Risk and Reward [edited].

[Under the moon]

Time for a sit down session to have your opinions on the subject of Situation, Risk, and Reward in a game (specifically PS). First, I will define the terms.

EDIT: Hmmm. Some good answers so far, some confusing ones. The point of this is not to try to find a ballance between the risk and reward for other players, however. A few of you are leaning that way.

The point is this: In a given situation, if [this] was the reward, I personally would risk [this] to get it. Or, what would I pay to get the reward without the risk? Or in Phinehas's case, what would I pay to get the risk the comes with the chance to get the reward?

If you would not want the reward, or do not think anything is worth the risk, skip that number.

Situation: This is the event that the risk and reward result from.

Risk: This is the 'bad thing' that can happen to your character if things go sour. You fail, and this is what happens to you.

Reward: This is the goal. If you succeed, you are awarded with it.

ADDING one more thing. Some of these things could be done with 'Pay' instead of 'Risk'. In other works, you pay to have the situation happen.

Now, for a few examples in Planeshift.

Situation: Fighting an Ulbernaut.
Reward: Good EXP and levels in sword.
Risk: Your time. (AKA, Death and a trip through the DR, then the DR curse)

Situation: Talking to a new character.
Reward: Could be a new friend, or start a good RP.
Risk: Could be an asshat.

Situation: Jumping over a far drop.
Reward: New view and "I DID IT!"
Risk: Your time (DR again).

Situation: Cheating.
Reward: Get things you should not be able to.
Risk: Ban.

Now we come to the question part. I am going to list some Situations, Risks, or Rewards, and I want you to complete them with what you think is a fair ballance. You can do more than one for each. In what situations would you take the risk for what reward? What would you risk in a certain situation for what reward? What situations would you risk what to get a certain reward? Just answer the ones you wish. The risk is others laughing at you, the reward...could be -possible- thoughts for new things in the game.

1)
Situation:_________
Reward: I get a guildhouse.
Risk:__________
Pay:_________

2)
Situation:_________
Reward:___________
Risk: My stats are cut in half. They do not come back without training.

3)
Situation:_________
Reward: My character's name is forever carved on a wall of fame IN the game.
Risk:__________
Pay:__________

4)
Situation:_________
Reward:___________
Risk: Permadeath. Character deletion. I lose my character.

5)
Situation: Another character is about to suffer Permadeath, and I can stop it.
Reward:___________
Risk:__________
Pay:_________

6)
Situation:_________
Reward: I can steal a few hundred tria out of another character's inventory.
Risk:___________
Pay:__________

7)
Situation:_________
Reward: I can steal another character's ENTIRE inventory.
Risk:_________
Pay:_________

8.)
Situation:_________
Reward:___________
Risk: A get stuck for a week in the Death Realm (once it is bigger and has more to do)

9)
Situation:___________
Reward: I get the most powerful item in the game. It is unique (option B, it is not unique)
Risk:___________
Pay:___________

10)
Situation:_________
Reward:___________
Risk: I lose all of my items, possibly even banked items.

11)
Situation: I can try to kill anyone, anything, anywhere, anytime ingame! (think hard on this one.)
Reward:___________
Risk:__________
Pay:__________

12)
Situation: Make up your own.
Reward: What reward would I want?
Risk: What would I risk?
Pay: What would I  pay?

ADDING ONE!
13)
Situation: Doom. Everything is in danger. This one is for you as a player.
Reward: Hydlaa is saved from burning to the ground. AKA Epic situation. Part of the reward is the epic story, win or lose.
Risk: What would you risk as a player for this type of thing to happen? (your character's life, Kada-El's tavern, a black spot where Hydlaa used to be.)
Pay: What would you pay for this kind of thing to happen? (Time forced to defend the walls, all your tria for war goods, forced to make free crafts for fighters, etc)

[Earl_Listbard]

7)
Situation: Mugging/Looting another player
Reward: You steal another character's ENTIRE inventory.
Risk: If a player reports the event to the guard via targeting a guard and typing in a command (IE: /thief playername), all guards at that city (doesn't apply if the mugging took place outside of city limits) become hostile and will automatically target and attack the thief should he/she come within eye sight of the guard.


