Ok, you asked two questions so I'll respond to them in order:
1) 25 Xp times level (bond, ideal, flaw to make a meaningful impact, developed new meaningful relationship, attuned to a magical item, used a skill to solve a problem in an interesting or meaningful way, a character discovered an interesting piece of info and/or lore about the world or an NPC, action made a major impact on the world or local area, for better or worse)
This is the basic metric I use for awarding xp based on RP. It doesn't always provide a lot (though sometimes it does) but it has encouraged interaction to an extent at least. One point I would say about the first option is my players don't normally remember their own bonds, etc so I would say change that to 'doing something that's in character of their character' - it may take a bit of time for you and them to learn what is 'in character' for their characters.
2) I have a few things to say on this point so bear with me:
a) In the early sessions of my first campaign I had this same problem. In the beginning my players were just more interested in combat and gaining xp (most of them are gamers). However, as we've progressed we've learned the fun of silly interactions - it helps that we managed to some excellent social roleplayers and one or two wonderful agents of chaos who make things crazy and fun - I don't know what level of dnd experience your players have but be patient with them regardless. The joys of RP should become apparent as you progress. However, I tried a few things to encourage RP, one of them being the above XP system.
b) I talked to my players. I constantly asked them what elements of the game they were enjoying and what they wanted to see more/less of. I also asked them their opinions on social RP. Finally, I never pushed them to be critical role roleplayers - more than half my group still RPs their characters using their own voice and some of them have expressed worry to me about that - the important thing to tell them whatever level of RP their comfortable is fine, once they, and everyone else, are having fun.
c) Roleplay yourself - my experience is people are shy about RP. One way you can try and make them less shy is to do it yourself. Do silly voices, make odd characters, show them how RP can be fun (but make sure to continually remind them that whatever level of RP they're comfortable with is fine).
d) make lore useful - either for xp as above or just show them the necessity of knowing info, e.g. maybe there's a certain ghost that they can't kill and they're forced to flee, but they notice the ghost doesn't pursue past a certain point - these are your curiosity hooks. Then either implicitly (perhaps through a random helpful NPC) or explicitly let them know they need to do research to find out how to exorcise this ghost (just a random off the top of my head example)
e) find what they like - I found what made RP enjoyable for my players was letting them see how fun it could be - through silly interactions primarily but that could vary from group to group. Other groups might prefer serious, intense LOTR style RP perhaps - and by examining their characters for RP options. For example, our rogue loves money and gambling. So I set up things like a casino (you can find some great games on the internet) or a fight ring, and put more detail into my shopkeepers so they had to negotiate for deals. They really enjoyed it.
f) lastly, as others have suggested, try to make RP necessary situations - negotiations, info gathering, etc.
Hope some of this helps. Best of luck with the game.
Just like every DM (I believe), I like it when my players Role play with each other, or with NPCs. But after 10 sessions I realized that there's a problem in the way to WHY my players don't do that much: They want to level up, they want to get stronger, and perhaps in their mind, role playing is just something in the way, delaying the process - it's not like they don't like to do it.
And so I tought about rewarding them EXP for when they RP - and telling them that. But, how to do it? How much EXP? How to determine what's a "RP" worth rewarding or not?
Anyway, how to motivate Role playing? It doesn't even need to be rewarded with EXP, it can be something else. But at least two of my players are EXP hungry and try to speed up things that "are in the way".
Hey Licozo,
I know this post is over three years old now, but your question about motivating roleplaying is still super relevant to DMs today. That struggle with players who are XP-hungry and see roleplaying as something that slows them down is incredibly common. They're on a mission to level up, and anything that isn't combat feels like a detour.
What I've found incredibly effective for motivating roleplaying is exactly what you were thinking: rewarding them with XP for it. It's all about that positive reinforcement. When they see their efforts in character-driven decisions, engaging with NPCs, or adding depth to the story actually contribute to their leveling, it shifts their perspective. It also helps them progress a bit faster, which keeps those XP-hungry players happy!
To answer your questions about "how to do it" and "how much EXP," I actually built a little web app for myself to make this process easy. I wanted something that felt like an XP cash register for roleplaying. It breaks down different tiers of roleplaying into granular amounts, each with a set XP value that is scaled to character levels automatically. So you have clear categories for what qualifies, and how much to give. Each character has their own column, and you just tap a button to assign them the appropriate XP. It tracks everything for you throughout the session or campaign, so you don't have to pause the game for calculations.
