Hello everyone. I have run a few sessions of EoE and I have noticed my players rarely roleplay in the universe. I take the time to detail what is going on in the world and give them plenty of pauses and npcs to potentially converse with. I must almost always encourage them to roleplay. This is more of a problem with actual dialogue than with actions. My friends and I also play Warhammer 40K: Only War and in it I play a medic. In it I am always looking for an opportunity to rp and I make it a habit to explore the environment. One time my explorative nature got the better of me and I almost caused a nuclear meltdown in a Guard base. Anyway, I could use some advice on getting my players exploring the environment, investigating things, and most importantly interacting with each-other and npcs. It takes some of the fun out of it for me being the only one developing the story. As someone who always takes the opportunity to rp (because Only War combat is mostly boring imo), I feel like every participant has a role in cultivating and contributing to the narrative.

Just a side note my group does have alot of fun and none of the players are ever bored (except one who has ADHD who gets a pass). Only have complaints when I follow the rulebook to the letter.

Sounds like you need to engage them in a RP fashion and start in character conversations as opposed to waiting on them to do it.

When you say they don't roleplay, do you mean they don't converse with the NPCs/each other, or more than that? I find that a lot of people consider talking roleplay. I consider doing more "roleplay" than simply talking. Actions do not need to be "kill everything in front of you" - it means do something cool, or something dramatic, or something significant. Playing a role could be being completely mute and simply acting. Basically, it depends on the role you want to play. If they don't want to play roles that involve a lot of conversation, why force them? You said you give them "plenty of pauses" but have you tried giving them very few pauses? You may find that with few pauses, they engage more when they have the opportunity.

A frequent problem I encounter in any campaign is pacing. If we imagine the goal of the game to be collectively creating a cool action movie, then we should strive to keep the pace of a cool action movie. Yes there are slow scenes, and breaks, but the majority of the time is filled with action sequences.

I don't know much about your group, so if my assumption above of roleplay = talking is wrong, I apologize. It is the first thing that jumped out at me

PS -- If the problem is them not exploring enough, give them clues ("rule of 3") to explore areas you'd like them to see, or give them a straight up in-game incentive to explore.

Yeah, clarify the roleplay part. Some people only accept improv acting as roleplay, while I view that as a waste of everyone's time.

Though if they're just number-crunching without personality behind it, oof. Of course, if they all are happy with that, maybe a railroaded questline with clear tasks to complete is what they want..?

Talk to them?

Sounds like you need to engage them in a RP fashion and start in character conversations as opposed to waiting on them to do it.

I do do this. I think I may have overemphasized npc interaction. It is the player interaction that is lacking. There is only so much I can do without taking control of a character and forcing a conversation myself.

Yeah, clarify the roleplay part. Some people only accept improv acting as roleplay, while I view that as a waste of everyone's time.

I agree with improv. Roleplay in my group is mostly describing actions (ex. Pash quickly slips the cred chit into Volder's coat pocket. He keeps an eye on the Storm-trooper patrolling the street as he makes his way to the Cantina.) and in character dialogue (ex. "Hey Loran have you seen my baster carbine? It was on this desk where I left it." "Naaa. Maybe ask Grod?"). What I'm looking for more of is the latter between players.

When you say they don't roleplay, do you mean they don't converse with the NPCs/each other, or more than that? I find that a lot of people consider talking roleplay. I consider doing more "roleplay" than simply talking. Actions do not need to be "kill everything in front of you" - it means do something cool, or something dramatic, or something significant.

A frequent problem I encounter in any campaign is pacing. If we imagine the goal of the game to be collectively creating a cool action movie, then we should strive to keep the pace of a cool action movie. Yes there are slow scenes, and breaks, but the majority of the time is filled with action sequences.

PS -- If the problem is them not exploring enough, give them clues ("rule of 3") to explore areas you'd like them to see, or give them a straight up in-game incentive to explore.

Action roleplay isn't a problem. The problem is only rarely do I get a peep of dialogue between between characters. I don't nag them or anything like that, I merely remind them that maybe this character can tell information to the others so you all know, or perhaps this is a good time to take inventory and draw up a plan to infiltrate that Hutt palace. Otherwise the characters might as well be mute and communicate telepathically.

As for exploration, I will admit on reflection that I should probably give more clues that follow up to an event rather than the one or two.

Action roleplay isn't a problem. The problem is only rarely do I get a peep of dialogue between between characters. I don't nag them or anything like that, I merely remind them that maybe this character can tell information to the others so you all know, or perhaps this is a good time to take inventory and draw up a plan to infiltrate that Hutt palace. Otherwise the characters might as well be mute and communicate telepathically.

Have you talked to them about this? If so, what was the conversation like?

As I have always been a GM, rarely a player, I have GM'd groups that just simply will not be "in-character," groups that can't shut it off, and everything in between. It's tough but my golden rule is that it's the GM's world but the players' story/table.

If you have players that simply don't like to roleplay but enjoy the game, that's okay. It may be a little more work on your side to move the plot along, but as long as you convey a story you all enjoy and your players get to enjoy the game that should be all that matters. One of my older players has been playing RPGs much longer than I've been alive and will only very rarely speak in character. He's very description based and I've had to adjust to that for him.

