Write or paraphrase it here:In improvisational theater performers are taught to make their scene partners look important. This means reacting to other performers’ decisions by making them important to your character. On stage this makes scenes more dramatic and helps establish character relationships. This same principle holds true at the gaming table. This exercise will help you make a possibly innocuous statement into an opportunity for interesting role-play.
Pick something a PC said to your character in the last session.
It should be something he or she said to you directly. It doesn’t have to be about you; it just has to be clear the PC was talking to you when he or she said it.
Write or paraphrase it here:
How did this make your character feel?
This doesn’t have to be rational. People react unreasonably to innocuous statements all the time. Grounding your reaction in an emotion makes it easy to take it to interesting places and means whatever you are feeling will ultimately be resolved through role-play.
If you are having trouble thinking of an emotion, roll a d6:
1 Embarrassed
2 Defensive
3 Afraid
4 Joyous
5 Prideful
6 Grateful
How could this emotion have been provoked?
Emotional reactions don’t need to be grounded or justified. A character might not understand why she feels a certain way; all she knows is that she does. As the player, you can decide if a character is misinterpreting something, projecting a separate feeling into a new area, or genuinely processing something one of her companions said to her.
Take your idea to the other player so you can collaborate on your story.
This ensures you are both happy to explore the story, which means you’ll be able to work together to make each moment satisfying. Your GM controls fate and circumstance, and can work to put your characters into situations where things they are feeling are forced to the surface. Even if you don’t need the GM’s involvement, letting her or him know you are pursuing this sort of story is a good idea. Characters outside the two involved in the conflict can provide counsel, meddle to try and fix things, or bask in the chaos of emotional turmoil.
Explore what the emotion means to your character privately.
Decide how your character works through periods of heightened emotion. Is he aware of what he is feeling? If so, does he know why?
Possible responses:
Writing in a journal
Prayer and meditation
Physical training
Playing music
Working on a craft
Cleaning or organizing
Drinking
Hunting
Shopping
Indirectly express that emotion publicly.
Issues based on miscommunication are made worse when people don’t talk about them. That’s bad for relationships in real life but great for relationships in stories. It’s more satisfying to watch characters finally hash something out after they have spent time dancing around the issue. To build up to a satisfying conclusion, hint at the issue through indirect behavior.
If you are having trouble deciding how to communicate indirectly, try one of these approaches:
Make excuses to be close to the other character.
Laugh at unexpected moments.
Create opportunities for the other character to make similar statements.
Make mistakes doing tasks your character is good at.
Have your character change something about his or her appearance.
Have your character approach eating or drinking differently.
Speak differently toward everyone in the party.
Give the other character preferential or differential treatment.
Break something.
Work with the other player and your GM to put the characters in a situation where they are forced to speak directly. The goal is to address the situation and resolve it by the characters revealing something new about themselves. Ending a story like this with a discovery is important because it means something happened. In real life you can be taken on an emotional roller-coaster for no reason. In stories we have the opportunity to make every interaction significant. If you want a shift in character dynamics, the new discovery and emotional drama can be catalysts for that change. If you’d prefer to maintain the status quo, that discovery can underscore why the established dynamic works.