I'm in a campaign as one of seven PCs, and I want to RP stuff.  Nobody else wants to do this, and they generally want to pursue their own agenda, like pick some pockets or pick some lillys or get moving to the next Kill.  The DM is trying to indulge me but hurries me along to the point that I begin not to enjoy RP.  I talked to him about it and he said he understood the other players wanted to hurry to the battle but he hurried me along because he wasn't ready to RP those encounters and knew if he gave me the wrong info it could damage his story.

I'm a little worried that the other players and I may have to sort this out.  I believe the information I seek will make some encounters easier or possibly allow us to bypass a villain now and then instead of killing everything in our way to the BBEG.

There is also a degree of RR going on which I am willing to endure but could eventually be a problem if I am RR out of RP opportunities to make everyone else happy.

Has anyone else been the RP guy in a party that just wants to kill things?

I have been in this situation in other games (not D&D so much), but you've got me on your abbreviation. RP, I know what that is. But what the heck is RR? I tried to figure it out from context... random rolls? Not sure that makes sense; maybe it does. But I would not mind an explanation.

As for being the "odd RPer out," my main experience in this was the MMORPG City of Heroes. Back in the day, 2004 or so when it was fairly new, I was in a huge RP-oriented guild (supposedly RP-oriented, anyway). And there were times when we would group up and just stand around and RP. Those were relatively infrequent. Most of the time we got into teams of several (up to 8 was allowed) players and took our characters on story missions (quests generated by the game designers that taught you a little about the story of the game world). These were pretty cool stories. So we would go into these warehouse or office or lab maps with lots of encounters and we were looking for clues. We'd find a clue and I would read the clue and start typing text to RP about it, and I would look up from my keyboard and everyone was gone... They did not wait for RP between battles. It was just rush from battle to battle, mission to mission, story arc to story arc. When I complained about this on the guild forum they were all surprised... why would I want to RP about these missions? I couldn't understand why they didn't... but I was outnumbered (like you seem to be). So I had a decision to make... I could fight about it, and lose by weight of numbers. I could quit the guild, and leave my friends. Or I could just accept that they did not want to RP in missions and go along with them. I chose the 3rd option.

I don't think (whatever RR may mean) that you can really force people who have no interest in RP to play along. And if you are literally the only one, there is no one for you to bounce RP off but the DM, and the DM knows the rest of the players are not into the RP and will want to cater to them. So I think you have the same decision to make that I had.

And you need to tell me what RR stands for...

RR = Railroad.

Yea, I figured it was going to be on me.  Either quit or learn to live with it.  Complaining won't do anything positive.

I mean... you can set an example. Do good RPing yourself and let them see how it goes, and maybe they get attracted to it.

But if they won't even give you time and the DM doesn't stop them from rushing you... not much you can do to set examples.

Talk to them. Other than that, there's not much you can do.

I don’t have a wealth of experience with this, but 7 PCs sounds like a tricky amount if you’re trying to get in more character-driven and RP stuff. 

Is there a chance that some (but not all) of the players would also be open to you running a second game that was a bit more in depth and slower paced? That way you could take the time to sculpt the story and they could explore a world where the solution wasn’t always cold steel.

This is just my opinion.

You are not going to change the group. They have a playstyle they are enjoying and they are not going to change to please you.

Decide that you'll change to meet the style of the game they are running or go find another group.

I would suggest if you go looking for another group, talk to everyone, DM and players to make sure what everyone wants / expects is aligned.

Two of the players are "Hang back and do my part or respond to the DM if asked a question."  One is "I'm playing my own story and going where the party goes when it is time to go somewhere."  Three of them are "I'm going to rack up the biggest body count I can."  I am talking to folks and trying to pry information from them to see if we can prepare for or avoid a conflict.

The DM has us wait in a town for two weeks or a month and then there is a council meeting.  We are invited to the meeting and learn of a threat in the surrounding area or we are asked to take something from here to there.  We travel - We fight - We return.

The rushing comes when we travel and I want to talk to the folks in a village as we stop to spend the night.  The other players want to leave town and keep traveling and not spend session time on a RP interaction.  The DM responded to my questions with "I dunno."  Or "Well, you know, just farmers."  And then rolled a d4 to determine how many "hours" we spent buying a map of the local region, which I had requested.  I felt I was being told, "Hey, wrap this up, because everyone wants to get to the encounter."

I agree that I have to either get over it and just play my part as a support character for the fighters or just leave the game.

Quote from MusicScout >>

...if he gave me the wrong info it could damage his story. 

Whose story? Your story or the DM's?

RPers shine when it's cooperative storytelling. RP dies when it's only the DM's story.

