67 Questions To Make Your Players Roleplay More
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0991
Here’s a great technique to get your players roleplaying more.
Have NPCs ask them questions.
But not just any questions.
Yes/No questions, for example, don’t get players talking or thinking much.
Good NPC questions provide another boon: they give you ideas to steal for later use.
While the players answer the NPC, you log their answers and ideas. Use what you like immediately, then review the rest between sessions for your Loopy Planning.
When players are busy thinking up their responses and roleplaying them out, it also gives you a nice break. You can relax and listen.
Because you know what happens when an NPC asks a question and the PCs respond?
The NPC asks another question!
It’s easy to control an encounter when you’re asking questions. Players will be busy thinking up their answers and not on the attack.
What happens, though, if players take the initiative and ask a question?
You answer their question with a question!
Now you’ve got fantastic player engagement. It’s a doge and parry of words.
And even if you don’t get any cool ideas from the parley, you’ve got your players engaged and roleplaying!
67 Questions
With the help of James Introcaso, I polled GMs on question ideas to get players talking and roleplaying.
I’ve grouped all the responses, plus a few questions of my own, into three categories to help you select the match the potential tone of your encounter:
- Interrogation
- Philosophical
- Fun
Here are 67 NPC questions you can keep handy during a session.
Thanks to the following for their question ideas for this tip:
@Bartoneus, @BlakeRyanBatman, @CRNFAllyKat, @DEJ_Howl_LB, @DNDBlaggards, @DrMindermast, @EricMPaq, @FrenchieDm, @Geertzilla, @JAskins7, @Janek_Sielicki, @MetalMonkey667, @ScrivTheBard, @StealMyIdeaRPG, @TempestLOB, @TuckerAuthor, @Will_Knight3, @jayafrica, @mikrobx, @mountain_foot, @sagasquares, AndruC, Ari Covert, Austin Ballard, Danny @ PAX Unplugged, Jennifer Bisson, Jingle-Scriv, Kristopher Yoder, Lucinda Speer, Mike Downey, Rod Spellman, The Id DM, Thomas Pwosion McLaren