D&D General What do you prefer to give/get XP for?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

More evidence that the biggest issue with most modern adventures is not their structure or their stories or any of that. it is their presentation.

No More Walls Of Text.

It's especially galling given that we are probably in the golden age of good RPG presentation. Just steal layout ideas from the people doing it better, people!

And if you don't know who's doing it better, ask and people will be happy to point you to Monte Cook Press, Necrotic Gnome, Tuesday Knight Games and the many other people who've cracked the code.

It's not 1983 when no one has good desktop publishing tools nor any idea of better ways to present this info.

 

[Reynard]

It's especially galling, given that we are probably in the golden age of good RPG presentation. Just steal layout ideas from the people doing it better, people!

And if you don't know who's doing it better, ask and people will be happy to point you to Monte Cook Press, Necrotic Gnome, Tuesday Knight Games and the many other people who've cracked the code.

It's not 1983 when no one has good desktop publishing tools nor any idea of better ways to present this info.

QFT

 

[Aldarc]

It's especially galling given that we are probably in the golden age of good RPG presentation. Just steal layout ideas from the people doing it better, people!

And if you don't know who's doing it better, ask and people will be happy to point you to Monte Cook Press, Necrotic Gnome, Tuesday Knight Games and the many other people who've cracked the code.

It's not 1983 when no one has good desktop publishing tools nor any idea of better ways to present this info.

While I agree that Monte Cook Games has fairly decent to good layout when it comes to their core books, I would question whether Monte Cook Games has good layout when it comes to their adventure writing. My partner is a TTRPG newbie. Nevertheless, my partner wanted to run some of the "easy" adventures for Numenera, but their eyes completely glossed over when trying to read through the adventure to get an idea of what it was about, the flow of the adventure, or how to run it. I agree that I think that MCG's adventure writing can be an absolute mess. Sometimes important details, twists, or things that you need to seed early are buried later in the text. Sometimes their adventure overviews aren't particularly helpful in gently easing a GM into the adventure. However, my partner then ran Fabula Ultima's Press Start adventure nearly flawlessly. A big part of that had to do with its layout.

If they had a break-out early on saying that "before each dungeon or mini-dungeon, we will tell you what level your characters should be at that point; level them up if necessary," that would have been ideal.

Spotting that everyone should have been level two halfway through a giant paragraph is insane. I don't like to mark up my RPG books -- I tend to sell them after use -- but I am probably going to whip out the highlighter and find all the leveling references in the book.

I think that I would honestly just prefer tier-based level and adventure design more like Shadow of the Demon Lord. Adventures are written for various level tiers of play: Starter (level 0), Novice (1-2), Expert (3-6), Master (7-10). So if my characters are anywhere between levels 3 and 6, then I know that they should be fine with an Expert level adventure. So there is no need to expect "you should be level X by this point in the adventure" in the middle of the book. Of course, there is never leveling in the middle of the adventure as completing the adventure module is what earns the level-up.

 

[jmartkdr2]

When I run long enough games, I don't really do xp - I just level up during downtime after a few fights. I don't like to award too much social xp because level are mostly about combat boosts - I want to make sure the pcs get a chance to pay with all their new toys before giving a bunch of new ones.

But I mostly run one-shots or short games so it's not actually relevant.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Only read the OP.

I would like to add that I give bennies for different things than I give XP for.

You get bennies for bad jokes (in or out of character); doing something unusual and clever, or at least hilarious, in character; snacks. Other stuff as the mood takes me.

 

[Baron Opal II]

I've had conversations with a guy who awards xp for:

1 xp per gp treasure gained, per character
1 xp per hp damage dealt, per character
2 xp per hp damage taken, per character
1 xp per hp damage taken, in a pool, divided among survivors

I tried this for about two sessions and was amazed on how much bookkeeping in was. Interesting theory behind it, but a touch beyond me. Easy for him, apparently. AoE damage gains xp for total damage done, so a 40 pt fireball hitting 5 targets with 5 hp yields 25 xp. If there are disparities in xp, that can be levelled out with gold awards.

Works for him.

 

[Lanefan]

I've had conversations with a guy who awards xp for:

1 xp per gp treasure gained, per character
1 xp per hp damage dealt, per character
2 xp per hp damage taken, per character
1 xp per hp damage taken, in a pool, divided among survivors

I wouldn't use this system myself - I'd never be able to keep track, for one thing - but I really like how it rewards risk-taking by giving more xp for taking damage than for anything else.

 

[Reynard]

I wouldn't use this system myself - I'd never be able to keep track, for one thing - but I really like how it rewards risk-taking by giving more xp for taking damage than for anything else.

I vaguely recall Rolemaster and/or MERP having a similar system.

 

[Mannahnin]

Don't PbtA or some other games also give xp for failed checks?

 

[EzekielRaiden]

In poll-listed order (not in preference order):

Killing Monsters
Exploration and Discovery
Making relationships with NPCs/factions
Achieving non-XP rewards
"Overcoming Challenges" (not sure why this needed scare quotes?)
Playing in character
Completing personal goals/milestones
Completing story goals/milestones

I think all of these should be part of a "balanced RPG diet." That's how I run my DW game, and that's how I prefer to see things as a player as well, regardless of the system being used. I'd prefer monster-killing XP be no more than 50%-60% of total XP earned, really.