One of said most persistent reflections is our habit of endlessly repeating the same mistakes. It is because of this that the hobby keeps repeating the same set of discussions even after 40 years.
This time, in my twitter feed, once again someone asked people how do they adjudicate XP for "roleplaying."
Ok, context: Back in the days of yore, all we had was d&d, a game that, for almost 40 years now, has only given XP for stabbing people in the face, and while sure, the DMG grants cute, "token" awards like 40XP (or something in that vein) for "roleplaying," the truth of the matter is that once you're level 5 and "roleplaying" still gives you 40 XP while stabbing a monster in the face gives you 4000XP, then stabbing people in the face is all your players will care about.
Is this a flaw in d&d's design? No, because breaking in people's houses, stabbing the owners in the face, and looting everything that isn't bolted down is exactly what the game is all about. D&D was originally an offshoot of a miniatures' game and its focus has always been combat, everything else is afterthought.
Now, here's the part where somebody else surely says "what about giving roleplaying XP in terms of fractions of a level"? Sure, that sounds more fair for task that doesn't go "up" or "down" with level. However, hear my counter-proposal:
Why are we supposed to give XP for roleplaying AT ALL?
"Roleplaying" is what the whole thing is about. If you're not roleplaying then what are you even doing at the table? We're at the table because we like roleplaying, and not everything you do at the game needs to be rewarded (Call of Duty doesn't warrant match points for every bullet fired, does it?)
Furthermore, giving uneven "roleplay awards" turns the most basic part of the hobby into a competition, I don't care for the more domineering players constantly trying to upstage each other while making the more introverted players further hide in their shell (unwittingly erasing them).
Roleplaying is a team sport, not a competition.
Deny all you want, but learned behaviors are a thing. If people are consistently rewarded for doing an action, they'll be increasingly inclined to do it again and again (unless it's something they actively hate to do). Running a game where the biggest reward is for eating someone else only to kick and scream because your character party turns your game into Lord of the Flies goes beyond folly, it's solipsistic (make that double if that's actually the only thing in game that grants actual XP, see Vampire: The Masquerade 5E).
A Solution: Equal XP
There were a few things dnd 4E did right, and one of them was stating that, at all times, XP was to be always evenly distributed among all party members, even if a player wasn't part of a scene, or even if the player didn't show up that session (furthermore, if a PC died, the replacement character would be of the same level and XP as the rest, losing a character is punishing enough to be forever forced behind the curve also, that's only piling insult upon injury). The people who complain about Equal XP for everyone remind me of those that oppose wiping student debt by saying that "it would be unfair to those who already paid theirs."
Once again for those in the back: Roleplay is a team sport, not capitalism. Only bad GMs intentionally pit players against each other, nothing ever gets done that way.
