Leveling up: the party game

[Lackhand]

Based on Sztany's post here:

I just thought of something. What if, for those who like OP don't want XP in their game, each character had a small list of things that he or she has to do before he or she levels up. For example, a fighter player might have to do each of the following at least once:
- defeat an opponent of equal or higher level
- take part of a battle involving at least 5 opponents
- use every of his trained skills (only uses that actually do something desired are counted)
- take a hit and lose HP
- use each known maneuver and every other activated class ability once

Its not for everyone, but might be an interesting experience.

As suggested, read "use every trained skill" should be "use 4 trained skills"; use every maneuver/class ability should be "use more than half of your maneuvers/class abilities".


I'd been kicking around a similar idea; some additional ideas include:
- Trigger a trap (of equal or higher level)
- Determine the veracity of a rumor
- Complete a quest (anybody's; even if it wasn't yours, you can get the card for it!)
- Recover "suitable wealth" for your level
- Behavior you could describe as "Failing a wisdom check" or "Failing an intelligence check"
- Have a persuasive argument be cut off by the DM -- you've made a very persuasive argument, but the Duke simply doesn't agree, for plot reasons. Have an experience card instead. Sorry!

What other ideas do people have for non-experience-point worthy-of-experience-reward ideas?

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

...This handily defeats one of the bigger purposes of ditching XP. (Avoiding all that number tracking.)

That said, I know I'd add this to my list:

- Provided the DM with a free beverage or snack of his/her choice.

 

[Ramaster]

- Defeat X number of encounters

- FLEE X number of encounters (if you want to encourage that type of game)

- Research valuable information

- Explore unknown area

- Further the goals of X organization (again, if that suits your style)

- Roleplay amogst one anoher for X amount of time

It also depends on the kind of gameplay you want to encourage.

 

[Quickleaf]

One of the downsides to these character-specific type XP systems is level mismatch becomes easier to slip into. For some groups, this may or may not be a problem. I'm reminded of Shadows of Yesterday indie rpg and it's "experience keys" system.

 

[n00bdragon]

One of the downsides to these character-specific type XP systems is level mismatch becomes easier to slip into. For some groups, this may or may not be a problem. I'm reminded of Shadows of Yesterday indie rpg and it's "experience keys" system.

You could get around this by adding that no one levels up until everyone levels up. I'd be more worried about "Oblivion Syndrome" where people are lifting random rocks or spending hours talking with commoners just to use the required skills.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Sounds too much like:

Kill ten wolves and bring back their pelts.

Collect the tails from ten rats.

etc ...

 

[Lackhand]

Sounds too much like:

Kill ten wolves and bring back their pelts.

Collect the tails from ten rats.

etc ...

The thing is, that's actually a pretty easy quest-y trap to fall into as a DM, and has little to do with this idea.
Fetch quests.
Find the seven parts of the eponymous Rod. The only difference is that there are cool adventures around the Rod, but wolves should by rights be everywhere.
Ideas that sound grindy might actually be grindy, but don't knock the idea because of one implementation!

One thought on this area: goals are important (players knowing what behavior earns power-ups), but so is spontaneous recognition of awesome.

Pretend these deeds are no longer represented by cards, but that instead that there are a store of experience points -- coins or chips -- in the center of the table.
Whenever any player or the DM judges someone's done something awesome, they can hand that guy an experience point (from the central store).
The DM can seed the basket in proportion to the scale of difficulties the players face, adding coins as the night goes on.
At the end of the night, the lowest leveled player(s) with the most experience points level up (or get noted as being "halfway to the next level" or whatever, to slow the actual rate of advancement).
Something like gaining a level costs three coins for the lowest level character in the party, six for the next highest, nine for the third, and so on. Numbers completely made up.

Advantage: less hard-coded, more spontaneity, no rat-fetches.
Disadvantage: pretty game-able by the players, punishes inter-party-strife if the players don't maintain some separation.
On the other hand, that's encoding the social disapproval the player pulling that on an unfriendly audience should be feeling, so maybe that's a good thing!

 

[MarkB]

It's an interesting idea, but I wouldn't be too keen on playing it. It seems like it would encourage both spotlight-hugging (the ones who take centre stage more often get more cookies), and a more stereotypical playing style in which conforming to specific forms of behaviour is the best way to gain advancement.