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Wandering Monsters 01/29/2014:Level Advancement...
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<blockquote data-quote="DMZ2112" data-source="post: 6253653" data-attributes="member: 78752"><p>The equation for how many levels a PC gains in an arbitrary length of time (we'll call it a month) looks like this:</p><p></p><p>levels/XP * XP/encounter * encounters/hour * hours/session * sessions/month</p><p></p><p>It's a string of increasingly difficult to predict ratios. Setting an XP requirement for levels is fairly straightforward. Setting XP values for encounters is more difficult, given the roughly infinite number of possibilities, but is achievable within a reasonable margin of error given a set of logical rules.</p><p> </p><p>From there the bottom falls out of the prospect. The number of encounters per hour, hours per session, and sessions per month are all unlinked variables, different for every group, and therefore subject to broad estimation. So by the time you finish the equation you've exponentially increased your previously reasonable margin of error by the power of four.</p><p> </p><p>You can streamline your system so that an average encounter is /supposed/ to take an hour, bringing your third variable as close to 1 as possible, but that's the end of the developer's power over the players and it is not particularly effective. It relies too heavily on controlling encounter complexity and player focus.</p><p> </p><p>You can estimate the number of hours per session at five, because that is /probably/ the top of the bell curve, but right off the bat I don't know anyone who games for five hours. Four, yes, six, yes, but at five you're already making what seems to me to be a faulty assumption. Everyone is going to be slightly off the mark.</p><p></p><p>And finally, sessions per month is a total non-starter. An individual player or dungeon master might be in different campaigns with different values here. One game meets weekly, another monthly, another biweekly. Maybe he games with friends he only sees once in six months.</p><p></p><p>Maybe someone can set me straight, I don't know -- I just don't see the value in wasting thought and paper trying to pin down a phantom.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DMZ2112, post: 6253653, member: 78752"] The equation for how many levels a PC gains in an arbitrary length of time (we'll call it a month) looks like this: levels/XP * XP/encounter * encounters/hour * hours/session * sessions/month It's a string of increasingly difficult to predict ratios. Setting an XP requirement for levels is fairly straightforward. Setting XP values for encounters is more difficult, given the roughly infinite number of possibilities, but is achievable within a reasonable margin of error given a set of logical rules. From there the bottom falls out of the prospect. The number of encounters per hour, hours per session, and sessions per month are all unlinked variables, different for every group, and therefore subject to broad estimation. So by the time you finish the equation you've exponentially increased your previously reasonable margin of error by the power of four. You can streamline your system so that an average encounter is /supposed/ to take an hour, bringing your third variable as close to 1 as possible, but that's the end of the developer's power over the players and it is not particularly effective. It relies too heavily on controlling encounter complexity and player focus. You can estimate the number of hours per session at five, because that is /probably/ the top of the bell curve, but right off the bat I don't know anyone who games for five hours. Four, yes, six, yes, but at five you're already making what seems to me to be a faulty assumption. Everyone is going to be slightly off the mark. And finally, sessions per month is a total non-starter. An individual player or dungeon master might be in different campaigns with different values here. One game meets weekly, another monthly, another biweekly. Maybe he games with friends he only sees once in six months. Maybe someone can set me straight, I don't know -- I just don't see the value in wasting thought and paper trying to pin down a phantom. [/QUOTE]
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