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<blockquote data-quote="jayoungr" data-source="post: 8357464" data-attributes="member: 6702445">Not so much.&nbsp; Let me explain why I hate approval-cookies.There's a game called Tenra Bansho Zero where virtually everything you do is dependent on currency that you earn by impressing the other players and GM into giving it to you.&nbsp; I played it once with two other PCs.&nbsp; I made a nice shounen-anime-style rifle specialist that I thought I would enjoy playing.&nbsp; The other two made madcap comedy characters.&nbsp; They spent the whole session trying to outdo each other in hilariousness and getting showered with currency every time either one of them opened their mouths.&nbsp; I was then stuck as the lone &quot;straight man&quot; in the group and gained the currency that fueled my moves at a far slower rate than the others.&nbsp; It seemed pretty clear that they were giving it to me for ordinary things when they remembered to, mostly out of pity because they realized I didn't have any, rather than because they genuinely were impressed by anything I did.&nbsp; And once I realized this was happening, it just made me insecure and self-conscious about everything I did.&nbsp; It got me thinking in terms of &quot;How can I get their attention and make them give me currency?&quot; instead of being actually immersed in the story or my character.&nbsp; It made me count how many resources I was getting in comparison to the others and brood about what that meant about my roleplaying skills, or at least their opinion of my roleplaying skills.&nbsp; It was an extremely unhappy gaming experience for me, and I really don't want to go anywhere near repeating it.&nbsp; So I shy away from any mechanic that's fueled by rewards for &quot;good roleplaying,&quot; especially when that reward fuels an unrelated task somewhere down the line.&nbsp; Like, for example, the &quot;bennies&quot; in Savage Worlds.So getting advantage on a specific task for coming up with ways to tip circumstances in my favor doesn't bother me.&nbsp; But if the GM starts saying things like &quot;You did a great job talking about your sad past with the barmaid just now--take inspiration,&quot; that starts to worry me.&nbsp; And if the GM hands out advantage for cracking jokes or otherwise entertaining the table, that definitely tastes like approval-cookie.&nbsp; I'm sure those are effective tools for some players, but they just set off all my alarm bells.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jayoungr, post: 8357464, member: 6702445"] Not so much. Let me explain why I hate approval-cookies. There's a game called [i]Tenra Bansho Zero[/i] where virtually everything you do is dependent on currency that you earn by impressing the other players and GM into giving it to you. I played it once with two other PCs. I made a nice shounen-anime-style rifle specialist that I thought I would enjoy playing. The other two made madcap comedy characters. They spent the whole session trying to outdo each other in hilariousness and getting showered with currency every time either one of them opened their mouths. I was then stuck as the lone "straight man" in the group and gained the currency that fueled my moves at a far slower rate than the others. It seemed pretty clear that they were giving it to me for ordinary things when they remembered to, mostly out of pity because they realized I didn't have any, rather than because they genuinely were impressed by anything I did. And once I realized this was happening, it just made me insecure and self-conscious about everything I did. It got me thinking in terms of "How can I get their attention and make them give me currency?" instead of being actually immersed in the story or my character. It made me count how many resources I was getting in comparison to the others and brood about what that meant about my roleplaying skills, or at least their opinion of my roleplaying skills. It was an extremely unhappy gaming experience for me, and I really don't want to go anywhere near repeating it. So I shy away from any mechanic that's fueled by rewards for "good roleplaying," especially when that reward fuels an unrelated task somewhere down the line. Like, for example, the "bennies" in Savage Worlds. So getting advantage on a specific task for coming up with ways to tip circumstances in my favor doesn't bother me. But if the GM starts saying things like "You did a great job talking about your sad past with the barmaid just now--take inspiration," that starts to worry me. And if the GM hands out advantage for cracking jokes or otherwise entertaining the table, that definitely tastes like approval-cookie. I'm sure those are effective tools for some players, but they just set off all my alarm bells. [/QUOTE]

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