Show, Don’t Tell, Your Tabletop Roleplaying Game Character’s Anger

Salutations, nerds! The topic of this post is roleplaying emotion in tabletop roleplaying games. Like everything else the depth to which you go into your roleplaying depends a lot on your group and what your particular campaign is focuses on but I know a lot of players who have a rough time finding the middle ground between simply stating, “My character is angry” and decapitating someone. Mind you, decapitating someone is fine if the situation calls for it. But let’s get into a few of the ways you can show your character is starting to get a bit ticked off before we get there.

Roleplaying basics

The free Basic Rules for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons (our primary focus here at Nerdarchy) defines roleplaying in chapter 8: Adventuring.

“Roleplaying is, literally, the act of playing out a role. In this case, it’s you as a player determining how your character thinks, acts, and talks. Roleplaying is a part of every aspect of the game, and it comes to the fore during social interactions. Your character’s quirks, mannerisms, and personality influence how interactions resolve. There are two styles you can use when roleplaying your character: the descriptive approach and the active approach. Most players use a combination of the two styles. Use whichever mix of the two works best for you.”

The descriptive approach to roleplaying entails describing your character’s words and actions to the other players and tell everyone what your character does and how they do so. By contrast active roleplaying means speaking with your character’s voice the way an actor takes on a role. Active roleplaying is more immersive than descriptive roleplaying though it’s still important to describe things you can’t reasonably act out.

Backhanded comments

If your RPG character is not meant to be the type to fly off the handle then insinuation can be a very powerful tool. Practicing a sharp wit is helpful in a case like this. Take what the person just said to you out of context in a mean way. Make a snide remark about the thing they are doing that angers your character. The trick here is subtlety and it takes practice. It also doesn’t fit every single character. This, like everything else, is a tool in the box to use when the moment calls for it.

Bodily tension

The bandits stand around the bridge demanding a toll to cross start to close ranks and get in closer to the party.

“I bring my shoulders in and close my fists at my sides.”

Describing how your character’s body tenses up can be a great way to show their mounting anger before you get to drawing weapons. Think about how your character’s body carries tension. Do they close off, with arms folded? Do they stand on the balls of their feet ready to spring into a fight? Do they clench their jaw? All of these things convey a very visually different message and each one can be an excellent way to show the path to anger.

Difference in speech

I mean both the words chosen and the way they’re spoken here. Often an angry person uses a different vocabulary when angry, whether they realize it or not. Imagine a character who hnever swears suddenly telling someone where they can shove that citation. Or a character who swears every other word suddenly stopping altogether.

An angry character might speak in shorter sentences or lapse into an accent they would normally work to overcome. They might also raise their voice or speak very quietly as opposed to what is the norm for them. Alternatively, sudden silence from a talkative character can be useful. Make note of what your character ordinarily does. Cultivate rules. And then when the extreme emotion is upon them, break them.

After all, acting out of character is serious business.

Altercation

This won’t always start with a thrown fist. Some characters take the stance that if a weapon is drawn they intend to kill with it. Some discern a difference between the kind of weapon and regard a staff as a viable threat but a sword as a tool only for bloodletting.

When you get near the point of a fight, if it doesn’t start quickly then putting a hand on the hilt of your weapon can be a very clear signifier things are rapidly going south. Careful –, doing this too often can make your character appear hot headed. If that’s what you’re going for, then grand! Proceed. The next step is drawing down and finally the decapitation you’ve been waiting for. No, seriously. Sometimes it makes a strong point to bypass all these other steps and just tell the Game Master, “I’m going to try to cut his head off.”

Your character’s warning signs

It helps to decide ahead of time what happens when your character starts becoming enraged. If you’re playing a therianthrope (a person with the mythological ability to metamorphose into other animals by means of shapeshifting) you might consider having the animal eye color encroach on your character’s iris. I have described many times the eyes of werewolf character’s I’ve played featuring a ring of gold.

A generally erudite sounding character might lapse into layman’s terms and be very clear with who they are speaking to. A character who is always on might become flat and speak more softly. Your character might have a fidget toy they mess with when they are trying to keep their cool. If you choose something early on and establish it as a sign of anger then the other players will notice and know what it means when you start doing so. This creates a sense of anticipation and consistency you wouldn’t otherwise get.

Bear in mind anger is a tool that stays sharpest when used sparingly. People fear the anger of someone who is never angry. Unless you’re playing a barbarian, in which case screw that — rage to your heart’s content. It’s sort of your thing. Have fun out there. Of course, feel free to tweet me @Pyrosynthesis too and as always, stay nerdy!

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