XP....how much per session....?

[Dr. MID-Nite]

I'm starting a new campaign in a week and I'm always at a loss as to how much XP I should give out per session. This is a bi-weekly game. What's the going rate?

Rob

[Graviton]

It depends on how quickly you and your players want their characters to improve. Seeing as how you're going to play rather frequently, I'd keep it low.

I usually give 1 just for showing up, and then parcel out another 1-3 to reward good role-playing, interesting tactical moves, and overall contribution to the scenario.

[Edsel]

With new characters who lack experience and still need some rounding out we usually award 3 XP a night. In more normal circumstances 2 XP is pretty standard. If the adventure is very short our group awards 1 XP. If a player distinguishes themselves with very good roleplay or creativity there is usually a bonus of 1 or (rarely 2) XP.

Things such as Favors and/or Contacts can also be useful rewards for the characters. These awards are noted on character sheets as having a cost of zero points.

There are two GMs in our group and we sometimes award an XP or two to players for work they do that benefits the group as a whole. For instance writting up a good account of one of the game secessions to add to the campaign history. We also usually award new characters 2 XP for writing up a good character background.

[arcady]

How long do you expect the game to go for?

Will it's plot run their course in a year, or will you likely tire of it by then and decide to move on to something else?


Once you have your likely end date, think about how powerful you want them to be by then, and take the difference between that and now plus about 20% and divide it up by the number of sessions you expect to have if schedules don't face too many bumps.

That gives you an average to work with.

For me for example, I'd say my average game is likely to last a year to a year and a half before I can't stand running the same thing every game night anymore.

Call that fifteen months, biweekly, for thirty sessions. If Fantasy Hero, I'd like to see them reach maybe 210 or so by then - 60 points. So I take 72/30 for 2.4 a night.

So I should make it easy to get 2 points, and cause it to hit 3 about half the time.

I'm making a guess that after about 210 points, Fantasy Hero will start to break down and look more like Champions, but experience with running it will tell me if that's true or not.

[Dust Raven]

This is from my Experience Guidelines (http://geocities.com/t_l_o_3_t/exp.htm):


The following XPs will be awarded to each player character
Each game session the player & character took part in: 1 each; Every character learns a little bit just from being involved, but only if there player is there to play him.
Completing an Adventure (successfully): 1 (2 for difficult adventures); This is a bonus for successfully completing an adventure. "Successfully" means the characters accomplished their goals, not that they did what the GM wanted them to.
Good Role-Playing: 1-2; Good Role-Playing is keeping character actions within the character's concept, keeping out of game information out of game and keeping out of game table talk to a minimum.
Good Adventuring: 1-2; Good Adventuring is keeping character actions within the Champions genre, coming up with clever plans and ideas and generally acting "heroic."

The minimum XP that can be awarded to any character per Adventure is 1. This is because if the player only shows up for one session of an adventure, and his character just sits there not doing anything, the character will sill likely learn something just from observation. Of course, if any player is caught doing this they are likely to find there character has become a coaster for the nearest player's drink.

Note: my campaign is played every other Saturday, with occasionall breaks because it's someone's birthday or someone is moving. It's an open game, with no long term goal or story arc and is played mostly episodic.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Thansk, Dust Raven. Your comments...along with everyones else's are most appreciated. My last campaign lasted nearly two years. I expect this one will be similiar in length.

Rob

[TheEmerged]

I'm on the liberal side and I know it -- I've given as much as 8 per session before, and 4 is closer to average. Then again, I prefer a higher-point campaign than some (but lower than others :D ).

[zornwil]

Um, let me take this opportunity to shamelessly plug my XP and RP system...but moreso in the context of the "dial chart" in the middle for varying speeds of campaign growth - I've used that setting differently for different campaigns. http://www.realschluss.org/x-champions/house_rules/ch_gaining_reputation_and_experienc.htm

The fractional nature of XP growth is probably anathema, but you can do some rounding and figure out some ideas, perhaps.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Um, let me take this opportunity to shamelessly plug my XP and RP system...but moreso in the context of the "dial chart" in the middle for varying speeds of campaign growth - I've used that setting differently for different campaigns. http://www.realschluss.org/x-champions/house_rules/ch_gaining_reputation_and_experienc.htm

The fractional nature of XP growth is probably anathema, but you can do some rounding and figure out some ideas, perhaps.

No problem. As a newer GM, I can use all the help I can get.

Rob

[Old Man]

Now you just have to figure out how much you allow them to spend at one time.. ;)

[Magmarock]

We have multiple GMs in our group. One of the GMs is rather stingy- awarding XPs only after the adventure which may run for several sessions at a time (like 7-12). We are lucky if that comes out to 1 XP per session.

So I overcompensate (perhaps). I award as follows:

XPs

1 per session
1 additional if the session's combat was real tough and/or deadly
1 additional per session of really good roleplay


End of Adventure XPs

1-2 for solving the scenario/foiling the villains, etc
1 additional for exceptional heroics
1-2 for exceptional roleplay & strategies that produce/alter/ or in some way affect future plots or background information on characters... in other words, if the PC affects the gameworld (this is to encourage roleplay and counter the 'wallflower' effect).

Also, at the end of an Adventure, I will penalize a PC if he or she did something way out of character or something seriously unheroic (like killing when it's not necessary/over-use of powers to lethal force), or if the Player's roleplaying is way off (like not giving a crap after killing a hero or innocent IG). I also penalize for blatant use of Player Knowledge, which I consider cheating.

