In table-top role-playing, there are opportunities everywhere to let players role-play their characters and build the narrative of the group. Even the humble act of camping for the night in the wilderness can be rich with openings for some character work. Some players will seize these opportunities for themselves, but sometimes it helps to have the DM nudge the character-building along.

Stopping to camp for the night is usually downtime to be passed over quickly. If wilderness survival is an important part of your campaign, maybe you have everyone scratch a batch of rations off their inventory. The party decides who’s going to keep watch and in what order. You might have some nighttime encounters planned for them, but soon enough it’s time to refresh everyone’s daily powers, heal some hit points, and carry on with the next day’s adventure. But it can also be a low-stakes chance for players to think about and play with their characters, both as individuals and as a party.

If your players don’t naturally take the initiative to role-play, here are some ways you can encourage them.

Set the scene

Filling in the details of the world gives your players something to react to, and that’s equally true if it’s an angry dragon in a crumbling old stone tower or a patch of berry bushes by the side of a little woodland stream. When your party decides to stop for the night, take a moment to fill in the scene around them. Draw in as many sensory details as you can:

“You find a good spot to camp in a small clearing amidst old pine trees. The ground is covered in dry, rust-colored fallen needles that crunch under your feet. The roots of the trees spread across the clearing, making little pockets that each of you can curl up into. At the edge of the woods, you spot some buckberry bushes. You hear small nocturnal critters rustling in the underbrush in the woods, unbothered by big folks like you passing through. The smell of pine pitch is in the air, a sharp topnote over the earthy, mossy scent of the forest underneath. The rays of the setting sun fade from golden to red to purple as you settle in.”

You can encourage players to help fill in scene themselves, if you like. See if anyone wants to check out the area before settling in, and invite them to describe what they would like to find—within reason. Unexpected chests of gold hidden under leaves are probably out of the question (depending on what your campaign is like), but if the druid would like to turn up some edible mushrooms, or the ranger wants to hunt some small game, or the rogue would like to climb a tree and find a comfortable perch in the branches, those can be good things to add to the scene.

A simple but useful way to both build the scene and encourage some role-play is to ask every player: “Your character finds something at this campsite, something perfectly ordinary and normal to find in this environment, but that makes them happy. What do you find?”

Prompt some action

You don’t have to gloss over the business of setting up camp. Ask each player what they’re doing to help make camp for the night. Or maybe prompt them by asking: “Who’s going to make the campfire? Who’s making dinner, and what are you making? Who’s setting up the tents? Who’s fetching water? Who’s taking care of the horses? Everyone tell us how your task goes.”

It can be good to tie the small actions of making camp to the bigger actions of the adventures before. Was there a big fight? Maybe the barbarian is really starting to stink of old sweat and needs a wash. Did the wizard cast a big spell? Maybe channeling all that magical energy was rough on their robes and they need to do a little patching. Was there a lot of riding, hiking, or climbing? Everyone’s sore, someone is getting blisters on their feet or has cuts on their hands from scrambling over rocks—not the sort of thing that costs hit point or needs proper healing, but something to take care of once there’s a chance to sit down.

Ask some backstory questions

The downtime between adventuring days is a good opportunity to give everybody a chance to reflect on their character’s personality and backstory. You can help this along with a few leading questions, like:

• “As you chew on your trail rations, you daydream about the best meal you ever had. What does your character wish they were eating right now?”
• “You’ve settled in, and you’ve got time to kill. What’s a funny story your character could tell the group that they haven’t shared before?”
• “What do you do to entertain yourselves and each other while waiting for sleep?”
• “Darkness is falling, and you know you need sleep to face the dangers ahead, but what’s keeping your character awake? What are you afraid of or worrying about?”
• “You fall asleep dreaming about what you’re going to do with your share of the treasure once this quest is over. What comes into your minds?”

Add some complications or events

Even if no big threats are coming the party’s way tonight, little things can still go wrong. You can throw one or two minor annoyances at the party and see how they react. Try something like:

• The ground is wet from rain and it’s hard to get a fire going.
• The underbrush is dry and parched, and your fire gets out of control and starts to burn some nearby bushes.
• The water available nearby is mucky and foul-smelling. It’s safe to drink and wash with, but not pleasant.
• A small critter is attracted by the smell of your food and tries to get into one character’s pack.
• A large browsing herbivore comes wandering through your camp in the night, doing no harm but knocking over tents and scattering campfire ashes.
• A pack of local carnivores goes rushing by in the night chasing some prey. One of them stops and sniffs around the camp, but doesn’t attack.
• A thunderstorm develops in the night and drenches the party in cold rain.

On the other hand, characters can have interesting reactions to things that are good or neutral. Maybe give them something nice to respond to, like:

• Even a cursory search around the campsite turns up enough wholesome mushrooms, sweet berries, edible roots, and other wild foods to make a tasty and filling meal for everyone.
• A curious local critter comes upon your camp and investigates with some amusing but harmless antics like sniffing everyone’s food or hopping up on one character’s shoulder.
• Strains of haunting music echo faintly through the wilderness. If the party goes looking for the source, it disappears.
• Ribbons of beautiful aurora light dance in the starlit sky.
• A thunderstorm passes by the night nearby but not over the party. Peals of thunder shake the air and flashes of light illuminate the night, but no harm comes to the encamped characters.
• An ethereal spirit appears out of the darkness and comes to the edge of the firelight. After observing the party for a moment, it makes a simple gesture of blessing and vanishes.

You can set these events in motion as soon as the party makes camp, or you can let them play out over the course of the night. A couple of touches like this can help make even an ordinary night in camp memorable.

You may not want to role-play every nighttime camp in as much detail as this. It’s a bit of interstitial downtime to give players a chance to flesh out their characters in between battles and quests, but it can get tiring if you do it all the time.

Also, if you have a particularly threat-wary party (or if you have a habit of interrupting their downtime with danger), it might be a good idea to let everyone know up front that this is a role-playing opportunity, and it’s safe to let their guard down a bit. Otherwise everyone might just spend their time role-playing being very on edge and waiting for the next fight.

Enjoy your next camping scene!

Image: Campfire in NB by Martin Cathrae on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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