Nonstandard ways of paying adventurers?

[Agent-KI7KO]

So in our last adventure, the NPC questgiver immediately vanishes and the party starts cursing him, when the Innkeeper suddenly comes in and says he has confirmed receiving payment for each of our rooms for 37 years.

The party immediately questioned this and said it was an anonymous payment, and named each party member specifically.

When told that it might have been a mistake he says he can arrange for a refund, and that’s what happened.

What are some other more imaginative ways of giving out quest rewards to your players?

[Koo Rehtorb]

Reward them with exposure.

[Kid Jake]

Reward them with exposure.

Someone's been binging r/choosingbeggars.


You could also drop plothooks as rewards. "Congrats, you've inherited a spooky-ass castle!" "He doesn't have any coin, but offers his priceless mineral collection, if only you knew somewhere to fence it..." "He stiffed you on payment, why not help yourself to some of his sheep?"

[noob]

Or you can reward the adventurers with barrels of explosives.
It never ends well.

[Kaptin Keen]

I do kind of the opposite: You basically can't buy magic items with gold (not anything other than the odd potion or wand, at least), so players generally don't have much use for gold. And just to rub it in, I generally also give them an expense account.

[DigoDragon]

"Congrats, you've inherited a spooky-ass castle!"

Giving the party land/property as a reward can work to the GM's benefit too--the PCs can establish a base of operations from which to use as a springboard on future adventuring. As the party keeps returning to that base, the GM can flesh out the local town residents as allies and informants. I once rewarded a party with an old, but usable tavern. They started investing money to fix it up and ended up retiring as business entrepreneurs (after saving the country from a vile black dragon at least).

[Eldan]

I've never seen a party that wasn't fond of either vehicles (big ones) or retainers.

We currently have one character, a sniper/big game hunter who travels with his Butler and his two luggage carriers. When we got into a night fight, he handed his butler a flare gun and some oil lamps. Since then "Melqart, lights please" has been a running gag.

[MoiMagnus]

1) A ship. (and then upgrades to the ship).
If your campaign doesn't have big seas, consider a flying ship, or an astral ship.

2) Magical relics. Works particularly well for secondary quests. For example, the local mafia contact the PCs mostly saying "Your saving the world, that's good for everyone, and we will not cause you any problem while your doing your job. However, if by pure coincidence, during your next quest in the easter union, you happen to acquire the Necronomicon currently in possession of the Chancelor of the elven kingdom (password to the underground is 1234), then we will certainly find some relics of matching powers (but far more adequate to your noble goal) for an exchange".

3) Narrative influence. Knowing that the glyph of protection you reactivated in a small village to protect them against werewolves made them immune to the demonic invasion few years latter is a reward by itself (changing this village into a major outpost against the invasion)

[SirGraystone]

In medieval time common reward from a king would have been land or some minor titles. Why give gold to adventurers when you can give them some barony near the wilderness where they will have to spend their own gold to fix the castle and land, and hunt monsters for free just to keep their land safe.

A land and castle is a good way to have the group spend all those coins they looted, fixing and upgrading castle can be very expensive, the king and his court visiting also bankrupt many lord.

[ThePlanarDM]

A favor or request for information they can call in.

A sizable amount of money placed on a betting table in front of them. Give the PCs the option to remove it if they want. Then roll to see what would have happened.

[Kardwill]

Information

Who last saw their missing sister, 3 years ago? Why are the local vampires buying medical research labs? What exactly happened the night their mother was killed by a Hellgate? Where is the Elder Vampire's lair? Who is behind the nefarious lawyer firm that has been a pain in their backside? How can they learn to control their magic?
Those are the answers PCs in my current campaign are willing to kill for (Which is nice, because when one of the PCs is the city's wealthiest citizen, monetary rewards loose their appeal ^^)

[Kol Korran]

