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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
How to keep players motivated (or, "change that smelly old carrot once in a while")
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<blockquote data-quote="Mouseferatu" data-source="post: 181508" data-attributes="member: 1288"><p>Hmm. On the matter of level-speed, I just wrapped up an eight-month campaign, playing an average of once a week. The characters were 12th level, but that's because I gave them a deliberate boost at one point. (They managed to bypass a few side-plots I had planned, and got to their main objective before they were technically ready. Rather than nix their idea--which was a good one--or let them be slaughtered because of a good idea, I pretty much "gave" them a level. They should have been 10th or 11th at the end there.)</p><p></p><p>But it's important to understand something. I don't use the standard XP system. I rarely have more than one major fight per game session, and I don't feel like figuring out what the CR is of every puzzle they figure out, mystery they solve, or clue they track down. So I do story awards only. That said, I try to keep a "three or four games per level" average.</p><p></p><p>I've never had a problem with "carrots," but that's because most of my campaigns have one major plotline, either entertwined with all the smaller stories or without smaller stories. In these cases, the characters have motivation already built into the campaign. In the case of my non-story-arc campaigns, I always make sure that characters have goals starting off from day one. Those goals may change over the course of the campaign, but at least they start with something specific to work toward.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mouseferatu, post: 181508, member: 1288"] Hmm. On the matter of level-speed, I just wrapped up an eight-month campaign, playing an average of once a week. The characters were 12th level, but that's because I gave them a deliberate boost at one point. (They managed to bypass a few side-plots I had planned, and got to their main objective before they were technically ready. Rather than nix their idea--which was a good one--or let them be slaughtered because of a good idea, I pretty much "gave" them a level. They should have been 10th or 11th at the end there.) But it's important to understand something. I don't use the standard XP system. I rarely have more than one major fight per game session, and I don't feel like figuring out what the CR is of every puzzle they figure out, mystery they solve, or clue they track down. So I do story awards only. That said, I try to keep a "three or four games per level" average. I've never had a problem with "carrots," but that's because most of my campaigns have one major plotline, either entertwined with all the smaller stories or without smaller stories. In these cases, the characters have motivation already built into the campaign. In the case of my non-story-arc campaigns, I always make sure that characters have goals starting off from day one. Those goals may change over the course of the campaign, but at least they start with something specific to work toward. [/QUOTE]
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How to keep players motivated (or, "change that smelly old carrot once in a while")
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