ABSTRACT
Gary Gygax gave us the truism that fame and fortune await our bold adventurers in fantasy table-top role-playing games. Indeed the rewards that people can earn for playing form a key component for any game. The fact that characters typically gain experience points for the value of any treasure found indicates that treasure is central enough to the game to be woven into its core mechanics. The types of rewards used can vary enormously depending upon the nature of the game and the audience that the game is trying to appeal to (Gygax, 1979a). That said, there are certain qualities that all in-game rewards possess and which can be used to categorize these rewards into a format useful to the game designer. Each reward possesses various core qualities which in turn can be broken down further into different attributes or categories (Hallford and Hallford, 2001, 158–160; Gazzard, 2011). Once you have settled on the overall nature and frequency of your rewards, you will have to get down to the nitty-gritty process of defining each one in detail.
