Recording Achievements

GlassEye · Apr 11, 2012

So, Fury has been on five adventures with a bunch of different people, helped out a few people in trouble, made some friends, acquired some contacts, made some enemies, found a civic mindedness that he wasn't aware he had...

What I'm trying to figure out is what is the best way to record this information on his wiki sheet? I could write a summary of each adventure he's been on (and I started doing that) but I feel like it is a bit labor intensive for info that is still not readily accessible. I guess what I'm looking for is some succinct way to record this information and display it prominently so that when my characters (or anybody else's for that matter) do something related to it, the DM can readily find that information and use it if they want/need to do so.

Any ideas?

jkason · Apr 11, 2012

Closest I've come is to add an "NPC's Encountered" section to my wiki sheets. I figure any significant NPCs are probably linked to events in such a way that, hopefully, the mention there could lead a DM to find out more.

I'm not sure my theory is entirely valid, mind, but like I said, it was my best thought (and the only way I could think of to keep track of names, since I'm horrible at remembering them.

).

itsgottabeodin · Apr 11, 2012

I like your adventure summary idea. Maybe stick with that, but just do it in bullet points:

NPC - Met Marla the Necromancer and Jo Roth the Paladin. It wasn't pretty.
Event - Saved the world from Lawful Stupid.

Systole · Apr 11, 2012

Or maybe GMs could award "Achievements" with little tiny bonuses upon adventure completion.

Frogger - Successfully retrieved frog legs for Zitteaux. +1 to Intimidate checks against reptiles and reptilian humanoids.

jackslate45 · Apr 12, 2012

I know Living 4th Ed has something similar to this. There are some games that have an overarching quest, requiring you to play all the games. Doing so allows the pick of additional loot at the end, and additional XP.

The other thing they do is have story rewards, which allows you to call upon the favor of an NPC once. So for example, people who finished Run Away would be able to use Dellrian as a contact for something in Venza, be that information or resources (Dellrian is quite the generous half elf)

My biggest gripe with this though is characters who play in multiple games would get access to more rewards then those characters who have been in year long games or more. Example: Fury and Aradra are both the same level, but Aradra has been in 2 games compared to Fury's 5. We would need some way to keep it balanced that people in longer games are not hurt by this.

Overall though, I think it's an excellent idea.

GlassEye · Apr 12, 2012

jkason said:
Closest I've come is to add an "NPC's Encountered" section to my wiki sheets.

I noticed some time back that you were recording all the NPCs encountered on your character sheet and I think that is an excellent idea. I had planned to do the same on mine but then it slipped my mind. A couple of things I think I would add for myself is a bit on how the interaction between the character and NPC played out (e.g. Friendly, Antagonistic, etc.) and a link to the defining interaction. I know there are NPCs I've forgotten let alone how my PC felt about them at the time; this might help me remember.

itsgottabeodin said:
I like your adventure summary idea. Maybe stick with that, but just do it in bullet points:

Bullet points sound good. It's succinct and gets across the important information without having to wade through excess information. I also like the idea of adding catchy descriptive titles, like Systole used with 'Frogger'.

Systole said:
Or maybe GMs could award "Achievements" with little tiny bonuses upon adventure completion.

jackslate45 said:
The other thing they do is have story rewards, which allows you to call upon the favor of an NPC once. So for example, people who finished Run Away would be able to use Dellrian as a contact for something in Venza, be that information or resources (Dellrian is quite the generous half elf)

My biggest gripe with this though is characters who play in multiple games would get access to more rewards then those characters who have been in year long games or more. Example: Fury and Aradra are both the same level, but Aradra has been in 2 games compared to Fury's 5. We would need some way to keep it balanced that people in longer games are not hurt by this.

I like both of these ideas: sort of an 'Achievement Trait' thing that gives a very minor bonus. I agree there should be some sort of limiting factor just for the reasons you gave, jackslate. Maybe one per level? Don't know, but it's an idea worth thinking about.

jkason · Apr 12, 2012

This sounds a bit like what I think Boons are in 4e: slotless bonuses that last a certain amount of time (I think in 4e they're supposed to last a few levels?). It sounds like an interesting idea, but does seem like it might provide a few logistical complications. I'd assume boons would have to be part of the original DM proposal, but at the time of proposal, you wouldn't necessarily know if the PC's in the adventure would already be 'booned up,' and / or would level such that they could gain your own boon.

One also wonders if there might be power creep concerns attached. Possibly GE's idea to add attitudes to NPCs might be the best idea; there are already rules in place about how a Friendly NPC acts toward you as opposed to an Hostile one when asking for favors, after all. I'm not sure if this requires that the NPC sheets also reference PCs, though.

GlassEye · Apr 12, 2012

As much as I like and keep returning to the idea of Achievement Traits, as a DM and judge I think I would rather go with the simple, mechanic-free approach. Even if of limited use (an idea I'm not too fond of) and making the bonus a trait bonus to prevent ungodly stackings I'd rather not deal with the logistical complications and power creep of the idea. So, for my personal use I think I'm going with a combination of ideas suggested, something like the following but with the superscript links to the defining posts of the relationship.

Fury (for example)
• Mentor & Friend: Milo de Luca, Ranocchio representative on the Council of the People. (Friendly)^{1, 2}
• Friends?: Commander Galen Parsons of the White Cloaks. (Friendly/Indifferent)^{1, 2, 3}

Of course, if someone wants to continue to explore the idea of Achievements feel free!

Satin Knights · Apr 12, 2012

I prefer that method for the reasons you stated.

Qik · Apr 12, 2012

GlassEye said:
As much as I like and keep returning to the idea of Achievement Traits, as a DM and judge I think I would rather go with the simple, mechanic-free approach. Even if of limited use (an idea I'm not too fond of) and making the bonus a trait bonus to prevent ungodly stackings I'd rather not deal with the logistical complications and power creep of the idea. So, for my personal use I think I'm going with a combination of ideas suggested, something like the following but with the superscript links to the defining posts of the relationship.

Fury (for example)
• Mentor & Friend: Milo de Luca, Ranocchio representative on the Council of the People. (Friendly)^{1, 2}
• Friends?: Commander Galen Parsons of the White Cloaks. (Friendly/Indifferent)^{1, 2, 3}

Of course, if someone wants to continue to explore the idea of Achievements feel free!

I think that's a good way to go about it. Cross-referencing by posting similar information on the pages of those NPCs might also help prospective GMs.