If A DM Wants Personal Investment, Their Game Needs Personal Stakes

Being a DM is not an easy job, I'll be the first to admit that. You need to wear a dozen different hats, several of them at the same time, and keeping all of those balls you're juggling in the air is no mean feat. However, there is a problem that a lot of storytellers run into that I wanted to talk about today.

Put simply it's that if your plot doesn't affect the PCs personally, then your players will feel like completing that plot is a chore rather than an adventure.

You want results, you need to build in motivation.

Make it Personal, And Players Will Never Want To Stop

One of the biggest mistakes I've seen DMs make (and I've made it a time or two myself), is to use a general plot hook to motivate the entire group to go do the thing you want them to do. You throw down a big reward for those who capture the bandits, maybe, or you make it clear that the big bad is going to wipe out the town/country/world, thus stopping him is now everyone's problem.

Do these work? Sure, and you can get away with them once or twice without too much trouble. But these plot hooks are impersonal, and they do nothing to enhance a PC's story or involvement in the world. If you can find a way to make it personal, though, then your players are going to champ at the bit to go do the thing, rather than needing you to coerce them out of the bar.

Bandits? Eh, who cares. Wait, they kidnapped WHO? Let me get my coat...

Let's go back to that bandit-hunting hook. It's one of the oldest low-level plots in the book, and it's a good way to get your party to establish themselves, earn some loot, and get some combat under their belt. It is, however, a pretty weak plot. After all, what do you do if someone is uninterested in the reward being offered? Or they don't care about the fact that the highways are dangerous? How do you convince them to go and fix this problem?

Make it personal.

Take Adan Skar, a half-orc from the mountain clan hold. He doesn't care if the people of the region are too soft to defend themselves, and he has no need for the reward being offered. But what if someone mistakes him for one of the bandits because they have the same scars and tattoos as he does? Could the gang member they call Clipped Ear be the clan blood he's been searching for? If so, he needs to find him before someone else kills him, and convince his clan brother to move on to a place where he doesn't have a price on his head. That could lead to using his relationship to avoid certain fights, and even making an ally if the party wants to ambush the bandits, and get Clipped Ear clemency for his past actions as part of the deal.

Do the same for every member of the party, and make sure that this plot isn't just a grind quest for them. If the fighter is looking to make a name for himself as a champion, then suggest that defeating the Red Brand's best warrior in a duel would boost his reputation significantly. If the wizard is more interested in arcane studies than solving the problems of commoners, suggest that magical tomes and items were waylaid by the bandits, thus making them ripe for reclamation to whoever can lay hands on them. If someone is of noble blood, has a tie to a warrior church, or membership in the local militia, use that as a way to assign them to this problem. This makes your life easier as the DM, but it also means you're incorporating that PC's background in a meaningful, interesting way.

And if you're looking for NPCs to add into the mix for this arc, I'd recommend checking out the supplement 100 Random Bandits to Meet. From legendary gang lords like the Darkskull, to lower rank-and-file members, there are all sorts of NPCs you can use to start building those connections.

Nurture Their Connections, And You Won't Have To Work

Forever and a day ago I wrote a post titled If You Want A Better Game, Give Your PC Connections To The World. The idea was that by tying your character to the setting and the story you're specifically in, your DM has all of the strings they can tug on to both get you involved, and to reward you in a meaningful, personal way.

If you're the DM, you need to make sure your players follow this advice, but then you need to do your part and actually use the information they give you!

Yes that's a lot of information. Apply it at every opportunity!

This doesn't necessarily mean that you need to re-structure your campaign so that every bad guy is a long-lost brother, or is responsible for kidnapping someone's best friend. But you need to keep in mind who the characters at your table actually are, what they've done, and how the world reacts to them. Because if you let them put down roots in the world, they are going to start growing on their own.

As a for-instance, if one of the characters has in their background that they're a mercenary, don't just leave it at that. Ask who they've fought for, what sort of reputation they carry, and if they have any identifying marks that would make people treat them with respect, or specifically offer to hire them to do a job (you could find ideas for this in 100 Random Mercenary Companies, if you're looking for inspiration regarding who a particular character might have worked for). If another character is from a small town, don't let it just be some generic town; give it a name, a popular trade, a location, even an accent. Then when that PC is traveling, have some folks recognize the region, and talk about when they've traveled through there before. Mention the reputation of the farmers, woodsman, fishermen, etc. from the area, and show that the player's choice had impact on how they're treated in the world. Even if it's just how certain NPCs react to them.

One of the biggest things you should do as a DM is to help your players form connections with the NPCs they interact with. Whether it's their regular waitress at the tavern, the merchant they like to do business with, or a particular church or esoteric order they've worked with, those are all real, tangible connections you can pull on to help motivate your PCs. Because a general, "Oh no, the Rhadoran Cartel is threatening the area," might be a blip on the radar, but if a group of thugs tries to put the squeeze on Doc and the bar the PCs have claimed as their own personal watering hole, now they're invested.

Personal Rewards Are Often Just As Important

I talked about this in Are You Not Entertained (5 Tips For Engaging Your Players), but it bears repeating; random loot and generic rewards are never going to make players as invested in your game as personalized stuff that gets them closer to their goals.

Arise, Reginald, a champion of the realm!

Most DMs roll up random loot according to a chart, or they give the players a metric ass ton of gold and just let them buy what they want. However, that has the same problem as the generic plot hook; it doesn't feel special. That's why it pays serious dividends to always make the rewards personal, even if the initial hook wasn't.

As a for-instance, take the glory hound fighter we mentioned earlier. Sure, he likes gold as much as the next person, but when he single-handedly defeats Banor Fell, the Brute of the Bilewood, that draws the attention of Lord Henton Cross. An older man, now, he lost a son to Fell's gang of brigands, and the PC's actions have brought him peace. As a token of esteem, he presents the PC with a castle steel sword, marked with the raised fist of Cross's house. This sword marks the fighter out to nobles as a chosen man, boosting his fame and reputation as the tale is told and re-told. Perhaps Lord Cross calls on him and his companions when his lands are threatened, thus acting as a plot hook. Eventually the fighter (and perhaps those who fought with him) are raised to knighthood, given lands and honors by Lord Cross for their service.

All you did was hand the character a masterwork weapon that fit with his preferences... but showing that his actions had very specific and very personal consequences draws the character in, and it's the sort of thing players respond well to.

Keep that in mind when it's time to reward players for their efforts. Because sure, everyone loves a little extra wooge and some gold. But making rewards personalized hooks a PC hard right now, and often provides you an even stronger line you can tug on later when you want them to go in a particular direction.

Before you go, you might also want to pop over to my author blog The Literary Mercenary and check out the post Don't Put The Whole World on The Chopping Block. It's all about stakes, and how to raise them without reducing their impact on the audience.

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. If you've used this strategy in your games, leave a comment below and let us know how your personalized your game, and what you'd recommend others do to get the best results!

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