XP for session accounts?

[S'mon]

I was thinking I'd start giving bonus XP for character-perspective written session accounts. I find reading them both helps me remember the session events, and helps me get a handle on the perspective of the PC.
For my 5e game I'm giving individual XP equal to an 'Easy' encounter. For my Classic D&D game
I'm looking at 5000 XP for a full account (the Rules Cyclopedia rules recommend max 1/20 of a level per discretionary award, and that's 1/20 what a Cleric needs to level). Ideally different players would contribute - can be more than one account per session. In-character the justification is that the PC is looking back on events and learning from them.

What do you think? I recall doing this with 3e/PF, one player almost always did the
accounts and if individual XP there could be an issue with even small XP and thus level
imbalances causing a power imbalance, so I used group awards only. Individual awards
should be ok in 5e I hope, and certainly in Classic.

 

[delericho]

I did that once upon a time, plus XP awards for providing a character background, for keeping a quote sheet, and so on. Eventually I gave it up - if the rewards were small enough that they didn't unbalance the game, they were small enough that nobody bothered. Besides, it became apparent that the people who put most into the game were also the ones who got most out, so a reward of this sort was unnecessary anyway.

But YMMV, of course. Certainly, I don't think a small reward will break anything.

 

[Water Bob]

I think that anything that improves the experience of the game is worth XP. I think it's no different than awarding XP for good roleplaying or problem solving, which is pretty common.

OTOH, you'd have to consider if all of your players are likely to put the effort forth to write these background. It might not play well within the group is one player was sucking up a lot of XP, gaining levels because of the way he wrote--not the way he played.

If you do this, you may consider awarding the XP in a scaling manner, depending on level, so that lower level characters receive less than higher level characters. Maybe 1/20th of what is needed for the next character level. This way, the award will always be something attractive to the players, and you won't over-award a lower level character.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

While I dig the idea of records of sessions (I do these for my games), yeah, in my experience with individual XP bonuses, there invariably ends up being either an imbalance or someone getting salty about not getting as much XP as someone else.

What do you think? I recall doing this with 3e/PF, one player almost always did the
accounts and if individual XP there could be an issue with even small XP and thus level
imbalances causing a power imbalance, so I used group awards only. Individual awards
should be ok in 5e I hope, and certainly in Classic.

 

[pdzoch]

I think rewarding players who add to the experience of the game is more than just appropriate. However, I had not thought about the perception of unfairness or perhaps jealousy on those being rewarded game advantages for non-game (or more accurately, not in game character related) activities.

It seems that since this account adds to the world building lore usually in the domain of the DM, that perhaps a DM appreciation gift is more appropriate instead of an in-game gift. (dice, mini-fig, paint brushes, paint, etc -- Something small and affordable, but helps with the game).

 

[Legatus Legionis]

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[Ralif Redhammer]

Yeah, I also wish I had adventure recaps from campaigns past. I only started doing so about eight or nine years ago, but I've been very diligent ever since.

In 2e, there were tons of optional individual XP bonus awards and I tried out using them. It wasn't long until I was getting bugged by people over other people getting more XP than them. Most of the time it was over role-playing awards.

As much as I think the person that ends up coming up with an interesting character with a engaging past and personality should be rewarded, U don't think XP is necessarily the way to do it.

 

[Legatus Legionis]

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[Grogg of the North]

I've tried doing these in the past. Usually a full account of the session was too much to ask for from players between work and families. I usually provide the session summaries as the DM now. What is interesting, I've found, is that there are things I will totally gloss over mentally and the players will latch onto obsessively.

I do ask for my players to complete in character homework via email. It's simple stuff like "The mayor's office needs a name for your adventuring group. Come up with one." or "What did your character have for breakfast today?". I always try to hit my players with "What is it your character wants to do? Do they have a goal? What do they do when there are no dungeons to go into?" early on in a campaign, too.

Rewards tend to be little things like catch up xp, temp hp, bonus dice to rolls, etc.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

It's DM assigned homework and I don't think it's a good idea. Even less so if you attach more than a TOKEN amount of xp to it.

Not everyone has the time. Not everyone has the inclination. Not everyone has the skill to do it well. YOU may find it interesting and useful and want to encourage it, but that doesn't mean the players automatically share that perspective. The player who doesn't, and then sees another player getting sizeable xp rewards for it will feel they are being shafted for no reason other than they do not enjoy participating in the game in the way that the DM mandates they must. To some extent they'll be correct. The greater the xp award you attach to it the greater indication you give that you are attaching as much or more importance to their written accounts than their initial live participation, and that is surely NOT what players signed on for.