Quote:
Originally Posted by patchwork
Usually, I give 2 points for showing up, 1 point for remaining in concept/in character/advancing the story, and 1 additional point to the person I feel did the best job. Thus, only one player is getting 4 points per session; the wallflowers get 2 and the actively engaged get 3. My sessions tend to be about 8 hours.
I find this gives the level of feedback and motivation I want. Clear examples over a few sessions of what sort of character behavior I'm looking for and what I'm not, yet the "winners" aren't really that far ahead of the "losers" - they seldom feel like they're being punished since 2 xp is almost as good as 3...
I don't give xp for backstory or portraits or bluebooking anymore because I find it doesn't encourage participation so much as Mary Sue attention-seeking types. Don't get me wrong, I want to read a backstory, but "Thank you, good job" is all the reward I'm putting out for it.
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All of that is close to what I do. I have two main differences:
* I give only one point for showing up. It's two points for sessions where low-key stuff happened and three points for big dramatic sessions.
* I may give the bonus point to more than one player, if more than one player had good dramatic scenes or came up with clever ideas. (I have, once or twice, given a bonus point to a player who didn't attend, but whose character I played and got a really crucial roll for at a dramatic point—but they didn't get the group points, because they weren't there.)
Bill Stoddard