Dungeons and Dragons is a very popular RPG and most people I've played with have learned the art of role-playing with it. It favors gameplay around a tight-knit party that tends to stay together working towards the same goals no matter what happens. Usually such party decides the course of action by having a designated leader or through consensus-based decision making where each possibility is discussed until everyone agrees upon a satisfactionary outcome.
There are also RPGs that lack the expectation of a strong party that sticks together no matter what, and where conflict and drama between the PCs is encouraged (Apocalypse World, for example). When playing these games with DnD veterans, they tend to play it like they would play DnD – do things together, as a team, even when this contradicts their characters' interests. It's still fun, but I feel they're missing out.
In games that support the PCs struggling with each other, I would like the players to explore their options accordingly, having the guts to oppose other PCs and embracing the drama when conflicts of interest appear instead of trying to smooth things out around the table as they're used to. How can I encourage players to steer away from the DnD-style consensus-based party and try out this more "selfish" style of play?
Best Answer
In the character creation process, give them (or guide them toward) goals that are overlapping and diverging although not necessarily diametrically opposing. (You can give them opposing goals, but that may lead to more conflict than you want, and set-up a win-lose dynamic.) Another way of saying this is to give multiple PCs stakes in the same NPC or in-game resource, but to make sure those stakes differ from PC to PC.
As an example, if one PC has reason to see an NPC dead, make sure that NPC has something or can do something that another PC needs. These aren't necessarily completely incompatible (in a violent campaign, the PCs can always kill the NPC after they get what they want) but they do start to impose an order on the PC actions, as well as some drama and tension that can be manipulated by GM/plot-induced time pressures or other risks, that make it clear that while achieving two or more of these diverging goals is possible, it is much easier and more likely only to achieve one of them.
If you do want outright opposition, that can be achieved, too, just by making these hooks directly opposed-- one PC wants an NPC dead, and that NPC happens to be a second PC's uncle, or childhood friend, etc.