XP and time passages

[klofft]

At present, I don't make them lose accumulated XP; however, they do need to spend a single night in a "non-adventure" situation (i.e., a night of relative security) in order to gain a level. In other words, I don't let them level up in the middle of a dungeon, for instance. They have no problem with that rule.

(BTW, I don't use the DMG training rules because I personally just don't like them.)

I would prefer a house rule along the lines of "At least 1 month per present level must pass before gaining a level." That would mean 15 years minimum between 1st and 20th level. I proposed it; they balked pretty severely.

The problem is also compounded for me because I tend to use prepared adventure materials (it's all I really have time for). So, as I'm about to begin RHoD, I have to come to terms with the idea of the party gaining 5 levels in about 3 months' time.

Overall, I think I'm just in a "you lose" situation. Fortunately, the problem doesn't quite make me lose sleep at night; it's just not my personal preference (or the preference of one of my five players). I was just wondering what other house rules people had that I might be able to consider.

Thanks for all the responses.
C

 

[Old Drew Id]

We had two interesting solutions to this in two campaigns in our group:

In Medallions, we set up the adventures as "episodes". You could not level during an episode, and each one had a definite beginning and ending. An average episode ran about a week in game time. But the gap between episodes was usually about 2 months. Just as a challenge to the GM, after an episode was over, we rolled on a "gap between episodes" chart that could have the next episode start anywhere from 5 minutes to 6 months after the last episode ended.

We sped through what PC's wanted to do in the gap, such as a chance to re-equip, to train, build up a business or a reputation, etc. but really the gap was more just a chance for the PC to have a life that was not constant adventuring. The gap let the PC's hold down a job, have a love interest, etc.

As such, when that campaign went on hiatus, the PC's had gone up 9 levels in about a year and a half of game time. That was definitely enough time to cover their increases in skill, wealth, and reputation without it seeming unrealistic.


The other variation is one I recommend for an unusual campaign - the century campaign. We did this as a superhero campaign using Blood and Vigilance:

Basically, start at level 1 in the year 1900. Have an adventure which will cause the PC's to gain enough XP to reach the next level. Skip ahead about 5 years. Repeat until level 20, which should be about the year 2000.

Obviously, you will most likely have to retire your starting characters unless they have some form of "ageless" ability, but this is an intended feature of the campaign. In fact, you will likely retire several characters over the course of the campaign, assuming they all survive anyway. But you get to see the characters and the game world evolve and age over a much longer stretch than a normal campaign would allow. You see Captain Amazing appear as a young optimistic 20-something soldier in 1940, gradually becoming a more sober and world-weary warrior in 1960, then a conservative elder statesman in 1980. You see the starting town grow from a small mining town in 1900 to a bustling metropolis in 2000, and watch as the problems change from busting horse-thieves in the park in 1900 to fighting entire platoons of the German Army in 1945 to communicating with the alien menace on the International Space Station in 2000.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

As long as the characters advance at a steady pace in real-time, I couldn't care less how long it takes them to advance in game-time. I really don't see the use of using houserules like 'only 1 level per X amount of time' because the DM can create adventure opportunities as often as he/she likes. Do you feel uncomfortable that the PCs have gained a whole level in just a week? Your solution is as simple as 'well, a year goes by in peace and comfort for all before disaster strikes once again.'

Edit: Leveling definately should NOT take so long in-game that a group of adventurers actually gains age categories. Yeah it hurts all the PCs, but not equally.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Lets see, I dont often have random travel encounters and i figure out the time it takes to travel between places based on mode of travel.
It varies really. In a game i ran from 2004-2005 more or less 8 months (real world. Closer to a year and half in game) the characters never got past 13th level, but in a game I ran from 2005-2006, with another good 8 months (again real world, but in game it took about a year) they ranged in levels from 21st-36th level.

I guess if you wanted to really slow down progression you could always say that when characters gain levels they need at least a full week of rest before the benefits of having gained the level kick in. You know to heal and rest and reflect what they have gone through as a person and practice their new found skills.

 

[Storyteller01]

You can't gain your next level until you've spent one month per level with someone of higher level in training.

If you can gain more than one level at that time, total training time is cumulative.

Forces down time between adventures, and forces players to travel out and look for teachers.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

You can't gain your next level until you've spent one month per level with someone of higher level in training.

What happens at higher levels in your campaigns? Are characters forced to retire when they can't find a level +1 NPC of their class or is it actually ALWAYS possible to find such a person?

Not a relevant question to the PCs, but how does the highest level NPC gain levels? How did anyone (NPC or PC) ever gain levels in the first place?

 

[Crothian]

What happens at higher levels in your campaigns? Are characters forced to retire when they can't find a level +1 NPC of their class or is it actually ALWAYS possible to find such a person?

Not a relevant question to the PCs, but how does the highest level NPC gain levels? How did anyone (NPC or PC) ever gain levels in the first place?

I'd say at higher levels the characters could quest to get trained by the gods or something epic like that.

 

[I'm A Banana]

IMC, this has been something of a self-correcting problem. As they gain levels, there are less things in the world that can truly challenge them -- things they have to seek out, or that have directly to do with the campaign, mostly. When you're 10th level, most NPC's are 3rd, and even the warrior-king peters out at about 7 or 8, it means that, unless you're dealing directly with the "campaign storyline," gaining levels is pretty rare.

That is, of course, when I bother with making levels make sense. In my more narrative campaigns it really doesn't matter that they gain 5 levels in a month (or a week), because they're the only creatures doing it. It makes sense because "desperate times call for desperate measures" and if they didn't evolve they'd die.