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Set up events before they occur.

This tip sort of relates to the last one. Many stories rely on a breach of the normal state of affairs - this only works well when you set up what the normal situation is in the first place. For example, we see Conan's village before it is raided by Fulsa Doom (or however you spell it!), all peaceful and happy. This gives us something to prepare the coming carnage to. To breach something, you must demonstrate what it's normally like first.

You also need to set things up to create tension. Give hints as to coming events so that there is some kind of build up. I always used to get really annoyed when no one found the terrible war/sudden death of ruler/other large event shocking. They just bounced along happily. For something to have impact you need to build up to it. Use prophesies, hints, and small clues to allude to the coming large event. Have NPCs fear it for a while. Wait until the PCs fear it before having it happen. The Shadow War in Babylon 5 would have been far less interesting if the story had started with it, and without all the hints and dire predictions.

Finally, you need to set up the normal way of doing things, and why it is so incredibly dangerous to do it some other way. That way when the PCs invariably chose to do it the dangerous way it will seem cool and challenging. Try showing what happens to an NPC who does it the dangerous way (something bad!), or have NPCs talk about what they think would happen. Try to make it so that the players really think their characters could get seriously fried doing something the wrong way. That way when they choose to do it, it will be more intense and rewarding.



From: Delos

To solve this problem, I chose to not award experience for (say) killing monsters/npcs and allow their loot/death to be its own reward. But I do award xp for these kinds of actions:
1. Came up with own consequences (Ex: Remembered to limp after being wounded in the foot.)
2. Played a Disadvantage (Ex: I didn't have to remind Tom that he's colorblind at any point in the session.) [I don't award xp for taking disadvantages, just playing them.]
3. Player contributed a Goal at the end of the game. (Ex: The next game, Tom decides that he'd like to meet his evil twin.)
4. An extra Sign is added. (I use Signs like Over the Edge does.)
5. Played an NPC well. In those times when the party is divided, I have an NPC prepared (pregame) for a player to play. I record the relevant stats and skills just for the purpose of the encounter, along with a few Signs and other mannerisms. I usually have to tell the npc-player how difficult or easy to be and they take it from there.