Bonus Chips:
Pull out some poker chips. Whites are 1, Reds 5, and Blues 25.

Bonus chips have three functions in the game: 1) they are traded in to allow you to reroll a die roll, 2) they are traded in to allow you to dictate the result of a non dramatic roll, 3) they can be use to make an NPC reroll (if you the GM choose not to allow the reroll, they earn a chip), 4) they can be converted into a nominal amount of experience (50 to 100 xp for D20)

How do you earn bonus chips you ask? You do something that is a bonus to the game. You roleplay a scene well, you come up with an ingenious plan, you contribute something to the overall campaign. (An optional one is bringing your GM Pizza or suitable food bribe).

The advantage of bonus chips is that they are immediate rewards for good roleplaying or in genre roleplaying, as well as superior play in other area. They are a teaching reward; a great pavolovian training device; an obvious reward for an immediate action. All of a sudden, like the rats looking for pellets, all the players will be trying to earn these things. They will begin to try harder to earn chips, sometimes putting in more effort than they are worth. Turn it into a competition on who can earn the most in a given night. Get their own “win” natures on your side.

@Anarkeith: These two situations have been introduced when group members were starting to become frustrated. They are few and far between in actuality. Mostly, just to maintain the fun level. I do like the fame points — that sounds like a balanced option.

Giving up an encounter to keep an individual alive is a party decision, and an option not often considered. The breaking of the fellowship in LotR is an example of a party having to abandon their primary quest as a group in order to preserve as many of the individual team members as possible. Would Boromir have died if the party had not been spread out, dealing with their individual dilemmas? Did his eagerness to “level up” cause him to abandon the party at a key moment?

I’d look very carefully at the overall context of a situation before allowing my players an out like a fate point, or a re-roll. A friend of mine uses fame points, one per level (a fifth level character would have 5) that can be added to a die roll. If I recall, you can only add points up to half your level rounded down. Use of fame points must be announced before the roll is made. I think he rules your fame points reset after an extended rest. That seems a gentler nudge than a full re-roll, and continues to allow fate’s influence in the game.

I like the Self-roll idea and I think I will suggest that to my group. Thanks.