Motivations and Experience

The Wonderful Alchemy of Old-School Dungeons & Dragons: Transmuting Gold into Experience

The awarding of experience in early version Dungeons & Dragons game has been the subject of much discussion since the OSR movement took hold and one particularly controversial point is the awarding of experience points for the acquisition of treasure. An experience award for treasure is made fairly clear in the game’s earliest incarnation, but no experience system is present, just an example of how one character is awarded for participating in the defeat of a monster and liberation of the treasure. After many revisions, supplements and author comments, it became reasonably clear that experience was not awarded for the simple acquisition of treasure, but rather by heading into the unknown areas of the world (dungeon or wilderness) overcoming the horrific threats found therein, and returning stolen treasures and lost wonders to the world of men, dwarves, elves, etc. Some experience was provided for the defeat of monsters, but the bulk of the awards came from the value (in gold) of the goods they’d acquired.

Although players could decide to rob and murder townsfolk, experience would not be awarded for doing the work of the monsters! It was specifically the liberation of treasure for the good of human (and demi-human) kind that yielded this highly desirable result.

As mentioned previously, Dave Arneson further refined this method of experience gain with the release of The First Fantasy Campaign and his institution of interests and motivations for player characters in the Blackmoor setting. Here, you gained experience (in small amounts) for defeating the monsters, and then making use of the treasure you returned to civilized hands. I’ve been fascinated with this concept since becoming aware of it and was lucky enough to have the opportunity to review this material thanks to a friend who, unlike myself, was alive when it was published.

Unfortunately, as is the case with a great deal of early material for this, the greatest of all hobbies, it was a delightful mess of tables, suggestions and anecdotes with some referenced items omitted and others mislabeled. It did, however, provide fantastic insight into the early days of the hobby when wargaming still ruled tabletops, roleplaying was novel, and level advancement was optional.

What follows is an expanded interpretation of the rules Arneson presented. The appeal of including these rules is that they tie a character’s ability to advance in level directly to their goals. I recommend using them in a supplemental fashion along with either a reduction of experience awarded in other ways or a higher experience point threshold to advance from one level to the next. Note that these rules should be used alongside any training system if one is used. Also, remember that players must choose whether to spend their gold on adventuring gear and magic —or— on motivations and that character should not gain experience for gold gained by sale of used items. In any case, these rules should keep your player characters poor and hungry for the next adventure.

Motivations

Each character has a motivation which determines their areas of interest. The number appearing after an area of interest is the percentage of experience points gained per 100gp spent. Every motivation has one primary area of interest with a value of 100 as well as additional interests of varying values. Although advancing the additional interests may be less advantageous, there are practical limits to the amount of wealth a character can devote to a given interest. Advancing a character’s interests is not a mere transaction. Instead, it is an active process and requires that characters also devote their time and energy. For instance, although a philanthropist can give of their wealth freely, actually making their donations beneficial requires thought and certain activities. Perhaps even further adventures!

The gamemaster is free to rule that despite throwing tons of money into a goal, no experience is gained and should encourage the player to choose another activity or find out why their efforts have failed to bear fruit. It could be that the chief priestess of the Church of Shining Countenance is funneling donations into her private coffers or that the Headmaster of Iligos’ Hall of Magery has been replaced by an evil doppelganger and is selling ‘graduating’ students to Underworld slavers.

For most characters, the furtherance of these goals will make up their chief non-adventuring activities.

Motivation Descriptions

Beneficence

You are motivated to improve the lives of others.

Areas of Interest: Choose one of Philanthropy or Societal Betterment 100 and the other 80. Choose one of Evangelism, Patriotism, Research/Revelation, Sacrificial Rites or Technological Progress 80. Choose one of Cultural Dominance (Lawful or Good cultures only) or Racial Advancement (Lawful or Good races only) 30.

Celebrity

You are possessed of a desire for recognition.

