Assigning roleplaying XP [Archive] - Wizards Community

Assigning roleplaying XP [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Domenic
08-28-07, 06:44 PM My system last year was that besides normal "overcoming challenge" XP that is assigned uniformly to all (present) characters, there's an extra 50% XP available for roleplaying. Depending on how well an individual character roleplayed, he or she would get between 0% and 50% of the normal XP as extra XP (so they'd get between 100% and 150% of the normal XP, in total).

As I see it, the system has the following advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages Strong incentive for roleplaying (in theory…)
Lets the party level faster, which I think is fun
Good balance between challenge-overcoming and roleplaying XP
Disadvantages Very subject to DM-bias
Some people consistently roleplayed well (up to DM bias, that is), and thus just kept consistently getting more XP than others, which is kind of bad
I never really used the whole 0%–50% range, as I’d feel guilty giving too-low of a value, especially since it could be such a large difference in absolute terms.
I’m not really sure it worked as an incentive in practice

So, next year I'd like to do something different, but I really don't know what that'll be. What do you do? Suggestions? Have you heard of good systems?
darkneolink
08-28-07, 06:54 PM someone proposed somewere to award the RP encounters as:

100x (x=level)

also if they RP their way out of deadly situations they get full XP (plus 100x)
Domenic
08-28-07, 06:56 PM someone proposed somewere to award the RP encounters as:

100x (x=level)

also if they RP their way out of deadly situations they get full XP (plus 100x)

Aside from the last sentence, that would just fall under my "overcoming challenges" XP. I'm not talking about RP challenges, but more just "did this player RP their character well" or "did they do a few things that really reminded us that this is Xame the halfling rogue, not Dave the bioinformatics grad student?"
Divokej
08-28-07, 07:14 PM What I do is if my players really roleplay it up I'll give them a small reward. Like 50 XP. Something ridiculously minor. It's more for me to say, hey good job, then an option for character advancement. All of my characters are within 1,000 XP of each other but one of them will consistently level an encounter or two before everyone else.
LordWinter
08-28-07, 08:50 PM I think that the idea of RP experience is a good one but you are right about the problems like DM bias as well as the fact that this can create such a gap in party levels with one person who may just be a good RPer. Here is a thought I dunno how many players you have but one thing you can do is create a bonus RP exp award nothing too big mabye top it out at 25%. Or you can do a first and second place RP award at 25% and 10% then to avoid that DM guilt and bias have the players vote on who should recieve the bonus exp.
Talisman
08-28-07, 09:27 PM I use XP Awards (poker chips), which are worth 50 XP x character level--enough to make it worth writing down, not enough to unbalance play. Whenever a player does sometimg particularly cool, I toss 'em a poker chip.

Specifically, I reward:

Doing something your character would do, even when it's against your best interests,
A particularly impressive bit of roleplaying,
A great (unique) line,
Cracking up everyone at the table,
Clever and unexpected use of spells, skills, or abilities.
Domenic
08-28-07, 09:31 PM I use XP Awards (poker chips), which are worth 50 XP x character level--enough to make it worth writing down, not enough to unbalance play. Whenever a player does sometimg particularly cool, I toss 'em a poker chip.

Specifically, I reward:

Doing something your character would do, even when it's against your best interests,
A particularly impressive bit of roleplaying,
A great (unique) line,
Cracking up everyone at the table,
Clever and unexpected use of spells, skills, or abilities.

That might be the best idea so far. How often do you end up giving out chips? Do you run into any of the problems I do, say, some players never getting chips and some getting them way too often? Basically, could you give more details on your experience with your system, rather than your system itself? :)
Dux_is_me
08-28-07, 09:36 PM I give 50/level for good roleplaying and 100/level for exceptional roleplaying.
Talisman
08-28-07, 10:37 PM That might be the best idea so far. How often do you end up giving out chips? Do you run into any of the problems I do, say, some players never getting chips and some getting them way too often? Basically, could you give more details on your experience with your system, rather than your system itself? :)

Why, soitenly! :D

First, I should mention that I am blessed with a game crew of good roleplayers. It may help that they are all 15+ year veterans of RPGs (I'm actually the newbie, at only 6 years!).

I give out chips spontaneously, but I tend to give 1 or 2 to a player, per session. Rarely with a player earn 3 or 4. Often, most people at the table will only earn 1.

Of the 5 people I game with most often, 3 are rather loud and excellent RP'ers. They tend to earn the most chips. The other two are also good RP'ers, but are quieter, and tend to earn slightly fewer. This is one reason I made the XP award a rather low amount: I don't want a huge level difference. So far, this hasn't been a problem.

For quiet players or newbies, I tend to be slightly more generous with what constitutes an award-worthy action. Veteran players have seen and done a lot, but newbies haven't and they should be rewarded for creative thinking, regardless of whether "it's been done before." This also helps keep level drift to a minimum.

