I'd like the benefits to be substantial enough that players would want them, but not so big that players feel required to go for them. Again, I only think players should be rewarded for "doing the right thing" when the actions are difficult (putting yourself in danger to save someone, giving your money to charity, admitting that you're guilty to save someone from being punished in your place ...).
Any thoughts?
Letting them see the consequences of their actions is important. People who they help, or save, or finish quests for should continue being parts of the game, and evolve, and grow.
Farmer Bob who they killed some wolves for at level 1 might be Mayor Bob by level 10 and under his guidance the Generic Village has grown from a mud-splattered stinkhole into an idyllic pastoral setting full of tobacco-smoking hobbits.
Gibb, the goblin they decided to spare the life of that time, ends up as leader of the local goblins and under his leadership they end their banditry and set up as a successful merchant tribe with trading offices in three kingdoms.
Et cetera. The world should, as far as possible, be a direct reflection of the players' actions.
Karma Points can be spent to re-roll random "dumb luck" events outside of combat. For instance, whether a given item is available in the shops, weather conditions, etc.
As an example, in one recent session the players' plans relied upon spotting a smoke signal across a long distance. The weather had been lousy over the previous days so I told them there was a risk the wind, mist and rain would obscure the signal. I rolled a d20 (higher is better) and the result was '4', so I told them the rain had turned into a full-fledged storm and there was no way the signal could be seen. They then spent a Karma Point to re-roll, and the result was '18'. So I told them that the wind subsided briefly, and as some rays of sunlight pierced the clouds the smoke became visible in the distance. It was... dramatic.
I suppose you could do exactly the same with evil actions. Except you award the "Bad Karma Point" to yourself, and you can re-roll a result that was favourable to them. In the above example, you could've tried to turn a nice day into a sudden thunderstorm at the worst possible time, possibly ruining their plans.
The default philosophical position of D&D is that goodness is its own reward and evil its own punishment; that's probably the best place to start.
Letting them see the consequences of their actions is important. People who they help, or save, or finish quests for should continue being parts of the game, and evolve, and grow.
Farmer Bob who they killed some wolves for at level 1 might be Mayor Bob by level 10 and under his guidance the Generic Village has grown from a mud-splattered stinkhole into an idyllic pastoral setting full of tobacco-smoking hobbits.
Gibb, the goblin they decided to spare the life of that time, ends up as leader of the local goblins and under his leadership they end their banditry and set up as a successful merchant tribe with trading offices in three kingdoms.
Et cetera. The world should, as far as possible, be a direct reflection of the players' actions.
This is the best thing to do in my opinion, and I use it often in my campaigns, sometimes with the consequences reaching on into the next campaign.
For example, one NPC, Fang, was a Gnoll ranger and the son of a powerful chieftain, who was chased out for his sense of empathy and compassion. He wandered aimlessly about, seeking acceptance in a world where both sides saw him as an abomination.
The PCs, who were lacking a striker at the time, chanced upon him as a random encounter and had him join the group. As they learned more about him, they started to help him, eventually helping him in overthrowing his father and disillusioning the gnolls to Yeenoghu. He left the party to take over, and throughout the rest of the campaign there were hints of a reformation amongst the gnolls.
In the next campaign, which was staged some years later, gnolls were not only civil, but a playable race, all thanks to a revolution caused by a gnoll named Fang and his friends. The look of pride on the PCs faces was unimaginable.
Just make sure that any lovable eccentrics with a knack for using garbled words stay away from vain pirates.
As for using the karma points, you could effectively spend either white or black karma for either good or evil acts, but based on the combination certain side effects occur:
- White Karma
- Good deed: Most possible good result ("you make the diseased farmer fall asleep painlessly and he wakes up cured the next morning").
- Evil deed: Least possible evil result ("you chop off the gnolls arm, but it instantly dies due to shock").
- Good deed: Most possible good result ("you make the diseased farmer fall asleep painlessly and he wakes up cured the next morning").
- Black karma
- Good deed: Least possible good result ("the diseased farmer writhes and cries in pain the whole night, but as the morning breaks the disease has fled his body").
- Evil deed: Most possible evil result ("you chop off the gnolls arm and send it howling in agony to the ground where it twiches helplessly for several minutes in burning pain as it slowly bleeds to death").
- Good deed: Least possible good result ("the diseased farmer writhes and cries in pain the whole night, but as the morning breaks the disease has fled his body").
The sideeffects are up to the DM to decide, so while the players are in control on when to call upon fate, it's the DM's call to decide how fate intervenes.
- White Karma
- Good deed: Most possible good possible result ("you make the diseased farmer fall asleep painlessly and he wakes up cured the next morning").
- Evil deed: Least possible evil result ("you chop off the gnolls arm, but it instantly dies due to shock").
- Black karma
- Good deed: Least possible good result ("the diseased farmer writhes and cries in pain the whole night, but as the morning breaks the disease has fled his body").
- Evil deed: Most possible evil result ("you chop off the gnolls arm and send it howling in agony to the ground where it twiches helplessly for several minutes in burning pain as it slowly bleeds to death").
Stealing this idea...
May make "Karma Points" the same as action points... W/B/R (Red is the book-awarded AP)