11)
Situation: You can kill anyone, anything, anywhere, anytime ingame. (think hard on this one.)
Reward: You can loot players, and slay them without /challenge
Risk: Get arrested by guards (IE: if your HP drops to zero FROM a guard or a citizen(player) in town, they throw you in a jail map, and take possession of all your items and some of your trias as punishment... you wont get these back, You will stay in prison for 24 RL hours.


All the others im a bit unsure of... and afraid to answer.

[Suno_Regin]

9)
Situation: You fight Chuck Norris
Reward: You get the most powerful item in the game. It is unique (option B, it is not unique)
Risk: You get roundhouse kicked in the face.

[Rongar Elani]

3]
Situation: You win a tournament
Reward: Your character's name is forever carved on a wall of fame IN the game.
Risk: You lose and your character's name is forever carved on a wall of shame.


5]
Situation: Another character is about to suffer Permadeath, and you can stop it.
Reward: Possibility of gaining a new ally/friend.
Risk: Maybe the world would have done better without him.

7]
Situation: /pickpocket $target
Reward: You steal a few hundred tria out of another character's inventory.
Risk: Your approach gets noticed and the player reports you to the guards. You have to pay 2.000 tria or one of your fingers 

8]
Situation: You die
Reward: You now know which NPC is too strong for you/You go to DR, where there are mobs, trainers, mining places, a smithery, a library, etc etc
Risk: A week stuck in the Death Realm (once it is bigger and has more to do)

10]
Situation: You have trouble with the law.
Reward: Factions, outlaw-trainers become cheaper, a possible start of a crime syndicate with you as godfather.
Risk: You get arrested and lose all of your items, possibly even banked items. (Additional: You can never go back to the cities, or only at nights, when chances are better not to be seen.)

11]
Situation: You can kill anyone, anything, anywhere, anytime ingame. (think hard on this one.)
Reward: You can loot players, and slay them without /challenge
Risk: Get arrested by guards (IE: if your HP drops to zero FROM a guard or a citizen(player) in town, they throw you in a jail map, and take possession of all your items and some of your trias as punishment... you wont get these back, You will stay in prison for 7 days RL, with mobs, trainers, mining places, a smithery, a library...


A few concluding words: I'm not a big friend of perma death, nor am I a big friend of being doomed to do nothing, thus I would add something to the DR and the prison that keeps you busy. Players who did something wrong (dieing, thieving, killing) should be punished, but not in a way that makes them uncomfortable to continue playing. It's a game after all, and being locked away from other people and bound to one map is likely punishment enough, not to speak of personal properties going to the city funds. RL prisons provide the inmates with something to do as well, at least in the western world. Let's keep it reasonable.

[Earl_Listbard]

9)
Situation: You fight Chuck Norris
Reward: You get the most powerful item in the game. It is unique (option B, it is not unique)
Risk: You get roundhouse kicked in the face.

L.A.M.E


seriously now, guys.



I made one up, number 13 gave me an idea UTM
Situation: An attack from the bronze doors towards a specific city

Reward: City is saved, all the surviving troops and players who defended the city are honored as heros and the city stands tall and proud.


Risk: Should all guards and players on the map be wiped out.... That specific city's map is replaced by a map of smoldering ruins and waste land, gobbels or grendols creep about the map targeting any who come in range. (Guards from other towns will arrive to kill off the hostile npcs that dwell int he ruins, then merchants and builders will come to reconstruct, all guild houses in the area will have been lost, all banks there will have been destroyed with all items in there. People with architecture skills can aid in the reconstruction efforts, cooks can supply guards with food (health so they can continue fighting the hostile critters) People can supply architects with materials to continue rebuilding the town, once completely restored, citizen npcs (merchants, etc etc) will arrive and life will resume, (if little or no help from players is given, the npcs will automatically have the town rebuilt in three RL days) rebuilding their home.... OR.... take advantage of the chaos and pillage the hard working citizens as they strive to rebuild.

