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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5661445" data-attributes="member: 2067">The OP's question seemed to me to be more about giving out rewards that were RP-based, rather than rewards that were mechanically based...e.g.: an alternate form of treasure. Squires instead of +1 swords. These could be given out regardless of if RPing is done in the session or not.As for rewards for RP, I, as a Lazy DM, generally don't do anything special for that. I don't do XP, levels are gained at narrative points, I use inherent bonuses, and I award treasure more when it "makes sense." I also use 2e treasure, modified for 4e, so it's not always the most useful, reliable, or build-appropriate reward (though sometimes it is!). People who are into RP do that because they enjoy it, and people who are not so good don't do as much, and they don't get "penalized" by not having the same rewards as those folks who are big RPers. I feel it would be a little unfair of me to ignore Ben's character because Ben isn't in-character, but reward Mozz's character, since Mozz, as a theater dude, gets really in character.Still, as a DM, I work new materials into the game. If Mozz gives me more stuff to hang a hook onto, I'll hang more hooks there. I'll still try to drill a hook into Ben every once in a while, but since these aren't "rewards," it doesn't change the balance of power or attention dramatically. They are rewarded as a party, not as individual players. They're in competition with my monsters, not with each other. Which brings me back to how it's still potentially valuable for the right player, in the right circumstance, but, without a more intensive system, stays relative and minor. Yup, and some meaningless fluff can be pretty valuable for that character. But ultimately, that character's gonna be using numbers to kill things, and so story rewards aren't a replacement. See, in my games, since I am a Lazy DM, they'd probably just do an Exploration Challenge, making Streetwise or Nature or Perception checks, until they either do it, or they fail. And if they fail, they don't get to rescue the MacGuffins, and they've gotta deal with that noise. Dragon wins, time to move on with your lives. Because I'm not going to invent three scenarios that they're not going to see. That sounds suspiciously like lots of effort for potentially no reward...Three scenarios devised, and they only get to pick one? Triple work! Not my D&D scene. Ain't got time for that.So your DB is grumpy now. If you have players who are into RP (and it seems you do), that's valuable, since they'll take that problem and run with it. If you have players who are not into RP, the reaction generally is, "So? I kill this dragon. Maybe later I kill that hag. All of my problems are solved with dice rolls."Though this doesn't strike me so much as a reward for roleplaying as a punishment for it, since nothing good happened that they could RP joy about...in fact, the DB lost the ability to feel joy forever! That's not a thing I generally want to inflict on my PCs as a price for success, but rather something I would like to give them the ability to avoid (via die rolls) as a demonstration of their heroism.</blockquote>

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