Where Jeff Rients was not suggesting to replace gold for XP with exploration for XP, Gieljan de Vries does so in the article linked below. The change is drastic: treasures (and killings) do not count for level-up. Only special items do (physical trophies [...] stuff with a story attached).
eXPloration - XP is selling a story about a thing
by Gieljan de Vries
[...] This post is about making all XP gains about discovering sites and information, and bringing back trophies of your adventures.
IN SHORT: EXPLORE. LOOT. GET PAID.
- XP is tied to physical trophies of your adventures: the stuff with a story attached. There can be extra treasure without an XP value which is still worth money.
- You convert these trophies into money and XP by selling them to interested parties. Ask if you know any likely buyers or suggest shady contacts of your own.
- Bigger sites can involve multiple items to carry all the XP home. If the DM hasn't prepped specific items, feel free to suggest mementoes you could take with you.
- Each coin of silver earned via trophies gives you 1 XP. This assumes a silver-based economy - adjust to taste. [...]
- Just in case this needs to be said: no XP for killing random opponents or for just bringing home a haul of coins and gems. [...]
- Carousing is still a thing. I don't want it to overshadow the main XP sources, so will probably tweak the gains a bit. If the regular rate is 1 XP per silver, maybe have carousing give 1 XP per 5 silver. [...]
Oh well, Gieljan de Vries changed his mind towards the end of the article. Carousing is still a thing. But keeping XP tied only and exclusively to trophies (treasures in the sense of special, rare or unique items) is definitely interesting.
Another article about exploring to get XP - see how it reinforces the idea that killing and looting are not the only ways to play OSR games.
(Remember that we said that what you give XP for, will be what players will do?)
Meeting interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and NOT killing them
by Zzarchov
[...] Some examples listed in Piecemeal are:
- Uncommon Locations 50xp (ie, a border fort deep in the woods)
- Rarely Visited 400xp (ie, a far off mountain monastery)
- Unseen for Years 1000xp (ie, a far off kingdom across the sea)
- Unseen for Generations 2000xp (ie, the same kingdom if the sea is infested with sea monsters)
- Of Questionable Veracity 5000xp (ie, uncovering Troy or Machu Picchu)
- Fabled Locations 10,000xp (ie, finding El Dorado or Shangri-La)
- Mythic Locations 50,000xp (ie, finding the Garden of Eden or Noah's Ark)
These are just rough guidelines if you have your own unique XP awards for various locations. [...]
https://zzarchov.blogspot.com/2009/06/meeting-interesting-and-stimulating.html
Also the next two linked articles are again from Zzarchov: the first goes back to the idea that the way XP is awarded will influence the style of your game. In this example, to encourage players to capture enemies instead of killing them (a prisoner is more valuable than a corpse), Zzarchov suggests to give more XP for capturing an opponent than for driving them away or killing them.
Murder gets boring
by Zzarchov
This one deals with the problem of wholesale slaughter of your enemies. In this particular post I'll deal with murdering opposing villains, the big villain or at least the stalwart dark lieutenant. Many GM's are frustrated that they cannot have a recurring villain because PC's will not stop until they murder them. [...]
Piecemeal deals with this in the following manner. When you drive off (force to flee, abandon plans or the like) or kill a villain, your party gets experience points equal to 10% of the villain's experience point total. If you can capture an enemy villain you gain experience points equal to 25% of the villain's experience point total, even if you later execute the villain after a "fair" trial (or sacrifice on a dark altar if your evil) [...]
This creates an incentive to not ALWAYS murder, without making it mandatory. While taking prisoners is more valuable it is also more dangerous. [...]
http://zzarchov.blogspot.com/2009/06/murder-gets-boring.html
The last article goes back to the root of changing the way you award XP if indeed you desire a slightly different style of play, or want to introduce more variety. Zzarchov recognizes that most games do not support "high fantasy adventures" (and several, explicitly so). But if you want something other than looting dungeons, you need to change the way XP is awarded... or change the way levels are gained.
This is indeed a slightly different take on the subject: instead of telling you to reach milestones and giving a level every milestone, Zzarchov puts a sort of level cap, or better yet, a level requirement. For example, killing nameless orcs is meaningless at a certain point; if you want to level-up past your limit, you need to slay a dragon or something similar.
by Zzarchov
This is a broad flaw, a lot of games that support "high adventure" really don't. The most effective route to achieving your personal goals and ambitions is to not go out and adventure. [...]
1.) Keypoints (or milestones) part of the XP system is that merely gaining XP won't let you exceed level caps. To get beyond certain levels ( Zero, Five, Ten and Fifteen) you need to accomplish feats of certain worth. No matter how many orcs you slay, you won't get past level five until you do something that raises you from Local Hero to National Hero, such as slaying a dragon, overthrowing a corrupt barony, converting a province to ones faith, robbing the royal vault, etc. [...]
http://zzarchov.blogspot.com/2009/06/adventuring-should-be-best-option.html
Design notes:
- gold for XP, traditional (low power adventurers trying to get rich)
- consider also silver for XP, treasure in silver, but prices in gold (characters are often broke)
- mission for XP
- survival (food? other? survival to horror? to monsters?) for XP
- Gain a level on a main achievement (a kill, an island)
- which brings us to explore for XP; XP granted for visiting specific places (or just for travel, I wouldn't drop the miles-per-XP of the good old MERP), for witnessing life-changing events, and so on...
- XP tied ONLY and exclusively to trophies (special, rare or unique items); no XP for killings and no XP for coins and gems
Additional thoughts:
- Your kills are your level
- Your inventory is your level
- XP for kills: what about giving XP the first time you kill a certain monster (i.e. a goblin), but only the first time? This will make players keep a note of their "first kills", which is great (I am sure this is not my idea, I must have read it somewhere...)
- XP for capturing: give more XP for a captured enemy than for a dead one
- Level caps or limitations; you cannot get past level 5, 10, 15 etc. unless you achieve something very special (which could also be translated in doing something which grants you a really popular status in-game)
Next, let's talk about gaining XP differently depending on your character's class.
Will continue here.
- Level caps or limitations; you cannot get past level 5, 10, 15 etc. unless you achieve something very special (which could also be translated in doing something which grants you a really popular status in-game)
Next, let's talk about gaining XP differently depending on your character's class.
Will continue here.
No comments:
Post a Comment