A side point naughty players who take advantage of the players rebuilding will be targeted by guards (NOTE: these guards are NOT IN THE MOOD, their town is destroyed, they wont send you to prison should your HP hit zero, they'll send you to DR!)

[Jyoshka]

#4 Situation - ride a megaras into the Crystal Sun. Reward: go down in Yliakum history as the first player char to do so. Risk: Permadeath. Character deletion.

[Zwenze]

1)
Situation:Guild house draw
Reward: A guildhouse.
Risk:having to rp allmost dying of shock and loosing tria
Pay:a few 100k

Hard one. Guild houses are limited. Only could refer to the guild house draw recently.


Situation:Guild house GM event with entry fee
Reward: A guildhouse.
Risk:screwing the event and getting nothing despite the fee being payed
Pay:depends on how easy/hard the event is. 1000000 tria? 100k if its hard and chances to win are close to 0 or 5 million tria if the chances of winning are high


2+3)
Situation:Very difficult quest, where someone needs to kill an monster allmost impossible to beat what only happens a few times in a year.
Reward:Your character's name is forever carved on a wall of fame IN the game.
Risk: Your stats are cut in half. They do not come back without training.

Problem here is, the npc server must be reliable and fighting the monster must be very difficult even for a seriously leveled char. At the same time it has to be entertaining.

4)
Situation:logging in sleep drunken and clicking on delete instead of ok
Reward:a misstake to learn from
Risk: Permadeath. Character deletion.

4+5)
Situation:Another character is about to suffer Permadeath, and you can stop it.
Reward:___________
Risk: Permadeath. Character deletion.

Would hate it to loose the char Zwenze. No possible reward could compensate the risk. All the memories, items and stuff. And there is a guild attached to this char (what happens when a guild leader delets his char?). Cutting all skills down to 0 would be serios enough. For me no reward would we worth the risk.

6)
Situation:Trying to steal tria from other chars
Reward: You steal a few hundred tria out of another character's inventory.
Risk:getting caught by the other player will allow him to force-challange you (you can not decline). If he is in a group/guild all group/guild members can force-challenge you. After a certain time the force-challange chance stops.
Pay:Train thieving skills of your char. Greater thiefing skills leads to better loot.

Chances of getting a few hundred tria should be greater then mining. So mining other players should happen often. Hard time for afkers Does not work in safe zones (zones guarded by guards). This system will give guilds and groups more meaning and will make it harder to mine a few ores while cleaning up the flat or doing housework. Only countermeasure is to force-challenge the thief or run away.

Players can set up traps for thiefes (some char who looks afkish while the other group members wait nearby).

7)
Situation:_________
Reward: You steal another character's ENTIRE inventory.
Risk:_________
Pay:_________

Nope. And I would hate loosing all items, as some have an ooc sentimental value to me (only a few tria but having a sword crafted by a good friend makes it very special) . Loosing them would seriously piss me off. NOOOOO. Thieving easy replaceable item, ok.

8.)
Situation: You do a minor offence where a ban is by far to hard and an struck down by laanx thingy is by far to mild.
Reward: A chance to get insight about your missbehaviour and become a better person oocly.
Risk: A week stuck in the Death Realm (once it is bigger and has more to do)

9A)
Situation:
Reward: You get the most powerful item in the game. It is unique
Risk:loosing the game balance
Pay:

Most powerful is vague.

If it is a pvp fighting item, that would screw the balance. A pvp fight only makes fun when you have a chance to win or loose. If one owns the most powerful item and is seriously leveled he will be the uber pvper, which noone dares to fight -> booring

It it is a item for roleplaying, well that happens most of the time and is similar to god modding. DO we really want to enforce over the top rp by the game mechanics?

9B)
Situation:GM event where you need an entry fee (that will limit the number of participants)
Reward: You get the most powerful item in the game. It is not unique (so only a rare item like a wand or a sickle for example)
Risk:Loosing the tria, because you screw the event
Pay:humm, 250K or 500k?

