Drama, Tension, and Roleplaying

https://nerdarchy.com/dd-ideas-roleplaying/

5/14/2025

It’s good to be back! My hiatus is over, it’s time to write some blog posts!

This one will be helpful for GMs and players. It’s based on a page I just wrote for my game Crowns 2e which is on Backerkit as of *checks watch* right now! Click this link to check it out!

Drama

Drama is difficult decision-making. To quote Mathew Colville it’s “will the heroes…?”

Will they defeat the boss monster? Will they escape the dungeon? Will they convince the knight to join them on their quest? Will they survive if they’re armor is about to break? Find out, next time on D&D!!!

A dramatic question is one that is difficult to answer (and the best ones have multiple ways to answer it correctly, but none of which everyone agrees with). It’s where the fun of D&D comes from. It’s the origin of debate around tables on exactly how low on HP the fighter needs to be before they get to not go first anymore or if killing goblin babies is justified.

In most games, there are multiple avenues for drama to occur:

In dungeons, this is often based on resource management (should we burn two torches at once, or risk only having one so we can adventure longer?)
In combat, this is often based on tactical decision making (do we hinder the enemy so it doesn’t kill us, or do we stagger it to open it up for an attack?)
In social interaction, this is often based on convincing people to do things based on their motivations (do we lie and risk it coming back to bite us, or risk telling the truth?)

The GMs job is make sure the flow of drama doesn’t stop. It needs to be constant.

The GM is NOT a storyteller, they’re a conflict creator. A frequent pit many fall into is trying to replace drama with tension.

Tension

If drama is “will the heroes…?” then tension is the “and if they don’t!” It’s the feeling of saying, “everything hinges on this dice roll” and the excitement when you succeed and the excitement if you fail.

We like tension, tensions is fun. Combat is easy tension, that’s why almost every game uses it to make things exciting. Horror is slightly harder, but similarly common for the same reason.

We play RPGs for the tense moments, BUT tension is subservient to drama. Without drama, you can’t have tension.

Always, always remember that. If things are feeling dull, if you’re feeling a lack of attention from your players on the game, just rolling dice won’t fix things. It might for a few seconds, but the tension needs something attached to it, it needs drama!

Non-dramatic tension is rolling to see if someone knows/notices something their character needs to know/notice to continue the adventure. It’s not dramatic because they will know it either way and there’s only one way to answer the question (a die roll that you prompted them to make).

That kind of tension is like vapor, and it does nothing for your game.

Roleplaying

Roleplaying is when you answer a dramatic question by doing not what you the player or GM would do, but by doing what the character you are embodying would do. This, of course, demands that you have an idea of what motivates the character to make those decisions.

This is why roleplaying in social interactions is often seen as the highest or most desirable form of roleplay. Because it’s two characters hashing out their conflicting motivations, it’s double roleplay, roleplay-ception.

BUT roleplay can just as easily be done while dungeon delving or in combat. It only requires one character’s motivations.

Who a character prioritizes in combat, how they use their gear while dungeon crawling and what gear they brought with them are all aspects of roleplay. Don’t leave them out!

One-Dimensional Characters

A one-dimensional character only has one motivation that they base all their decisions on. Often, in OSR games, this is greed. But sometimes it’s justice, or power, or just pure evil, it depends on the character.

One-dimensional characters are entirely capable of reacting to drama and are much easier to run than multi-dimensional ones. Here’s some examples:

A greedy merchant that only wants more gold
A humble farmer who wants their daughter back
A noble knight who wants to rid the world of evil

Here’s some famous examples:

Darth Vader’s sole motivation (in most movies he is in, notable exception being the Return of the Jedi) is the destruction of the Rebels
The Joker in the Dark Knight Rises sole motivation is to create chaos, having a plan to do that is part of that motivation
Sam Gamgee sole motivation is friendship, he joins because he wants to be there for Frodo and carries Frodo at the end because he cares about him being saved, not about some overwhelming love of the greater world

Most characters in most of my games are one-dimensional or maybe even zero-dimensional (no real motivation, just a quirk or running gag). And that’s a good thing. They are just as capable in being great, dynamic characters as multi-dimensional ones.

