Today's Focus is Ambitions from Warhammer Fantasy: 4th Edition.
Ambitions are a mechanic that encourage players to come up with a goal for that character and role play towards that goal.
I find that this mechanic is more beneficial for players that are new to role playing games as they often look to the rules for guidance, which is why the rules of game generally inform the type of role playing done. I mean, just look at B/X D&D where looting treasure was your way to earn Experience and Level Up, the game play became that of a heist/grave robber, and if B/X D&D gave equivalent Experience for trading livestock and textiles, you'd have more of a Merchant game play.
The point of that ramble was to hammer down the point of A. You can motivate Players to play a certain way by rewarding them with what they desire, and B. The Mechanics create a framework for how your Players interact with the world and Role Play.
So what exactly are the mechanics of Ambitions?
Well, I won't write out the full rules for it (Go read the rule book if you want that), but I'll give a summary. Ambitions are broken down into Short-Term Ambitions that take 2-3 sessions to complete and Long-Term Ambitions that takes months or years of In-Universe time. Completing an Ambition rewards you a small chunk of Experience, more if it's your Long-Term Ambition, though Warhammer 4th Edition recommends characters that complete their Long-Term Ambition be retired from play.
Example Short-Term Ambitions:
- Ruining a local bureaucrat that has been giving you trouble.
- Becoming friends with a local Sage
- Hosting a Feast for the whole town
- Open a school for Adventurers
- Becoming a Duke
- Killing all Trolls in the Tri-State Area
What I like about this Ambition system it gives New Players a focus for their actions, and for Sandbox play it gives your players direction and focus, as each Ambition is an Adventure Hook the Players came up for you!
Now, 4th Edition Warhammer also has Party Ambitions, which function in pretty much the exact same way as the individual Ambitions, but it gives you even more Adventure Hooks that the players are coming up with.
The Short of it is having a clearly stated goal, with a clearly stated carrot (EXP) will keep most players on track, or at least on their track. This is similar to using Milestone Leveling in 5th edition, but more clearly stated so that players know what they need to do to earn that extra reward.
For Example, I'm running Out Of the Abyss modified for the Dragonlands (Surprise, it's Above Ground!), and the Party has the Long-Term Ambition of getting back to the Dragonlands, but each character has their own Long-Term Ambition:
- Blacktalon, Short Term: Disrupt the Hobgoblin Army. Long-Term: Return To the Dragonlands with vital Intel on the Hobgoblin horde
- ???, Long-Term: Find out who I am, and why I can't remember anything
- Sorin Dapperplume (Deceased): Long-Term: Regain his Honor and obtain new Glory!
- Kleimann, Short-Term: Discover who "The First" are. Long-Term: Uncover the Secrets of his Blade Amulet
- Y, Short-Term: Avenge the Death of Bello the Mushreoom. Long-Term: Return home, and rebuild his village.
- Ahkmanrah, Short-Term: Acquire The Seeker's Sword of Sealing. Long-Term: Find the 7 Swords of Sealing and unseal the tomb of the Sorcerer King.
The whole idea is pretty simple, and I would bet most DMs already do something similar, but as I've said above, I've found the codifying it into the rules motivates players to focus on it, because they'll get real tangible rewards. You can even use this to help players Role Play their class, for example in my modified B/X rules Fighters get extra experience from fighting, Thieves get extra experience from stealing, and Wizards get extra experience from crafting magical items. Sure, a thief is already inclined to steal and loot treasure based on their set of skills and abilities, but I find players are incredibly more motivated when just a bit more experience is put on the table.
What's the saying? "I'd trade it all for a little more."
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