Experience Time

So it's been a month since the RP started in earnest. That means xp time. While normally more activity would be encouraged I ended up pigeonholing people into the one scene. Personally it's fairly important to set the stage, or attempt to, for some of the plots I want to introduce.

But digression aside, I was wondering what everyone's take on the system is. What sort of ratio you've been accustomed to in other chats, and maybe some ideas on how you'd make it better?

Let's brainstorm a bit and get this setup rolling.

More than happy to receive XP as a reward for things done, as would be at a table, rather than just bloating the character through time served. Even if those numbers end up skewed towards the high end because of the by-nature slow pace of activity.

I think it depends on how we want to facilitate character stat growth; what gets rewarded could change gameplay. Doing it the way many of us have experienced on other forums, by writing up a synopsis of what our characters did during the month, might be easier to keep people more balanced? Honestly how that all broke down on the ST end was always a little mystifying to me, but I'm sure we could make it work.

@Greebs, were you thinking of xp being awarded after story arcs, or after individual actions? Personally I'm wary of the 'per cool action' because in my experience so much of that ties into fighting, with less emphasis on other kinds of actions; I know that changes depending on the game and the people involved, but it can be frustrating to grow more slowly because you aren't hitting people. Maybe that's just the shadow of past experiences trying to play a social character in old D&D campaigns

As a slacker who rarely gets deep enough into their characters head to churn out 'side content' of the sort that was the bread-and-butter of EoD play (but, cards on the table, enjoys hitting things...), story arcs was definitely more what I had in mind... to the point I hadn't even considered the possibility of a case-by-case award-age...

I never imagined this site as an EoD-analogue. We're not that big, and honestly, I'm not sure I'd want us to get that big. In my head I've been thinking of this forum as an online tabletop game, a small group and a storyteller. Thus, the idea of awarding XP as EoD did, monthly and/or on an activity metric, does not appeal to me.

I've always been a fan of the way Fate does it. Advancements come at an equal pace for all characters at milestones in the narrative. The way I would envision this mechanic working in nWoD is that when the storyteller determines a milestone (of any level) has been reached, every PC gets a lump some of xp (appropriate to that level) whether they were present at that moment or not.

I'm honestly not too picky about it, but I'd prefer something different from the monthly xp awards on EoD. I totally understood that it was meant to keep regular traffic flowing on the site and be a "carrot" to reward players for consistent activity, but it just seemed so artificial to me. I'm cool with the idea of awarding xp at the end of scenes, or using the chapter/story/chronicle outline from the Storytelling RAW. Whatever y'all want is cool with me, but I would really prefer that we not do monthly xp reports. Most of the reports I got on EoD were total BS and a huge waste of everyone's time.

I will confess to rarely taking the reporting seriously (me, not taking things seriously? Terribly out of character, I know...). I hope that amused more often than it annoyed...

I like the FATE milestones that @InvertedMonkey brought up a lot, seems like it could give good incentive for folks to explore personal plot hooks/storylines/goals/etc and be rewared for it.

Some excellent points all around.

In regards to awarding for cool things, is that it sadly encourages grandstanding and drowning out other players in the bid to get your points. I'm not really sure I'd want to go this way, not even with "bonus" xp for awesome stuff.

After reading the ideas from everyone else I came up with a hybrid solution that might appeal. I sort of want some kind of monthly rewards to encourage traffic, but I don't want to do the xp report options. So 2xp a month, with the requirement that you were at least a little active in one scene during that time. Then give milestone rewards for chapters, which would vary based on length and danger.

I was also considering a reward for "side chapters". So that you can write out a sideplot to advance some of your character interactions. Not necessarily wholly from a glimpse, but a connected narrative between a minimum of 2 people. Whether you want to side plot some of your character arcs or go on a quest with a friend. It mostly means I don't want to reward something that's wholly within 1 persons control since there might be a limit to the conflict available. Basically anything that's available for ST intervention with minor or character specific antagonists.

Keeping xp wholly reliant on activity just seems to run counter to why we're doing a PBP game in the first place.

Let me know what you think! Nothing set in stone just yet.

Me likey.

ST McDude wrote:In regards to awarding for cool things, is that it sadly encourages grandstanding and drowning out other players in the bid to get your points. I'm not really sure I'd want to go this way, not even with "bonus" xp for awesome stuff.

I wholeheartedly agree. However, I think you would be perfectly within your rights to adjust the monthly award based on the quality of role playing. Rather than rewarding "cool things", it would encourage consistency and character development.

That sounds great to me.

I am uneasy with the idea of characters gaining XP at different rates based on participation. Am I correct in reading that such a thing is on the table in the method you described @ST McDude ?

@Hedgebound Heart I agree with your idea in theory. The idea of it is great, but ultimately leads to the same place. It might also discourage those with less literary skills or less time to devote to making quality posts.

@InvertedMonkey I see the concerns now. Your assumption was partially correct as it would have been bonuses for side plot.Initially it's a solid idea, it's just a different beast with the same pelt when it boils down.

Another option for side plots is to give everyone bonus xp when you finish a character specific arc. The rationale behind this is that while yes you are working hard and others are benefiting from that work, you also are benefiting from it. If other players finish an arc you then get xp from that, so it's mostly fair. With a cap of one bonus award per characters involved in one time period. Possibly one bonus per act seems somewhat balanced.

This would only work if the chat remains small though, if it gets too big awards will only be from main story completion. Extra bonus for acts completed with the 2xp a month for some kind of steady gain.