Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 165 - Let Players Savor Their Victories

Episode Date: March 5, 2023

After watching a session at my Friendly Local Game Store I watched a DM put players through a meat grinder of encounters, not even pausing when the PCs accomplished something impressive.  In this episode I talk about the importance of giving players the opportunity to celebrate character victories and rewarding the characters appropriately.   #dnd #dungeonsanddragons #pathfinder #openRPG #DMTips

This week on the Taking20 Podcast. DMs will choose the moment when the players are cheering out of game to have a wandering monster come by in-game, a previously hidden trap go off, or some other negative event for the characters that robs the players of their joy. DMs take a breath, give them their moment, even if it only halfway makes sense. halfway makes sense. Thank you so much for listening to the Taking 20 podcast, episode 165, letting players savor their victories. I want to thank this week's sponsor, Toilets. Oh yeah, here comes the highbrow humor that you tune in for. Did you hear about the toilet who won the poker tournament in Las Vegas? He won it with a flush. Do you have a topic idea? I've received a few over the past few weeks and I'm

going to sprinkle them in in the upcoming episodes, but I would always savor more. Please send any topic ideas for episodes via direct message on Facebook or Instagram or via email feedback at taking20podcast.com. I promise you'll get a response, and then we'll see if we can get it into a future podcast episode. Fair warning, I realize this is kind of a niche topic, and it arose out of watching a game at my friendly local game store. Still, I think there's some DMs and GMs who need to understand why player victory is so important.

I want to start by asking you a question. When it comes to tabletop RPGs, what's the role of the DM or GM? There's no curveball to this question, but I do want you to think about it for a minute. I think Pathfinder 2E's core rulebook answers it very succinctly. The game master is both storyteller and referee. They are the player that's in charge of the story and the world the other players are exploring with their characters. They set the stage for adventure, show how the rest of the world responds to the player character's actions, and guide the action along an engaging storyline.

My fellow DMs, as you've heard me say many times, it's our job behind the screen to play the role of adversary without being adversarial. In other words, yes, we are determining the actions taken by the troglodyte ambushers, the wandering owlbear, or mindless ooze slurping along the dungeon corridors. But that doesn't mean that we are cheerleaders for those monsters, rooting for the demise of the players so we can shove an index finger in their faces screaming, HAHA! Gotcha! And then doing a little I just killed a PC dance around the table. I've said it before, I'll say it again. There's no hall of fame for mounting character heads on the wall to celebrate your kills as a DM. But let's face it though, whether you're playing a pre-written adventure or designing your own, the life of your PCs is generally more negative than positive, more struggle than celebration.

A small one-shot adventure could have ten combats, three traps, one tense negotiation, and that debilitating foot fungus that everybody picked up in the swamps of, I don't know, uncontrolled dragonfly breeding. Let's talk about the average adventuring day for anyone who chooses the profession of being an adventurer. Frankly, it sucks. You face death multiple times daily, and you're far more likely to be turned into an undead minion than you are to see retirement as the owner of a general store in some sleepy little seaside town.

Can you imagine doing that shit day in and day out? You're going to spend a fair amount of your time sleeping in the deep dark wilderness or in caves or on hard dungeon floors. Even if you do live, you're dealing out death to creatures by the score. At the best of times, it's a rough life and the victories frequently are comparatively very small compared to what you risk. I say this because, DMs, I want you to give a chance for the players to celebrate even the smallest of victories around your table, even if their characters don't. For example, suppose the rogue, realizing the desperation of the situation in the narrow hallway, says that she is going to tumble through the evil elf square

and try to establish themselves in a flanking position. You tell them, okay, you need to roll an 18 on the die. They roll the die, and it comes to a stop, and it's a 19. Fucking awesome! Celebrate with them, and if it's worthy of it, maybe even consider giving them some bonus for succeeding at such a low-risk action, or maybe give them information they otherwise wouldn't have. A hero point. A penalty on the creature, since there's no information they otherwise wouldn't have. A hero point, a penalty

on the creature since there's no way they expected that to work, or maybe insight about the creature's equipment. He's got a wand in his back pocket, guys, keep your eyes open. I'm not saying you give away the whole store for a single ability check, but look for ways to reward your PCs to make the minor victory all the sweeter. Stepping up the scale of things that you could reward the players with, the most common victories are those related to what I'm going to call found money. The bandit leader had a hidden cache of gems worth 350 gold pieces. The gelatinous cube had a lot of coins suspended in its acidic body.

