How To Reward Players Creativity

Many greetings, esteemed guests! It’s been a wonderful start to the spring season for us in these lands, and even the strict master of our Accounting Department couldn’t resist getting a whiff of fresh floral air this week! The soil has been warming up and all around us is the evidence of new growth and beauty. Such a visceral experience is great motivation for wiggling out of our winter slumber and comfort, unfolding like the petals of a tulip and freshening the pages with our own new stories and plots.

Everyone knows that there is a ton of work that goes into being a Game Master – plotting, planning, and then managing all the moving parts of a campaign. But hopefully the adventurers taking part in the journey show their appreciation for that effort by exploring all the quests, side-quests, and even using their own creativity to liven up the campaign.

A great example of creative participation hearkens back to a previous venture with my friends. Our party accepted a side-quest to create luxurious garments into order to build rapport with a fashion guild. Each player took their backstory  and skill set into account to create extremely personalized outfits which greatly impressed the guild and gave them an in with the group which helped them down the road.

So what is a Game Master to do to reward the players and party for such creativity? Here are a few suggestions!

1) Award inspiration points/hero points (this depends on the system you are using).

This is a small but useful reward that can allow the players to get out of a pinch during gameplay, especially in key battles.

2) Award a temporary buff.

As the Game Master, you have the ability to add situational bonuses to rolls, or you can even add temporary resistances to help the party through certain areas of the story.

3) Award items.

THIS CAN BE SO TRICKY! It’s easy for items to be overpowered for the level of the game which then throws the whole balance of the game out of the window! But, awarding rare items is still quite fun and can add a lot of excitement for the players. Take into consideration the backstory and characteristics of each player when offering an item as a reward in order to make it more meaningful to them. You should also consider using the awared item to help unlock even more side-quest options.

4) Award skill points.

This is a great option if you are not ready for the group to level up yet. Some systems are less dependent on skill points than others, so this is something to pay attention to if you are considering using it as a reward. Skill points can help give the members of the party a sense of progressing between the larger leaps of leveling up. Another benefit is that this reward doesn’t tend to break the game!

5) Award minions/companions/allies.

This kind of reward is especially dynamic and relevant throughout the whole game as opposed to some of the rewards that are only temporary benefits. The NPCs that you use can also add a different dimension to the future parts of the story – maybe the party is on the run during a quest and the shepherds they helped on a random side-quest earlier could offer to hide them until the danger has passed.

6) Award “flavor” to the players.

Don’t overlook rewards such as titles, ranks, or even lands for your players as they progress through the game. Those things might not help during battles or puzzles, but they can add more depth to the gameplay and can effect the interactions that they have with the NPCs.

7) Award cosmetics.

Much like in video games, awarding things like specialty wings, glowing eyes, or even something like glowing rune tattoos, can be fun for the players to collect even if they don’t include any kind of tactical advantage.

What kind of rewards have you found most memorable? Are there particular ones that you like to hand out to the players like candy? Do you award candy itself? Or have you found certain rewards encourage the players more than other ones? Or are there any types of rewards that you hate?

We’d love to hear all about it! Share with us in the comments below, jump in on our YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlWn4oT4eHA), or even on our Discord Channel (https://discord.com/invite/g2NBTssuMh)!

Credit: Written by Meraki Forest