Rewards & Treasure Archives - Roleplaying Tips

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Don’t Be A Minnie Haul

I remember getting caught with my pants down running Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. One player had magic claws that could chew through six feet of rock each round. When the party finally made their way to the villain’s lair, they bypassed an entire page devoted to the magic barriers, traps, and tricks by digging through […]

How To Level Up Players With Reward Systems

We’ve mused how motivating yourself to be a better GM makes you happier. Those who pursue intrinsic goals are happier because they control more of their destiny. Now let’s talk about our players, who are probably a mixed bag of intrinsic and extrinsic interests. I go along with live and let live and to teach by example. So […]

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic: The Cause of Your Gaming Woes?

Here’s something key to understand about yourself and your players. People are motivated by some combination and degree of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Learn what these are for each person in your group to better tailor your game rewards. Rewards that fit, like the right key to the right lock, help your game become a satisfying campaign. An extrinsic reward is […]

How To Battle Dungeon Design Fatigue

RPT GM Tom G asks: I would like to know how my fellow GMs battle dungeon fatigue. I have no difficulties making the entry, the story of the dungeon and the first couple of rooms interesting. But after a while it all bogs down to left, right, or straight ahead. Any dungeon of more than […]

A Quick Way To Make Awesome Rewards

Saw a great tip on Twitter from Mike Shea the other day: Adding a daily spell to a magic itemis a great way to make it boththematic and mechanically useful. This is an awesome method to customize and enhance treasure. You could also surprise players with cool boons like this. The magic pool, mysterious portal, […]

D13 Magic Item Concepts from My Demonplague Campaign

I needed some minor mundane and magical treasures for my next DemonPlague game. So I made some and am sharing a few with you today. The party has a wizard, warrior, cleric, druid, and rogue in it. The first thing I did was make a table and a column for each class. That way I […]

Cool Idea: Skill Treasures

Here’s a simple way to make awesome magic items customised for your players. The idea occurred to me the other day, and I don’t know why I haven’t thought of it before. I’ll outline the recipe in three steps because I loves me my GMing recipes. 🙂 Step One: Skill Hunting Review each character sheet […]

The Pain of GMing a Perfectionist Player

An RPT Reader asked for tips on how to deal with a perfectionist player. Someone who “enjoys really thinking out moves and plays to make sure they picked the right one.” The player also has the “classic new player fear of doing it wrong.” “The new player part is not what I’m worried about. I […]

Shout The Name of Your Enemy and He Will Be Punished

I had a D&D dream last night. I love it when I dream about games, but it happens so rarely. This dream was about a magic tome. It’s a cool enough idea I will be using with modification on the Murder Hobos. As always, the dream was weird and scattered. I’ll spare you the details. […]

My Players Are Crazy! They’re Destroying Treasure

Last night I could only stand there and shake my head in disbelief. I saw them destroy not one, but two unique, custom treasures I had made for specific players. The first was a quartz horse. Chipped and scarred from abuse, the item does not look like much. But press a button on its base […]

My Experiences With Milestone XP

A while ago I switched my campaigns to milestone XP. You can take this approach with non-D&D games too, if it’s not already baked in. And today I wanted to give you an update on how that’s going. Whether you realize it or not, the reward systems you use have heavy impact on player and […]

Coming Home Empty Handed After A Raid

RPT GM K. asked me a question about rewards in sandbox games: Hi Johnn, I’ve been running an (in my opinion) fairly successful West Marches/Open Table game for several months now. I’ve accumulated a dedicated set of players and run at least one game per week, and so far it’s good fun for all involved, […]

World Story Meets RPG Story For Designing Better Adventures

A tip for you today about making your world feel dynamic and amping up your stories at the same time.

30 Ways To Deliver Clever Clues

You know how you want to give players clues in clever ways in-game without just blurting them out? The opportunity is there. The need is there. But nothing comes to mind. Then the moment passes and you move on, a bit disappointed, sometimes frustrated. “If only I could have thought of a great way to […]

What Are We Rewarding?

At a previous job my employer would take daily attendance. Yup. It was like being back in grade school, and I think that’s what the employer thought of its employees too — unruly things that must be controlled. When I see GMs award XP for attendance, it hearkens me back to that old gig. The […]

Three Ways To Make Your Coins Special

I created a coinage system for Duskfall last week and did three things to make money special. Today I’ll share what these are for you to consider using in your worlds. These tips are inspired by NOD #1 (Amazon affiliate link, Lulu link, blog link) where there’s a short article on coins. Mint The Most […]