The spider web has the body of a former scout who had a cred stick with 1500 credits on it. Woohoo! Those are victories for the characters and by extension the players. They received an unexpected boon and they can turn that into cold hard cash if it's not already. If the players cheer because their characters just found a platinum soup tureen with dueling dragons carved on it worth a thousand gold pieces, do not get annoyed when they cheer. They earned that soup tureen, and if the barbarian wants to take ten minutes

and, I don't know, pour hot beef stew down his gullet from this piece of treasure, then let him if it makes sense in the adventure. Why does pour hot beef stew down his gullet sound dirty? Too often, DMs will choose the moment when the players are cheering out of game to have a wandering monster come by in-game, a previously hidden trap go off, or some other negative event for the characters that robs the players of their joy. Sure, if the fight's not over, then the fight's

not over. But if it is, DMs take a breath, give them their moment, even if it only halfway makes sense. They should be able to laugh with one another, talk about how to split up the loot, or teabag that Shadow Lord's corpse. They have earned it. And while we're on the subject of celebrating, one of the major causes for character celebration is getting loot that your character can use. That is one way you can help them savor victory, by the way. Give them loot their character can use, and that would better prepare them for the coming adventure. For example, I tend to regularly customize loot that pre-written adventures give to make it something that provides better benefits to the party.

In a recent Skull and Shackles adventure, the characters discovered the solution to a mystery, and the pre-written adventure said that characters would find a plus one morning star. Nobody in the party could use a plus one morning star, and all that would be is gold pieces worth 50% of the total cost when they sell it. So since the party didn't have any magical weapons at the time, and since two separate characters used rapiers, it just became a plus one rapier. 30 seconds worth of work on foundry, and voila, it's a weapon the party can use now. Do I do this for every single pile of loot?

Absolutely not. But periodically, maybe every few sets of a treasure or after a major story beat? Yeah, you bet I do. I customize the loot haul to make sure it's useful. Water breathing potions if I know a sunken temple is coming up. Healing magic if they're running low. Or maybe even that long sought after piece of equipment that one of the characters wants. If your character's been looking for a plus one pistol and finally finds one in a long-abandoned starship, that is

a moment of tremendous victory for your character. It's like getting that gift you've always wanted and you wondered if you've ever received it. In these moments, give these characters a chance to savor that moment. Let the character marvel over the mechanical beauty and craftsmanship of it. I don't expect the players will be cheering for two solid minutes, but give them a breath to enjoy the dream realized. Much less when the characters do something big, like finish a quest, even a side quest. When that happens, if it at all makes sense in the adventure, give them a chance to celebrate, even if the celebration is just with the quest giver.

For example, let's say a local farmer hires the party to watch their livestock overnight. A reaving group of hill giants attempt to steal a cow from the farmer, and the characters chase them off. The characters just save the farmer, depending on your game system, maybe about 10 gold pieces, the cost of the cow. Much less if it was Little Moo Moo the cow, which is the farmer's son's favorite cow. If they did that, wouldn't the farmer invite the characters to stay for breakfast? Maybe even let them rest in their home for a few hours? I bet they would. The meal would give your players a chance to roleplay their characters for a bit, plus a safe place to rest and maybe a couple of gold pieces on the side.

That might be something the players could revel in. Suppose the side quest benefited an entire village securing their access to life-giving water sources or saving a prominent member of the town. The celebration would be larger, the gifts would be bigger, and the celebration would be a shindig. to life-giving water sources, or saving a prominent member of the town. The celebration would be larger, the gifts would be bigger, and the celebration would be a shindig. A real hootenanny in a community barn? That sounds like a lot of fun. Or how about a raucous party at an NPC's loft apartment?

Or a posh gala at the local museum? No matter what it looks like, this should be an opportunity for your characters to celebrate what they've done for this town and for the town to celebrate these characters. And in the right circumstances, with the right type of victory, this could result in the characters having a permanent place where they're welcomed and treated like they're part of the community they just saved. Finally, if your adventure is structured traditionally, every major story act or book in the adventure path will have a mini-boss at the end of it, a lieutenant of the big bad or other threat to a town or region. This threat has likely been a thorn in the characters' sides for quite some time.

They have impeded the characters' progress or maybe even killed those dear to the characters. When that last axe swing falls into the big bad's chest, or acid spell burns away the last into the big bad's chest, or acid spell burns away the last of the big bad's defenses, or the big bad's base of operations goes up in a plume of nuclear fire, it is a huge moment of the adventure. And that's why GMs, my friends, when the adventuring party achieves a victory like that, no matter what it looks like, you let them savor it, even if only for a few seconds or a few minutes. Or hell, if it makes sense maybe at that time of the night, take a

break. Let people go get snacks and talk excitedly about it as they refill their drinks. If it's a big enough moment, by the way, and it's close to the end of the session, end the night right then and let the players marinate in the story until the next session. I've talked about story structure before and how your adventure can't just be cranked up relentless pressure. Human beings need the opportunity to breathe, and these celebrations give your story the chance to bleed off some of that pressure and could even remind the players what they're fighting for, who they're trying to protect, and why the big bad's plans need to be thwarted. I've seen DMs, for example in my friendly local game store the other night, that think their job

is to put the characters through a hellish never-ending gauntlet until they break. Unless your players know that that's the type of adventure they're signing up for, and more importantly, want to play in, then that type of adventure, all it does is wear down players in addition to the characters. Should you challenge your characters as a DM? Absolutely. Make the players feel like they are winning by the skin of their teeth. But when they do win, sit back, let them celebrate, let them high five, beat their chest, pump their fists, and show the big bad's miniature their favorite finger. So what does victory look like that players can savor?

