Out of the box, many RPGs focus on combat resolution rules, which is a necessary component of any game where combat will occur. However I do think that roleplaying gets glossed over in many game systems, left to the Game Master’s discretion. I can hardly think of an RPG book I own that features a solid roleplaying instruction guide. I’m not saying that you can’t roleplay with D&D and other RPGs, but it just doesn’t seem to be a focus of the written material. Even guides for adventure and campaign design seem to focus on linking combat encounters, rather than developing a story and environment.

I don’t know if I have good advice on this topic, as there is a great deal of interpretation on how roleplaying should work. I also don’t think that you have to LARP to play an RPG with good roleplaying. I just think that game publishers could use to add a little more information on the mechanics of roleplaying alongside the mechanics of the system. The material exists, if you look in any creative writing book, so I don’t think this is an unreasonable request. I would recommend starting off with spending as much time developing your story as you do designing combat encounters. You don’t want to write an unbreakable storyline, because that’s not roleplaying either, but make sure your story is more than just filling to get PCs between encounters.