Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Soulmage 09-09-04, 01:43 PM	Any time a player has a good idea, saves the party, does some good roleplaying, etc. I give them one of those little plastic golden doubloons you can get as a party favor. I give two for each adventure write-up that the player submits (so long as they made a reasonable effort) The gold doubloons can be redeemed for 40xp x the character's current level. So for instance a coin is worth 280xp to a 7th level character. Enough so that it will add up after a while, but not so much so that its a major swing factor in player power. The coins can also be given to party spellcasters to add to their experience total. This is the way party members persuade the party mage/cleric to make items for them as with this system the spellcaster doesn't use any of his own experience in the process (and gets to keep left-overs).
Board_Rider 09-09-04, 02:35 PM	Sounds good except how do you deal with those players who may be shy or just not good roleplayers? They may want to play and they know the rules and all that but their role-playing just may not be there. I mean the XP is about right as you suggest it but if a player doesn't get some of those doubloons than the discrepency(?) may become apparent over time. But I like it. Give yourself 3 doubloons......you've earned it Soulmage 2 x :thumbsup:
DragonsArt 09-09-04, 03:04 PM	I do something similiar but award little business cards with a design, which I call hero points. Each player gets one every 3 levels, but anyone who doesn't something extraordinary gets an extra one. The hero points can be done to do any heroic deed by bending the rules... ie. an attack can automatically hit and critical, a spell can be metamagicked without the feats, etc. Once, when the party was almost dead, one of the fighters used it to take out the wing of a dragon, making it crash to the ground. Once on the ground, the druid entangled it and then it was all over.
Soulmage 09-09-04, 03:09 PM	Firstly, this system encourages those folks to come out of their shells a bit. I've had players who always sat quietly before start volunteering more info after they saw that they could be rewarded for it. Anybody can come up with a clever idea. Usually the quiet types just aren't voicing them -> hence the system encourages them to do so. Secondly, it is intended as a reward system. Therefore the better roleplayers see some rewards for the effort they're putting into their characters. Again, it serves to encourage others to do the same. Third, you can accumulate a steady supply of coins just through hard work, even if you're a wall-flower who never has a clever idea. Just turn in a campaign journal each week and you'll be sitting on a pile of coins before you know it. In my experience, in-game coin awards are generally in the 0-2 range, so regular writeups already put you at the top of the heap. Finally, the rewards aren't so dramatic that it will unbalance the campaign or anything. An exceptional, hard-working player will generally pull head by 1 level over a quiet, lazy player over the course of 7-9 levels. This means he might hit 20th when the slowest player is still 18th. Not a big discrepancy, but at least it gives them tangible rewards for their intangible but notworthy efforts. BTW, I collect all the coins at the end of every session and just record a total to be carried over to next session if they don't want to cash them in right away. You could also say that they have to cash them in at the end of every session if you don't want to keep track of it, but that limits their usefulness in terms of paying magic item xp costs. Thanks for the 3 coins! :)
Jaxom 09-09-04, 03:49 PM	The Eberron setting does a similar thing doesn't it ... gives points for things that allows you to roll dice and add a number to your original die roll. I haven't read into too much detail, but I think you're onto something there Soulmage, thanks for sharing that.
Mythmere 09-09-04, 06:25 PM	Deadlands d20 uses a similar concept: fate chips (using poker chips). They don't give experience points, but a player can turn it in to allow a reroll of any d20 roll, or to get 1d6 hit points. You might want to add these as extra options for using the doubloons; players love making decisions. I like your idea.
Didge 09-09-04, 07:00 PM	Well let me start off by saying this. Good job encouraging your players to Roleplay more. :) I've used a similar method (the poker chip method) playing a homebrew cyberpunk/traveller/mechwarrior game for great roleplaying and or great rolls. The poker chips were handy, and gave people bonuses to rolls that they could throw in at the last second to add a set bonus so when they needed it, it was there. That was fun and entertaining and kept players from having to play 'fighter-types' in order to hit everything. On a side note, or perhaps a littlebit of my own personal rant here so forgive me, I've tried something similar with my new group of players. I gave them all my handout of houserules, included with it was a section entitled, "How to earn more xp's." Little things like background stories or journals would garner extra xp, as would good roleplaying, chipping in for food (not as much but still always nice when I'm not the ONLY one bringing munchies), etc. Needless to say, not a single one of my four players bothered to write a background story. On top of that, I wrote out 16 pages of background information on the capital and several larger cities (Like to give a shout out to my man Mythmere for his excellent city building thread, woo woo!) where they were starting. This was general information about background, etc., because I am running my own campaign world and this information was really done when one of my players expressed he was going to be playing a bard. I thought it would be nice to have some information for him to have gathered, you know which pubs to visit, who does what in the town, etc. Again, the bard didn't even read it (still hasn't to my knowledge) and only one person has. It's not like I have tons of time to do this, as I'm sure alot of you are familiar with, and it makes me wonder if they even want to play. I enjoy DM'ing, but when players don't make some effort it becomes fustrating. I'm not asking for a novel, or even anything of great length (although that might be fun to read at lunch while at work), I'd settle for a stinkin' paragraph or two. I've played with these guys (some for nigh-on 10 years) and in my mind its disrespectful. Oh well, guess that's why I limit myself to DM'ing these Yahoo's once a month. I think I need that long to recover after each session, heh. Sorry about that, sometimes ranting makes a DM feel better. You know, let out that steam before it gets let out on the players.
Mythmere 09-09-04, 07:10 PM	On a side note, or perhaps a littlebit of my own personal rant here so forgive me, I've tried something similar with my new group of players. I gave them all my handout of houserules, included with it was a section entitled, "How to earn more xp's." Little things like background stories or journals would garner extra xp, as would good roleplaying, chipping in for food (not as much but still always nice when I'm not the ONLY one bringing munchies), etc. Needless to say, not a single one of my four players bothered to write a background story. On top of that, I wrote out 16 pages of background information on the capital and several larger cities (Like to give a shout out to my man Mythmere for his excellent city building thread, woo woo!) where they were starting. This was general information about background, etc., because I am running my own campaign world and this information was really done when one of my players expressed he was going to be playing a bard. I thought it would be nice to have some information for him to have gathered, you know which pubs to visit, who does what in the town, etc. Again, the bard didn't even read it (still hasn't to my knowledge) and only one person has. It's not like I have tons of time to do this, as I'm sure alot of you are familiar with, and it makes me wonder if they even want to play. I enjoy DM'ing, but when players don't make some effort it becomes fustrating. I'm not asking for a novel, or even anything of great length (although that might be fun to read at lunch while at work), I'd settle for a stinkin' paragraph or two. I've played with these guys (some for nigh-on 10 years) and in my mind its disrespectful. Oh well, guess that's why I limit myself to DM'ing these Yahoo's once a month. I think I need that long to recover after each session, heh. Sorry about that, sometimes ranting makes a DM feel better. You know, let out that steam before it gets let out on the players. We're all in the same boat, Didge! Players don't read background material or handouts unless they're no more than a paragraph long. I used to get ticked off until I started playing as a player about six months ago. I got a long handout. I didn't read it. I don't know why this is, and I've decided to just roll with it. In the campaign I'm readying now, I'm only going to give out information verbally (with the exception of a page of the active house rules). When players have to work for information, they're all ears when they finally get it. Ever see that "hanging on your every word" expression when you describe a room they're going into? I decided that if you give it to them for free, they ignore it.
Didge 09-09-04, 07:32 PM	I agree Mythmere, Now that I've been thinking about it a bit more I think I'll handle this in a much more dignified and truly DM fashion. I'll make the player's pay for not paying attention. Nothing drastic, just start intertwining what I've given them a bit more into the over-arching plot lines. I've started last session by having them be hired by the son of a famous sorceror who was on the list I gave them, which one of the player's noted (btw, he got some extra xp for remembering that), and is how I know he read it. The campaign isn't going where I had originally intended (when do they ever???) but I think it'll still be fun. I agree about the packet-o-stuff method isn't the best approach, but I like to make sure that I have my bases covered, and everything is in writing. What I give my players is only a hint of all the work I've actually done, and maybe its because I want them to realize the amount of effort I'm putting into it for their and my enjoyment. But I agree, verbal is probably the best way to go, but you better believe I'll have it written down as my memory is nothing but swiss-chess, and I think sometimes I need the notes more than they do. On a side note, Mythmere, would you mind if I sent you a copy of my capital city and tell me what you think? I like to think you're the resident expert on cities at least and your opinion would mean alot to me.
Mythmere 09-09-04, 08:05 PM	I'd be happy to take a look at it, but my email is down with no likelihood of quick revival (router problem at home). I can use my wife's internet but I'd rather not put a lot of D&D stuff onto her computer's email. Could you post it here, maybe? I may have to break down and get a temporary hotmail account.