I often see discussion that DMs are confused how to give inspiration. Most don't use them and few that I seen give them just because they can. I feel how Numenera see XP as a narrative tool to push the story is a good direction.
DMs can ask "Jared, as you strive to protect commoners, how if I make this Giant Goat that's charging a commoner to instead knock you down without roll and I give you inspiration"
Sometimes you got like "It would be cool if this happens" but the dice doesn't agree. As the post said it can be a useful tool to gm to create a more interesting story without relying on dice.
The way I see Inspiration is that its pointless in most cases. Can use it to try and get people to do awesome roleplay things with their character. However that feels rather forced. Plus the bonus isn't that big to begin with.
I don't need inspiration dice to help my players succeed on checks if they do happen to come up with a cool out of the box idea. I'll just lower the DC check required to succeed. That is IF their roll is poor. Its not like my players would know if I made that small adjustment in their favor as reward for their cool thinking. Plus it still isn't a 100% gurantee. Most interesting moments usually happen in failure and how to deal with it. Instead of just letting them succeed on every cool idea they pitch. That isn't beneficial to narrative/story either.
The only one actively using inspiration is the bard.
Its not a tool to force player to roleplay, its a tool for you to progress the story in a direction that you think is interesting. It's also not something to help your player to succeed on something; it's a meta reward just like XP.
You bend the story to your will and you give inspiration as a reward (or bribe) for that player to use later. Numenera and Dungeon World gives XP instead, but I think its rather arbitrary and inspiration gives interesting decision for the player.
I personally use it as incentive for players to think creativity. But, the fact that is only grants advantage does make standard inspiration pretty lackluster once player characters reach higher levels. So: I beef up inspiration a bit. First: I make it so a player can accrue inspiration instead of having a a maximum of 1 available (I gave them a cap of 3). I also have different levels of inspiration, with higher inspiration not only granting advantage, but also allowing a dice roll to be added to the result. My highest tier inspirations are auto-sucesses; when a player spends one of them, we treat whatever they're doing as though they rolled a 20.
I see. Thats interesting buff. How do you actually give it to your player? What rule do you use to know "this is the time to give player A inspiration"?
i dont see inspiration as weak. From a player perspective, having power to secure success is very powerful, especially in combat situation.
And yeah my point is to "systemize" inspiration. For something to be put on the official character sheet and dndbeyond digital sheet it sure begs a system. And again its not something to help the players.
Instead of asking "What do you do?" You ask the player "Hey as you are incridibly greedy, how about you try to steal the dragon's treasure despite he's not sleeping, and I'll give you an inspiration"
If you just ask what do they do, its certain that they'll never pick an interesting but dangerous situation.
I believe it can be a good tool for DM to use to ensure their story going to certain direction, tailored to the players' personality.
I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate inspiration and everything it stands for in RPG design. As far as I'm concerned, it's the antithesis of good design and of the empowerment and equity of players, and the health of the game. It essentially reinforces favouritism by entrenching it within the mechanics. It encourages triviality and competition amongst players for the spotlight of the DM's attention. It also pigeon-holes players into certain actions and reactions dictated by their flaws.
Every time I've been in a game as a player, I've seen it abused by both players and DM's. The game devolves into, "What can I do to exploit this quirk of the DM?" And even if, somehow, a group manages to avoid that, it doesn't change the fact that the system inherently encourages it.
I do away with the Inspiration mechanic altogether and use Hero Points instead. Then again, I also run lethal games where the power of Hero Points is mitigated and somewhat necessary.
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"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
Its not a tool to force player to roleplay, its a tool for you to progress the story in a direction that you think is interesting. It's also not something to help your player to succeed on something; it's a meta reward just like XP.
You bend the story to your will and you give inspiration as a reward (or bribe) for that player to use later. Numenera and Dungeon World gives XP instead, but I think its rather arbitrary and inspiration gives interesting decision for the player.
