Killer Shrike
May 16th, '09, 11:27 AM
I posted this in another thread ( http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72821 ); and it got me to wondering how people would feel about playing in such a campaign so I thought I would post up a poll.
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Event-driven Experience
This method of awarding experience requires players to have solid concepts and already have a vague idea of where they want their character to go.
Decide what the starting and max power levels of the game are and determine the difference between them; for purposes of example I'm going to say 150 - 550 with a difference of 500. This difference is the max possible XP that can be earned (or at least a working approximation) in the campaign. Split this number in half; so 250 in this case.
Have each player define between three and ten possible "life events" that they envision as being meaningful for their character. This could be some accomplishment, a goal, a rank, defeating an important enemy, traveling to some exotic locale, etc.
The GM exercises veto / interpretation rights on the events. Alternately the GM can also add one or more events (and may or may not disclose the nature of them to the player but should indicate that they have defined some number of events and further should write them down so that if the players later express doubt that the GM is playing it straight, there is a record of fair play). If the GM adds events, they shouldn't add more than say half as many events as the player, to avoid the perception that they not the player are really making the character. Thus if a player defined 5 events, the GM shouldn't define more than 2 or 3 events if any.
Divide the previously figured potential XP by the number of events defined for the character. Each time an event is accomplished, the character gets that many XP points to "power up" with. In the case of GM-defined events the GM might instead spend the points and assign abilities to the character. Alternately the GM can modify the points each event is worth, taking points from less momentous events and putting them on more significant events.
Players using this system earn half as much regular XP in the usual per-game allocation.
Alternately, if the numbers are too large to suit you, you can divide the difference by 4 instead of 2, and grant 3/4 XP instead of 1/2 XP. Using the 500 point spread, that would work out to 125 event points. It's all just a numbers game, so find a place on the slide that works for your purposes.
Thus, working with our example numbers, lets say Joe is playing the Mage Adronicus. He has a pretty good bg worked out involving a kindly master, and another apprentice who betrayed the master and took his spellbooks and tried to kill Adronicus. Joe defines the following life events for Adronicus:
1) Get revenge for the Master
2) Recover the Masters spellbooks
3) Be recognized as a Master Mage by the applicable in-game community
4) Build a tower and establish a power base
5) Take on at least one apprentice
The GM looks at that list and adds two more, but doesn't tell Joe what they are:
6) Create a personalized spell or a significant magic item
7) Overcome some significant challenge using abilities other than his magic
So, 250 points / 7 = ~35 XP. Unless the GM opts to divvy the points up by hand, accomplishment of each event would grant +35 XP (or using the 1/4 option each event would be worth 18 points instead).
Downsides: If an event is not accomplished, the character simply doesn't ever get the points attached to it.
To extend the example, Fred has a barbarian named Uaga, Mike has a halfling named Gibs Lightfingers, and Amy has a Cleric named Vailia. The each define the following events for their characters:
Fred / Uaga:
1) Get a bitchin sword (magic or historically important)
2) be disarmed and imprisoned and manage to escape from it
3) defeat some kind of unnatural beast in hand to hand combat
4) seize the throne of a nation
The GM adds:
5) Face danger to rescue at least one slave girl from a fate worse than death
6) Slay a powerful magic user
Mike / Gibs:
1) Steal something valuable that is protected by high security
2) Become a big player in a major thieves guild or equivalent thereof
3) Acquire a kingly fortune with his skills, only to spend it all frivolously / whimsically
The GM adds:
4) Escape a real life or death situation via clever action vs force
Amy / Vailia:
1) Become a High Priestess of her Church
2) Contribute to the temporal presence of her Church in a significant way (found a new congregation, personally gain some significant converts (like a head of state or a large community or a champion / hero), rescue a lost relic, etc)
3) Gain an audience before the Most High (Pope-equivalent) of her Church by way of her service to the order
The GM adds:
4) Resolve a major conflict / threat without force or aggression
EDIT: Did a formalized write up of this and posted it on el website:
Event Driven HERO (http://www.killershrike.info/GeneralMetaConceptsEventDrivenHERO.ashx?NoRedirect =1)
**************************
Event-driven Experience
This method of awarding experience requires players to have solid concepts and already have a vague idea of where they want their character to go.
