Sometimes, I give XP just for listening

[pawsplay]

I've done something recently I haven't done much before. A couple of times in my recent campaign, I interspersed a few combat or exploration heavy sessions with some NPC interactions, and basically talked in character for long stretches. The players seemed to enjoy it, not only for the exposition but the chance to ask questions.

This being D&D, that means no CR. So I gave out a fat story award based on their seeming to appreciate my effort to make it interesting, about three encounters worth.

1500 xp is not bad for sitting around watching pawsplay making furtive faces and hissing about evil plots and the troubled youths of villains.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Nothing wrong with occasional evenings of role play and other amateur theatrics!

 

[Clueless]

Hey, rule zero - you give XP when you want to.

 

[Hussar]

I ran a high RP game over OpenRPG some years ago. Because there was very little combat, and I really wanted to push rp, I came up with the following system:

Because I had a transcript of the session, I would simply go through and count the number of contributions each player made during the session. I would then multiply that by their level and then by a percentage based on the quality of contributions, usually about 80% to keep advancement at a nice pace.

In sessions where combat dominated, I simply used stock xp awards.

It did work very well.

 

[jdrakeh]

Iron Heroes actually has some written rules for XP variations (including story awards) that amount to more than simple handwaving. I've been looking at using some of those in my planned Northern Crown game (as well as the vastly superior AoO rules presented in IH). Really, Iron Heroes is loaded with some seriously cool non-standard rules for d20. I'm sorry I didn't pick it up earlier than what I did.

Ditto Legends of the Samurai by RPG Objects. Totally tangential to the thread, but this game also has some great non-standard rules for d20 within its pages (although there are some cut and paste errors in LotS). Specifically, its simple point-based magic system and rules for honor are great. I wish that this much thought had been put into d20 Rokugan and Oriental Adventures

Sorry. Just had to get that last part off of my chest. I've been buying a lot of lesser known (or underappreciated) d20 stuff lately, and so far, I like very much what I see.

 

[shilsen]

I always give XP just for listening. And talking. And killing things. And getting a drink.

PCs in my game get a lump sum of XP per session, so that they advance at a speed I'm comfortable with. And they get it irrespective of what they're doing in the session. I find that approach frees players up to focus on doing what their characters want to and not worry about doing things that'll gain them XP, since they'll gain it anyway.

 

[maddman75]

I always give XP just for listening. And talking. And killing things. And getting a drink.

PCs in my game get a lump sum of XP per session, so that they advance at a speed I'm comfortable with. And they get it irrespective of what they're doing in the session. I find that approach frees players up to focus on doing what their characters want to and not worry about doing things that'll gain them XP, since they'll gain it anyway.

I do the same. I consider this, along with the whole CR/Encounter level system to be a tool to help new GMs. I'm not a new GM, I'm perfectly comfortable both creating appropriate foes as well as generating awards on my own.

 

[Nifft]

They should advance as fast as you think they should advance. If the time between advancement isn't entirely filled with stabbing and exploding, that's fine too.

-- N