Excerpt: the quest's the thing

[Logan_Bonner]

I really like this piece of art in the preview. Does anyone know who the artist is?

Howard Lyon, I believe.

 

[Voss]

"Why not give similar bonus XP for rule knowledge? Playing well with others? Bringing the most snacks?"

Bonus XP for bringing the most best snacks is an excellent idea. Our group will be implementing this as soon as possible.

I've actually seen that. And XP for in-character journal entries, and all sorts of other assymetric XP progression. Its nice for someone who does it all, but anyone who doesn't have time for it feels shafted as they fall further and further behind the power curve.

I've also had players who expected in RP award, even if they sat there and did nothing. I'm glad they didn't work those into the system.

 

[Byronic]

I'm all for Roleplaying exp. After all if you play your character well, entertain others and provide suspension of disbelief. Well that's wonderful. I'm just worried that using extrinsic rewards will eventually diminish some of the actual pleasure from doing it.

 

[JohnSnow]

I'm all for Roleplaying exp. After all if you play your character well, entertain others and provide suspension of disbelief. Well that's wonderful. I'm just worried that using extrinsic rewards will eventually diminish some of the actual pleasure from doing it.

I actually think that Action Points might be a better way to reward people for good roleplaying, entertaining actions and efforts to provide suspension of disbelief.

You're essentially rewarding the player who makes the game cooler with the ability to do more cool stuff in game. To me, that's all kinds of "win-win."

 

[MindWanderer]

I actually think that Action Points might be a better way to reward people for good roleplaying, entertaining actions and efforts to provide suspension of disbelief.

You're essentially rewarding the player who makes the game cooler with the ability to do more cool stuff in game. To me, that's all kinds of "win-win."

I really like that idea. Maybe I'll steal it at some point. My current group is pretty good, but my last group was so bad we had to make up little signs that said "In Character" for them to hold up the rare times they wanted to be serious.

 

[Nebulous]

My current group is pretty good, but my last group was so bad we had to make up little signs that said "In Character" for them to hold up the rare times they wanted to be serious.

That's funny, but kind of sad at the same time.

 

[The Little Raven]

Railroading is never a bad thing, unless you're dumb enough to let your players know they're being railroaded.

Agreed. I often use a technique that Robert Aspirin called "the magician's force" in the MythAdventure series: I'd present the players with the illusion of a choice (door 1 or door 2), but no matter their choice, things on my end remain unchanged (it's an illusionary choice to help make them feel like it was their decision to do what I had already planned). So long as you can think on your feet fast enough to tweak whatever choice they make, you can railroad your players with them none the wiser.

 

[LostSoul]

I actually think that Action Points might be a better way to reward people for good roleplaying, entertaining actions and efforts to provide suspension of disbelief.

You're essentially rewarding the player who makes the game cooler with the ability to do more cool stuff in game. To me, that's all kinds of "win-win."

I played The Shadow of Yesterday last night. That game gives each player (including the DM) one "gift die" per person at the table. You give those gift dice to other players to roll whenever you want to.

You could do the same thing in D&D: another d20 to roll, take the better result.

 

[LostSoul]

Agreed. I often use a technique that Robert Aspirin called "the magician's force" in the MythAdventure series: I'd present the players with the illusion of a choice (door 1 or door 2), but no matter their choice, things on my end remain unchanged (it's an illusionary choice to help make them feel like it was their decision to do what I had already planned). So long as you can think on your feet fast enough to tweak whatever choice they make, you can railroad your players with them none the wiser.

That's just wrong.

 

[marune]

That's just wrong.

You're so right