[Pitfighter] SBP: reward system options
David Berg:
Quick thought for the idea pile, before I forget:
Q: Why would players care about game outcomes they have no say in? (That is, unalterable GM plot.)
A: Because how they interact with those outcomes impacts the parts of the game they do have a say in.
The game's job is to support the right type of impact and interaction. Example:
- GM scripts Moments
- Moments introduce new Situations
- Player choices pre-Moment determine how prepared they are for new Situation
David Berg:
Since the Forge is closing, I wanted to try to summarize the nifty things from this thread for easy future reference. Here's the stuff that most interests me:
1) Player choices impact how GM plot impacts the characters (in terms of personal issues, effectiveness/resource, how they relate to the NPCs and plot, and more).
2) GM can put the good stuff where the plot is. Hinting or promising these rewards is often a good move.
- XP
- loot (e.g. uniquely effective gear) where the plot is.
- NPC esteem (which is a conduit to loot and more)
- info that is valuable (to players and NPCs)
3) GM can prime productive investment in plot by playing intended ally NPCs as likable and intended enemy NPCs as unlikable.
4) GM can make the timing of big plot points contingent on player actions. (When the PCs give the info to the king, that's when Act II, The King's War begins.)
5) Learning about (or otherwise getting entangled in) stuff in the world (e.g. NPC factions) can give you leverage over it or increased ability to work with it (skill points, dice pool, spendable resources, etc.). Such learning could be organized into initiations, revelations, and other illuminating events. Such leverage could include influence over certain NPC actions.
6) Players could be rewarded for:
- character actions that aptly reinforce or fit into the setting
- revealing character
- being proactive in engaging with the GM's plot (e.g. seeking out interaction with key NPCs)
- offering theories on what's going on
- making predictions about what's going to happen
- planning and acting on such theories and predictions
7) System could track/test the balance between a character's “Personal story” and the “Main story”, with different corresponding outcomes. Too much Personal over Main could mean the character completes their own arc and leaves the game.
8) The GM's hints and clues can be organized according to dramatic pacing concerns, and altered on the fly to accommodate player progress.
- if the players are slow, lost, or swamped, the GM can combine multiple threads of plot/motivation/factions into one
- if the players are racing forward with no suspense or pondering, the GM can complexify, adding motives, agents, feints, etc.
9) The GM can fill in the blanks in the Big Plot with stuff relevant to specific PCs, as indicated by flags or other pre-game chat.
10) Defining two end points and brainstorming what happens in the middle to connect them could be one way for the GM to turn mega-plot into scenes.
I'll return to this project at some point. When I do, I'll post an update on Story Games, as well as G+ and Facebook.
Ps,
-David
JoyWriter:
There's one final reward type I can think of that I didn't include before: (no idea why really as waiting for other people's responses at this late stage is a bit of a fool’s errand!)
Another type of reward is sculpted situations that allow players to embody certain positions. Whether it's imperious victory, being proved right against opposition, heartfelt moments, all kinds of stuff. The game can be set up so as to be psychologically manipulative in the sense that it sets up for certain moments where the player is encouraged to relate to the world in a certain way. Just like crescendos of musical pieces, villains can be set up specifically so that they can be taken down, people can oppose them specifically so that at a certain moment they can be reconciled, and hope can be crushed so as to have the players be the ones to reveal it.
If plot threads assume and involve these moments, which play to the emotions of players, then following the GM's thread will allow him to set up scenes, that are not merely dramatic in the sense of imaginary pyrotechnics or staging, but because they position the player with respect to the NPCs and situations in a particularly potent way. That's the key thing, relationship and embodiment, unique features of interactive behaviour that can be crafted by positioning the player with regard to certain thematic cues and npcs.
Many games are enormously effective at producing these moments automatically, setting up certain patterns of relationship, certain relations to the world, my life with master being a classic example. But in a preplanned game, it is often possible to set particularly personal things up if you have a suitable understanding of your players. Many of these moments will fall flat, or not be as potent as expected, and so should not be given any fanfare aside from the setup required, but other times they can be very significant.
Unlike in a story now game, these events will generally not be potent in both large scale plot and character emotion, because the freedom required in making these moments authentic tends to make them perfect places for a plot to become derailed. This is a classic reason to have the character's plots be entangled with but not identical with the pre-planned one, so that these moments of uncertainty can be adapted to and times of procedural significance can be safeguarded. Sometimes they happen in the dénouement of big moments of the GM's plot, with the procedural climax leading to a few pre-arranged personal moments. This is a pretty safe place to put them as the medium term GM plans have probably just gone off, and the lull leaves more leeway for correction.
Because this is manipulative and basically involves using the situation to position a player in a certain way to push their buttons, this is a kind of thing that can easily go wrong. I've stopped a GM short who was using these techniques before by saying "yes, I meet someone I love who has died, in the clouds and it's very touching" in a kind of fastforwarding way, which sort of discouraged him a little, but was because I didn't value people trying to manipulate me for my own entertainment, certainly not with the level of trust we currently had. We basically skipped my scene and carried on to the other people's who actually appreciated it, and considered it a good session. I get the impression that jeepform or other kinds of north-european larp is very strong on this kind of reward also.
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