10)
Situation:don't know
Reward:no reward can balance the loss
Risk: You lose all of your items, possibly even banked items.

Nope. This might be circumvented. Just give your most precious items away before taking the risk. And I would hate loosing all items, as some have an ooc sentimental value to me (only a few tria but having a sword crafted by a good friend makes it very special) . Loosing them would seriously piss me off. No reward could compensate that.

11)
Situation: You can kill anyone, anything, anywhere, anytime ingame.
Reward: Earn ooc reputation as good role player (rping a villian for example and not overstressing this ability), a good ic reputation (rping a lawfull citicen blessed by Laanx and Talad at the same time) or an ooc reputation as asshat (enjoy your powertrip).
Risk: Stats cut by half.
Pay:Nothing

With some kind of election system players can choose a vllian/guard/what ever of the week. If the elected accepts he will become "the choosen one" for a certain time (2 weeks maybe). In that time, he can kill, is undefeatable. This allows to rp a villian or an good guy. The election system should prefent that this role is given to an griever.

After the time, players can raise their thumps or lower em.

12a)
Situation: you (your guild) gets promoted to a city guard
Reward: can challange every one in the city who has a weapon in the hand
Risk: cannot decline challanges outside the city
Pay: nothing. Thats a job. I want to get payed for it

12b)
Situation: you (your guild) gets promoted to fortress guard for some time
Reward: Octarchs pay you or guild members a free ride on a megaras to travel from the city to the fortress when every you want. And back.
Pay: 50k per person + no way to decline a challange outside town in that time and all monsters in a greater range will hunt you
Risk: You pay and laanx (the server) is down for one week

EDIT:
13)
Situation: Doom. Everything is in danger.
Reward: Hydlaa is saved from burning to the ground. AKA Epic situation.
Risk: What would you risk as a player for this type of thing to happen? (your character's life, Kada-El's tavern, a black spot where Hydlaa used to be.)
Pay: My char IC would give all he can give for it, has this city is the center of hislife.

[Phinehas]

It seems to me that some of you are mistaking "Risk and Reward" for "Positive and Negative Consequences" don't get them confused. The Risk and Reward are incompatible sets of consequences, not just opposite sides of the same conclusion.

For now I refuse to be original and make up my own, but I will suggest some for Mooney's prepared situations.

2)
Situation:You challenge another player to a duel to the death(not that pansy excuse for duels that exist at the moment)
Reward:You almost permanently remove a threat and possibly gain his belongings or win whatever argument you were in.
Risk: Your stats are cut in half. They do not come back without training.
Pay: Not really much.

4)
Situation:Ride a megaras to the Crystal Sun(not original but bear with me)
Reward:Incalculable power in the arcane(perhaps increase of all magic-related stats and skills to the full)
Risk: Permadeath. Character deletion.
Pay: Either way you lose a perfectly good megaras, and those things aren't cheap. But really, it's insignificant considering that you're either going to be insanely powerful afterwards or dead.

4)
Situation:You defy the gods.
Reward: Respect of the gods, a granting of power, and admittance that they're all scum and are essentially glorified wizards.
Risk: Permadeath. Character deletion.

5)
Situation: Another character is about to suffer Permadeath, and you can stop it.
Reward:Eternal gratitude of the other character, greater renown, and possibly greater influence with factions aligned to Dakkru and other such things.
Risk:The loss of half your stats if Dakkru looks upon you unfavorably.
Pay: Time in a trip to the death realm to appeal to Dakkru.

6)
Situation:You try to pickpocket a wealthy player.
Reward: You steal a few hundred tria out of another character's inventory.
Risk:You get caught and imprisoned or killed.
Pay:You're a thief, buddy. You're the scum of the social hierarchy, even if you get away with it.

7)
Situation:You mug another character.
Reward: You steal another character's ENTIRE inventory.
Risk:The other character proves vocal enough to attract the guard's attention, or they're simply stronger than you and either way you get the crap beaten out of yourself, among other things.
Pay:Even if you get away with it, you're going to be a hunted person to some extent or another. Whether bulletins are posted with your description or not, you're still going to have to tread carefully for quite a while.

