Reward Invested Players with Immunity Tokens

July 23, 2008 No comments

Most of the house rules I come up with are intended to either support a particular style of play, make gamemaster prep time easier, or to reward players. Sometimes, it will accomplish some combination of the three. I know that in Ron Edwards’ estimation this means that the game is inherently broken, but Ron wasn’t invited to sit at my game table so he needn’t worry himself about that.

I’ve been reading a lot lately about Total Party Kills in older editions of D&D, about how OD&D made no promises to be fair, and about how 4th edition treats players like precious snowflake elementary school children who all get trophies for participation regardless to whether their team wins or not. It’s a lot to process. In the end I decided that, like the ChattyDM, I’m a roleplaying moderate.

I think characters should get in-game rewards for doing stuff in-character. I also think that players should get rewarded for what they do as players. It was following Graywulf on Twitter that the idea of Immunity Tokens hit me. He’s an artist, and he takes commissions for character portraits. I’ve always wondered what people do, after spending money on a professionally rendered picture of their character, when the character dies. One would assume that they’re only getting a pic done after they’re played the character for a while, or have achieved a high level. It would seem foolish to make that sort of investment in a first level character or someone you’ve played only once or twice.

The idea of the Immunity Token is meant to reward players for making that sort of commitment. The player has commissioned, or spent their own time illustrating, a pic of their character. They’ve spent time coming up with a back story, or written fiction. They’ve painted a miniature in concise detail, selecting or modding a mini to reflect the exact armor or equipment the character has.

These things are Immunity Tokens. When death comes knocking, the gamemaster can fudge a die roll, throw a henchman in the way, or perform some other deus ex machina to save the character’s life. They may still be seriously wounded, but they don’t die. The gamemaster should tell the player, “That’s for the pic/ mini/ biography/ whatever the investment was”. The player gets rewarded for having a long-term vision for the character by allowing the character to survive long enough to fulfill that vision.

Of course, this should only be used within ongoing campaigns; anyone who invests in a character for one-shot is probably a loon. The use of the Immunity Token is entirely at the gamemaster’s discretion, of course, and each GM should set their own terms and conditions. I would also advise that this be used as a sekrit rool. Don’t tell players you’ll give them a pass if they do X, Y, or Z. Reward the folks who do this unbidden. It has more dramatic impact that way, and is a lot more meaningful to the player who sincerely put forth that effort.