Multi-Dimensional Characters

Multi-dimensional characters have multiple motivations and sometimes these motivations come into conflict with one another. These are harder to run than one-dimensional characters, and they also take more energy to interact with from players who have to consider these multiple dimensions.

People often place these characters on a higher level than one-dimensional characters, but that’s not necessary. They are just another tool in your GM toolbox.

Here’s some examples:

A priest who cares for his congregation, but has been given a vision from their god to abandon them
A mercenary who loves money, but is offered a job that goes against their moral code
An orc warlord who hates humanity, but needs their help if their warband is going to survive the winter

Here’s some famous examples:

Mark Grayson (Invincible) from Invincible is motivated by the love of his family (including his father, who he grew up with, and the love of his girlfriend, Eve) and an urge to “do the right thing”, to be JUST, even if that will get him killed
Walter White from Breaking Bad is motivated by a love for his family (looks like a trend, you should steal that) and his growing desire to be top dog and get rich in the criminal underworld, how far will he go to satisfy the latter?
Tony Stark from Iron Man is motivated by justice and a belief that he doesn’t control something then it will fail, his fellow heroes hate that about him and it leads to major conflicts in Civil War where two justice oriented heroes come into conflict

Just because a character is multi-dimensional does not mean it will generate dramatic questions. Often their dramatic questions only include their own inner conflicts and do not manifest in play (for a TV show example of great roleplaying, but a lack of drama, watch Neon Genesis Evangelion).

Multi-dimensional characters DO generate good roleplay, but roleplay is a reaction to drama, if the GM does not prioritize drama, it will be a boring game with complex characters.

“If you wish to write a Grand Opera about a prostitute, dying of consumption in a garret, I suggest you contact Mr Ibsen in Oslo. I am sure he will be able to furnish you with something suitably dull.”
Topsy-Turvy (1998)

Twists Do Not Add Dimensions

A common twist is to a character a “Heart of Gold.” The merchant is up-charging everyone because their child is sick and they can’t afford the medicine. A good reason for bad actions.

A similar version of this is the “Broken Home.” The orcs are only attacking the humans because the humans did it first! It’s a cycle of violence.

The opposite of this is the “Sinister Truth.” The mercenaries are only helping the village because he wants to hold it over them later. Good actions for a bad reason.

Be aware, these twists do not make someone multi-dimensional unless they not normally have performed the action. Otherwise it’s just an excuse for already existing behavior. And everybody hates excuses.

Twists are good, they can create awesome drama, but if there are too many twists you’re going to ruin the trust. If every priest the player’s encounter is secretly a cultist, then you’ve committed a crucial error: letting the player’s know something their character doesn’t and making them knowingly act in a way that is disadvantageous to them.

Some players will do it, and sometimes it can be fun, but if it can be avoided that is normally the best option.

Changing Motivation

Characters can change their motivations but this is usually reserved for an “All Is Lost” moment. A character has lost everything by following their motivations to the bitter end and they need change. Sometimes they even take a moment to double down, and we like that as well, it shows they have principles. Even if the principle is “do evil.”

Invincible (good guy): “Is this what you wanted?!” *headbutts the other man’s face into a unrecongnizable much of flesh and bone*

Conquest (bad guy): “I take the good… with the bad…”

Invincible (2025)

If someone is “acting out of character” that is because they have assigned themselves a motivation they did not have in the past without visible reason. That feels wrong, even if it’s sometimes realistic, we as human’s like to have reasons for things.

Why does this matter?

As previously stated, the GM is not a writer, they are a drama-machine. But so many people read drama and think drama class. Roleplay is a consequence of interacting to dramatic questions in character, which is the reason that D&D and so many other TTRPGs are roleplaying games even though there are little to no rules on how roleplaying works!

Understanding why that is allows the GM to better create and massage content to build drama, tension, and facilitate roleplay. Roleplay does not just have to be from social interaction. We do not have to just take our RP goggles off and play a boardgame in-between social interactions.

Knowing the ins-and-outs of characters and their motivations allows GMs and players to embody their characters more fully. But this is also remind them that roleplaying doesn’t start and end when you put the sword down and pick it up!

DON’T FORGET TO BACK THE NEW CROWNS 2e BACKERKIT

Thank you for reading!

Until we meet again,

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR ADVENTURES