Recently I have been enjoying the Impossible Landscapes actual play from the Glass Canon Network. They are playing through a campaign of Delta Green, which is a game about supernatural detectives slowly losing their social bonds and sanity. While the campaign and their gameplay is absolutely stellar, I cannot stop thinking about a specific type of scene that happens a lot, especially in the beginning of the campaign.

Whenever you see something traumatizing in Delta Green (which happens a lot), your character has to roll a sanity check. If you fail, you take damage to your sanity. You can project that loss of sanity on your social bonds, like your friends, partners or kids. This is meant to symbolize how your work affects your private life in unforeseen ways, with your trauma ripping through your surroundings. One thing I found to be especially cruel (and juicy) is that you are meant to play out scenes on how that projection looks when you damage your bonds.

These scenes are, in my opinion, one of the highlights of that actual play. But they are also highly unusual to me. The players direct most of these scenes, partly or fully taking control over the environment and even NPCs. The outcome of these scenes is predetermined, with the characters damaging their bond to NPCs or even other players. This type of scene is actually used for more than just bonds, sometimes the players also use it to show us their characters' day to day life, flashbacks to the past or even a fast forward to a totally different part of their life. The GM kind of fades into the background, with the players taking center stage as directors and actors of the scene.

As someone who comes from the more traditional, GM centric world of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), this was fascinating to me. I could not categorize that type of gameplay, because I am used to the good old three pillars of gameplay.

The three pillars of gameplay

There have been many articles and videos made about the three pillars of gameplay: Exploration, Social Interactions and Combat. These are meant to categorize the kinds of game modes most TTRPG's (but especially D&D) fall into.

• Combat. The characters engage in a detailed combat encounter, in which every second counts. This game mode tends to be the most game-like, often being compared with wargaming or board games.
• Exploration. The group explores a location of varying size, from investigating a small apartment through uncovering uncharted lands. This game mode is usually quite tactile and focused on practical problem solving, like crossing a river or uncovering evidence.
• Social Interactions. This game mode explores social problem solving like persuasion, diplomacy or deception, as well as laissez-faire roleplaying between characters.

Many even categorize new TTRPG's using these categories, looking at how much percentage of the RPG are dedicated to what pillar of gameplay. For example, most would agree that the rules of D&D 2024 focus on combat. Social interactions and exploration are of varying importance depending on the Dungeon Master. Games from the OSR (Old School Renaissance), like Shadowdark or Dungeon Crawl Classics, focus on the exploration part of the game.

What all of these pillars have in common is their focus on problem solving. You are trying to survive that combat encounter, deceive the guard or climb up that ledge. Even in very relaxed settings without danger, the GM (Game Master) still has tight control and might require die rolls if you are trying to do something. While roleplaying just for roleplaying's sake does occur, it is rarely enforced by the rules, adventures or GMs themselves. It is not like the GM tells you to "roleplay for a while"... Right?

The template for the meme was created by garvitmemes and edited by me.

Slugblaster's Downtime

Slug Blaster is a roleplaying game about playing teenagers on skateboards discovering the multiverse. I came across it by watching this stellar review by Quinn's Quest. While the game is very interesting on its own, I would like to focus on the downtime. Between each mission, you can use this game's version of experience points to buy narrative scenes, like experiencing heartbreak or a trick being named after you. You are then encouraged to play out these scenes in the following way:

During [...] the downtime phase, you become the director of your own scenes. Forget the dice and just tell us a story. The GM and other players are there to assist you. Tell them your vision and ask them for ideas. Answer their questions. Cast them as NPCs and perform the scene like actors in a movie. If that’s not your thing, go the other way and describe the scene like a writer, adding details and showing us what the characters are thinking and feeling.

It then goes on to list a bunch of different downtime opportunities, like:

• Trouble at Home (2 trouble). Your family disapproves. How? Why? Do you care? +1 slam (distracted, worried, etc.) and pick a teammate who notices.
• You Earned It (5 style). A trophy, a trick named after you, a scholarship, a moment you’ll cherish  forever. +1 legacy.

Playing these scenes out does, in my opinion, not really constitute any of the pillars of gameplay. Let's take 'Trouble at Home', which many of you might instinctively categorize as a social interaction. While I would agree to some point, the gameplay is fundamentally different to what we know this pillar of gameplay to be about. The GM does not (have to) play your parents, you can do that yourself or ask other players. You are not rolling dice, you cannot convince your family otherwise, the outcome is (more or less) predetermined. This is not a social encounter in the classical TTRPG sense.

Others, like having a trick named after you, do not fall into any of the categories we usually use for roleplaying games. Here, you are basically just workshopping the world's reaction to your character's coolness, a job which is traditionally held by the game master. For the duration of a scene, the game essentially becomes GM-less. While this is already mind-blowing to be, Slugblaster is by far the only game to implement this style of gameplay.

Art from the Slugblaster rulebook.

Examples of GM-less gameplay

Many games, especially recent ones like Daggerheart, encourage collaborative worldbuilding. In Daggerheart, you are encouraged to ask your players to add elements into a scene, giving up some element of control as the GM as well. This way, some aspects of the game, while not being GM-less, definitely feel GM-light. But do not worry, other games go much further than that.

