Comments on: Intangible Rewards – Character Development

By: Burn_Boy

Burn_Boy — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:13:43 +0000

I once rolled up some random treasure off of a band brigands who were terrorizing a small town and one of the pieces was a small brass necklace. It was worth 35gp and was only intended to be a some loot other than coins. But one of my characters started asking questions about it and, through the course of events, it wound up belonging to a woman of the town who was extremely grateful to get the necklace back. So grateful that, months later in the campaign, she showed up again with that player’s child, if you catch my drift.

By: Ravenous Role Playing » Blog Archive » Friday Five: 2009-12-07

Ravenous Role Playing » Blog Archive » Friday Five: 2009-12-07 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:05:27 +0000

[...] about a big finish Initiative Fantasic Festivals World Building 101: Campaign Bible Formats Intangible Rewards — Character Development Custom Handwritten Fonts for Your Campaign World var addthis_pub = ''; var addthis_language = [...]

By: Mark Chance

Mark Chance — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:31:35 +0000

Good article, John. Sounds like a great game session, so much so that I just had to tell others about it with over at Spes Magna Games.

By: Spes Magna Games » Mmm. Gnome Stew.

Spes Magna Games » Mmm. Gnome Stew. — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:24:25 +0000

[...] Take some time and click over to read John Arcadian’s explanation of how he’s linked intangible rewards and character development in his [...]

By: callin

callin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:35:28 +0000

In their very first adventure, as children aged 11, my wife’s character used a rock to strike the killing blow on a dangerous raptor. She carried that rock around with her thereafter. It took on more significant meaning when the character’s mentor, a wizard, made a magical flail with the rock as the head of the flail. Better magic weapons have come, but she prefers to still use the rock.

My blog- http://bigballofnofun.blogspot.com/

By: doomdreamer

doomdreamer — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:40:29 +0000

I remember running Werewolf: the Noun for my player group. They had decided that they would play up most of the Werewolfy aspects, they took trophies from their exploits. I had them find a Disco ball from an abandoned roller-rink when they stormed a rival pack that was gunning for their territory once and it was their prized possession. Sometimes it is the little things that make a game worth while and worth talking about.

By: Scott Martin

Scott Martin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:41:24 +0000

Our characters got a land grant and titles, and we obsessed over the borders, developing the region and making it safe... it was very similar to your homebase example. In my current D&D campaign, the players prize the Defenders of the Homeland medals they were provided for saving the kingdom. The respect of NPCs and incorporation of character story bits are often the most prized rewards. Thanks for reminding me!

By: Razjah

Razjah — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:40:46 +0000

The best loot that an group I have been with was a tavern. Well we put the paladin in charge of the town while looking for a suitable replacement but that tavern was what mattered. The dwarf cleric jumped for joy and we had a good time talking about it. Later on when the town was besieged and a rogue catapulted bolder crushed the stockpiled ale, mead, beer, wine, and more half the PCs were about to charge to their deaths in vengeance for our little tavern. I've never been able to get my players to buy into something like this, but I may have been setting it up wrong. I need to give this a try and do it in a smaller but realistic way. Great point today!

By: Rafe

Rafe — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:32:50 +0000

I totally agree. In the game I'm playing in (a solo Burning Wheel game), gaining Reputations and building Relationships is sometimes a lot more fun than the core interests (Beliefs) of the character. Of course, they're often driven by the character's Beliefs, but I love it when the GM says, "That was an awesome scene. Given all you've done, you get a 1D Reputation with the Wolves of the Whispering Woods." Those are the great little moments.

By: rwenderlich

rwenderlich — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:12:43 +0000

Some great ideas here. In a D&D game 3.5 game I'm in our DM is very good at giving these intangible character rewards. I play as a Half-Orc Brewmaster, and over the course of the campaign he's extended wide influence in the world of ale - people trade him recipes, sell his beer at various bars, know him by name and have heard of his expertise. All of this amounts to little "number crunching" benefit but makes the story much more enjoyable and entertaining. I think in general, "appreciation" by NPCs in the game world is a great intangible reward to use, because many people like RPGs because it lets you be a hero for a while!

By: Xiao

Xiao — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:15:26 +0000

As a player I had an experience similar to your players', even though I was saving GPs to build one ever since we were level 5 (D&D 4E game). The DM, however, granted the homebase through in-game reward (instead of just "I use XGP to buy a fort) and linked the act of building the homebase itself to some deeds we had done in the past. It. Was. AWESOME! He even handed some titles to us (which was also very very VERY awesome). I spent the rest of the time thinking about what we could add to make the place more awesome and the DM enticed me. But then college hit even harder and we had to put the game on hold. Since that day I have been trying to include something like that in the game I DM, and your article inspired me to try even more.