Going to state this now so that this doesn't become some sort of flame war: I'm not trying to make this tabletop RPG more like a video game by incorporating achievements. I just like the idea of giving my players tiny little rewards for doing things that aren't usually done under normal circumstances.

Now as for my question: Can any of you think of some good achievements? I think I'd like to keep them a secret and only tell my players they've earned the achievement once they've actually earned it. And I don't really want any ideas for achievements that require bookkeeping. None of that "Get 50 kills with a plasma gun" crap. I'm just talking about impressive acts. Here's some examples.

Kill an enemy with his own weapon
Kill an enemy with your bare hands
Kill an enemy with a weapon you're not proficient with
Destroy an enemy vehicle with a hand-held weapon (not vehicle mounted)
Deal over 100 damage in a single hit (via Righteous Fury)
Deal over 500 damage in a single round (via Righteous Fury)

I have one from the last RT session (2nd RT ever!!!): one of my players, who has the tendency to really really really know the rules very very well and who min-maxes his character while asleep, even I can't remember all the talents he pulled but the result was impressive:

End scene of the forsaken bounty (the free online RT campaign): bad guy that uses warp puppets just lost his 'uber shield' (but still has a hefty toughness and wounds). Just left the captains chair and is descending along the stairs.

the players on the other side of a big wall (console) and just had a peek seeing bad mofo sitting in the chair AND the 20!! warp puppets infesting the bridge around him.

Player character runs around the corner, with (forgot name of the talent but he ran FAST), happens to take (on luck) the right side of the captains chair so ends his run at point blank range from the mofo (while running he did get some hacks from the puppets). Then activates his MIU (free attack) and pulls a devastating righteous fury with his shoulder mounted bolt gun: exit bad mofo in one bloody move and shot!. I believe this was the 3rd round after the PC entered the bridge and the end scene started.

The whole battle was something like:

round 1: enter the bridge; identify and kill some puppets

round 2: peak around corner; identify bad mofo surrounded by 20+ more puppets

round 3: pull insane running stunt and kill bad mofo in one shot.

end battle.

Things like this you can't really predict up front, so I would suggest to give the achievements when you deem them suited and keep track of them.

rather than writing a set of achivments up that may or may not ever happen why not just at times reward a player when they come up with or preform something truly impressive, anything that makes everyone stop and go..wow that was awsome.

Librarian said:

I like that, but then you might be giving out to many achievements. I would say do a little of both, have set of achievements, and then keep an open mind.

This topic came up for another game system (shadowrun) awhile back. Overall the idea was frowned upon because it was thought to cheapen the game play thru achievement whoring. Heres the first couple of achievements with conversion to 40K:

- Heal 20 wounds of damage for your fellow explorators.
- Kill 10 enemies in continuous actions without using fate points to soak/dodge.
- Kill 100 enemies with a Best Quality Melee weapon .
- Kill 20 enemies with a Stubber.
- Kill 100 enemies with a Heavy Bolter.
- Kill 100 enemies using vehicle weaponry.
- Kill 20 enemies using explosives.
- Kill five enemies with one grenade.
- Make 5 headshot in any one combat scene
- Kill 20 enemies while blinded.
- Jump in the way of a Deadly hit meant for someone else.
- Survive 3 headshots in any one combat scene.
- Play an entire campaign using only pistols.
- Survive and entire combat scene without any player taking damage.
- Fence 5 PF worth of paydata.
- Banish 20 Deamons.
- Get a maximum initiative roll.

As a game designer who actually has to write up lists of arbitrary achievements for console and mobie titles… My suggestion would be to just give extra xp when players do soemthing that entertains you as a GM.

It's much more organic and will generate more itneresting situations as well as encourage more outside the box thinking by your players as opposed to them just working through some checklist of "to-do's"

wolph42 said:

That requires a leeroy jenkins achievement

CaptainStabby said:

I'd agree with this, The strength of tabletop RPGs is how freeform and creative it allows players to be, especially in comparison to videogame RPGs. I know that if I had a list of achievements I could get for bonuses, I'd focus less on roleplaying and being creative, and focus much more on just doing x over and over to get more points. The way my group does it is that whenever there's a particular well-done roleplaying bit (either makes the entire group laugh, or is super impressive, or whatever) or someone does something particularly impressive or creative in combat, the GM usually rewards it. I do think that's a much better system for traditional RPGs.

I award Temporary Fate Points for cool actions and stunts…