Are You Experienced?

Milestone leveling vs Experience Point (xp) leveling always makes for a long comment chain in the various FB DnD groups I participate in.  

Both sides have their stalwarts, with a few posters using both methods in well-explained ways.

As might be imagined, I am firmly in the xp camp, as I see xp as the carrot and stick of player behavior.  This is because I believe most players view leveling as 'winning' in an RPG, so having a stated list of ways to gain (and not gain) xp drives how players - through PCs and in a more meta sense - act during play.  

With that in mind, here is an excerpt from my House Rules document, regarding how I award xp.  

Enjoy.

Dave Trampier, AD&D Core Book (cannot recall which one of the three)

The chief means to gain experience points (xp) is through returning lost treasures to civilization, on a 1gp = 1xp ratio, and then spending it (Dragon Magazine #10).  “Only special expenditures reflecting the characteristics of a character class count toward experience.  Funds spent for general maintenance, upkeep, advertisement, equipment, and hireling salaries yield NO experience.”  That said, here are a few options for this spending:

Tithing/sacrificing to your church (sufficiently large donations may bring a boon if the sacrifice is impressive enough); philanthropy; research (spell, item, or history); clan hoards (PCs deposit into the clan hoard, but cannot withdraw from it); carousing (ala’ Jeff’s Gameblog).  

Carousing Rules: Spend d6 x 100gp to earn that many XP.  Then save versus Poison or roll on the Carousing Mishaps table below.  If you roll more money than you have on hand you now owe the difference to some sort of criminal unless another PC can cover your expenses.  The DM has the d20 Carousing Mishaps table.

You also earn 1 xp for every 1 gp you spend on a hireling's equipment.

End-of-session MVP (as determined by participating players) gets a bonus 250xp. 

Players can provide in-character notes (like a journal or diary) for at least 100xp per entry (one entry per PC per session).  Between sessions is a fine time to write them up.  

This handy XP chart from RIFTS applies to my game, as well:

Note that I cannot tell you which book, specifically, because I came across this chart as an independent entity in a FB discussion about xp.  Which is a shame, because I want to know the quotable quotations hinted at below it.

Exploring for its own sake, outdoors - 10 XP for each hex on the map visited, and 150 XP for uncovering adventure sites. In addition, exploration and discovery of certain physical locations (on this plane and others) provides participating members a one-time variable bonus the first time they arrive there and witness the location.  Depending on location, between 100xp and 10,000xp can be gained – the more distant and wondrous (or decadent), the more it is worth.

Exploring for its own sake, dungeon - ‘Experience points for a dungeon are granted based on how many rooms you had previously explored for the first time in this delve. The first new room might be worth 0xp, the second 10xp, the third an additional 30, the fourth an additional 60. This leads characters to constantly risk defeat by wanting one more room since leaving the dungeon to rest will reset the XP clock as it were. Trying to make it through that 13th room (which may be empty) is worth 780xp now or 0 if they return to the surface to rest.’ (from Neoclassical Geek Revival) 

In memoriam - This requires at least 24 hours and something cool like a big-ass funeral pyre, the raising of a burial mound, or a funeral ship floated down the river. The corpse must be armed and armored for combat, as appropriate to the class of the character. Each party member may donate up to 100gp times the level of the stiff as additional grave goods, the amount being spent is converted to bonus XP for the donor. Each party member may also donate one magic item to the grave. Scrolls, potions, and other one-shot items net a bonus of 250xp, while more permanent items get you 1,000xp. Magic items that would have been unusable by the deceased do not count (from Jeff’s Gameblog).  Returning later to loot the donated goods nets an XP penalty of equal value, and likely an undead former ally, divine curse, or the like.

Magic Item Use - using up the one-shot items and limited use items collected over adventures gains you 100 XP per item used up this way; note that said usage MUST be pertinent to the situation at hand. So chugging potions back-to-back-to-back not only nets a roll on the potion miscibility table (from the AD&D DMG), but also is worth 0 XP unless you make use of what magics the potions offer.

Jim Holloway art, date and title unknown, but I recognize his style.  No doubt these intrepid adventurers are seeking to cash in on the Exploring Places xp.

That's it, so far. The formatting needs cleaned up, but reading between the lines, you have a game focused on exploration, treasure recovery and spending, problem solving, and a high casualty rate.

The only xp awarded for combat are small amounts for 'killing or subduing' actual threats (the bottom of the RIFTS chart), which implies things that pose a threat to the PCs beyond self-defense. From experience, this keeps PCs from fighting everything they come across (as does my refusal to try and balance combats - you want to beard a dragon in its den, I will facilitate your desire, then I will facilitate your rolling up new PCs).

Comments are most welcome.

EDIT: others' posts that influence my thinking on experience points:

Blog of Holding

Angry GM

Dungeon of Signs