Areas of Interest: Fame 100, Hoarding of Wealth 75 and Hedonism 70. Choose one of Sacrificial Rites, Philanthropy or Personal Obsession 85 and another 80. Choose one of Evangelism or Research/Revelation 80. Choose one of Cultural Dominance, Patriotism, Racial Advancement, Societal Betterment, Technological Progress or Romance 50.

Clan/Family Chauvinism

Your efforts are directed towards improving the lot of your family or clan.

Areas of Interest: Personal Obsession (advancement of family or clan) 100, Romance 80, Fame 50 and Hoarding of Wealth 30. Choose one of Sacrificial Rites (ancestors) or Philanthropy (expansion of or caring for family or clan) 90.

Cultural Romanticism

You venerate one culture over all others and seek to expand its influence.

Areas of Interest: Cultural Dominance 100, Philanthropy 75, Fame 60, Research/Revelation 50, Personal Obsession 40, Hoarding of Wealth 30. Choose one of Hedonism or Romance 50. Choose two of Evangelism, Patriotism, Racial Advancement, Societal Betterment or Technological Progress 15.

Emotionalism

Something inspires you deeply and you are devoted to it, heart and soul.

Areas of Interest: Hedonism 80, Fame 70 and Hoarding of Wealth 25. Choose one of Evangelism, Cultural Dominance, Patriotism, Personal Obsession (art, fine culture), Racial Advancement, Romance or Societal Betterment 100 and another 80.

Ethnocentricity

You seek to improve the fortunes of a particular race.

Areas of Interest: Racial Advancement 100, Cultural Dominance 75, Evangelism 70 and Fame 60. Choose one of Societal Betterment or Hoarding of Wealth 75. Choose one of Philanthropy or Sacrificial Rites 50. 

Idealism

You are steadfast in your support of something greater than yourself.

Areas of Interest: Philanthropy 90, Technological Progress 80, and Romance 60. Choose one of Patriotism, Research/Revelation or Societal Betterment 100 and another 70. Choose one of Racial Advancement, Evangelism, or Cultural Dominance 50

Licentiousness

Worldly pleasures are your great fascination.

Areas of Interest: Hedonism 100, Personal Obsession 90, Romance 80, Fame 50 and Hoarding of Wealth 20. Choose one of Sacrificial Rites or Research/Revelation 10

Monomania

You are recognized for your unique vision and you pursue it above all else.

Areas of Interest: Personal Obsession 100 and Fame 80. Choose one of Hoarding of Wealth, Research/Revelation, Sacrificial Rites or Technological Progress 50.

Nationalism

You are guided by your loyalty to your ruler or state.

Areas of Interest: Patriotism 100, Cultural Dominance 90, Fame 60, Hoarding of Wealth 40. Choose one of Societal Betterment or Technological Progress 50. Choose one of Philanthropy or Racial Advancement 25.

Personal Advancement

You seek to gather a fortune and be recognized for your achievements.

Areas of Interest: Hoarding of Wealth 100, Fame 75, Romance 25 and Hedonism 20. Choose one Personal Obsession 50 and another 30. Choose one of Sacrificial Rites, Patriotism, Racial Advancement or Cultural Dominance 25.

Piety

Devotion to a higher power is your meat and drink.

Areas of Interest: Sacrificial Rites 100. Choose one of Evangelism, Fame, Hoarding of Wealth (relics and scripture), Philanthropy, Research/Revelation or Societal Betterment 80, another 25, another 15 and another 10.

Scientific Development

For science!

Areas of Interest: Technological Progress 100, Personal Obsession (experimentation or invention) 85, Research/Revelation 85, Philanthropy 40 (centers of learning or scientific study), Hoarding of Wealth 30 (books and devices) and Fame 25. Choose one of Cultural Dominance or Societal Betterment 20.

Self-Enlightenment

You desire the advancement of your own knowledge and understanding. You may be entirely devoted to yourself or endeavor to guide others along the path to wisdom.

