A Trick That Gets Your Players To Roleplay (Works Great With New Players)

Here’s a way to combine world building with character building while using precious session time more efficiently.

I’ve been seeing headlines in the RPG-osphere about campfire chats where, during the party’s rest time, you roleplay and explore the characters together.

I have a specific method for this that works well, which I’ll share with you today.

I thought I wrote about campfire chats during my Riddleport campaign somewhere between 2004-2010, but cannot find it. If you happen to come across it in the roleplayingtips.com/archives please let me know!

Meantime, here’s how I do them.

The Mission

Why do Campfire Chats?

  • World Building. As players answer my questions, I log all the nouns they say, tricking my group into giving me instant world details.
  • Goals & Kicks. I mine these chats for player and character wants. Getting players to drive the action becomes easier when I can trick them into telling me what enemies, places, and treasure they’re after.
  • Back Stories. My guy’s an orphan who’s burned all his bridges. Hobo stories are all the same. Chats trick players into giving me more character hooks and back story details no matter how sparse the background.

Seems like these Campfire Chat things are pretty tricky, eh? Well don’t worry, we approach them in good faith.

I just find that, when switching from GM-to-Player communication to in-character roleplay, players become more willing to share information and flesh out the softer side of the character sheet.

The Campfire Chat Game

What the heck am I talking about?

Campfire Chats are a minigame where players roleplay short downtimes in-character.

My version frames things as a friendly convo between fellow travellers — if not friends — each night around the campfire, as everyone leans in for a bit of light and warmth. Could be this happens on the choppa’ ride to the LZ or while huddled over steaming bowls of synth-noodles at a rainy street stall. Whenever’s there’s a free moment in-game, you can run a Campfire Chat.

To kick off a chat, I ask the group a question. For example: What is your most obvious blessing or strength?

Each player writes an answer. Sometimes I use a timer, but I usually don’t want to rush this.

Then, each player writes how they think the other players will answer. For each correct guess, players get a reward.

As players are noodling and writing, I’m seizing the opportunity to catch up or get ahead behind the screen.

Once done — takes about 5 minutes — I go around the table and ask the first player to share their answer in-character. First or second person is ok here, based on player preference.

So, to repeat, player #1 answers the question. Any player who wrote down that same answer gets a reward.

In addition, player #1 gets a reward totalling the number of correct answers from the other players.

I’m the arbiter and am generous with rulings. I don’t demand exact wording, for example. If the answer is “My 18/99 strength!”, then I’d reward players who wrote Strength or Bending bars and lifting gates.

In addition, during the roleplay of answers, I mine and log anything I can.

Example

Johnn: What is your most obvious blessing or strength?

For my knight Karloff, I’d answer tons of damage. Damage is hard to come by in The Dark Eye RPG, so having a fighter who can one-punch foes is a greater boon than in other systems.

Karloff: That is an interesting thought, my friends. All my life I’ve been able to deliver terrible blows to my foes in combat…as you have witnessed several times already. It’s is not something I enjoy, but I am proud of it.

Player 1: I said strength. Is that close enough? Great, thanks!

Player 2: Shoot, I said it was his family because that’s what he’s questing for, right?

Player 3: I said horsemanship. He’s a good rider, and his horse Drakon is useful to have around.

Player 4: I said strength too! I wrote, ‘Kill-stealin hammer boy.’

In this scenario, we had two correct answers. Everyone learned what Karloff actually thinks. Karloff got a couple nice compliments, and some shade, heh. And we all received some fun and fantastic roleplay to each player’s comfort zone.

So two players got one reward, and Karloff earned two.

I also got notes / reminders about family, horse, and previous foes one-shotted. While general, I’ll flesh these out between sessions and bring them into encounter details more often in the future.

After Karloff’s done, we go to the next player and repeat.

This takes about 5-10 minutes. If time’s tight (five minutes for writing and 10 minutes for sharing is sometimes 15 minutes you can’t spare in-session) I’ll let everyone know to go of fast mode.

So, in a few minutes we get more roleplay possibly than previous sessions combined, depending on your group. Your RP players lost in a sea of munchkins will thrive in the sunlight. And players open up about their characters more than possibly the ever have.

Finally, when I do Campfire Chats in a campaign, I aim to run one per session. Ideal is mid-session when energy starts to flag. I can’t control when downtime happens, but I’m always looking for the opportunity starting an hour in or later.