It's kind of my go-to example but I always think back to The Gamers series. The second, Dorkness Rising, has a bunch of players that seem to hate roleplaying and just want to bash in the door and proceed to next mission. Mainly because they grew tired of poor GM'ing and overly complex storylines and worlds and overall just didn't feel comfortable roleplaying between characters (unless a sexual joke). A new player is introduced to the party that shakes everything up. She likes to roleplay (to the initial dismay of the group) and eventually talks some sense into the GM. A good movie later they are all really into the story and roleplay because they got into everything and had a reason to truly "care" about the world they were in and even more importantly their own characters.

TL;DR
Just make sure everyone is comfortable and having fun, including yourself, and eventually they may open up. Even if they don't though, you'll need to be okay with that and not take it personally if you like playing with those individuals.

A good way to sucker players into role-playing, is insults. Players who will ignore any number of queues to role-play with your NPCs ordinarily will leap into action like they're whipped if an enemy takes the piss out of them.

Next time there's a fight or any kind of interaction... "The storm trooper captain looks at you with a expression of complete distaste. 'Making the galaxy smarter one dead idiot at a time,' he sneers as he discharges a blaster bolt at you." And so forth. With a little luck, they'll respond in character. The trick relies on the fact that you've created someone they really want to get at / respond to, but that person isn't real. If they want to insult this person and have them actually be offended / intimidated / outwitted, they have to do it through their character's mouths. Otherwise he's not bothered because there's been no snappy comeback.

If you try this, it's worth having another NPC near by who can also become involved. With a modicum of care, you can get an actual in-character dialogue going that lasts beyond just the current combat when the antagonistic NPC leaves. It's a little like kindling a fire - difficult at first, taking a lot of subtle attention and fiddling, but once you get it going, it will spread by itself.

Action roleplay isn't a problem. The problem is only rarely do I get a peep of dialogue between between characters. I don't nag them or anything like that, I merely remind them that maybe this character can tell information to the others so you all know, or perhaps this is a good time to take inventory and draw up a plan to infiltrate that Hutt palace. Otherwise the characters might as well be mute and communicate telepathically.

Have you talked to them about this? If so, what was the conversation like?

I have talked to them about it and they acknowledge that there needs to be more rp in our campaign, yet the problem persists. I should also mention that this same group also wants to play Call of Cthulhu which has a much heavier emphasis on interactive role-play than this game.

It's kind of my go-to example but I always think back to The Gamers series. The second, Dorkness Rising, has a bunch of players that seem to hate roleplaying and just want to bash in the door and proceed to next mission. Mainly because they grew tired of poor GM'ing and overly complex storylines and worlds and overall just didn't feel comfortable roleplaying between characters (unless a sexual joke). A new player is introduced to the party that shakes everything up. She likes to roleplay (to the initial dismay of the group) and eventually talks some sense into the GM. A good movie later they are all really into the story and roleplay because they got into everything and had a reason to truly "care" about the world they were in and even more importantly their own characters.

TL;DR

Just make sure everyone is comfortable and having fun, including yourself, and eventually they may open up. Even if they don't though, you'll need to be okay with that and not take it personally if you like playing with those individuals.

I can relate to your friend. I'm always looking to interact with others to develop friendships and whatnot when playing my character in Only War, whereas half of the group sees roleplaying as a waste of time. I kind of agree sometimes since combat tends to be much longer in that game than EotE, although I'd rather rp...

A good way to sucker players into role-playing, is insults. Players who will ignore any number of queues to role-play with your NPCs ordinarily will leap into action like they're whipped if an enemy takes the piss out of them.

Next time there's a fight or any kind of interaction... "The storm trooper captain looks at you with a expression of complete distaste. 'Making the galaxy smarter one dead idiot at a time,' he sneers as he discharges a blaster bolt at you." And so forth. With a little luck, they'll respond in character. The trick relies on the fact that you've created someone they really want to get at / respond to, but that person isn't real. If they want to insult this person and have them actually be offended / intimidated / outwitted, they have to do it through their character's mouths. Otherwise he's not bothered because there's been no snappy comeback.

If you try this, it's worth having another NPC near by who can also become involved. With a modicum of care, you can get an actual in-character dialogue going that lasts beyond just the current combat when the antagonistic NPC leaves. It's a little like kindling a fire - difficult at first, taking a lot of subtle attention and fiddling, but once you get it going, it will spread by itself.

Good idea. Now that I think back on it I have gotten reactions from the players who usually respond to insults when they are talking to thugs. I should definitely have storm troopers do it too.

If your players are describing what their characters are doing, they're role-playing. Everything else is just style.

Getting players engaged often means not handing everything to them on a silver platter. Sometimes it's helpful to set up a scene with a few sentences of descriptive text and then let the players start talking or asking questions. Unless they're comfortable staring at each other in awkward silence, someone will engage.

If you want your players to converse in-character, never have your NPCs break character. If the players see that you're having fun with your characters, their curiosity may spur them to join in. If they don't, then they don't, but that shouldn't stop you from having fun in the moment.

