We don't do "best roleplaying" but we do "MVP", who had the best ideas, whose character contributed the most to victory, etc.

Quote from: RPGPundit;628718You don't think it might encourage those players to step up and hone their craft?

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I think if they wanted to "hone their craft", a few XP here and there wouldn't be much of an incentive.

But then again, I'm at the table for the experience, not the XP.

Anyway, we don't tend to do this, but most of our GM's do give out spot rewards for particularly outstanding play, and over time these tend to average out across the group; everyone gets the spotlight eventually.

It's sort of an Awesome Award at our table.  2 GURPS cp go to each PC, plus a bonus point for whoever accomplished something cool that session.  If no one stood out, the point goes to the PC with the fewest.

Quote from: Simlasa;628233I wouldn't like it at our table, the same person would win it every time... vs. the guy who just quietly rolls his dice and pretty much plays as himself, no matter what it says on his sheet. Playing in-character is its own reward if that's what you enjoy, otherwise why make anyone feel they're not doing it right?

Yeah, I used to do best roleplayer XP awards, but for the quoted reasons I 86'd it.

Quote from: Ladybird;628933I think if they wanted to "hone their craft", a few XP here and there wouldn't be much of an incentive.

I don't think its so much the XP, as it is the positive feedback of the rest of the players. People always comment, at the end of my sessions, on the memorable things their fellow players did and what they thought was great about their play.

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Quote from: Simlasa;628722Some folks do not practice or enjoy that 'craft' and I'm fine with that. They don't give me crap when I don't optimize my character stats I won't put them to a vote over how they played a game.

Sure; but I've yet to see someone clearly bothered by the idea of the "best roleplay" award in a group; the people that really don't care about the roleplaying don't seem to get upset at not getting the award.

RPGPundit

I put something like this into Other Worlds and I've found it works well. Basically, every session each player gets two feedback tokens that they can give out to the other players as they see fit. These tokens can be cashed in for spotlight points and used to buy new abilities, rerolls, etc.

I think what makes this work is that it's an organic process. There are no set rules for what these tokens should be given for - could be good roleplaying, could be clever ideas, could be funny jokes, could just be lucky dice rolls. The group rewards whatever the group enjoys. If they feel like a quiet player is missing out, they can give him extra points as encouragement. If they feel like a loud or showy player is starting to take over, they can be a bit more discerning. The system is entirely self-correcting.

Also, the GM doesn't give out any of these tokens. It's a player-only thing. I think that's important because as GM I already have a lot of sway over things in terms of setting difficulties, applying penalties, and so on. I don't want the game to be even more about 'what does soviet want to see', and I like being able to concentrate on GMing without constantly having to make judgements who is being the best roleplayer.

I've never understood awarding XP for "good role-playing". For one, role-playing is the point of the game, its like giving a player a reward for rolling dice particularly well. On the other, if I start acting particularly more like myself, do I suddenly advance greatly in any skill that I'm attempting to improve? The hell I do.

Quote from: RPGPundit;629131I don't think its so much the XP, as it is the positive feedback of the rest of the players. People always comment, at the end of my sessions, on the memorable things their fellow players did and what they thought was great about their play.

RPGPundit

Yeah, I'd agree with that; as long as you've got that feedback loop, and players who want to be involved in it, you'll get player improvement. If you have players who aren't interested, though, it just won't happen, ever.

Any XP rewards are secondary to pleasing the rest of the group... and good roleplaying is also it's own reward, as you'll get more out of the sessions that way.

We tend to do it just as much in play as after play, but whatever works, works.

I like motivating good roleplay by giving exp rewards at the end of each session.

We do use a skill based system that tracks exp in each skill, so as they use their skills, they get experience in them.  But I also like the dynamic of better roleplayers coming into their own by gaining extra experience and even getting ahead by roleplaying smarter and better.  I make little hashmarks as we go through the game.

I'd say 5-20% of total experience gained is through this.

But I do admit it takes a certain faith in the GM, and credibility with your players to pull off.

Used to do this way back in the day.

But it's a useless triple reward. The player is rewarded first in game with the results of good role-play, and he is rewarded by players saying "that's cool" outside the game.

Adding a mechanical reward on top of that is unnecessary and excessive.

Quote from: gleichman;629197Used to do this way back in the day.

But it's a useless triple reward. The player is reward first in game with the results of good role-play, and his rewarded by players saying "that's cool" outside the game.

Adding a mechanical reward on top of that is unnecessary and excessive.

Actually, it has a mechanical purpose in our games, since you gain more experience for succesfully using a skill than when you fail, and there is a level of futility when there is a lot of failure, and while we do actually give a little token ewxperience from learning from failure, it can take a lot more time without the RP exp mechanic.

Quote from: LordVreeg;629209Actually, it has a mechanical purpose in our games, since you gain more experience for succesfully using a skill than when you fail, and there is a level of futility when there is a lot of failure, and while we do actually give a little token ewxperience from learning from failure, it can take a lot more time without the RP exp mechanic.

Seems like more trouble than it's worth to me.

Used to do all sorts games with XP to simulate this or that, and realized that this or that wasn't part of the genre we were playing in the first place. So we dumped it all.

Some games we do don't even have XP.

If you like to have such a factor in the first place, it does seem more sensible to me for the group to make the assessment (as opposed to just the GM).

When I'm the GM, I would rather not touch that deal with a 10' pole.

Quote from: Phillip;629219If you like to have such a factor in the first place, it does seem more sensible to me for the group to make the assessment (as opposed to just the GM).

When I'm the GM, I would rather not touch that deal with a 10' pole.

Like I said, respect and authority go along with this...