Topic: teamplay

[Arioch]

In another topic something gave me the idea of making some HR to (mechanically) increase the importance of teamplay/ beign a party of adventurers in HARP.
So, I've been thinking that each major party goal achieved could be rewarded by some kind of benefit (in addition or in substitution of XPs, I haven't decided yet).
These benefits could be things like Party Talents or Skills (skills/talents that can be used only if others members of the party are present), to simulate the increasing affinity/cohordination among team-mates, or Reputation (probably built like a skill), which party members can use to strike fear/impress NPCs, and so on...

what do you think?

[Ecthelion]

If you hand out XP this would indirectly allow the players to develop Talents or skills for their PCs. So isn't it easier to just hand out the usual XPs for party goals instead of trying to design a balanced system for handing out other benefits? Just a thought...

[janpmueller]

Nifty idea!

In combat, you could give an initiative bonus when there is a group member nearby (because they work together).

Regarding char development, maybe it would be nice to give a bonus (similar to training packages) when the group takes the same skills. Or, maybe nicer, if the group members manage to spread certain skills among them in a meaningful way: E.g., you could name 10 skills that helped to accomplish a goal, and if everybody takes 2 of these (in a 5 person group) they get them for less DP.

[uberyoung]

Encourage your players to use the teamwork rules that are already there.

If more than 1 PC has a skill, let the 'helpers' (i.e. those without the highest skill total)
roll on the 'bonus' column (ignoring negative results) of the chart and try to 'add to'
the 'leaders' roll.
Number of helpers that can 'help' is left to common sense and based on the situation...

This, in my game at least, has encouraged people to develop over-lapping skills
(esp. skills like Foraging/Survival, Herbalism, Healing etc.) as an over-all higher result can save lives...

[Arioch]

If you hand out XP this would indirectly allow the players to develop Talents or skills for their PCs. So isn't it easier to just hand out the usual XPs for party goals instead of trying to design a balanced system for handing out other benefits? Just a thought...

Yes, it would be easier, but not as much as satisfying (for me, obviously)! 

[Maelstrom]

I do something like that.  Attaining personal/party goals yields special items, money, one time increases to skills, etc.  XP is awarded for role playing.

[Marc R]

I do something like that.  Attaining personal/party goals yields special items, money, one time increases to skills, etc.  XP is awarded for role playing.

I tend to operate almost in the reverse of this.

XP (Improvement of skills) is gained via using your skills, practice, sparring, maneuvers, combat. . .roll the dice to improve your ability to roll those dice again.

Roleplay rewards with all the tangible and intangible non XP benefits. . . .fun, first and foremost, but also social and political advantage, and a happy GM pleased with performaces is more likely to be rewarding.

If you insist on playing your PC as a stiff, off the sheet guy who does nothing but practice and adventure, and shuns social interaction and always seeks out the path of personal least resistance and advancement. . . then you may actually go up levels faster than the other, more roleplay oriented PCs. . . .you'll just have no friends, never keep a job for long, probably never have a family. . . .and then wonder why, when you're 15th level and living in inns along the road, why your 12th level compatriots are respected members of society who are effectively far more powerful than you are due to social influence, position and family.

Experience improves your character, roleplay improves your character's leverage on the gameworld. . . .which is one of the reasons a good roleplayer will have more power to influence events than a higer level character controlled by a weak roleplayer.

[Arioch]

I do more or less like LM, also because linking roleplaying to something numerical like XPs feels like going back to school, with the GM giving you good marks for doing your homeworks, to me and I don't like it very much.

I've been toying with the idea of making the party advance like a character: making the whole party gain levels and obtaining DPs to buy skills, talents and so on... 

[Marc R]

Only place I've seen a mechanic like that work is in a military game, where "Group" XP gained more recruits, gear, rank, etc.

[Karizma]

How about a system where some of the major categories become forms of party-skills (Team Artistic, Team Combat, Team Influence, Team Mystic, Team Outdoor, and Team Subterfuge).  Whenever the party accomplishes a Major Party Goal, they get Ranks based on whatever the difficulty for the Goal was (0 for Routine, 1 for Light, 2 for Easy, 3 for Medium, 4 for Hard, ...).  These ranks can be put into any of these Team Skills.

For each Rank in a Team Skill, the party is allowed to ... do... something.

Perhaps with each Rank in a Team Skill, they can do something per day or per session, like reroll something under that category whenever the group is attempting a group-based Maneuver (not attack, but a Maneuver), or come up with some Abilities.

[Arioch]

@ Lordmiller: recruits? Hmm... nice idea 


@ Karizma: that could be a way to handle it, I'm still undecided about this thing of the "party level" though

[Karizma]

Or you can go the Achievement route, and whenever party members perform a successful double-team ... thing, they get a talent that adds a flat +10 to all similar checks.  Like if two people try to Dupe one guy and succeed bouncing off each other's stories/lies and succeeding, they get a flat +10 for any time they ever try to Dupe together again.