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Originally Posted by calel
Lo and behold, even a pen and paper game as bland as Dungeons and Dragons (I'm gonna get slapped for this by Jyudas  ) suggests to reward 'clever use and innovative thinking on skills'; the 'bashing-down-the-door' playstyle isn't the only one around, nor the only one to achieve goals. |
No, I'm not going to slap you around. As far as RPGs go D&D is pretty bland. This will just end up with Crystal farms though and while that helps take some of the sting out of Outposts the Crystals (and other rewards?) being non-tradable harms that role.
Yeah DT, it wasn't meant to be about rewards but as 'alternate revenue stream' for Crystals etc is a bloody good idea for providing access to content for non PvP players.
In TTRPGs there is a classic and constant argument between 'System doesn't matter' and 'System matters'. Personally I fall on the side of 'System matters'. That is to say that a system that supports and encourages particular modes of play, styles, or activities is better suited to them than trying to shoehorn them in.
In something like Feng Shui or Exalted this comes out in a mechanism called 'Stunts'. Basically the more descriptive and evocative your description of your actions the bigger the bonus you get to perform those actions.
In other games different systems such as bloody and graphic critical hit tables, systems for tracking humanity or sanity all play their role in encouraging and supporting play in a certain idiom, encouraging it.
Which is a long-winded way of saying that if you want this to be successful as something more than pure hack and slash you need to find a way of encouraging its use in alternate ways.
My suggestion would go back to my original one, its abusable but I can't see a better alternative. Give the Adventure Master points based on the ratings etc of their scenario that they can cash in for rewards to offer IN their scenarios that will, in turn, encourage people to play their scenarios by providing incentive and will put control back into the hands of the AM.