Awarding XP

[taxboy4]

Hi all

How do different GM's award XP and allocatted character points to spend in their games?

I use a variance of the old D&D rules but give flat rate points for being in fights, ideas, good roleplaying etc. Each 1000XP = 1 character point.

A normal game prob generates 1-2,000 points...

[austenandrews]

I give 1 point for the average game session, or 2 pts for either combat-heavy, plot-climactic or otherwise intense evenings. Oh, and I always give 1 extra point on a character's first game.

-AA

[Midhir]

Usually I award 1 pt per Session for good roleplaying or for a good fight/encounter. So at most usually 2 pts, on average 1 pt for a gritty low fantasy campaign. Usually I go through and assign certian aspects of the campaign an XP point value incase we can hold longer then normal sessions (normal session 4 hrs, extended 5 to 8 hrs).

Good RPing in the Coach and Horse Inn (0.5 pt)
Defeat the Chaos Mutants and save the Coach (1 pt)
Defeat the Nobles Protagonist (0.5 pt)
Survive the encounter with the Bounty Hunter (1 pt)
Discover the plot against the PC look alike (1 pt)

Now when I use to GM High Fantasy Campaigns (100-150 pt base PCs) a session could net them as much as 5 pts.

[Nuadaem]

I generally do not award CP on a session basis. I generally wait until the "plot thread" has been resolved. Then I apportion CP based on how long the "plot thread" was and how well the characters reacted. Many "plot threads" take two or three gaming sessions and result in 2-5 CP. Others take ten or more sessions and result not only in a CP award of ten or so, but allow the characters to purchase abilities which are restricted in the setting.

[bjbrown]

XP in my game normally goes like this. At the end of the session, players as how much XP they get. Then I try to think of what would be fair (maybe 1-3, with 2 being a good session, 3 for when I am exceptionally amused by the characters, 1 on an ordinary session). While I'm thinking of what value would be fair, one or more players may rush my decision, and I say, "Okay, half a point."

[taxboy4]

I find using whole points restricts the ability to give awards as we go along - e.g. an excellent idea which i give double points if successful. Gives an immediate reward to the players but is often a fraction of a CP.

[Outsider]

Usually I'd go with 1 point for a short-ish session, and 2 for a longer one. Players who did exceptionally clever things, got exceptionally lucky at -just- the right time, or roleplayed very well would get bonu xp assigned as I saw fit. Often as contacts or favors. Often as Area Knowledges, Survival terrains, or other Knowledge skills. Rarely as followers. Occasionally as other skills. I've generally found that general points tossed at a character dont end up getting spent on such boring, but character rounding, things as these, otherwise.

If the group successfully rescued a princess, for example, they would get the usual 2 exp. If they remained gracious about it, rather than becoming greedy or rude, the king might consider himself to "owe them one", and each player would get a -favor- perk, or be offered a -status- one (though thse tend to have associated responsibilities too) If they help this same king out enough, they might eventually get a -contact- perk with him, a very valuable thing to have!

Another situation happened where a number of lesser adventurers had been horribly maimed by monsters. One of the PCs (a con-man with a heart of gold type) used a significant amount of his resources to arrange for their magical healing, then gave them a rousing speech (he rolled a natural '3' on his oratory) about not letting the memory of this episode deter them from continuing to fight evil (yadda yadda). As an assigned exp bonus he gained a follower from among the healed. A competent follower that he controlled straight away was a tad -too- much of a bonus, though, so (much to my own amusement) I had the follower be so fanatically loyal and proactive in doing things for the PC (often without his permission, but in his interest, as the follower saw it) that he became -almost, but not quite- a liability.

[Yesman]

The method I use is to award 1 pt. per session. That point has to be spent on something that the character did that session, either an ability actively used or roleplaying time spent in study or practice. That point also has to be allocated before the next session. After every story arc, I award a bonus amount of cp that can be used on anything. (usually this is 1/2 the number of sessions in the arc + 1 for every important goal the party has managed to accomplish, be it a goal set by their commanders, or one they set for themselves..). I also occasionally hand out free social perks, reputations, contacts and the like, whenever appropriate.

It's been about 1 1/2 years since the game started (that's the real time, 8 months or so in-game), and the highest point character has gone from 150 pts to about 255-260 or so. I guess that total might be a little high, but they tend to be very well rounded characters.

[TAROT]

In the past, I have usually averaged 2-3 points per session, about half of that directed & the other half free. Spending limited to one point into any Characteristic, Talent or Power per session. Perks generally come and go through roleplaying.

Recently, I have been trying to work up a way to use The Riddle of Steel's Spiritual Attributes for HERO.

In The Riddle of Steel, your character defines five Spiritual Attributes, which are essentially Psych Lims. In TROS, they are rated from +1 to +5. When you act in a manner that advances a goal or is consistent with your beliefs, you gain a bonus to your attempt.

TROS uses dice pools, so, for every +1, you would gain an additional die to your pool. So, you may have a skill with your claymore of 10 dice, if you have a Passion: Hate Angus MacTavish at +3, you would get 13 dice. If Angus is trying to usurp the crown, and you are Loyal to the King at +2, you now use 15 dice with your claymore. And if standing 10 feet behind you is Colleen, who you Love at +4, you now fight with 19 dice. (Of course, Angus might Hate your clan, and have a Drive to take the throne for himself. )

Now, since the first person to get hit in a fight generally bleeds to death, it behooves you to make sure that if you are going to resort to violence, make sure that it is something that is important to you.

