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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 8121122" data-attributes="member: 29398">A few thoughts:One thing to avoid (and you're already finding this out, just one session in!) is to be tempted to give out xp after every session.  Why?  Because of exactly what you've already hit: you feel pressured to give out xp for a session in which one could argue few if any xp were actually earned.Instead, I'll keep notes on xp for monsters killed (I don't do xp-for-gp) and other significant events e.g. if a Thief overcomes a particularly difficult trap; and I'll give 'em out every few sessions when I think of it*.  When I do give them out, however, I'll read out what they're for and who gets what for each encounter or event - and often the players will catch me as having missed something (I'm the first to admit my note-taking can be atrocious!) - such that each player ends up with a string of numbers to add up.* - the exception is if I know someone's close to bumping I'll give out xp every in-game morning, for the previous adventuring day.Characters get xp individually.  Thus, if characters A, B and E took part in an encounter while C and D were elsewhere or asleep, then only A, B and E would get any xp for it.  Obviously, this and other factors mean characters will bump at different times and at different rates leading to in-party level disparity being almost inevitable.The PCs only get xp after a night's rest (or a long rest, in 5e terms).At the end of each adventure I also give out what we call a 'dungeon bonus'.  The theory behind this is that it in a small way makes up for the xp they'd have otherwise got from treasure; I rationalize it as being a cumulation of all the little bits of xp earned by simple day-to-day exploration, info gathering, and risk-taking during the adventure that otherwise wouldn't ever get recorded (your initial session sounds like it'd fall into this bucket).  There's a very (very!) loosey-goosey formula I use for this but it usually comes down to a simple 'eye test' on my part: if the adventure already had gobs of xp the bonus is likely to be smaller than if an equally-risky adventure didn't provide much for xp, for example.</blockquote>

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