Experience Points

This page covers some general notes re: those precious Experience Points (XP), and how to earn them.

  • The DM maintains a private spreadsheet with all of your XP totals.
  • Rather than give you an amount earned each week, the DM instead lets you know your current total so you don't need to do any math.
  • Some weeks, where the action is ongoing (for example, you are mid-dungeon or mid-encounter), the DM will hold off giving you XP until your character has some downtime to reflect on his/her continued survival.
  • If you create magical items or cast spells that result in an XP loss, it is your responsibility to tell me the amount lost so I can record it.
  • If you are absent for a game, you get no XP for it. Sorry. On the other hand, your character is safe from harm in a DM-Nebulous-Shield-o-Matic unless the entire party bites it.
  • If we have to call a game due to unannounced absences (i.e. less than half of the players show up when we were expecting more at gametime), I will assign some XP to the players that came as a way of saying "thanks for showing up!".
  • I understand, and will not hold it against you, if you have real-life issues with coming to the game, but please, you owe it to us to let us know ahead of time if at all possible. It's a cooperative game, after all :)

Here are ways you can earn XP, some obvious, some not so obvious:

  • Defeating bad guys. This doesn't necessarily mean kill, it's a tactical term more than anything. In some cases, avoiding bad guys counts too!
  • Defeating traps (this is not the same as setting them off and surviving them)
  • Good roleplaying. Even during non-combat action in games, you are earning experience. Every hour of gametime where there is no combat, I assign an XP value based on what is going on and how well the dialogue is going. Good RP is just as good a source of XP as killing stuff in this game, and sometimes worth even more.
  • A "moment". I define a moment as a particularly noteworthy point in your character's (or group's) development. This could be a funny, serious, dramatic, or outrageous event. It could happen in or out of combat. Moments are usually unplanned things, but when they happen, and I feel it contributes to good storytelling, I assign bonus XP. This can be on an individual or group basis.
  • If your character dies and is brought back to life, you get a once-per-character "You Died" XP bonus, as that is a learning experience in and of itself. This helps offset the penalty associated with dying, for the first time anyway. I don't recommend dying in general though.
  • Story Awards. I'll sometimes assign group rewards when you accomplish major objectives, when applicable. This one really depends on how I feel about game pacing.
  • Sidebars. I will occasionally call for sidebar sessions if I see they are necessary. I don't make a habit of them though. You may also call for a sidebar if there is something in particular you want to do between sessions.
  • Journal Entries (TBD). I haven't decided what they are worth yet, but keep them coming! :)
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