We also have a rule where, while only the GM can give out XP awards, anyone may mention whether they think an action deserves one. I'm not perfect (believe it or not), and sometimes the players catch things I miss. This usually takes the form of one or more players pointing to another and shouting "That's a chip!". Oh, and you can't nominate yourself for XP awards...this is considered "begging for chips," and is frowned upon by all.

Since we're a heavily story-focused group, we also have a variant use for XP awards: The Bribe. Basically, when a player comes up with a rules-legal idea that would totally screw up my game, I'll hand him a chip and say "That's brilliant. Please don't do that." If you do it anyway, you lose the chip (and the GM's goodwill).

The party is in town. They have to travel through the desert (about 3 days ride) to stop some baddies from performing an evil ritual. As they're planning, the cleric says "Hey, why don't I just cast wind walk?"
This would utterly destroy the on-the-road encounter I have planned (involving an NPC from their 1st level days). I hand the cleric a chip and invoke The Bribe.
The cleric player licks his finger, raises it, and says "Nope--wind's against us. Can't do it."

It helps immensely that all my players also GM, and so they understand this sort of situation.

When introducing a new system like this, I would recommend being fairly generous with the chips for the first few sessions, then gradually cutting back. This will get people excited about it early on, but then they will have to earn their rewards.

It's also important to present this, not as "yet another weird house rule," but as a reward--or at least, an opportunity to earn rewards. If the players realize they can get "free XP," they'll take notice. The actors will love it, since it rewards what they do anyway. The powergamers will love it, because it's another source of XP.

Finally, I recommend drawng up a list detailing (in simple terms) what you intend to reward. By offering awards for behavior you want to encourage, you can subtly steer the group's play style. It's not even railroading--players always have the option not to participate.
Mock26
08-28-07, 11:03 PM Pick up your Dungeon Master's Guide and turn to the section on awarding Experience Points. They actually have in place guidelines on awarding Experience Points for roleplaying.

One thing to keep in mind is the "nature" of each individual player. For example, a shy player's example of excellent roleplaying might make you ask, "Are you ill tonight?" of a player who is naturally loud, boisterous, and outgoing. But, if you play with the same group of people you'll know their varying levels of "skill" in regards to this matter.
Ace the Dead
08-28-07, 11:05 PM Talisman, that's genius.
Talisman
08-28-07, 11:19 PM Talisman, that's genius.