10)
Situation: You invest heavily in a risky business proposition(player-run).
Reward: You become incredibly wealthy.
Risk: You lose all of your items, possibly even banked items.(due to "collection agencies" that are enforced by GMs or Devs to prevent unrealistic welching on debts)

11)
Situation: You can kill anyone, anything, anywhere, anytime ingame. (think hard on this one.)
Reward:You can kill anyone, anything, anywhere, anytime ingame. It's pretty much its own reward if you think about it.
Risk:You can be killed by anyone or anything anytime ingame.

13)
Situation: Doom. Everything is in danger.
Reward: Hydlaa is saved from burning to the ground. AKA Epic situation.
Risk: The loss of Hydlaa as we know it. (death of all characters in Hydlaa at the time, permanent death of all NPC's within Hydlaa, loss of all guildhouses or property ownership. Essentially, while the buildings stay the same, a complete rebuilding of Hydlaa's society)
Pay: Money, time, effort, everything necessary.

[Zan]

1)
Situation: Prove your guild towards the Governement. (be it through an event, quests, ...)
Reward: A guildhouse.
Risk:Become an outlawed guild, forced to live in secret or disband.
Pay:Many, many bribes and 'gifts' towards Governement officials. 500.000 - 2.000.000 tria

2)
Situation:You randomly attack and kill another person in a public place, with guards nearby.
Reward:You can grab a few items from their inventory if you're quick and can become infamous.
Risk: You can get arrested for your crime and end up in Jail for a while. Because of the harsh conditions in prison your stats are cut in half. They do not come back without training.

3)
Situation:You fight a great tournament that is only held once every five years.
Reward: Your character's name is forever carved on a wall of fame IN the game.
Risk:You fail to win the tournament and lose your entrance fee.
Pay:Whatever the opposing party will ask for a bribe to 'take a dive'

4)
Situation:You are poisoned by a rare, permadeath causing poison.
Reward:You were very loyal to Dakkru and She grants you another life as Her minion, possibly with added skills (very, very low chance of this happening and requires high Dakkru faction)
Risk: Permadeath. Character deletion.

5)
Situation: Another character is about to suffer Permadeath, and you can stop it.
Reward:Eternal gratitude and whatever the character wants to reward you with.
Risk:The character is ignorant/stupid and had no idea what could have happened, he walks away without saying thank you.
Pay:You may need to cough up some bribes to convince prison guards to look the other way. 100.000 - 500.000
 tria.

6)
Situation:You have quick hands and mingle in crowded areas with easy victims.
Reward: You steal a few hundred tria out of another character's inventory.
Risk:You get spotted or caught by your victim and reported. Jailtime (11 hour online) is imminent if you don't get your criminal behind out of public until this blows over (after a day).
Pay: You may need to cough up some bribes to convince prison guards to look the other way. 5.000 - 20.000
 tria. Illegal escapes mean you are still wanted and bribing won't be an option next time you're caught.

7)
Situation:You stake out a mark and wait for the oppertune moment to rob them.
Reward: You steal another character's ENTIRE inventory.
Risk:You get caught by the authorities. Because of the harsh conditions in prison your stats are cut in half. They do not come back without training.
Pay:You may need to cough up some bribes to convince prison guards to look the other way. 50.000 - 200.000
 tria. Illegal escapes mean you are still wanted and bribing won't be an option next time you're caught.


8.)
Situation: You die.
Reward: The knowledge of avoiding similar situations in the future.
Risk: A week stuck in the Death Realm (once it is bigger and has more to do)

9)
Situation: You complete an epic quest, filled with a great deal of challenges in various areas.
Reward: You get the most powerful item in the game. It is unique (option B, it is not unique)
Risk: Or you end up in the DR. Or you end up permanently dead, character gone. Or you end up becoming Yliakum's most wanted target for criminals.
Pay: However much it costs to hire the most skilled team of adventurers and hope you paid them enough so they won't betray you and run off with the item themselves.

