How can I entice my tactical players to embrace cinematic combat?

Question

I have a group of players that come from a hack and slash background playing a Dark Ages Vampire game for the first time.

They've come quite a way over the last several sessions, but I still get a decent amount of "I hit it with my axe" when I would prefer, "I sidestep the ghoul's attack and try an overhand chop to sever its head".

Answer 1

Stunt Dice

This comes from Exalted. Give them a bonus of +1 to +3 dice when they're:

• Trying things that they haven't done before
• Describing their actions with flair and flavor

Do not give the bonus for actions that they repeat over and over, or that are conventional approaches to the problem. Feel out how many dice to give by how impressive the description is. +1 is "yeah that's pretty cool". +3 is "OMG that's amazing, I never thought of that before"

This has worked at my table in a hybrid ruleset WoD game.

Avoid Punishing Creative Descriptions

When using this system, avoid punishing creative descriptions. For example, you may be tempted, when receiving the narration "I sidestep the ghoul's attack" to enforce a Dodge roll to see if the character can pull it off. Don't. Make the full paradigm shift to cinematic if you're gonna go cinematic, and avoid excessive simulationism. If their actions are going to be punished with additional rolls that A) could fail and B) slow down the game, players will tend not to describe anything you could latch onto as getting them in trouble.

This necessitates a distinction between what is flavor and what is mechanical. In the aforementioned case, if a player's main intent is to Dodge, yes, do the Dodge roll. If a player's main intent is to whack the ghoul, the Dodge isn't necessary. The flavor enters the fiction, but does not engage the mechanic. Intent is key.

Answer 2

Talk to Your Players

First of all, you have to make sure that they're even in on WANTING it to feature long cinematic descriptions. Some players are more interested in the tactical aspects of combat, or not interested in combat at all and want to just get to the story parts quickly. A popular paper on (video) game design defines a series of different aesthetics/sources of fun, each of which will be more or less important to any individual player (Extra Credits did an episode on that, too, if you prefer watching to reading). Maybe those descriptions just aren't fun to some of your players.

Lead by Example

Once you've agreed that detailed descriptions of actions should be part of your game, lead by example. Consistently describe your actions in the desired detail. Eventually your players will likely follow suit. Partly, because they'll be reminded of your agreement, partly because humans tend to mirror other humans, partly because if they like it from you they'll probably aspire to do their best, too.

Remind Them (at Appropriate Times!)

If you notice that they're falling back to old habits, remind them of going into a bit more detail. But do so at the right time. Do not interrupt play to enforce it. This would be more effective for the learning progress, but it will hinder the game and getting lectured detracts from everyone's fun. I doubt that's worth it. Therefore, do so in a break. Or before the next session. Or in between sessions if you have some form of "debriefing".

Do NOT Introduce In-Game Punishments or Rewards

This is part of the "acting" part of RPGs, not the mechanical game side. Just as I'd advice against punishing or rewarding excellent acting in social interactions, I'd advice against it here. Doing such, gives player skills an influence on character skills where it shouldn't. You're roleplaying after all. There's no reason why the shy guy playing the diplomatically skilled orator should have any disadvantages from not being as good a speaker as his character. Nor should the fighter hit any worse because his player is not all that creative when it comes to visceral descriptions. The Angry GM touches on this here and explains the difference between role-playing and acting here.

And last but not least: Be Patient. They'll get there, eventually.

Answer 3

In-game rewards

I happen to disagree that in-game rewards do not work -- they do. Players see someone getting the reward and ask why did they not get it. Games by White Wolf have at least two very useful mechanics meant to enchance RP.

1. Check the part about rewarding XP points. They get 1 point per session for Roleplaying, which also means rewarding players for well-narrated combat. You may even reward one XP point for roleplaying in combat and one for social RP.
2. Some Natures may (but some may not) dictate how should your character behave in combat. Anyway, give additional Willpower points to spend when you find it appropriate. Willpower is a very strong reward, so be careful.

Talking to your players

Plan a small talk after each session about what did each of you like and dislike. As a Storyteller, ask your players explicitly if they liked or disliked something in particular -- a given NPC, an encounter. If your players participate actively in such talks, you may bring up a problem of combat not being narrated.

Don't just approach the group and tell them "I dislike that you don't narrate combat". Most likely, it won't work.