I'm playing a campaign in my new school's D&D club. I went into it hoping to have an adventure involving more role-play and character development, but instead half of my fellow PCs don't even have a backstory and seem to be trying to get into the most ridiculous possible situations. Can someone help me come up with a way to get my party more into the role-play aspect?
You cannot. People play D&D for many different reasons, and you cannot make other people enjoy it for the same reason you enjoy it. Either you have to figure out a compromise where you RP a character who loves chaos so you can role-play in their chaos scenes, or you split/swap to a different group that also enjoys RP, or you talk to your DM about fitting in your RP ideas around the chaos.
Unfortunately, a considerable percentage of school-aged players are more likely to be attracted to the "Combat & Chaos!" style of play than the more in-depth role-playing. I suggest looking for a better group. It's great that your school offers a D&D club. But check out your local library, they may have a game night, or at least maybe a community bulletin board where someone might be advertising one. And if your area has a book store, or a comic book shop, there's a good chance they will have connections to people who run games. There are tables running games all over the place, you just have to do your own I.R.L. Investigation check to find one. Ask around. Don't give up. There are better tables out there.
You can try having a conversation with your fellow players, but if they are all having fun the way they are playing, you might want to look for a different group.
Probably the most important step in playing dnd is finding a group that fits your playstyle. And not every group is going to fit.
Consider making pre-made characters for them. That takes a lot of the initial rules overload away (they only need to know their own rules), and gives you the opportunity to create something for those specific characters. If they're hyped after a session or two, they can make their own characters at that point. https://routerlogin.uno/
I'm playing a campaign in my new school's D&D club. I went into it hoping to have an adventure involving more role-play and character development, but instead half of my fellow PCs don't even have a backstory and seem to be trying to get into the most ridiculous possible situations. Can someone help me come up with a way to get my party more into the role-play aspect?
While you can't "make" your fellow players RP more, you can explain to them that RP was something you were looking for in a game and the current game is lacking that. While it's true that no one can be made to play a certain way and you shouldn't try to force them, that simplification flattens things and overlooks a key point—a lot of people are willing to be accomodating, to compromise, and even to change for the benefits of others.
(Without blaming anyone) explain what it is you feel is lacking and what you'd like to see more of. Be open to meeting halfway, but also be willing to either accept that things are not going to change or you're going to have to step away from the table.
I'm playing a campaign in my new school's D&D club. I went into it hoping to have an adventure involving more role-play and character development, but instead half of my fellow PCs don't even have a backstory and seem to be trying to get into the most ridiculous possible situations. Can someone help me come up with a way to get my party more into the role-play aspect?
You cannot. People play D&D for many different reasons, and you cannot make other people enjoy it for the same reason you enjoy it. Either you have to figure out a compromise where you RP a character who loves chaos so you can role-play in their chaos scenes, or you split/swap to a different group that also enjoys RP, or you talk to your DM about fitting in your RP ideas around the chaos.
Unfortunately, a considerable percentage of school-aged players are more likely to be attracted to the "Combat & Chaos!" style of play than the more in-depth role-playing. I suggest looking for a better group. It's great that your school offers a D&D club. But check out your local library, they may have a game night, or at least maybe a community bulletin board where someone might be advertising one. And if your area has a book store, or a comic book shop, there's a good chance they will have connections to people who run games. There are tables running games all over the place, you just have to do your own I.R.L. Investigation check to find one. Ask around. Don't give up. There are better tables out there.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
You can try having a conversation with your fellow players, but if they are all having fun the way they are playing, you might want to look for a different group.
Probably the most important step in playing dnd is finding a group that fits your playstyle. And not every group is going to fit.
Consider making pre-made characters for them. That takes a lot of the initial rules overload away (they only need to know their own rules), and gives you the opportunity to create something for those specific characters. If they're hyped after a session or two, they can make their own characters at that point. https://routerlogin.uno/
While you can't "make" your fellow players RP more, you can explain to them that RP was something you were looking for in a game and the current game is lacking that. While it's true that no one can be made to play a certain way and you shouldn't try to force them, that simplification flattens things and overlooks a key point—a lot of people are willing to be accomodating, to compromise, and even to change for the benefits of others.
(Without blaming anyone) explain what it is you feel is lacking and what you'd like to see more of. Be open to meeting halfway, but also be willing to either accept that things are not going to change or you're going to have to step away from the table.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here