D&D 5E How Do You Reward Attendance and Participation?

[Jd Smith1]

If one or more of the OP's players are being lax about attending the game because they've communicated something to the extent of: "It doesn't matter if we show, since we're getting levels/XP anyhow, so why worry about showing up? I might miss a dozen sessions and come back in and join at, say, 12th level when I get the powers I want." ...I would not want that player anywhere near my table, personally speaking.

That wasn't the sort of player I was referring to; I value players who take getting levels seriously. I bold-faced the part of the post I was replying to.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I reward attendance and participation with a game.

All player's are kept at the same XP total so that I don't end up with disparate levels. This means that if 4 out of 5 players make a game and they all level, so does the 5th player. If we have a 6th player join then they start out at the same level as everyone else.

If everyone gets the same thing, is that really a reward? Isn't it more like a participation award?

 

[Quickleaf]

That wasn't the sort of player I was referring to; I value players who take getting levels seriously.

The OP seems to be implying – though I do suggest he step in to clarify - exactly what I was referring to with this quote:

I have been using milestone XP for several years now, which (I feel) has at least partially contributed to apathy from several players. (Why bother making an effort to come if you get all the character rewards anyway?) Also, it's made players want to rush through content, avoid side quests and exploration, roleplaying encounters, and wandering monsters.

 

[Jd Smith1]

The OP seems to be implying – though I do suggest he step in to clarify - exactly what I was referring to with this quote:

Yeah, but I bolded, and responded to, this part:
If you have players putting Getting Levels ahead of all those other things, well, I'll be blunt: Why would choose to play with players like that?

 

[generic]

With XP, I suppose. If you don't come, you don't get levels.

And trust me, the type of people I play with love getting levels.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Let me rephrase the OP to see if I get the problem right. He has attendance issues AND wonders whether milestone XP has caused that and what sort of bennies should reward attendance.

I see XP as the WORST form of attendance reward. Why do characters need XP (I am postulating D&D where XP = power level)? In my opinion, they need it to (a) have a sense of achievement (b) reach a power-level higher so the stories told can slowly change. It's not just a question of becoming more powerful, as characters tend to meet level-appropriate monsters anyway. But, your 3rd level party should be daunted by a trip through the desert to bring back a special spice from an oasis, while your 15th level team will just teleport there (or give a scroll to an hireling to do that, they have more important, world-changing events to take part in).

If you deprive low-attendance players from XP, and they are motivated by (b)... they just lose effectiveness and can't take part in the story. They'll soon complain and it will divorce them more from the story and reduce their enjoyment of the game, making them less susceptible to attend.

If they are motive by (a), it might work to give XP to people attending, but I'd fear of having them being too squishy, because then they'll be an hinderance to the group and not an asset. So the feeling of achievement you get from reaching 10th level would be strongly lessened if everyone else is 12th and they are usually the ones to be revived at the end of each fight.

I'd say that an XP penalty for not showing up risks ENCOURAGING people to not show up.

Personnally, I use another type of benny: story involvement. If someone is attending, he's usually interacting more with NPCs, so as a GM I can get the hint of what the PLAYER enjoy and put more of it in the next adventures. People who can't attend as much see less stories revolving around their character (but can still have fun whenever they are here) simply because they lack the opportunity to establish their characters goal (I am playing thinking mostly of sandbox-type games).

That, and I am first and foremost playing with friends. So we attend because we want to hang together, and I don't need an incentive to see my friends when not GMing, so usually, when people are not coming, it's more a question of real life getting in the way than lack of motivation...

Edit to add: on the other hand, I also felt sometimes that story-based advancement encouraged PCs to avoid some tangents... It's not necessarily a problem as long as they have fun but I always found it disappointing...

 

[cbwjm]

If everyone gets the same thing, is that really a reward? Isn't it more like a participation award?

The reward is in the fun in playing the game. The only thing the same is the level, everything that happens in game is not the same. Players that don't attend miss out on the experience and that experience could be moving along player and campaign goals or it could be acquisition of items. I've long since passed the point where I think that granting XP only to players who make it on game night, thereby creating a level imbalance, is a good reward for attendance.

 

[ccs]

Well in my games if you're absent:

• You don't gain xp for that evening.
• You don't generally get treasure (splitting treasure is up to the players, but they very rarely share with those not present),
• The more you're absent, the less important you are to the story.

 

[Oofta]

Something this thread makes obvious is that not everyone plays for the same reason. Not every DM is going to be the best fit for every player.

I wouldn't want a player that cares about XP so much that they show up for a game when they otherwise wouldn't.

That doesn't make it wrong, just they wouldn't be a good fit for my table.

 

[generic]

Something this thread makes obvious is that not everyone plays for the same reason. Not every DM is going to be the best fit for every player.

I wouldn't want a player that cares about XP so much that they show up for a game when they otherwise wouldn't.

That doesn't make it wrong, just they wouldn't be a good fit for my table.

It's not that my players care so much about XP, well, one of them does. It's that I simply don't reward players for not engaging with the story by not attending.

I'm not holding XP over them, but they're not going to receive any if they don't attend, as it is a mark of character progression in terms of abilities (though not in terms of story).

I'm not exactly an extremist.