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

[Retreater]

My fiancée and I had nearly a three hour conversation about what I should do to improve my next campaign, whenever it comes around.

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.

How do you make the game more than just a "greatest hits" of an adventure when using milestone? Or should I go with XP awards and not give XP to those who miss?

The concern is that I'm getting ready to run an AP, and I don't want characters to have to level grind to get to the appropriate level for the game.

 

[iserith]

If you're running an adventure path, you'll want to do story-based advancement (DMG p. 261) or, maybe, milestone XP in my view if you're able to tie experience points directly and explicitly to goals, discoveries, events, or challenges. The tricky part with that is what to do when a player is present for some but not all of the lead up to achieving those things. If they miss the session when the milestone is reached, do they get the XP? You'll have to figure that part out, not to mention that they might be under-leveled for the challenges presented in the AP if you care about that sort of thing.

But neither of those are going to incentivize attendance in my view. You want session-based advancement (also DMG p. 261) for that or regular XP.

 

[Tallifer]

I use milestone XP, but I use a slow XP track and individual XP. Bounded accuracy means no one really falls far behind even if their level falls behind.

I also award bonus XP for journals, backgrounds, maps, sketches and party item lists. The slow milestone XP means that the bonus XP for participation means a lot. Unfortunately the occasional player will only whine about the slow milestone XP and even give that as a reason never to submit a journal. Everyone else is cool however.

 

[lall]

I don’t. Imagine having friends over to watch a game or to just chill, and at the end of the evening, in front of everyone, giving the more engaging guests $20 each. If I was one of the guests, I wouldn’t come back as being a trained monkey isn’t my shtick.

 

[Oofta]

I don't worry about it. I just use milestone leveling (basically) but hopefully people show up because they enjoy the game. That should be incentive enough.

If an individual isn't showing up on a regular basis, that may be something to discuss with them. But people are busy and we're just playing to have fun. Unless they never show up, I don't see why it's an issue.

 

[uzirath]

With mature adults, I don’t bother with these sorts of incentives. I try to make each session exciting and memorable enough that everyone wants to be there. If someone regularly can’t make it, I’ll check in with them individually to see what’s up. Similarly, if someone is a drag at the table (on their phone, not paying attention, etc.), I’d have a chat and remind them (gently) that we have a lot of people who’d love to join the game.

 

[Don Durito]

The reward for participation is fun.

 

[Nebulous]

I've just used pure milestone since somewhere early 3e. The players show up to have fun, and use their imagination and prowess to not die. That's reward enough for them. Arbitrary XP numbers don't really matter.

 

[iserith]

By virtue of how it is structured, session-based advancement (or regular XP) is an incentive to show up and play.

Whether or not a given player or group of players buys into that is a different question.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I don't use milestone. It encourages slackness.

If you don't show, you don't get Honor (xp).

If you do show, you get a base number of Honor, with bonuses for contribution. In addition, I award Fate Coins (actual coins) for good roleplay or ideas. Honor is given out in secret, on slips of paper, at the start of each session (for the last session played).

The core of my group has had me as a GM since 2002. Most are in their late 30s early 40s.

Of course, all of us have a sports background, so playing without a score is unthinkable.