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Nerdarchy > At The Gaming Table  > Theatrical Roleplaying in Modern RPGs

Theatrical Roleplaying in Modern RPGs

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Beowulf graphic novel, translated by Santiago Garcia and art by David Rubin

In the past, I’ve talked a lot from my perspective as a writer, and from what I’ve learned from my college education in literary theory and rhetorical criticism as an English major. There are other aspects of my life, though, that I haven’t really touched on much.

In my article about utilizing critical success and failures, I mentioned some tenants of improv, which I’m tangentially familiar with from my 15 years of acting on stage. While it was mostly school and community theater work, and I haven’t been on stage in 15 years (although, lately I’ve been thinking of trying to break back in), it’s not a thing that ever leaves you.

However, I didn’t come here to talk about my past exploits.

I started out laying out an overview of my credentials because I want it to be clear what I have to say comes from a place of experience, even if those experiences were a lifetime ago. That’s because today I wanted to talk about approaching roleplaying your characters, whether you’re a Game Master or a player, from the perspective of an actor.

All the RPG table’s a stage

More specifically, as a stage actor. I’ve never done anything proper for the screen, but I feel like stage acting is more applicable to roleplaying in a tabletop RPG than screen acting (although I can see where voice actors might have an advantage over stage actors).

The reason why I say that is because there’s an immediacy to the theater, where you can feel the audience in front of you, and you find yourself reacting to them as much as you do your co-stars. Also, much like with a tabletop RPG, when you’re performing directly in front of people, you’re going to feel self-conscious, and you’ll always feel like a dork. However, in both spaces, if you’re okay with looking and feeling like a dork in the moment, you’ll find yourself free to really find the character, and the rest will come natural.

Pre-performance jitters

roleplaying

“A man walks down the street wearing that hat, people know he’s not afraid.” [Adam Baldwin portraying Jayne Cobb on Firefly.]

Regardless of whether I was in a starring role or a side character, whether I was performing for three, thirteen, thirty, or three hundred people, whether it was for children or adults, or whether it was my first performance or my last (in my career or of that play), I always, always, always had the jitters. The reason is because every time you step on the stage, you’re exposing yourself to an audience. In acting, you’re laying bare your soul to other people, who you may or may not know.

However, no matter how good or bad my performances were, or how well they were received, I threw myself out there. I had to. As an actor, it’s your job to completely let go. If you don’t, your performance suffers, and your audience views it as disingenuous.

Don’t get me wrong, you’ll look like a dork. I hate watching recordings of myself on stage, specifically for that reason, but that’s because a recording can’t capture your connection with the audience. It can’t capture the intimacy. So, to the outside world, you’ll look like a dork without question, but everyone present will feel every moment, good or bad.

The same thing goes for a tabletop RPG. Absolutely every game I’ve run so far, I’ve had those same pre-show jitters. When I did the live chat with Nate the Nerdarch, I had those jitters. I didn’t let that slow me down, though, and that’s because I’ve learned one piece of knowledge: when you get up to perform, no matter when, what, or where, if you put yourself out there, and focus your attention on connecting with your audience, whether it’s hundreds of people all facing you or your friends at the table, they won’t think about how much of a dork you look like. They’ll be engaged with your performance, and in time their engagement with you will make you forget what kind of a dork you look like.

The more roleplaying you give, the more you get

RPG acting

Laura Bailey giving it her all during an episode of Geek & Sundry’s Critical Role.

Acting isn’t about performing. Acting is about giving. Yes, you’re giving yourself to the audience, but you’re also giving to everyone you share the stage with. There are a great many sayings in the acting world, and one of them is, “acting is re-acting.” It’s about taking what you’re given and passing it back, or along. It’s about feeding your co-stars with the best performance you can give, so they can feed you with the best performance they can give. Actors who selfishly take a scene, and don’t give themselves to each other, will deteriorate the scene very quickly.

The same can easily be said at the table as it can on stage. I’ve watched a number of panels and read interviews with the various cast members of Critical Role, and the story is that Laura Bailey set the stage by jumping directly into character. Now, being actors, they naturally fed at what she was giving them, and they consumed and returned it fairly quickly.

I’m not going to sit here and say your table is going to work the same way. Chances are they won’t, or at least not right away.

At my table, my players didn’t jump immediately into character. It took them time to warm up to the idea, but I continued to feed them until those I knew would get there, did get there. I have no doubt about how much of a dork I looked like, especially with everyone else unsure of what even to do, but as I stayed in character for all of the NPCs, and I addressed them by their characters’ names, they slowly got into the idea of it. In turn, they eventually fed me, and I begun to feel more comfortable stepping up my own performances, literally standing up at times to use my whole body in my characterizations and depictions of actions, which in turn invigorated them.

This isn’t to say all my players got into it. It was obvious to me one of them was never going to let go, no matter what. He was unwilling to stop trying to look cool long enough to enjoy himself, which is somewhat unfortunate, but it’s going to happen. Don’t let one person dissuade you, though. Either they’ll eventually figure out that when they let go it’ll be more fun, or they’ll just not have as much fun as everyone else. The only thing you can do is to lead by example.

Use body language to create a believable RPG character

Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theater, London

When you’re acting on stage, not everyone is going to be able to see your face clearly enough to notice your nuanced performance. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t have one, but, as a stage actor, you learn to develop body language as the primary way to express your character. How you stand, walk, and pick things up is going to help inform your character as much as your vocal inflections and facial cues.

Perhaps even more so, because you’re not always going to be able to express yourself on stage with subtleties. You learn to create a consistent character with body language in every moment, whether you’re the focus of the scene or not. The audience will see how your body reacts when not the primary subject, and your monologue, or central dialogue, will be all the more believable.

In the same way at the table, you should think about how your character is going to react in all moments of the game, whether you’re actively roleplaying, in combat, or just reacting to a situation. Obviously, you’re not going to get up and walk around all the time, and it’s not the stage, so you don’t need to exaggerate your motion, but the way you sit, turn your body, hold your head, and express yourself in all moments will not only inform your character in the long run, but it’ll give the other players at the table something to feed off of, and will make for a more immersive roleplaying experience.

My suggestion is to go out and people watch from time to time. See how they move, walk, and talk. See if you can try to understand their character through observation. It’s going to be useful at the table, because you’ll be able to pick out elements most people use to express themselves in their daily lives, and create a believable character.

Please make sure, though, you don’t stereotype. Even if they’re not offensive (which they usually are), stereotypes group an entire people, and don’t convey the truth of an individual person. Instead, try to identify individual elements of the way people act and react, and try to figure out how each part is reflective of the many different facets of who they are as an individual person. Once you do, you can transfer those pieces to your characters to make them more believable, and it’ll fuel the table as a whole.

I hope at least some of these tools will help you in your games as much as it has helped me.  Until later, stay nerdy!

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Joshua Brickley

Despite looking so young, I'm in my mid-30s (36, to be exact). Up until I was 21, I focused a lot of my attention on stage acting, mostly local and school theater. At some point, I felt a need to change my life's direction, so I joined the Air Force. After 10 years, where I was an Intelligence Analyst and Mission Coordinator, I was medically retired. I went back to school and got my Bachelor's in English, focusing mostly on literary theory and rhetorical criticism, at the University of the Incarnate Word. In this next chapter of my life, I'm turning my attention towards tabletop RPGs.

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