Lets see... some unorthodox rewards in our gaming history:
- Invitations to a royal party!
- A spirit of power formed a bond between the PCs, with a pool of power they could tap for various effects (healing, short time telepatht with each other and similar).
- An exchange of organs, with "power organs" from creatures. (A weird adventure. One PC got a Succubus tongue, another got the skin of a displacer beast and so on).
- Medals of honor and knighthood.
- Conquered an enemy fort? Good! You run the place now!
- Access to planar forges & materials, to craft a custom unique item for each PC.
- A feat, for performing an outstanding feat.
- A great ballade to commemorate the PCs deeds (With a play in planning).
- A special holiday, telling of their struggle. (And the dead PC raised to sainthood)
- Nifty tailor made attire!
- The favor of a gang. (Shadowrun gang)
- Addons for the party's vehicle.
- One desire fulfilled. (From a demon lord. Sort of a wish equivalent).
- An old hated foe, brought boind and gagged.
- A hand in marriage.
- Answers to 2 questions (From a being of nearly infinite knowledge...)
- The finest horses this side of the kingdom! (Upgraded horses).
- A chance to talk with one persoj beyond the veil.

[JoeJ]

I had a character once receive a trained hunting falcon as a reward.

[noob]

A dog.
If you do not give one to your players they might forget to buy one or that dogs are not just random encounters.

[Quertus]

Non-payment? That sounds like someone volunteering to join my army of the undead, to me.

I'm sure I've seen lots of odd rewards over the years, but my senile mind is only remembering 2. OK, 3.

Worst: GM wouldn't let me craft anything, then just gave the party something better than I could make. As "random" treasure.

Best: cloud pillows.

Me as GM:
Genie, in a loud, booming voice: "You have freed me from..."
PC: <flees>
Genie: "..."
<Genie loots the relic room where his lamp was stored>
<PC meets up with rest of party>
<Amused (and now quite wealthy, and, thus, very pleased) Genie finds party>
<Genie grants party each one wish, very generously interpreted>

[Jay R]

1. Knighthood or other titles. I have a ranger who is now Sir Gustav, Vampire-Slayer, Knight of the High Guard.

2. Fame. A bard singing their praises, and now they are recognized when they walk into town. My current DM made us the heroes of the town we just saved, and our PCs are drinking for free in the taverns. The monetary value is trivial, but it feels good.

3. Land. Ideally, land whose inhabitants are currently threatened by monsters to clear out. This was the assumed goal for high-level characters in original D&D.


But what the players want most is a new encounter, so the most obvious reward is a plothook. One way to do this is to reward them with the first of a set of magic items, and knowledge fo where the second one is.

[Segev]

If you want to make the players potentially uncomfortable, you could give them rewards that are technically valuable, possibly socially acceptable in certain parts of the setting, but morally questionable.

For example, a highly valuable slave each. The slaves themselves are perfectly nice people, very well-trained at tasks and skillsets chosen carefully by the erstwhile employer to be of imminent use/desirability to the PC to whom the slave is gifted, and has no concept of how to function without somebody bossing them around and providing for their basic needs (unless their skill set is expressly in the "provide for basic needs" category, in which case the gaps that a free, self-sustaining person would need filled should be in other areas). Keeping the slave is morally/ethically uncomfortable for most modern western-culture players (barring very good immersion in a PC who is okay with that kind of thing), potentially uncomfortable for certain kinds of heroes, and probably not technically illegal where the payment was given. Selling the slave will at least get a monetary reward (remember: keeping the slave fed and clothed and safe is now part of the "equipment maintenance" the PC will have to handle), but isn't exactly more morally or ethically pleasing than keeping the slave; the slave is still enslaved. Freeing them is like releasing a pampered lap dog into the wilds of the jungle: they'll be eaten alive, if not worse. What do they do?

At worst, it's a morally uncomfortable thing wherein they get a better reward but still feel a little icky (which you can compensate for with having the reward be a bit generous compared to normal; perhaps the slaves sell for REALLY high prices). At best, it's a huge plot hook AND a resource for the players to draw on as they try to reconcile things in whatever way they choose (rehabillitation, befriending, accepting the situation and trying to be a good caretaker....)



Along the same lines, statues of people and animals afflicted by a Midas Touch: they're solid gold, but they also used to be people. Hard to sell as-is for their worth, melting them might be murder, but can they rescue them and are they responsible to try, or are these just corpses? If corpses, is it right to melt them down for gold rather than give them last rites?



