Game Design 101: Experience Points

What Role Do Experience Points Play In An RPG?

Experience points (XP) exist to provide a method of character advancement. That's really just another way of saying a way to reward players and to give them the feeling their characters are alive because they can change and grow in response to their experiences.

So the first, and obvious, use of XP is to give the player's a reward and to show that the game world is not static, that their character's have a reward motivation for doing what they do, and to let the player's feel like they are getting somewhere. Character's progress in ability, perhaps from neophytes capable of only the most basic and simple operations to hardened professionals (or feudal lords and mighty wizards, depending upon the genre).

Less obvious, but no less important (and moreso to the GM), is the notion that a system integrating experience points progresses the game world. Not only do the character's grow in capability, but the game world adapts to that change by constantly providing them with 'just right!' challenges that match their level of power. In a spy game, this would take the form of new agents becoming experienced and then eventually creme-de-la-creme '00' agents with a license not only to kill, but to engage in massive, thrilling, over the top spy-thriller action.

But how necessary are XP? Are they a needed mechanic? How do we best implement them?

A lot depends on the sort of game system you play under. Some are very granular and have skills that go up regularly by very small amounts but have no levels (or do have levels but the skills still operate in a similar fashion). Some are less granular and have skills but increases are fewer and further between. Some have levels and levels bring skill gains, feats, new aspects, class advancements, you name it!

Experience points aren't necessary for short story arc games with a very limited number of playing sessions. In longer campaigns, it is almost a certainty that the game will benefit from characters who can grow and change. How you implement XP best would relate to the particular mechanics of your game system, but here are some general thoughts that you might consider...

• Tracking XP towards skill advancement or level advancement can be a simple thing with one broad award for a game sessions result which was arrived at fairly simply or can boil down to painstaking calculation of XP returns from each adventure goal, class action, item of treasure, etc. throughout the session. In the intensive form, there is often a task in partitioning off awards for each character and a lot of bookkeeping.
• XP can be determined in a very granular fashion with intense attention to what exactly and precisely was done or much more generally in terms of how the story progressed. You can guess which method is faster.
• XP can also be determined in a narrative-driven fashion by deciding just how many sessions you want to have between each advancement, either as a function of a pre-conceived advancement rate (for example 4 sessions per level in a level dependent game) or based on how many sessions you wish an entire campaign arc to fit in (50 weekly sessions to get to level 15, so 3 sessions to a level). In skill dependent systems, this would translate to how many skill-specific XP you might want to award in a session.
• You can decide (if you are scheduling advancements) whether they are 'everyone up at once' or staggered (if one class might need more XP to level or if some player is clearly better than the others at the table for instance).
• Ultimately, my experience has been (as someone who calculated painstaking individual awards and then later just made arbitrary decisions on when to level people up) that the end results are about the same, the only difference is a big one in how much bookkeeping you do. If the players never see what the GM does exactly, they are honestly none the wiser.

I have found, in my experience, that just deciding on a progress rate (in a level based game) and levelling up characters either all together or one or two sessions apart (to reward good play or show that some classes are harder to level in) is just as effective and feels the same to the players as doing all the painstaking bookkeeping. What's more, they never need know you did this. Or you can just tell them, if they won't fuss.

In a skill based game, if you know you want character skills (looked at on a per-skill basis) to go up at a particular rate, the same logic applies. Award increases (or skill tallies, if you need to let the players see the progress between skill level gains) in accordance roughly with that schedule and player gameplay.

In the long run, by doing advancement in a somewhat arbitrary but considered fashion, you eliminate bookkeeping for the GM and players, the outcome feels good at the table, and you can significantly reduce the amount of column-inches in game rules covering XP awards. (Which is simpler: XP totals for each monster, each encounter, each class or alignment correct action, some of these pooled then divided out to players and some calculated per player... or just deciding when it is time for a player to advance?)

Conclusion

Your XP concept only really needs to exist insofar as it lets the players feel progress and growth in the characters and the players can grow to allow their challenges to grow bigger, building tension and cresendo as the campaign reaches its climactic moments. As long as the players feel their PCs are developing (and the developments are fair in proportion to player choices of class or actions at the table), then the mechanics (or lack thereof) of XP awards are largely irrelevant.

Advice: Go with the less pain option, spend the time on stories and characters in your game rather than accounting.

Break Out the Shake Out!

According to the Author:

Shake Out! is a fast, fun and easy game of dice rolling and set collecting with just a hint of 'take that' to keep things raucous around the game table. This game is perfect for gamers looking for something fast to play between longer games, families looking for  something everyone can play together and anyone looking to get non-gamer friends to the table with you. So if you're looking for a good time, Break Out the Shake Out!

