Tonight! 8pm Eastern! I'll be doing a Livestream where I will be talking about several of the latest gaming controversies, making a BIG announcement about my latest project, and answering your questions! Don't miss it!
#dnd #ttrpg #osr

https://www.youtube.com/live/7j9mhtwelXk?si=LHu4Z81XzO5rg53k

We're going live in 30 minutes!

What is the XP wars?

Probably the latest OSR/BrOSR/WotC-fan squabble on Twitter, over milestone leveling and the like.

Goodman Games incident and the de-wokification/propagandization of games have thus far been discussed. It's interesting content, I'd say, for those considering the livestream.

We also have confirmation on the identity of Pundit's presently favorite pipe, if folks are still sitting on the fence. 

Breaking news, we have a Meatball sighting, with unconfirmed head scritches!

And coming up next, ascots and scarves.

(Also topic-relevant content, but who cares about that.  )

Quote from: Armchair Gamer on December 04, 2023, 08:08:13 PM
Probably the latest OSR/BrOSR/WotC-fan squabble on Twitter, over milestone leveling and the like.

They really push milestones on Reddit. But reddit has a infestation of storygamers anyhoo.

Well, if you watch the livestream replay you will see what my position is on the subject. I have found the Third Way.

I like going from a baseline of "dead creatures make XP", then applying a multiplier (like in 3.5 I'd usually grant about 40% more XP), and then certain extremely important quests would grant XP as well (like if the PCs expose a group of spies and get them arrested).  I want a baseline of thousands of XP between levels so that players can see where they are and understand that punching some bad guy will give XP (I want to incentivize them to go on missions to defeat monsters).

So for me the "best" solution has been anything based on XP-per-kills, because I can kick that easier into the shape that I want (as compared to small integral XP-per-session with bonuses for milestones, which Pundit talks about, and Sine Nomine uses a similar-ish thing baseline as well).

I'm very excited to get my hands on Baptism of Fire. I enjoyed Dark Albion a lot, and I loved the look of Sword and Caravan. Dark Albion even inspired me to run my own medieval inspired Kievan Rus' game.

Quote from: Omega on December 05, 2023, 06:16:02 AM

Quote from: Armchair Gamer on December 04, 2023, 08:08:13 PM
Probably the latest OSR/BrOSR/WotC-fan squabble on Twitter, over milestone leveling and the like.

They really push milestones on Reddit. But reddit has a infestation of storygamers anyhoo.

Significant milestones, relative to the level of the PCs; merit them gaining a level.  At least I like it that way.

Quote from: 1stLevelWizard on December 07, 2023, 05:21:17 PM
I'm very excited to get my hands on Baptism of Fire. I enjoyed Dark Albion a lot, and I loved the look of Sword and Caravan. Dark Albion even inspired me to run my own medieval inspired Kievan Rus' game.

Well, hopefully it'll be ready by late December or early January.

I completely abandoned the D&D style XP system years ago.  I give points for completing jobs,  acquiring mysteries, and solving bosses.  (Yes, solve not kill. If the party can neutralize the threat an enemy poses in any way, it's a win.)

In the end, XP is a carrot you can use to train your players to behave in a manner you want.  Want murder hobos?  XP for killing.  Want valiant knights?  XP for rescuing princesses.  It's that simple.  Oh, and always tell your players what they get XP for when you start a campaign.

Quote from: BadApple on December 08, 2023, 06:09:35 AM
I completely abandoned the D&D style XP system years ago.  I give points for completing jobs,  acquiring mysteries, and solving bosses.  (Yes, solve not kill. If the party can neutralize the threat an enemy poses in any way, it's a win.)

In the end, XP is a carrot you can use to train your players to behave in a manner you want.  Want murder hobos?  XP for killing.  Want valiant knights?  XP for rescuing princesses.  It's that simple.  Oh, and always tell your players what they get XP for when you start a campaign.

Well it is simple, but as I said on the video, you have to really understand what it is you want to see happening in your campaign, because if you put conditions on getting xp, the things that grant you xp will be what they do.

One example of this is in games where you go up in abilities in skills only if you use them in a session. The result is that in those games most players will end up using more skills and different skills than they would in a D&D game, just because they're gaming the system.
If you want XP for rescuing princesses, great, but then expect your PCs to put aside other activities to just go find princesses to rescue.