Con Rewards vs. Homeplay

As to Cody’s main point, I mostly agree. Since BIs are not being released for home play any longer, they should really give much lower XP to avoid huge discrepancies among players. However, in order to make people feel like they are still worth attending, they need to give some tangible and useful reward that won’t unbalance the game. I’m not a big fan of temporary bonuses but they can sometimes be appropriate. Personally, I’d love to see more interesting options as rewards. This could be unique (or hard to access) items that aren’t overpowered (such as Vault of Larissa). This could be new character options (either allowing something unique to a new character or allowing a new option to an existing character (new Path or allowing ignoring certain prereqs on a talent/path/whatever). Again, they need to be useful and interesting but not overpowering. New character options shouldn’t be too plentiful as each player can realistically only play a certain number of characters.

Oooohhhh. Shiny. Yes. This is a topic worth revisiting.

Originally all the BI were released for home play and the LARPs had no rewards. So there was no issue. The people who never make it to cons were on exactly the same field reward-wise when compared to the Con goers.

But then PCI made a decision that going forward they weren’t going to release the BI’s for homeplay. I remember at the time that they said that the rewards for the BI were going to be dramatically reduced or dropped. And that the BIs would pivot away from key elements of the story (since obviously people away from Cons wouldn’t ever get to play them). Around this time more Special events started popping up. Some of them were promised for home play (such as the first Arcaniscon Special Events) but never made it … presumably due to the amount of work involved.

In practice it seems that “Big Events” still give out a lot of cash and xp … in addition to some other items. Further at least the BI at Tultipet was central to the ongoing story arc of the Blessed Lands. Which again, people who weren’t at Origins will not be able to experience first hand.

This has led to the growing disparity Cody has mentioned between characters that have played “everything” and characters that have “played what comes out for home play.”

Like Cody I don’t know what to do about it. In the old campaign there were hard xp caps above which you couldn’t play the modules. This was unpopular with the core aracnis players who hit them and had to temporarily retire their characters till the rest of the campaign caught up with them. I don’t know that its the best solution to return to this path.

But still I worry. My biggest concern is that power differentials in PCs could potentially become a disincentive to new players. We need to bring in more players. OTOH players who participate in an 8 hour BI, that shapes the fate of a city – and puts their characters at higher risk of death – are probably right to feel under appreciated if the results of that are less than a standard rewards of a 2 hour module.

I feel for PCI. No matter which way they go on this, they’re going to hear mutterings in the ranks…either from the most loyal players who go to everything or from the new players we need to recruit into the campaign. This argument last broke out then the “leveling certs” came out. My understanding is that originally they had been planned to be at 1.8 but at some of the long time players were upset. Arguments were often a variation of: “its unfair. I’ve taken the time to play all these modules, and they can step in at the same place I am at. They haven’t earned it.” And the leveling cert came out at 1.5

I like Cody’s proposed solution of temporary benefits. It won’t be appropriate in all cases but where it works, I think its a great idea. I also like the idea that people there get access to something not normally purchase-able. Not full on magic items but things that are restricted in the campaign.

I would also suggest bringing back the “Weekend in…” format. Many past Living style campaigns have had a major event run at multiple regional sites in public conventions and gamedays. WiGE – the Weekend in Gothic Earth, (for the Living Death campaign) may be the best known example of this. Basically a set of themed mods and perhaps a special event go out to trusted members of the campaign to be run no more than once per “region.” The results are collected and that determines continuity. People would be able to experience a special event in their local area. Gothic Earth was a low magic world largely free from permanent magic items so it was often the case that each region was given 1 special version cert of an item (from a mod) to be given out to a lucky player.

I would *LOVE* to see a Weekend in the Shattered Empire (WiSE). 1) It would be a chance for local only players to do a Special Event. 2) It might be a good draw to new players. While it wouldn’t directly solve a widening gap in PC power in the campaign but it would indirectly help by by turning the argument into one of degree (I don’t get to as many special events) rather than one of binary differences (there are two types of PCs in the campaign…those who go to the special events and have all the “toys” and those who don’t).

