Your biggest challenge is going to be getting people to buy into creating characters. Creating the world is your job, and it has to be detailed and convincing enough that they feel like their characters can exist there. That's just the first hurdle, though. I'm sure you've put in your time on this part, so let's move forward.Misaek said:snip
The next step is teaching them how to see that world. When they look at a setting, they can either see what you're describing... or they can see what's on the table in front of them... or they can see what's on the character sheet. The more distractions there are, the less likely you'll be able to get new people to actively engage in roleplaying. The biggest distractions in any game are the rules.
For this reason, I really feel DnD is one of the worst "starter" RPGs. First and foremost, it's not a character or storytelling game. It's a tactical combat simulation. The rules go into extreme detail about everything, and there's a lot to keep track of in terms of equipment, skills, status effects, position, points, dice-rolling rules, turns, timing...
There are two approaches to making roleplay work for new folks. Either one can work, but the best choice depends on your people.
1: Work on just the roleplay. I'm talking turn-based cooperative fiction. No dice, bare-bones "rules" (more policies than anything), just fleshing out characters through written action and dialogue. An even easier way to start is to have players assume the role of existing characters from fiction, so they can learn what it is that makes a character interesting. This will guide them when they go to create a character. After this, you can start adding game mechanics a little at a time.
2: Work on the game mechanics until they get to a point that players can finally ignore them during gameplay. All the little rules and regulations have got to become reflex, so that they are simply "background noise" to the real action--playing the character. This requires you, the GM, being able to endure many sessions of flaky RP and slow action while people learn the rules inside-out. After that, you can turn things more toward roleplaying.
Some things to remember about your efforts:
a. If they're not interested in roleplaying, they won't be interested in activities that promote roleplaying. Don't push it, or you'll just sour them further. Find another group or adjust your goals.
b. If they are interested, that doesn't guarantee they'll be interested in every activity that promotes roleplaying. Find what works for them, whether or not it's what you were hoping. Meet them where they are, and then slowly guide them to where you want them.
c. If you want people to roleplay, you ought to make sure you're putting them in situations that require it. Combat is the absolute worst. Activities that involve a lot of rolls are also damn bad. This puts the focus on the dice and the character sheet, and the player will do what makes mathematical sense to survive and win. You've got to design a campaign that requires roleplaying.
d. Award points for effective use of a character. Have your players choose a few key personality traits (good and bad), and give them some bonus experience if they work it into the game in an effective way--meaning it makes sense, doesn't seem forced, and reveals something about the character that we didn't know before. If your game uses experience and loot as a reward, that's what players are looking at (usually). Tie roleplaying to the rewards, and you'll encourage it.
e. If getting people to roleplay during the session isn't working well, consider doing it between the sessions. Have them write a character bio as a first-person story. Do a one-on-one in-character conversation with each of them. Award them points for writing convincing in-character journal entries (maybe by e-mail) between sessions about what the character experienced. Most people aren't half as afraid of roleplaying as they are of doing it in front of people. Take that out of the equation for a little while until they're comfortable with it...