When preparing for my upcoming Dark Sun game, I read that discovery (especially the re-discovery of Dark Sun's lost past) is more important than slaying bandit group #37, and that a GM should reward such discoveries appropriately. This got me thinking... since this way of advancing characters neatly avoids part of the old murderhobo problem (killing monsters = XP = more power), why not adopt it for other settings and genres? Replace the XP progression table with 5-6 major discoveries between levels. Depending on the adventure and genre played, these discoveries could be:
- make a powerful friend/ally (maybe even under difficult circumstances)
- make a powerful enemy/nemesis (this probably won't happen on the party's own accord)
- gather clues/vital information or reveal a substantial lie
- discover a new magical property of the McGuffin
- ...
A GM could tailor the list to fit his adventures. The players might still decide to go after someone who's not really in their way because they want some shiny gear, but they're probably not going to murder every creature in sight because the risk-reward ratio has changed drastically.
The only downside I see right now is that the GM needs to communicate his list of advancement options clearly and before the game starts, so that everyone is on the same page.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
There are RPGs that already work this way. Pathfinder already provides milestones for leveling up in adventurepaths so you don't really have to deal with XP anyway. Lots of people play that way.
Your solution is kinda in the middle of the xp and milestone methods. I'd add things that advance the story. Saving a village from a goblin invasion counts, a random encounter with some goblins doesn't count. (Which means you can get rid of meaningless random encounters)
I don't thin kit depends just on the GM though. This method isn't gonna work for stubborn hack'n'slash players.
Another problem might be pacing. You don't want your players to level up every session, and you don't want them to stay at level 1 for first 10 sessions.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Other options to consider:
I'm a fan of the progress-based leveling system - just tell everyone to level up when the adventure needs them to.
Or, level them up after a set number of adventures or gaming sessions.
Or, use the "slow track" for experience and then be generous with rp and adventure success experience points to downplay murder-hobo and reward advancing the game.
Eh, there's always rewards from NPCs and automatic bonus progression to account for those.
The idea isn't new. I believe that xp for role playing, completing a quest, overcoming problems, solving puzzles, advancing the story, eye. has been around for a long time. The important part (or the hard part) is getting your players on board so they stop obsessively trying to murder everything that has an initiative.
It's already standard in published PF adventures and modules to award XP for winning non-combat encounters or resolving a combat non-violently. In rare cases, the party may not get XP at all if they choose the murderhobo route.
Yeah, there already are games that work without XP, and I've played a few of them. My problem, if it's even that, with XP right now is also an old one and I just spitballed a little for a possible solution. I didn't want to sell this as a brand-new idea, sorry if my OP sounded like that.
As for story XP, I think that's totally cool but doesn't go far enough in this cas. As a GM I always reward story events with XP, sometimes even a lot, but I'd rather just lose XP altogether if possible.
Regarding the Monty Hall GM problem, I figure that players might still be inclined to fight some bandits or monster for loot. The alternate system just doesn't reward confrontational behavior as much in terms of character progression, and players need to find other justifications for their PC's actions than "That's what everyone does!"
But I see the problem, folks need their gear with advancing levels, and thankfully we already have solutions for that (this might be good opportunity to try that inherent bonus system from Pathfinder Unchained).
I actually really like the idea of advancing based on a set number of story beats rather than scaling experience points. I'm interested to hear how your experiments with this go! Also, I definitely agree with using the Automatic Scaling Bonuses. I've trained my groups for the last five years not to bother with looting.