Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Player-driven campaigns and developing strong stories
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 8973251" data-attributes="member: 6785785"><p>Another element of the rules that can really shape play is how the game chooses to reward play. The experience or character advancement system can have a huge impact here. </p><p></p><p>We can look at the various editions of D&D and how XP works, and what behaviors it rewards. XP For gold gives an incentive to obtain treasure, XP for kills gives an incentive for fighting, XP by milestone gives an incentive to achieve certain story-based goals. Each of these things very likely impacts the way players engage with the game. </p><p></p><p>But there are games that offer advancement in different ways. </p><p></p><p>Spire, for example, awards character advancement for effecting change in the city. A minor change results in a minor advance, a change at the district level awards a medium advance, and a change at the city level awards a major advance. This incentivizes the players to try and change the setting... to tear things down, or to build things back up. The manner of the change is up to them. </p><p></p><p>The Heart rpg, by the same guys who made Spire, has a different method. It allows players to select the options for thier advances. It calls these "Beats", and each character has a list of Beats broken up into three tiers. These can be based on mechanics (for example, take Minor Fortune Fallout) or can be more narrative (Coerce an important or beloved NPC into undertaking a task they don’t want to do). Each character has a list of about 30 to 35 Beats, and they select two every session to be their Active Beats. The book explains that the GM should explicitly work to include these elements in play... that there is no need to be coy about it. The players are literally telling you what they're interested in seeing, so why not use it? </p><p></p><p>Then you can look at Powered by the Apocalypse games and similar games like Forged in the Dark... they have end of session questions that are asked, and for each yes the player answers, they get an XP. These questions are usually focused on what's relevant to the character. If you displayed your Instinct, or if you addressed an issue with subtlety or manipulation, if your opinion of a PC or NPC changed during play, did you learn about the world.... all these kinds of questions which promote the activities we want to see... the players engaging with the game world and its inhabitants in ways that matter to play. </p><p></p><p>Just some more examples of how mechanics can help promote player-driven play. And these mechanics rely on the GM to help bring them up in play. On recognizing what the players are interested in, and then crafting play around those things.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="hawkeyefan, post: 8973251, member: 6785785"] Another element of the rules that can really shape play is how the game chooses to reward play. The experience or character advancement system can have a huge impact here. We can look at the various editions of D&D and how XP works, and what behaviors it rewards. XP For gold gives an incentive to obtain treasure, XP for kills gives an incentive for fighting, XP by milestone gives an incentive to achieve certain story-based goals. Each of these things very likely impacts the way players engage with the game. But there are games that offer advancement in different ways. Spire, for example, awards character advancement for effecting change in the city. A minor change results in a minor advance, a change at the district level awards a medium advance, and a change at the city level awards a major advance. This incentivizes the players to try and change the setting... to tear things down, or to build things back up. The manner of the change is up to them. The Heart rpg, by the same guys who made Spire, has a different method. It allows players to select the options for thier advances. It calls these "Beats", and each character has a list of Beats broken up into three tiers. These can be based on mechanics (for example, take Minor Fortune Fallout) or can be more narrative (Coerce an important or beloved NPC into undertaking a task they don’t want to do). Each character has a list of about 30 to 35 Beats, and they select two every session to be their Active Beats. The book explains that the GM should explicitly work to include these elements in play... that there is no need to be coy about it. The players are literally telling you what they're interested in seeing, so why not use it? Then you can look at Powered by the Apocalypse games and similar games like Forged in the Dark... they have end of session questions that are asked, and for each yes the player answers, they get an XP. These questions are usually focused on what's relevant to the character. If you displayed your Instinct, or if you addressed an issue with subtlety or manipulation, if your opinion of a PC or NPC changed during play, did you learn about the world.... all these kinds of questions which promote the activities we want to see... the players engaging with the game world and its inhabitants in ways that matter to play. Just some more examples of how mechanics can help promote player-driven play. And these mechanics rely on the GM to help bring them up in play. On recognizing what the players are interested in, and then crafting play around those things. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Player-driven campaigns and developing strong stories
Top