D&D 5E How I'm Managing Inspiration

[Psikerlord#]

I dont use inspiration. I feel like roleplaying is it's own reward. And I dont want adv so easily gained. I did toy with handing out Paizo plot twist cards instead for a time. I like the cards better.

 

[ExploderWizard]

I only use it if a player sings a verse from the Chicago song " You're the Inspiration". It hasn't been used yet.

 

[GMMichael]

I use the honor system: I tell my players to just take inspiration whenever they feel they've earned it.

They usually forget about it, too. ;}

This is blowing my mind.

I don't really much care for mechanics that try to reward 'good' RP, as judged by the DM. I don't really want my players to be dancing monkeys for my amusement, I hate having a whiny player always trying to /get/ inspiration, nor do I want to try to push a more timid player to RP just to get a mechanical advantage.

So is this. It's one thing to have a player say,

"I stay across the room, because my half-orc doesn't like elves. Can I get my inspiration point now?"

...and another...

"I draw my axe, and start picking at the blade nervously. I'm glancing at the elf just long enough to satisfy my hatred. I hope the emissary doesn't notice...I REALLY don't want to draw blood in front of him."

One of those examples enhanced the experience for the group, and the other was just annoying. One thing you'd like about inspiration over roleplaying awards from other systems (like step 5) is that inspiration can be earned from other players - so maybe your dancing monkeys can harass each other instead of you?

 

[SubDude]

I do the same thing with normal sized, but neon green D20's. They are pretty hard to miss / forget!

 

[Riley37]

I am planning to award Inspiration when a player asks a question, and my answer to that question advances the story. I'll see how it goes. Perhaps the rule-of-thumb reminder, is whenever *I* roll behind the GM screen, then the player who prompted that roll is a candidate for Inspiration.

My table can get lost in the puns and so forth. They need a little help and nudge, to hit a balance which will ultimately be more fun for them.

Honor system and player-to-player are, IMO, signs of a table which (a) values the story and (b) values each other.

 

[PinkRose]

I give it out freely.
For in-character speeches.
For Monty Python jokes.
For hilarious RP statements.
For drawing the group a session recap illustration.

It's Advantage not virginity. Let it flow if it adds fun to your game.
Because frankly, the game is supposed to be fun.

 

[jgsugden]

I bought clear plastic d20s with a separate d20 inside of them. However, I kept forgetting to give them out. I needed to get a bowl and put them in it - right in front of my other dice....

 

[77IM]

I noticed my players were hoarding their inspiration to use on saving throws (particularly death saving throws). They'd get that one point and then never spend it unless the stakes were super-high. I wonder what this says about my GMing style.

To me this makes the game less fun: inspiration encourages crazy maneuvers ("What's the worst that can happen? I'll just spend inspiration to make it work." ...famous last words) and also encourages role-playing by offering a little reward to players who are entertaining. But I also understand how running around with no inspiration seems overly risky.

So today I implemented a new house rule: You can stack inspiration, accumulating as many points as you want, but at the end of a long rest you lose all except 1 point. The idea is to allow players to get rewarded for role-playing at any time, and also encourage them to spend their inspiration, and also give some incentive to NOT take a long rest ("Well we're low on spells but we've got a lot of inspiration, let's press on."). So far it seems to be working well although I can't give a full report since the party hasn't had a long rest yet. The most inspiration anyone accumulated thus far was 5 points, although they are back down to 3 after some unfortunate stealth rolls.

 

[RealAlHazred]

I got cheap plastic poker chips (white) and drew exclamation marks on both sides with permanent marker. I'd love to use special dice or cool Campaign Coins tokens, but my brain is like a steel sieve and I'll forget I handed them out; at least with the plastic poker chips they're easy and cheap to replace.

My DM rule for rewarding them bends to the circumstances.

For new players at their first game, I hand out an inspiration point at the beginning of the session. Then, I try to make it a point to reward one for any player roleplaying well; in desperation, if it's near the middle of the first module and I haven't rewarded any additional ones, I'll give it just for doing noteworthy stuff that's in accordance with your alignment. That's to show the players how to get more.

From then on, as the players play, I become more thrifty with my inspiration tokens. They're supposed to be a roleplaying reward, after all, not a prize just for showing up. I reward them for roleplaying a Flaw or a Bond, or for really good roleplaying moments at the table. I take cues from one of my DMs who's also a Fate GM -- you use them to encourage players to opt for decisions that enhance the story, as opposed to easy choices or tactical decisions.

To illustrate, one my PCs in the Hoard of the Dragon Queen had Bog Luck on his hit list. So, he decided he was going to sneak into Bog Luck's quarters and kill him. That would have been the smart and efficient way to do it. But he's a paladin and lawful neutral -- I offered him an Inspiration Token to sneak into the room and challenge Bog Luck to a fight (to be fought under silence) instead, and he took the bait. The challenge had the same end result (Bog Luck is still just as dead) but it took much longer, and resulted in discovery by the night watch (at least partially as a result of the silence spell itself). As a result, the Roadhouse is now alerted to something going on, and it's turned into a much more interesting scenario!

 

[Riley37]

I give it out freely.
For in-character speeches.
For Monty Python jokes.
For hilarious RP statements. ...

I plan to run Rise of the Dragon Queen, and have Tiamat escape from Avernus into central Phlan, and I hope that one of the players will bust out this line, just before a Coordinated Attack:


"Let's show this prehistoric bitch how we do things downtown... THROW IT!"