Quantifiable, non-XP, role-playing rewards

[Slabtown Jake]

Prime Time Adventures used a neat little mechanic called Fan Mail. They could be turned in to get an additional card during resolution (PTA used cards instead of dice), but one cool aspect was how you got them.

There was a small pile of Fan Mail tokens (we used poker chips) in a bowl in the the middle of the table. Whenever a character did something awesome, or hilarious, or just so gloriously in-character that it couldn't be ignored, any other player could grab a piece of Fan Mail from the bowl and award it to the player in question.

That meant the GM didn't have to remember to award bonuses on top of all the other stuff s/he was doing, and by democratizing the process, it meant that there generally wasn't any player/GM tension if someone happened to not get any during a given session... they just knew they needed to step up their game to compete with the others.

(Of course, this sort of mechanic is susceptible to powergaming, so that's something the GM should watch out for and be ready to nip in the bud.)

 

[KingSoft]

I like the idea of players and not the dm offering the role playing rewards. I still use "Belief Points" from 2nd edtion Planescape, and its just basically points you can rping your PC's convictions (especially if they make a sacrifice). Then you can use them to negate something bad that happened to your char, failed save or whatever.

At the end of every session I always get into a small argumenst with my players over how many belief points they get, so making it democratic would remove me from that argument and would encourage the players to role play off each other

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=82655]KingSoft[/MENTION] Wow! I can't believe you use belief points from the old Planewalker's Handbook! That's awesome, you have earned serious Planescape cred

One thing I've done is replace minor quest XP rewards (I play 4e) with rewards unique to the individual PCs; for example, in an upcoming adventure the PCs each receive a minor quest card which lists potential reward for completing the quest.

For the fighter's quest to defend a wrongly accused master weaponsmith's daughter, it's a magic weapon fashioned from the dragon bone he's been carrying around since they killed a red dragon.

For the bard's quest to get into the good graces of the notoriously hard to please Vandahar noble family, it's a choice of 2 "Signs of Influence" from the skald build of the bard in Heroes of the Feywild. These are RP things like Attract Attendants, Demand Audience, Travel in Style, etc.

For the druid's quest to conceal or represent a group of good werewolves (lythari, silver shadows) who face persecution from a human lord, it's the ability to turn into a silver shadow OR a one time boon to summon a pack of 6 silver shadows for help.

And so on.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Thanks all! I'm going to get back to this thread with some more thoughts sometime in the next few days.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Hey thanks everyone! Fun ideas. It's taken me longer to get back to this thread than I intended, but I have more thoughts.

One of the reasons I've wanted to generally steer clear of the bennies type of system (for D&D, at least) is simply because it increases character effectiveness, and hence reduces game difficulty (unless I either compensate--turning the benefit into an illusion, or anticipate--which feels similar).

But I do like the idea of giving authorial control to the players. Here is my current unfinished line of thinking.

1. I can hand out a special type of XP that doesn't go into your character's XP total. I'm referring to it as "bonus XP" at the moment, but unsatisfied with that term. Each character acquire a pool of bonus XP as a reward for selected things.
2. This bonus XP can be spent to purchase world-customization input. Examples might include:
a) Rerolls on items of random treasure, and the character gets the item that I think would be most desirable to him.
b) Personal connection requests. "I'd like to have a connection in this next town," and then I create such a connection. It might be a member of his family happens to be there, or a barkeep owes his childhood best friend (who he talks about when drunk) a favor. Or even a nemesis has a spy in that town that is likely to run into him.
c) An opportunity. This might mean I design a chance for romance, or an opportunity to open a business, or to a clue to how to find a staff of the magi since the character has wanted one ever since they became a mage.
3. These customization benefits are intended to have the minimum impact on actual character effectiveness, and instead reward them with greater connection to the world. Some degree of effectiveness is virtually unavoidable. Having a magic item you can use is better than having one you can't, for instance, even if the items are of similar value. However, things such as potentially cursed treasure, hostile connections, and opportunities with unexpected risks (opportunities for adventure!) should keep the effectiveness increase to a minimum (hopefully).
4. These options are always additive. If I had already planned for the PC noble to have a family member in town, it doesn't count as the reward. They would get an additional connection if they bought one.
5. Because I like to limit the authorial control aspect in my D&D games, the players never request specifics. Instead, they purchase a category of benefit, and I as the DM determine how it manifests. It also is always purchased ahead of time. Once the PCs have seen the treasure, they can't ask me to reroll it.

How does this sound as far as meeting my goals? Any pitfalls I can't see? Suggestions for improvements or categories?

Thanks for all the great input!

 

[Balesir]

(Of course, this sort of mechanic is susceptible to powergaming, so that's something the GM should watch out for and be ready to nip in the bud.)

The PTA Fan Mail system is great, and I think you'll find it has a "built in" counter to powergaming tendencies. Every Fan Mail point that is spent goes into a pot for the GM to use. In other words, what you take in bonuses the "opposition" ("monsters" in D&D, but PTA doesn't really have monsters, as such) gets, too; getting Fan Mail circulating makes for more player control over when they get extra "oomph" plus a more hectic/exciting/dramatic game, not just extra power for the PCs.

Because I like to limit the authorial control aspect in my D&D games, the players never request specifics. Instead, they purchase a category of benefit, and I as the DM determine how it manifests. It also is always purchased ahead of time. Once the PCs have seen the treasure, they can't ask me to reroll it.

I only just caught this thread and I was about to suggest adding player "plot power" points, but this sort of thing would work sort of similarly - glad you parsed it in a way that'll work for your preferences. Another thing to consider, maybe, is to allow the players to buy the right to make one (in character, maybe) statement and have it be true. You might even make this boon cost 2-3 points. It doesn't mean that you can't add "complications" to the truth stated, but I'd recommend against flat out invalidating it. It works best, obviously, for plot and character "facts" rather than mechanical "facts" (and should never be allowed to change the game rules).

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I only just caught this thread and I was about to suggest adding player "plot power" points, but this sort of thing would work sort of similarly - glad you parsed it in a way that'll work for your preferences. Another thing to consider, maybe, is to allow the players to buy the right to make one (in character, maybe) statement and have it be true. You might even make this boon cost 2-3 points. It doesn't mean that you can't add "complications" to the truth stated, but I'd recommend against flat out invalidating it. It works best, obviously, for plot and character "facts" rather than mechanical "facts" (and should never be allowed to change the game rules).

That doesn't really give me the feel I like in D&D, but in my own system I do use something similar to that. You can either get the best possible result on an action, declare an event in the world, or change the results of unfortunate fate.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I like to hand out small character advancement outside of the normal rules.

For example, in a 3e campaign the PCs were on a several week ocean journey, during which they got to choose how to spend their "downtime". One character chose to spend his time with the navigator, because he thought it would be interesting to know it. Two spent time hanging with the deck crew. The last, a wizard, spent his time in his cabin poring over his books. We had an hour or so of fun role-playing as this happened, but nothing involving danger to the party.

I doled out...
Navigator: +2 to whatever skill in 3e is used to not get lost (I forget its name)
Crewmen: +3 to Profession: Sailor (I gave a higher bonus because I deem it a less useful skill)
Wizard: Congrats, you perfected that spell you were working on...pick out a new spell and add it to your spellbook.

So, small character benefit based on the actions chosen during the scene.