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.
I am not suggestion 4 levels AND points, I am suggesting points INSTEAD of levels, and allow the player to use it for levels if they WANT to. That way if they NPC for a year and return to play thier PC and that PC gets killed and they have the option to use it to buy off chips (if its on the list of purchases), get a full ressurection (if its on the list of purchases), or just buy levels for a new PC. That gives a player that had shown dedication and effort more flexability in what they are rewarded with.
and also helping players who would not have been able to make it otherwise get to the event.
player
A reward for providing rides might not be a bad idea. The ride-needing player would need to PM a GM and have the GM post a request, and have the volunteer reply to the GM/staff member to be sure the point rewardsa for this were trackable and not just me giving a ride to someone 2 minutes away that I would have given a ride to anyhow, and getting points for it.
LARPs require a lot of props and supplies to run but usually the staff has a handle on it.
While I agree that staff does a fairly good job at having what they need, part of the reason I ahave suggested this system is that they seem to have barely what they need at a minimum, and that they would greatly benefit from an influx of quality donations. It also eliminates the staff spending their own cash and time, since they already devote more of that than I feel is fair to ask them to do.
or maybe even helping the staff with new players if there is an abundance.
Having a "Newbie Marshel" or three, whose task it was to inspect newbiw gear for safety, help them build thier PC and PC backstory, educate them on the dritical calls and safe fighting is a great idea; and totaly worth rewarding.
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.
The system cannot be abused unless the GMs/staff allow it to be since the staff can always refuse a donation. Most LARPs have a needs list that they will give meaty rewards for as far as props and such, anythiong else is evaluated on a case by case basis and runs the risk of being turned down.
NERO has been doing this for years and have but some restrictions in place to help prevent it.
Well I am not suggesting a system that has no restrictions or failsafes, thats just common sense and therefore I didnt think it needed to be stated.
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.
That may be a local chapter rule. or something new from National, but when I played they allowed as many blankets as you could afford for any month that had passed since you last played. Missed 5 months and have the points, here are your level ups sir/miss.
Since they is almost no chance for magic items on the purchase list should the system get ratified, there is no way in the FH system to someone come in as a god/overpowering PC. You could hand someone a level 200 Pc at FH and he/she would be killable by half of the other PCs in game already. The GMs have worked hard to eliminate that town killing PC build issue that can happen at Carps, Shifted Lands, kind of at NERO, and other LARPs.
This prevents a flooding of items to NPC camp.
What actualy prevents the flooding of monster camp will be the GMs/staff responsible for donations saying "no thanks" to donation not posted as a "need".
Also it is good to keep points separate for each chapter.
The reason NERO doesnt throw all the points in one pool is because each chapter is its own business. Its not set up as a safegard, but there are chapters that do allow goblin stamps(which is what they called it when I played two decades ago) to be used from different chapters.