Reward System?

[jakk9000]

It comes to my attention that OVA does not have a reward system for the players (other then having a good time). What do I do if my players are greed driven?

[Beli]

Give them cookies with Ex-Lax chips?

Then tell them that every good must come with some evil.

Hey, it may make them steer them in the direction you want... if nothing else, they'll be wary of your cookies.

[calibur1]

It comes to my attention that OVA does not have a reward system for the players (other then having a good time). What do I do if my players are greed driven?

Then they're probably playing the wrong game... However, that doesn't really help you.

First I going to assume you mean "treasure" by means of reward? There is a section on XP rewards in the book, and hopefully they will get a revamp (or at least a second look) in the revision. If you do mean "treasure", then we have something in common. If you look at any typical anime, things like treasure, money, and stuff are only used as plot devices. I believe this only becomes an issue if you're running a non-anime type game in OVA, like I've been sorta doing.

Before we get into what to do, think about what treasure means in your game. What purpose does it fulfill? If the treasure is monetary, is there something to spend it on? If the treasure is in the form of items, how much more useful and powerful will it make the PC's? In the Starstone Treasure introductory adventure for OVA there is a point in the game in which the heroes receive "power ups" (created by the GM), and my players were thrilled to get them. In games like D&D PC's receive treasure to continue a vicious cycle of self-destruction: kill monster > get treasure > sell treasure to buy better weapons and magic to kill more monsters > get treasure > etc. However, I am one of those GM's that believe that treasure is an important part of rpgs. It is the carrot in front of the donkey; the prize at the bottom of Cracker Jacks. Everybody likes to get stuff. It's human nature. But in OVA, like in most "point-buy" systems, money and special items pose a set of their own problems. The main problem is being with game balance.

My answer to this was to create a real economy for my setting, but this requires a bit of work on the GM's part and a different approach to the game. It wasn't so hard, because I was running a space opera type of game, and I have other rpgs to fall back on for ideas. Using the old Alternity rpg as my backdrop, I had a currency and price list already set up for me. The heroes started off with money in their pockets which was intially modified by the Filthy Rich ability and Poor weakness. Any money gained after character creation would come from accomplishing adventure goals (jobs/missions), so that was the end of that. They were allowed to purchase gear, weapons, armor, whatever they could afford.

But HOW does that figure into the rules? (you ask)

This was not so much as an anime game as it was a sci-fi space fantasy. PC's weren't just allowed to take any ability they wanted. Things like Armor, Weapon, and Vehicle had to be purchased with money. Over-the-top abilities like Invisibilty and Barrier were purchased in the form of cybernetics. Believe it or not, everything worked out, but I had to make a LOT of conversions from the Alternity armor and equipment list, some of it on the fly. The payoff is that the game felt like a typical rpg, that they were use to playing, while still enjoying the simplicity of OVA.

I can think of no better answer to give you than to "make something up." It all depends how far you are into your game that it might not be practical to go as far as I did? But think about maybe giving them "power ups" as story arc rewards?

[Joe_Mello]

What do I do if my players are greed driven?

Find new players. If they're more interested in minmaxing than having a good time or making a good story, point them to the nearest video game and get a new group going. Even players RP'ing greedy characters shouldn't be more interested in dings or loots than putting on a good show. (see Starshine, Haley)

I've modified the XP rules by making new traits cost double and having Weakness reduction cost 1 more than their current level (ie going from -2 to -1 will cost 3 points). Through four sessions, my Galaxy Police team has earned 10 points in "cash and prizes" for going through Academy training and a couple cases (and not freaking out when they learn Tenchi has a house full of aliens )

/Should I be this crabby at 23?