A few of my players mentioned I should put it online for other DMs to use, so I've done just that. It's completely free, and if you're interested, you can check it out here: https://parliamentar.net/rpxp/
I'm really curious to know, for those DMs who like to give roleplaying XP, whether this specific tool is helpful for you in your games. And Licozo, since it's been a while, I'm wondering: did you ever find a solution that worked for you in the end? Any thoughts or feedback on the tracker itself are welcome!
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Ok, you asked two questions so I'll respond to them in order:
1) 25 Xp times level (bond, ideal, flaw to make a meaningful impact, developed new meaningful relationship, attuned to a magical item, used a skill to solve a problem in an interesting or meaningful way, a character discovered an interesting piece of info and/or lore about the world or an NPC, action made a major impact on the world or local area, for better or worse)
This is the basic metric I use for awarding xp based on RP. It doesn't always provide a lot (though sometimes it does) but it has encouraged interaction to an extent at least. One point I would say about the first option is my players don't normally remember their own bonds, etc so I would say change that to 'doing something that's in character of their character' - it may take a bit of time for you and them to learn what is 'in character' for their characters.
2) I have a few things to say on this point so bear with me:
a) In the early sessions of my first campaign I had this same problem. In the beginning my players were just more interested in combat and gaining xp (most of them are gamers). However, as we've progressed we've learned the fun of silly interactions - it helps that we managed to some excellent social roleplayers and one or two wonderful agents of chaos who make things crazy and fun - I don't know what level of dnd experience your players have but be patient with them regardless. The joys of RP should become apparent as you progress. However, I tried a few things to encourage RP, one of them being the above XP system.
b) I talked to my players. I constantly asked them what elements of the game they were enjoying and what they wanted to see more/less of. I also asked them their opinions on social RP. Finally, I never pushed them to be critical role roleplayers - more than half my group still RPs their characters using their own voice and some of them have expressed worry to me about that - the important thing to tell them whatever level of RP their comfortable is fine, once they, and everyone else, are having fun.
c) Roleplay yourself - my experience is people are shy about RP. One way you can try and make them less shy is to do it yourself. Do silly voices, make odd characters, show them how RP can be fun (but make sure to continually remind them that whatever level of RP they're comfortable with is fine).
d) make lore useful - either for xp as above or just show them the necessity of knowing info, e.g. maybe there's a certain ghost that they can't kill and they're forced to flee, but they notice the ghost doesn't pursue past a certain point - these are your curiosity hooks. Then either implicitly (perhaps through a random helpful NPC) or explicitly let them know they need to do research to find out how to exorcise this ghost (just a random off the top of my head example)
e) find what they like - I found what made RP enjoyable for my players was letting them see how fun it could be - through silly interactions primarily but that could vary from group to group. Other groups might prefer serious, intense LOTR style RP perhaps - and by examining their characters for RP options. For example, our rogue loves money and gambling. So I set up things like a casino (you can find some great games on the internet) or a fight ring, and put more detail into my shopkeepers so they had to negotiate for deals. They really enjoyed it.
f) lastly, as others have suggested, try to make RP necessary situations - negotiations, info gathering, etc.
Hope some of this helps. Best of luck with the game.
Hey Licozo,
I know this post is over three years old now, but your question about motivating roleplaying is still super relevant to DMs today. That struggle with players who are XP-hungry and see roleplaying as something that slows them down is incredibly common. They're on a mission to level up, and anything that isn't combat feels like a detour.
What I've found incredibly effective for motivating roleplaying is exactly what you were thinking: rewarding them with XP for it. It's all about that positive reinforcement. When they see their efforts in character-driven decisions, engaging with NPCs, or adding depth to the story actually contribute to their leveling, it shifts their perspective. It also helps them progress a bit faster, which keeps those XP-hungry players happy!
To answer your questions about "how to do it" and "how much EXP," I actually built a little web app for myself to make this process easy. I wanted something that felt like an XP cash register for roleplaying. It breaks down different tiers of roleplaying into granular amounts, each with a set XP value that is scaled to character levels automatically. So you have clear categories for what qualifies, and how much to give. Each character has their own column, and you just tap a button to assign them the appropriate XP. It tracks everything for you throughout the session or campaign, so you don't have to pause the game for calculations.
A few of my players mentioned I should put it online for other DMs to use, so I've done just that. It's completely free, and if you're interested, you can check it out here: https://parliamentar.net/rpxp/
I'm really curious to know, for those DMs who like to give roleplaying XP, whether this specific tool is helpful for you in your games. And Licozo, since it's been a while, I'm wondering: did you ever find a solution that worked for you in the end? Any thoughts or feedback on the tracker itself are welcome!