Giving Experience

[Alcamtar]

For those GMs who give out experience, do you give every player the same amount, or do you award experience individually? Do you do it openly or privately? What factors do you consider in awarding XP?

 

Thanks,

Mike

[TheEmerged]

Generally, I met out 3 types of experience.

 

"Group" points -- these mainly go to the group pool for things like perks, followers, bases, etc. For the previous adventure, for example, the group got a 1 pt Contact, a +1 reputation as elites (super-powered mercenaries), and 5 "general" perk points -- these were given to the group pool.

 

"Overall" points -- every PC gets these. Usually these are for things accomplished as a group, usually keyed to particular accomplishments.

 

Example from the previous adventure.

• +0.5 points for convincing the vigilante ironworkers to stay out.
  
• +0.5 points for discovering the IHA connection.
  
• +0.5 points for defeating the villains
  
• +0.5 for rescuing Zephyr out of police custody
  
• +0.5 for finding the Minutemen Robots before the deadline
  

 

This might be high or low to your tastes, but that's about where I want it to be for my campaign. So all four PC's got 2.5 exp each in Overall points that adventure.

 

"Personal" points -- I usually give out one or two of these to individual characters; sometimes, I have had to deduct points as well. My rule of thumb is this: if the player has the character do something within their personality that makes the session more difficult than it would be otherwise, that's a bonus point. Also, if the player does something *especially* appropriate to the character or in an enjoyable way, its a bonus point. But if the player does something outside the concept just to make things easier in the session, that's a penalty point. Thankfully I have a good group of players right now and haven't had to do that in a while.

 

Again, this all depends on how much experience points you want to met out per session. 3-5 per session is about right for me, that might be far more than many others here would agree to.

[Tech]

Generally, everybody gets the same amt of experience. Exceptions are made for incredible roleplaying, well though-out plans, hilarious moments making the game more enjoyable overall (but these have to be very exceptional), etc etc.

[badger3k]

I usually give the same amount, then add extras for various things, if needed. The ones that I do most give are (in Hero) a 1-point bonus for the best-roleplayer (voted by group, can't vote for self) and a 1-point bonus for VIP of the session, same rules. I might give other bonuses for other things (such a being pivotal in encounter, solving puzzle, had us on floor laughing, etc), but the two that the players vote for seems fair. It's always worked for us, and IMO rewards players as part of the group.

[pinecone]

I do much as badger3k does a base amount determined by the adventure (right out of the book...power of oponoites,length etc...) and a bonus for being exeptionaly clever of role playing well or something like that gets a +1pt....

[Seenar]

Same base for players, plus bonus points, often at the behest of the players.

[Snarf]

I just give everyone the same amount. I tried giving individual points but it was too much work keeping track of what happened to each person.

[lensman]

Re: Giving Experience

 

Originally posted by Alcamtar

For those GMs who give out experience, do you give every player the same amount, or do you award experience individually? Do you do it openly or privately? What factors do you consider in awarding XP?

 

My basic approach has to do with the campaign structure.

ie I am running a 250 pt. Star hero: TE PBeM. I wanted strong weell defined characters to start, and experience would be metered out very slowly, 1 xp per n sessions, then jump by 10 or 15 at a stage in the campaign where characters solve / fix / identify villians and or antaginists.

 

But awarding xp is a task fraught with problems.

Do you reward "role playing" as a subjective criteria?

GM as final arbiter seems to "cult of personality" to me.

As are situational xp rewards. Players are more an indication of this reward than actual characters, and I have found most of these light hearted moments are off camaign, having more to do with Star trek/ Star Wars / B5 or Monty Pyth'in.

 

Creativity and description of character actions is what I like to reward. These are admitedly subjective but I look for players who help with maintaining story or bringing in new ideas or doing things not solely to advantage the character but disadvantage them.

 

I am still looking for a way to turn hero disadvantages into powers or afvantages.

 

And fidelity in dusadvantage meaning. Codified.

So bith player and GM know what is meant by Coe of Honor.

 

I digress into disadvantages because some people I talk to feel xp should be awarded strictly on play of skills and disadvantages. Like most I like players to play what is "on the sheet" and what is not "on the sheet."

I know a player who can role play interrogation and has done so in a situation with a character that does not have the skill.

 

That leaves plot xp. I have seen some GM's that treat this like jumpinhg through hoops. Xp awards for characters that go to the right places, talk to the right people.

 

Bah!

 

I say, reward the player who finds his own solution.

 

I think the above agrees with most other posters, that is my 2 cents.

[Pattern Ghost]

I usually give everyone the same amount of points, with an occasional bonus point thrown in at random for good rp or just making me laugh.

[Ndreare]

I give most people the same amount of experiance.

 

Based on how much fun we had playing. It is a game after all so people who make the game funner for all deserve to be rewarded for their efforts.

 

However I also use a personal system called "Karma" basicly you get karma (usualy 2-4 per game) when you do "Good" things like self sacrafice, heroics, making us all lagh or whatever. This karma can inturn be used however you want to affect any die roll by the amount of karma spent. I have even gone so far as to recently reward karma to players for using all their karma to save the life of a in group NPC. that was hit by a critical hit from an opponent that then rolled critical damage on him. Two of the three players of that group sacraficed all their karma to save the NPC's life.

