Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 MarshalCross May 01, 2015 20:41:43	Hello everyone,   Quite a long time ago I remember reading a suggestion in a book for one of the many system's I've played.  The suggestion was to give players some form of reward for really pushing character creation above and beyond the limit of the book.   Suggestions I can remember would include creating a very detailed backstory for the character, writing a short story about your character, drawing a picture of your character.  This was before I could pinterest a image of my character in seconds :P   I'm not talking about rewarding players for things they should probably do in the first place such as: having their character ready on time, showing up to the session on time.  What I'm talking about is really pushing the boundaries of character creation.   Really trying to tie their character in to the story that's about to unfold.   My Questions are simple: 1) If this option was avaliable at your table, what would a player have to do to recieve a bonus? 2) If this option was avaliable at your table, what would a player get as a bonus?   You can answer one question or both.  Answers such as "They shouldn't get anything special, these things really just help them play the character better" don't really help the discussion.   Personally I have thought about a tiered system or a star system.  Things that people do could be worth X amount of points.   Rewards would be calculated based on which star level they reached. 1star, might be 500 points 2 stars, might be 1000-2000 points 3 stars might be 2000-3000 points 4 stars might be 5000 points and 5 stars might be 10000 points.   Each tier might reward a player with different things based on what level the characters are starting at.  If using a point buy system, the player might receive extra stat points to start with, extra money to start with, a reroll on their lowest stat.   These are just ideas, but I  would like to know what you guys would do.
#2 CraggleRock May 02, 2015 4:00:47	I have known games where some ammounts of XP are handed out for background roleplaying--backstories, artwork, etc.--although I've been less inclined to do that for most of my own games, given I know that some of my players are parents with full-time jobs opposed to others with larger portions of free time, and I don't want to seem to be making the game into work for those who sacrifice the limited free time they have to play with the group.  Otherwise, my general oppinion would be to grant bonus XP to the entire group for every piece of background any player had crafted; encouraging the team work and group bonding that I like to see in the PCs with the metagame.   The other option in 5th is the Inspiration points, which are largely encouraged to be handed out for play supporting the appropriate style, and the limited nature means that it isn't too hard to "catch up" for those who can only really invest the table time to portray their characters.   Please note that I don't necessarily think that handing out the rewards is bad, just I think it a less suited fit for my group given their lives and situations.  Were I to have been big into TTRPGs back in school or university, I probably would have been big on handing out additional XP for artwork, poetry, and prose based on the characters and the campaign world.
#3 Imaculata May 02, 2015 4:04:46	Rewarding one player for writing a cool backstory, is punishing other players for writing a poor backstory, which ultimately is a matter of personal taste. That is why I don't think this is a good idea. Rather than giving them an xp reward, or award of points, how about a story reward instead?   Anyone that has a really good backstory, receives a personal quest that is introduced in the story at some point. This eventually leads them to a cool item, which may be a special weapon that has something to do with their background.
#4 OoftaMeg May 02, 2015 7:31:24	People play the game for different reasons, so you shouldn't overly-reward people for playing "your" way.  Some people just aren't as creative as others, don't have time, don't have an interest in creative writing.   I would give someone inspiration for things like this.  He has a cool background - start the game with inspiration.  Uses the background in game?  Inspiration.     Then again I don't use XP any more, I just tell people when they level up.
#5 iserith May 02, 2015 7:56:13	While I'm not a fan of players creating very detailed back stories prior to play (especially in the absence of the collaboration with the other players), I think the greatest reward you can give a player who provides a detailed back story or short story is to actually use their ideas to inform the creation and presentation of your setting and plots. Using those details and building on them is a simple and effective form of validation and reward.   A cool character sketch is something of a story in itself, since we get to see the visual details the player thinks are important enough to draw. Good questions might follow: Where did Chuck Dagger find that ornate dagger on his hip? How did Ragna Wolfsbane get that vicious scar? Why do you only draw half-nude drow, Steve? I mean, c'mon, it's getting kind of creepy at this point. Use the details to inform your setting and plots as above. The reward again is validation of and active engagement of their ideas.
#6 MechaPilot May 02, 2015 17:09:55	MarshalCross wrote:
#7 Breefolk May 02, 2015 20:01:51	Imaculata wrote:
#8 guachi May 02, 2015 23:02:03	In my current campaign, I was willing to give characters extra skills or tools/languages/instruments if it fit their background. The campaign is set in a world I know well enough that it was easy for me figure out what kinds of things a character might know.   The other reward for a good background is it means I as a DM know how to motivate a character and that certainly leads to sessions that are more fun.