All my players have inspiration. Some of them have been holding on to them through a dozen or more sessions. I'm not stingy giving them out, I'm looking for reasons to give out inspiration. A lot of my players would earn more inspiration but they never use them. It is a running joke for a few players, "I already have inspiration." Out of the 10 players in our campaign only one uses inspiration with any regularity. Often he earns it back in the same session. I asked my players why they do not use inspiration, they say they just do not think of it during the game.
Next session I'll announce a "use it or loose it" rule with inspiration. If by the end of the session, a player does not use thier inspritaion, I'll take it back. After that session I'll reward inspiration during the game, players can use it that session or loose it. I will let players hold on to inspiration earned at the end of the session. Hopefully we will see inspiration in play a lot more. Then I can give out more inspiration to my player when they earn it.
How are other Dms using inspiration? Do you give inspiration liberally? Are you stingy with inspiration, looking for that truly inspiring moment? Do your players use inspiration when they have it? Or do they sit on thier inspiration session after session?
In my game, Inspiration lasts no more than one game-day, or one long rest. That may be more than one session, but definitely not several sessions.
Every day is a new day. :-)
I gave the players a "wand of insperation". To be used in a reaction (So only other PC's, not the wielder) to give the PC inspiration on it's roll.
Don't want to give people individual inspiration. Other tought i had was to give it only during certain points. Like a level up or during the end of a chapter...
sirkaikillah11 wrote:
iserith wrote:
sirkaikillah11 wrote:
Mine don't always think to use it, but I have no problem when a tricky situation comes up reminding them that they have it and asking them if they'd like to use it.
alienux wrote:
If you want to encourage usage.... use a piece of candy (hershy kiss, chocolate coins, whatever) to represent it. They can eat it when they use it.
Otherwise.... does it matter? I hardly every use mine, but I don't view it as a problem.
I give them a physical d20, I have a few of them, all identical and they stand out. They have it sitting with their normal "to-be-rolled" dice. It's in their face all the time. They still either forget to use it or want to save it.
Coredump00 wrote:
I use little plastic gold coins (from a kiddies pirate playset). That way there is something physical on the table to remind people.
So far, my players have almost always used it to remove disadvantage on rolls, not to gain advantage.
iserith wrote:
alienux wrote:
Coredump00 wrote:
Barky wrote:
sirkaikillah11 wrote:
Yeah, players hoarding resources is an issue.
But I can't think of much of a solution apart from something like the OP's idea.
Hoarding inspiration sounds weird. Savage Worlds has a very similar mechanic called Bennies, but you start with 3 each session and there's no limit to how many you can get, so some people hoard them in case they need to avoid a series of death blows, or make that one-in-a-million shot on the big bad guy. Which I'm pretty sure is the entire reason you only get one Inspiration. Role play well, get it, use it, role-play some more.
When to use it, though?
The same thing happens with fireballs and other such spells or limited use powerful items - people save it in case there's an even bigger boss after this boss - even if it actually is the last boss before a long rest comes.
Here's an idea: As GM you can give inspiration essentially when you want. This basically makes the 'one inspiration at a time' rule moot, as you could give the player more inspiration the instant it runs out.
So with the second inspiration, you could say that it will dissapear overnight unless they use their first and recieve it.
This would mean, once you have 'two' inspiration, it makes sense to use inspiration somewhere during the day because you'll miss out on the extra one if you don't and if you do use it, you'll still have one to use (for that eventualy thing that apparently never comes)
If your players aren't using them, then maybe your encounters are interesting or challenging enough to warrant using them.
Archon007 wrote:
It'll sound silly, but maybe tell them a certain gesture of yours (maybe rapping the table with a D20) is a reminder they have inspiration they could use. Do the gesture every so often during the night.
Actually the other night in a game I ran a player could have used inspiration and forgot (and so did I)
Noon wrote:
I personally don't mind players keeping their inspiration bonus. Saves me the trouble of thinking when to award Inspiration. =p
Eventually there will be a situation where they won't survive without using their inspiration and usually, near dead, they are quite likely to use it after all.
I hand out candy (usually jolley ranchers) as inspration. If a player wants to benfit from insipriation they MUST eat the candy. At the end of each play session, if the inspiration isn't used, it's lost.
NamelessHero wrote:
I changed inspiration rules so that players can decide to use it after they fail. This encourages them to use it more frequently. When I played with the rules as written, players wouldn't be sure when to grant themselves or others advantage. They saved it for the right moment and often forgot about it. Now, whenever they fail in a dramatic moment they can spend inspiration for a second chance. We get much more use out of inspiration now and it doesn't change much about the game.
I use a 34mm d20s for inspiration. They tend to stand out.
Ranthalan wrote:
Rhenny wrote:
Rhenny wrote:
Noon wrote: