What are folks' thoughts on offering XP incentives for folks to play short-term PCs with an expiration date?
It's a high lethality setting, but while design goals call for some inherent risk, setting the risk level as high as the setting calls for is a bad idea for the genre and story involved. I'm curious if anyone's got any thoughts on the topic to share.
XP incentive for the short-term doomed PC or the longer term non-doomed PC? Or would everyone be short-term?
XP incentive as in 'earn points for your other characters by playing and killing this one'.
Basically akin to playing an red-shirt plot device short term? I'd be game.
I personally really love playing short term antagonists, or doomed whatevers. I wouldn't even need XP
I think it's a good idea. It's kind of similar to what TGG (the World War game) did, where you got to roll-over a portion of your old character's XP to your inevitable new character. Made re-genning frequently less painful.
I love playing short-term characters that have a set expiration date. My last game, I played several characters that either died because they had terrible luck or because they were bad guys and the end was coming as the plot was wrapping. Totally worthwhile. An XP incentive would be cool, but isn't really necessary for the people who already like this kind of RP.
@kanye-qwest said in Incentives for Doom:
I personally really love playing short term antagonists, or doomed whatevers. I wouldn't even need XP
This. It's so much fun when you know there's an expiration date!
This is being discussed for the Aliens game (called Hudsons) and we discussed it at length in that thread (my RL needs to chill the fuck out so I can step back into helping out with that project).
One of the big bonuses, in my mind, to such a PC is that it increases the impact of death. It's hard to care about a 'there for flavor' NPC, but easier when someone was actively involved and playing them.
The other perk, for me at least, would be getting to try out character types I might not otherwise. I have a lot of ideas I pass on because I'm not sure I'd enjoy them long-term. It'd give me a place to test drive them.
People tend to be more willing to play these kind of characters if they know going into that 'hey, you're probably going to die'
It removes the disdain for PC death that many have if you go into it knowing that you're going to meet some grisly demise.
My chargenned and barely played characters I never could get into litter the DBs of a thousand worlds. So I just know I'd make one of these characters and then it would just click and be the best character ever and I'd grow very attached to it and it would end in tragedy.
@peasoupling said in Incentives for Doom:
My chargenned and barely played characters I never could get into litter the DBs of a thousand worlds. So I just know I'd make one of these characters and then it would just click and be the best character ever and I'd grow very attached to it and it would end in tragedy.
I'm kind of into this idea. I mean, it's not that far from running a small but long-term PRP, and I'd give XP for that.
Just have an advancement point/experience point system that lets you carry over your experience and rank between characters. Elendor's Mordor faction did this.
@chet said in Incentives for Doom:
Just have an advancement point/experience point system that lets you carry over your experience and rank between characters. Elendor's Mordor faction did this.
I'd be cool with an incentive to play a character with a target on their back.
But keeping XP and rank from one to another I don't like at all; I can't frame precisely why but it seems to turn death meaningless.
How about keeping an ever increasing reroll a die type resource, which adds to your survivability over time, but still runs out?
+1. Redshirt PCs are awesome.
They're also a great option for casual players, or new players who want to try out various spheres/factions on a game before they find a group they click with timewise/stylewise to make a more permanent PC.
Groups of character class/species/specialty/utility/prominence to upgrade through, in exchange for a consensual character death, when proper XP/AP is accrued? You'd need the proper type of AP judgment, however. For instance, exchanging XP for scenes would fall into the category of more face time, whereas experience with the combat system would be specialization. Or how about a system where the more you contribute to larger plots, the more you work your way up in terms of ritual importance?
I think it's a good idea. It's kind of similar to what TGG (the World War game) did, where you got to roll-over a portion of your old character's XP to your inevitable new character. Made re-genning frequently less painful.
