Nicholson point system

Wyrmwrath · Post by **Wyrmwrath** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 7:56 am

A few yers ago when I was last playing on a regular basis I observed that the phys reps that the staff had access to at both chapters could use a dose of repair and newness and proposed to the GMs( at that time it was Mike, chris, wayne, and another fellow I cant recall the name of). Thast write up is apparently lost to the digital version of the gnomes that steal one of each pair of socks from your dryer; so here is a shoddy, hastily thrown together, conceptual version for your perusal and opinions.

The basic concept is a system that rewards both donations, volunteerism, and services on behalf of the player base so that the staff has some of its workload lifted, some of the expenses of running events eliminated, and encourages infusions of new or repaired weapon, costume, armor, magis item physreps as well as make up and FX items.

Here is a list of ways to EARN Nicholson points.
(this list is NOT a suggestion of ACTUAL points for listed rewards, just a mock up):

REWARDS
Storing prop bins................................................................... 30/month
transporting prop bins............................................................ 30/bin
Donating:
weapons............................................................................... 30
shields.................................................................................. 50
armor................................................................................... 250
costuming/clothing................................................................. 50
costuming accesories(belts/pouches/boots).............................. 20
tarps painted like cave walls/castle stone walls/bungeon walls... 100
printers................................................................................. 150
300 achres of land to turn into a camp..................................... 1,000,000
Rebuilding a weapon physrep................................................... 25
making a full scale boffer safe dragon prop................................ 10,000
donating magic item physrep.................................................... 20
Thinking up and creating the Nicholson point system.................... 1,000,000,000
NPC an event........................................................................... 1,000

Expenditures
cover event fee....................................................................... 3,000
buy a level.............................................................................. 300
buy a ressurection................................................................... 20,000
remove ressurection chip.......................................................... 1,000
buy a hero point....................................................................... 4,000
play special race...................................................................... 5,000
total PC skill rewrite................................................................. 20,000
get a tailored plot..................................................................... 5,000
instantly kill Corbyn by turning him inside out.............................. 1
as above but with cool explosion................................................ 1,000,000,001
Buy ingame item:
potion...................................................................................... 25/level
basic weapon............................................................................ 30
basic armor location................................................................... 50
basic rescource......................................................................... 50
commodity................................................................................ 100
exotic item................................................................................ 200
Larp safe armored Humvee with 60 cal magic machine gun............ 100,000

As I said, points are just to show the concept, NOT actual value suggestions.

Except the one for creating the system. Thats a real one....

cole45 · Post by **cole45** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:46 am

I like this actually but the name has got to go.

Wyrmwrath · Post by **Wyrmwrath** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 10:57 am

Glowski points???

Corbyn cookies??

Abbadon Assets??

Taki Tokens??

Balthos bucks??

cole45 · Post by **cole45** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 11:13 am

suck up slots

Wyrmwrath · Post by **Wyrmwrath** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 11:16 am

so many evil thoughts on a witty retort...so little time....

Post by **GM_Chris** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 12:23 pm

I will create a post on the GM forum and we will discuss

Post by **Zydana** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 2:09 pm

I had thought of something similar years ago - wanted to name them Kudos. Basically an out of game, game currency for players. However one thing I'd like to suggest is that these can also be traded from player to player if they desire.

Was someone's costume particularly awesome this event? Did someone put a lot of effort decorating the buildings providing more of an in-game feel? Did the tavern keep go above and beyond providing you with a tavern-like environment?

These are things that may not be worthy of passing out hero points for, but if one player provided another with a great experience for an event, why not pass them some of these points?

Wyrmwrath · Post by **Wyrmwrath** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 2:30 pm

At every system I have played where there was a similar reward system in place, they points were tradable and transferable between players. That allows people who can make costuming to barter with those that cannot, but can but 200 dollars in make up and donate it for points.
all in all its a win winn for the FH/WH staff, who will then have tigers blood and date godesses obviously...

One additional thing I would like to add, is rewards for the following catagories that are player AND staff voted on each event:

Best in costume
Best decorated/in game cabin (cabin bonus)
Most consitant in character PC
Best PC role playing
Best NPC

These have been done before at the LARPs I have played and worked well to raise the bar and overall enjoyement of the players AND staff.

Also rewards can be given out for making sure cabins/sleeping areas are VERY clean on Sunday.

Post by **GM-Taki** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 8:37 pm

While I've been hesitant on ideas like this in the past, if the system allowed for people to give labor and/or tangible goods (thereby offering options for people of different means to participate), I could get behind this sort of system. Anything that encourages people to work for the betterment of the game is a good thing, and so long as the rewards don't create a "buy your way to glory" scenario I'd say it's worth testing.

Garritt · Post by **Garritt** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 8:56 pm

Hero points are always a good incentive...........

