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A cool way to bribe my players

A few months ago, I was trying to figure out whether to use Action Points or Hero Points in my new Pathfinder campaign; I decided on Hero Points. My players really like Hero Points and they’ve become very useful in creating, and surviving, really dangerous and dramatic encounters.

In Pathfinder, there is a group known as the Pathfinder Society. In short, they are “a loose-knit group of explorers, archaeologists, and adventurers who span the globe in search of lost knowledge and ancient treasures.” Reading a little bit more on them, I found a passage in the Campaign Setting that stated:

Agents are expected to provide detailed written reports of their exploits to their venture-captains, who then forward the most compelling records to the Grand Lodge in Absalom for consideration by the Decemvirate.

And this got me thinking that I could use this to reward my players while, at the same time, encourage further development of their characters. I sent the following note to my players:

If you want, you can write up a recap of a session, a specific portion of an adventure (for example, a dungeon crawl that only takes place as the middle third of the adventure), or of an entire adventure and post it; pretend you’re writing it for an audience.

For every recap you write for a session, you earn 1 Hero Point. If you write about a specific portion of an adventure, i.e. the dungeon crawl example above, you will earn 3 Hero Points. If you recap an entire adventure, you earn 5 Hero Points.

Also, in game, you might end up seeing them published for folks to read.

Personally, and I’m probably a little bit biased here, I think it’s a great idea. It keeps the players engaged out of the game, rewards them for character development, and provides material for the in-game world.

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Posted in: Characters, Other Systems, Pathfinder, RPG

7 Responses to “A cool way to bribe my players”

Sean Holland September 22nd, 2009 at 1:49 PM

I kept an in-character journal for one of the game I was it. It was great fun and the character was a scholar, so it fit the character too.

It also gave an interesting perspective on the campaign as the character knew far less of what was going on then we (the players) did so there were a set of out-of-game notes for those . . .
Sean Holland´s last blog ..The United Network Command for Law and Enforcement

Swordgleam September 22nd, 2009 at 2:15 PM

I think we DMs tend to forget that there’s a reason we’re one one side of the screen and they’re on the other. Every time I’ve tried to bribe my players into keeping session records of any kind, it’s failed miserably. =P

But if you players are the type to go for it, more power to all of you! I would love this as a player, in those rare times when I get to play.

reveal September 22nd, 2009 at 2:33 PM

@Sean – I used to keep an in-character journal in a game I was in and I found it a lot of fun.

@Swordgleam – Well, I’m not trying to get them to keep session records, my wife does that any way, but really I think it will allow them to take more of a “storyteller” role for their characters instead of just a “note taker.”

Viriatha September 22nd, 2009 at 5:33 PM

I’ve done this for years. Started with rewarding for snacks brought to the game and branched out from there. It works wonderfully.

Recently, I teamed it up with allowing players to spend personal xp to improve hirelings, pets and the like, which gives them even more reason to want xp. Win
Viriatha´s last blog ..Classes and Levels Suck [Opinion]

vbwyrde September 23rd, 2009 at 8:42 AM

I’m not so sure how I feel about this prospect as a Player, to be honest. Our GM has offered something similar (xp for journal entries), and to be fair it’s not a bad idea, but I just don’t find myself actually doing it. It’s not that I don’t like getting xp, but then again, it’s just that getting xp for something that I the player does, instead of what the character does, somehow seems too artificial to me. I could get hero points but then my character is heroic not because of something in the game-story, but because of some metagame benefit. It just strikes me as disconnected, and so I just haven’t felt compelled by the idea. Has the reward been something linked to the game-story itself, then that might make a difference to me.

reveal September 23rd, 2009 at 12:37 PM

@Vbwyrde – The plan is to use the stories written by the players in-game, so hopefully there’s not much disconnect.

Daniel November 30th, 2009 at 7:38 PM

I’m running a Call of Cthulhu game at the moment (Masks of Nyarlathotep). During the first session, I gave a player a notebook, and told him that he should keep notes.

Anyone familiar with the system will be aware of the high mortality rate amongst players. I’ve told them that if, perchance, they all die, their next characters will only have the notebook to work from. Assuming it survives intact.

I usually keep an in-character journal for games I am in. I’m currently playing a Bard in a 4e game, and just between us, I think he’d be dead if the other characters found it. :p