I don’t need a +1 sword to hurt you. I have a +5 standing with the magistrate who signs your paycheck.

-Anonymous

What’s the most common indicator of progress in the games you play? For many, it is that brief musical stanza accompanied by flashing lights and the phrase ‘level up’. It is the sweet reward knowing that something that was challenging to you yesterday has become easier for you today because you are able to more easily impose your will on the world. You have gained power.

Our entire lives, we spend time and resources on a variety of skills. From our early years in school, through the day-to-day grind of a job. Whatever the skill set, we all want to know that we are getting better at something. We want to know that we have leveled up.

Most of the game systems that exist have some type of positive feedback loop, whereby if you do “x” successfully then you can do “x” more easily again in the future. These systems often involve extra dice or a robust series of steps that require rigorous balance to ensure the game is still engaging.

These systems, however, often downplay the other aspects of power and growth that players can earn through social standing. While adding a +1 on a dice roll can help to defend against ruffians, would that be more helpful than having the local barkeep owe you a favor and give you a safehouse to hide from them? Or perhaps work with you to set an ambush the next time they are present? That is what power is all about: alternatives that provide narrative leverage to the player, achieved through personal accomplishment and growth. These types of rewards are satisfying and deepen relationships between players and the world you create.

The other key factor with these types of rewards is that they are not discarded upon receiving a new reward, but often evolve or compound on one another. More cumulative reward, more power.

What follows are two examples of how to reward players with power.

Power as a Badge to Unlock New Narrative Doors

The first group we will look at are the super heroes. They follow the law whenever possible and work to right wrongs in the world. They care not just about saving the day, but doing so in a way that may take the harder path due to a clear sense of right and wrong. They also seek to become supremely powerful as this will enable them to protect others more easily and fend off evil.

For days the heroes of your tale known as the ‘Fated Few’ have been trudging through the countryside dragging along the severed head of the tormenting bulette. The farming fields and local cattle have been devastated by this beast, but no longer thanks to these weary adventurers. Bruised and bloody, they approach the magistrate and present the trophy, granting assurance that the local populace will no longer be tormented and their food supplies will cease dwindling.

The magistrate looks at these heroes and seeks a reward worthy of their accomplishment. This small village has little in the form of additional resources that can be transferred, but a worthy gift must be bestowed lest future aid be withheld. Considering how the party was able to save the town in such a lawful good manner, they are prime candidates for becoming agents of the law. Additionally, with the reduced food stores there have become vacancies in the town that could be transferred. This would not just reward the heroes, but also would instill confidence in the villagers that their future is bright and safe. As such, the magistrate signs over the deed and swears in the Fated Few.

A few weeks go by and the Fated Few get to know the locals and law enforcement more intimately. The nearby establishment the ‘Drunken Snail’ has been filled with ne’er do wells and criminals that are now stealing from the local populace. Upon presentation to the magistrate it is found that he has dismissed charges against them and instead allowed them to continue in exchange for bribes.

The Fated Few, while being relatively new to town, have a position of power. As the GM, you are in a position to identify what is captivating to the players and provide hooks and plotlines that would intrigue them. In this instance, the players crave good and lawful actions. They have found the local law enforcement is not as upstanding as they initially believed. The party can leverage their acquired legal status and confront the magistrate to turn to good, or potentially even battle it out through skirmishes with the local criminals and attempt to seize power and restore the village, leveraging their status as law enforcement.

Power as a Permission Slip to Skip the Boring Stuff

Sometimes players simply want to jump into a game and not have to handle the monotony of the system but want to roll dice, kill the opposition, and live out a power fantasy. GMs may discover that they want to try running a game that tracks every detail, but find that this is a distraction from what players want to actually experience at the table. This is where the tribute reward can come into play nicely.

The Neon City is constantly humming with the buzz of nightlife and advertisements, which beats the gunshots and screams that would fill the air without them. It’s a rough life, but this unlikely group of slicers, hackers, and brutes have cleaned up a small slice of paradise and removed the local harassing gangs. Blood filled the streets yesterday and for the first time, sleep came easily to this part of the town. The next morning, the posse woke to the pounding on their apartment door as a few of the local vendors met them with fresh food, clean clothes, and some even brought stores of ammunition that they had acquired to defend themselves. Their neighbors have come to love them, and like it or not, they were now the unofficial defenders of Deckard Street.

Now that the players have stepped up and found joy in defeating the rival gang, the GM has identified this is where the players find the most joy in their game sessions. As long as the players find themselves around Deckard, the game mechanics for tracking food, clothes, and ammunition can be set aside and the players can focus their time and efforts on defending the local population and growing their territory. It allows the GM to also reintroduce mechanics if the players neglect the intersection, stray from the plot, or if there is a need to reintroduce complexity. If the mechanic were simply removed from the game, the players would miss an opportunity to truly care about the world they are in.

Positive Examples

Need some ideas of devices to use that provide beneficial power? Here are a few to start.

Negative Examples

Just as power can be bestowed, so it can also be used against you. These are some simple examples of ways that power can affect a party in a negative way. You’ll notice that many beneficial powers can simply be written in an opposing way to achieve the desired effect.