Awards other than XP

I think the best way to do it would be to utilize the faction system. Create a couple of factions wherever you want to have the campaign based out of. They don't have be as dramatically opposed as the ones used in the Realms, but simply represent broad groups the adventurers may work for, such as nobility, churches, wealthy merchants, etc. The players don't join the factions, but successful adventures grant Renown for one of those groups (whoever hired them or benefited from it). This renown can be used to call in favors or to grant privileges. This gives "in world" benefits for their efforts, without grant mechanical benefits that you wish to avoid.

Shiroiken said:

I think the best way to do it would be to utilize the faction system. Create a couple of factions wherever you want to have the campaign based out of. They don't have be as dramatically opposed as the ones used in the Realms, but simply represent broad groups the adventurers may work for, such as nobility, churches, wealthy merchants, etc. The players don't join the factions, but successful adventures grant Renown for one of those groups (whoever hired them or benefited from it). This renown can be used to call in favors or to grant privileges. This gives "in world" benefits for their efforts, without grant mechanical benefits that you wish to avoid.

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Faction Renown seems like a good idea - it can be explicitly statted as an attribute, or eyeballed by the GM.

In my Shattered Star/Runelords game I had the Pathfinders offer skill training between adventures - PCs could add additional skill proficiencies. You could have different factions provide training in particular proficiencies, eg a bard's college or actor's troupe > Perform, nobles Persuasion or Intimidate, Rangers Survival & Nature, a mercenary company Athletics & Intimidate, a church provides Religion & History, a Wizard's Guild Arcana, etc. PCs could end up like Conan with umpteen skill proficiencies gained over years with many different groups/factions.

You can take it a level further and give out saving throw Proficiencies, which feels a lot but at level 3-4 is just +2 to a save.

Coin (common or rare) and Gems
Treasure (Art Works, Jewellery, Furniture/Fittings, Prize Horse...etc)
Monstrous Pet (Griffon, Pegasus...etc)
Land and Titles
Advance in a hierarchical Organisation, Society, Guild or Faction (renown) - perhaps requiring reallocation of post (i.e. Archbishop)
Acquisition of Vessels, Keeps, Caravans or Tavern/Inn, Smithy, Library ...etc
Reputation and Prestige
Languages and Tool Proficiencies
Faith (per DMG)
Contacts, Allies, Connections - i.e. Religious, Scholarly/Academic (Sages), Underworld, Royalty, Craftsmen, Navigators, Monsters (Dragons, Outer Realm Beings)
Romance (Courtship, Beating of Suitor/s, Engagement, Marriage, Children)
Spells
Lore i.e. Research Material, Rare/Archaic Maps, Planar, Teleportation Circles
Magical Item improvements i.e. A Ring of Jumping that may provide limited flight, weapon imbued with an additional minor property
Acquisition of rare materials for spells or magical items
Plot Points (per DMG)

EDIT: @Reynard despite the above, my advice for your game is not a glacial advancement of 1 RL year = 1 Level up, unless of course if your players really buy into that style of game.

Rather...

Cap Hit Points based on size;
Change up the Rest mechanic and tie it into the Exhaustion mechanic (I'm using this);
Buff up monsters (that goes without saying);
Require something extraordinary in the fiction to advance characters from level x to y.
(For instance, in my campaign they destroyed a Beholder that had been feeding on the essence of a dead deity, once they destroyed the beholder that essence was released and the PCs were awash with it, allowing them to access level 10 and higher);
Change up the setting from village to town to epic to cosmic. Do not be afraid to have the PCs be feared;

There are mechanical rewards and such as gold, reputation points, experience, and then there are not quantifiable story "rewards," such as achieving a goal from a player's backstory or saving a town.

Usually the story awards are more fun and rewarding, but don't give the same feeling of quantifiable progress. However, if you construct the story in such a way that story checkpoints are clear and give the same feeling of satisfaction and progress, you could just rely entirely on them. Like if your story is about finding the 10-part MacGuffin of 10 parts, each time they find a part, they will have a feeling of advancement.

DND is so much about level advancement I wonder if you wouldn't be better off with a different system.