The hand of the quest-giver's children in marriage; there's at least one of appropriate sex for each PC. This may well come with political connections and patronage that vastly surpasses the norm, since they're now parts of the family. But actually handling the relationships becomes plot points in and of themselves, and if there's any question as to choice of who marries whom....



On that note: Patronage. This isn't morally or ethically questionable unless the employer is skeevy in his own right (but the PCs already accepted work from him once, right...?), but is an interesting way to reward PCs while providing ongoing quest opportunities. Patronage includes stipends of money, or lines of credit they can draw upon. "Yes, my good man, we work for Count von Baron von Schtickyboddam McFluffypants; you can charge the repairs to our armor to him." "And these scrolls!"

It also opens doors: with the right Patron, wearing his badge will get entry into higher society, or clubs, or be social coin to earn trust with his allies. Also protection! Sure, as adventurers, it's really DUMB of those guards to try to arrest you for beating up the thugs who just tried to shake you down, but they might anyway. But they would never arrest the Count's men; they know it'd be politically...unwise. At least, not as long as the Count's men have a passably believable story for why they don't have to.

[Psyren]

Magical services is a good one; you save the king, and his court wizard gets put at their disposal either for a set amount of time or a set quantity of gp-equivalent activities - e.g. crafting stuff for them, teleporting them around if they can't do so themselves, slapping some permanencies on them etc.

I had a GM who enjoyed giving out uncommon items as well. Say we helped a metallic dragon, it would pull some random bits and bobs from its hoard and send us on our way, like a Rod of Wonder or a Robe of Useful Items, just to see what we would end up doing with them.

[The Kool]

A favorite of mine is upgrades to existing items. Party has a bunch of +1 flaming weapons? How about offering to upgrade that +1 to a +2? Maybe armor and shield instead? Custom items can be done too, sometimes it's worth it to give in to a player's wish list a little bit.

[Eldan]

Magical services is a good one; you save the king, and his court wizard gets put at their disposal either for a set amount of time or a set quantity of gp-equivalent activities - e.g. crafting stuff for them, teleporting them around if they can't do so themselves, slapping some permanencies on them etc.

I had a GM who enjoyed giving out uncommon items as well. Say we helped a metallic dragon, it would pull some random bits and bobs from its hoard and send us on our way, like a Rod of Wonder or a Robe of Useful Items, just to see what we would end up doing with them.

I once combined the two. My players once did a huge favour to a few minor fae nobles. They then got the right to call on them for minor magical favours within their very narrow domains. I forgot what they were exactly, it's been a long time, but they were all things like "have an object not cast a shadow" or "edible fruit will grow on any tree you choose for the next year" or "all birds will sing beautiful melodies for you if you call them" or "you will always know the direction and distance to the nearest spring of fresh water."

[Beleriphon]

1. Knighthood or other titles. I have a ranger who is now Sir Gustav, Vampire-Slayer, Knight of the High Guard.

2. Fame. A bard singing their praises, and now they are recognized when they walk into town. My current DM made us the heroes of the town we just saved, and our PCs are drinking for free in the taverns. The monetary value is trivial, but it feels good.

This one is always good. The Witcher series has Geralt as a famous person, to the point that peasants in mudfarm village #53 have hear of him. Or at least his exploits and how he's the White Wolf, or the Butcher of Blaviken. In the games you can use Geralt's reputation to get out of some fights, by threatening to roflstomp the guys threatening to fight Geralt.

It also means that Geralt can meet people he otherwise wouldn't... like kings.

[Anonymouswizard]

I generally only give money as the major reward in modern and science fiction games, as money is much more useful and easy to spend there. When the Rigger's car gets totalled (and it will, eventually) the difference between the party having the funds to fix or replace it is in what sort of plans they can attempt.

Also, information is always a good thing as a reward. It generally shouldn't be the only reward, but either the PCs can use it to further their goals or get a pretty penny for it.