Wyrmwrath · Post by **Wyrmwrath** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:48 pm

Well every system I have seen work well was slanted towords the labor rewards. Since this means those with the cash and NOT the time or desire could still donate to get points, but the best rewards are had by a bit o elbow grease and motivation, it means its not going to function or generally be seen as a cash for goodies system.

Jared is asking for writers, thats a GREAT place to hand out points based on effort, as would be a bin of costuming that is well made and could be used as entire outfits for notable and re-occuring NPC, work on a database that could be linked to the website for PC viewing and leveling up. All these are effort that could be rewarded.

The only time I have seen meaty rewards handed out for low effort donations where someone just bought...things, was when it was a few laptops and printers for monster camp/NPC and checkin/out; or costly sets of real armor for NPC use. But those are not your typical Cash for points type donations

Kalphoenix · Post by **Kalphoenix** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 2:35 am

I'm leery on in-game rewards being anything except Hero Points, although I could MAYBE be okay with one-shot non-reusable non-rechargeable things such as minor healing potions, but this is absolutely as far as I would be okay with. I would NOT be okay with magic items, commodities, weapons, armor or any kind of permanent/semi permanent item.

Credit towards events would be nice too, but I'm pretty sure neither chapter can really afford to do that.

Anything else (levels, points, items) gets into a slippery slope rather quickly, and I know this from personal experience.

Wyrmwrath · Post by **Wyrmwrath** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 7:34 am

I'm leery on in-game rewards being anything except Hero Points, although I could MAYBE be okay with one-shot non-reusable non-rechargeable things such as minor healing potions, but this is absolutely as far as I would be okay with. I would NOT be okay with magic items, commodities, weapons, armor or any kind of permanent/semi permanent item.

So if a player sews and donates a pair of shirts for monster camp costuming, your NOT ok with rewards of a couple of in game basic weapons, a sheild and a food tag?!?!? I cant imagine the logic behind that.

Credit towards events would be nice too, but I'm pretty sure neither chapter can really afford to do that.

The system would aleviate the GMs need to spend money on props, extra gas for picking up and carting prop bins, buying water for monster camp, extra NPCs so the staff doesnt have to do ALL the work over an event; so if a player NPCs for three or 4 events you thinnk its not equitable to give them enough points to cover a 30 dollar game fee? Thats really like paying them 8 to 10 dollars per NPCed event.

Anything else (levels, points, items) gets into a slippery slope rather quickly, and I know this from personal experience.

A slippery sloap to what? A game with better equipped staff? a Game with better costuming, props, and make up so its much more immersive? A game where you dont have to wonder if the weapon phys rep the NPC is using is safe since its been jammed into a bin for transport and stored in a hot garage for three years? A game where the NPCs with armor...ACTUALLY wear armor so you dont end up thinking that the NPC is just ignoring damage?

Allowing points to be used for levels isnt much of an issue, as long as the point cost is suitable, since after level 20 levels really dont have a huge affect on anything. Potions are gone after one use. I dont see what proposed item could be so unbalancing, that you would be concerned, especialy since there will be effort and donation support required to GET the item, and it can be lost in game just like any other item the GMs send in.

Phinkis · Post by **Phinkis** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 9:21 am

This is a cool idea for players who donate their time, effort and money to create a better LARP experience for all. I don't agree with the reward for NPCing, only because there is already a reward. I think getting free levels is more than worth NPCing, and heck, I haven't even used any of mine yet. It's nice to know that I have them though when I do get around to playing at Final Haven. Things I'd like to see on the list are; costume donations, prop/supply donations that have a significant cash value or took real effort to make, helping the staff set up for or clean up after an event, and also helping players who would not have been able to make it otherwise get to the event.

Costume donations are always a good thing. Having a wider selection of costuming means not every farmer/bandit/villager needs to look the same. Also making costuming isn't easy and buying it isn't cheap, defiantly a cause worth rewarding.

LARPs require a lot of props and supplies to run but usually the staff has a handle on it. Some props could always be better though, as was pointed out with the idea of painted cave walls and some supplies are expensive, printers was an example but heck even the ink isn't cheap.

Anything a player does before game on or after game stop to help the game get started or help the staff get out of there as soon as they can is always a boon. This includes storing and transporting LARP gear, helping set up or take down the cave, cleaning up the camp and cabins(more than just in a personal capacity), or maybe even helping the staff with new players if there is an abundance.

Also I think players who go out of their way to bring other players deserve a reward as well. We like when players can make it, the more the better. People who drive out of their way to increase the player base are just about as awesome as they get.

There are a lot of other good reasons to reward players too but these are the big ones that I could think of.

Kiel Reid · Post by **Kiel Reid** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 9:27 am

I can see Heidi's concern when it comes to using money and points to get an edge over other players by abusing a system. NERO has been doing this for years and have but some restrictions in place to help prevent it.

What they do is only allow you to spend 1 "Blanket" of points per event. It makes it so you can't spend a bunch of money and come in as a deity. This prevents a flooding of items to NPC camp. Also it is good to keep points separate for each chapter.