Thursday, November 7, 2019

MVP points - Character or Player?

My DF Felltower campaign features bonus XP for "most valuable player." It's voted on by the players. I don't get a vote but I have occasionally had input in the form of summarizing some important things each person has done in the session.

It's not a vote that's dependent on actual game content. It's been given for stellar in-game performances, failing rolls spectacularly, and even totally non-game related events like bringing good food the table.

It's been a lot of fun. The players often start to chant "MVP! MVP!" after good moves, foolish moves, lucky shots, amusing pratfalls, people announcing what snacks they brought, etc. It's amusing to see our youngest player routinely vote for himself because he wants the points.

The question has long be up in the air, though - is it the player, or the character?

I feel like we answered this definitively a few sessions back.

The most valuable character wasn't very clear. The most valuable player was very clear - the guy who usually runs Aldwyn baked a DF-themed apple pie. He got the point. But he was running Dryst - not his PC.

So who gets the point? Dryst? Or Aldwyn's player?

We went with the player, and he could give it to any of his current PCs. So, Aldwyn got it as that is his only current PC.

It feels weird to do so, but it also feels right to do so. I don't think I'd pass out Awesome Points to the player instead of the character, or bonus points for doing things . . . but this was clearly a player-centric award and thus the player should benefit . . . not the character he ran while the actual owner of the character was away.

But if the player is running their own character and earns the point, it goes to the character. You can't save it for another character. It only travels when it is a player-centric award to a player running someone else's character.

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