10)
Situation: You have committed many crimes in the past and a guard just recognized your sleazy mug.
Reward:You survive the encounter without getting caught and live another day in freedom.
Risk: You get caught and after a sentence in jail are required to pay all your victims back. You lose all of your items, possibly even banked items.

11)
Situation: You can kill anyone, anything, anywhere, anytime ingame. (think hard on this one.)
Reward:The situation is the reward.
Risk:You can become Yliakum's most hated person, many people want to see you end up permadead.
Pay:Unless you're the best assassin in Yliakum yourself, whatever it costs to hire said person for you. 500.000 - 1.000.000 tria per hit.


13)
Situation: Doom. Everything is in danger. This one is for you as a player.
Reward: Hydlaa is saved from burning to the ground. AKA Epic situation. Part of the reward is the epic story, win or lose.
Risk: You failed to save the city, Hydlaa is destroyed and much will need to be rebuilt.
Pay: Success: Time and resources spent saving the city (mild pay); Failure: All the tria and manual labor that you're willing to spend to rebuild the city (huge pay)

[darhark]

Situation: the Azure Sunl is about to fall to the ground. Aldaaren is completely crasy and happy about this - someone is listening to him now. You fight the deadly monsters just to finally ride the megaras and put the Sun to it's place back with your own head.

Reward: becoming a first real hero in Yliakum, your name is forever carved on the wall of fame, Aldaaren dies from dissapointment.

Risk: Civilisation is destroyed. Consumers quit the wells and roaming what is used to be known as Hydlaa, Ojaveda and so on. Some survivors hide in dungeons, in Hydlaa sewers, and anywhere where it is possible to save themselves from fatal radiation. An unknown hero quit the sewers to find the water chip.

Pay: permadeath, deletion of a character


...
yeah, i still worship permadeath )

[darhark]

1)
Situation: You buy a guildhouse
Reward: A guildhouse.
Risk: No guildhouse
Pay: 2.1 million trias

9)
Situation: You have found a small peace of Azure Sun on the ground and try to make a blade of it
Reward: You get the most powerful item in the game. It is unique
Risk: A week stuck in the Death Realm in it's current state
Pay: You suffer from radiation debuff while you have the blade and have a bad feeling about the Azure Sun

11)
Situation: You can kill anyone, anything, anywhere, anytime ingame. (think hard on this one.)
Reward: You kill Talad in the name of the Black Flame, or in the name of Laanx, or in hopes to get his place, or just for fun
Risk: You accidentialy kill Aldaaren
Pay: Permadeath, deletion of a character. Half of Yliakum are atheists from now on.


Adding one:
Situation: You have accidentially found a small shiny ring
Reward: You get the most powerful item in the game. It is unique
Risk: You realise it's just a stupid ring
Pay: You become a small, slimy, completely degradated half-sentient creature hunting fish in it's cavern

[Lanarel]

I may take time to answer some of those later, but I want to mention some (related) things I am missing in the questions.
1. Balance. I think in the end, gaining anything via different routes, should be comparable in costs. I should be able to get (on average) the same financial gain in looting gladiators for an hour, after spending months training and practicing a weapon, as I would by mining something, after spending the same amount of time training and practicing mining. This so the choice I make in developing a character, does not mean (too much) my abilities in the game. (non-rp wise)
2. Chance. If the chance of falling in a cliff when jumping over it is really really really small, and the reward enormous, some people might risk permadeath. But if the chance of actually getting over is really really really small, I bet no-one would.
3. reciprocity (or whatever you would call this). For situations where one would gain when another looses, the questions should be asked both ways. Some of the people answering above try to do so objectively, but others don't necessarily. Asking a thief what he would risk stealing a very rare and powerful item, will get you a different answer than when asking the owner.

