Who’s ready to abandon XP for defeating monsters as the XP standard in Next?
I hate XP for monsters and XP for treasure is a little better but not by much. I’d like D&D next to outline a number of options for XP including “whenever the DM feels appropriate to the campaign” and have a default option for the XP system to be built 100% on character goals. The players and DM would jointly agree on the goal and XP amount with guidelines.
For example, the players decide that their characters are interested in “finding out and stopping villagers from disappearing”. The DM decides that is a good goal with sufficient challenge and assigns an XP amount to the goal. Now the PCs have the freedom to accomplish that goal in any way possible and get the same amount of XP whether they fight 1 monster or 20, whether they negotiate with the bandits or kill them all, etc.
Yes, the player/DM negotiation of goals is Meta but XP and leveling is Meta too, so I don’t care. The goal however, has to be based on in-game character interests and phrased as such. The group could have a couple major goals at one time, and perhaps each character could have a minor goal that is related to their particular interests as well (“while in this city I want to track down my long lost uncle who might have information on whether my father survived the battle of Dungerhill”). The entire group gets XP for these individual character goals to encourage the group. Goals can change whenever the players decide they want to abandon a goal and pursue a new one.
A side benefit of this XP system is that the players and DM are on the same page on what they want as the central focus of the session/next several sessions. Yes, this can always change based on the events that take place. This system is not meant to curtail player/character freedom, which differentiates it from video game quests. You can always pick a new goal and it can be anything (subject to agreement with the DM). Yes, the agreement with DM part means it can't really be anything but this level sets DM/player expectations too, which I think is good. The players and DM should have decent agreement of the space/genre they want to play in anyway or there will be problems. If all the players want to set goals of "be the best candle maker in all of the land" and the DM doesn't want to agree to the those goals, then that is a fault of players and DM that don't want the same thing out of the game and not the fault of this goal oriented XP system.
Monsters should have “Challenge points” or “Levels” or something that allows you to create the level of challenge you want in an encounter by grouping together monsters (like 3e CR or 4e XP budgets) but I don’t think these should be linked to XP and character leveling as default (although certainly that could be an option or module).
I hate XP for monsters and XP for treasure is a little better but not by much. I’d like D&D next to outline a number of options for XP including “whenever the DM feels appropriate to the campaign” and have a default option for the XP system to be built 100% on character goals. The players and DM would jointly agree on the goal and XP amount with guidelines.
For example, the players decide that their characters are interested in “finding out and stopping villagers from disappearing”. The DM decides that is a good goal with sufficient challenge and assigns an XP amount to the goal. Now the PCs have the freedom to accomplish that goal in any way possible and get the same amount of XP whether they fight 1 monster or 20, whether they negotiate with the bandits or kill them all, etc.
Yes, the player/DM negotiation of goals is Meta but XP and leveling is Meta too, so I don’t care. The goal however, has to be based on in-game character interests and phrased as such. The group could have a couple major goals at one time, and perhaps each character could have a minor goal that is related to their particular interests as well (“while in this city I want to track down my long lost uncle who might have information on whether my father survived the battle of Dungerhill”). The entire group gets XP for these individual character goals to encourage the group. Goals can change whenever the players decide they want to abandon a goal and pursue a new one.
A side benefit of this XP system is that the players and DM are on the same page on what they want as the central focus of the session/next several sessions. Yes, this can always change based on the events that take place. This system is not meant to curtail player/character freedom, which differentiates it from video game quests. You can always pick a new goal and it can be anything (subject to agreement with the DM). Yes, the agreement with DM part means it can't really be anything but this level sets DM/player expectations too, which I think is good. The players and DM should have decent agreement of the space/genre they want to play in anyway or there will be problems. If all the players want to set goals of "be the best candle maker in all of the land" and the DM doesn't want to agree to the those goals, then that is a fault of players and DM that don't want the same thing out of the game and not the fault of this goal oriented XP system.
Monsters should have “Challenge points” or “Levels” or something that allows you to create the level of challenge you want in an encounter by grouping together monsters (like 3e CR or 4e XP budgets) but I don’t think these should be linked to XP and character leveling as default (although certainly that could be an option or module).
