Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 wizardmon May 26, 2008 16:14:08	My group can be a little sluggish when it comes to RP. If I had to rate them on a "likely to RP" scale of 1-5, it would be a 4, 3, 3, and a 2. They have no problem RPing, they just don't, mostly because they feel they are not doing it right. In 3.5, I introduced Action Points into my campaign as a reward for inter-party RP. With AP rules changing, so must my houserule. After all, how can't I after one my players who I rated a 3 says "I think [Wizardmon's] DMing style promotes RP and character development... [For example,] action points seemed to work really well." I dedicate this houserule to that fine young lad.
#2 wizardmon May 27, 2008 9:55:49	I forgot to say this, I think, but PEACH!
#3 mosyali May 27, 2008 19:20:58	This is an amazing and somewhat nifty way to try to coax people into role-playing. Since my parties tend to be on the largish side, the general interaction of characters between players is never very high. In fact, on your scale I would have my party as 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2.5, 3, and 5. Poor mister 5... never anyone to play with his druid. In any event, how freely are the tokens handed out? If it is handed out for such revelations as "My parents were slain before my eyes as a child," just getting mentioned for no real reason, then it seems like a rather weak thing. But if said tid-bit were to be in an actual conversation about why Mr. Sword-swingy swings his sword which came up only cause Miss Feathers-with-Arrows mentioned that the reason why she uses a bow as opposed to being in melee is cause her mother taught her to always be safe, then I guess they get points. If it is the later and not the former, AWESOME. Yoinking it for my own game.
#4 wizardmon May 27, 2008 21:01:40	It is the later. However, meaningful confessions, even confessions out of the blue, may warrant APT. "I told you guys a lie. I killed the gaurd. The money I took from him is still in my pack... please don't hate me..." when uttered from the party paladin is a VERY meaningful character development, and would result in a scenario that earned the party APTs; it all depends on how the party reacts. A general guideline for when to award APTs is this: has the bond between two or more characters strengthened? If you believe that there has been a mentionable changed in the relationship for the better, then APTs are awarded. Indeed, a group "get to know you" confessional may well grant APTs. This means that people who RP poorly can still get APT; all they need to do is actively participate, not nessessairly well or skillfully. But they are sure to get the hang of it eventually.
#5 pigknight May 27, 2008 21:51:31	My party is 2, 1, 4 (the DM, me ....it comes with the job). I'm thinking of using action points and awarding them with your mechanic.
#6 wizardmon May 28, 2008 12:25:54	My party is 2, 1, 4 (the DM, me ....it comes with the job). I'm thinking of using action points and awarding them with your mechanic. You only have two other people in your play-group? o.o I am not sure that my mechanic would be balanced for such a small group... or even necessary. Tell me how it works out!
#7 pigknight May 29, 2008 18:35:11	I use a DMPC, and healing usually isn't a problem.
#8 banpai Jun 02, 2008 14:00:07	It´s a good idea but also a very slippery slope. The important thing is that it does not penalize characters for bad roleplaying the efford should be important. I am 100% against roleplaying XP since someone will always end up hurt, at least if you give each person a certan ammount - but if you reward the whole group for the good roleplaying giving everyone the same amount it can be a good thing after all. Back to the counters, I woould actually suggest to give them to the group in general - it may represent something liek a teamwork bonus. The group can decide when to use them: For example one character is is surrounded by enemies and another char runs risking himself to save his comrade, this is a perfect sitation to use such a token to show that the worthy chause gives him the extra action running, and sliding betwenn the ogers legs to the other character the block the attack targeted at the now other char. Something like your points could maybe make a nice DI article maybe you could send it to them. :D
#9 forest_wanderer_aerandir Jun 04, 2008 9:58:27	Given the fact that I think 4E leans a little away from RPing (that's not me hating 4E, because I like the system, but just a general observance), I think I'll use this system when I'm DMing one of my groups. The other groups I belong to won't be a problem, because they're all online and come from communities that are heavily RP-oriented, but this one group in particular just....doesn't RP. Excellent system.
#10 karon_the_orange Jun 04, 2008 13:25:20	Wizardmon, So this essentially gives a player 1 extra action point a gaming session beyond the ones used and gained from milestones and extended rests?
#11 Dark_Stryke Jun 04, 2008 22:29:17	It's a neat rule. I'm more of the mind that good RP is reward enough for its own sake, but if your group has problems with RP (like if there's one person who would rather just do combat), then this would be a good rule to coax everyone towards doing more RP. I give it a thumbs up.
