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<blockquote data-quote="TBeholder" data-source="post: 6958543" data-attributes="member: 41606">Good thing the developers of Dark Sun, Spelljammer etc didn't know this. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/nervous.png"&nbsp; class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":heh:" title="Nervous Laugh&nbsp; &nbsp; :heh:" data-shortname=":heh:" />&nbsp;I suddenly have a vague guess at what the problem is. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> &nbsp;For most settings, &quot;weeks without an encounter&quot; is sane, unless you are on a war. Or, yes, in a dungeon.&nbsp;Maybe. The root of your problem seems to be that in *D&amp;D character level is all-important, and most or all (depending on the version) XP is &quot;defeat&quot; XP. No combat - no XP.In the end, a party have to level up somehow to deal with tougher problems. AD&amp;D2 has decent amount of Individual Awards (and more of them e.g. in Dark Sun), and before that there was XP for loot. It works nicely as a diet supplement, but is not so great as the main source. And warriors have Individual Awards, obviously, for fighting.Levelling up is not really necessary for the game, but it is necessary if PCs are to handle a tough fight later. So if there's not enough of legitimate XP, DM have a choice:A. not using showy tough challenges that low-level PCs cannot beat (no dragons, no problem),B. some form of deus ex machina (which makes the tough part unsatisfactory) orC. toughen PCs up by throwing in arbitrary &quot;quest awards&quot;, etc - sometimes it can be justified, sometimes it's but another paper-thin disguise for deus ex machina.In some old modules authors had to cheat to make sure PCs are up to it at some later point by using XP steroids:&nbsp;Kind of like this.&nbsp;Retroclones like Castles &amp; Crusades? The problem is, most D&amp;D retroclones were, obviously, made specifically to play much like old D&amp;D. So why would this change much?If you want non-D&amp;D relatives, Dragonlance: Fifth Age was an adaptation of SAGA system, IIRC. Warhammer Fantasy RP. Alternity (there's a remake in the workshop currently), though its magic system (FX skills) is rather sketchy.Either way, it would be easier to find if you formulated requirements - what exactly result do you want.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="TBeholder, post: 6958543, member: 41606"] Good thing the developers of Dark Sun, Spelljammer etc didn't know this. :heh: I suddenly have a vague guess at what the problem is. ;) For most settings, "weeks without an encounter" is sane, unless you are on a war. Or, yes, in a dungeon. Maybe. The root of your problem seems to be that in *D&D character level is all-important, and most or all (depending on the version) XP is "defeat" XP. No combat - no XP. In the end, a party have to level up [I]somehow[/I] to deal with tougher problems. AD&D2 has decent amount of Individual Awards (and more of them e.g. in Dark Sun), and before that there was XP for loot. It works nicely as a diet supplement, but is not so great as the main source. And warriors have Individual Awards, obviously, for fighting. Levelling up is [I]not really necessary for the game[/I], but it is necessary if PCs are to handle a tough fight later. So if there's not enough of legitimate XP, DM have a choice: A. not using showy tough challenges that low-level PCs cannot beat (no dragons, no problem), B. some form of [I]deus ex machina[/I] (which makes the tough part unsatisfactory) or C. toughen PCs up by throwing in arbitrary "quest awards", etc - sometimes it can be justified, sometimes it's but another paper-thin disguise for [I]deus ex machina[/I]. In some old modules authors had to cheat to make sure PCs are up to it at some later point by using XP steroids: Kind of like this. Retroclones like Castles & Crusades? The problem is, most D&D retroclones were, obviously, made specifically to play much like old D&D. So why would this change much? If you want non-D&D relatives, [I]Dragonlance: Fifth Age[/I] was an adaptation of SAGA system, IIRC. Warhammer Fantasy RP. Alternity (there's a remake in the workshop currently), though its magic system (FX skills) is rather sketchy. Either way, it would be easier to find if you formulated requirements - what exactly result do you want. [/QUOTE]

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