No. We DM's do not bend the story to our will. We create situations and environments then the players create the story. Throwing inspiration at it won't change a damn thing. In fact its yet another mechanic we have to waste time and focus on. We DM's have enough to take into consideration as is. Seeing how Inspiration adds nothing worthwhile it gets dumped/ignored immediately. In no way, shape, or form does Inspiration aid in moving a story forward in a direction that I could do in better less convoluted ways.
Meta rewards are horrible as well. I don't use XP and instead prefer Milestone leveling for many reasons. One of them is to promote players to think of other ways to deal with situations. Instead of forcing combat to happen so they can level up. I agree with Dropbear. In no time players will abuse it to get advantages and instead of roleplaying will meta-game constantly. DND isn't just metagaming and always "winning"..that is gets boring as hell real fast. If you want this go play a battle board game instead like Warhammer or something.
I am closer to Sam_Hain's concept. Then again there are many more ways to make creative concepts and ideas from players work/be rewarded without inspiration and a whole let less work to keep track of yet another meaningless mechanic.
I also liked "phoenix" her idea that she calls Voltron'ing. Where players can get multiple advantages if they work together to make something cool and interesting happen. Haven't applied this myself yet, but would like to try it eventually.
I also liked "phoenix" her idea that she calls Voltron'ing. Where players can get multiple advantages if they work together to make something cool and interesting happen. Haven't applied this myself yet, but would like to try it eventually.
Like the Help Action going off in a chain reaction of win?
Anyway..
Everyone is wrong. Everyone is right.
Ultimately, like so much else in D&D, Inspiration is what the DM decides it is. It can be a tool to encourage player behaviors, or a reward for accomplishing/performing something unexpected. It can even be a a sort of compensation. Or, it can be a thing that the DM feels is inappropriate to their game, and so they don't use it.
There is no one correct or incorrect way to approach inspiration (though there are clearly incorrect ways to apply it, as outlined in the example of favoritism above). It is just another object in the DM tool box you can take out and use as you see fit, or let lie.
For me, I grant inspiration if they accomplish certain events above-and-beyond the goals. If they save ALL of the commoners from the goblins, then they get an inspiration point. If they decide to forego the treasure to save someone, they get an inspiration point. Things like that. Also, I give them out for roleplaying. If they life up to their trait, ideal, bond, or flaw, then they get an inspiration point. Finally, I give them an inspiration point if they roll a natural 20.
I let them accrue inspiration points to spend on d20 rolls. Like the Sam_Hain, I let them spend their points however they wish. In exactly the way he said (but I'm going to steal his names for them). So, you can spend 7 points to auto-crit on an attack roll (but it doesn't give you an inspiration point back).
They're heroes and I use inspiration to make them feel heroic.
Look, I'm not trying to say this is right or wrong. Like Sam_Hein said, its but another tool in our toolbox. Its an unpopular one, and I am just saying that it might be heavily misunderstood.
I also don't know how to utilize it well before I was reading the Numenera article. It has this phrase:
"[About player giving other player XP reward] playtesters have really enjoyed this–it’s empowering and interactive. The point is, though, is that this is what the GM is supposed to do–make things more interesting by throwing in exciting and unexpected challenges."
And this is not a one-sided bend, the player can deny the scenario you offered; in that case, the game goes on as normal. Also, don't you guys ever thought "it will be fun if this scenario happen", but then it dont happen and you get frustated? Now at least you can offer that scenario, and its still relevant to the characters because you link the scenario to their personality.
Also re: Favoritism. I said that inspiration scenario should be offered before the scenario happens, not just giving it because you think some player roleplays well. That means you can control how inspiration are dispensed an you can distribute the "moments" equally across the characters.
I have yet to get an Inspiration from a DM. I've not seen Matt Mercer give one out (largely because party mechanics have been able to do that for their group). And I've not run a game in 5e. I like that it's there. It is very easy to play favorites with it so is just as easy to stab yourself in the foot as to make a positive difference. I can't see our group allowing for stacking inspiration though. Being able to buy a critical would change some things... and probably negatively affect group interactions. Interesting thought... but... for now, our table is just treating it like flanking. We know it's there... but we don't want the bad guys to have it either...
