I'm a running my first campaign, and so far everything is going good. After a little bit if railroading, which I have stopped after one of my players told about it, things are going great.
Except for one thing. I have this player, whom actually is my brother, and he will not do anything. He doesn't talk or interact with the party or the world, NPCs and such, around him. I've asked him what can I do as DM to make the game fun for him, so that he will interact. All he'll do is either say "I don't know" or go silent and not answer.
What can I do to fix this? I scared that, if he continues to do this, I may have to kick him from the game and I really don't want to have to.
You don't have to kick someone who's being passive; they aren't contributing much but they're harmless. Of course, if he's not having fun he may drop out. I'd try different things to try and get him interested, but be avoid making him a linchpin to a plot.
I'm a running my first campaign, and so far everything is going good. After a little bit if railroading, which I have stopped after one of my players told about it, things are going great.
Except for one thing. I have this player, whom actually is my brother, and he will not do anything. He doesn't talk or interact with the party or the world, NPCs and such, around him. I've asked him what can I do as DM to make the game fun for him, so that he will interact. All he'll do is either say "I don't know" or go silent and not answer.
What can I do to fix this? I scared that, if he continues to do this, I may have to kick him from the game and I really don't want to have to.
Admittedly, I'm probably not going to kick him, I just can't get encourage him to do anything. He says about five words during non-combat and really only talks during combat, and that is only to tell me if he is attacking and his rolls
I don't know how long the game has been running but it might be that you're brother needs a little time to get into it and feel free enough to start interacting.
Besides pulling him apart seperatly and discovering what is going on there are some ways to involve everyone and especially him by adjusting the way you DM.
In interactions, encounters, roleplaying etcetera, you can actively ask him (or even better address his character) what he wants to do. Besides that, you can use the environment - espcially NPC's - to interact with him You can also use your descriptions to focus attention to him
So, for example. They encounter a camp and start planning an attack, everyone's talking except your brother. As a DM you can set the process: "Allright, let's take turns in preparing and telling what you want to do. 'Adran' what do you want to do?" During the attack "The goblin gets an arrow to the chest that's shot by X, however the monster looks around and spots you Adran, it looks angry in your direction, what do you do?" After the attack The prisoner's desperatly looks at your waterskin Adran and asks "A bit of water please!? Please?!?"
The first thing I need to know is if he’s just super shy, only really enjoys playing the combats, or is actually not into D&D but plays for your sake. All 3 are very common, and each requires a separate response.
If he’s shy, the best way to approach it is to ask the whole party what they are doing in a given scene. If you ask just him, that will trigger anxiety, and he’ll move toward not enjoying the game. But if you ask everyone “now that the camp is set up, what is your character doing before they go to sleep?” then go around the table one by one, giving them the chance to paint this portrait of their party around the campfire. Someone reading a book they looted from the wizard’s study, another trying to scrub bits of gelatinous ooze out of their chainmail, another whittling an owlbear from a chunk of wood they picked up, and another just staring into the flames thinking about the life they gave up to go adventuring. Then it’s just another situation where he’s taking his turn and not stepping into the spotlight. But he’s also learning what it feels like to take baby steps into roleplaying.
If he only enjoys combat, he’s just a member of a large subset of D&D players. He’ll have the most fun in sessions where you’re all test building new characters for max damage output or absorption, then playing a meat grinder of fighting your way through waves of guards to get to the treasure. If this is really not compatible with the type of game you run, you may have to cut him loose to find another set of players that want to do that. Or he may be content with staying with you doing it your way most of the time, but doing the occasional one-shots or sessions that look more like meat grinders that he enjoys. But he’s still probably not going to ever get too into roleplay.
If he’s just tying to spend time with you but doesn’t actually enjoy D&D, you need to know that. If he owns that as true, let him know how much you see and appreciate his efforts to make you happy or spend time with you, and make plans to continue doing something you both enjoy together as soon as the campaign is over. And let him finish the campaign if he wants to. No one likes to feel like they’re being fired from doing a favor for, or spending time with someone. But again, there’s no hope of someone who doesn’t enjoy the game giving it more effort, and you’ll have to lower expectations accordingly.
There are also some players who "prefer" to listen and observe rather than be in the spotlight. Might be because they are a little shy, might be because there are other more "outspoken" players/characters. The thing is, sometimes the best thing is to actually leave them along. They often have a nice time, tagging along. Like kcbcollier said, the most important thing to find out is probably if he's really just doing this for you, if not give him time. Ask him from time to time between sessions if his character has any plans. Perhaps don't try to force him into situation where he has to talk, but rather give him opportunities to act (if he finds that easier).