Decide what the starting and max power levels of the game are and determine the difference between them; for purposes of example I'm going to say 150 - 550 with a difference of 500. This difference is the max possible XP that can be earned (or at least a working approximation) in the campaign. Split this number in half; so 250 in this case.
Have each player define between three and ten possible "life events" that they envision as being meaningful for their character. This could be some accomplishment, a goal, a rank, defeating an important enemy, traveling to some exotic locale, etc.
The GM exercises veto / interpretation rights on the events. Alternately the GM can also add one or more events (and may or may not disclose the nature of them to the player but should indicate that they have defined some number of events and further should write them down so that if the players later express doubt that the GM is playing it straight, there is a record of fair play). If the GM adds events, they shouldn't add more than say half as many events as the player, to avoid the perception that they not the player are really making the character. Thus if a player defined 5 events, the GM shouldn't define more than 2 or 3 events if any.
Divide the previously figured potential XP by the number of events defined for the character. Each time an event is accomplished, the character gets that many XP points to "power up" with. In the case of GM-defined events the GM might instead spend the points and assign abilities to the character. Alternately the GM can modify the points each event is worth, taking points from less momentous events and putting them on more significant events.
Players using this system earn half as much regular XP in the usual per-game allocation.
Alternately, if the numbers are too large to suit you, you can divide the difference by 4 instead of 2, and grant 3/4 XP instead of 1/2 XP. Using the 500 point spread, that would work out to 125 event points. It's all just a numbers game, so find a place on the slide that works for your purposes.
Thus, working with our example numbers, lets say Joe is playing the Mage Adronicus. He has a pretty good bg worked out involving a kindly master, and another apprentice who betrayed the master and took his spellbooks and tried to kill Adronicus. Joe defines the following life events for Adronicus:
1) Get revenge for the Master
2) Recover the Masters spellbooks
3) Be recognized as a Master Mage by the applicable in-game community
4) Build a tower and establish a power base
5) Take on at least one apprentice
The GM looks at that list and adds two more, but doesn't tell Joe what they are:
6) Create a personalized spell or a significant magic item
7) Overcome some significant challenge using abilities other than his magic
So, 250 points / 7 = ~35 XP. Unless the GM opts to divvy the points up by hand, accomplishment of each event would grant +35 XP (or using the 1/4 option each event would be worth 18 points instead).
Downsides: If an event is not accomplished, the character simply doesn't ever get the points attached to it.
To extend the example, Fred has a barbarian named Uaga, Mike has a halfling named Gibs Lightfingers, and Amy has a Cleric named Vailia. The each define the following events for their characters:
Fred / Uaga:
1) Get a bitchin sword (magic or historically important)
2) be disarmed and imprisoned and manage to escape from it
3) defeat some kind of unnatural beast in hand to hand combat
4) seize the throne of a nation
The GM adds:
5) Face danger to rescue at least one slave girl from a fate worse than death
6) Slay a powerful magic user
Mike / Gibs:
1) Steal something valuable that is protected by high security
2) Become a big player in a major thieves guild or equivalent thereof
3) Acquire a kingly fortune with his skills, only to spend it all frivolously / whimsically
The GM adds:
4) Escape a real life or death situation via clever action vs force
Amy / Vailia:
1) Become a High Priestess of her Church
2) Contribute to the temporal presence of her Church in a significant way (found a new congregation, personally gain some significant converts (like a head of state or a large community or a champion / hero), rescue a lost relic, etc)
3) Gain an audience before the Most High (Pope-equivalent) of her Church by way of her service to the order
The GM adds:
4) Resolve a major conflict / threat without force or aggression
EDIT: Did a formalized write up of this and posted it on el website:
Event Driven HERO (http://www.killershrike.info/GeneralMetaConceptsEventDrivenHERO.ashx?NoRedirect =1)