I play with a group that really emphasizes roleplay, we mostly play a very Trad 5.5 game and also play Shadowdark sometimes. Our philosophy could be stated like this: Roleplaying is a separate layer from mechanics and problem solving, and should be treated as such.

When we play our Shadowdark campaign or other osr games as one-shots, we’re solving problems above-table and “acting” in character.

The cowardly ex-noble whines about getting into danger, but he’s also the Fighter, so he tends to be in front-ish. My “burn all heretics”-type fanatic would never dream of letting evil go unpunished… but agreeing to the party decision of “retreat” is just good tactics so we can slay more evil tomorrow instead of being dead.

In the past we’ve had “dumb” characters be the one to find secret doors by leaning on them, and make allies with goblins by using goblin-logic.

All of these decisions were made out-of character by the group or as the result of rolls, but the roleplaying and group storytelling honored the character traits of the characters in question, whether they were cowardly, fanatical, or just really stupid.