Favours are also quite good if the person is fairly influential. Bare in mind that some players will try to cash it in immediately (which really applies to a lot of rewards).

Items are also good, in many ways better than cash (until you need to pay for something). Useful items at any rate.

As has been said before lands and titles have that nice medieval ring to it, as well those sweet sweet responsibilities to give players. Job offers can also work here, I always like to offer PCs a job as investigators if somebody powerful liked their work. Although when war starts be prepared for the knights to try and weasel or of raising men and fighting for their lord.

Generally one of the first things my characters try to get is a residence in their name as a base if operations and potentially side business (if such residence is suitable). It makes you less mobile, but I never really liked more mobile games to begin with, and putting down roots makes it a lot easier to have other resources to call on. Plus there's something to be said for not carrying everything you own on your back.

Also, as has been said, fame and infamy are their own reward. Plus their own curse, some players will go to lengths to mitigate fame if it infringed on their activities.

[paladinofshojo]

Obviously the only correct answer is that you build a bridge for the adventurers to travel east to the town of Pravoka.

[Imbalance]

Reward them with access to the Danger Room. Let them train within a magical simulation without risking actual harm or expending resources while learning tactics and polishing skills to use against the BBEG. Maybe even let them gain XP at a reduced rate, so that you can justify cranking up the CR in non-VR encounters.

[zlefin]

trade goods that aren't immediately sellable (either cuz you're not at/near a town, or limitations of local market size). such as a bunch of spices or incense; or at lower levels: a flock of sheep or some cattle.

[Vizzerdrix]

In one game, our party killed a critter for a tribe of lizardfolk. Obviously they didn't have coin or loot, but we got magical tattoos and a huge party (done as a separate non d&d break session where we got xp for winning at other games like exploding kittens and mario kart). My wizard got a tat that gave DR1/- and Nat AC +1. Good times!

[JeenLeen]

Favors are always good.
In a oWoD Mage game, we'd get awarded with friends being willing to put enchantments on us, like extra sensory spells. In Vampire games, unspecified favors owed are common for a favor done.

Currently, I like cool but mostly useless utility powers as rewards.
In In Nomine, you could get awarded a Song (its equivalent of a spell) that is helpful or cool, but not something so useful you'd probably spend xp on it. Or something similar as a magic item.
For D&D 5e, I could see giving one of the less-ideal cantrips.

[The Kool]

For D&D 5e, I could see giving one of the less-ideal cantrips.

5e actually has a section buried in the DMG about Boons and Blessings that you can give, examples and guidelines for coming up with your own.

[Bohandas]

*Exotic Mounts
*Art objects
*A new holiday celebrating their achievements
*Spellbooks
*A donation made in their name to charity
*Land
*Titles
*Carve their faces on a mountain
*livestock
*liquor
*drugs
*Noncombat magic items
*expunging of convictions
*Put their name on a building
*name a street after them
*material spell components
*black market material spell components; human organs etc
*Training
*exotic animals
*Caged cryptids
*A coupon for one free resurrection
*gift certificates
*tattoos and piercinga
*jewelry
*stock in a business

[Man_Over_Game]

A bit odd, but something like this could work for your setting. _{While it's not odd in terms of what the Adventurers get paid in, it IS odd in how they get paid.}

A Wizard is tasked with making sure his world is kept running, and tasks people with jobs with these special devices called a "Compass". The Compass tells you of the job you need to complete. Once it's done, a small portal opens up on the device, which leads into the Wizard's treasury and dispenses you the exact amount of treasure for the job. You can hang onto your Compass and more difficult jobs will come your way, with more treasure, gradually creating "trust" between the employee and the employer. Almost every person in the city is compensated via these Compasses, basically creating a sort of government-controlled wage system.

Occasionally, the players may find corpses of those who failed in their task, and can pick up the leftover Compass and attempt to finish the job where their predecessor failed.

There's a lot of ways you can play around this. I had it so that the last mission the Adventurers had was the same last mission as everyone else with their Compass. The reality was, the Wizard's world was dying, and he had to find the most competent, most successful, most cunning people in this world and gather them together to find a solution. The last mission was to save the world.