Xp...points, milestones or story arc?

AsenRG · October 29, 2017, 04:19:55 PM

Quote from: Caesar Slaad;1004405I moved past the minutia tracking of XP about 15 years ago. For a while I used an "encounter point" system that awarded 1-4 points per encounter and required 25 ep to level. Now I mostly eyeball it and do something much akin to milestones or more simply "level per 3 sessions", slower at higher levels or if the players are dragging their feet.

*blinks* Where did that come from? That almost looks like my encounter point system I posted on ENWorld back in the day. Copying or great minds?

That's from DCC:).

I can't say whether copying was involved, but I've been using a similar system with slightly different requirements a decade before I saw DCC. The main difference has always been, I used it in systems where you don't gather XP to level up, but spend it directly on skills and attribute increases;).

mAcular Chaotic · October 29, 2017, 06:18:05 PM

1 in 10,000 people reaching level 5 seems pretty high actually, when you consider that it's supposed to be a rare level and how many people are out there.

There'd be tons of level 5s in NYC alone based on population.

Maybe it is just more common than I thought.

AsenRG · October 29, 2017, 07:01:56 PM

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;10044681 in 10,000 people reaching level 5 seems pretty high actually, when you consider that it's supposed to be a rare level and how many people are out there.

There'd be tons of level 5s in NYC alone based on population.

Maybe it is just more common than I thought.

NYC alone has greater population than many Western medieval kingdoms;).

Gronan of Simmerya · October 29, 2017, 07:35:31 PM

Quote from: AsenRG;1004475NYC alone has greater population than many Western medieval kingdoms;).

At 1 in 10,000, medieval York has 1 5th level person, London has I think 5, all of England has something like 200.

Willie the Duck · October 29, 2017, 09:42:27 PM

Now, all those 200 might be in London where all the action is, so that could skew things.

mAcular Chaotic · October 29, 2017, 10:06:31 PM

Just for fun I ran the numbers for the United States, assuming that each level is 10x less likely. (ie, 1 in 100 reaches level 2, 1 in 1,000 reaches level 3, 1 in 10,000 reaches level 4, etc.)

The total population is roughly 300 million; when we only look at adults, it's 246 million.

Level 1: 24,600,000 (10%)
Level 2: 2,460,000 (1%)
Level 3: 246,000 (.1%)
Level 4: 24,600 (.01%)
Level 5: 2,460 (.001%)
Level 6: 246 (.0001%)
Level 7: 24 (.00001%)
Level 8: 2 (.000001%)

I guess Trump and Hillary are level 8.

Johnnii · October 30, 2017, 02:30:21 AM

As long as it is a somewhat objective way to measure advancement, either one works for me.

Levelling up whenever the GM feels it is appropiate has that faint smell of railroading.

Although DnDs 4 digit xp tracking is a bit unnecessary imo.

Naburimannu · October 31, 2017, 07:47:09 AM

The ACKS demographics works for me. Excerpting:

1/20 at level 1
1/1000 at level 5
1/160k at level 10
1/10M at level 14 (system maximum)

A village will have a scattering of 1st and 2nd level characters; maybe a couple of 3rd.
The count will be 7th to 9th level, with a couple of 6th-7th level characters in their train or in other centers of power; their barons will typically be 5th level.
Over 10th level we're talking kings and similarly-powerful characters.

Given this and a distribution of classes it's easy for me to come up with a few reasonably-leveled interesting characters in any community.

Ulairi · October 31, 2017, 03:04:06 PM

They earn xp based on the activities they attempt or complete. Kill some monsters they get xp for killing them. Break into the manor instead of fighting their way through they get some xp for that.

RPGPundit · November 02, 2017, 02:41:37 AM

Yeah, the DCC method is very good. In actual play it boils down to "give 1-4xp per encounter". No muss or fuss.

Ravenswing · November 02, 2017, 03:22:36 AM

Quote from: AsenRG;1004475NYC alone has greater population than many Western medieval kingdoms;).

Heh, you're lowballing it. Metro New York, at just over 20 million residents, is more populous than ANY European realm in the whole medieval era.

AsenRG · November 02, 2017, 01:35:49 PM

Quote from: Ravenswing;1005090Heh, you're lowballing it. Metro New York, at just over 20 million residents, is more populous than ANY European realm in the whole medieval era.

Indeed, it was deliberate understatement:). If it wasn't for China and maybe India, I wouldn't have even needed the "European" disclaimer, either!