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Am I the only one that hates this idea? Like, this sounds like a system ripe for abuse. Giving players in game benefits for bringing snacks or drawing a map? That's just antithetical to everything I've learned as a dungeon master.
What happens outside the game doesn't affect game mechanics, or does so as little as possible. I suppose DMs are free to ignore this option but I don't like its presence in core rules.
I understand the goal. To encourage being a good player and helping out in all facets of the game. But if you need to bribe your players with mechanical benefits to be helpful, then they're dicks and you should stop playing with them.
Hero points to reward good roleplaying is great. It's a system that works well in many other games and I usually houserule it into games that don't have it because any way to gently push my players into taking actions other than the most mechanically effective choice is a boon.
I've already decided that all players will start with 2 points with a third available from doing something cool in-game. I don't want a player feeling like they weren't rewarded when maybe there was nothing they could have done to help the out-of-game experience or having to codify what gets you that second Hero Point. It just feels like something that's going to lead to a lot of small moments of resentment.
Edit: As an example of why I don't like this, one of my GMs initially would reward people who showed up on time with a small amount of bonus experience. And on the surface that was fine, but in the end it felt more punitive for things like being forced to work late than it did rewarding for those that showed up on time.
Am I the only one that hates this idea? Like, this sounds like a system ripe for abuse. Giving players in game benefits for bringing snacks or drawing a map? That's just antithetical to everything I've learned as a dungeon master.
What happens outside the game doesn't affect game mechanics, or does so as little as possible. I suppose DMs are free to ignore this option but I don't like its presence in core rules.
Agreed. Character rewards are for character actions. And it's a serious problem for the rulebook to say otherwise because it misleads and disappoints players.
I suppose wiping out the Hero Points for out-of-game actions means increasing the potential Hero Points for in-game actions to 2 per PC, but that doesn't seem like a problem to me.
Pretty sure this is a section of rules that's going to bet barely playtested. I've played in three playtest events, and I've never seen a Hero Point awarded or used. In the first playtest, run by one of the developers, Hero Points were explained. In the latter two the GM never mentioned them. Feels like its likely to be missed/skipped by a lot of GMs running things.
Feels like its likely to be missed/skipped by a lot of GMs running things.
Both the GM Tracking Sheet and the Player Tracking Sheet explicitly ask, for each section of the playtest, "How many Hero Points did you give out/use during this part of the playtest".
The surveys are going to ask this specifically.
That should help; they aren't being covered/tracked as far as I can tell in the PFS playtest scenarios. (Not in the survey IIRC for the one I played) Survey felt a little too brief to be useful, but I still filled it out, (and then posted a longer thing here)
Pretty sure this is a section of rules that's going to bet barely playtested. I've played in three playtest events, and I've never seen a Hero Point awarded or used. In the first playtest, run by one of the developers, Hero Points were explained. In the latter two the GM never mentioned them. Feels like its likely to be missed/skipped by a lot of GMs running things.
Hero Point-esque mechanics are pretty prominent in other games I play. I'm doing my first playtest next week, so I'll likely make use of the mechanic.
I've already decided that all players will start with 2 points with a third available from doing something cool in-game. I don't want a player feeling like they weren't rewarded when maybe there was nothing they could have done to help the out-of-game experience or having to codify what gets you that second Hero Point. It just feels like something that's going to lead to a lot of small moments of resentment.
Edit: As an example of why I don't like this, one of my GMs initially would reward people who showed up on time with a small amount of bonus experience. And on the surface that was fine, but in the end it felt more punitive for things like being forced to work late than it did rewarding for those that showed up on time.
Yeah, it's just kind of a weird system. Your reward for showing up on time should be playing a fun game with your friends. Your reward for taking notes or bringing snacks or picking people up for the game, should just be the gratitude of your friends for being a cool person.
I just plan on rewarding all 3 Hero Points for good roleplaying at different points in the game. I'm also probably going to have them evaporate at the end of an adventure, rather than a session, because a session just isn't a reliable metric.