Are you running a player character as well, or only the NPCs? One thing that we have found that works really well is for the GM to run a player character as well. Use that to initiate conversation. They can't be the main hero, others have to shine, but they can be good to move along plots and point blank ask people questions in-character. Very useful to have a utility character in the group. Mine is a pilot/mechanic. Arguably there is RP that could happen with both of those, but not as much as if it was a face character, or the bounty hunter, or basically anything else that needs to interact with NPCs regularly.

One thing Wil Wheaton did that I liked on his "Titansgrave" roleplaying game series was to explicitly ask the players to invent certain things in their environment.

In one episode, the heroes enter a junk shop. The GM says "On the cluttered shelves of this shop, you see something that your character WANTS but doesn't NEED. What is it?"

One player had a great idea about a magically-animated jewel-encrusted beetle or the like, and she got involved in some negotiating with the shop owner about it.

This was a fun thing which didn't exist before the players came up with it. There might be ways you can entice your players into something like this between each other:

"Pash--During the two weeks you were traveling through space and getting a little stir crazy, you and one of the other members of the crew developed a running joke about something that irritated you both. What was it?"

"Oskara--While you were waiting overnight with the Twi'lek orphans, one of them asked you to teach them something. What was it?"

"Lowryyk--as you were walking the streets of Ord Mantell, one of the other characters spotted you noticing something in a shop window that reminded you of your past. What was it, and who spotted you?"

Then the players can come up with something like "Oskara and I started passing the time by field-stripping our weapons and seeing who could do it faster. She says she was faster but I know I really was."

"I taught one of the little girls how to tie a lekku-wrap in the traditional way my family did when I was younger. She got really excited about it and ran off to show her friends how to do it."

"I noticed a set of silver tree sculptures in the window of an antique shop, and it reminded me of how I wish I could go back to my homeworld and free my people from the Empire. Pash noticed me and we shared a little moment of silence about it."

One thing Wil Wheaton did that I liked on his "Titansgrave" roleplaying game series was to explicitly ask the players to invent certain things in their environment.

In one episode, the heroes enter a junk shop. The GM says "On the cluttered shelves of this shop, you see something that your character WANTS but doesn't NEED. What is it?"

One player had a great idea about a magically-animated jewel-encrusted beetle or the like, and she got involved in some negotiating with the shop owner about it.

This was a fun thing which didn't exist before the players came up with it. There might be ways you can entice your players into something like this between each other:

"Pash--During the two weeks you were traveling through space and getting a little stir crazy, you and one of the other members of the crew developed a running joke about something that irritated you both. What was it?"

"Oskara--While you were waiting overnight with the Twi'lek orphans, one of them asked you to teach them something. What was it?"

"Lowryyk--as you were walking the streets of Ord Mantell, one of the other characters spotted you noticing something in a shop window that reminded you of your past. What was it, and who spotted you?"

Then the players can come up with something like "Oskara and I started passing the time by field-stripping our weapons and seeing who could do it faster. She says she was faster but I know I really was."

"I taught one of the little girls how to tie a lekku-wrap in the traditional way my family did when I was younger. She got really excited about it and ran off to show her friends how to do it."

"I noticed a set of silver tree sculptures in the window of an antique shop, and it reminded me of how I wish I could go back to my homeworld and free my people from the Empire. Pash noticed me and we shared a little moment of silence about it."

This is great. I will be using this most certainly. Thank you for sharing. I've been around a long time and most RPG advice I hear I've heard before. But this is a new one to me. I think what I'll do is I'll write up little cards with these things on and hand them to players from time to time.

Brilliant. Thank you for posting this!

Just be aware of which players are good at coming up with things on the fly, and who might need the break between sessions to answer their question. If you aren't careful, the quickest will be seen as better than the other players and others will not really want to answer. My wife can be very creative, but in our gaming group she feels intimidated because three of us are used to being GMs and have had to train our ability to come up with things on the fly. If she feels she cannot answer as fast as we do, then she feels embarrassed or that she is not doing it right and will give a trite answer instead of developing what she is capable of if given time to think about it. I can ask her questions like this, but if she does not have anything quickly I can move to a break or save the question till the end so she has until next weekend to answer me.

When given the chance, she will give me a lot more "Awwww" factor than the other guys, but the words don't always come right away. They (and I) will tend to be funny or off-the wall. She will come up with something unexpected and more personal. Hers is the better story usually. We could probably come up with some really good story bits as well, if we didn't run our mouths with the first thing that popped in our heads... but we don't... ever... *sigh*

Grayfax makes a great point. If you have an idea of a prompt like this for one of your players who doesn't necessarily have the fastest improvisational personality, you might email them before the session.

"In this week's session, your character's going to see somebody from your past who you might not have seen in a while. Who do you think it might be?"

And you could give them some ideas: "It could be an old rival, maybe a romantic flame you lost track of, or even a long-lost relative who might owe you money."

Some people will really appreciate having a day or two to think of something, while others might thrive at off-the-cuff improvisation.