Well, that's big in the theater world. Knowing what a character thinks and playing it out nonverbally is what pays their checks, after all.

>>13161187
I would probably work for a LARP. I'm still not sure how it applies to a tapletop game. Every time I start describing what my character does and how, rolling dice, etc. I stop the monologue and fall out of character...

when it comes to RPGs (not LARPing or Free-Forming.) then it's more a question of accessing that when you need to. most of all just have a personality and opinions.

I approach acting and roleplaying as a big game of pretend. I like saying lines in-character to get in the mood, with the kind of tone they would use.

>>13161172
Step 1: Characterization (figuring out backstory and important events/NPCs, and how they effect personality/worldview)
Step 2: Immersion (take some time to get into the world youre gonna be inhabiting - know the details of how the seasons pass in your homeland, stuff like that)
Step 3: Interaction (really take a moment to think on how you're initially going to percieve other characters in the group - first impressions mean alot)

Thats about how I do it.
Once I've established step 1/2, I tend to be able to drop back into the character with relative ease.

I am the incredibly boring sort of roleplayer that only makes characters who are exaggerations of parts of myself, so staying in character isn't exactly a challenge.

>>13161265
In our current game we are playing ourselves.
It's not easy, man. I hard to become immersed and react to imaginary problems with same attitude as you would react to the real ones:
>GM: You find a note with mysteries threats on your door.
>Me: *Bored* Oh snap. Scared, I look around. I lock the room and fall asleep hidden under the bed. <..> Please hurry up with the actual plot, bro.

Have some physical/vocal/etc. difference between you and your character that is constantly nagging and that forces you to constantly stay a little bit in-character by actually emulating that trait.

My new broken-spirited, hopeless junkie waif girl gunslinger assassin in DH is left-handed for just that reason. Any time I pantomime a simple motion like lazily aiming her revolver, I remember to do it with my left, not my right, and it prevents me from being able to fall out of character.

My first character? Calm, fatherly type with a khorne-on-pcp-frenzied-acrobatzerker side whenever the rage took him. He had a soft Irish brogue and since I'm an amerifag from jersey, it forced me to always collect my thoughts for just a split second before speaking or acting in-character, so I would plan my words as well as remember the accent.

My warforged cleric of Kord, Brewmaster Father Crash, is an adamantine bodied personification of "WINE AND BATTLE FOR THE SPORT GOD!! LET'S BREAK SOME HEADS!!!" So I speak with a gruff Solid-Snake-meets-Courage-Wolf voice like a wine-tinted wave of fuckawesome courage and always act with a steely, stout grimace on my face.

TL;DR - Make sure your character has some sort of signature character trait that you can -or, preferably are forced to- act out IRL any time you speak in-character. It get's you into the rythm of being able to quickly and fluidly transition into and out of character.

Bump.

>>13161578
having the In CHaracter hat also helps. it's dorky as shit, but taking on and/or putting on a heavy had feels different, and reminds you to keep your guy IC. take it off every minute or so just to chat with your table-mates, but put it back on when the character is gonna do something.

my pathfinder wizard is an elf anthropologist studying human behavior. She always has a tiny moleskin she makes notes and sketches. I have that moleskin and bring it with me to games... when the two humans in the party use an interesting phrase or do something odd, I write it down.

I'm not very popular at the table, but it keeps me in character.

Another bump. Seriously, /tg/. How do you roleplay?

I usually DM, but I have done my fair bit of acting (personally, I'm not entirely amazed that a theatre director at uni would do a seminar on this) and simply think of how my character would act and then go through with it.
>faced with problem: What Would [Character] Do

>>13161578
I do this, but with non-physical stuff. All of my characters think or believe things that are at odds with my own thoughts and beliefs. I've played a racist, a prince who thought he was a fairy-tale style knight-in-shining-armor, an authoritarian cop, and a self-centered asshole who views other people as objects. I never have problems staying in character: if I'm uncomfortable with my character's actions, then I'm playing them correctly.

I usually have 5-6 schticks that I write down and emphasize about my character. Any more and it becomes difficult for me to keep track of them all and impossible for the other players or GM.

Things like: drinks, loves bikes, always wears leather, shoots revolvers only, smells of Old Spice, has really bruised knuckles, cheats at all games of chance, confused by books, never stops swearing, etc.

It makes a character memorable, though a bit shallow. Deeper character roleplaying comes from in-game events, not pregenerated writeups, because the other players and GM remember those events. EG: "He's going to charge that red dragon from the left while faking a limp, just like he did with the green dragon we killed 4 months ago."

>>13164542
>mfw possesstions

>>13164708
>Character personality progression from in-game events.
The thought reminds me of one of the awesome bros of my gaming group. (The group is comprised entirely of them, except for me.) I've only played 2 campaigns with the man, and am starting a 3rd, but my God... He roleplays in a very casual, understated fashion, but somehow perfectly becomes the personality and effortlessly works with the flow of in-character experiences over the course of a campaign.

Here's to you, Bright Justice, and you, Joseph Evans, and you, whatever your asshole noble is named in G-Man's DH campaign.

>>13164609
>simply think of how my character would act and then go through with it
Funny. That's exactly what the director told us NOT to do.
>Keep up with the internal monologue. Let the decisions come up naturally through it. Don't analyze the character to answer the question "What would the character do!", while roleplaying.

Not sure if it'll work when DMing. I have trouble keeping up with one character. Trying to get in a different character twenty times an hour would be difficult...

rolled 4 = 4

If I actually write a back story I never show it. I never tell anyone about it and I never try to initiate conversations geared towards revealing back story. In stead I hand pick moments to reveal a detail or fact. I hate when people throw their back story in my face especially when I'm a GM.

>>13165311

Well for DMing your NPCs should only have one or two motivations so keeping up the monologue should be easier since everything they do should be working towards that motivation in question.

>>13165490

I admittedly have a lot of trouble with that. I just start to love what I've prepared or pondered for my character and so I can't resist talking about it.

acting classes in college for fun actually helped i think

that and i always liked to play pretend