As I said, I never felt the xp system drove people to adventure.That would do the exact opposite of encouraging/driving characters to adventure!
"Guys, we can go out and risk our lives adventuring for five sessions and level up, or we can sit safe in town and quaff ale for five sessions and still level up........... bartender!"
Tying the accruement of xp to the taking of risk - and further, only giving xp to those who actually take those risks - is what drives them to adventure.
I find it generally inherent in playing D&D - and just about any other type of game - that people want to win.As I said, I never felt the xp system drove people to adventure.
Playing in milestone D&D games and in systems that gave xp for other things (Palladium, GURPS, Vampire the Masquerade, Shadowrun, WFRP, etc.) most of which I can't remember what we got xp for, we still adventured.
I feel it is generally inherent in playing D&D that people want to adventure and explore and interact and do things.
Milestone leveling is generally not about just showing up and doing nothing. It's about actually hitting milestones – e.g. when you stop the bandit attacks, when you find the thingamabob and bring it home, when you get through Moria. It does reward being goal-oriented over being completionist, but I find that to be a feature and not a bug – if you want to reward exploration, make sure the exploration itself is worth it in the rewards it brings. It also lends itself more to quest-based games over self-directed looters, but that's a matter of taste.I find it generally inherent in playing D&D - and just about any other type of game - that people want to win.
A system that lets them win just as often when doing nothing (and thus can't lose) as when doing something (and thus are at risk of losing) would seem to encourage doing nothing.
Generally you don't have different levels within the party because everyone levels up at the same time and new PCs come in at the same level.The other problem with milestone levelling is when you have different levels within the party, the lower-level characters can never catch up.
Exactly how I run my 5e campaigns, though we used xp, everyone had the same xp total, players didn't need to track anything. New players have the same level but only basic gear.Generally you don't have different levels within the party because everyone levels up at the same time and new PCs come in at the same level.
There have been competition modules for D&D with scoring where you can win a competition, but generally I agree with Moldvay in the B/X Basic set on the baseline of D&D.I find it generally inherent in playing D&D - and just about any other type of game - that people want to win.
I don't consider gaining levels as winning, but even if I did a system that let characters just "win" periodically instead of for specific things would just mean there was no encouragement or disincentive for any particular play style or specific goals. Players could start a criminal gang to do heists, they could be street vigilantes patrolling, they could answer the call to be heroes, they could be mercenaries, they could be political operatives, whatever. They would just develop over time.A system that lets them win just as often when doing nothing (and thus can't lose) as when doing something (and thus are at risk of losing) would seem to encourage doing nothing.
I was replying to someone's suggestion that levelling be based on number of sessions played. i.e. gain a level per x-number of sessions.Milestone leveling is generally not about just showing up and doing nothing.
Also opens the door to the game becoming a railroad, though, in that if the milestones are at set points in the story and the players know where they are they've little to no reason to do anything else. Left-turning or changing tack won't be rewarded. Ditto for side quests, or doing anything else that doesn't get you to that next milestone point.It's about actually hitting milestones – e.g. when you stop the bandit attacks, when you find the thingamabob and bring it home, when you get through Moria. It does reward being goal-oriented over being completionist, but I find that to be a feature and not a bug – if you want to reward exploration, make sure the exploration itself is worth it in the rewards it brings. It also lends itself more to quest-based games over self-directed looters, but that's a matter of taste.
None of that applies in my game. New characters come in a level behind. Level-drainers exist, along with occasional effects that can give extra xp or a level. I use different advancement tables for different classes. And not every character is involved in every adventure; they cycle in and out irregularly and sometimes unpredictably, based on a combination of the whim of the player and what the character would do.Generally you don't have different levels within the party because everyone levels up at the same time and new PCs come in at the same level.