It's a very nice thing of you to want him to contribute more because you fear he is being "left outside". I'm just saying that some players actually prefer it that way. I don't know if your brother is one of them, but he could be.
Whatever you do, don't kick him from your game! Allow him to just hang around if that's what he wants :-)
Lots of good advice here, I'll just add that you should never feel it's your job to force anyone to RP who doesn't want to. Most of us consider RP an integral part of the gaming experience, but there's always going to be some people who are in it just for the combat, loot, and funny characters.
If you want to encourage RP, try asking your bro things about their character outside of sessions: do they have a goal? What do they think of the other party members? What does the character value most?
If they try to answer these questions and try to dig further into their character in response, then that's a sign that they're open to RP but maybe just don't know where to start, in which case you should try to help ease him into it. If he seems disinterested in the questions, don't push it. Trying to make someone do something they have no interest in is a good way to turn them off of the game entirely. Maybe they'll just be the strong silent type while other players engage with each other, and he'll get everything he wants out of the game through combat. If you suspect he's not enjoying the game, you can ask him, but otherwise you just need to let him be in charge of his fun.
Thank you to everyone who replied on this thread. After thinking about it, I'm going to do a bit of everything that was said. I'll try and incorporate some of that advice into our next and future sessions. Hopefully, I can get him to be more comfortable with roleplaying and he will start interacting more, maybe not to Critical Role levels but definitely more than 5 words.
Does his character have a backstory? Invoke elements of his backstory, he sees a book with his lost family heirloom on the cover. Or he notices someone that looks familiar sitting at the bar in the tavern. I have no idea what the actual situation is like but it kinda sounds like he has really bad social anxiety, if that is the case don’t force anything on him that would make him uncomfortable. Start small. Maybe the next NPC comes up to him specifically. Or maybe a person in a tavern buys his character a drink and then waves or winks at him from across the room.
A thing I apply to get roleplaying started is by the simple rule: You get nothing from meta, and anything from good RP. You ca. Describe in Meta where you go, or want you want to do, but you cant stare silently at someone and expect anything to get done without interaction, even if they are a mute trying to use their hands to speak.
Combine that with what you already have, like NPCs that give quests and what not and have them go out of their way to talk about the silent member of the group, wondering if they are simply not lucky enough to catch a word from their quiet comrade. Gentle encouragement goes a long way, along with throwing out opportunitues for them to interact.
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Hello
I'm a running my first campaign, and so far everything is going good. After a little bit if railroading, which I have stopped after one of my players told about it, things are going great.
Except for one thing. I have this player, whom actually is my brother, and he will not do anything. He doesn't talk or interact with the party or the world, NPCs and such, around him. I've asked him what can I do as DM to make the game fun for him, so that he will interact. All he'll do is either say "I don't know" or go silent and not answer.
What can I do to fix this? I scared that, if he continues to do this, I may have to kick him from the game and I really don't want to have to.
You don't have to kick someone who's being passive; they aren't contributing much but they're harmless. Of course, if he's not having fun he may drop out. I'd try different things to try and get him interested, but be avoid making him a linchpin to a plot.
Admittedly, I'm probably not going to kick him, I just can't get encourage him to do anything. He says about five words during non-combat and really only talks during combat, and that is only to tell me if he is attacking and his rolls
I don't know how long the game has been running but it might be that you're brother needs a little time to get into it and feel free enough to start interacting.
Besides pulling him apart seperatly and discovering what is going on there are some ways to involve everyone and especially him by adjusting the way you DM.
In interactions, encounters, roleplaying etcetera, you can actively ask him (or even better address his character) what he wants to do.
Besides that, you can use the environment - espcially NPC's - to interact with him
You can also use your descriptions to focus attention to him
So, for example. They encounter a camp and start planning an attack, everyone's talking except your brother. As a DM you can set the process: "Allright, let's take turns in preparing and telling what you want to do. 'Adran' what do you want to do?"
During the attack "The goblin gets an arrow to the chest that's shot by X, however the monster looks around and spots you Adran, it looks angry in your direction, what do you do?"
After the attack The prisoner's desperatly looks at your waterskin Adran and asks "A bit of water please!? Please?!?"
Hope this helps.
The first thing I need to know is if he’s just super shy, only really enjoys playing the combats, or is actually not into D&D but plays for your sake. All 3 are very common, and each requires a separate response.
