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Hello everyone

I would like your opinions on a matter
I know two guys who have different ideas on experience

One believes that XP should be doled out according to what the PCs bring to the table and how much they get into character

The other is plays more to the universal enjoyment of the game, where "levels" are handed out without awarding points and based on attaining goals.

the former rewards good RPing but may be seen as punishing those who aren't as good

the latter puts everyone on a level playing field and everyone plays to their own abilities with the goal that everyone has a good time

Game dependent. In your case I would go with XP not levels and give the second player nice round #s. Keep it simple for him if that's how he wants it, but definitely reward the people making an effort to role play (not just play) their characters.

Do a little bit of both. For example hand out 500 exp to all the characters then reward the good role players with additional exp.

One trick is if someone roleplays well, everyone gets the same amount of XP as a roleplay bonus (players are all on the same team after all, aren't they? Why score seperately?). And I don't mean the amount divided out between players - whatever you would assign the good roleplayer, everyone else gets equally.

That way the good roleplayer is helping everyone by good roleplaying, rather than being GM's pet. And if the not so good roleplayer manages something, he helps everyone and feels good about it.

Do both. Give the group XP for combat the group participates in, and individual XP as fit.

Noon wrote:One trick is if someone roleplays well, everyone gets the same amount of XP as a roleplay bonus (players are all on the same team after all, aren't they? Why score seperately?). And I don't mean the amount divided out between players - whatever you would assign the good roleplayer, everyone else gets equally.

That way the good roleplayer is helping everyone by good roleplaying, rather than being GM's pet. And if the not so good roleplayer manages something, he helps everyone and feels good about it.

Basically what we do too.

It doesn't matter so much in games where there are no 'levels' or where there is only one XP table (D20), but in games where there are many different XP tables with differing rates of advancement (1st/2nd ed AD&D, and Palladium), just handing out a level to everyone every now and then does two things. It cheats the players, as it lessens their sense of achievement. Also, it's biased towards those characters who need more XP to advance.

? I didn't mention handing out levels, I only mentioned that if one person gets XP for roleplay, everyone else gets an equal amount.

Noon wrote:? I didn't mention handing out levels, I only mentioned that if one person gets XP for roleplay, everyone else gets an equal amount.

Sorry dude, I was referring to the OP.

Noon wrote:One trick is if someone roleplays well, everyone gets the same amount of XP as a roleplay bonus (players are all on the same team after all, aren't they? Why score seperately?). And I don't mean the amount divided out between players - whatever you would assign the good roleplayer, everyone else gets equally.

That way the good roleplayer is helping everyone by good roleplaying, rather than being GM's pet. And if the not so good roleplayer manages something, he helps everyone and feels good about it.

So, basically, you penalize the good role-player and reward one who is playing poorly (or not trying cuz he knows he'll get the XP anyway)? What you're doing here is telling the good role-player that although he is playing fantastically, he isn't getting anything additional for it, while at the same time you're telling the poor role-player that he doesn't have to do anything to gain XP alongside the rest of the group. It's your game, and you play it how you want to, but I disagree with this method.

I say give out group XP for common tasks completed, but reward role-players with individual XP based on what they do individually.

I had inherited a habit from an old GM of generally giving out limited amounts of XP (part of it was balancing some powerful characters in the game). Eventually, my players grumbled, so I began keeping track on Palladium's XP sheet, awarding it exactly per the sheet's criteria. That was still too low for their tastes. Bottom line, it's probably best to talk with your players about their expectations, and yours, and come to an agreement about how to handle XP that everyone can live with.