So as an example, this is one of the answers given to question 7:

7)
Situation: Mugging/Looting another player
Reward: You steal another character's ENTIRE inventory.
Risk: If a player reports the event to the guard via targeting a guard and typing in a command (IE: /thief playername), all guards at that city (doesn't apply if the mugging took place outside of city limits) become hostile and will automatically target and attack the thief should he/she come within eye sight of the guard.

where I would think it should be balanced by something like (and I may, or may not, be exaggerating a bit , to show you what is included in the above question, but not shown in most answers):

Situation: Another player tries to steal your ENTIRE inventory
Risk: loosing your inventory , including your one in a kind cape, which gives you unique magical powers in cooking your very famous pies, was given to you by a very dear friend, who spent months making it after training for the necessary skills for two years, which made you and your friends risk a lot fighting ulbers to get enough nose hairs to weave it, and which makes you recognizable to everyone
Reward: no matter where this happened (in town or not) after giving a description of the character who stole this item, who's name you do not know, to the authorities, all NPCs will refuse their service to this character for a very long time, except guards, who will gladly arrest him and put him in jail for at least 2 in-game months, and untill the item is compensated to me, whichever comes last.
Chance/Balance: Of course I am pretty careful with such an important item, so being able to steal it will not be easy. Being able to steal such an item should require skill and effort in the same order of what I and others did to obtain/create the item. And even then the chance of the thief succeeding would be very, very, very small. The thieve succeeding without being noticed should be nearly impossible, so his loss (no NPCs training him, trading with him, giving him quests, information) would apply with a very, very, very big chance.

The balance thing mostly being in the risk/reward being linked to the item. A thieve could look in an inventory, see a few trias and decide to steal it because he only risks a beating by the guards, but decide to leave the above cape in place, because he does not want to risk the described consequences.

[darhark]

2)  <technically it is almost impossible to achieve>
Situation: You have sweared by the name of your god
Reward: Someone believes you
Risk: Your stats are cut in half. They do not come back without training.

5)
Situation: Another character is about to suffer Permadeath, and you can stop it.
Reward: a new friend
Risk: You suffer from permadeath too
Pay: a fast walk into the DR and getting the DR debuff

[Arerano]

1)
Situation: A wealthy person decides to support a guild, indeed to gain an advantage on the market.
Reward: A guildhouse.
Risk: You are laughted at because your "group of friends" is not a guild at all. You're a mere group which will be punished for calling themself a guild, thus trying to fool merchants. (maybe disbanded [I'm sure that there are or maybe will come better ways of "punishment"])
Pay: You need to have a guild. Every player inside the guild has a role which has to fit to the guild's purpose. You can't have persons in your guild who do anything else than what the guild is about. Those who know that they aren't a guild, won't (shouldn't) try it, they know that they're a group and don't try to fool the merchant, thus don't take the risk.

4)
Situation: Your Character grows old, yet he spend many time to teach others, maybe especially much to his/her son/daughter.
Reward: Your son/daughter (or another selected Char) will inherit 75% of your skills and stats.
Risk: Permadeath. Character deletion.
Pay: If Permadeath or Character deletion doesn't happen immediately your char will, at least, die soon (Permadeath of course).

5)
Situation: Another character is about to suffer Permadeath, and you can stop it.
Reward: You saved a friend's life.
Risk: You suffer a great deal of harm. Your stats will be halfed for one month [RL time].
Pay: You need to have at least the same stats-averange as the one you try to save.

6)
Situation: You are in urgent need of trias, the fastest and maybe only way you see is stealing.
Reward: You steal a few hundred tria out of another character's inventory.
Risk: The trias will be marked as "stolen".. may it be a kind of aura, whatever. (thus preventing to have one char who steals and another "good" char who gets the money)
Other players will, most likely discover that the Tria are stolen, thus can take the risk of accepting the stolen Tria and appear to be a thief (the trias are marked), or report you. The same happens when you pay those trias to an NPC, they may accept them, or report you. In case you have been reported, guards will hunt you, and no matter if _you_ were the one who has stolen them or not, put you into jail for 1 week real time. [or maybe 12 hours time during which your character needs to be online and needs to do some work, lest people simply stay online during night]
Pay: Increase the chance of your Tria to be noticed as being stolen (all your trias will be marked. If you have 1000 Trias and steal 100 Tria, every Tria is marked 10%)

