Background Rewards

[The Main Man]

Over the past couple of years I have rewarded my players for discussing their characters with their fellow players and for submitting backgrounds (we call them "profiles" but I will refrain from our jargon for this thread). I like giving special rewards like these to give just a little extra touch of uniqueness to the characters within a group that transcends how they are built while giving them incentive to flesh out their character. Up to this point though, I gave static rewards which, upon reflection, ought to be scaled.

 

Before I go into detail, allow me to describe the rewards, which come in three varieties:

1. Bonus Character Points - I tend to give this reward to character concepts that imply some level of experienced and/or well-roundedness
   
2. Bonus Active Points - I tend to give this reward to character concepts with an implied higher power level*
   
3. Bonus Heroic Action Points per game - I tend to give this reward to character who do not fit into either of the above two categories - they can hang with their fellow characters after all, and this is a way of bridging that gap in gameplay.
   

*This has a side effect, as while it affects raw active points for any given power, it also affects the building guidelines, which are similar to those laid out in the core HERO books - basically, it's slightly more complicated, but I handle that math

 

Furthermore, I give rewards in a two-tiered method. I give one reward if a player submits a background to my satisfaction, and I give another if they discuss their character with their fellow players, again to my satisfaction. This can result in getting two different rewards or even two of the same reward, all depending on character concept. This allows for more character uniqueness through reward combinations.

 

 

All that said, my primary concern is in balancing the three rewards. A Character Point reward, to me, should look substantial next to the other two rewards because PCs gain more CP at a constant rate. This of course means that the Active Point reward needs to be meaningful without being too superior to the CP reward. Last, the Heroic Action Point reward needs to be competitive with both of them.

 

Second, I am rather intent on keeping them scaled to any given campaign, so a higher powered campaign doesn't result in a proportionately inferior reward compared to a lower-powered campaign.

 

Third, I have now divided the reward process into a three-tiered method. There is a reward for submitting a background, a reward for discussing the character with the rest of the group, and a reward for doing both. This means that the individual rewards should be meaningful, but not overwhelming if added up (especially if three of the same reward result).

 

Last, I intend to introduce a fourth, universal reward for each of the former conditions: +6 Character Points strictly for Background Skills and Perks. If a player discusses their character with the group and submits a background to me, that adds up to +18 CP strictly for Background Skills and Perks.

 

 

So, I think what could work is to simply base the rewards on the Base Character Points. Below is a chart of possibilities I have considered for their divisive and more easily proportioned values. I have laid out typical character point ranges based on Standard Heroic up through High-Powered Superheroic games.

 

[TABLE=width: 500]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[TD]175 CP[/TD]

[TD]225 CP[/TD]

[TD]275 CP[/TD]

[TD]300 CP[/TD]

[TD]400 CP[/TD]

[TD]500 CP[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]12%[/TD]

[TD]21[/TD]

[TD]27[/TD]

[TD]33[/TD]

[TD]36[/TD]

[TD]48[/TD]

[TD]60[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]9%[/TD]

[TD]16[/TD]

[TD]20[/TD]

[TD]25[/TD]

[TD]27[/TD]

[TD]36[/TD]

[TD]45[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]8%[/TD]

[TD]14[/TD]

[TD]18[/TD]

[TD]22[/TD]

[TD]24[/TD]

[TD]32[/TD]

[TD]40[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]6%[/TD]

[TD]10[/TD]

[TD]13[/TD]

[TD]16[/TD]

[TD]18[/TD]

[TD]24[/TD]

[TD]30[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]4%[/TD]

[TD]7[/TD]

[TD]9[/TD]

[TD]11[/TD]

[TD]12[/TD]

[TD]16[/TD]

[TD]20[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]3%[/TD]

[TD]5[/TD]

[TD]6[/TD]

[TD]8[/TD]

[TD]9[/TD]

[TD]12[/TD]

[TD]15[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2%[/TD]

[TD]3[/TD]

[TD]4[/TD]

[TD]5[/TD]

[TD]6[/TD]

[TD]8[/TD]

[TD]10[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]1%[/TD]

[TD]2[/TD]

[TD]2[/TD]

[TD]3[/TD]

[TD]3[/TD]

[TD]4[/TD]

[TD]5[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

 

I think some combination of these would work for keeping the three types proportionate between each other, but I'm not sure which combination would work best. For all I know, I'm off base in the first place.

 

So I leave it to my fellow HEROphiles to hopefully help me out here. What are your thoughts on all this, from the method in and of itself to how to balance it, to even how to perhaps improve it?

[Christopher]

Re: Background Rewards

 

I have seen this in one game on Herocentral, can't remember wich one:

Players could write Background stories. Small descriptions of adventrues thier character had before joinign the group/has in thier free time. If two player do blue-booking this propably counts as well for this.

 

For thier story, they get a XP award. They can but don't have, invest it in skills they showed in the story. The one I read was about one character disarming somethign nuclear (reactor or bomb) and the player bought a contact (the person he worked with in the story) and a fitting KS to reflect the knowledge he showed.

[bluesguy]

Re: Background Rewards

 

I do something similar. I have spelled out how I award experience points on our groups Obsidian Portal site. Experience points for adventuring is pretty straight forward. The other ways involve helping to flesh out the campaign world. For instance writing up adventure logs that are written from the character's POV; helping to create shops or NPCs; developing legends, lore and songs; etc. A couple of ideas the players have come up with have generated adventure ideas.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Background Rewards

 

I'm curious whether "discussing with other players" includes my all-time favourite "Well, my character is highly secretive, has difficulty getting close to people, is distrustful and paranoid and always tries to mislead people as to his real abilities, strengths, weaknesses and identity." Tack on handing a copy of his character sheet around and away we go!

 

I like the "background skills/abilities" approach since it fleshes out the character with things that, often, the character needs to be consistent with his background, but rarely come up in play. RESULT: The fully fleshed out character background erodes points since the guy who comes from nowhere gets to spend those points on abilities far more often directly relevant in the game.

 

It's a tough balancing act - you want enough to be meaningful, but not enough that these activities are excessively rewarded (and become a penalty to those not doing this, rather than a bonus for those that do). 10% more character points to spend as you choose seems like a lot, but that's gut feel more than any analysis. If everyone gets +10%, there's no unbalance, so it's really the expected spread more than the absolute amounts that need to be assessed.