Part of the goal of a campaign is to become a legiondary warrior. To have statues of you erected, or to erect your own. Everytime a player completes a notable quest or task they will receive reputation points for the town the quest relates to. So all towns are separate, but the GM may reward extra reputation points in other near by towns as a bonus.
What do reputation points signify? They represent the percentile chance that any given person knows about you and what you’ve been up to. Its basicly your gossip status. So if you have a reputation of 20 in a town that means that 20% of the town is actively aware of your deeds. In larger towns you gain ruputaion slower, because there are so many more people you need to impress. Once your rating reaches 100 you are completely famous and the town might just erect that statue of you slaying the dragon. If you happen to be evil a high reputation might mean people bowing to you as you pass them on the street.
So what is reputation for? Well as more people know you new quests will open up. You’ll have to prove yourself before you can enter the king’s palace for example. Or maybe someone will seek you out for a special quest. Plus a high repution means you can demand more money for your services. Funamentally its changes the way people act around you. This might end up making you a target for assassins as well.
So whats a good way to get reputation points? Well that’s pretty straightforward: complete lots of quests and impress everyone you can. A great way to get quests is to join a faction. Factions are organizations spread throughout the world. They take many forms: guilds, churches, governments. All function in basicly the same way. You need to first join the faction. This may involve a quest or maybe require money. Once in you complete quests they assign to you. These quests earn you both reputation points and ranking points. Once you have a certain number of ranking points your statis in the faction will go up. More quests will become available. The quests will become harder and the rewards greater. If you desire you might even become the leader of the faction by working your way up through the ranks!
Joining factions and climbing ranks is a great way to find quests. Factions have other benefits too, like discounts for members, people you know you can trust, and each have a unique experience and feel.
By using these tools players can grow not only in experience but socially as well.