Usually for something spectacular, I give out a card denoting that I owe the player 50 XP. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up because I give the same amount of XP for critical hit and fumble cards, so most people end up walking way with a couple of extra hundred at least. I'm trying to find a way to incorporate the upcoming plot twist cards as well, those will probably be worth the same amount of XP and be useful for social gaffes, overwhelming successes and roleplaying. Woot.
Ever since XP stopped being a resource, I've stopped giving it out. Instead I pretty much level the players when it's appropriate (enough encounters of enough challenge have been resolved).
If the players can overcome the challenge through roleplaying instead of straight up combat (or parts of each), then it counts just as equally in my books.
If a particularly great moment occurs... such as the players thinking outside the box, or taking a less desirable choice due to the in-character motivations, I count the encounters involved as worth higher (essentially, a higher CR). This essentially means great moments in roleplaying can result in not just overcoming encounters with less resource cost, but also allow leveling faster.
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For those that are a little new to playing a roleplaying game, I tend to turn on the "nice-guy" DM mode. This means I tell the players when they can use a knowledge check, or diplomacy check, etc, instead of having the players remember to do these things.
Also, I bring out the good ol' Wisdom or Intelligence checks, to kindly remind the players of things they might have forgotten, or not realized.
I even do this in regular games.. it can sometimes be weeks between sessions, and while the characters would "know" sometimes, or have a stellar mental stat, the players might not remember a particular detail. A successful check lets me give them a clue, or remind them of something that happened or was said in the past.
While this might all sound mechanical, I require my players to actually state what they say or do before getting these checks. So yeah, there's a lot of Knowledge checks and Social checks going on (enough that it's rare a conversation happens in-game without a check involved somehow), however the players are getting involved with what is being said and what happens.
And believe me... when you start giving access to better in-game rewards, or faster leveling, because of successful interaction and skill checks, it doesn't take long before the players start asking if they can use a skill check and try to think of different ways to get around a situation or advance a conversation.
Lastly, very recently I've also been allowing some crazier roleplaying moments in combat by tacking on extra checks.
For example: One of my players (playing a gnome rogue), asked if she could jump over the heads of some enemies and land on the paralyzed Orc Barbarian to perform a coup-de-gras.
Now normally this isn't possible.. coup-de-gras is a full round action, and there's no rules for landing onto another creature, etc.
But it was too awesome to shoot down. So I called for an acrobatics check to clear the jump and successfully land, a climb check to hold on, and an attack roll to count as a coup-de-gras (a miss would be a normal attack, unless she missed his paralyzed AC somehow, like rolling a 1).
A couple good rolls and a failed Fortitude save later, and she's springing off his chest as he falls to the ground gurgling, and she just helped take out the brute of the encounter in a single blow.
If she had asked for an Intimidate check at that point, I would have probably allowed a free use of Dazzling Display at that moment.
So what could have been a boring old shot-down request with a normal coup-de-gras a round later, turned into a highly memorable moment and at least a little in-game street cred. The rest of the group is now more than a little afraid.. ahem, respectful.. of this 3 foot tall knifing machine calling herself "Kill'em'all" Fijit.
Depends on what is done.
Sometimes it's a small individual XP bonus.
But most time I encourgage RP by giving more incentive to RP. The wizard became fascinated with the history of a town and spent some time doing research in the library, asking questions, etc. He then got a +1 Knowledge local in regards to that town.
If a crafter spends some time making a specific item I'll give them a small bonus on rolls that apply to that type of item i.e A weapon smith made an order of longswords for a local lord. His own knowledge of the the longsword went up to add a +1 to hit with that weapon, a + to sunder that weapon, and crafting them became easier.
Then of course there's the token cohorts, followers, titles, enemies, lands, etc that they gather as they gain fame and fortune.
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I once played in a game where if you made the DM laugh you earned 500 XP. That was a great game. Plenty of times all he could do was hold up his hand to award it, because he was laughing too hard.That really does sound like a great game.
I'll have to steal..er..flatter you by using it some time.
I wish I had a recording of our drunken cleric. I was laughing so hard my head started aching.
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Isn't roleplaying its own reward? </tongueincheek>
I was going to say the same thing. I guess I'm lucky in that the people I game with are natural roleplayers and no encouragement is necessary. Giving extra xps for roleplaying would be like giving them extra xp's for having a character... its just sort of assumed in our group.
I use a chip system for heroic re-rolls and dice-adding to rolls in my campaign similar to a combination of Action Points and Force Points. An extra chip is given at the end of each session by vote. One of the things you can vote someone to receive an extra chip is for good role-playing.
I've found rewarding "roleplaying" simply leads to more outlandish characters as the players try to gain your attention.
I think I can say that roleplaying is its own reward without inserting tongue in cheek. I always try to come up with concepts for my own characters that I find interesting. Sometimes the DM doesn't get what my character is about (sometimes the character has some complexity) and that's OK. I'm not roleplaying for the DM.
That said, I agree with the various posters who have given up on XP for killing things. Leveling up characters as appropriate without an XP system works much easier IMO.
My personal pet peeve are DM's who present a challenge, you bypass the challenge using wits rather than killing everything, and then he doesn't give XP (or gives 1/2 - which I see often) since you didn't kill the monster. Ugh.
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The most basic concept of any game is to reward actions you want to encourage.
Those DMs that only give XP for killing monsters and finding treasure, will enforce the kick-in-the-door-loot-the-bodies playstyle, most likely at the expense of roleplay. Those that do like Treantmonk mentioned and give half XP for resolving challenges without combat are, knowingly or not, ingraining a kill-em-all mentality. They only have themselves to blame if they ask why no one appreciates the backstory they craft.
If you want to see more roleplaying in your campaign, you'll need to reward roleplay and let hack'n'slash gameplay go unrewarded, or at least give less of a reward.
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Respectfully, I disagree. The reason people want exp is because it gives them more powerful characters. The reason they want more powerful characters is because they think it'll give them more time in the spotlight.
But interesting roleplay is a more direct light to getting more time in the spotlight. The issue is that many people have to be taught how to roleplay. GMs should encourage roleplay by giving the person the spotlight and helping them shine (have you ever heard actors say "I love to work with that other actor, he's so generous"?)
You have a point. Let me clarify my previous statements by saying that rewards do not have to be XP, although that is the more common reward. A simple statement of "Joe, I loved the way you played out your characters meeting with your elderly uncle." can go pretty far.
Roleplaying is definately a learned skill, and won't be learned without the time devoted to it. Even GMing is the same. I still get attacks of nerves the day before I run, all the way up to the session start. So I do completely agree that it is a coordinated effort between all involved.
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You have a point. Let me clarify my previous statements by saying that rewards do not have to be XP, although that is the more common reward. A simple statement of "Joe, I loved the way you played out your characters meeting with your elderly uncle." can go pretty far.
Roleplaying is definately a learned skill, and won't be learned without the time devoted to it. Even GMing is the same. I still get attacks of nerves the day before I run, all the way up to the session start. So I do completely agree that it is a coordinated effort between all involved.
I agree. Verbal rewards are the next best thing to cash. Genuine acknowledgement of someone's improvement is a sure-fire way to keep them sticking with roleplaying.