The end of an adventure is a joyous time for players and characters alike, as this is the time when the GM normally awards experience points. Experience points are the players' reward for solving a mystery, delivering a precious cargo, or defending a helpless village. With these points, characters can develop new talents, learn new languages, or gain new powers.

However, a well-skilled character is not necessarily a well-developed character. Your computer hacker character may have a Legendary Decryption Skill, but what does he do in his off hours? What are his hobbies? What are his ambitions? Who are the important people in his life?

It is all too easy for a character's life to become focused on "the mission," or the specific tasks that the GM has placed in front of the group. A character may simply walk from hair-raising peril to hair-raising peril, with only enough time in between for a nap and some medical attention. The life of such a character will likely be very interesting, but it will also be very narrow. If the world suddenly became peaceful and orderly, with no dragons to slay or treasures to recover, what would such a character do with his life?

Therefore, instead of merely awarding players on a session-by-session basis, or at the completion of an adventure, the GM might also consider giving small awards for characters who accomplish their own personal goals. These goals should be chosen by the players themselves (with the GM's assistance) and should be based on their specific character concepts. For instance, a grim vigilante might be pursuing the criminal who murdered his wife, while an interplanetary merchant might be trying to raise enough capital to pay off the loan on his spacecraft.

Characters should have the opportunity to pursue their personal goals while still moving through the larger goals shared by the group. For instance, say that Janet Thatcher, renowned archaeologist, is in Egypt with the rest of her adventuring group. The group is currently searching for an ancient relic known as the Staff of Horus, but one of Janet's personal goals is to discover what became of her mentor, Professor Howe, who mysteriously disappeared on an expedition to the Middle East. While Janet is asking the locals for rumors about the staff, she also has the opportunity to locate anyone who might have seen the missing Professor.

Upon accomplishing a personal goal, the character should receive a special experience point award. The GM should determine the amount of this award at the time the player chooses the goal. A goal should be worth from one to four experience points, depending on the difficulty of the goal. Here are a few examples:

Goals for Thardon, the Warrior

One point - he must return a lucky dagger to his friend in the King's Army.
Two points - he must earn a thousand gold pieces in order to afford a cure for his mother's illness.
Three points - he must locate, challenge and defeat the wizard Arrax, who killed the woman he loved.
Four points - he must locate the Sacred Stone of Seriph, as was foretold by a prophet at the time of his birth.

Goals for Cassandra, International Jewel Thief

One point - she must find the rightful owner of a gold locket she stole by mistake, thinking it was a different item entirely.
Two points - she must prove to her former friend, Inspector Wallace, that she did not steal six million dollars worth of art from a charity auction.
Three points - she must get her alter ego, "The Silk Shadow," mentioned on the front page of at least one newspaper in America, England, France, Spain, Russia, and China.
Four points - she must steal the famous diamond necklace known as the Constellation, which her father attempted to steal 20 years ago - and was shot and killed in the attempt.

Goals for Brett Wessner, Superhero (also known as the Blue Knight)

One point - he must convince his elderly aunt to move to the big city so that he can take care of her.
Two points - he must attract the attention of Mary Muldoon, attractive and talented city reporter.
Three points - he must discover the origin of the Azure Medallion, the source of his powers.
Four points - he must bring the criminal mastermind known as The Crystal Skull to justice.

Occasionally, a character's personal goals may come into conflict with the group's larger goals. The GM should not try to find a way to "work around" this, or try to engineer things so that this never occurs. This sort of conflict is the soul of character development, and can make for excellent roleplaying ("The bandit who burned my village to the ground is escaping - but my comrades need my help to defeat the greater enemy, the dread demon Xon!").

GM's should be wary, however, of two players choosing diametrically opposed goals. For instance, if one player chooses the goal "Must reassemble fragments of the Soul Sword to resurrect my murdered husband," but another player chooses "Must destroy fragments of the Soul Sword so that they cannot be reunited and used for evil," then the future of the campaign is going to be very rocky indeed. In this situation, the GM should devise an alternate method for one of the players to achieve his goal. For instance, while questing for the fragments of the Soul Sword, the two characters mentioned above might encounter rumors of a Mirror of Life, which has the power to allow the deceased to return from the Land of the Dead.

A large number of goals may begin to hinder game play. Each goal will distract the player's attention from the goals of the group, and if there are too many personal goals outstanding, none of the players will have time to pursue the true mission. The GM may therefore wish to limit the number of goals any character can have outstanding at one time.

Alternately, if the GM wishes to have a less structured, more player-guided campaign, the GM could choose to have no overall quests or goals whatsoever. In this case, the action would be entirely guided by the characters' own goals. This may give players a greater sense of control over their own destiny, however, it requires the GM to be more flexible, as she must be prepared to run whichever subplot the players wish to pursue at any given time.

In any case, the GM should be prepared for the additional work required to support the goals of the characters. If a player's goal is to find the Hidden Tower of Lanchar, then the GM should at least have a general idea where the Hidden Tower really is, and where clues to its location might be found. This, however, will broaden the game world, adding extra detail and color to the environment as well as to the characters. In the end, the entire game experience may be richer for everyone involved, and this should truly be everyone's goal.