I can see story based awards based on goals. If you spend the last 6 months defeating the knights of blah-blah and they are finally vanquished, you should get something since you are not advancing a level to next take on the undead knights of blah-blah. You would need to play up the locals giving free drinks and such for saving them (fame), and offerings of the dukes child for marriage (politics). Once you get a keep to call your own then you have other problems and you need rewards to give you bonuses.

I do not have the stronghold guide by Matt Corville (sp) but what I have seen of it may proove good for having a stronghold, like attracting followers. If you roll and get scribes to show up, you can make scrolls for free/ half cost. Things like this.

Because I’m skimpy on XP/milestones, i like to give mechanical give one-offs. They can be many things, some that can be activated with inspiration, others that give inspiration in a specific circumstance.

Recently, I had the players roll for a (somewhat) random epic boon that they could only use once. The barbarian is planning on using his “turn miss into a bit” for a specific combat he has foreseen, the wizard used his quickened spell already. The Druid, who got lucky, is still sitting on his 9th-level spell slot for the opportune moment.

Once I gave a player a second background ability (and a tool proficiency IIRC), and another time a “bank” of hit dice to take from.

i also like minor magic items, like a lucky charm granting a reroll once per level, or a flower that protects against charm person for a few days before it whithers

I was a player in a Tomb of Annihilation campaign where we all learned sub-skill "specialties" that would give a +2 bonus to some non-combat check. In that campaign the purpose was to differentiate characters, because otherwise the wilderness campaign pushes everyone towards the same skill set (Survival, Nature, Perception, Athletics, cook's utensils, etc.). But you could do something similar in a long-running campaign as an alternate form of advancement -- give each skill 3-6 "specialties" that the player can learn.

You could also make up combat maneuvers and spell maneuvers for the PCs to learn over time. These need to be less impactful than class abilities or feats -- like, with a particular type of weapon you can take -2 to attack for +2 to damage, or for a certain spell you learn how to cast it with a different area. The goal of such "secret techniques" is to increase the PC's versatility in combat, which is a SLIGHT power boost, without directly increasing their numbers.

I tend to give out feats or skill proficiency related to whatever they've been working on in-game.

The value of monetary rewards tends to decrease dramatically the longer the game goes on and there are always certain types of characters upon whom money is wasted (monks, saints, some paladins).

But, your goals are doomed to failure. The players will turn whatever rewards you give them into ways to "outgrow" your setting. They will turn money into forts. They will turn followers into soldiers. They will turn forts into castles. They will turn soldiers into armies. They will turn feats into tactics, they'll turn skills into leverage.

D&D is a game of growth, you cannot truly remove that element from the game, not for the long term anyway. Maybe for short games, but not games of years.

One of the things that always bugged me about D&D advancement was that you can't cast spells above your level, period. If you have enough XP to cast 3rd-level spells, you can cast fireball just fine. If you don't, you can't, no matter how long you've been researching it in your tower, no matter how hard you try, no matter how important it is. That seems weird and contrary to the genre. It's also inconsistent with most combat and skill activities -- anybody can attempt to swing a greatsword or pick a lock, it's just a question of success rate. So in a super-slow-advancing campaign, I'd come up with a way for a spellcaster of any level to try casting higher-level spells, but it would be risky, with a real possibility that you fry yourself.

77IM said:

One of the things that always bugged me about D&D advancement was that you can't cast spells above your level, period. If you have enough XP to cast 3rd-level spells, you can cast fireball just fine. If you don't, you can't, no matter how long you've been researching it in your tower, no matter how hard you try, no matter how important it is. That seems weird and contrary to the genre. It's also inconsistent with most combat and skill activities -- anybody can attempt to swing a greatsword or pick a lock, it's just a question of success rate. So in a super-slow-advancing campaign, I'd come up with a way for a spellcaster of any level to try casting higher-level spells, but it would be risky, with a real possibility that you fry yourself.

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In my game an arcane caster can cast any spell that he or she has the skill to cast. Illusions require the illusion spell skill. What the "slots" are used for at higher character levels are for scaling spells. We call these orders of magic. You begin at order 1 at first level and gain an order every odd level. Using illusions as an example an order 1 illusion will affect a single person, an order 2 illusion can affect 2 people if you did not want to include friendly person or could be an area affect if you don't care about your comrades.

You can cast a spell of a higher order than you have access too, however you take damage for doing so. Magic cannot heal this damage only time can.