On the Shoulders of Dwarves

**Feburary 2021:** Dwarves! We’re prolonging our hiatus until 2022. We hope to be able to return earlier, but things haven’t changed in our lives and until the corona epidemic is over it’s unlikely we’ll be able to go back to any routine. We’re interested in doing at least something weekly or semi-weekly, even if not a podcast – if you have any ideas, please send us! To show@dwarfcast.net What do we mean when we say rewards beyond loot? Not just money, treasure or magic items. Let’s give a few examples and it’ll be clear. ## Non loot rewards (01:24) Some examples: – Land – Titles – Association (part of a guild/group/etc) – House / Place to live – Renown – Something personal – Narrative power ## GMs – What can we do with non treasure rewards (09:33) Why should we use Rewards in our game? – Used for character development – Flash out the setting – Connect the characters to the setting – Give players a chance to expand on what interest them in the setting – Allow a sense of accomplishment without shifting game balance ## For players (13:04) Important tips: – **Use the reward**: Otherwise it is meaningless – you have a title? Use it. You have land, define it and do something with it. You are part of the stonecutters guild? Send them rock samples, keep a journal of interesting rocks you encounter, read on wikipedia about different rocks – **Signal what interest you**: signal the GM what is the reward you might enjoy getting. How? Establish it as one of your character’s goals. – **Leveraging personal items** – **Using story items:** e.g. taking a defeated enemy’s weapon ## Summary (20:12) Non loot rewards are a great way to create engagement, character development, enhance the setting and discover what is interesting for the GM and players. Consider listening to [episode 27](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/slaps-and-bennies-episode-27-364a24326f571a/) and [episode 19](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/customising-the-campaign-to-the-players-episode-19-36082ec3b14f62/) to rethink some ideas. * * * ## Taking the load off (22:51) **Uri**: New 5th edition game, Playtesting for “The Makabim game” **Eran**: Sentinel Comics RPG Starter Kit * * * Email us at [show@dwarfcast.net](mailto:show@dwarfcast.net) with questions, topic suggestions, and comments, and check out [our Facebook group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/dwarfpodcast). We have a [Patreon page](https://www.patreon.com/dwarfcast), in case you’d like to support us in a monetary fashion. Also, most links to [DriveThruRPG are affiliate](http://drivethrurpg.com/?affiliate_id=29668), which means we get a bit of money if you buy through them, with no added cost to you. Intro and outro based on On the Shoulders of Dwarves by the Cliches Duo. On the Shoulders of Dwarves is shared under [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). * * *