Non-Experience Rewards

[Christopher R Taylor]

One of the things I liked to do when I ran a game was find other things than experience and treasure as rewards for PCs.  Sometimes it came in the form of alternate experience (instead of points, you just learned 1 point of that language, got a new contact, etc).  Sometimes I'd just give them notoriety or fame, so they were just known better as a sort of global reputation.  I'm toying around with an idea like "achievements" that a lot of popular games have today, to give a sense of accomplishment or reward certain behavior.

 

What are some other ideas for rewards that can be given to players?

 

 

[eepjr24]

Hero points or luck points are popular. Leads are also fun (a buried treasure map, a clue to a piece of the characters background, one time hints dropped by an NPC, etc). An honorable enemy might be lenient on a hero who has been good to her word. A key to the city could be one for a large arc. A local guild / township / ruler might award titles that are locally useful ("Orc Slayer", "Holder of the Torch", "Ord's Herald", etc.). Perks are fun, perhaps earning a knighthood or the right to marry or the right to carry weapons in the city limits.

 

You could create custom powers or talents that are available through award ONLY. Something like the Miraculous Survival from Killer Shrikes HtbM game. Or things like a free action card "One use only, take a free half phase action during a segment when you do not have a phase". You don't have to write the powers up. If you want real surprises, create a small deck of them and let the player choose at random.

 

EDIT: Sorry, I just realized you posted this in the Champions thread, most of the ideas above were more fantasy oriented, but the last paragraph is universal and many of the other ideas are easily adapted.

 

- E

Edited June 27, 2019 by eepjr24
Note on genre

[pinecone]

One I've used that has gone well is "fame" as in streets and buildings on the map get named after characters. The street fronting the government offices is named after a character. A park built from the wreakage of that epic super fight gets named after the team. That sort of thing. I leave those changes in future games as "call backs" and back story ala Astrocity.

[pinecone]

Also things like being "official" can be added if wanted...

[Christopher R Taylor]

Great ideas here.  Really any genre is applicable, I just posted it in Champions because I'm still thinking through the idea of a Champions tutorial, and this would be good for the GM portion

[wcw43921]

I was thinking just about anything in the Perks section could be given as a reward for exceptional achievement, especially Favors.  Perhaps if the heroes don't have a base, the city could let them use a decommissioned airport or military base that just happens to be sitting vacant.  (Meigs Field in Chicago comes to mind as an example.)  Also the feds could let the heroes keep that nifty Rolls-Royce hover-limo that once belonged to Lord and Lady Luxury---they won't need it in Stronghold.

 

Or something like that.  Hope that helps.

[Gnome BODY (important!)]

Background skills.  Languages.  Other not-worth-paying-for flavor-items. 

 

Found the Lost Thought-Crystals of Atlantis?  Sounds like one of you just got KS: Atlantis. 

Won the respect of a martial arts master?  After the next timeskip, you all get KS: Martial Arts. 

Trip to Space Spain looming on the horizon and the PCs remembered that Astro-Spaniard you introduced two months ago?  Don't bother paying for that Basic Fluency or Cultural Knowledge, folks. 

[JCR]

I believe one of the older edition books has 'brownie points' that you earn, but I can't remember if its just gives you certain perks w/ an organization you are part of or perks in general.

We started using them in a super agent game we had going and managed to actually go as far as negative (yes negative) -29 when one of the group exploded the mass canisters of a nerve gas in order to avoid the bag guys from exploding it over a city, instead it just killed the bad guys, their henchmen, and around 100 other criminal civilians in a party on a island. Other than that the times we actually had them on the positive end I think we were able to use em to temporarily get special equipment otherwise unattainable by the characters.

Something like this can surely be modified/altered to work w/ new editions

[Sketchpad]

In the past, I've used Reputation, Favors, Contacts, Combat Levels, Fringe Benefits, Equipment, and "Mystery Powers" as alternatives to just handing out points.  

[Duke Bushido]

Skill Pips.

 

dvIf the theme of an adventure runs along with one of the character's skills, or if it's a skill he uses successfully two or three times in a given session, toss out a "pip" or two.  Decide before hand how many "pips" earn a +1 to his Skill.  Sure, he could buy them with EP, but this is just a little something extra, and it's a reward specifically for particular things he did. Personally, I rather enjoy it when characters rely on their Skills to learn things as opposed to "I grab the scarcest looking one and start threatening to beat on him some more."

 

I also do reputations-- above and beyond what's on the character sheet: something that someone might have caught on a cell phone and uploaded to youTube, and now you've got a reputation as a swell guy who hung around to help Mrs. Oldperson re-hang the front door that was damaged by stray fire.

 

_or_ that you were a loose cannon and randomly shot some old lady's door out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dsatow]

The best thing I've found is free contacts.  Save a kid from an exploding building, he leads up the superhero fan club.  Heck he's the president.  The woman from the falling building, she volunteers to be the receptionist.  That man you saved, he's actually a lawyer and he'll represent you against the government trying to find out your secret identity.