Recently one of my players returned from having a game with an old group of hers. We started talking about how different gms award xp (or any other kind of advancement points, for that matter).

The thing is, I only award xp for combat and problem solving and even then the total number of points is equally divided amongst the group - no matter the contribution of each individual player, and I never award xp for role playing. I do however allow the players to decide amongst themselves who the "star" of the session was and that person gets a bonus in xp.

Now there really is no criteria for their choice. The decision is solely up to the players. I do not even participate in the conversation. At times there is no "star" and on occasions, I have even "won" - although instead of xp I get excempt from buying a couple of rounds at the local pub .

They have awarded points to the funniest player, the most selflessly heroic, the most appropriately badass, the best one liner, the person who best exemplified (in deeds and words) his/her character etc

So instead of awarding xp for role playing, I leave it up to the players to decide who was the  "star". I think this covers the whole role playing bit pretty well and best of all the players get to choose using whatever criteria they want, the "star" player of the session.

I know this has been discussed in other forums before, but I want to know what you folks think. Do you award xp for role playing ? And if so, what are the criteria if any, you use?

Regards,
David R

I only award XP for roleplaying (in D&D anyway).

Honestly, given how cheap I am with Magic Items and treasure in general, the CR system is all but useless to me.

So everyone gets a set amount for showing up, and bonuses for RP.

Yea, I guess so.

I've gotten tired of detailed XP and CR accounting.  I give  amounts for accomplishing story and personal goals, then I give bonuses for anything out of the ordinary and cool.  If someone singlehandedly saved the group's bacon in some way, they get a bonus.  If anybody did anything memorable (including tactics, cool line, roleplaying, etc.), they get a bonus.

We award EP for defeating opponents, traps, and maybe problem solving. Nothing else. Ever, that I can remember. Seems to work fine for us.

I don't, I think its too subjective. Of course, my players don't know that.

I have a particular system for awarding roleplaying XP.  The XP award at the end of the night's session works like this: every player has one vote, and they cannot vote for themselves, for whom they felt did the best job of roleplaying.  The GM's vote counts for two.  Usually, when we finish a session each player chooses who he thinks should get the RP award and why: This often leads to good discussion that clarifies what people consider good RP, and helps the group as a whole to work on playing their characters well.  The "award" varies from system to system, be it extra xp points, conviction points, SAN points, etc etc.

RPGPundit

I award a fixed amount per hour per level, and a session bonus for "contributions to the game." This could be role-play, but is more typically meeting goals, clever play, etc.

I still use CR/EL for gauging encounters, but find CR too difficult to use tabulate XP with.

I use the CR system as a guideline for encounter difficulty. that being said, I've found it easier with my current group to ignore the bookeeping hassle of XP, and just tell them all to Level up when i feel like moving them on to the next segment of the adventure. I've given no actual "role-play" awards, but If I ever do, they'll take the form of in-game extras other than XP.

I give XP for overcoming challenges.  If that challenge happens to be a negatiation with the Duke and involves lots of RP and no combat, so be it.
 
Really, I've tried a bunch of different games and a bunch of different ways to award XP in D&D.  For D&D, I think it's pretty critical to evenly split XP awards amongst the whole group of PCs and to stick with a challenge-based system.  Something to do with the levels.
 
For other games, Shadowrun, WoD, Hero, I tend to use the recommended XP system for those, too.  Though, for most point-based games, I tend to intermingle some conventions.  I loved the drama and humor Karma from SR, so that made it to WoD and Hero, too.

Do you folks think that there should be any kind of bonus/reward given for good role playing ?

Regards,
David R

I use to but I don't anymore, everyone that turns up gets the same amount of XP. If you didn't turn up but we NPC'ed your character you get 50% (I might even scrap that and give a full award in future, especially if you gave warning and/or had a good reason).

a) It's easier to have everyone level together.
b) Not everyone is good at roleplaying, so the star RP in the group can end up advancing a head of everyone else.
c) Roleplaying is it's own reward, it makes the game more enjoyable.

Generally CR awards (for traps, monsters and dealing with npcs) is split evenly among the party. Now you can get the same award for bluffing your way past a guard with good roleplay, or sneaking past him, or defeating him in combat (so I guess there is a sort of RP reward in there).

If I share trap XP with everyone and not give it just to the rogue or combat xp with all no matter if they didn't get very involved in the fight, why should I not share RP XP with all, even if they didn't particular roleplay?

Sometimes at the end of a session I'll give bonus XP, but every gets the same bonus, just I say it's for different things which might include RP, in some peoples case or a clear tactical move, or a good use of a spell, or even an OOC joke that made us all laugh. Usually that's just so we can level when folks are really close to leveling.

I generally do if the Role Playing serves to further the story along and is fitting.  If they just sit around in a bar the entire time in character killing time, I'll probably give them a few points collectively if they are having fun.  But nothing compared to what they'd normally get for actually pursuing their goals.

I find it illogical to try encourage roleplaying by rewarding with pure number crunch. Roleplaying is it's own reward. Roleplay that forwards the story is especially a reward since it forwards the story in the general direction of what the character is interested in. I also in D&D dislike uneven XP awards. Creation of magic items creates enough uneveness as it is, and D&D levels tend to be less forgiving in avoiding PC domination of a party.

Although I do see some merits in RPGPundit's approach, I've found that just having a discussion at the end of the session is possible too and definately benificial too. Not just limited to the roleplaying either, but rules and insights to how the game is going for all the players.

I give XP for attendence.  You don't get it for killing things, or overcoming challenges, or any of that.  Sometimes I'll give the group more if it was a paticularly enjoyable game, but usually just a set amount for each Episode.  I do the 'MVP' award for an extra XP too, with the GM voting only in the case of a tie.

I normally run Buffy, which has its own reward system for roleplaying in the form of drama points, which can be awarded for making funny lines, helping a Hero deal, heroic acts, generating drama, or getting blatently screwed over by the GM.

Quote from: blakkieI find it illogical to try encourage roleplaying by rewarding with pure number crunch. Roleplaying is it's own reward. Roleplay that forwards the story is especially a reward since it forwards the story in the general direction of what the character is interested in. I also in D&D dislike uneven XP awards. Creation of magic items creates enough uneveness as it is, and D&D levels tend to be less forgiving in avoiding PC domination of a party.

Although I do see some merits in RPGPundit's approach, I've found that just having a discussion at the end of the session is possible too and definately benificial too. Not just limited to the roleplaying either, but rules and insights to how the game is going for all the players.

I don't see why its illogical.  I find it very illogical to use an in-game system to try to encourage roleplaying (ie. "every time you use your "dark and brooding" trait you gain a Pretension Point!"), because then you just create a mechanical response. If the player knows that every time he says "i strike a dark and brooding pose" he gets a Pretension Point, then he's going to be looking for excuses to do that every chance he gets, and the whole thing becomes artificial.

On the other hand, creating an end-of-the-game xp award for overall roleplay is a very clever idea because it makes use of human ambition, without creating a specific Pavlovian response that makes the RP fake. The players will WANT the xp award, but know they can't get the XP award by repeating certain fixed mechanical traits or actions, they'll have to be really good roleplayers to get it; they'll have to get into their character, and impress everyone else in the group.

RPGPundit