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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Errant" data-source="post: 2235408" data-attributes="member: 1926">Have you asked what your players consider to be heroic?My opinion? Heroism is making or risking a personal sacrifice for the benefit of others with little chance of survival and/or reward.Is it how the campaign/villain is set up? Partly. Is it how the PCs choose to act? Just as much.I think the most heroic thing any of my players ever did was when a ranger willingly gave his prized flame tongue longsword to some villagers that had been plagued by trolls and undead, knowing they could give him nothing for it. I knew the player loved that sword but the villagers explained they could pretend he was still around protecting the village even after he had to leave, and he immediately handed it over without a word! And this was AFTER he had already lept off the town wall, into a group of trolls and undead pounding on the gates with a ram during a night time attack - alone, without most of his armor after rushing out of bed to join the defense. He barely survived.When the alarm went up the ranger COULD have taken the time to put all his armor on, but he grabbed his sword, maybe a shield and ran straight to the walls because he could hear the villagers on the wall already locked in combat. He COULD have stayed on the walls and kept shooting arrows at the trolls like the rest of the defenders. He COULD have told the villagers he needed the sword for his ongoing quest. I set up the scenario - the PCs were on their way to a remote monsters lair several days away when they came across an isolated village of foresters surrounded by undead. Clearing the zombies circling the town proved easy (they had been ordered to attack anyone leaving the village, being mindless they didn't react well to a new, outside threat). Defending the village when it was attacked that night by orcs, trolls and more undead  was harder.The player chose his actions. Choosing to risk himself again and again because innocents were threatened by forces they couldn't alone survive. On top of that he chose to sacrifice his most prized possession with no sign of any thought for reward.Although all of the PCs helped defend the village the ranger risked himself the most, by far. I recognised that when I described the aftermath - many villagers wounded and a handful slain but most survived, all very grateful, thanks to the PCs' aid. I even exploited the ranger's heroism when the villagers asked for his sword so they could pretend he was still around leading the defence after he'd gone. Finally I rewarded the ranger's heroism when a "minor cleric" travelling with the group revealed himself to be a movanic deva, an emissary sent by his god to judge his worthiness (after a previous adventure nearly doomed the world, long story). The deva replaced the ranger's sword with his own (stronger sword - hey, I was impressed) and left to report the ranger's worthiness.In my experience players often take a mission and choose the easiest route with the greatest chance of reward. Fine. Most of the time. Sometimes though you have to set it up so that the PCs have a reason to rush or take risks, the less the chance of reward, the more heroic their actions. Sure, metagaming, the players will expect to be rewarded, but they don't have to be rewarded with treasure or magic. NPC recognition is great (I love Rel's baker example, gotta think of a way to use that!). Hope something I said helps.[edited grammar <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/paranoid.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":uhoh:" title="Paranoid    :uhoh:" data-shortname=":uhoh:" />]</blockquote>

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