Venture-Captain, Nebraska—Omaha
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Just because I am curious, I am starting this thread for people to post when one of the boons from the Retail Incentive Program was used and what impact the use of that boon had on the character/adventure.
Please include the boon (Harder to Kill, Cheaper Healing, Recover from Wounds, or Bonus Wealth), what level (standard or enhanced), and the impact it had.
My first use ended up being Bonus Wealth. I rolled the same exact number on my D20 so the re-roll didn't help but the enhanced level did increase my total gold from 10 to 15.
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Past two tables we had were both enhanced and I used it on Bonus Wealth.
First time I rolled 20 and 16, and I had 13 base in diplomacy so it helped and gave little extra money. Added security was nice feeling, when you knew you didn't have to worry about critical hits that much and dying of hp damage.
Second week I rolled 1 and 3 for day job, so total gold I got was 15, so didn't do much. Still added security was again nice.
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We had our first gameday with the program last night. 1 table had the enhanced - and it saved a grippli's life at second level.
The other table had a couple players with the lower incentive, and was mostly for Bonus Wealth.
Overall - it did incentivize a little more purchasing at the store - which they loved. So a success in my book.
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I have had two tables at the enhanced level and one at the standard level. In one, the Bonus Wealth benefit was used for the most part, while in the second the Cheaper Healing was used to defray the cost of a near party wipe. The sole remaining party member used Bonus Wealth instead. Other tables locally have had access to the benefits, but I do not have data for them.
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Last night had the Harder to Kill standard boon save the paladin from death by Mummy power attack slamming. This helped the APL 3.6 six player party in an 4-5 game get by without deaths... On the flip site it was a 10 con melee character, so not sure the the threat of death was entirely unwarranted.
Another character used the cheaper healing to help with the process of removing Mummy Rot.
A few weeks ago a level 2 Barbarian ate a large battleaxe crit after refusing the advise of a halfling. The enhanced harder to kill and the welcome to pathfinder boon combined was not enough to save them.
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We've been encouraging people to "support the four walls" for ages. The store I play at regularly offers snacks at reasonable prices and the owner counts them for RIP.
What the program has done is provide a simple way to bring up supporting the store. It's also saved several lowish level characters from bleeding out.
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Agreed. Our group has always been pretty good about supporting the places we play at, but the boon seems to have encouraged it--and we've seen a couple of people not bleed to death as a result. Mostly it gets used for better day jobs.
The other options come up occasionally, though. It helped offset costs from a near-TPK at one point. The party had accumulated a ridiculous number of temporary negative levels and the "Cheaper Healing" boon (at the higher level, so -2 prestige cost) let us get restorations prior to those negative levels becoming permanent.
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A couple high roller players locally have made the enhanced benefits fairly common at the tables I have attended. The program has encouraged purchases on game days, but I can't say for certain if that is an increase or a shift in purchase times. Anecdotally I believe it has brought a number of players to the store for purchases rather than going elsewhere. It has also saved a number of characters from raise dead needs, but the most often use is the day job enhancements.
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Locally in the DFW area, it has been a fairly regular sight to see a pile of receipts hit the table before the scenarios begin, that can mean from $50-200 for the store depending on the number of scenarios run that gameday. Usually see it used for Harder to Kill and then ultimately Bonus Wealth.
This is definitely true.
Including last month when I called a break before a big fight and Erich said something to the effect of: "I've GMed this scenario before. Are we up to $50 yet? I think I'll go see what's on the clearance rack."
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Because I care about my local game stores I have always made a purchase when playing a game. This is part of being a good gaming customer.
I do not involve myself in pay to play games or incentives, nor will I. So my receipts (which often total $50 if I've decided to wait to buy a board game until the next time I'm at the store for PFS), stay in my pocket.
So in that essence, nothing has changed for me (and thus my game store) based on my habits.
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This has definitely lead to our tables at bi-weekly gamedays in Austin, TX consistently aiming for at least the $10 mark via drinks/snacks. I have noticed that folks make a point of picking up their new Pathfinder Hardback purchases on Gamedays to help meet the $50 mark as well. The basic version of Harder to Kill is quickly becoming a near staple, as it is easy for us to hit $10 if all 6 players grab a drink/soda at the start.
In terms of optional boon, I see Bonus Wealth the most followed by rare cases of Cheaper Healing. I can't say I've ever seen Recover from Wounds used.
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Venture-Captain, Nebraska—Omaha
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The nice thing about the program is that it is pretty easy to get the basic level when 4 or 5 are just buying stacks.
