XP-free games (SoW)

[DNH]

I am considering running the SoW campaign without awarding XP. We have done this before in our group and it seems to work quite well. The idea is that certain points of the adventures require the characters to be a certain level and so the DM simply makes it so by fiat. An AP makes this particularly easy as each one starts off with a paragraph something like "The PCs should be 3rd level at the start, and they should be halfway through the 4th level by the end."

I was wondering if anyone else out there has been doing this for SoW already and, if so, if you have any advice. I would be particularly interested in hearing what points of progression you would use for each adventure so far. If not, does anyone have any thoughts on this approach?

Thanks.

 

[Oompa]

Well, i don't have any experience using this system but can't you just count up the xp they get and just say when they need to level?

So lets say they are going from 0 - 1000, they have 10 encounters, get 100 xp per encounter but your players wont know that, and you just tell them when they hit 2..

My players would go mad and nuts if i did this..

 

[MrBeens]

I am considering running the SoW campaign without awarding XP. We have done this before in our group and it seems to work quite well. The idea is that certain points of the adventures require the characters to be a certain level and so the DM simply makes it so by fiat. An AP makes this particularly easy as each one starts off with a paragraph something like "The PCs should be 3rd level at the start, and they should be halfway through the 4th level by the end."

I was wondering if anyone else out there has been doing this for SoW already and, if so, if you have any advice. I would be particularly interested in hearing what points of progression you would use for each adventure so far. If not, does anyone have any thoughts on this approach?

Thanks.

This is how we do it. Works really well.
There have been other threads about this method of levelling up and quite a few groups are also doing it.

 

[Piratecat]

I haven't awarded xp in about five or six years, and all my players are fine with that. I let them know when they level - usually every five (three hour long) sessions nowadays, but that might vary depending on how big the encounters are. I did this because our campaigns are really role-playing heavy and tend to have less combat.

It's a matter of expectations, though. If my players were really motivated by xp, I might use Oompa's method.

 

[Rel]

I'm running my 4e campaign without XP and it's going perfectly fine. If the players are fine with it then I can't see any reason to use it.

 

[Truename]

I'm running SOW without XP and really liking it. It gives me flexibility to add/remove/change encounters without worrying about derailing the path.

 

[shilsen]

I haven't awarded XP in years, and out of the DMs I play with (currently 5, between tabletop and online) only 1 still uses XP. That involves a lot of different groups and players, and all of them seem to have benefited from dropping XP. Not only does it make things easier for the DMs, allowing us/them to not bother tracking/awarding XP or worry about PCs being too high or low a level when using an AP, but it does so for the PCs too, freeing us/them up to focus on just doing what their characters would want to (and what the players find enjoyable) and not worry how much XP their actions will net.

In short, I'm a big fan of eliminating XP.

 

[keterys]

I've dropped XP for some years, too - one of my players recently started running so that I could actually play some and was giving out XP and the other players kinda looked at him in horror then had me start tracking it for the group so I could just say when everyone levelled.

 

[KidSnide]

Aside from some brief experimentation running KotS with RAW, I haven't given out XP since 1996. So long as your campaign has a built-in understanding of when the PCs should level (as SoW does), there is no reason to use it. Just looks for good stopping points and major quests and put the level bumps when those are accomplished. You may have a few level bumps at "an extended rest about half-way through dungeon X", but your players are unlikely to mind.

-KS

 

[N8Ball]

I've been playing with my DM for about 3 years now and I think he might count XP, just as a guideline for leveling, but none of the players know or really care exactly how much xp we have.

By the time we're just getting used to the level we just made, (usually about 5 sessions, same as Piratecat) the DM suprises us with, "You make your next level!"

I have to say I really like the obfuscation of XP for players, if not doing away with it completely. It is one less thing to track and now I'm always pleseantly suprised when we make a level. It's like having suprise Christmases 10 times a year.