Areas of Interest: Choose one of Personal Obsession or Research/Revelation 100. Choose one of Fame or Sacrificial Rites 80. Choose one of Evangelism or Romance 60. Choose one of Hedonism or Philanthropy 50. Choose one of Hoarding of Wealth or Societal Betterment 40.

Thrill Seeking

You crave excitement.

Areas of Interest: Personal Obsession (source of excitement) 100, Hedonism 90, Fame 85, Romance 80 and Hoarding of Wealth 30. Choose one of Cultural Dominance, Evangelism, Patriotism, Philanthropy, Racial Advancement, Research/Revelation, Sacrificial Rites or Technological Progress 15

Zealotry

You have discovered the true way and are eager to bring others into the fold.

Areas of Interest: Evangelism 100, Sacrificial Rites 95, Research/Revelation 85 and Philanthropy 75. Choose one of Patriotism, Cultural Dominance, or Societal Betterment 60. Choose one of Hoarding of Wealth or Romance 35.

Areas of Interest
Each area of interest has guidelines and limitations. With few exceptions, advancing an area of interest requires that you be engaged in activities related to it and that you not benefit directly from that activity. When returning from an adventure, each character must choose whether to use their share of any treasure to resupply and purchase enhancements or to make progress towards their goals. In addition, you must allocate funds to interests individually even when they may overlap. If you are a loyal follower of the Priest-King of Ust, using your resources to expand Ust’s borders into heathen lands doesn’t count simultaneously towards Cultural Dominance, Evangelism and Patriotism (and allow you to earn more experience points per gold spent). You must devote your time and resources to one of these interests or divide them amongst all three.

Experience Limitations on Wealth

There are two restrictions on using wealth to advance your goals; it must come to you as a result of your adventures and it can’t come from the sale of items used during an adventure. The gamemaster will determine the viability of potential resources on both counts. Although your thief may consider it a great adventure to rob townsfolk, pilfer the guard barracks or enjoy a “lucky” streak of cards, these activities probably don’t qualify. You can do what you like with such earnings, but they can’t be used to gain experience points.

Likewise, if you acquire the dagger of treacherous words +1 and use it to distract a troll guarding the Gallery of the Unremembered Idols, you can’t sell the dagger and use the gold gained from the transaction to fuel your personal enterprise of bringing about a new day of technological marvels. Likewise, the resale of armor, chalk, pitons and 10-foot poles taken on your latest expedition (even if unused) won’t count.

Cultural Dominance

You earn experience by leveraging your wealth and accomplishments to enhance the prestige or expand the authority of a certain social group (usual the one from which you descend). This can take the form of producing art in a certain style, exporting goods representative of your preferred culture into new markets, or expanding traditional customs into a new social order. Depending on the culture in question, spending gold on diplomacy, intrigue, or warfare may be applicable.

Limits: While there are few limits to the amount of gold that can be spent, remember that wealth used to benefit your character directly doesn’t provide experience. Therefore, hiring soldiers and leading them in the annexation of new territory doesn’t provide you experience (outside of what you gain from your victories), but adding an embassy to recently captured territory would.

Evangelism

You can gain experience by converting others to a certain way of thinking; usually your way. The gold is spent on drawing crowds, holding debates and producing persuasive articles.

Limits: The amount of wealth you can use is unrestricted but tends to draw attention, not all of it friendly. Employing servants to eliminate rivals or stifle opposing thought, while a useful tactic, doesn’t count towards advancing this motivation.

Fame

You can earn experience by achieving renown through great deeds. Gold is spent on enhancing your public persona by hiring bards or scribes, commissioning busts or portraits, holding banquets and so on. Most commonly, your actions while adventuring form the basis for your celebrity, however you can also earn renown through the creation of art or unique magic items and spells, founding a new religion or sect, public works, social mobility and so forth. To benefit from your actions, at least one other character must serve as your witness.

