virtue/vice to increase roleplay

[direcow]

I picked up the latest edition of the World of Darkness rules last year at GenCon and although I have yet to play, I was intrigued by the system of virtues and vices. Essentially a character has to pick one virtue and one vice and they get bonuses when they act in accordance with those virtues and vices. I was wondering if anyone has used a similar system for DnD to encourage roleplaying. I'm trying to come up with some concrete ways to increase roleplaying in my group and thought such a system might work. I was thinking of maybe having a list of virtues and vices and requiring each character to choose one of each. Anytime they take an action that is in accordance with either they could get an action point that could be spent to reroll or bump up a roll. So if a character had the virtue of "self sacrifice" and he did something that put him in imminent peril so as to save another party member, he would get an action point. What are other people's thoughts on this?

 

[Crothian]

I've never been afan of bribing players to get what I want. If you want more role playing, tell the players you want more role playing. Bribing the characters might work, it just depends on the players you have. Some groups will take the insentive and go with it; others certain people will get the bonus while others won't and that can divide the group.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

My experiences....

* A disadvantage that is not a disadvantage is not a disadvantage. Here's an extreeme example that I just made up:

Grouchy
Penalty: you are in a bad mood all the time.
Bonus: You can rage like a barbarian twice a day.

See that? The character gets to act like a jerk and in exchange, he can rage. This is a no-brainer.

* All penalties should affect the numbers on the character sheet.

I came up with a homebrew set of disadvantages for my old shadowrun game. They sucked. For example, I used the old Champions disadvantage of having a dependant. PCs took that and suddenly I have to work in everybody's made up NPC into all the games and it didn't even do anything. Instead of going on an adventure for money, they went on it to save dear old Aunt May and scored the money anyway. This isn't a movie or book, it's an RPG. Make sure the penalties affect only the numbers on the character's sheet.

* People will tend to suck at things they already suck at.

For example, let's say a wizard takes a feat that gives him -2 to hit in melee combat. So what? The guy's a wizard! Sure, there are times he's going to want to hit in combat, but not very gosh darn often. Who cares? Again: a disadvantage that is not a disadvantage is not a disadvantage.

* Don't reward with extra goodies. Reward with exp.

The 7 Seas game did this and I think it's a good idea. Let's say the character has a flaw. Whenever the player activates the flaw and it negatively affects the numbers on his sheet during a time when he needs those numbers, he gains more exp for the encounter. This puts the flaw under player control and he essentially earns exp for roleplay.


Happy gaming!