Question: when you're deciding what your PC does, what mental shortcut do you use? I've noticed two diffrent methods that give a completly diffrent feel at the table.Method A – "What would I do if I were him?" (immersionfag approach)You shove your own mind into the character's skin. You don't stop being you, you just twist the scenario: If I had his checkered past, his blonde bangs, his giant muscular chest (you're playing a blonde human male fighter, right?), how would I genuinly react? You pull from your own gut.Example: my disgraced knight who burned his liege's castle to save his brother, now a cynical drunk. Shady Inkeeper offers silver to torch a barn. Method A bran – I'd feel that sick self‑loathing, fire's too close to my old sin. So I growl "find another dog" and shove off. The action comes from my emotional logic in his boots.BUT: you're just playing yourself with a fancy hat. Maybe YOU really want that +2 sword and go "Meh, what's another fire to my criminal record?" The "I" leaks too much.Method B – "What would my character do?" (storyfag approach)You treat your OC like a puzzle box, analysing from outside like an author. Pure deduction: Sheet says "Stubborn Pride (major)" and "Oathbreaker's Guilt". Arson's the one line he won't cross again. He refuses, but spins it like the pay's shit to save face.Same outcome, arrived at by cold logic. Consistent and bulletproof, but are you really roleplaying or just masturbating with your OC Donut Onahole™? Also risk of flanderizing your guy into a predictable meme:>"I drink and brood, durr."Or the worst:>"My character would totally abandon the others to die, it's what he would do! Not me! I'm just a good roleplayer!"pic unrelated btw.
>>98206622I'm method B, most of the time, but I still go with my gut if I have a strong intuition of how they'd act. I don't find method B to be "cold" per se. I am interested in my character, and find it fascinating to discover him through play. It's also easier to nudge him from the outside when (as you point out) there's a temptation to do something that'd disrupt the game too much like abandoning the party, etc.
>>98206622What does any of this have to do with killing monsters in a dungeon?
>>98206622(A) obviously. What other choice could there be?
>>98206622I'm a big fan of the "my boy, haven't you tried acting?" approach. I don't become the character, but I try to put myself into their head as best I can. I develop a character, but I don't "think" about what they do, I put myself into their head and react as they would. After the session I might analyze what, if anything, this will change for them, but in the moment I'm just acting without a script to go off of. It keeps things moving quickly, I don't need to think about what they'll say and do, which leads to a much more natural flow of dialogue between myself, the other players, and the GM.
>lust provoking image>time wasting question
>>98206622>Gigabraned>braneI'm still trying to figure out what your post has to do with string theory. Help me out a bit?
>>98207203This
>>98206622You sound like someone who doesn't actually have any experienced roleplaying at a real table.
A, the immersionfaggot approachThis is the classic Simulationist vs Narrativist classification (with Gamist as a 3rd option, aka fuck off my character, go tacticalfaggot approach).
I see the character as a character in a movie or book. I try to do things that would be fun to see a character do. Closer to what you call storyfag, but I keep a strong distance between me and the character, I'm just adding something to a story.This way I don't mind characters dying or having a bad time outside of gameplay aspects (stuff like, we're 30 minutes from ending, the GM isn't gonna add a new character at this point, I'm just gonna have to sit and listen for the rest of the session). I don't think I enjoy my character's success as much as the dudes really getting into it tho, so I don't think this is an objectively superior approach, it's just what I feel more natural and fun.
>>98207183I would guess B.
>>98207655Why would you say something like that?
>>98207203>I'm a big fan of the "my boy, haven't you tried acting?" approachYou shouldn't.You have some people who love the DnD wargame style of playing, who think that people who love acting are retards, and people who love simulation and immersion are autists. Then you have some people who love to act who think the ones that love wargame style are rednecks, and the ones who love simulation are repressed.Same with people who love simulation and immersion. That's my turf so it's a blind spot for me and I don't see the equivalent extremes, but I'm sure they exist too.Why is so difficult to understand that different people enjoy different styles of play?
>>98208433Taste of your own medicine, brocephalus. He didn't say "method acting is stupid," merely that he is a fan of acting and a more rational, rather than emotional, approach to roleplaying. Which is fine. As long as people at the table are doing well, things are going well.My personal experience has been that people who take the method approach tend to be more likely to take things happening to their character at the table personally since they lack separation from their characters. Which can be both good and bad, depending.
>>98208433>You have some people who love the DnD wargame style of playing, who think that people who love acting are retards, and people who love simulation and immersion are autists.>Then you have some people who love to act who think the ones that love wargame style are rednecks, and the ones who love simulation are repressed.Really false equivalency that shows your blind spots. Theatre kids act retarded, they'll tell you that. Simulation players are autists that try to be a computer, and if they pretend they're not they're lying. You have to embrace that shit to have fun the way you like, and people afraid to have fun with their friends are more cringe than any particular type of fun.No one thinks you're a redneck for liking traditional british games and that you're hiding something by doing simulation. You're projecting your insecurities on people you don't know.>They must think I'm repressed, I can see it in their eyes when they walk by!
>>98208547>people afraid to have fun with their friends are more cringe than any particular type of fun.