#12 cowboyninja Jun 08, 2008 0:31:02	sorry to threadomance - but this is simmillar to pinnacles deadlands - with chips that saved against wounds and allowd rerolls - these chips were experience, RPing rewards and general sucking up to the marshall via writting a journal drawing a pic etc.
#13 wizardmon Jun 09, 2008 14:48:08	Karon_the_Orange- On average, yes, that is what it adds up to. However, as I showed in the example, that is not necessarily the case. Each player gets to give one extra AP to another player, once per session. Banpai- True, and good suggestions. Just as one should not penalize bad RP, one should also not over-reward someone trying to exploit the situation. I have to disagree with your assessment of the "reward two whole group," because the reward is only for the people who participated in RP, and each in different ways. I think I will send this to DDI, but I think that since I posted it here, it is already WotC material. I'll probably playtest it and work out the kinks before I submit it, though.
#14 Lerin Jul 24, 2008 23:23:45	I have used RolePlaying tokens as well and created a list of 'treasure' that can only be purchased with tokens. It starts small with things like a limited number of extra skill points or feats or languages. Increases to contingency plans for if they reach 0 hp and has items later. I award about 1-4 per session per character depending on the session (1.5-2 hrs in length). It has been a great tool to teach new players (especially the middle schoolers) how to roleplay as a character instead of as themselves. I keep notes about why they earn a point so they don't do the same thing over and over again to try and earn points. It has been much more effective than group XP for quests, etc. Overall, it has really helped and if 12-13 year olds can learn to RP, anyone can Lerin
#15 vostibackle Aug 05, 2008 15:01:04	I dunno... seems kind of scary to me. Say a party of 6 does some roleplaying all together and they all get APTs. Later, they're fighting the big boss and on the ranger's turn, the other 5 of them expend their APTs marked for him. The ranger can also spend one of his own action points. He gets 7 actions in one turn! I don't want that to happen. [edit]: I mean, shite, that's 14 longbow attacks... :O
#16 eharper256 Aug 05, 2008 17:09:24	If that scares you, then say 1 APT action per per player per session per round. Less abusable, and still useful. I have to say, I do rather like this idea, since a lack of RP kinda irks me, in that all too often, after 5 sessions with this party, I still know nothing about who the hell they are and why they're fighting with me. Which, of course, is terribly unrealistic: people whom are bored usually talk. Adventurers have plenty of time to be bored between encounters. Additionally, this form of action point makes sense for those "Noooo! Henrietta, you can't die!!!" moments where time seems to slow for the hero. Also, however, I would also award APT if the player managed to make the table laugh. Always good to encourage that.
#17 vostibackle Aug 06, 2008 0:07:17	Wouldn't this also really only encourage roleplaying once every 5 sessions in a party of 6? I just feel like the players would get too many tokens. Maybe I'll do this if I can think of a different way to award tokens.
#18 wizardmon Feb 08, 2009 21:42:22	The reason it works for my group is that often times, the players have private RP's between their characters 1-0-1, but at the same time, I assume follow the same rule with large groups. Also, with large groups, the important thing is that meaningful relationship/character story advancements are made. If such is not made, APT need not be awarded.
#19 heratyk Feb 12, 2009 21:24:31	Here's an idea from several other game systems that might make your distribution of AP tokens seem a bit less arbitrary or biased. Players write down 1 or more personality traits or roleplaying hooks for their characters (perhaps 3: a virtue, a vice, and a motivation). Every time the player roleplays something that exemplifies one of those traits in a way that causes his character a setback/obstacle, or that advances the plot, award him an AP. As the GM, you can limit acceptable traits so as to avoid any that are too broad in scope, or that would annoy others in the group. For example: Reginald has the virtue: brave, the vice: gullible, and the motivation: avenge his father's death. If he rushes in to a perilous situation, lets someone talk him into something foolish, or uncovers a clue to the identity of his father's murderer, he would earn an AP. This encourages players to flesh out their characters in meaningful ways, and to play them consistantly, even if a course of action might not be optimal from a purely mechanical standpoint.
#20 fragsie Feb 13, 2009 8:39:28	For those of you worried about this idea overpowering a party; I use an almost identical mechanic to encourage my players to RP, but rather than giving an AP (or APT, i use poker chips) straight off the mark, good RP gains the character a red token, a player can use a red token for a +1 to an attack roll, or a +2 to a damage roll (no more than one red token per tier can be spent in one round), if the player saves up 5 red tokens they can exchange them for an action point.