Playability: If you can comprehend what a straight is (several dice of sequential value), what N of a kind would be, and are able to tell that a 6-5-4 straight bumps a 4-3-2 straight, then you've got all the mental horsepower you need to play (if not to win).

Strategy: Being dice based and fast, it is not exactly Advanced Squad Leader with all the expansions. On the other hand, you do have decisions to make every moment of your turns, which come fairly quickly.

You have to look at what you have rolled, what 9 cards are up to be played upon, and decide on how many dice to reroll and whether to change strategy for the 2nd reroll. You also have to decide if you have dice that could go in multiple places, what is the least likely to get bumped and most likely to return you the best point value. So there is some strategy here, although it tends to be short horizon.

Fun: This game is pretty good. Everyone I know so far who has played it has thought it was pretty good. I did get to help playtest and I think I helped tighten up the scoring to make the game even more competitive than it already was. The playtest version had the fun down, but it seemed like it needed to compress the scoring ranges a bit.


Having seen the result, I'd say it worked. The noobs playing it on 'official release night' were loving it! Their game ended with a tense 10% margin of victory and saw one player get 5 of a kind 5s and be dethroned by 5 of a kind 6s on the very next roll! That's almost the most fun you can have with your clothes on! (Almost... but probably is the most fun you can have with a family friendly game!)

Value: It can fit in between other games or be a night-ender or a casual game while people chat at a party. That means it has replayability. I'll also say I've payed much more for games I've only played once then never played again (Civilization with the 384 plastic playing pieces, I'm looking squarely at you!).

If I had any one demerit to attach, it would be that I'm not a fan of the box, but Louis wanted to keep the price reasonable and knew that a deck and dice based game could be put in a small box people might have or even a small bag, so I can't fault him for that. He wanted a smaller box, but you'd be shocked to know what that was worth from Gamecrafters. So, the box is kinda lame, but the consolation is that helped keep the game price down. The dice are okay and the cards are good quality with excellent art and good icon presentation. Easy to read even if you are colour blind, which is a nice touch.

Player Count: The game is a lot of fun for 2, 3 or 4 people. Played by 2, its is a bit more oriented around the set collecting with less bumping. Played with 4, the bumping can get cutthroat and set collecting is a bit harder. It works well for any number though.

Overall: I liked it enough I've picked up some copies for several gaming groups I see occasionally. It'll do well on nights where we don't have enough for Junta, BSG, Struggle of Empires, or something heavy like that. It's a great before dinner game while the food is cooking away and you want something fast that won't delay dinner. I was impressed by Louis' decent mechanics and his good visual presentation. For a first published game, it has more value than a lot of others I've payed more for who were written by supposedly full-time game designers.

Recommendation: Give it a try if you want something light and fun for 2-4. You won't be disappointed.

And for the record, I wouldn't be championing this game if I thought it sucked. I am anxiously looking forward to Richard and Louis getting 'Non-Stop Safari' into publishable shape. I played the demo for it and it played well and the game theme is just hilarious!

Moulding Projects

1. Variants of vehicles I already have. (For example, an AA Missile System on a Jeep)
2. Various sorts of hatches, cargo containers, etc. for sci-fi gaming.
3. Several (as yet to be completed) workstation models for starship crew.
4. A trauma tube model along with an ambulance vehicle variant.
5. A quadrapedal 'mule' with casevac capability. 
6. Some kinda fencing for wild west games (if I can't find a good cheap scratchbuild option).
7. Some variant starship models for my Full Thrust and Stargate games.
8. A Stargate Iris. 

These things are all on my 'to do' list. We'll see how fast I can make progress through the list. 

Misadventures in Moulding

Well, today was an attempt to create a two-part mould for some cacti, a pour mould for some scenery bits, and a pour mould for some vehicle bits.

Lessons Learned:

• Glue your work down in the mould box. Didn't matter much with heavier originals - they just sat there. Medium weight/size originals moved a bit when the airy RTV glooped around them, but no catastrophes. Polystyrene... floats! Whatever the aeration process is for the RTV, it got the polystyrene lightweight original parts floating. I actually had to use a brass rod to hold one of the pieces on the bottom of the mould box. Remains to be seen if that mould is FUBAR.
  
•   Have enough RTV. I used all I had, 2 lbs, and I ran short by (I figure) about another pound or at least 3/4 of one. The only serious part of the shortage is a pour mould with incomplete coverage of one high protrusion and another where I can see a shadow through the mould to a higher piece. Both, I'm hoping, can be salvaged by a subsequent pour on top of more RTV, once I have some. It's amazing how much of that stuff you'll go through, even when you try to keep space around the parts as small as you can while retaining wall strength. Odd shaped parts is obviously a factor - height seems to be critical - if you've got a big box and one part makes you pour more, it is a lot more!
  