Limits: Simply paying someone to complete mundane tasks does not count towards fulfilling this motivation. For example, hiring a cleric or scribe to follow you and record your deeds or a crier to announce your victories (while a likely necessity) doesn’t itself provide experience. To earn experience, the monies must be spent to transform a simple record into a romantic account with dramatic characterizations or to design a story to arouse curiosity as to the powers of items you’ve crafted. You could, however, earn experience by hiring researchers to sift through local legends for ways to weave them into your own saga or having your personal mythology translated into other tongues.  If fellow adventurers or followers are employed to enhance your reputation, experience earned is reduced by 50% due to the connection they have with you. Henchman called upon to attest to your accomplishments provide 75% of the normal experience point value, however their loyalty may negatively impact public perception; very loyal henchmen may be overly fawning, while disloyal ones may downplay your feats or even besmirch your character in subtle ways such that you must carefully examine works for any subtext.

Hedonism

You earn experience by spending your wealth on carnal excesses. This can involve the consumption of rich foods or spirits with a relatively high alcoholic content, often to the limits of your capacity. Otherwise, you may host events that cater to the desires of the senses or purchase companionship in houses of ill-repute. Whatever your proclivity, you must engage in the desirable behavior to the point of exhaustion before you can proceed on another expedition. In any case, money stolen from you as a result of your associations does not provide any benefit.

Limits: No more than 500 gp /level per night or half of that (250 gp) if under 50% maximum hit points or recuperating from a previous night of debauchery. Any character can resume their pleasure seeking without fully recovering, however it’s possible to remain in a state of impairment for only so long before the body rebels at being mistreated. In addition, locals can become irritated by obnoxious revelry (particularly when not invited) even when money is involved. In fact, it’s very easy to engender negative feelings with such shows of extravagance, especially given that adventurers are generally expected to make a mess, destabilize the economy and then stumble off into some dungeon never to be seen again.

Hoarding of Wealth

You can earn experience from the mere the stockpiling of gold, silver and other valuables; it can’t be invested. Purchasing and owning extravagant real estate counts, however selling results in a loss of the full value in experience points immediately as does having any of your hoarded wealth stolen or destroyed (experience point loss occurs upon discovery).

Limits: While you may need to use a portion of your wealth protecting your hoard, doing so results in no experience gain. Magic items provide full gold value in experience if stored. If retained for use (even if not actually employed), the item cannot provide experience in the future, nor can any valuables acquired by the sale or trading of said item.

Patriotism

You earn experience by expending wealth on the advancement of your ruler or nation. Your expenditures must directly improve your nation’s standing in some way. Typical examples include commissioning patriotic art, events, heraldry, literature and music. Altering your adventuring accoutrements (or those of your compatriots and followers) to show your allegiance also advances your experience, however such items must be kept in good repair or you forfeit experience equal to their original value plus any enhancements you’ve added.

Limits: Simply paying taxes doesn’t provide you experience, nor does donating your wealth which is handled with the Philanthropy motivation. Likewise, influencing politics is considered Evangelism.

Personal Obsession

You have a singular proclivity into which you pour your resources. Examples include collecting a certain type of curio, creating life, defeating a worthy rival or inventing. If you achieve your goal, you either gain a new obsession or you exchange this motivation with another chosen by the gamemaster. If at all possible, the motivation remains the same thematically. For example, if you achieve your goal of challenging and defeating the master of the dragon wave fist, your new goal could be to find yourself an opponent capable of offering you a meaningful challenge. You could then go to great expense vetting and testing fighters, operating a school, or hosting tournaments. In an extreme case, you might even instigate warfare in the hopes of seeing a champion forged in battle.

Limits: Your obsession must be clearly defined so as to avoid overlap with other motivations. As with other motivations, gold spent that helps you directly doesn’t provide experience. If your obsession is discovering the secrets of immortality, spending gold to experiment with an elixir in an effort to understand or duplicate it counts towards this motivation, but consuming the elixir (or giving it to an ally) to actually gain immortality (or any other effect that is beneficial) provides no experience.

