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ShortQuests -- Pocket Sized Adventures! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed for 1-2 game sessions.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gorgon Zee" data-source="post: 9872920" data-attributes="member: 75787">Metacurrency as a mechanical resourceThis is the use of a currency as a resource; used to modify a mechanical effect. Like burning extra effort, a re-roll, an auto-success or a modification to a resolution technique. I'm generally a fan of this -- it gives a player a chance to signal when things are important to them and to grab some spotlight time when things go well. An example from real-world is the "hot streak" in sports, where the belief is that a player has a streak where they are performing better than they usually do -- without a strong reason why they are doing better.Metacurrency as a creative resourceDuring a session, both players and GM will be creating stuff all the time. If absolutely no creation is happening at the table, then all the players are doing is choosing from a set of pre-defined options, and that seems antithetical to the base concept of roleplaying games. Now a lot of in-game creativity is fairly light -- the player looks for a way into the house, and the GM invents a second-story window. Also the GM is very typically the final arbiter of the game, so a player might suggest something creative that gets vetoed ("I go buy a crowbar"; "sorry, no such shop exists in this village"). But in the games I enjoy, players create more than just trivial stuff, and the GM encourages player creativity. Honestly, it seems a bit egoistical to think that the GM is the only group member who can create anything important.Now, in pretty much every game I've played, players will just do this. They'll suggest there's an inn nearby, or ask the GM if the Duke has a platoon stationed nearby. Meta-currencies, I think, are a helpful resource for managing this creative process. For me, the biggest advantage is that it encourages players to contribute equally. Without a currency, it's often one or two players who create stuff and the rest might feel that they aren't great at that, so they don't try. Meta-currencies counter this trend as players hate to waste a resource so it both limits the very active creators, and also encourages the less active creators. Another advantage is that these systems also typically have rules that help define the impact of a creative effort, so it helps players and GMs come to a shared understanding of the size of the proposed effort.</blockquote>

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