It also applies to all players, not just the ones who chose to show receipts which I think is a good feature as well.
For the most part, the boons have been used to increase day job chances and rewards.
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For the most part, the boons have been used to increase day job chances and rewards.
This is probably my biggest irk about this program. For years we fought against getting "too much" wealth by level, to the point that the entire difficulty system was revamped to help alleviate what I'll just refer to as gold farming.
Now - people regularly try to meet the RIP goals in order to get their characters more money (either by gaining more day job cash, or not needing to spend cash on death removal).
I don't need to be told to be a good gamer customer - I already know that if I don't spend money at my game store they're not likely going to be there tomorrow. Thus why I do not participate. It is unfortunate there needed to be a program counter to stated goals in order to get others to figure that out.
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Venture-Lieutenant, California—Los Angeles (South Bay)
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People are buying more at my store (Lightspeed Hobbies in Portage, Indiana). They are using the enhanced bonus primarily for day jobs, but occasionally to heal from ability damage.
The Harder to Kill bonus is very welcome with the players here. We had it save a player character or two already.
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Venture-Agent, Massachusetts—Boston Metro
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Had our table remembered to make purchases before the game rather than after, we could have dodged a death a few weeks back.
The Harder to kill boon is by far the most appreciated benefit I've noticed. As far as the 'active' options, I've mostly just seen the Day Job used. So far I haven't noticed a particular uptick in purchases at the stores, but our lodge was fairly good at supporting the brick-and-mortar before this.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Ohio—Toledo
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The Harder To Kill boon has prevented at least 2 lower-level PC deaths at our tables recently. Our players have always been good about buying snacks, but the program has encouraged some to buy hardback books and board games on PFS nights.
A couple of players have benefited from the Day Job bonus, but most in our group don't play PC's with Day Jobs. Both benefits are definitely appreciated by our player base.
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This saved a character's life last night. Poor tengu swashbuckler with 8 CON took on the Aspis Agent Five-Knives solo. Parry-riposte is a great ability, right up until the moment it fails...
A few months ago it saved the life of that same player's rogue from a certain Tian yeti.
This is up to 3 characters saved of 5 that went below -Con since implementation.
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Venture-Captain, Minnesota
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It certainly saved the life of a player that I was GMing!
But the most important benefit is that it has made our venue, Dreamers, very happy with us. They beam at us whenever we come in, because they know that every table is going to end up spending fifty dollars or more.
Hmm
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For the most part, the boons have been used to increase day job chances and rewards.This is probably my biggest irk about this program. For years we fought against getting "too much" wealth by level, to the point that the entire difficulty system was revamped to help alleviate what I'll just refer to as gold farming.
Now - people regularly try to meet the RIP goals in order to get their characters more money (either by gaining more day job cash, or not needing to spend cash on death removal).
I don't need to be told to be a good gamer customer - I already know that if I don't spend money at my game store they're not likely going to be there tomorrow. Thus why I do not participate. It is unfortunate there needed to be a program counter to stated goals in order to get others to figure that out.
My take-away isn't that this is to force players/GMs to be good game store customers, but rather a system by which to placate the retail stores ire at Paizo's online store and business practices.
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One more for the tally. Out of tier character was knocked from full to unconscious by an invisible boss. Then they got channel healed to awakeness while being the only character near the boss, so the boss tried to finish them off... Tactics were merciless.
This is up to 4 characters saved of 6 that went below -Con since implementation.
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As someone who works at a store where the program is active, I can say it certainly works at getting players to spend money. We normally sell at least $100 or more to our PFS groups than we do to our D&D groups (who almost never buy more than a couple drinks).
As a player, I mostly see it used for boosting day job checks, though the harder to kill part has come in a couple times.
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I used to have a bit of a reputation as a "deadly" GM. (Though I was never accused of being "unfair" with those deaths.)
But since the Retail Incentive Program has started, I've lost that reputation. Harder to Kill has really changed the dynamics. I haven't decided if that's a good thing or not. Not because I want to kill characters, but that extra "safety margin" has led to players pushing closer to a TPK at mid levels. In the old days if one level 5 or 6 PC dropped from single digit HP to dead the players would often pull back and reconsider whether they wanted to continue or change tactics. With the RIP, it takes a pretty big crit to kill a character in one hit, so the players are more likely to push forward to try to save the dying character at -20 HP. Which in turn leads to more PCs being dropped unconscious trying to save the first (who will be stable but not conscious after a single CLW).
So I've seen a lot more parties where it's down to the last one or two conscious characters hoping to finish off the BBEG before they too fall unconscious and begin dying.