A DM's judgment...

[Tewligan]

Your DM is hiding something from you. (S)he is keeping back something that has made him/her upset. The could giant encounter was an unconcious way of making you pay for that thing. A conversation needs to be had, but you must first look to yourself to see what thing about the DM's way of running the game has annoyed you in the past that you haven't spoken up about. Look hard, it's there. Once you find it, you and your DM need to talk about what's bothering you with the other. This should be done in a spirit of concern and friendship, not as adversaries.

THAT'S a lot to read into a DM not adjusting the encounter level, Dr. Phil!

Trainz, between this and you mentioning that your DM sometimes doesn't give XP for risk-free encounters, I'm guessing that your DM is intentionally slowing down the PCs' level advancement. This is, IMO, a good thing. If you're enjoying everything else about the game, then just play on and don't sweat the number crunching.

 

[Outlaw]

XP

If you're enjoying everything else about the game, then just play on and don't sweat the number crunching.

I think that's the perfect answer. Don't think of it as being cheated out of XP. Think of it as having your advancement slowed so you can enjoy yourself that much more!

In my games, I give out XP when the party has had a significant time to rest (typically a full night's uninterupted sleep). This may be the result of several encounters so unless they've been number crunching encounter by encounter, they just add the total and we go on our merry way.

If they ask, I'm more than willing to admit that I give out 1/4 the listed XP. I don't like my campaigns moving so quickly. It's good to savour the journey of becoming a hero.

 

[ced1106]

But we're only getting one side of the story, so let's not rake the DM over the coals, shall we?

Agreed. I'd like to hear the DM's side of this.

Actually, I'd like the D&D XP system to be less "grainy" than four significant figures and crossed with Baron Munschausen (sp), but that's another topic.


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

 

[Trainz@work]

Thanks for all your input guys.

Since the rest of his game is fairly fun, I will stop worrying about the XP I get and start looking at it like "slower advancment" to myself like someone else suggested.