My nephew and his friends have expressed an interest in playing D&D, they are into Gamesworkshop games and LOTRs so D&D is something they are excited to play.
There are four of them altogether and they're 16-19 years old, two have played D&D before and already know the 3.5 rules, although the games they played in were hack and slash.
I decided to start them using the Shackled City campaign, Ive already DM'ed it before (for my regular group) and everything went well.
I am trying to get these new players to open up to roleplay and I'm going to give out rewards for writing a backstory, supplying a painted miniature, finding a picture, writing a personality profile etc.
As an insentive to carry out these tasks I want to offer some rewards, that while good to have at 1st level will dissapear over time.
One I've thought of so far is an extra 1d3 hitpoints if they find a picture to represent their character, for a painted miniature I was thinking of maybe an item like a potion or masterwork item?
If anyone has any ideas for simular treats that will dissapear in time and not over power the game feel free to chime in, I would appreciate it. :D
If anyone has any ideas for simular treats that will dissapear in time and not over power the game feel free to chime in, I would appreciate it. :D
one thing my groups and I do is we get a list from the local apothacary in exchange for a few weaker potions usually the 1d4 +1 healing type just thik of bits of monsters to collect some low level some high like ogre mage eyelashes and zombie bones. limit the bones by only wanting Femurs (thigh bones) things lik that it can be both interesting and leave some hooks for you later like why does X/Y want all this stuff from the dead ;)
How about a +1 bonus on a particular skill?
Or even bonus hero points/action points the characters can spend (these give the added bonus of keeping characters alive during those fragile lower levels).
A Masterwork item, or a potion of CLW is also something that while impressive and useful at 1st level will either a) be outshined soon or b) be consumed when needed. (Again survivability is awesome).
Maximum gold for 1st level is also another option, sure the character has a little more stuff to begin with but its still not as impressive as the hoarde of treasure they will eventually attain.
Finally a +2 bonus on a stat with 10 or less (DMs choice), while it is fairly impressive, such a thing is no worse than high point buy or excellent rolls when you think about it, shoring up a weakness rather than further increasing a strength.
Hope this helps.
Try to reflect just what extra work they did with your treats.
He found a picture or a miniature ? Perhaps his character has a childhood friend who is an artist of some fame (or infamy), and could provide his character with a masterwork item.
Providing a good backstory ? Integrate his work into your campaign background, and make it count (difficult to be more precise here).
If you want to guide them towards good roleplaying, reward them with role-playing bonuses, not some technical rule-centered stuff.
Stefan
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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I've done treats in the past for that type of thing. For the 1st level bonus, I give out a choice of 3 extra hp, +2 skill points, or +1 to a save. I think of the rewards as half a feat (or a full feat I suppose considering that 3 extra hp is toughness). The great thing about these rewards is that they will fade into the background at higher levels, but at lower levels, they increase survivability by a decent margin.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Try to reflect just what extra work they did with your treats.
He found a picture or a miniature ? Perhaps his character has a childhood friend who is an artist of some fame (or infamy), and could provide his character with a masterwork item.
Providing a good backstory ? Integrate his work into your campaign background, and make it count (difficult to be more precise here).
If you want to guide them towards good roleplaying, reward them with role-playing bonuses, not some technical rule-centered stuff.
Stefan
I couldn't agree more with this (though it can be tough in practice - particularly at first level when the character personality might not be known). A reward that is tied to a character's backstory is worth more than an unconnected mechanical reward. The ability to cast a handful of 0 level spells could represent failed training as a wizard. Ranks in a cross-class skill could represent some prior life experience, etc.
I had a DM once that gave us 500 XP for creating a backstory/personality profile. The beauty of this is that it really feels like a treat to the players, while to the DM it means that you can throw tougher challenges at the PCs sooner...mwahahaha!
The reward could also BE the additional piece of backstory - for example, an NPC with a handful of character levels can be a useful contact at low levels, available to provide advice and maybe the occasional lead-in to a mission.
You could also come up with an interesting, obscure item for each of them. For example, one character might receive an antique key that has been passed down in his family for generations (or that he found lying on the road out of town when he was a kid). Another character might be given an small, old, rusty box that is impossible to open, that a mysterious old woman placed in his cradle when he was a baby. Another character might have had a sequence of odd dreams over the years, all of which seem to take place in the same creepy old castle or dungeon. Just come up with a few ideas like this that you can tie into the adventure(s) you have planned for their first few levels. (Maybe the key opens a difficult-to-access room in the dungeon, the box feels warm to the touch when brought within a few inches of secret doors in that dungeon, and the dreams give warning of a specific foe they'll have to defeat.)
you could make anything with charges; they would loose effectiveness over time; ie bracelet of mage armor 4 charges; or any weapon effect; x number of charges; scrolls of low level spells; just about anything that mimics a skill boost or first level spell but only a couple times; a summoning stone that summons; hmm something; players dont need to know; just give them the command word; many dragons have put out suggestions of level one stuff only; you may wish to do a database search and look at these items.
Equipment and gold are good incentives because they're tangible and valuable, but as you level up they're worth relatively less and less so it won't be game-breaking.
Alternatively, use Eberron-style action points, giving an extra point at first level for each of your suggestions they give in to.
For our SCAP campaign we decided to use Action Points. So I used bonus APs as an incentive to write background info.
It worked better for some peoples motivation than others but generally worked well.
Initially I put together a quiz for them.
After filling that out most did some backgrounds.
Using stuff they'd written and told me I was able to write a short "Session Zero" intro to the campaign.
My nephew and his friends have expressed an interest in playing D&D, they are into Gamesworkshop games and LOTRs so D&D is something they are excited to play.
There are four of them altogether and they're 16-19 years old, two have played D&D before and already know the 3.5 rules, although the games they played in were hack and slash.
I decided to start them using the Shackled City campaign, Ive already DM'ed it before (for my regular group) and everything went well.
I am trying to get these new players to open up to roleplay and I'm going to give out rewards for writing a backstory, supplying a painted miniature, finding a picture, writing a personality profile etc.
As an insentive to carry out these tasks I want to offer some rewards, that while good to have at 1st level will dissapear over time.
One I've thought of so far is an extra 1d3 hitpoints if they find a picture to represent their character, for a painted miniature I was thinking of maybe an item like a potion or masterwork item?
If anyone has any ideas for simular treats that will dissapear in time and not over power the game feel free to chime in, I would appreciate it. :D
I think this is a worthy goal (although I can't see how having a painted mini enhances roleplaying). I recommend just asking questions of the players to get to know their characters better and then using the answers to introduce hooks, NPCs, or story arcs designed to feature a PCs' backstory. I find that most players will happily talk about their PCs and when you incorporate elements of their backstory into the game that is often reward enough and the need to actually give away game mechanic incentives in unnecessary.
I generally ask just one question (tell me about your characters family, do they have siblings, parents etc?) via email at end of each session.
The Sword & Sorcery Ravenloft players guide has a great set of such questions.
Cheers
llowellen
Check out these ideas from Roleplaying Tips. I've used the "hunk of troll" before, lots o' fun. :-D