If he’s shy, the best way to approach it is to ask the whole party what they are doing in a given scene. If you ask just him, that will trigger anxiety, and he’ll move toward not enjoying the game. But if you ask everyone “now that the camp is set up, what is your character doing before they go to sleep?” then go around the table one by one, giving them the chance to paint this portrait of their party around the campfire. Someone reading a book they looted from the wizard’s study, another trying to scrub bits of gelatinous ooze out of their chainmail, another whittling an owlbear from a chunk of wood they picked up, and another just staring into the flames thinking about the life they gave up to go adventuring. Then it’s just another situation where he’s taking his turn and not stepping into the spotlight. But he’s also learning what it feels like to take baby steps into roleplaying.
If he only enjoys combat, he’s just a member of a large subset of D&D players. He’ll have the most fun in sessions where you’re all test building new characters for max damage output or absorption, then playing a meat grinder of fighting your way through waves of guards to get to the treasure. If this is really not compatible with the type of game you run, you may have to cut him loose to find another set of players that want to do that. Or he may be content with staying with you doing it your way most of the time, but doing the occasional one-shots or sessions that look more like meat grinders that he enjoys. But he’s still probably not going to ever get too into roleplay.
If he’s just tying to spend time with you but doesn’t actually enjoy D&D, you need to know that. If he owns that as true, let him know how much you see and appreciate his efforts to make you happy or spend time with you, and make plans to continue doing something you both enjoy together as soon as the campaign is over. And let him finish the campaign if he wants to. No one likes to feel like they’re being fired from doing a favor for, or spending time with someone. But again, there’s no hope of someone who doesn’t enjoy the game giving it more effort, and you’ll have to lower expectations accordingly.
@kcbcollier covered a lot of opportunities.
There are also some players who "prefer" to listen and observe rather than be in the spotlight. Might be because they are a little shy, might be because there are other more "outspoken" players/characters. The thing is, sometimes the best thing is to actually leave them along. They often have a nice time, tagging along. Like kcbcollier said, the most important thing to find out is probably if he's really just doing this for you, if not give him time. Ask him from time to time between sessions if his character has any plans. Perhaps don't try to force him into situation where he has to talk, but rather give him opportunities to act (if he finds that easier).
It's a very nice thing of you to want him to contribute more because you fear he is being "left outside". I'm just saying that some players actually prefer it that way. I don't know if your brother is one of them, but he could be.
Whatever you do, don't kick him from your game! Allow him to just hang around if that's what he wants :-)
Ludo ergo sum!
Lots of good advice here, I'll just add that you should never feel it's your job to force anyone to RP who doesn't want to. Most of us consider RP an integral part of the gaming experience, but there's always going to be some people who are in it just for the combat, loot, and funny characters.
If you want to encourage RP, try asking your bro things about their character outside of sessions: do they have a goal? What do they think of the other party members? What does the character value most?
If they try to answer these questions and try to dig further into their character in response, then that's a sign that they're open to RP but maybe just don't know where to start, in which case you should try to help ease him into it. If he seems disinterested in the questions, don't push it. Trying to make someone do something they have no interest in is a good way to turn them off of the game entirely. Maybe they'll just be the strong silent type while other players engage with each other, and he'll get everything he wants out of the game through combat. If you suspect he's not enjoying the game, you can ask him, but otherwise you just need to let him be in charge of his fun.
Thank you to everyone who replied on this thread. After thinking about it, I'm going to do a bit of everything that was said. I'll try and incorporate some of that advice into our next and future sessions. Hopefully, I can get him to be more comfortable with roleplaying and he will start interacting more, maybe not to Critical Role levels but definitely more than 5 words.
Does his character have a backstory? Invoke elements of his backstory, he sees a book with his lost family heirloom on the cover. Or he notices someone that looks familiar sitting at the bar in the tavern. I have no idea what the actual situation is like but it kinda sounds like he has really bad social anxiety, if that is the case don’t force anything on him that would make him uncomfortable. Start small. Maybe the next NPC comes up to him specifically. Or maybe a person in a tavern buys his character a drink and then waves or winks at him from across the room.
good luck!
A thing I apply to get roleplaying started is by the simple rule: You get nothing from meta, and anything from good RP. You ca. Describe in Meta where you go, or want you want to do, but you cant stare silently at someone and expect anything to get done without interaction, even if they are a mute trying to use their hands to speak.
Combine that with what you already have, like NPCs that give quests and what not and have them go out of their way to talk about the silent member of the group, wondering if they are simply not lucky enough to catch a word from their quiet comrade. Gentle encouragement goes a long way, along with throwing out opportunitues for them to interact.