPCs - if you're the DM) while trying to uphold the Verisimilitude and Logic of the given game/setting. And no, that DOESN'T MEAN 'doing voices'. It's trying to portray how a given character would realistically behave in a certain situation, even if it's different from the behaviors or beliefs of the person that plays him. A Cleric should not question if his god exists, 'cuz he gets his powers from a freaking existing deity, even if the player is an atheist. A Barbarian driven by zealous hate of orcs, as they killed his family, should not do hour long philosophical divagations after every orc encounter, whether 'all orcs are evil' and 'is it really alright to kill them', just because the player enjoys debates about morality - especially if all greenskins in the given setting are rapist mongrels or mushroom-spawned killing machines. Characters shouldn't know how to properly combat vampires, if they never encountered them in-game, even if the players already faced them in the previous game.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

It's trying to portray how a given character would realistically behave in a certain situation

That's why I don't want to play in custom settings anymore. They're never deep enough, with never enough info for me to portray my character realistically. All it ends up being is my character not knowing shit about the world and stumbling in the dark, because I don't know shit about the world, because the DM isn't going to write a 100 pages world design doc, and so I can't make any assumptions at all beyond the generic shit, and thus the setting BECOMES DE-FACTO generic through my character.

Tips to new players:
- don't play dnd 5
- don't play generic setting
- don't play with DM who asks you to act things out

 

[Gandalf]

Example tabletop play (with figurines) from 1984 (from 5:11 onwards):

 

[Maxie]

Had to drop my d&d group when gm started watching critical role and infected others with this midwit larp crap

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Had to drop my d&d group when gm started watching critical role and infected others with this midwit larp crap

Nowadays it's a good question to ask a DM before deciding if you want to play there - "Do you watch Critical Role?" If he says yes, block & ignore.

 

[Crispy]

This was great, thanks for posting.

I had this, btw:

Ah, what memories...

 

[mastroego]

Acting shouldn't be part of it, imho.
Of course a creative DM or character might sometime put a spin on a description or something, but it's not the theater, it's a game of dice and stats (at least if it's a game I want to play).

 

[Lagi]

the only "acting" in TRPG should be making suboptimal choices because of your character.

Like if you play paladin you refuse to take reward for quest. Or you refuse to kill, loot bodies... etc.

I was playing post apo (fucking 20 y ago?!) and my character had a botch up vehicle. I was doing by myself a dice check every time we drive, and then i declare that it cannot turn left, or the side doors fall out (no longer cover passenger from bullets) etc.

This makes the session fun, not doing gay dialogues with too much hand waving.

 

[Hammer Of The Heretics]

The game I played in in college, I apparently spoke differently when I was 'in character', but it wasn't conscious on my part. I didn't even realize I was doing it until another player mentioned it. It wasn't acting so much as a shift in vocabulary and tone - a mercenary warrior would talk differently than a novice wizard.

 

[mondblut]

Acting is for fags and women. Don't be like fags and women, and never let them near your gaming table.

 

[Kruyurk]

Example tabletop play (with figurines) from 1984 (from 5:11 onwards):

All these people must be dead by now unless one of them is Crispy

edit: Oh shit, he posted in this thread. Forgive me, Crispy.

 

[430am]

Usually not at all. Unless you count speaking from your character or describing what you do acting. Also yeah fuck dnd and pathfinder,

 

[Sacibengala]

Also yeah fuck *modern*dnd and pathfinder,

 

[eXalted]

Straight closed the tab the moment I saw how everyone was dressed up. Answer is:

No, no, no.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

The only people who did voice acting were the people who played a cliched dumb barbarian, which usually just meant speaking in third person. We were playing a game though. Those critical role people are performing for views on a monetized channel. Two different situations.

 

[theraphos]

Yeah, the "full blown voice acting" thing was only ever maybe 10% of people I ever played with. And nobody really cared that much if one person was being theatrical and then the next person says "I ask the shopkeeper for directions." You just have to be in a real game with friends and not be chasing youtube fame and click money (or playing with people who think they are).

 

[FritzedProcess]

I only do full voice acting if the character has a funny accent or speech impediment and it's part of his shtick.

 

[Galdred]

I sometimes act when I am GMing, but I hate doing it as a player, and I almost always use indirect speech ("I ask NPC 346 what he knows about the murder").