Player investment in characters

[JamesonCourage]

My players flesh out their background (some go on to make write-ups, others don't) because they like it, and because I have mechanical tools to help them do that with my RPG (charts, rewards, penalties, etc). I don't have to offer a reward for it because they already want it.

 

[Umbran]

I don't know why it would seem like that.

It is implied in the structure of your statement.

You use one very specific example (orc and pie), and leave *all the rest* together in the unstated bucket, without qualification. That implies that the core orc and pie stuff is one thing, and that *everything else* is another. I am challenging that implication.

Now, you may not have intended the implication. To which, I say fine, but you might want to be a bit more careful how you construct your contrasts in the future.

 

[EPSILIUS]

Sorry but I really need some help... I lost all my 3.5e in a flood about 2 years ago.. Is there any site I can go to... To download all the materials.. Because from what I read hear and there.. That edition is not being sold

 

[was]

Sorry but I really need some help... I lost all my 3.5e in a flood about 2 years ago.. Is there any site I can go to... To download all the materials.. Because from what I read hear and there.. That edition is not being sold

..3.5 materials are still pretty common and are found in most local game shops, book stores and online retailers. My first stop would be to check the Wizards site to see what they might be giving away, or selling at a reduced price. Many local games shops also sell good used copies at reasonable prices. Also check eBay and RPGNow.com linked through this site for materials at reasonable prices. Other than that, sites giving away free copies are most likely doing it illegally. I'd stay away from them.

 

[EPSILIUS]

Thank you

 

[Jesauce]

I've never required a written backstory in any of my games. I have a number of players who enjoy it, however and they are more than welcome to do so. It's great for me as a DM to know more about their character ahead of time. For the players I have that either don't care to, or aren't that skilled with it, in recent years I've begun taking players aside before a campaign starts and getting in some solid 1-on-1 RPing as a means of helping them flesh out their characters. Some people are great at coming up with all sorts of ideas before they even start but I've found a few of my players don't generally get a feel for their characters until they've had the chance to really play them to an extent. It's been a great way to get some good interaction with my friends and players outside of the group setting, and helps them develop and even come up with completely new ideas on the spot. Also it's just plain fun. I will generally do a few different scenarios as sort of an introduction to a campaign, with interactions designed specifically to help my players develop motivations, personalities and a bit of background. Bonus exp might be a good way to prod players into it, but all of my players show up because they want to roleplay, so I find it a great way to give them what they want and get something in return I can use later on.

 

[Li Shenron]

As a means of encouraging players to invest in their characters, I have always offered bonus XP for written character backgrounds and character portraits. I belive it connects players to their characters. It also gives me fodder for adventures. I was recently told that this was a "totally weird" thing to do. So I wondered if I was the only one who still did this.

I don't think it's weird, but I don't do that. More generally, I don't award XP to individual players, I only award XP to everyone equally (as long as their are present to the gaming session). My opinion is that individual XP awards are always subjective and therefore there's a high risk of being unfair, so I avoid them altogether.

 

[Sadras]

I don't think it's weird, but I don't do that. More generally, I don't award XP to individual players, I only award XP to everyone equally (as long as their are present to the gaming session). My opinion is that individual XP awards are always subjective and therefore there's a high risk of being unfair, so I avoid them altogether.

I follow this approach to. It is more about what the party discovers, learns, defeats, accomplishes, role-plays, explores...etc, than the individual characters, even if not all the characters were present - we assume information is invariably shared during downtime and whatnot.

So with that in mind, if it takes 9,000 XP for one character to increase in a level and there are 5 characters in the party, the entire party increases in level once 45,000 XP are earned (9,000 x 5 characters).

 

[chriton227]

As a means of encouraging players to invest in their characters, I have always offered bonus XP for written character backgrounds and character portraits. I belive it connects players to their characters. It also gives me fodder for adventures. I was recently told that this was a "totally weird" thing to do. So I wondered if I was the only one who still did this.

I don't think I'd be a fan of xp for background. I'm don't like coming up with character backgrounds, and it would strike me as a heavy-handed carrot to get me to fit the GM's style. I don't play to explore my character's past, I play to find out what is in my characters future. I don't want melodrama, I want exploration, problem solving, and heroics. Most of the time I start with only a rough idea of who my character is, I let the rest develop organically through play. This may make me less invested in the character (particularly at the beginning of a campaign), but if anything I think it makes me more invested in the campaign since I'm focused on the campaign as a whole instead of being caught up in the details of my character.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I've done the XP for background thing. Also have given out material rewards (read: gear) for good backgrounds. I've found it works for @25% of my players. The rest don't bite.

I've also found that if you present a really cool campaign world/setup, you get better results. Almost every truly cool campaign I've run, I've gotten no less than 50% player investment, with my peak being 100% buy in for my first Supers: 1900 game. The problem is that "cool" is subjective, and requires a LOT more work on your (the GM's) part.

But overall, the true key to player engagement is the players themselves. Some players play RPGs like parchesi, some like amateur thespians. For example, the SECOND time I ran a campaign in my Supers: 1900 setting, player investment was only @33%. Some players didn't even read up in the campaign setting at all. The changes in the setting I made between 1992 and 2010 were minimal, but the group was entirely different.