D&D 4E No Roleplaying XP in 4e

[TheWyrd]

Also, the reason that Thespianism annoys me is because I've seen too many players divorce the character too far from themselves. This is mostly in WW games so it might not apply to D&D. What I saw was someone (for example): "Screw you duke, we don't need your help." then pause when the Duke reacts negatively and say "Wait, let me do that again, my character wouldn't have done that."

 

[BlindOgre]

Hand out special snacks instead. (Just an option).

I like that idea

 

[BlindOgre]

Also, the reason that Thespianism annoys me is because I've seen too many players divorce the character too far from themselves. This is mostly in WW games so it might not apply to D&D. What I saw was someone (for example): "Screw you duke, we don't need your help." then pause when the Duke reacts negatively and say "Wait, let me do that again, my character wouldn't have done that."

That's a matter for DM guidance, perhaps simply stating at the outset that any comments directed at an NPC will be taken as in-character and may not be retracted.

 

[Starbuck_II]

That's a matter for DM guidance, perhaps simply stating at the outset that any comments directed at an NPC will be taken as in-character and may not be retracted.

I had the opposite problem.

Since my character is Wu Jen and eating rats (cooked of course) is something that they did (heck, they eat dogs in Korea I hear). The DM assumed I did some other thing to distance my character. I had to reply: hey, I may do a weird thing hereand there due to my character, but I am not that weird.

But I think roleplaying exp should be awarded to whole party: than everyone thinks that they want the guy doing it more often (no resentment that way).
Kinda win-win situation.

 

[HerntheHunted]

These days I just hand out a fixed amount every session, occaisonally giving a bonus.

Would you mind sharing the nature of said boni?

 

[carmachu]

No loss.

I agree with WotC's statement. Roleplaying XP to me makes it look like one style of play is being emphasised over others. It's great if the players are the method actor types, if not there's little use for it, and it can make the players feel like they're playing "wrong". It also penalizes players who either don't like or aren't comfortable with the in-character styles of play, by denying them XP. Personally, it seems like a sort of carrot to players who'd rather do a lot of dungeon crawling and hack-n-slashing by DMs who want more amateur thespianism.

One can point out that WOTC's statement IS an endorsement of one playing style over the other, namely killing things and taking their stuff.

That seems to be the emphasis.

 

[Blue]

I’ve seen a lot of games (both in early RPGA and home games) that gave XP for good roleplaying. By good roleplaying do I mean the quality of your character acting? The problem with the roleplaying reward is this: You’re almost always going to give out the maximum to everyone at the table. Why? Because telling someone that they didn’t do a good job of roleplaying in a game where everyone is there to have fun seems overly judgmental, can create hurt feelings, and is… well… just downright crappy.

Good roleplaying isn't "meta", it's integral.

For my game, I have stacks of poker chips, When someone does something particularly in character someone (player or DM) throws them a chip. At the end of the night it gets totaled and they get extra XP based on the number of chips. I control the pool of RP XP I want to give out based on how much/how good the RP was at a session. If the session was mostly RP, it's probably worth as much as a combat, if it was just a bit around lots of travel and encounters, it's a smaller pool.

So I control how fast the XP advancement due to RP is, but the players giving chips to others are doing the rewards. So there is no "rating someone" or any of the negative parts that he talks about.

Cheers,
=Blue(23)

 

[GSHamster]

One can point out that WOTC's statement IS an endorsement of one playing style over the other, namely killing things and taking their stuff.

That seems to be the emphasis.

You could just as easily say that WotC disapproves of XP awards which are given to some *players* and not others. That it creates a bit of resentment/dissension in what is a team-based game.

But I'm pretty sure we'll all spin whatever WotC says to fit our own pre-conceived agendas.

 

[Hussar]

I had the opposite problem.

Since my character is Wu Jen and eating rats (cooked of course) is something that they did (heck, they eat dogs in Korea I hear).

Hey, don't knock it. A bit of boshintung cures what ails ya.

 

[Fanaelialae]

I've participated in both types of games (those that grant RP xp and those that don't). Perhaps I've simply been lucky, but I've never found there to be a noticable difference in the quality of RP between these games. The players RP'd to have fun whether or not they were rewarded via xp.

One time, however, there was a player who did get upset because he was consistently getting the lowest xp reward even though he was doing his best. Which he was, IMO. I wasn't the one running that particular game, but I think that was the moment I abandoned the concept of RP rewards. RP is, IMO, it's own reward.