• Mix, mix, mix the RTV. I thougth I did that. But the last part of the RTV, even after I scraped the walls during mixing repeatedly, always seemed to come out whitish rather than yellow. I think the only way to beat this is a) have a little extra of the additive on hand in case you are short a bit and b) buy a silicon scraper to scrape the inside of the jar during mixing and dumping out. It'll end up being a sacrificial tool, but if it makes for better pours, that's okay.
  
• Two part moulds are tricky. I still have to see if the second half of the cacti mould will work out right. You have to align any and all pieces on an axis that you want to be the mould centerline and glue them there and that's a feat. Then you have to pour in such a way as to get under your pieces but not up the sides or overtop. Sounds easy but a wide mouth 1 pound jar of RTV is no super accurate pouring tool. I have a lot of respect for the effort at building multi-part (more than 2) moulds that people use for spin-casting complex metal figure.
  
• The plastic blisters for miniatures are an excellent source of small mould boxes. Any other reasonably leak proof plastic container is another good choice - I've repurposed a plastic box from a 12 of Ferro Rocher chocolates as well as two old disposable tuperware containers. Only one warning: Rounded corners and trying to get pieces close to the edge to use minimal RTV without tearing are mutually oppositional. 

We'll see how this batch turns out. I've got 5 pounds of Quick Set from Alumalite coming and another pound of HS-III for some stuff I have with undercuts.

Once I finish the current batch of moulds, I'll try to pour and see what sorts of results I get. One of the items is a thin modern desk... I look forward to trying to get casts of that out of the mould without damaging the piece or the mould....

I also need to get some more dental plaster. My last set of casting experiments in plaster (some successful, some not - the tinfoil over a die-cast car to make a mould shell might work in Hot Wheels scale, but not in 28mm... the plaster is heavy enough to distory the tinfoil shell even when supported by sand or ballast. But Plaster works great as a replacement for resin for vehicles, especially if you can create mould voids using blocks. It's strong enough you don't need to mould an entire brick out of it (a shell will do) and takes detail just about as well as resin.

More as the next set of experiments are attempted....

Game Review: Eclipe Phase RPG (minimal review, more later)

Eclipse Phase is a transhuman sci-fi horror RPG set in the far future after the Fall of Earth. It features cyber- and nano-technologies, conspiracy, politics, and horror as well as interesting examinations of what conciousness is, about what identity is, and the meaning of mortality, and about what means anything in a world where you can 're-sleeve' into a new and very different sort of body. It also tackles Existential Risk.


In reading Eclipse Phase http://www.eclipsephase.com/, I did find the themes interesting.


It seems to be a game of the far future, where humanity's factions had a little war with some AIs. I'm not sure anybody won, but it resulted in turning Earth into a wasteland, leaving the remains of humanity scattered beyond.


It is a transhuman game, which is another way of saying the mind is data - it can be hacked, uploaded, memory wiped, etc. Bodies are a matter of money and form is much less limited than you'd think. There are also uplifted species like octopi who play a role in the transhuman society of the future.


Transhumanity, what's left of it, is under threat from various alien, human, and perhaps supernatural threats, as well as the AIs and their nanos. Your characters take the role of agents of Firewall, an agency ostensibly devoted to saving what is left of transhumanity from various threats. Of course, the game has a conspiratorial feel, so maybe you can't even trust Firewall or your team-mates entirely.


One of the interesting aspects of being able to 'resleeve' (have your mind downloaded into a new body) is that the game can have a high mortality rate and still not actually kill a character. This is interesting from a gaming perspective. You might lose experience or memories since the last backup, you might get a different or crappier body, but you are back and ready to roll.


This also goes well with the horror part - many of the ways to die are gruesome or a bit scary conceptually. Another of the game's themes is horror. There are nanos that can disolve a body, there are headhunters bots looking for your cortical stack, and there are things far worse than that out there in the dark or in the messed up remanants of Earth.


The game is based on the Unisystem RPG system. I have not yet had much time to look closely at the mechanics, mostly just theme and atmospherics, but I am told that Unisystem is a bit crunchy and detail oriented.


From a GMing perspective, its interesting to envision a game other than Paranoia where mortality is frequent, but not all that limiting to story advancement or player development. It is a dark world, with dark undertones and overtones. But it could be a lot of fun to play.


For some background on Transhumanism:

An article

Wiki



I think if you like Stephen Barnes, Richard Morgan, or William Gibson, there's something in here for you. A little Lovecraft thrown in for a good measure.

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