The Forge Archives

This is actually from issue 229 of roleplaying tips. One of the many contributors to it gave this (some of it snipped out by myself). The author of this is David MacBrian.

QuoteMy friends and I constructed a gaming system some years
back, and it's all that we have ever used. Different plot
lines keep the world interesting, but the meat and potatoes
of its longevity is an out-of-game record system.

For example, one of my players never seemed to do anything.
He couldn't get a grip on plot, didn't seem to have any
goals, and just sort of stood around. In that session I was
more bored than I have ever been in my life. So, I made a
list of things that he had done that nobody else ever had;
even simple things, such as being the first person to visit
city such-and-such, or to talk to so-and-so.

I told him of his 'new records', and ever since, he has been
pushing himself to accept quests and go places and really
immerse himself, looking to break even more records. Most of
the other players have caught 'record-mania' as well, and
while the records don't directly provide anything (rewards,
money, etc.) during the game they do provide for a better GM
and player experience.

Anyone who uses this tip may want to write down frequently
broken records, such as the most money ever acquired,
because the players will remember the current standing
record and it's embarrassing when the GM doesn't.

CHECK OUT that encouraged player! And it all has no system effect, but is potentially more powerful because it has a real world bragging rights effect!

That's it. I thought that just the idea itself breaks out of the traditional 'rewards have to feed back to the game' that it stands out on it's own content wise.

If your concerned it's too gamist, I'm sure its easy to modify for narrativist or sim needs.

I've actually seen people ask on these boards 'Well what can you use as a reward that isn't an ingame reward?'.

Is the example above not getting across? Or the nar and sim versions just not clicking? Nar would be like a list of premise addressing moments briefly written that people could reflect on. For sim I imagine it would be like a lonely planet guide...interesting places and people to see, and who saw them.

Quote from: NoonNar would be like a list of premise addressing moments briefly written that people could reflect on.

Yep, just like in Wyrd when you get to write a stanza of your character's saga.

Anyone else got another example of a reward that's not in-game? I always suggest money. :-)

Mike

QAGS (I think it's QAGS, anyway) has a hybrid reward system - candies. The candies may be eaten, or they may be used in game.

I think its a great idea.

And I think its just fine for Sim.  I suppose one could drop the numerical ranking, but I don't know if that is necessary or not.

We love keeping records of who's been where and who's spoken to which important NPC and comparing notes later.  Its like sharing our experiences with one another and helps to reinforce our Dream.

We handed out engraved glasses as a reward for good roleplaying at one of the werewolf LARPs I ran. They went down an absalute storm. Although that's probably more than people would be willing to pay for for a table top game :-)

Werewolf also has the handy Renown system that rewards "acting like a werewolf should". It does have an in game effect eventually, but I love the fact that you can only advance if you are willing to play as the makers expected you to. 3rd Ed kinda lost that a bit though. You are better looking at the 2nd Ed renown chart.

I'm working on a Gamist LARP system that mostly rewards players with reputation points in several different catagories. These will be turned into a rank table (richest character etc) and will be publicly displayed but have no in game effect at all. It's heavily tied into the rest of the game, but I'll try and post something when it's ready.