7)
Situation: You're a thief, what else. The more you can steal, the more you can earn. Thus you work out a plan to rob a really wealthy person,.. somewhere outside, of course.
Reward: You steal another character's ENTIRE inventory.
Risk: You and your subworkers will be sent to the crystal. Permadeath. The items will be returned to their rightful owner.
Pay: The items are all marked as being stolen, thus even giving them to an alt, won't help... he'll be a accomplice then. Guards who see you, or other players/NPC's who see you wearing one of the stolen items will _know_ that you have stolen and report you. You can't give others of those items without marking them also as "subworker", thus, better don't take anything from a thief.

[thievery needs an own topic, IMHO]

8.)
Situation: A tournamet.. with its very own rules.
Reward: Win the tournamet and be the best.
Risk: A week stuck in the Death Realm (once it is bigger and has more to do)

[people will whine about lag and this and that and everything..]

9) > none should have "the most powerful 'unique' item" IMHO. There should, at least, no items exist which are more powerful than what we have.
Situation: It can not be an event, for otherwise people will whine that they were unable to come/didn't know about it/whatever.
Reward: You get the most powerful an unique item in the game. It is unique (option B, it is not unique)
Risk: People will be annoyed about the way how it was handled.
Pay: Others will be pissed off that you got the item

10)
Situation: You, as the leader of a guild/group will get a guildhouse for little or no Tria. Well, the contract seems to be to your advantage at first, yet thinking it over will make you aware that this game might be a risky one. Indeed, none will give you a house for free.. you will always be in their debt. You will have to pay monthly fees, will have to do what they want you to do, no matter what it is. The onyx daggers are no group of people to play with.
Reward: A guild house for no or few Tria.
Risk: You lose all of your items, possibly even banked items.

11)
Situation: You can kill anyone, anything, anywhere, anytime ingame. (think hard on this one.)
Reward: You can kill anyone, anything, anywhere, anytime ingame. Those who are able to swing a weapon will be asked to guard those incapable of on almost all their journeys. Earn some Tria, some fame. Merchants need you.
Risk: Be jailed for a week RL-time for murderer. [or 12 hours time whith your character being ingame and needs to do some work, lest people simply stay online during night]
Pay: You need to kill witnesses too, you need to plan your assassination,... if you kill, your life will change.. to simply walk into the city will become a no-no.

12)
Situation: Your Character will get sick. [well, you as player decide so]
Reward: Plenty of RP
Risk: You made your RP with little thoughts.. it turns out to be a flop. Yet your stats will remain halfed for that week.
Pay: You need to make up a good story. The game simply provides the mechanics. Your stats will all be halfed for a week real-time. Others will know and some will avoid you, others might try to help you.

[steuben]

2)
Situation: increase magic skills
Reward: magic skills are doubled
Risk: Your stats are cut in half. They do not come back without training.

3, 4)
Situation: grade 0-a once in the total development history of ps epic quest
Reward: Your character's name is forever carved on a wall of fame IN the game.
Risk: permadeath of char and name


5)
Situation: Another character is about to suffer Permadeath, and you can stop it.
Reward: i'm not sure but suitable spectacular
Risk:  permadeath of char and name

6)
Situation: entry into a locked map
Reward: You steal a few hundred tria out of another character's inventory.
Risk: a long chat with the dr guardian


7)
Situation: entry into seveal locked maps
Reward: You steal another character's ENTIRE inventory.
Risk: getting stuck in a locked map

8.)
Situation: You can kill anyone, anything, anywhere, anytime ingame. (think hard on this one.)
Reward: access to locked quests
Risk: A week stuck in the Death Realm (once it is bigger and has more to do)

9)
Situation: grade 0-a once in the total development history of ps epic quest
Reward: You get the most powerful item in the game. It is unique
Risk: permadeath of char and name

10)
Situation: challenge the octarchy
Reward: serious ingame political power
Risk: You lose all of your items, possibly even banked items.