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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ilbranteloth" data-source="post: 6976294" data-attributes="member: 6778044">I guess this is one way to look at why I've used something along the lines of "milestone" XP/leveling.Any construct/rule in the game that causes the players to modify the behavior of their characters within the game is what I'm trying to avoid.One of my golden rules for game design is that the "rules should support the world" and not the other way around.My campaigns are based on developing characters and their stories over the course of years. A given player will frequently have many characters over that time, all "active" although usually only one active in a given session, or series of sessions that eventually form a story arc.I expect that the characters will generally find combat a relatively undesirable option, because it's, well, dangerous. The majority of their opponents won't fight to the death either, unless there's a good reason to.Characters are assumed to practice their skills, etc., in the evenings after stopping for the night, but before bed, as well as "off-screen" time when they aren't the featured character.Gaining levels is a slow process, and part of a lifetime of a mix of intense practice and/or real-life experiences (adventuring, etc.), and the majority of characters don't typically reach much more than 5th level in the process. I still use the concept of level limits based on ability scores (from AD&D), and most people can't achieve more than that, in fact many can't reach 3rd level.Experience is a mix of success, failures, training, and time. The more time invested, the faster it occurs. In some cases, the characters in a given active adventure level up at the same time, but not always. It's really a question of where in the lifetime story arc of that character that the player and I feel they've reached a new plateau.I compare the concept to real-life situations like school, intense training for top athletes, my hobby as a guitarist, and general observation of how I myself learn. A lot of people don't allow characters to gain a level in the middle of a dungeon, or it can only be during a rest, or they must return to home and locate a trainer. In my personal experiences, I'll often find that I can attempt to learn a new piece of music, and it will be difficult to play. Then one day I'll find that I can play it, often when I haven't practiced it for several days. There are other times where I'm just playing better, all around better. Not just one song, or piece, but my skill as a whole has improved. Suddenly there are a number of things that I can learn practically on the spot, whereas similar pieces would have been difficult in what seems like yesterday.By not using experience (in the traditional sense), the goal of the PCs is whatever they are trying to accomplish in the world. It's not a question of trying to kill more monsters, and it's usually not driven by treasure either. Instead, there are a lot of plot threads happening at once, and the party will choose to follow one of the existing ones, or a new one, or go looking for something else. I realize that the game isn't designed for this approach per se, although it's the way I've been doing it for 30+ years. It won't fit every campaign either. It's ironic, because I love tweaking and working on the mechanics of the game, trying to figure out how to make the rules better support modeling the stories and scenes we want to see. But the approach is to remove the rules themselves from the decision-making process of the players, and by extension, the characters.</blockquote>

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