:D Thankee!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Domenic 08-28-07, 06:44 PM	My system last year was that besides normal "overcoming challenge" XP that is assigned uniformly to all (present) characters, there's an extra 50% XP available for roleplaying. Depending on how well an individual character roleplayed, he or she would get between 0% and 50% of the normal XP as extra XP (so they'd get between 100% and 150% of the normal XP, in total). As I see it, the system has the following advantages and disadvantages: Advantages Strong incentive for roleplaying (in theory…) Lets the party level faster, which I think is fun Good balance between challenge-overcoming and roleplaying XP Disadvantages Very subject to DM-bias Some people consistently roleplayed well (up to DM bias, that is), and thus just kept consistently getting more XP than others, which is kind of bad I never really used the whole 0%–50% range, as I’d feel guilty giving too-low of a value, especially since it could be such a large difference in absolute terms. I’m not really sure it worked as an incentive in practice So, next year I'd like to do something different, but I really don't know what that'll be. What do you do? Suggestions? Have you heard of good systems?
darkneolink 08-28-07, 06:54 PM	someone proposed somewere to award the RP encounters as: 100x (x=level) also if they RP their way out of deadly situations they get full XP (plus 100x)
Domenic 08-28-07, 06:56 PM	someone proposed somewere to award the RP encounters as: 100x (x=level) also if they RP their way out of deadly situations they get full XP (plus 100x) Aside from the last sentence, that would just fall under my "overcoming challenges" XP. I'm not talking about RP challenges, but more just "did this player RP their character well" or "did they do a few things that really reminded us that this is Xame the halfling rogue, not Dave the bioinformatics grad student?"
Divokej 08-28-07, 07:14 PM	What I do is if my players really roleplay it up I'll give them a small reward. Like 50 XP. Something ridiculously minor. It's more for me to say, hey good job, then an option for character advancement. All of my characters are within 1,000 XP of each other but one of them will consistently level an encounter or two before everyone else.
LordWinter 08-28-07, 08:50 PM	I think that the idea of RP experience is a good one but you are right about the problems like DM bias as well as the fact that this can create such a gap in party levels with one person who may just be a good RPer. Here is a thought I dunno how many players you have but one thing you can do is create a bonus RP exp award nothing too big mabye top it out at 25%. Or you can do a first and second place RP award at 25% and 10% then to avoid that DM guilt and bias have the players vote on who should recieve the bonus exp.
Talisman 08-28-07, 09:27 PM	I use XP Awards (poker chips), which are worth 50 XP x character level--enough to make it worth writing down, not enough to unbalance play. Whenever a player does sometimg particularly cool, I toss 'em a poker chip. Specifically, I reward: Doing something your character would do, even when it's against your best interests, A particularly impressive bit of roleplaying, A great (unique) line, Cracking up everyone at the table, Clever and unexpected use of spells, skills, or abilities.
Domenic 08-28-07, 09:31 PM	I use XP Awards (poker chips), which are worth 50 XP x character level--enough to make it worth writing down, not enough to unbalance play. Whenever a player does sometimg particularly cool, I toss 'em a poker chip. Specifically, I reward: Doing something your character would do, even when it's against your best interests, A particularly impressive bit of roleplaying, A great (unique) line, Cracking up everyone at the table, Clever and unexpected use of spells, skills, or abilities. That might be the best idea so far. How often do you end up giving out chips? Do you run into any of the problems I do, say, some players never getting chips and some getting them way too often? Basically, could you give more details on your experience with your system, rather than your system itself? :)
Dux_is_me 08-28-07, 09:36 PM	I give 50/level for good roleplaying and 100/level for exceptional roleplaying.
Talisman 08-28-07, 10:37 PM	That might be the best idea so far. How often do you end up giving out chips? Do you run into any of the problems I do, say, some players never getting chips and some getting them way too often? Basically, could you give more details on your experience with your system, rather than your system itself? :) Why, soitenly! :D First, I should mention that I am blessed with a game crew of good roleplayers. It may help that they are all 15+ year veterans of RPGs (I'm actually the newbie, at only 6 years!). I give out chips spontaneously, but I tend to give 1 or 2 to a player, per session. Rarely with a player earn 3 or 4. Often, most people at the table will only earn 1. Of the 5 people I game with most often, 3 are rather loud and excellent RP'ers. They tend to earn the most chips. The other two are also good RP'ers, but are quieter, and tend to earn slightly fewer. This is one reason I made the XP award a rather low amount: I don't want a huge level difference. So far, this hasn't been a problem. For quiet players or newbies, I tend to be slightly more generous with what constitutes an award-worthy action. Veteran players have seen and done a lot, but newbies haven't and they should be rewarded for creative thinking, regardless of whether "it's been done before." This also helps keep level drift to a minimum. We also have a rule where, while only the GM can give out XP awards, anyone may mention whether they think an action deserves one. I'm not perfect (believe it or not), and sometimes the players catch things I miss. This usually takes the form of one or more players pointing to another and shouting "That's a chip!". Oh, and you can't nominate yourself for XP awards...this is considered "begging for chips," and is frowned upon by all. Since we're a heavily story-focused group, we also have a variant use for XP awards: The Bribe. Basically, when a player comes up with a rules-legal idea that would totally screw up my game, I'll hand him a chip and say "That's brilliant. Please don't do that." If you do it anyway, you lose the chip (and the GM's goodwill). The party is in town. They have to travel through the desert (about 3 days ride) to stop some baddies from performing an evil ritual. As they're planning, the cleric says "Hey, why don't I just cast wind walk?" This would utterly destroy the on-the-road encounter I have planned (involving an NPC from their 1st level days). I hand the cleric a chip and invoke The Bribe. The cleric player licks his finger, raises it, and says "Nope--wind's against us. Can't do it." It helps immensely that all my players also GM, and so they understand this sort of situation. When introducing a new system like this, I would recommend being fairly generous with the chips for the first few sessions, then gradually cutting back. This will get people excited about it early on, but then they will have to earn their rewards. It's also important to present this, not as "yet another weird house rule," but as a reward--or at least, an opportunity to earn rewards. If the players realize they can get "free XP," they'll take notice. The actors will love it, since it rewards what they do anyway. The powergamers will love it, because it's another source of XP. Finally, I recommend drawng up a list detailing (in simple terms) what you intend to reward. By offering awards for behavior you want to encourage, you can subtly steer the group's play style. It's not even railroading--players always have the option not to participate.
Mock26 08-28-07, 11:03 PM	Pick up your Dungeon Master's Guide and turn to the section on awarding Experience Points. They actually have in place guidelines on awarding Experience Points for roleplaying. One thing to keep in mind is the "nature" of each individual player. For example, a shy player's example of excellent roleplaying might make you ask, "Are you ill tonight?" of a player who is naturally loud, boisterous, and outgoing. But, if you play with the same group of people you'll know their varying levels of "skill" in regards to this matter.
Ace the Dead 08-28-07, 11:05 PM	Talisman, that's genius.
Talisman 08-28-07, 11:19 PM	Talisman, that's genius. :D Thankee!