Motivation in Low Magic

[barsoomcore]

Um, story?

If your campaign is compelling enough, and your players eager enough, the story alone can be all you need. You need a group that actually wants to play this way, of course; folks who are in it for the hack n slash and cool twinks (no disparagement intended) are going to lose interest unless there's cool twinks for them to hook on to.

 

[Eosin the Red]

Thanks Bar.... I was hoping that I was not the only one thinking "wow...what about the story?" What about the chace at revenge on the man who killed "my father." Why not have motivation for a game that amounts to defend our people from the giants?

It sounds like the motivation most often used is the video game "get good stuff" kinda thing but FTF games don't have to rely on that tactic since there is so much more interaction and interactivness at the table.

 

[Darklone]

There's not much the others didn't mention yet... some details:
- Old Ones bonded weapons work very nicely if they retain a little bit of their former owners mentality.
- Barsoomcores storything: Most important. Let your players delve into medieval intrigues that rival GRR Martins Song of Ice and Fire and they won't ask for more treasure. Contacts and allies can be a substitute for magic items.

 

[Li Shenron]

IMXP, the character advancement has been a much greater motivation than loot.

Also, if the setting is low-magic the players should feel effectively more rewarded when founding a magic item every now and then, compared to how they could feel about it if they find a wand or ring at every corner. Unless they are too much used to PCG, of course

 

[Numion]

(1) As Crothian mentions above, make even the mundane valuable. In the backwater abandoned Imperial provinces of my Faded Glory campaign, lorica hamata (chainmail) and a well-made gladius are a very valuable fine, since all but the richest are limited to studded leather and a hand-me-down spear.

But in non-magical items the differences are pretty minor. So, in your world it's a precious thing to have a gladius (some type of short sword, no?). Does the PC having gladius think so too, when the dude with the spear isn't much worse off?

The one with the spear will actually deal more damage since he can get 1.5 STR mod to damage for wielding it 2-handed

 

[hong]

The problem with lots of loot in a low magic world is that players don't want to blow all of their loot on ale and whores, <u>despite</u> their characters' best interests.

ITYM "because", HTH!

 

[Soundbyte]

In the past I've instituted a reputation system similar in appearance to the one used by the Fallout computer games. Basically for every town, region, organization, I keep an entry updated as to what the party's reputation is in relation to that entity. I keep the actual workings of the system hidden from the PCs, but I give them a fairly good idea of what their reputation is in the different areas.

Because I've linked certain benefits to a high reputation (lower prices, free stuff, and all-around better treatment), they often will regard the reputation system as a motivator. They do something that people like, and their reputation goes up. They do something people are distasteful of (on purpose or not) and their reputation goes down. It's extra work, but it gives the PCs a feeling of being more involved in the game world, and it gives them something to strive for.

The secondary benefit is that it provides a reward system for "non-adventuring" activities. In one campaign, the PCs saw a huge reputation spike in one town and surrounding areas after they pitched in and used their skills to lessen the damage caused by natural forces (flooding).

I agree with the above posts though, story is key, as the best motivations tend to be the ones that PCs set for themselves ... you can only get them to chase the carrot for so long, regardless of what kind of carrot you use.

Just my $0.02,

Soundbyte

 

[Gnarlo]

Kill them and take their stuff still works, it just leads to more of an old school type dungeon romp where the PCs bring wagons and mules to the dungeon so they can cart out the tables, the door fixtures, all the weapons and tattered armor, and anything else they can possibly sell.

 

[Desdichado]

I've never really found this to be an issue. Then again, I've played a lot of games where both levelling up and gaining magic items were entirely inappropriate (Cthulhu, for instance, or Dark*Matter) so maybe it's just a question of taste.

I've never found motivating the players via treasure and goodies was necessary.

 

[Mallus]

This...

Positions of authority. Keeps. Towers. Land. Armies. Libraries and universities.

plus that...

Um, story

.

I have yet to to find a group that doesn't grove on influence over the game world [and a castle/army or two would be nice]. Coupled with the sense that solution to the problems at hand aren't mapped out for them [by the DM] and that their actions, however clever or inane, will have an effect on the world they're occupying. Easy in theory, harder in practice.

And it really doesn't matter how much magic is present in the game. Once players get a taste of a more dynamic setting I think you'll find the players focusing on their deeds [and their responsibilities] more than their possessions. Its been my experience that players crave a hightened level of interactvity more than raw power [remember the old text-adventure games --hmm, showing my age-- and the sheer delight of monkeying with everything in the environment just to what would happen]

A few ideas:

1) Try and design situations where the conflicts are well-defined, but the resolutions are not. Adventures hooks like trying to forge a peace between warring noble houses with the threat of a foreign invasion looming, rather than 'find a bunch of scattered gems so we can re-banish the bad guy that we'll have to fight a few times in ever-increasingly powerful incarnations'

2) Use some scenarios that aren't hard win/lose. Let the PC's survive their failures or rash actions so they can come back to haunt them.

3) Always try and respond to the players. Let future stories grow out of even the most incidental roleplaying actions. Avoid giving the players the sense that roleplaying interludes are just filler between dungeon crawls.