I Don't Want D&D Players Immersed In The World, But With Their Characters

screenrant.com:

There are a lot of different ways to approach roleplaying in , but I have found the best method to keep my players immersed in their characters, and it is not the same approach to keeping players immersed in the game world. For new players and Dungeon Masters, simply wrapping your head around what a tabletop RPG is can be enough of a challenge. As groups advance their skills in the hobby, they run into the choice of how character dialogue and actions are best presented. Players may grasp the fundamentals of but may not understand roleplaying.

The 2024 includes more examples than its 2014 predecessor, illustrating how the game’s mechanics translate into the experience of a tabletop RPG session. Some of these examples show players speaking as their characters, delivering their dialogue verbatim as the character does. This is far preferrable over an approach where players simply summarize the character’s intent in a conversation and roll a check. Speaking in-character is a pivotal part of the tabletop RPG experience, and roleplay-focused groups broadly agree on this. The best way to describe character actions is a contested topic, however, among RP fans.

There are cliches new players should avoid, but one of the common “new player mistakes” is failing to make a character that is distinct from themselves. Some DMs are fine with this, or even tolerate players who do not engage with roleplaying at all, and simply approach the game as a tactical miniatures game. Tactical combat is absolutely the central pillar of, but it is still a roleplaying game, and it is roleplay that sets it apart from truly dedicated miniatures games, like, or many video games. All DMs should push their players to improve as role-players.

Even at a purely functional level, third-person action descriptions are far more pragmatic for the gaming table.

There are ways to avoid common new player mistakes, and pushing players to speak in-character helps avoid the formation of bad habits where players