As a new pbta gm, there are times when the player do or say something hilarious, amazing, outlandish, etc.

As a new pbta gm, there are times when the player do or say something hilarious, amazing, outlandish, etc.

As a new pbta gm, there are times when the player do or say something hilarious, amazing, outlandish, etc. In the system I know well, is award bennies (Savage Worlds). Is there a way to award this in this system? Give XP, etc? In spirit of 77 I used roll with something extra/less depending.

Help a newbie

10 thoughts on “As a new pbta gm, there are times when the player do or say something hilarious, amazing, outlandish, etc.”

  3. I’ve come to a place where I don’t want to reward my friends for having fun. I’m not their dad, I’m just the GM.

    If I really wanted to, I could give a +1 forward or ongoing — which is a pretty big deal. Could also tell them they can increase another player’s roll by a success tier.

    What I really like to reward is character actions that’re clever — which often entails avoiding the dice in the first place.

  4. Depends on what you’re specifically trying to encourage, but it’d probably come as the form of a custom move, like:

    When you do something hilarious, amazing, or outlandish and other players enjoy it, hold 1 bennie. At any time, you may spend 1 bennie to:

    – Reroll a failed roll

    – Add +1 forward before a roll

    – Ask an addition question on (moves with lists)

    I’d probably say that this is garbage, though. Giving out mechanical bonuses for being entertaining is just going to turn the game into a gonzo slapfest.

  5. I say reward them by being amazed, amused or devastated by their cool ideas. Reward them as a friend in a conversation. If the game has rules for rewarding that sort of thing (The Sprawl, for instance), then follow those rules.

  7. William Nichols that’s basically what they do in most games! It totally doesn’t fit PbtA, though.

    If there was specific play I’d want to encourage, I’d just give the player a custom move and ask if they want it. I’ve done a car chase move in Urban Shadows like this, because it was always cool when narrated – dice and uncertainty make it cooler.

  8. Awesome food for thought, thanks everyone! I own the Sprawl, will read up and see how that fares. I know that each system is it’s own thing, and the bennies in SW are there to provide mechanical buffers. From what I experienced in PBTA/So77, it really does not mesh. We were at full octane for four hours. #breakoldhabits

  9. My response here is going to be colored by the fact I detest Savage Worlds, Bennies in particular.

    PbtA games give out mechanical rewards when players have their characters do certain things. The types of things that provide mechanical rewards differ by game and help reinforce the tone and feel of each particular game. Many games give out an XP on a miss, encouraging players to have their characters do things they might not normally do. Other games give out XP when a certain stat is used, or when characters complete certain tasks.

    I am like William Nichols; I don’t want to arbitrate what cool or funny thing my friends do is worth a mechanical reward or not. I don’t need to encourage my friends to have fun, because if they aren’t having fun, I’m doing something wrong.

    Have a look at The Sprawl to see how the mechanical rewards in it are different to Spirit of ’77.

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