Why Campfire Chats Are Effective

Beyond the benefits of roleplaying interludes, the minigame structure itself has four additional bonus boons:

  • Lightweight and Opportunistic. You don’t need to stop the game or plan a special roleplaying session. When you spot a lull and have 10-15 minutes, run the Campfire Chat. On the ride to the objective, during a short rest, or while waiting for a contact to show up. Make this scene feel like part of the adventure.
  • Incentive to Roleplay. The secret sauce. Players get rewarded for sharing something about their character. They’re also rewarded for correctly knowing or guessing details about other characters. This simple twist shifts the table dynamic, because, to earn rewards, players must actively listen to each other and pay attention to how their friends portray their characters during regular gameplay.

    If my knight, Karloff, wants to get the answers right next time, they need to notice when the wizard mentions their old mentor or when the cleric consistently avoids talking about their family. This incentivizes players to show, don’t tell their character’s traits and details, because they know fellow players are paying attention, looking for clues for the next Campfire Chat.
  • Incentive to Engage. My method directly ties mechanical rewards (XP, hero points, inspiration, etc.) to paying attention to the fiction and understanding the other characters. This makes roleplaying and inter-party knowledge a tangible, valuable part of the game. And it gives roleplayers, casual gamers, and non-combat players spotlight time and another way to contribute and be rewarded.
  • A GM Break. The five minutes our players spend writing is a golden opportunity for us. A pause button we can press mid-session to catch up on logging or to prep our next move.

The Campfire Chat Recipe

  1. Grab a free copy of my Mother of All Character Questionnaires (PDF 542 KB).
  2. Select a few questions from different categories that will serve your GMing purposes and you think will appeal to the players.
  3. Prep two index cards for each player for next session.
    • Write player name in top-left of their two cards.
    • Choose two questions from your group of selections.
    • Write question #1 atop an index card for each player.
    • Ditto question #2.
    • Write each character’s name in a list below the question to hold answers (this also help new players and groups learn PC names.)
  4. Get Campaign Logger ready to log answers, ideas, and notes. If you don’t have Campaign Logger, get it for free here.

Ok. You should now have two index cards prepared for each player. Each card has the player’s name and a question at the top. And in the body of the card are the other characters’ names in a bullet list, ready to write notes about. Use the card back too, if you need more space.

We prepare two cards (or more if you like) so there’s a bit of a choice for ourselves when the time comes, and in case we want to run two Campfire Chats in a session. For example, a player holds up a game by saying they’ll be late. No problem, run a chat to kill some time and get everyone into character.

  1. While GMing, choose a good moment to start a Campfire Chat. Keep session and adventure pacing in mind. Introduce it as a scene.

    As you cook dinner over a low but warm fire, a conversation sparks up about each of your strengths and weaknesses. Ok guys, let’s play a quick Campfire Chat and see how many hero points you can get before tomorrow’s return to the dungeon!
  2. Ask the question again as you hand that particular index card out to each person, so everyone is crystal clear on how to answer.

    We’ll start with Roghan and go clockwise. The question is: What is your character’s greatest strength? When you’re done, put your favourite d20 into the middle of the table to let me know.
  3. When everyone’s ready, ask the first player to answer the question in-character.
  4. Fast version: players score their answer or ask if their answer qualifies (GM’s call).

    Deeper version: each player takes a turn sharing their answer, generating more roleplay, alternative points of view/feedback, and often, hilarity.

    Krug says that Karloff’s greatest strength is his mighty hammer…and his terrible breath!

Tally up the rewards. You’ll need to balance rewards based on game system, GM style, and group dynamic. Start cheap because it’s easier to increase rewards in future versus scaling them back.

Make Campfire Chats Another Tool For Your GM Toolbox

By turning character development into a fun, low-prep minigame, Campfire Chats create a table that listens more, engages deeper, and helps you build the world together.

In just 15 minutes, you can generate emergent story, goals, and backstory while giving every player a chance to shine.

Add Campfire Chats to your toolbox and try it next session. The small time investment pays huge dividends in campaign depth and player buy-in.

Cheers,
Johnn
roleplayingtips.com
https://discord.gg/6MxTRAqQ76
Have more fun at every game!

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