How do YOU award Character Points?

[Guardian_A]

Over the last few weeks, I've seen several different times when this subject has come up during other discussions.

Since there is no real "right or wrong" way to distribute CPs, it seems like every GM has created their own system for awarding CPs.

So the question remains. How do you award Character Points? And why?



As for myself. I use the following system:

One or more CPs Automatically. (Depends on length of session and how productive the session is.)
Did the character learn something useful during the session?
Did the character do something unexpected with a skill, ability, or power?
Did the character do something particularly heroic/impressive during the session?
Did the character accomplish everything they set out to accomplish?
Did the character(s) come up with a brilliant plan that helped/improved the characters situation?
Did the character(s) complete a story?
What was your favorate part of the session?

Depending on the session, I may add additional questions on any given night.

I find that using the system above, my players become more engaged with the proccess and it leaves them excited about the next gaming session.

[Whill]

Yes, it has come up a time or two. 8) Here is part of my post from 5/29:

[Bren]

This topic has received a bit of attention of late and also long ago.
Recently - http://www.rancorpit.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3454&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Blast from the past - http://www.rancorpit.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=885&highlight=character+point+award

[Zarm R'keeg]

I typically award the adventure-ending CP listed, a 3-5 per session if the group had fun and worked together (and one rules-lawyer in particular didn't argue with me too much that week ) ...and then I hold 'nomination sessions' at the end of each session where players can nominate other players for dashing or heroic actions, clever ideas, exceptionally witty wisecracks or jokes, good roleplaying, etc.

I think I tend to give out 5-10 CP per player per night (usually on the lower side of that scale), which feels like way too much extra to me- but my characters burn CP like there's no tomorrow on non-crucial roles without a good understanding of difficulty levels (I think that they think that if I won't tell them what difficulty level they have to reach, it's because I set it absurdly high), so if I didn't, they would all quickly run otu and die when combat starts.
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[Volar the Healer]

I have two methods:

1) used for adventures primarily involving combat
1-4 difficulty of mission: easy, moderate, hard, suicide
1-3 team play: how well the individual supported the team
1-3 roleplaying: how well the actor(PC) brought the character to life
1=poor 2=average 3=good
This gives a total of 3-10 per adventure.

2) used for adventures primarily involving role play
1 per hour
On a good day, this gives 8 per session.

I consider "supporting the team" to be important. I don't like PCs working against the team. This always makes it less fun for another PC. Friendly rivalry such as name calling is OK, stealing other PC's stuff is not. Some of my games are very militaristic; In the 'Rebel Strike Team' and 'Empire invades the Earth' campaigns, it's mostly combat! The PCs must learn to function as a team or they will lose.

In both instances I award bonuses for outstanding roleplay - I stress roleplay - this is a role playing game, not a video game; players doing something cool like bringing pizza, players showing off cool artwork that supports their characters, or anything else that makes the game fun (did I mention roleplaying?). Bonus points are awarded during the game with a lot of fanfare - they are my primary way of encouraging players to do something fun.

As for a whiner who didn't get as many CPs as the guy next to him - I never say he did poorly. I always give him examples of what I'm looking for. At the end of the game session I try to point out something each PC did well - this encourages all of the PCs with ideas. I ask him to picture himself making a movie - when the little kid in the front row says "That was cool! I wanna be like him!" the whiner will get more CPs. This works most of the time.

But there is a limit to what the Director can do. Some people just aren't gamers. Maybe World of Warcraft is the best they can do.
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No Jesus, No Peace

[allinonemove]

i have an idea for a more interactive system of awarding character points. well, it's not my idea - i'm borrowing it from old school hack (OSH).

in addition to awarding story- or session-based CPs like the rules and previous posters have discussed, players could be awarded CPs by other players for acts of awesomeness. starting a session with 3 CPs on the table per player, players could pull from this pool to reward other players in-game for exceptional role-playing or acts of bravado (players don't reward themselves, of course). this would not be a closed system; any CPs used by NPCs get tossed into the pile. maybe this would also encourage spending of CPs on the GM side of the screen and boost the attempts at heroism on the side of the players?

an overabundance of awesomeness can be mitigated by adjusting the starting number of CPs up for grabs and by limiting spending by the GM. think of it this way - if you're spending points to boost the NPCs then the players will likely need to spend more as well.

since the award of an in-game CP is based on the description of an action, it only makes sense that *spending* CPs requires a good description, too, inspiring more cinematic play.

thoughts?