Philanthropy

You earn experience by donating your wealth to a charity, government, religious organization or the like. You typically have one favored cause or a small number of related ones. In some cases, you may be required to donate assets of some kind, in which case you earn experience points based on the purchase cost once the transfer is finalized.

Limits: None, other than your beneficiary’s ability to make use of your contributions.

Racial Advancement

You can spend your wealth to promote the rise of a certain race (usually your own). The monies can be used to better understand the needs and history of your chosen people or to improve their standing within a wider societal range. Depending on the race in question, you might be able to pay for spells to shield them from outside discovery; to liberate them from dominance by another group; to locate items or places of ancestral significance; to purchase land for their use; or to negotiate treaties on their behalf.

Limits: The amount of wealth you can use has few limits, however using your resources to reduce the influence of rival groups doesn’t provide experience in this area, nor does the simple transfer of wealth (although characters with Philanthropy may benefit from doing this).

Research/Revelation

You gain experience by using your resources to make discoveries, often of a preternatural or supernatural nature. The knowledge gained can simply be used for personal enlightenment, particularly in cases where society at large may not be prepared to digest what has been unearthed, or to benefit others. Unlike most other motivations, it is possible to earn experience in this area in ways that are directly useful to you. Specifically, wealth spent on spell research can provide experience, making this motivation particularly desirable to spellcasters. But advancement may present dangers as well. Perhaps some knowledge is being actively suppressed or protected by fearsome guardians. In some cases, there are things that you would prefer to remain ignorant of or information that the mortal mind reflexively, and violently, rejects.

Limits: You are limited to spending up to 250 gp/level per day in pursuing this motivation. Although, spell research provides experience, item creation does not.

Romance

Experience is awarded to you when you spend wealth on romantic affairs; buying gifts, making displays to impress potential in-laws, paying hush money and so on. You can use your resources to court the subject(s) of your affection, even when your efforts are rebuked. This can be expressed in a fashion that is chaste or wanton, in public (depending on the social mores and form of expression) or in private, and may represent courtly affection, a desire for marriage or simple physical attraction. It is distinct from some forms of Hedonism in that the relationship between the participants is paramount (although such relationships may be fleeting). It is not necessary to make your feelings explicit as your Romance(s) may be chaste or even platonic, however you do need to indicate to the gamemaster the nature of your feelings and specify how they are expressed.

Limits: You must take care in defining your Romance and must understand the subject(s) of your affection well to avoid seeing your efforts backfire. If you are rejected in a way that is final, for example if your love marries another or you see your lady tie her kerchief about the lance of another knight, you either lose experience equal to all of the wealth invested in that affair or subject yourself to emotional or mental drawbacks as determined by the gamemaster. Depending on how you define your character and your Romance, you may be able exit one relationship for another without loses, however if it is clear that your character is ‘playing the field’ you should only receive 50-75% experience from the value in gold that you invest. The death of your romantic interest doesn’t penalize you (unless you cause it!), but should cause a deep depression and possibly other neuroses. In such a case, you may be allowed to exchange this motivation for another.

Sacrificial Rites

You are awarded experience points by making sacrifices to a supernatural force, most often a demon, god, or the like, but possibly ghosts or other sorts of spirits or the representatives of such beings. In some cases, the sacrifice must be performed in a very particular fashion and may require a check to determine if the ritual is performed correctly. Other beings are inscrutable and judge your sacrifices in seemingly arbitrary ways. Unlike many other motivations, sacrifices can have additional value beyond the awarding of experience points, particularly when you are in good standing with your patron. Then again, failing to provide a proper sacrifice and at the correct times can carry extremely negative consequences including, but not limited to, the reclamation of experience points earned in this fashion.

Limits: You are limited to spending up to 250 gp/level per day in pursuing this motivation. The simple giving of wealth to a congregation or clergy-member does not count towards this motivation (but does count towards Philanthropy).

