Toward Better Rewards | Running the Game

Want to encourage your players to have more fun in your world? Tell them what amazing stuff exists in a clear and simple manner.

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[jamesevans]

"“The behavior a game rewards is the behavior a game encourages” is life lesson for so many things

[TheViperZed]

"And in that ancient ruin you find some evil dude, trying to summon Orcus, and suddenly you have to save the world; mostly because that's where you keep all your loot." Absolute gold right there.

[Calebgoblin]

The relationship between the mule, the carrot, and the stick is more complex than we may be led to believe.
Don't forget to actually feed them some carrots sometimes, and be attentive if they prefer apples instead

[SCowman]

This works. Categorically. I told my players "whenever you expand your monster hunting mercenary company, I will custom design a cool new guild power for each of your characters." They established four chapters and started a literal kingdom about it.

[eaglesviper]

I've been doing this in my 5e game for a few years now in the form of "optional missions" that the party or their followers can undertake. At first it hurt when they would go through the missions they've acquired and say "meh, this reward isn't worth it, " but I really got to show what they prioritize in their rewards and WHAT EXACTLY they are willing to move heaven and earth for. Do they want new abilities? Resources for their strongholds? Items? XP?

I never really knew why I was doing it other than I thought it was cool and it "felt right, " but hearing Matt put my nonsense brain in to words is very cathartic.

[mbulsht]

"Literally just let your players write your sidequests for you" -Matthew Colville, 2022

[noahpedersen]

Matt, you’ve helped me guide my players through hundreds of hours of incredible adventures. I’m currently in the process of writing a novel that takes place in my DnD setting. You’ve been my greatest inspiration. Thank you, truly. For everything you do.

[bobtweedie]

"End of the beginning of the 21st century" hit me harder than I was expecting

[LythonV]

I've been running games for my friends for 28 years, and every time I watch one of your videos Matt, I feel like I'm being taken to school again by a pro. You're a legend to the community, stay awesome my friend.

[CrushTheCreeper]

In the past year, my year and a half Pathfinder 1e campaign finished. In that campaign, I used a system of XP that was entirely focused around the PCs' backgrounds and motivations and I think that system worked phenomenally for the game I wanted to run. The players also enjoyed the prospect of their story being intergrated with the main plot because of it; each player was basically given moments over the campaign to be in the spotlight, and because the other PCs would be rewarded for taking part and assisting in that character's personal story, it made them engaged.

I'm very glad I learned the lesson that Matt is giving here going into that campaign because it is regarded as my best one yet. I'm also glad that Matt made this video to give this tip for DMs in the hopes that it can improve player engagement.

[mcolville]

I spent a long time prepping a megadungeon once and I made a point to make sure each player had their own unique Goal, something IN the dungeon that was related to their backstory.

It worked really well! Alas that campaign fell apart after like two sessions because I could not for the life of me translate the dungeon's 2D maps into 3D space for my players.

But up UNTIL that point, the players really liked the quest cards.

[killerfudgetastic]

I had a party one that had picked up some npcs and were escorting them home. I casually mentioned that my character would spend downtown teaching one of them some self defense and survival stuff, just because it was something I thought my character would do. I didn’t think much about it until the gm messaged me between sessions and asked if I would be interested in them turning that npc into a retainer for me. Having that mechanical connection instantly changed what had originally been meant as character fluff into one of my biggest motivators in the campaign. I spent a lot of time roleplaying their relationship and thinking of what he would teach next. That campaign is one of my favorites.

[Drekromancer]

You know what? That "Get XP from finding gold" thing from early D&D sounds a lot like the way they added XP drops to ores in Minecraft. It served as an extra design incentive to indicate that the XP-granting task was a fundamental, pivotal part of the game. I remember before Minecraft gave XP for mining, and I didn't feel as motivated to mine as I do today. So I can see this design principle in action, even in the modern day! Very cool stuff. 🙂

[AMRosa]

I just realized something watching Matt talk about the different rewards in the different versions of D&D and the type of game they indicate and it relates to the experiences Gary Gygax went through when he was developing the game and how that is reflected in the style of early versions of the game. After having listened to the When We Were Wizards podcast and understanding how much of a struggle Gygax was going through financially and how aspirational he was in the early days of designing the game, it is no wonder that the main goals and rewards built into early adventures and versions of the game rules focused around wealth accumulation. Gary wanted to get rich, so he built a game world that focused on characters who would get rich or die trying. They could become outrageously wealthy and powerful kings or mages when real life had them supporting their family on food stamps.

Gygax's experiences could also explain why early D&D was so deadly towards player characters. Until D&D became a hit, much of Gary's life was a series of figurative beatdowns and he had no problems exercising those demons on the players of his game.

[jesse]

After playing WItcher 3, I started creating notice boards for each town my players enter. This has been the best natural way to introduce my players to optional quests and introduce them to the town's main actors.

[ragnaroc]

After a game where the players kept asking, “why are we doing this?” I have subconsciously been doing this in my current game. I have Titles with abilities once players reach a narrative goal. And telling them what they get, but I think having cards is just a simple, “why didn’t I think of that?!” Implementation to my game. Thank you Mr. Matt!

[mazurkian]

A quick tip to add on top of Matt clever idea. Whether you're going into session zero or session 100, take 5 minutes to give a few sticky notes or index cards to each of your players. Have them each write down two to three short-term goals and long-term goals that their character personally has. Then have them also write down the things that they, the player, are interested in doing or would like to see more of in the campaign. Then you can attribute rewards to their self-made goals and hand them back out throughout the campaign to make sure that the players are working towards the things their characters are motivated to accomplish. You can also make goals and rewards that reinforce or encourage the behaviors that the players wrote they're interested in.

[ChapterGrim]

I love the idea of other rewards like the DMG suggests: using charms, boons, feats and lands/property/titles etc - even lore or magic items...

[bobzar]

It occurs to me that this might fill a 5e gap in the underutilized "diety" Relationship. A request and boon format makes sense if your deities are involved from time to time and not omniscient.

[QueenGrapefruit]

"and suddenly you're trying to save the world, if only because that's where you keep all your loot." KILLED me 🤣 it's such a perfect and hilarious explanation of the differences between the 3.5 campaigns I grew up playing and the 5e campaigns I play now.