My opinions

I would *LOVE* to see a Weekend in the Shattered Empire (WiSE)
This is a great idea, especially for the small groups of players outside the US who have difficulty making it to cons.

It seems to me that reputation could be granted in more special events. I also agree that in certain situations a certed ‘medal of ______’ would be appropriate. I recall being very proud of getting the Hero of Semar cert after the Origins BI in…2008? It wasn’t the material benefits so much as being able to say that my PC was a certed war hero.

This definitely is not a simple problem for PCI to solve, and I doubt that there is any perfect solution. There is always going to be some kind of disparity between those who go to cons and those who don’t.

…publishing a module that occurs simultaneously with the special event at Origins or Arcanicon…
In principle this is a really good idea. A module where (for example) the Heroes are working somewhere on the perimeter of the battle for Tultipet, not directly involved in the main fighting, but perhaps defending an outpost, procuring supplies, etc. I like the fact that it could potentially address the XP/GP disparity between con-goers and everyone else.

Unfortunately, as you stated, it would cause a lot of extra work for campaign staff. It is my understanding that a big part of why the special events stopped being released for home play was that it was a lot of work to convert the document from BI stats into something releasable to the public.

This idea, while really cool, would be even more work than converting BI stats, as the author basically has to start from scratch and write an entirely separate module.

There are a couple BIs released for home play in the first arc. I’d suggest taking a look at those for an idea, although frequently with everything required for a convention, the actual BI materials are somewhat rough when they are run.

It is important to note that the work required to publically release BIs is not the only reason they stopped being released. PCI wants con-goers to have an incentive to keep attending conventions.

Lots of good discussion going on here…my views are probably different from others…

First, I’m okay with there being discrepancies between what con-goers get and what those who can’t/don’t attend cons get access to. I understanding not everyone lives in the midwest of the US and can go to every convention. I also understand that this is a hobby for many people, and everyone has their own priorities about where gaming/convention going fits into those. All that said, going to a convention is a big investment for everyone involved, those playing, those organizing, and those GMing. The convention costs money to attend, costs money to stay, and there are a lot of activities to do at the convention. Devoting an entire day or multiple days to Arcanis (or any other game) has not only a ‘direct cost’ but also an ‘opportunity cost’ (What games are you NOT playing so that you can GM or play Arcanis?)

Does that mean I feel BI’s and other con specials should get boatloads of XP and GP? No. Honestly I wouldn’t mind a bit less XP overall in every adventure as I feel that the campaign is progressing rather quickly. However, I do think it means that people who make the investment to go, risk their characters in many cases, and prioritize the event high, should get tangible, meaningful, and useful. I like some of the ideas of special favors, special abilities, unique items. I would continue to have more unique and tailored rewards rather than just more GP and XP. Sometimes a special ability or a special way to use an existing ability (Like the special use of Fate from ArcaniCon) are also good abilities. Situational bonuses are also a nice reward that doesn’t overpower.

I say all this knowing that I generally can attend a lot of the conventions in the midwest, but I have missed ArcaniCon this last year and while I was sad and disappointed, I certainly don’t begrudge anyone who was able to go their rewards and shinies. For others who are at least within flying distance of Origins in Ohio, I would say if you are thinking of doing one con a year, this is probably your best bet for Arcanis/Witch Hunter. There are lots of people looking to share costs of driving, rooms, etc. and several local folks (including myself) who might be able to put people up as well. Save early for the next year as well. It won’t help everyone or every situation and things happen suddenly at times, but it’s a yearly event and everyone I think knows it’s PCI’s big con for new adventures.

John

At the very least a summary of the events is useful for the characters who would love to attend and would have if they could. Put it in the download section as the BI event summary. It means the players still get the lore of the world: it’s why my group kept playing arcanis and I suspect why people are interested in it overall rather than xp or gold.