Awarding Experience or Karma
Erudite:
In every RPG I have played the GM rewards players for their play in the game by giving out some type of merit. In some systems this is experience points and in some it is karma or character points.
Through the years I have seen a variety of ways to handle this. Each method seems to have some good points and bad points. I think the method of awarding experience points can be very import. If done right this can help players with different styles and goals come closer together which will help with group dynamics.
Most GMs seem to give out the points at the end of the session or segment of story after several sessions. This is a good method in that the group can focus on play during the game sessions. It is not a good method for couple of reasons though. First, the group can easily forgot about actions and RP that should be rewarded. Second, everyone sees how much everyone else gets and that can cause bad feelings as players may perceive GM favoritism. Also, this is good and bad; focus can shift from the player rewards during play. This is good if it allows focus to be on story. However, it can be bad if players focus on action instead of story or character growth.
Some GMs will use a tracking sheet of their own to record experience throughout the session and then give it out at the end. I have used this method myself but found the tracking slowed me down too much.
Another method I’ve seen many GMs use is to give out the experience throughout the session as players earn them and the players record them right then. This is good in that RP and actions don’t get forgotten by players or the GM. The best effect this method can have if it is used right is that the GM can reward heavier for the type of play they want. Players get immediate rewards for playing that way so it can build good habits and bring everyone closer to the same style of play. This can be bad as it may slow down play while the player records this. It can also make for messy tracking sheets or character sheets.
My method of handling this is really the second method with a small twist. I give out experience points as players earn them; the difference is that I use counters. The players then total up the experience at the end of the session. Currently I use small glass beads with a flat side like the ones used in the bottom of fish tanks. I have also used poker chips. This method seems to work out well as I can reward the players as things happen without slowing things down.
In most cases this method has really helped my groups focus on story and actions that are “in character” as that is what I reward heaviest. Since story and character development are both important to me, this has been great.
My guess is that some of you have found a similar method. If you ever struggle with this issue, give this a try. It has been a big hit with my players and gamers at cons.
Dionysus:
I always liked the "key" system in the shadow of yesterday - been dying to try that one out.
Erudite:
I should have addressed this more in terms used on this forum better. Basically by leveraging this technique, with any rule set for experience, I have been able to Drift our Creative Agenda some. As group we have mostly played gamist leaning systems. However, over the years we have built a preference for a more narrative play.
Using this style has allowed me give experience quickly while RP is happening. By in general awarding more for narrative play than just throwing dice, our CA has become more coherent. So far this has not excluded the members of the group that prefer a more gamist play, they just get more involved when dice throwing fires up. And, because they like it and get more involved, and that is the narrative focus of their characters typically, they get more experience rewarded when play moves to the phase. They tend to still enjoy the game and get to advance their character’s stats as much as their character’s story.
Dionysus, could you explain the “Key” system from Shadows of Yesterday? I’ve never heard of it or used it.
Dionysus:
The "keys" are the ways your character gets XP.
You need to pay xp to gain a key - like focussing on what the character wants to do - their motivation.
eg from the book:
Key of Conscience
Your character has a soft spot for those weaker than their opponents. Gain 1 XP every time your character helps someone who cannot help themselves. Gain 2 XP every time your character defends someone with might who is in danger and cannot save themselves. Gain 5 XP every time your character takes someone in an unfortunate situation and changes their life to where they can help themselves. Buyoff: Ignore a request for help.
The buyoff shown above is a special bit about Keys. Whenever a player has a character perform the action shown in one of the buyoffs, the player can (this is not mandatory) erase the Key and gain 10 XP. Once bought off, a character can never have the same Key again.
Unlike abilities and Secrets, the number of Keys a character can have is limited. A character can have no more than five Keys at one time.
Eero Tuovinen:
I also vastly prefer giving out xp in real time, to the extent that I don't nowadays play any games that do it differently, and will house-rule a system to do it this way if it has some lame end-of-session math for this purpose. I also usually expect xp to flow so quickly that it'll have a discernible effect in one session already.
In my current D&D homebrew sort of thing xp is tracked as checkboxes on the character sheet, so it'd take a rather dull individual to spend too much time jotting the xp down. I could use chips as well, but those are already in use as hit points and whatnot. The criteria for xp are public as well, so the players can remind me if I overlook something.
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