Societal Betterment

You earn experience points by using your wealth to improve society at large and encourage cooperation between diverse groups towards that end. You must make distinctive contributions towards this goal but may also gain experience from spending your money on research to ascertain where your efforts will be most beneficial. Providing a building or lot for public use doesn’t award you experience, but converting an unused building into a hospital or providing a community with a public park may. You earn experience as soon as others are able to benefit from your contributions. You typically only lose experience if one of your contributions is destroyed before having the opportunity to earn recognition for the effort, however if you immediately commence to repair or replace what was lost, you can avoid any penalty. Rebuilding is usually worth experience points equal to 50-75% of the final cost of the restoration.

Limits: Making grants of wealth doesn’t advance this motivation (but does count towards Philanthropy). Although this motivation can be quite broad in scope, it may narrow when combined with certain other motivations. For example, if you also have Patriotism, your efforts must primarily benefit the people of your own nation (while others can benefit through association or assimilation).

Technological Progress

Your goal is the advancement of scientific knowledge and practical application thereof. You gain experience by allocating funds to institutions specializing in chemistry, engineering, mathematics, medicine and the like as well as scientific experimentation, technological expositions, and theoretic research. Experience is awarded when the activities you’ve funded proves (or disproves) a theory, provides other useful information, or solves a known problem.

Limits: Making donations to technology-focused institutes isn’t sufficient to gain experience points with this motivation (but does count towards Philanthropy). Rather, you must actively direct your funds and must achieve measurable results. Likewise, wealth spent convincing people of the value of your studies and associated technologies provides earns no experience through this motivation (but could through Evanglism).

Determining Motivations

When introducing motivations to an ongoing campaign with established characters, the gamemaster should brief the players on the rules associated with them and discuss which motivations seem most appropriate based on the character’s previous activities. To determine motivations for newly created characters, the gamemaster should either assign motivations based on player input about their character’s background and aspirations or have the player roll for a random motivation if none seems particularly fitting.

From a purely mechanical point of view, some motivations are more desirable than others. The Celebrity motivation includes seven areas of interest with four yielding 80% or more experience per gold point spent. Conversely, Monomania and Piety have the lowest overall values, while Beneficence has only four areas of interest and Monomania a mere three. Even though these statistics alone are not necessarily indicative of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ motivations, players with complete freedom to choose their motivation will likely select one with higher values, and so allowing this is not recommended.

While at least one of these motivations should suit most character types, the gamemaster may wish to create custom motivations for certain characters or even allow players to design their own. In this case, a simple randomized method could use the following die roll: 200 + 3d12x10. Divide the result between the desired interests with at least one at 100%, but no more than one at 90% and one another 85%; all others must be 80% or lower.

Another option to add variety to motivations after one is selected is to roll 2d10, multiply the value for each area of interest and divide by 10. For example, a character with Monomania has three interests at 100, 80 and 50. The player rolls 2d10 three times and gets 5, 11 and 12. Therefore, the character’s Personal Obsession only provides 50% of the value of gold spent in this area in experience points, but gets 88% from Fame and 60% from their third interest. Using this option, areas of interest can yield as little as 2% XP per gold spent to as much as 200%.

  