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Pondering this a lot after reading http://www.montecookgames.com/experience-points-and-the-numenera-gm/.
I often see discussion that DMs are confused how to give inspiration. Most don't use them and few that I seen give them just because they can. I feel how Numenera see XP as a narrative tool to push the story is a good direction.
DMs can ask "Jared, as you strive to protect commoners, how if I make this Giant Goat that's charging a commoner to instead knock you down without roll and I give you inspiration"
Sometimes you got like "It would be cool if this happens" but the dice doesn't agree. As the post said it can be a useful tool to gm to create a more interesting story without relying on dice.
How do you think?
Small edit in example to avoid confusion
The way I see Inspiration is that its pointless in most cases. Can use it to try and get people to do awesome roleplay things with their character. However that feels rather forced. Plus the bonus isn't that big to begin with.
I don't need inspiration dice to help my players succeed on checks if they do happen to come up with a cool out of the box idea. I'll just lower the DC check required to succeed. That is IF their roll is poor. Its not like my players would know if I made that small adjustment in their favor as reward for their cool thinking. Plus it still isn't a 100% gurantee. Most interesting moments usually happen in failure and how to deal with it. Instead of just letting them succeed on every cool idea they pitch. That isn't beneficial to narrative/story either.
The only one actively using inspiration is the bard.
Its not a tool to force player to roleplay, its a tool for you to progress the story in a direction that you think is interesting. It's also not something to help your player to succeed on something; it's a meta reward just like XP.
You bend the story to your will and you give inspiration as a reward (or bribe) for that player to use later. Numenera and Dungeon World gives XP instead, but I think its rather arbitrary and inspiration gives interesting decision for the player.
I personally use it as incentive for players to think creativity. But, the fact that is only grants advantage does make standard inspiration pretty lackluster once player characters reach higher levels. So: I beef up inspiration a bit. First: I make it so a player can accrue inspiration instead of having a a maximum of 1 available (I gave them a cap of 3). I also have different levels of inspiration, with higher inspiration not only granting advantage, but also allowing a dice roll to be added to the result. My highest tier inspirations are auto-sucesses; when a player spends one of them, we treat whatever they're doing as though they rolled a 20.
Ongoing Projects: The Mimic Book of Mimics :: SHARK WEEK
Completed Projects: The Trick-or-Treat Table
My Homebrews: Races :: Classes :: Spells :: Items :: Monsters
I see. Thats interesting buff. How do you actually give it to your player? What rule do you use to know "this is the time to give player A inspiration"?
i dont see inspiration as weak. From a player perspective, having power to secure success is very powerful, especially in combat situation.
And yeah my point is to "systemize" inspiration. For something to be put on the official character sheet and dndbeyond digital sheet it sure begs a system. And again its not something to help the players.
Instead of asking "What do you do?" You ask the player "Hey as you are incridibly greedy, how about you try to steal the dragon's treasure despite he's not sleeping, and I'll give you an inspiration"
If you just ask what do they do, its certain that they'll never pick an interesting but dangerous situation.
I believe it can be a good tool for DM to use to ensure their story going to certain direction, tailored to the players' personality.
I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate inspiration and everything it stands for in RPG design. As far as I'm concerned, it's the antithesis of good design and of the empowerment and equity of players, and the health of the game. It essentially reinforces favouritism by entrenching it within the mechanics. It encourages triviality and competition amongst players for the spotlight of the DM's attention. It also pigeon-holes players into certain actions and reactions dictated by their flaws.
Every time I've been in a game as a player, I've seen it abused by both players and DM's. The game devolves into, "What can I do to exploit this quirk of the DM?" And even if, somehow, a group manages to avoid that, it doesn't change the fact that the system inherently encourages it.
I do away with the Inspiration mechanic altogether and use Hero Points instead. Then again, I also run lethal games where the power of Hero Points is mitigated and somewhat necessary.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.
