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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 6821753" data-attributes="member: 29398">Well, the characters often don't; and that's what can make it fun! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> "Should" in your eyes maybe.  The party might be a team but every single character in it has their own agenda and their own reasons for being there...some might be noble, some might not.Except if someone else took the risk I'd argue just as loudly that they should get the xp.Some bold accusations there.I see an adventuring party in many ways like a pro sports team.  Yes all the players are in theory working as a team, but they're not all there for the same reason.  Some are playing for a better contract next season.  Some are just going through the motions earning a paycheck.  Some are trying to get their coach fired for whatever reason.  And within the team they're all competing against each other for more playing time and recognition.  Further, some of them might despise each other as people.And in some ways it is, if you look at it through the sports-team lens - my new character might have just come in as the party's second-string Cleric, but rest assured I'm going to do what I can over time to make myself useful and valuable (and entertaining) to the party; and if the party's current number one Cleric isn't pulling her weight then I'm sooner or later going to take her job.  Just like real life.The crazy thing is that on this point we largely agree*.  My point is that if the party isn't working together because some characters aren't pulling their weight, why should these passengers be rewarded?* - note however that our games might be a bit unusual in that in-character party infighting - even to the point of death - is allowed; as are romances, crushes, rivalries, jealousies, and so on.  Our crew all know each other very well out-of-game and can keep the character stuff in character.  Sometimes these events are the ones most talked about after, and on nights where the party wants to do its own thing the DM can put his feet up and relax. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Thems as does the work gets the rewards...again, largely like real life.Let me jump to one of [MENTION=82812]Tectuktitlay[/MENTION] 's examples and show how this can go so very wrong even in an all-the-same-level game.A party of 5 run by long-time friends take to the field with a simple (and stereotypical) mission: rescue a princess from a dragon.  Bring her back and there's a knighthood in it for each of you.  Our 5 intrepid adventurers aren't high enough level to get revival in the field, but they otherwise think they have enough going for them that this should be a do-able mission; and so off they go. We have in our rather ordinary starting lineup:Aloysius the Cleric (Human) - wise, willing, somewhat noble, not great at combat but stands in when he can, uses spells to good effect, long-time party memberBjarnni the Ranger (Human) - prefers scouting over fighting, really good tracker, a bit of a loner but a long-time party memberCalliandre the Magic-user (Elf) - a wild card, unpredictable, gets good results from her spells by sheer luck rather than planning, long-time party memberDwalin the Fighter (Dwarf) - tough as nails, can tank with the best, always stands in and defends his party, long-time party memberEeyore the Thief (Part-Orc) - tough and sturdy for a Thief, competent, new recruit (replacing Fred who died last time out) but passed all the party's pre-screening testsSo, our stalwart crew heads off and a few days later easily finds the dragon...but then things go wrong.  After some good planning and pre-casting Aloysius and Dwalin take it on while Bjarnni shoots arrows from cover and Calliandre casts spells at it.  Eeyore, who was supposed to sneak around and backstrike the dragon to distract it, makes himself scarce as soon as the combat starts, deciding instead to use the combat's distraction to try and find the princess; the fact that doing this also nicely keeps him out of danger plays into this snap decision.  The dragon wins...mostly.  Dwalin and Aloysius hurt it but then get shredded by its claws while one breath weapon does in Calliandre; so all three die.  On seeing this Bjarnni - who is here mostly for the treasure - tosses aside his bow and heroically takes on what's left of the dragon by himself, and brings it down.  Shortly after this Eeyore returns and announces he's found the princess but needs help opening the cage she's in (he claims to have failed his open locks roll but in fact never even tried, as he noticed the lock is trapped; and the other players do not know this); so he and Bjarnni go down and Bjarnni smashes the lock with a hammer.  In the meantime Eeyore, also unknown to any other player or character, has also skimmed some of the dragon's small expensive treasures for himself.It's not lost on Bjarnni that had Eeyore done his part in the battle it's very likely Aloysius and Dwalin could have survived (Calliandre, being a spindly Elf, was probably doomed no matter what); and he has some harsh words for Eeyore afterwards.  Then the two survivors scoop the (remaining) treasure and take the princess back to town, and Bjarnni and Eeyore become knights of the realm.So, here we have Eeyore who did nothing getting the greatest reward (knighthood *and* extra treasure); Bjarnni who pulled his weight and survived getting a decent reward (knighthood and treasure), and Aloysuis, Calliandre and Dwalin who pulled their weight and died maybe getting their names on a memorial plaque somewhere.  Everyone gets a level.Is this fair?I'm aware that the above is an extreme - almost ridiculous - example; but done a bit more subtly over the long run the Eeyores of the game end up richer and more decorated than the true heroes they've left for dead.  And as I'm all too often one of those in the left-for-dead brigade, I-as-player get annoyed; and I'm just not patient enough to turn the tables and play my own Eeyore-like character.  It's difficult to confront a player over this, however, as the counter-argument of the Eeyore-type character simply doing what it did out of a sense of self-preservation is just about impossible to refute.I'm also aware that using variable xp doesn't completely mitigate this, but in my system at least Bjarnni would get loads more xp for this trip than Eeyore would.  A second ongoing effect to note here is that it's now Bjarnni and Eeyore - neither of whom are exactly Good and who by now probably don't like each other very much - who are left rebuilding the party, and will likely recruit characters more suiting their own ethos.  Lan-"and while the new party they build might not accomplish very much of use, it'd probably be way more entertaining than the last lot"-efan</blockquote>

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