DMs who get swept up in side adventures created by the players are the gems of the RP world. It's not that they lose control. It's that "no" is the ultimate last resort they would use while guiding players around the scenario. (The worst for RPers are the DMs who punish those who leave the railroad tracks.)

If you're getting a lot of "no" or similarly cut off mid-action by the DM, it seems to me that it is likely that the DM is only interested in the DM's story, not anyone else's.

If it's all about the DM telling the DM's story, I can see two ways to handle this: 1) Just play the RR adventure to its conclusion as if you're reading a book - let the DM tell a story - and move on to a group that prefers to write the story with the DM afterward. 2) Move on now if it's frustrating for your character's story to be squelched. (If it were me - and it's not, I would be sorely tempted to the latter. I couldn't say that I would do the former.)

There may be other options, but if the problem lands with the DM and you already talked to the DM, it is doubtful to me that further OOC discussion will change things.

I understand how you feel. A huge learning curve for me is the actual technical playing of the game. I don’t even know what dice I should be rolling most of the time, let alone knowing what my spells do, cost, modify, etc.

I’m REALLY bad at it and had a difficult time in a group that was very technically-focused. My current group, however strikes a good balance so people who are more interested in the RP aspect get that attention while still actually ‘playing the game’ giving those who max-min a bit more what they want from a game.

If your group is willing to hear you out and try to strike a balance that would be ideal, but if not I echo what others have said: you may need to find a group more willing to compromise.

Maybe a new group is the best bet?

One thing to note, it sounds like the goals of your RPing ( finding ways to avoid conflict) goes directly against the goals of the three party members who want to fight. Could you talk with your DM about seeding some things in to the RP that would actually help your group win fights? A hint that the spider queen is weak to fire, the location of a lost sword, maybe a scroll so the wizard can learn a new spell? That way, you’re actually helping with the “body count” in a way that plays to your playstyle. I don’t think there is shame in asking/challenging the DM to provide more of the gameplay elements you enjoy in a way that works for everyone.

I think the problem does stem from the DM telling his story ...

He is using an adventure that was homebrewed for his party years ago.  When they got to the end of the story they had done some remarkable things and tamed this region and founded the town.  His Town's Council are the members of his party as he imagines they would respond to a party of adventurer upstarts showing up in their quiet corner of the world.  (His game was back in 4e or 3.5e)  Now he is building an adventure in this world for us and I believe he is married to his vision of the area and somewhat controls us through the town council.

I think he is still world-building and that is one reason for him being reluctant to engage in my Q&A RP sessions.  He hasn't figured out what the answers are to many of these questions.  The second factor is that we have a party of seven figures (Two Paladins, One Bard, One War Cleric, One Ranger, One Rogue and one Sorcerer; guess who is the heavy RP guy)  I'm trying to roll with it and exercise some patience.  If it just doesn't work out I'll just let it be my last campaign.  These are the only adult D&D players I know.

The disappointing thing for me is I am trying to fulfill a plan that will give the Town Council exactly what they want.  My plan is to protect the town by trading in goods from the town that will allow me to have a full blown import-export company.  I will have a warehouse/showroom in every significant settlement in the area and a very recognizable livery for my wagons (Forest green wagons with red wheels).  I will trade in fresh fruits, grains, beer/ale/lager/ … and spices.  I will use spices to improve the lifestyle of all the rural inhabitants so they just think I am The Stuff.  They will readily share any rumors or news they have when I come a calling.  This leads into stage two of my plan.  The I-E company is just a front for my information network.  My "agents" are actually spies that keep up on the things happening in their little corner of the world.  I receive regular messages with the shipments so I become the information broker of the whole area.  With this information I would know if an Orcish presence is developing to the east  or some usurper is attempting to overthrow the monarchy to the south.  I even intend to make it appear my company HQ is in another town by building that "station" bigger and more opulent than the one in the "home town."

I just figure this is a goldmine for the DM.  He can feed any number of rumors to me and the party through the messages we get and we decide which of these are worth responding to.  All the while the company is serving as an early warning network for the town council, which wants to remain secure and effectively unbothered by the rise and fall of other nations.

I love the idea of your character's goals in the campaign. :)

If campaign you're in doesn't work out for you, though, there are tons of adult D&D players out there. You can check out the forums on this website to find a local group or an online one. I DM a campaign and had a lot of success filling empty spots in the party that way. 

Oh wow that seems like a super fun campaign, and you’ve clearly come up with a lot of good ideas for your character. I can see why you’re reluctant to leave the group. Trying to find people to play with can be really difficult, especially with strangers. It’s good that this place exists though; I’m new and just in my short time poking around I can see there’s lots of support here so, at the end of the day, you have options. :).