Motivation/Class	Assassin	Barbarian	Bard	Battle Mage	Berserker	Cavalier	Cleric	Dark Knight	Druid	Fighter	Illusionist	Knight Errant	Magic-User	Monk	Paladin	Ranger	Thief
Beneficence	—	1	1	1	—	1-5	1-10	—	1-5	1-3	1	1-5	1	1-10	1-10	1-10	—
Celebrity	1-5	2-21	2-41	2-11	1-5	6-13	11-15	1-5	—	4-18	2-11	6-45	2-21	—	11-35	—	1-20
Clan/Family Chauvinism	6	22-36	42	12-16	6-10	14-18	16	6-10	—	19-23	12	46-50	22	11-14	36	11-15	21-25
Cultural Romanticism	7	37-46	43	17-26	11	19-26	17-21	11-15	—	24-28	13	51-55	23	—	37	16-20	26-30
Emotionalism	8	47-56	44-58	27-31	12-21	29-53	22-26	16-20	—	29-38	14	56-60	24-25	—	38-47	21-25	31-35
Ethnocentricity	9	57-66	59	32-36	22-26	54-58	27	21-25	—	39-43	15	61	26	—	48	26-30	36-40
Idealism	10	67	60	37	27	59-73	28-32	—	6-15	44	16	62-66	27	15-29	49-58	31-55	—
Licentiousness	11-15	68-77	61-70	38-42	28-37	74	33	26-35	16-20	45-49	17-21	67-76	28-32	30-34	—	65-60	41-50
Monomania	16-55	—	71-75	43-52	38-47	—	34-38	36-45	21-35	50-54	22-71	77-81	33-82	35-39	59	61-65	51-55
Nationalism	56	—	76	53-67	48-53	75-79	39	46-55	—	55-59	72	82	83	—	60	—	—
Personal Advancement	57-91	78-87	77-86	66-72	54-59	80-84	40	56-75	—	60-79	73-82	83-87	84-93	—	—	—	56-85
Piety	92	88	87	73	60	85-89	41-60	76-85	36-55	80-84	83	88	94	40-44	61-90	66-75	—
Scientific Development	93	—	88	74	—	90	—	—	—	85	84	89	95	—	—	—	86-90
Self-Enlightenment	94	89	89	75	—	—	61-80	—	56-85	—	85-89	90-94	96-97	45-94	91-95	75-90	—
Thrill Seeking	95-99	90-99	90-99	76-95	61-95	91-95	—	86-95	86-90	86-95	90-99	95-99	98-99	99	—	91-95	91-100
Zealotry	100	100	100	96-100	96-100	96-100	81-100	96-100	91-100	96-100	100	100	100	100	96-100	96-100	—

Note: This table uses classes from HackMaster (4E)

Motivations and Race

While referencing character class is a sensible way for players and gamemasters to determine motivations, some races lean strongly towards certain areas of interest. Depending on racial qualities in the campaign world, the gamemaster may wish to devise a way to take those traits into consideration when determining each character’s interests. One option is to create additional tables based on race. A simpler alternative is to allow characters of a certain race to swap out one or more interests for more suitable ones for the race in question. Doing this can change the motivation entirely (possibly requiring that it be renamed) and the process should be completed with gamemaster oversight.

If the gamemaster wishes, swapping out an interest may require that the new interest receive a small penalty such as a 5% reduction. Consider a dwarf character with the following interests; Research/Revelation 100, Fame 80, Evangelism 60, Hedonism 50, Societal Betterment 40. Dwarves in the campaign setting tend to have a strong desire to take back ancestral territory lost to marauding giants in the distant past. Invoking this, the player states that she would prefer to add Personal Obsession (reclamation) and Racial Advancement to her character’s interests and prefers that the former be her character’s primary interest. The gamemaster agrees, but decides that the character will become radically different as a result and chooses to assign a penalty of 5% to the new primary area of interest. After further consideration, the dwarf character’s new interests are as follows; Personal Obsession (reclamation) 95, Fame 80, Racial Advancement 60, Hedonism 50, and Societal Betterment 40.

Below are a few common races and a few interests with which they are commonly associated:

Dwarf Hedonism (drink), Hording of Wealth, Personal Obsession (reclamation), Racial Advancement, Technological Progress

Elf Cultural Dominance, Racial Advancement, Research (magic)

Gnome Fame, Personal Obsession (inventing), Personal Obsession (pranks), Research (magic), Technological Progress

Half-Elf Fame, Romance

Halfling Hedonism (fine dining)

Half-Orc Hedonism

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