In 'For the Queen', most of the game is played with 46 prompt cards and only players, doing what Slugblaster's downtime does, just for the whole game. It is up for debate if this game and similar story games are still to be considered TTRPGs. But on the other hand, GM-less solo TTRPG's have been on the rise for a while, so why should these games be excluded?

But let's not get too crazy and focus on more classical TTRPGs. 'Powered by the Apocalypse' and 'Forged in the Dark' games have long been implementing techniques from story games to give some more narrative control to the players. As more games adapt some form of this mentality, we do not really have a name that summarizes all of these GM-less or GM-light parts of the gameplay under one umbrella. So let's change that and call them...

Roleplaying prompts

A roleplaying prompt is a request to create a moment or scene. It is issued by the game master or the rules towards one or more players. While playing out the prompt, the players take over some of the responsibilities traditionally seen in a GM, like describing NPC actions or elements of the world. These descriptions are improvised and usually steered into a direction set by the roleplaying prompt. While every pillar of gameplay can invite roleplay, roleplaying prompts are specifically written for the express purpose of deepening the character or worldbuilding. They often lack real danger or challenge, but make up for it in flavor and rich character expression.

In my upcoming game 'A Witches Guide to Grimm’s Keep Academy', players take on the role of little witches attending a magic school. In order to allow some on-the-fly characterization, I have built roleplaying prompts into the adventures:

• Three older bullies corner your coven at the school yard. Which of your characters have they bullied before? What aspect of your character did they target? Wearing glasses, disability, nerdiness
• You have just missed the bus. Why were you late? Stayed up late playing video games, fixed the make-up for too long

There is an improvisational element to roleplaying prompts, since they often ask the players to explore aspects of their character they might have not thought about before. This allows to develop a character beyond the original backstory without doing extra homework.

Art by Roselysium, used for my upcoming project "A Witches Guide to Grimm's Keep Academy"

Roleplaying prompts vs. encouraging roleplay

While I do think that 'roleplaying prompts' is a good name, there is some room for confusion here. As I am sure the comments will point out, there are ways to prompt roleplay outside of my definition. In fact, one might argue that all pillars of gameplay can encourage roleplay in one way or another. Combat can lead to dramatic deaths with lots of crying, exploration can lead to awe and wonder and social interactions can create drama or humor.

Naming conventions aside, the main difference I see between these pillars of gameplay encouraging roleplay, and a 'roleplaying prompt' as per my definition, is who is in control and the predetermination of the outcome.

Encouraging roleplay. If the game master is prompting roleplay in any of the other pillars of gameplay, they will often do so by presenting a scene that indirectly invites roleplay. The outcome is undefined, which creates most of the intrigue for the scene.

• Who is in control? The GM sets the scene, prompts when a roll is necessary and sets difficulties. They control NPCs and the environment. The witch is about to be burned by the townsfolk. What do you do?
• Is the outcome predetermined? No, most of the intrigue actually comes from no one knowing where the scene is going to go towards.

Roleplaying prompts. While a roleplaying prompt is issued by the game master (or the rules), they relinquish control over that scene the moment the player is answering. The player is allowed to somewhat control many aspects of the scene, like NPCs or the environment. The outcome is often partly or fully predetermined by the prompt itself.

• Who is in control? While the GM issues the prompt, the player is allowed to control major aspects of the following scene, like NPCs or the environment. Describe how you saved your new witch companion from burning at the stakes.
• Is the outcome predetermined? Yes, the outcome is somewhat predetermined by the prompt. What is interesting about the scene is mainly the how and why part of the equation.

Even this definition helps us to understand what makes a roleplaying prompt, it is not entirely satisfactory. Sometimes roleplaying prompts can seem surprisingly open ended, making it hard to neatly categorize them. If the prompt is "Describe a day in your character's life.", the outcome is only somewhat implied. The character is probably going to go about their business and nothing too exciting will happen But what if the prompt was "Describe your last adventure."? Sure, we know that the character will have survived, but other than that there are a lot of uncertain factors within that prompt.

Answering a roleplaying prompt

With the amount of improvisation required, I can already see some of you getting a little concerned. You are not Brennan Lee Mulligan! You cannot improvise your character's traumatic past with their school bullies in a dramatic scene! I see you and I have a solution. The way you answer a roleplaying prompt does not need to be Shakespeare, there are multiple possibilities:

Scene. Let us start with the boogeyman. Yes, some roleplaying games or GMs may ask you to roleplay a whole scene. This could be done by roleplaying with the GM, by employing other players to play different NPCs in your character's life, or by just narrating the scene yourself. If you are feeling on the spot and have no ideas, good roleplaying prompts should always give you some ideas about how to proceed, like little bullet points of inspiration. If this still feels too much, you can always do a summary instead!

Summary. What I have found is that playing out long scenes of roleplaying prompts can slow the game down quite a bit. While that might be fine in a game where this is a focus, you can also just summarize whatever scene the roleplaying prompt threw your way. This is not only shorter, but also easier for those of us not blessed with the improv chops. This is not boring, but efficient!

