Not letting the players know how much experience they have

[Primitive Screwhead]

I've heard about people just arbitrarily leveling the party when they felt they deserved it, but I don't know if I like that. I want something more defined than that.

In my campaign, before converting to 4e, I 'used' the XP rules to track where the party was, but didn't share that information with my players. At the appropriate place, both in story and based on the earned XP values, I would let them know to level up thier characters.

For the magic item creation issue, I used Pirate Cat's alternate system {lost link to the thread in HR forum} that grants PC's 5 + 1/2 level Action Points when they level up. These AP's can be used in the normal method or be burned to gain 1,000 xp for the purpose of crafting items.
Non-casters can 'donate' xp at a transfer cost of 3:1, enabling the fighter to help out in item creation.

The system worked very well, altho I often had to remind my players that they had APs to spend. They were not worried about chasing XP, but focused more on the story itself.

I haven't adapted this to 4e yet.

 

[Delta]

If you show up for the entire session, you gain 4 experience. If you show up late or leave early (and let me know of this in advance), you gain 3 experience. If you can't make it to the session (and let me know of this in advance), you still gain 2 experience. Between any two sessions, 10 experience can be traded to gain a level.

I wouldn't use it myself, but I salute the elegance of that system. Well played.

 

[HelloChristian]

I like to give the PCs their xps. It's fun for the players to watch their totals grow. Their anticipation rises as they near the next level. It motivates them to get out there and mix it up.