How do I reward players?

Reward systems vary from system to system. Most provide awards for killing creatures. Some will simply grant players a new level for finishing a session. Others reward players based on specific goals or objectives. Regardless of the reward system used, it is an essential component of any system allowing characters to advance.

Tortured Earth utilizes a goal oriented reward system. Story elements are divided into achievable goals and are ranked in degree of difficulty and importance to the overall storyline. In the broadest terms possible, we divide these goals into three types of objectives: Minor missions, Transition Events, and Master Events or Boss Encounters. This categorization of story elements is designed to be fluid and serves mainly as a guideline for GMs. 

Minor Missions. Small, simple events designed to aide the character's integration into a community, build familiarity with the surroundings, or create casual introductions to NPCs whose role may become major in later chapters. Minor Missions usually have a skill point reward ranging from 0 to 3 skill points. Examples of Minor Missions include scouting missions, scavenging runs, message delivery, etc. This type of mission has a singular goal and operate as a 'go-and-see' type event.

Minor Missions have a primary role of introducing characters to the NPCs in a functional capacity. Characters are not told directly, "This is the Bad Guy." Rather, they are allowed to develop these views organically through personal interaction. 

Transition Events. Events which play major roles in the story arc. These could be the difference between picking up allies or enemies for the final battle, shifts in events in which a city gets attacked, the timing of an attack, etc. These events are essentially nodes in the branching pattern of a storyline. These events carry greater weight, and thus, greater skill point values. The critical evaluation of these events on the GM's part should be equally harsh. Individuals showing excellence in roleplay, decision making, or reasoning should be awarded an extra skill point for their performance during these events. Transition Events have skill point awards ranging from 0 to 7 skill points and are often multifaceted affairs in which character interplay between PCs and NPCs defines critical relations. 

Transition Events are critical to the storyline because they offer players a real choice. In a very real way, the story is influenced by the character based on their actions during Transition Events. Should a group defeat a competing group of characters, they may cause a village to be ambushed in retribution. If the players endless debates delay the picking of a rare herb, their only ally in town may die. These events are true "If-Then" moments in the story and can cause the story to sway in one direction or another.

Master Events or Boss Battles. Climax events the entire story has been building towards are referred to as Master Events. If the Master Event is a final confrontation between the Bad Guy(s) and the character's, it is referred to as a Boss Battle. In either case, this is the actual conclusion of the story. Rather than be a passive page turner, the characters are actively involved in the confrontation. A Master Event is a singular event and will occur only once. The point value of this encounter is 0 to 10 skill points.

As a GM, it is often difficult to control the actions of a group. I've GM'ed several groups and each has its own unique combination of views, outlooks, and inter-relations. At times, groups wander off task. During the early stages of playtesting, I ran a session for a group. I'd worked for hours developing my storyline and laying out my maps. They decided it would be fun to completely go all murder-and-mayhem on me. They killed all the key characters at their destination point, ransacked the location, and - at the end of it all - wanted their skill points. They were stunned when I said, "You don't get any."

"Why not?" the group spokesman blurted, "We killed everything here!"

"I know," I gave them the coldest stare I'd ever given. "But that wasn't the mission, now was it? You were supposed to scout the area and return with information. You haven't done it. In fact, you've started a war. That's what you were hired to avoid."

The group sat in shocked silence. They couldn't believe they weren't getting anything for the mass slaughter they had just unleased.

"Look on the bright side," I tried to soften the wound, "You got all that cool loot."

It was the last time they ever ran off course during a game session. It took a single game session to teach the entire group to not go off course during a Tortured Earth game session. There are no rewards for it.

I think that's one of the things that has been missing in a lot of game systems. Developers spend so much time developing weapons mechanics and magic systems they lose sight of the role playing aspect of the game. By placing the story front and center, and awarding players for staying on course with that story, role playing becomes the key element of the game system.

Granted, some elements of the story will have to be loot gathering. If these are part of the story, then they should have skill points associated with them. If a group wishes to spend a little time treasure seeking, allow it with the understanding there are no skill points associated with the act. As they come to realize character development is stalled for these off-road adventures, they will become fewer in number and spaced farther apart.

Hope this helps!

K. B. Kidder

 

If you are checking out this blog for the first time, you may access our website by clicking here: Tortured Earth

Character Species released for review: Allorn, Dwarf, Elf, Eoceph, and Goblin.

Combat Creatures released for review: Braunach, Faeda, Fetid Hound, Minotaur, and Wolf.

If you are interested in the creature development process, you may submit your own creatures by filling out the following form. We will review the forms before publishing the creatures to the website. Creature Creation Form

If you would like to see what Tortured Earth looks like, the GM portion of the rule book is available as a free download on the Tortured Earth Home Page. Tortured Earth Beta GM Guide  

And finally, I have created a Tavern Generator and Loot Generator. Both are free downloads and can be adapted to a wide range of story settings. Both are written in Excel. If you are using a tablet, you can download a free version of Excel and operate it live at the game table.