Do PCs ever talk to each other in-character?

crkrueger · June 28, 2017, 03:31:35 PM

Quote from: Willie the Duck;972002Stuff like that can be fun, or it can turn really annoying. I think we tried the whole 'everything you say is something your character says' kind of thing once in my teenage gaming group, and gave up after something along the lines of:

PC: "Nice to meet you, sir SomeNameOrOther"
NPC/DM: "Greatings, what brings you to this tavern?"
PC: "Pass the Cheetos, Dave."
NPC/DM: "What are Cheetos, and who is Dave?"
PC: "No. I wasn't saying that in character."
NPC/DM: "What do you mean, 'in character?' are you of sound mind?"

Never seen anyone take obvious OOC talk as IC, that's kind of being a dick. Whenever we've done the "if you say it, your character says it" it's kind of understood it's specifically dealing with insults (whether PC to PC or PC to NPC) or info that one player is using to give advantage to another player by reminding them, etc. But it was always lenient for new players, never any kind of "IC Nazi" crap.

AsenRG · June 28, 2017, 07:37:32 PM

Quote from: Omega;971831PCs talking to eachother is the norm for most any game I've DMed or played in.

This, though of course, there are OOC moments as well.

Soylent Green · June 28, 2017, 07:49:10 PM

Quote from: Piestrio;971878I don't know that I've ever played in a game where they didn't.

I'm actually having a bit of a disassociative moment with this thread, one of those "are we playing the same games?" Moments.

My exact reaction. As with anything I guess it can be overdone but player characters talking to each other in-character I would thought is a pretty key part of the experience.

WillInNewHaven · June 28, 2017, 11:12:24 PM

Quote from: S'mon;971804Do PCs talk to each other in your games?

Does it depend on the game? Do Call of Cthulhu PCs talk more than D&D PCs?

Does it depend on the game format (tabletop, online text chat, PBP & PBEM, live action etc)?

I suspect PCs pretty much never interact in-character in my D&D tabletop games, and that this is a big difference between tabletop and text-chat or pbem play where that is often the focus of play.

Do you think it's something worth encouraging? Do you discourage it?

It happens all the time in the games I GM and the games in which I play. We have a fairly new player now who tends to say "I tell them what I saw" and I say "so tell them," so I guess I am encouraging it.

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Shawn Driscoll · June 29, 2017, 10:32:33 AM

Quote from: S'mon;971804Do PCs talk to each other in your games?

It's vary rare in most games. Game sessions need role-players at the table for that. But, yes. Players talk in character in my games.

Skarg · June 29, 2017, 12:22:30 PM

Quote from: S'mon;971804Do PCs talk to each other in your games?

Does it depend on the game? Do Call of Cthulhu PCs talk more than D&D PCs?

Does it depend on the game format (tabletop, online text chat, PBP & PBEM, live action etc)?

I suspect PCs pretty much never interact in-character in my D&D tabletop games, and that this is a big difference between tabletop and text-chat or pbem play where that is often the focus of play.

Do you think it's something worth encouraging? Do you discourage it?

Yes, the players mostly talk to each other in-character during play, or describe what their characters are doing. I usually run with instructions not to talk OOC, especially about game-related things, if it's a serious campaign, in order to prevent OOC "magic meta-game" transfer of information or game stats.

Spinachcat · June 29, 2017, 07:03:21 PM

I encourage IC chatter among players. I expect it so I get it.

I tell them that the conversation around the table is happening in the game world. That is usually enough for players to make the IC effort. Of course, some will do accents and ham bone it up and others will be more low key and just use each other's PC names. Either is fine.

However, I don't make a big deal about a bit of OOC bleed into the conversations.

Simlasa · June 29, 2017, 11:00:54 PM

I prefer games with lots of 'in character' banter... but I find it easier to do in face-to-face games.
If I'm running a game I do nothing to push it.

Gorilla_Zod · June 30, 2017, 11:45:19 AM

Quote from: Spinachcat;972196I encourage IC chatter among players. I expect it so I get it.

I tell them that the conversation around the table is happening in the game world. That is usually enough for players to make the IC effort. Of course, some will do accents and ham bone it up and others will be more low key and just use each other's PC names. Either is fine.

However, I don't make a big deal about a bit of OOC bleed into the conversations.

This is pretty much exactly how our table runs, regardless who happens to be GMing.

RPGPundit · July 02, 2017, 02:01:06 AM

What the fuck?! My Players talk to each other PCs to PCs all the fucking time, no matter what the campaign is. I don't think I could envision an effective campaign where that didn't happen.

Willie the Duck · July 03, 2017, 09:12:45 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;972612What the fuck?! My Players talk to each other PCs to PCs all the fucking time, no matter what the campaign is. I don't think I could envision an effective campaign where that didn't happen.

Than what's so "What the fuck?!" about it? That's mostly what people have been saying. Do you mean that we're even discussing it?

crkrueger · July 03, 2017, 09:19:29 AM

Quote from: Willie the Duck;972789Than what's so "What the fuck?!" about it? That's mostly what people have been saying. Do you mean that we're even discussing it?

Probably. That's like the 4th or 5th post expressing some level of surprise that someone wouldn't talk IC PC-to-PC, the hobby being roleplaying and all.

But that was always the advantage of poor old "incoherent" D&D. It didn't mechanically support playstyle, therefore it didn't mechanically force playstyle.

Nexus · July 03, 2017, 09:24:52 AM

Quote from: CRKrueger;972793But that was always the advantage of poor old "incoherent" D&D. It didn't mechanically enforce playstyle, therefore it didn't mechanically force playstyle.

Could you unpack this a little?

Willie the Duck · July 03, 2017, 09:36:28 AM

Quote from: Nexus;972794Could you unpack this a little?

Not CRKrueger, but I'll take a crack at it. Nowhere in the books does it say that you are supposed to talk in-character (or for that matter treat your characters like characters). Therefor you have had people who treated the game like improv theater night, and people who treated it like a board game with infinitely changing boards and infinitely broad moves that your pieces could make. Both extremes are within the ruleset.

RPGPundit · July 05, 2017, 09:04:45 PM

Quote from: Willie the Duck;972789Than what's so "What the fuck?!" about it? That's mostly what people have been saying. Do you mean that we're even discussing it?

yes, pretty much. It just strikes me as stunning that someone would say that when they play an RPG their players never talk to each other in character. It's just so insanely distant from how I've played, and how everyone I've ever seen playing has played, that it baffles me.