Rate of giving Hero Points

[kevperrine]

An experiment a friend of mine is doing (tonight) in his BASH! game.
My thought.... Perception counts for alot.

My friend - Narrating his game is frustrated that NONE of his players will spend Hero Points/Dice. He commented that he's given an extra 2 Hero Dice at the beginning of the adventure to give players lots to spend to help with combat speed. But they won't. They "hoard" them.

My suggestion to him was to note that (in my experience with his GMing style) he's sort of stingy with giving Hero Points in-game.

So...
I suggested as a point of "perception" - don't give those 2 Hero Dice (10 Hero Points) up front, but rather given THOSE points out during game alot more openly for heroic and fun actions.
So, give about 2-3 HPs a (3 hour) game session to each player! That way... the PCs are still getting what he wants them to have for an adventure, but they're getting them regularly... so the perception is "hey, awesome... we'll be getting these alot, so I don't have to hoard".

Whereas... getting little to no Hero Points in-game, creates a false need to hoard.


So questions:

1. How many Hero Points do you give our on average per hour of game time?

2. Do you give out more/less depending on Campaign/Character Level?

3. How do you give out Hero Points/Dice at the beginning of adventures? (Example: I know BASHMAN has said he normally gives an additional Hero Dice beyond the Campaign Level for each PC, each session)

4. How do you determine your Campaign Level point value overall?


I'm also curious about how to award Hero Points/Dice in practice at the game table.

5. If my Campaign Level is a 30 pts game. I can see the various player character's Character Point levels and give them the appropriate Hero Points or Setbacks to that 30 pt Campaign Level.

Couple specific questions:

6. Do those points carry over issue-to-issue?
7. Do they get those Hero Points each issue (even if last week's carry over)?

However, I've toyed with knowing if that number can/should change each new game session depending on the THREATS planned for the session/issue. So...

8. If this week's issue is planned with a big bad that is 42 pts, should my players get the extra 12 pts that he is above the "average" of my Campaign Level 30 pts?

9. If this week's issue is planned as a low combat mystery game, with maybe some lower level minion supervillains that are 25 pts, should the PCs get less Hero Points or even Setbacks this session, depending on their Character Level?


And now to Setbacks & Villain Points.

10. How do you differentiate "team" Setbacks and Personal Setbacks in game? In physical practice how do you tabulate them. And in play, how do you "spend" them differently?

11. With Villain Points. Normally the Narrator starts with the suggested number of Setbacks = the number of PCs x2. Do you do any way to increase that number during game?
I know that a specific hero doing "unheroic" actions can "earn" Setbacks, but those are Personal Setbacks (correct?). Is there anyway to get more "team" Setbacks for the Narrator and primary big bad Villains?


I'm very curious about how folks handle Hero Points, Hero Dice, Setbacks, and Villain Points in game!
-kev-

[Nestor]

I do a lot of GM'ing with another RPG system (Ubiquity) that also uses a point reward mechanic (they're called Style points in the game and provide many benefits similar to Hero Dice in BASH.).

My experience matches with Kev's in that the best way to encourage players to use the Style points they have is to keep the flow of them constant and visible.

In addition, I always make sure that I associate the giving of Style points with positive, game-constructive actions (performing a cool stunt, making a witty comment, playing true to character concept, etc.)

[dugfromthearth]

I am a hoarder by nature. I tend not to like power that have charges and such because I save them.

City of Heroes computer game solved that for me - you get inspirations (like hero points). You can only have a limited number at a time but yo get more frequently. So saving them means you fill up and cannot get more.

It's a bit hard to work with BASH, but you could set a maximum based on starting value. I.E. a 23pt character in a 25pt game has 7 hero points to start and can have 7pts at max.

In order to be able to earn more they have to spend some. If you give points out during play then those that spent them can earn more back