XP for roleplay/social accomplishments

[radmod]

For years I tried a variety of methods, straight xp for monsters, time-based, etc. but nothing really encouraged role-playing that much. I then began a tedious process of giving players +/- ticks for roleplaying as the game progressed and it helped out quite a bit. (When I say roleplaying, part of what I mean is playing your character as you say he is.)
IIRC, this resulted in some players gaining bonuses of as much as 50% of their base experience but usually around 10-20% (and in some cases -20%). So while a PC who did the minimum roleplaying would get 1000xp, a good player might get as much as 1500xp.

 

[radmod]

I'll get some flak for this, but I've always been of the opinion that good Roleplaying should be worth MORE xp than combat. Of course I'm currently running Warhammer FRP 3e so there is no XP......

You shouldn't get any flak for that. For one, the key word was GOOD roleplaying. I've been in worlds where the DM thought roleplaying meant spending four hours outfitting your character.

 

[jdrakeh]

I don't play 4e, but in most of the games that I do play, I don't award XP for 'good role playing' partly because what constitutes 'good role playing' is entirely subjective and partly because some people are just naturally talented thespians while others aren't (and I don't think it's fair to award one group at the expense of the other).

 

[Starfox]

I answered Other. I think the poll is somewhat misguided, as it relates the rewards to levels and not to what rewards you could get doing other adventure activities, such as fighting. In the end, what is interesting is comparative xp, not absolute xp.

When using merit-based Xp, I tend to award about twice as much xp/hour for dangerous activities such as dungeon delving as I do for role-play. And that only if the role-play is a part of problem resolution. The exception is if you use role-playing to avoid a fight - that gets full xp. Also, any role-play that takes place away from the gaming table gets no reward whatsoever. This is mostly a fairness issue - players get cranky enough knowing that other players got to RP away from the table, no need to aggravate it further.

In systems that do not base xp on specific actions (that is, basically all games but DnD and Rolermaster), I tend to award xp per session and base any bonus xp on fun, not challenge.

 

[S'mon]

Thanks everyone. Looking at the poll results and comments, there seems strong support for substantial social achievement/roleplay XP. Running my CSIO online game I was worried that I was giving too much XP, but my guideline 1/20 level per hour actually seems to be on the low end of what most people award in tabletop games.

Of course in 4e you might actually get a lot more done in an hour of talky roleplay than in an hour of combat; my last 4e tabletop session we spent about 3 hours on one fight with Orcs.

 

[haakon1]

Depends on the roleplaying and what is accomplished and how well it is accomplished.

Indeed. Most of the time, I don't award XP for this stuff. But if it adds up to the equivalent of defeating a monster or defeating a trap, as in it's somewhat difficult, it matters, you can easily fail it, and failure would have consequences, then I give the equivalent XP for overcoming the challenge.

I once asked Gygax about this issue, on EnWorld. He had a similar view.