Make Them an Offer They Can’t Refuse

Written by Tyson J. Hayes on 2009/12/02 – 08:00 -

Players are naturally selfish about their characters; they want better loot, greater fame, and more of the almighty experience point. So when it comes to getting them to do anything to help you with your game, try a simple trick. Bribery.

The bribe can be any number of things; for a character back story or portrait an XP award is most fitting, as you can use them as props or story hooks. Conversely, a great recap of the last session may only be worth a benny, as it’s only truly useful one time.

Now you may be thinking that you’ll be handing out the rewards like a homeless shelter during the holidays, but rest assured if you only reward quality your players will respond in kind. Now let’s be clear, don’t lord it over them and don’t let one player get way ahead of the others. There will be players that do every little thing you ask them and you may find yourself dolling out the rewards to them, but make sure you extend the offer to your other players as well.

Simply put, a little bribery can go a long way. Once you get your players working on these things, they’ll start doing them without prompting. As your players introduce new characters and story elements into the game, they will build your world with you, creating a deeper, richer, and ultimately more satisfying experience.


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  • Hillary Crenshaw
    @Paul: I definitely like starting at level 5 or so. Levels 1 through 4 can be painful, especially if you're playing a 3rd edition spell-caster. One of the ways a DM of mine softened that blow was to get rid of cross-class skills. He also gave everyone a minimum of 4 skill points a level. I love it because now I can have a cleric who enjoys swimming without shooting myself in the foot by not using those points elsewhere. Not to mention that swimming would have cost me double as it's not a class skill for clerics. I fell like I have the freedom to give my characters hobbies.
  • On a total tangent, that is the exact reason I dislike starting campaigns with first level characters. The player comes to me with this great back story, which covers his entire 35 year life span. Unfortunately he is a first level half elf fighter with a 10 INT. Thus, he receives 8 skill points with which to represent his entire life. As that makes no sense, I end up with either a string of sub twenty characters being played well (ie brash, annoying, uncultured) or much older characters with seriously stunted development.
    When the player of that fighter wants to spend all of his skill points on background stuff (profession sailor anyone?) it creates a character with no usable skills in game. If he puts all his points into profession sailor (or at least 5) I will be likely to allow it to synergize heavily, giving him a +2 to many skills. The only problem with this is that the min/max rouge with 48 skill points sitting across the table will see this, and dump five points into Profession Sailor, tack it onto his back story, and get those synergy bonuses essentially for free, thus keeping exactly the same distance between himself and the fighter.
    Thus, my solution is to start campaigns at level 5 or so. No really powerful spells or feats, no second attack, but enough room to work out a solid back story with justification for each class level taken.
  • Yes and Yes. Having the players work on developing a back story not only helps them to know who their character is, and why they do what they do (Which in turn generally leads to more interesting Role Play), but it also gives you meat to use in integrating them into the game.

    I've found that I'll give certain "Incentives" (Contacts, Items, Skills) to characters with a back story, but I do so with a warning. While they may benefit from being the loved son of a rich noble family, that also makes it far more likely that someone who's looking for a quick buck may decide that they would make a good ransom for their family. So they've got to consider how much they want to try and play up their characters past (Taking into account where they are Stats wise, as saying you've been secluded in temple of combat focused monks for the last 40 years, and having a very low combat score only means that your character was a loser for 40 years. ;P )
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