I do not penalize for 'not meeting an objective' in the game. The PCs just don't earn the additional points for solving the scenario.

As a side note, even if a PC is penalized, they still end up earning more than enough XPs to come out ahead, they just don't get the full amount.

Obviously, all awarding of points is tempered by the campaign style, etc.


Mags

[Snarf]

I usually give 5 or 10 per session, but my group doesn't play that often. I don't put a lot of effort into giving XP as a reward, I mostly just try to give enough to grow the character at a decent rate.

[pinecone]

I avg 3 points per Adventure plus any extras like "good roleplaying" and solved a puzzle etc.....I guess I'm one of the stingy ones becaus a "run" may take more than one session......

[zornwil]

It's all about speed of growth. Nothing wrong with "stingy" if you just want to see slow/gradual growth.

Personally, I don't care about how many XP I get. I play in lemming's game and he runs a pointless game, so no XP are awarded (although we do get "deathtrap points" - I guess we run kinda opposite, eh? :eek: )

Of course I suppose I'd care if everyone else were getting XP and I felt I were contributing the same amount. And on that point it is good to keep your players reasonably balanced in XP growth unless there's something unique in the campaign, there's a clearly outstanding individual contribution, and/or the players are mature and interested in seeing such a dichotomy.

[Magmarock]

We did that once- fairly recent, too- had a campaign where the PCs were built to design and the points didn't matter... then we got some points afterward but they were few and far between.

The problem with this method- for me, at least- is that I am always wanting my character to grow. I mean, no matter how I build a PC, there is always room for improvement. Therefore, if I don't get XPs, I get antsy... because there is no 'learning curve'. Then I get demoralized because there is no gain. Mainly because, this is a game and like most rpgs its built on a system of rewards (XPs). Guess I'm old-school when it comes to that.

Mags

[zornwil]

We did that once- fairly recent, too- had a campaign where the PCs were built to design and the points didn't matter... then we got some points afterward but they were few and far between.

The problem with this method- for me, at least- is that I am always wanting my character to grow. I mean, no matter how I build a PC, there is always room for improvement. Therefore, if I don't get XPs, I get antsy... because there is no 'learning curve'. Then I get demoralized because there is no gain. Mainly because, this is a game and like most rpgs its built on a system of rewards (XPs). Guess I'm old-school when it comes to that.

Mags
Lemming handles it on a case-by-case; one needs only approach him and say "here's how I want to tweak my character." It opens to an arbitrary nature for some but in this case he's a very fair GM so not an issue in his campaign.

[Old Man]

Lemming handles it on a case-by-case; one needs only approach him and say "here's how I want to tweak my character." It opens to an arbitrary nature for some but in this case he's a very fair GM so not an issue in his campaign.

I can see where this system might work quite well. With some player involvement, the GM could say "Jonny Brick gained +1 in Climbing and Breakfall this session." instead of handing out exp.

[pinecone]

Yep this can also fit into a EP game as well so "OK this was a long adventure, whith tough oposision so 6 for everyone, Maven plus one for solving that big mystery of the missing bodys......Please spend at least one point on the following....Contact Agent Scully,KS: nosforatu, kS :Ocult....see you'all next week..."I used to use it to "crowbar" people into building their Character, rather than getting "Two more dice"....I've been fortunate that I haven't resorted to it in years.....

[Shikarr]

I admit to being one of the stingy people for exp. We play every other sunday overall and the game has went on for about 13 months so far. The range in experience so far per character has been about 20 for the lowest and about 52 for the highest. Keep in mind however that most of the players don't show up for all games as unfortunately real life intervenes wiith work schedules and such but the core group of 3 players are usually there. Just going on the core group the range is about 40 for the lowest and 52 for the highest. I give out experience at the end of an adventure or if running a lot of sub plots at a time every other gameing session. It works out to about 1-2 occasionally 3 per session. I have been gamemastering hero since 1987 and this overall works for me. But as is always the case Mileage may vary. The way I run it for spending experience is for the characters to make up a wish list every few adventures. If it is something they did, could learn, do, or practice at it is usually easy for them to buy the skill. New powers or advantages to powers are always bought with heavy activation rolls or limitations that if used during the game can then be bought off. All of this allows time for me to adjust the game in a good way instead of being blindsided at a game when a character suddenly shows up with a new power that I forgot about. Not saying by any means that I haven't been blindsided by a power that a character has that I haven't taken into account in an adventure, but I do try to minimize that. :stupid: But generally xp's are awarded in a slow manner in my games. So that is how I do experience and such in mine. Hope that helps out/

[megaplayboy]

I tend to think you should factor in not only the pace of advancement, but also the relative starting level of the campaign--if you award 2-3 xp per session in a gritty fantasy campaign with 100 point PCs, then that's a pretty quick rate of advancement, but in a galaxy-spanning cosmic supers game with 1000 point PCs, 2-3xp would be pretty slooow.

So I'd suggest a "standard" of about 1 percent of base campaign points(1.5xp for FH, 2.5xp for low supers, 3.5xp for standard supers), adjusted for pace(.5 to 3x, round up), to give you a range from 1 xp for slow paced fantasy, to 30+xp for a DragonBall Z type of campaign ;)

[zornwil]

I can see where this system might work quite well. With some player involvement, the GM could say "Jonny Brick gained +1 in Climbing and Breakfall this session." instead of handing out exp.
I've done that on occassion, mixing in "this is what you did, so here's what you get" with generic XP.