Asking for ideas. Good roleplaying prompts should always have some ideas that the game master can throw in your way. So just ask them! If that is not the case or you are not connecting with the proposed points, it is cool to ask your fellow players.

Types of roleplaying prompts

There are many ways to prompt roleplay, not all of them being obvious from the get go. You can prompt the players to think deeply about their character's inner thoughts, ask them to play out a scene with other players or NPCs or even build the world with them. I will list all of the types of prompts I can think of, and give examples I used while playtesting 'A Witches Guide to Grimm’s Keep Academy':

Character Interaction. This prompt gives narrative control towards a player, often in order to portray a scene from their past or day to day life. Especially in a game with a large cast of family members or character connections, this can help in multiple ways. Firstly, it lets the player portray their character with unrivaled control, making it possible to show them in a light that the story is not naturally moving towards. Secondly, it takes weight off of the GMs shoulders, since they do not need to remember how to roleplay ten different parents, spouses and children. What happens as you arrive at home? How did you first meet your jackalope?

Art by Roselysium, with the background from a custom commission from luke58, used for my upcoming project "A Witches Guide to Grimm's Keep Academy"

The Inner World. This type of prompt aims at showing us a character's inner workings in order to understand them better. This type of prompt is controversial, since some tables do not like to say the inner thoughts of their characters out loud. But for others, just plainly stating the characters thoughts can make it easier to portray and understand their motivations. How does your character feel about school? What are you thinking about this mysterious new pupil?

Worldbuilding Exercise. Some roleplaying prompts to not actually ask you anything about your character in particular, but to imagine other parts of the world, usually related to your character. This allows the GM to fill gaps in the worldbuilding and give the players some fun opportunities to collaborate.

• Your coven gets to see your room for the first time. What does it even look like?
• Can you describe your character's new crush to us?

Creating Stakes. While the roleplaying prompts usually do not have high stakes themselves, they can be an excellent way to heighten the stakes of a following scene. By involving the players in your process, you can get away with fabricating stakes in a scene that did not have proper build up beforehand. If these stakes seem particularly nasty, you can promise a reward like experience points in return. While this is a cheat code that should not be overused, it is surprisingly effective.

• You hear a scream from out in the forest. For 1 XP, whose little sister is out there?
• What devastating information could the bullies online research have revealed about you? I will award 1-3 XP depending on the juiciness!
  

Art by Joanna Kencka, used for my upcoming project "A Witches Guide to Grimm's Keep Academy"

Complementary. Sometimes, roleplaying prompts will ask you to act a certain way within another pillar of gameplay. In Delta Green, your characters can develop different mental disorders, which you are expected to bring into your roleplay. Now you will play out this disorder during exploration, social interactions and even combat. While this type of portrayal might not be for everyone, it shows that roleplaying prompts can and often will intersect with other pillars of gameplay. You are facing the big, bad wolf. For 1 XP, who is afraid of wolves and why?

The benefits of roleplaying prompts

Now that I have spent the equivalent of a 14 page Word document explaining what I imagine roleplaying prompts are and are not, it is time for what I believe to be the benefits of them.

Character expression. Roleplaying prompts provide a way to place characters into a context where the player's vision of them can shine bright. If a player has envisioned their character to be a hunter and trapper, but the campaign has not moved into that direction, roleplaying prompts about his day to day life will enable them to still portray that part of their character.

Clearing up motivations. Sometimes it can be hard to tell why a character is doing what they are doing. Interjecting with a quick "Walk me through their decision-making process." can help everyone at the table understand a character's reasoning.

Giving the GM room to breathe. As discussed earlier in the article, roleplaying prompts put the players in charge of making a scene interesting. As I talked about in this article about the hidden benefits of Dungeons & Dragons, it is a good idea to promote gameplay modes that allow the GM to take a creative rest. This way, they do not have to be the star of the show and can take some time to regain their focus. In case a GM is unprepared for a scene, they can also use the players creativity to fill the gaps in their preparation.

Avoiding the Star-Pattern. Roleplaying prompts are one way to avoid the Star-Pattern, as described by Ben Robbins on the ars ludi Blog. To summarize, Ben Robbins proposes that TTRPGs are always at risk of becoming too GM-centric. With the GM being the medium through which the players explore the world, the players can start to focus more on the GM instead of each other. With roleplaying prompts, the GM can break up this pattern by giving creative control to the players, forcing a shift in attention.

Conclusion

Roleplaying prompts are a powerful tool that is only getting more popular with time. With the rising popularity of roleplay heavy streaming shows, these prompts can be a gateway to create similarly deep characters and stories without needing the acting skills to pull them off. The players get to play out their characters more fully, while the GM gets to sit back and relax a little more.

Many new games and adventures start to explicitly build in these prompts to help to facilitate a richer experience. I myself have implemented them in my own upcoming work, 'A Witches Guide to Grimm's Keep Academy'. I do believe in the potential for roleplaying prompts to break out of their niche into a staple of gameplay, eventually being able to stand side by side with the big three.