Absolutely, this could just be additional stuff they may not otherwise have. Gold, treasure, loot, items the characters have been looking for, on some sort of celebration of some scale where they're rewarded with something. There are other things, though, that you can give the characters to help them savor these hard-won victories, perhaps for the rest of their characters' lives. First of all, there could be something from the character's backstory that points towards a heart's desire. Finding their true love, proving someone wrong and that they will succeed, solving a mystery, discovering something new. One way you can reinforce the importance of a victory is to allow the player to savor a reward that ties to their backstory and moves their character progression along. They've looked for a way to advance within the church, and now that the Order of the Shade

Serpent has been defeated, they might finally get the recognition from the leaders of the faith that they sorely crave. Look for opportunities to tie rewards to a character's backstory and let that character soak in that moment, savoring what they've accomplished and the victory that they have won. If the party's accomplished something major for a city, region, or some other area, how about giving them a home? If you put all the RPG characters that have ever been made in a single location, the number of orphans would be staggering. It's a common trope that the reason characters take up the dangerous adventuring lifestyle is because they're orphans. It's a way to escape and make a life of their own without the support of a family. Then again, if I were the child of a wealthy business owner and just

by existing I'd inherit a company worth thousands of gold pieces and lead a cushy life. I doubt I'd take up the sword and venture into lost Cyclopean ruins and risk getting impaled on a lost and forgotten spear trap. Fark that. I'mma marry someone nice and hopefully live to see my grandchildren. Giving the characters a home base solves a lot of problems. It can make orphans feel like they now have a home, which is a huge moment of character progression. But it also gives them some place to keep their stuff, which by the way is nothing to sneeze at.

It's nice to have a permanent place that you can lock up and keep all the equipment that you're not currently using. Giving the characters a home base does solve a lot of problems, and it introduces others. Potentially they have the expense of keeping an apartment, house, or small keep up to code and up to standard. It allows the characters to hire staff to take care of the mundane and day-to-day cares of keeping a home. It can allow for a permanent location to teleport to and from with all the benefits therein. It can give role-playing opportunities between characters and their staff in the nearby town and vendors and travelers. Finally, since the player characters might

establish connections with some of the staff and neighbors and so forth, it gives adventuring opportunities that might not otherwise arise when those people come under threat. Moving on, another reward you could give the characters to help them savor a victory for a long time is recognition. Imagine the characters saved a family five sessions ago, and suddenly out of nowhere in a completely different city, someone asks them, Hey, aren't you the ones that saved the Diallo family in Thornhill? Hey, you guys are famous! Watch the smiles beam around the table as they realize they're minor or maybe even major celebrities. Every time

someone mentions that they know the characters based on some of the stuff that they've done, the players will relive that victory and be able to savor it all over again. Another long-term way to allow them to savor victory is to give the characters allies. Because of their victory, they now have won the services of a quality blacksmith, a talented butler, or someone to take care of them during their downtime. Finally, another way players can savor victory is by getting information that they wouldn't otherwise have, that either opens up sections of the adventure or makes portions of the next set of the adventure easier. portions of the next set of the adventure easier. The map that shows the big bad's plans, the note tying one NPC to another, or some other piece of information that helps move the adventure forward. There are a lot of options when it comes to long-term rewards that could let players reap

benefits of victories for long periods of time. An invitation to a secret society, free food and provisions from a particular vendor, art, something named after them, or any of a hundred other ideas. Let your creativity go wild. Savoring victories should be done in the moment and allow players to enjoy hard-earned rewards and the GM should look for creative ways to allow players to periodically revisit the joy and spoils of a victory hard won. Don't be afraid to pause for a short time and let your players savor their victories. Be creative with ways to remind your players of what they've done to relive and re-savor those victories long after the fact,

and I bet you and your players would have fun doing it. If you like the podcast, please consider telling a friend, your gaming group, or a minor celebrity about it. I'd love for this podcast to continue to grow, and that can only happen with your help. Tune in next week when I'll discuss another topic for DMs, how to deal with ill-prepared parties. But before I go, I want to thank our sponsor, Toilets. I bought a toilet seat made out of the rinds of three dozen limes. Now my bathroom smells like shitrous.

This has been the Taking20 Podcast, episode 165, letting the players savor their victory. My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game. The Taking20 Podcast is a Publishing Cube Media Production. Copyright 2023. References to game system content are copyrighted by their respective publishers.