covaithe
Explorer
I was poking around in some old threads this morning, when I ran across this bit, that I wanted to respond to, but didn't want to commit thread necromancy. Italics are mine.
Now, I'm not familiar with the details of either the actual RP in question or of the amount of the reward. I'm certainly not trying to pick on HMG or suggest that he should have done anything different. But I feel compelled to address the suggestion that the judges would frown on xp given for purely roleplaying reasons, even if it triggers a level up, in case there are other DMs out there who feel that way.
Speaking only for myself: No, I wouldn't have a problem with that at all! Fire away!
I think in general we don't do nearly enough to recognize and reward the fantastic roleplaying that goes on here. As a community, we've decided that normal by-the-book xp awards are too slow for PbP. Thus, we've pumped lots of extra xp into the system in the form of doubled encounter awards and increased time xp awards. But if anything, RP awards seem to me to be on the wane. (I don't have any specific evidence for this; just a feeling. I might be wrong... but I don't think I am.)
The rules-as-written don't really cover how to give experience for roleplaying. (There's the minor quest system; the DMG suggests that minor quest awards can be given for achieving character goals, but that's hard to apply in PbP, and doesn't really suffice to cover roleplaying in general.) Traditionally, it's been left up to individual DMs how to reward their players for good RP. For lack of a better alternative, we do that here, too.
But what that means, to me at least, is that DMs *are* free to reward their players for good roleplaying, if they choose. Or, for that matter, for any other meaningful contribution to the game. I've given out XP in the past for being patient through slow parts of a game, or for posting a detailed drawing of a Mobile Fortress Bunkbed (you had to be there), or because an encounter turned out to be harder in play than on paper, or just for being entertaining. I'm not special; any DM can do this!
DMs have the responsibility and privilege of deciding how much XP to give out. Judges approve those awards, yes, but that's mainly only to make sure you're using your powers for good and not evil:
Sure, I suppose it's not beyond the realm of possibility that someone may someday give out more RP XP than we're comfortable with, but we have a long, long way to go before we're anywhere near that threshold, IMO.
I actually thought of giving you more [XP for a particular bit of nice roleplaying], but I think that the judges would have an issue with setting a precedent for leveling up based on RPing alone.
Now, I'm not familiar with the details of either the actual RP in question or of the amount of the reward. I'm certainly not trying to pick on HMG or suggest that he should have done anything different. But I feel compelled to address the suggestion that the judges would frown on xp given for purely roleplaying reasons, even if it triggers a level up, in case there are other DMs out there who feel that way.
Speaking only for myself: No, I wouldn't have a problem with that at all! Fire away!
I think in general we don't do nearly enough to recognize and reward the fantastic roleplaying that goes on here. As a community, we've decided that normal by-the-book xp awards are too slow for PbP. Thus, we've pumped lots of extra xp into the system in the form of doubled encounter awards and increased time xp awards. But if anything, RP awards seem to me to be on the wane. (I don't have any specific evidence for this; just a feeling. I might be wrong... but I don't think I am.)
The rules-as-written don't really cover how to give experience for roleplaying. (There's the minor quest system; the DMG suggests that minor quest awards can be given for achieving character goals, but that's hard to apply in PbP, and doesn't really suffice to cover roleplaying in general.) Traditionally, it's been left up to individual DMs how to reward their players for good RP. For lack of a better alternative, we do that here, too.
But what that means, to me at least, is that DMs *are* free to reward their players for good roleplaying, if they choose. Or, for that matter, for any other meaningful contribution to the game. I've given out XP in the past for being patient through slow parts of a game, or for posting a detailed drawing of a Mobile Fortress Bunkbed (you had to be there), or because an encounter turned out to be harder in play than on paper, or just for being entertaining. I'm not special; any DM can do this!
DMs have the responsibility and privilege of deciding how much XP to give out. Judges approve those awards, yes, but that's mainly only to make sure you're using your powers for good and not evil:
- Evil: "John and Fred and George each get 150xp, but Barney gets 8000 xp because he's my buddy".
- Good: "Everyone gets 150 xp, and Fred and George get an additional 200xp each for that funny scene with the ogre and the banana peel."
Sure, I suppose it's not beyond the realm of possibility that someone may someday give out more RP XP than we're comfortable with, but we have a long, long way to go before we're anywhere near that threshold, IMO.