[zornwil]

Although it's individual, in a given struggle or fight it's given to all equally whether the contributions were "really" equal or not.

 

It's public, the XP for each character is posted on my site.

[JSenecal]

I award the same base XP to all players, based on the book guidlines, perhaps toned down for some games.

 

I've also (when I remember) hand out XP bonuses during the game in the form of glass beads. The different colors are worth .1, .3, or .5 XP. I'll give them out for good roleplaying moments, for advancing the story, or for cracking up the entire group (esp. if was in character). Players can suggest that an action might be worth a binkie (as we call them), and if I agree, I'll hand one out. And at the end of the night, I'll ask if anyone can think of anything I've missed that they think is worth a binkie.

 

I've also used them to help stear detective investigations. A .1 binkie means means the player asked a good question. A .3 binkie means that it was a significant question that might lead towards a solution. This lets me steer the investigation towards productive lines without leading the players.

 

These bonuses don't add much to character advancement, it's rare for a character to get a full XP in a night this way, but they're fun, give instant rewards for good roleplaying, and do add up over time.

 

Joe Senecal

[Battlestaff]

At the end of the night, each player walks away with the same amount of points.

 

However, my players know I give extra points for good role-playing, puzzle solving, etc. These extra points are not awarded directly to the characters to use on their own, however. They are saved for future use by the GM (me) when letting them develop a base, build a team jet, etc. They don't get to know how many points they have. It's worked out well so far, since the players have a cool base and jet they earned through good play, without having to allocate any of their earned points towards them.

 

Of course, if a player has a 'radiation accident,' and their new makeup requires a point or two to balance out, I will give them some of their earned points. But on the whole, they are used for team items, such as the base, jet, contacts, favors, etc. (though the latter two are awarded even if no points are available).

[zornwil]

Originally posted by JSenecal

I award the same base XP to all players, based on the book guidlines, perhaps toned down for some games.

 

I've also (when I remember) hand out XP bonuses during the game in the form of glass beads. The different colors are worth .1, .3, or .5 XP. I'll give them out for good roleplaying moments, for advancing the story, or for cracking up the entire group (esp. if was in character). Players can suggest that an action might be worth a binkie (as we call them), and if I agree, I'll hand one out. And at the end of the night, I'll ask if anyone can think of anything I've missed that they think is worth a binkie.

 

I've also used them to help stear detective investigations. A .1 binkie means means the player asked a good question. A .3 binkie means that it was a significant question that might lead towards a solution. This lets me steer the investigation towards productive lines without leading the players.

 

These bonuses don't add much to character advancement, it's rare for a character to get a full XP in a night this way, but they're fun, give instant rewards for good roleplaying, and do add up over time.

 

Joe Senecal

 

You are the only other person I've known of besides myself who gives fractional XP. You have a nice system there, in terms of the beads.

[keithcurtis]

I used to worry about how much xp to give each player, but it always seemed to reward some players more than others. Some folks want to fight, some want to role-play, others just want to explore the world. I couldn't come up with an equitable way to reward so many different types of player.

 

For heroic games, you get 3 pt.s per adventure, until you have 50 XP.

Then you get 2 per adventure, until you have 100 XP.

Then you get 1 per thereafter.

 

This give rapid initial advancement, but slows down as your character approaches the superhuman.

 

Keith "Just simpler that way" Curtis

[Rebar]

In one game the GM has us justify why we should get points. That can be a bit awkward.

 

In another game, we use the standard rules but with a few extras, such as best move/soliloquy/classic moment, funniest one-liner or MVP. It's usually only about 2-3 points distributed around the team (not everyone gets one every time).

 

Just last game I earned my hardest-won XP in my 20 years. The team agreed that to ambush the baddies, I couldn't hide, so I should pose as a statue (Rebar does this very well!)

 

They told me *don't move*. Being excruciatingly stupid, my character followed directions. And I roleplayed it, striking and holding a statuesque pose for the duration of the session, including the entire combat. My arms are still sore.

[Agent X]

2-5 XP per adventure, usually they take 1 or 2 sessions

[Magmarock]

Back in the day when we would play Champions every weekend, we would hand out an automatic 1xp to each player for just showing up (hey, whatever gets the players there, you know), and 1xp per combat. Since we invariably had at least one combat in each gaming session, there was a minimum of 2xp without doing anything... as long as one showed up, that is.

 

Then, on top of that, there would be xps handed out for various catagories, like : most selfless hero, brillient ideas, best roleplaying and the most awesome sililoquay. These xps, along with the 'successfully completing a scenario' xps, were awarded at the end of a story arc.

 

 

Nowadays, we only play every other week, therefore the story arc takes longer to finish (over real time) and in order to keep up the progression, development and players' interest in their PCs, we usually hand out all xps at the end of each session. We trade off running the game, so to keep it fair, the GM earns xps that equal the average of what he/she hands out.

 

In my opinion, my fellow GMs (yes, even my dear brother- are you reading this, bro?) are a bit stingy on the xps, so I tend to overcompensate by handing out a few more on my games. Plus, I tend to run the more ruthless fights, so they really earn it. Hehehheheheh!

 

Mags

[Old Man]

Originally posted by Pattern Ghost

I usually give everyone the same amount of points, with an occasional bonus point thrown in at random for good rp or just making me laugh.

 

I try to keep it this too. But it isn't always easy to determine whether a player has earned it or not.