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| Alex Adams |
If combat and exploration is the
heart of D&D, dialogue is the soul. Communication and exposition are the myriad
paints by which players streak across the textured canvas of the DM’s phantasy. A word can change a siege into surrender, a
murderer into martyr, or victory into villainy.
It’s key that players learn how to communicate effectively and
excitingly and elevate inter-party and world dialogue to its rightful position beside knoll-stomping and jewel-snatching.
For your consideration:
Slow. Down.
Dramatic momentum isn't
everything. In-world dialogue does not
(and should not) have to happen in real-time.
Many times, important monologues or off-the-cuff debates between PCs and
NPCs can lose steam and break down because players try too quickly to produce
movie-quality pre-packaged statements or rebuttals. There’s a reason why screenplay dialogue
sounds so convincing and evocative: it’s been cooked for months and honed to
perfection by a professional screenwriter (hopefully). Even your most experienced veteran is not
going to be capable of producing inter-PC dialogue at that level all the time. Take a moment. Breathe.
Refresh yourself to your PC’s motivations, weight options. Even
if your PC’s choice is to react
heedlessly without thinking, you can
still think about just how devoid of heed your PC should be. It’s always better to take a breather,
collect your thoughts, and come up with organized, story-evolving exposition,
then stutter and ‘umm’ through a piece of dialogue for the sake of sounding
flashy.
Show, Don’t Tell
While monologuing to song-one of
Rush’s 89’ album Presto is inspiring,
it’s not what I mean. Don’t just state
flatly your Character’s emotional state.
Present it. Become your own narrator. Let players guess what is going on inside your Character’s head. Avoid simple statements like “Rognoth gets angry,” you can use
physical cues to express emotion: “Rognoth’s face reddens, his beard begins
furiously twitching…” Even better, you
can describe qualities of voice
without needing to use your own inflection.
Think audio-book, not soap opera.
“Rognoth's
normally gruff voice becomes thin and trembling. He mutters ‘I recognize the
insignia…By Moradin, its Angog the Beardless!’”
Emotionality is what changes combat from “He hits the Lich” to “He fulfills his destiny.” When it is presented right, what comes
out of a PC’s mouth becomes as important as what’s in their bag of holding.
Let them talk!
Let the other party members (and especially
the DM!) Talk. You are not the most important
speaker in the party. There is an
unfortunate condition going around in new players, which I call “exposition blue-balls”. People will stress out and tense up
physically when they are ready to say something and are getting postponed. Practice patience and active listening. This becomes indispensable as party size
grows. Don’t get stuck in your own head thinking
about what you are going to say next while ignoring everyone else. It’s a bad way to play and a bad way to live. If you need to, keep a piece of paper handy
or a whiteboard and write down reminding words.
Don’t be afraid or miffed when forced to drop a dialogue idea or
rebuttal entirely and move on. You would
be amazed at just how often dropped dialogue threads become the perfect thing
to say 15 minutes later in the campaign.
Don’t be afraid to
call “OC”
Calling “OC” (Off-Character) is an excellent prefix
statement for meta-game discussion and battle-tactics that puts the pressure
off the party to work ideas into the personalities of their PCs. Some examples:
“Valthar fumbles with
his belt as he saunters out of the brothel, drawing his spear at sight of the
skeletons and says…wait OC did I see what the necromancer did when we were
in that cave? No? Ok …Valthar
says nothing and charges.”
“Radiant energy surges
out of Cliiven’s chest. He strokes his
beard, laughing then hurls his hammer…
OC where are you moving next turn?...
He aims for the curiously overweight knoll on the ridge.”
“OC, is Kshatra mad that I took the treasure? Ok Good…
Thimble pulls out a gold coin and flips it in the air while giving a wink.”
You Are Not Your
Character
Detachment is key. When talking to PCs and NPCs remember
assiduously that you are not your character.
One of the joys of D&D is that a player can craft a PC personality completely different from who they
are. Always discern that
difference. Some of the most exciting dialogue
can spring from two PCs who loathe each
other but must work together for a common cause. Mind you, this doesn't have to be forever,
Characters can grow to love each other, but even if dialogue is a carnival of animosity
and backstabbing, at the end of the day the PCs are put away and we are
ourselves again.
When you
start to mistake a PC’s motivations and feelings as a person’s motivations and feelings, bad things happen. Horrible, horrible, relationship-ruiny
things. I am guilty of this. When losing in a battle or doing poorly I
used to get bummed out and project negativity to everyone around me. Whether your PC is in the depths of despair,
or over the moon in ecstasy should be of no concern to you emotionally beyond
what you allow, like a painter that chooses to paint either a happy or sad face
on his artwork. The joy or sorrow of the
art is not that of the artist.
Forgive Yourself, And
Never Apologize.
Never say sorry about what your character does or says. Oh,
sorry, what I meant was… That is a
death knell. Consider your Character as
a musical instrument. A professional
musician would never put their instrument down mid-set, apologize for a mistake they made, and keep going. You are going to make mistakes in playing an
instrument; you recognize them, and move on.
The audience probably didn’t even recognize it, and if the player is
really good, s/he can incorporate it into the piece. Likewise for interaction. A forgotten detail or misplaced reaction
isn’t a death saving throw. Learn to let
go and not dwell on how you could have handled that better. It’s impractical.
You are the ultimate authority on
what your character says and does. Don’t
feel pressured into conforming to an archetype you don’t like. Most often that ‘pressure’ you feel is
self-generated. Take a stand. Say something brash. Even if you mess up. It makes things more interesting and your DM
will appreciate it.
Word.
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