If you make a sacrifice, or take general proactive steps towards one of your goals, the Spiritual Attribute will increase. You can sell off bonuses in order to improve your character in other ways. (i.e. Reduce the Spiritual Attributes, in order to become faster, stronger, etc.) This is how you gain experience.

In TROS, there are six categories of Spiritual Attributes. Conscience, Destiny, Drive, Faith, Luck & Passion. Destiny, Drive, Faith & Passion need to be specified further.

So, for HERO, I'm thinking along these lines:

Spiritual Attributes (except Luck) would work as Overall Skill Levels (only under specified circumstances). When taking steps to advance one, it will improve. The bonuses can be sold back to gain XP on a one-for-one basis.

Luck would be treated as 1d6 Luck per plus. Luck improves by being lucky. Whoever makes the best roll during the session improves. And the Luck can be sold back for general XP at 1 per d6. Luck would no longer be available for general purchase.

You can change the focus of a Destiny, Drive, Faith or Passion, if two SA are at zero (one of them being the one that you are changing).

At a cost of (ten?) Spiritual Points, you can change a type of SA (a Drive into a Passion). The cost could be waived depending upon circumstances. {e.g. Change a Passion into Luck will cost. If Angus kills Colleen, no cost to change Passion (Love Colleen) into Drive (hunt down Angus like a dog, and leave his bones for the wild animals).}

Eliminate Psych Lims, and possibly adjust Base Points.

Chris

[Markdoc]

I tend to use a rule of thumb - 2 points for an average session, 1 point for routine/easy and three points for good work.

Then, in addition, I give bonuses - 1 or 2 points - for really kickass ideas, roleplaying, etc. So 5 points is tops for a session.

In this context, "session" is a significant part of an adventure, but it might not be a whole adventure. So if the current part of the ongoing storyline involves deposing an evil wizard who has taken over the city where the players are living, then it might break down into sessions like:

1. find out WTF is going on and who is responsible
2. Try to kill the bad guy (tBG) (GM has determined this won't work snce his lifeforce is hidden somewhere else)
3. Find out why the tBG can't be killed
4. Find an oracle who can indicate where tBG's life is hidden
5. Get to the place where tBG's life is hidden
6. Destroy tBG's life
7. return home and cleanup

That could be from one month to 4 months weekly play depending on how fast things go and would generate anywhere from 10 -30 Xp.s

In general, 2 years frequent play will run out a story arc and lead to players with a fairly bad-ass character in the 200's point range (I tend to start off at 100 points). If possible, I "retire" these tough characters, and start afresh - but I often write them in in the background of the ongoing stories (players get a kick out seeing other people grovel to "their" old PC) - occasionally these ubercharcaters turn up to play an active role in the game, either as patrons to new characters, or as full PCs to take on major threats.

Note - in my game, a veteran soldier will run 25-50 points, so a 250 point warrior would kick serious ass!

This kind of overlap can be fun - Mike Surbrook and I played around with it in a series of game - his character in a modern martial arts game (circa 1990's) was the father of my character in his cyber/magic game (circa 2030) - and my characters in the first game, were the descendants of some of the NPCs in my Medieval Japanese game (c. 1500).

OK, a little off the "how much XP do you award" thread, but just to introduce some ideas for what to do when the XP totals start mounting up.

cheers, Mark

[AnotherSkip]

well the 4th edition book looked to me like you could give out up to 5-7 for a really really good 2 session adventure.

however, after testing at that level that seems far too much.


my suggestion is stick to about 1-4 xp.

i can recognise that greed can be bad. even with XP.

[joen00b]

I usually alot 1-2 experience points per session depending on role playing of the group, the amount of fighting they do, etc. I also will reward 1 XP point to a player for doing something astounding that impacts the game heavily. (There was actually a session where the Warrior killed on of the big bad guys upon introduction of said big bad guy. Really through a monkey wrench in the game for the night, so I rewarded him an extra XP).

I also put 'Easter Eggs' in my game. People that catch them get bonuses and such. Every 3 Easter Eggs caught will be rewarded with an extra XP point. It's something to break up the monotony of monologues and such, and everyone seems to enjoy it. Some are rather obvious (casino/brothel named House Of The Rising Sun) to the very obscure (a thief named Roisin Dubh), things of that nature.

[Galadorn]

My experience has been, that GMs award experience at different times, and in different ways.

I had one GM who awarded 32 experience points to one of my characters, for a five session game. Which seems kinda high.

I tend to follow the Hero Games Rulebook guidelines, with a caveat. +1 experience point is awarded to characters who use their variable power pool, creatively, during a game session. For a creatively, culturally, and mythologically appropriate use of the VPP: That is, a way that adds new ideas to my campaign-setting.

I suppose this experience point could be given to non-spellcasting characters, as well. Since only spell-casting characters have a VPP. So, I'm going to expand it, I will add:

• 1. Warriors for a new tactic; relevant to my campaign world (monsters, magic, politics and peoples).
  2. Rogues for a clever ploy, relevant to my campaign world.

[Eclectic Wave]

For a standard night 2 points. If it was a combat heavy, tough fight, a extra point. And a point at the end of a multi-part mission. The most that a player could get is 4 points.

[Foxx!]

Taxboy4:

I give 3~5 CP per session, and Ifm careful about how many CP can be spent on an ability at one time. I give points at the end of an episode, not necessarily at the end of each session. Everyone gets the same XP, but I find other ways to reward players who deserve more.

Cheers