Story Rewards in PbP

[toasterferret]

Hey all, just wondering if when making an adventure we can include a story reward at the conclusion? The CRB says that a story reward equal to double the xp of an encounter of the APL is appropriate.

Has this been broached at all before/is this something we can include in adventures we write? I think that being able to throw some extra xp in at the end of an adventure would do wonders to speed advancement in the slow environment of PbP.

 

[Maidhc O Casain]

I'd be fine with this, I think. I'll be cogitatin' as I write, so I might ramble a little.

LPF folks already progress faster than about any other PbP - Living Eberron being the only exception I can think of right off hand because they do both TXP and double encounter XP. But I almost think LEB is too fast, and don't want us to get quite that extreme.

Adding a story reward to the end of the adventure would be a good move, I think. But I don't think it should be automatic. In the Paizo APs I've read, they put in "story rewards" for accomplishing some tasks in a way that not only forwards the story but also achieves some other purpose - making key NPCs "friendly" or "helpful" in attitude, completing a certain percentage of the tasks successfully, or completing them without killing anyone, etc.

Not sure whether or not I'd want to see the conditions under which the story rewards are given out detailed in the adventure treatment or not . . . just a few thoughts to get the ball rolling.

 

[GlassEye]

I think story rewards are great. In your home campaign. In LPF with multiple DMs who will use (or not use) story rewards differently I think it is a bad idea. Plus, I don't think we need to increase the speed of leveling more than we have now.

 

[Satin Knights]

I am going to go with not necessary also. My group just went five fights and two traps and they leveled. The normal table is designed for about 13 fights if I remember correctly. The time based rewards do a good enough job keeping the characters climbing their career ladders quickly.

 

[Qik]

I'm personally in agreement with GE and SK. I think our rate of leveling is at the extreme end of "just right," hedging into "a little too fast." I've never felt the need to further accelerate it.

If you want to provide rewards for non-combat successes, why not integrate skill challenges? That's what I try to do. For instance, in "Ties that Bind," the PCs are traveling, trying to pick up the trail of one of theirs' long-last siblings. I like the premise for its story-telling possibilities, but turning it into a skill challenge has added a little meat to the process. YMMV, of course, depending on what you're thinking.

 

[Systole]

I personally like the idea of quest XP and I use it in my live games. However, like many of the others in this thread, I think LPF levelling is already pretty fast, and I'm not sure I want to see it sped up further. I think XP should be awarded for overcoming specific non-combat challenges, but as a story reward, I'm inclinded against it.

 

[jkason]

Nobody look too closely at the rewards for Distant Relations, then...

 

[IronWolf]

I like the current pace of leveling for LPF now. The best rate of advancement I've seen in a PbP yet, which is a difficult task!

I think the time based awards work pretty well for LPF as a means of covering story rewards.

 

[perrinmiller]

I am against plot based rewards in LPF entirely as suggested. The Judge should re-examine the adventure that jkasen alludes to.

It is my understanding that the Time Based rewards are the plot rewards to make up for long stretches of role-playing. XP and GP are not a way of keeping score, after all.

 

[Maidhc O Casain]

Looks like this one is a "No Go," then, with 5 judges against, 1 for (but only with guidelines for how it would work) and 1 who hasn't weighed in but has used a story reward in an adventure .