Meta rewards are horrible as well. I don't use XP and instead prefer Milestone leveling for many reasons. One of them is to promote players to think of other ways to deal with situations. Instead of forcing combat to happen so they can level up. I agree with Dropbear. In no time players will abuse it to get advantages and instead of roleplaying will meta-game constantly. DND isn't just metagaming and always "winning"..that is gets boring as hell real fast. If you want this go play a battle board game instead like Warhammer or something.
I am closer to Sam_Hain's concept. Then again there are many more ways to make creative concepts and ideas from players work/be rewarded without inspiration and a whole let less work to keep track of yet another meaningless mechanic.
I also liked "phoenix" her idea that she calls Voltron'ing. Where players can get multiple advantages if they work together to make something cool and interesting happen. Haven't applied this myself yet, but would like to try it eventually.
Like the Help Action going off in a chain reaction of win?
Anyway..
Everyone is wrong. Everyone is right.
Ultimately, like so much else in D&D, Inspiration is what the DM decides it is. It can be a tool to encourage player behaviors, or a reward for accomplishing/performing something unexpected. It can even be a a sort of compensation. Or, it can be a thing that the DM feels is inappropriate to their game, and so they don't use it.
There is no one correct or incorrect way to approach inspiration (though there are clearly incorrect ways to apply it, as outlined in the example of favoritism above). It is just another object in the DM tool box you can take out and use as you see fit, or let lie.
Ongoing Projects: The Mimic Book of Mimics :: SHARK WEEK
Completed Projects: The Trick-or-Treat Table
My Homebrews: Races :: Classes :: Spells :: Items :: Monsters
For me, I grant inspiration if they accomplish certain events above-and-beyond the goals. If they save ALL of the commoners from the goblins, then they get an inspiration point. If they decide to forego the treasure to save someone, they get an inspiration point. Things like that. Also, I give them out for roleplaying. If they life up to their trait, ideal, bond, or flaw, then they get an inspiration point. Finally, I give them an inspiration point if they roll a natural 20.
I let them accrue inspiration points to spend on d20 rolls. Like the Sam_Hain, I let them spend their points however they wish. In exactly the way he said (but I'm going to steal his names for them). So, you can spend 7 points to auto-crit on an attack roll (but it doesn't give you an inspiration point back).
They're heroes and I use inspiration to make them feel heroic.
Look, I'm not trying to say this is right or wrong. Like Sam_Hein said, its but another tool in our toolbox. Its an unpopular one, and I am just saying that it might be heavily misunderstood.
I also don't know how to utilize it well before I was reading the Numenera article. It has this phrase:
"[About player giving other player XP reward] playtesters have really enjoyed this–it’s empowering and interactive. The point is, though, is that this is what the GM is supposed to do–make things more interesting by throwing in exciting and unexpected challenges."
And this is not a one-sided bend, the player can deny the scenario you offered; in that case, the game goes on as normal. Also, don't you guys ever thought "it will be fun if this scenario happen", but then it dont happen and you get frustated? Now at least you can offer that scenario, and its still relevant to the characters because you link the scenario to their personality.
Also re: Favoritism. I said that inspiration scenario should be offered before the scenario happens, not just giving it because you think some player roleplays well. That means you can control how inspiration are dispensed an you can distribute the "moments" equally across the characters.
To avoid favoritism, there's also the communist approach, comrades.
Ongoing Projects: The Mimic Book of Mimics :: SHARK WEEK
Completed Projects: The Trick-or-Treat Table
My Homebrews: Races :: Classes :: Spells :: Items :: Monsters
Ideally, yeah. You try to involve every player's characteristics in a play session so everyone get equal inspiration offer.
I have yet to get an Inspiration from a DM. I've not seen Matt Mercer give one out (largely because party mechanics have been able to do that for their group). And I've not run a game in 5e. I like that it's there. It is very easy to play favorites with it so is just as easy to stab yourself in the foot as to make a positive difference. I can't see our group allowing for stacking inspiration though. Being able to buy a critical would change some things... and probably negatively affect group interactions. Interesting thought... but... for now, our table is just treating it like flanking. We know it's there... but we don't want the bad guys to have it either...