I deduct when players do something totally out of character (such as when a lawful-good character does something chaotic-evil or such) , and only enough to make a point (e.g. 5 XP). So far no one's complained.
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.Use in game mechanics for that kind, if the PC act Chaotic-Evil too much, he/she/it becomes Chaotic-Evil.
A foot massage.
i would say as far as punishing goes. I would just come up with an in game effect. So a player is interacting with someone in a wildly out of character way, have the reputation be spread that the character is unusable, and possibly insane, since they obviously have multiple personalities.
Things like that.
+1 Keep punishment & rewards in game. Keeps people in game! :P There's nothing more sweet than causing an NPC to react to poor RP :)
Well, what sort of things are they doing? If they're RPing in a way that would piss someone off, then it may very well piss someone off. They lose a contact, or get banned from entering that store by the order of the guard. Basically, RP should get an RP reward or punishment. Punishment, mind you, is not the wrath of the DM Gods, but is a reasonable response that the characters would be capable of in the game world.
RP gives RP awards, out off character metagaming gives something else I suppose.
I reward good roleplay much like deathquaker noted earlier but players that do metagame and deliberately roleplay badly do suffer from streaks of bad karma. I know I am a terrible GM.
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Boons.
Minor, but noticeable, bonus(es) to something relevant to the character's interest. Like, if one character barters a peace for the town, he gets +1 on all charisma rolls in the area, as everyone likes him/her.
Knowing there is a scooby-snack in it for the RP, players might be inclined to put down some effort.
Something I have also done, is make ability scores quite flexible. They rise and fall based on what the players do. So if a player makes a number of really stupid choices, you can remove a point of wisdom, if they refuse to talk to npcs, act just damn weird and lock themselves away to craft magic items, not being involved in the plot, -1 charisma. I've been a hikkikomori, I've been there.
That actually feels pretty severe, because you're taking away something that takes 4 levels and is worth (depending on what level you're at) anywhere between 9,000 and 2,710,000 XP!
I like the idea of awarding/deducting hero points, as many on the thread have suggested. However you run into a problem when a character with 3 hero points does something reward-worthy (or when someone with 0 hero points does something deduction-worthy).
Someone suggested giving away free re-rolls, but I think of that as basically the same vein as hero points.
Even though everyone has been resoundingly against awarding/deducting XP, I still think this is a good system. A 5 XP reward/punishment is pretty mild (considering that you could get 15 XP just by killing an everyday toad or a bat!). It sends a message without really hurting anyone in a material way.
I'll have to think about in-game rewards/punishments. They would need to be done in such a way that the players make the connection between the good/bad action and the reward/punishment.
No idea where to buy shock collars. :)
Thanks all for the suggestions!
I use a destiny point system (kind of like hero points). Do something exceptional, get a destiny point. This allows you to save a character from death or change a single die roll one of the party has rolled to any number you wish (the only way to gain new destiny points is through roleplay).
Shock collars and cookies. Give them each a shock collar to wear and bake cookies just before the game. When they do well give them a cookie. When they do poorly use the remote on the shock collar. It works very well. I mean really who doesn't like cookies? :)
Fake them out. Shock them just as they are biting into a cookie you gave them. No reason to let them get complacent.