(seriously, check out OSH. the session reports sound like a riot)

[DB 2.0]

ATM I'm on the reviving end of CP and for the first half a dozen sessions we where getting 15 because of the excitement of a new campaign and the push to RP more to establish new characters, we where doing one short Act (Adventure) per session, so on top of his normal allocation we where also getting our "Act Bonous".

but like me my current GM goes by this formula.


Session
1CP for coming
0-3 CP for Roleplaying
0-3 CP for Story Progression
0-3 CP for Drama & Heroism

Act (caped at +5)
0-2 CP for Goal Attainment
0-2 CP for Character development
0-2 CP for Campaign progression
0-3 CP Because I'm the GM and I said so!, in short this is the miscellaneous pool.

[Raven Redstar]

I just pull a random number out of my hat, generally less than 8. I do it at either at the end of a major session, or at the end of a story hook or goal. Most of the time, I try to at least come close to making up as many character points were spent by the players trying to keep themselves alive.

5 is usually average, with a bonus of 1-3 CP depending on how helpful the player was, good roleplaying, good attitude, or whatever.
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RR
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[garhkal]

As mentioned before, since nearly all my SW gaming these days is with the sparks group we have a set # of cps awarded per module. This is usually 7 max per normal module, with a bonus 3/2/1 for voting of the top 3 players by the OTHER players, for how well they Rped their character. Though i will admit sometimes it looks like people get awarded for how vocal they are, even if their character is a silent unless needing to speak type character.

We have multi round events as well, which start at 8, for R1, 9 for R2 and 10 for R3.
We also have seminars (4 hr sessions of mostly personal stuff such as buying things, modifiying things etc) worth 3cp. And once a year we do an interactive, a whapper of 8 hrs, with a 4 hr mission everyone is involved in then 4 hrs of other stuff. Its a full 8cp for the whole shebang.
Our group also awards/rewards people for writing modules for the group giving the Author a flat 10cp, given at the end of the convention it premiers at, and the person editing it gets 9. If someone (NOT the editor or author) is given the sole GM rights to it (for what ever reason), they get 8.
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[Kytross]

I plan my adventures so my players SHOULDN'T need to use character points except during the climactic battles. That's not how it works out, I have very nervous players who like to use their character points to wash away their 1's on wild dice. I was giving out ten to fifteen CPs, and they were using them too much during the adventure. I was having to add in more enemy mooks so the fights would be fun for my players.

I used to give CPs at the end of every session. What I'm doing now is giving CPs at the conclusion of a chapter, or adventure, which tends to be three sessions or six to eight hours of playtime. This forces them to conserve CPs and fight more based on their stats. They're enjoying the fights more even though they're fighting less mooks.

I have a fairly unique system for awarding CPs that I stole from one of my players when he was GMing. I bought a package of poker chips and leave a stack of the blue chips on the table.

- When a player thinks they've done something to earn a CP they take one of the blue chips, they make their case at the end of the session and I decide if they get a CP or not.

- Red chips are used when Player A thinks Player B has done something CP worthy. As the GM I decide at the end of the adventure.

- I give out white chips worth one CP each during the session when someone does something I consider worthy. Some people get more chips then others, but no one ever seems to argue when I give one out because someone has just done something awesome.

- Everyone gets the same number of CPs at the end of the adventure, usually five or so.

It's a pretty good system and I haven't had any complaints yet. What I like about it is that I don't have to remember when people do awesome things, and if I miss something the system has an auto-correct built into it with the red and blue chips.