Achievements / Trophies

[krugaan]

From another thread, someone suggested a DM challenge his players to use all 18 skills in a play session. That could be part of a trophy (ala xbox/PS) system which would help encourage more creative / fun behavior from players.

You'd have to tell (or hint) the existence of the trophies but keep the criteria secret, and award minor amounts of exp, nothing gamebreaking.

- use all 18 skills in a single play session
- successfully turn someone against their own team/superior

Stealth
- defeat a medium+ encounter without taking damage
- defeat a medium+ encounter without being attacked

Etc, etc. Any others that would be particularly fun?

[indemnity]

Inspiration is a good player reward. Or permanent magic items.

Announce it at the start of a session and awards points for successful actions that advance the plot. Or divert to a circus/arena challenge. Watch the players skip hitting monsters to instead try unusual skill checks to manipulate the environment.

Secret rewards or hidden requirements aren't much fun for players.

[JackPhoenix]

I'll just drop this here, then... https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pe9b55t1i27p40i/AAB8G0eW5EZ0s1hrOxrH4kova?dl=0

And yes, my group is using it.

[Ruslan]

My motto with respect to Secret Rules (TM) is: "If the players can't figure it out, it might as well be random".

The key is that you have to drop enough hints for them to figure it out. Or perhaps skip the hints, just say outright what you want ("I want you to use lots of skills"). If you do too good of a job keeping it secret, players are more likely to be frustrated by the seeming randomness of the rewards than be delighted by them.

[krugaan]

My motto with respect to Secret Rules (TM) is: "If the players can't figure it out, it might as well be random".

The key is that you have to drop enough hints for them to figure it out. Or perhaps skip the hints, just say outright what you want ("I want you to use lots of skills"). If you do too good of a job keeping it secret, players are more likely to be frustrated by the seeming randomness of the rewards than be delighted by them.

Make them tiered, with the entry tiers lenient enough to be completed in (more or less) normal play. Then at the end of session, "you've got an achievement and some bonus xp!", hand them the card, and say no more.

[Renvir]

I track all of my combat encounters on my computer and I list all of the damage given/taken by player. This made it easy to see who did the most/least damage, who took the most/least, who hit their allies the most, who got KOed, etc. After a few sessions I gave out awards in each category and sometimes a special award for anything particularly memorable. They didn't get any in game rewards but that didn't stop them from caring about who was laying out the most damage. It was a bit more work on my part but they enjoyed it.

[krugaan]

I track all of my combat encounters on my computer and I list all of the damage given/taken by player. This made it easy to see who did the most/least damage, who took the most/least, who hit their allies the most, who got KOed, etc. After a few sessions I gave out awards in each category and sometimes a special award for anything particularly memorable. They didn't get any in game rewards but that didn't stop them from caring about who was laying out the most damage. It was a bit more work on my part but they enjoyed it.

Hah, that's kinda neat. Involved though. Not sure that inspires them to be more creative though.

[Renvir]

Hah, that's kinda neat. Involved though. Not sure that inspires them to be more creative though.

Well I did give the bard the "Siegfried and Roy" award when he talked his way out of fighting a pack of were-tigers. The guys I play with generally flitted between silliest way to get around an obstacle and full-on murder mode so it worked. With another group it may not work.