X is for XP

Non-gamers be warned. This post is really crunchy.

Experience Points, or XP is one of the more common metrics for tracking a character's advancement and power gain in a roleplaying game like D&D.

In D&D characters gain XP for killing monsters, completing quests and doing otherwise awesome things. When they gain enough, they go up a level and get a bit beefier. This system works well enough, but has some definite drawbacks.

First off, at least in 3.5 edition D&D, the only clearly established method of assigning XP is to dole it out according to an encounter's challenge rating. The only hard and fast rules for determining an encounter's challenge rating are based on how hard a particular monster, or trap is to defeat. Ergo, the only cut and dry method for assigning XP is related to encounters where the players beat up a monster, or disarm a trap. Well, what about all those other encounters? You know, like the ones where they roleplay?

Truth is, assigning XP for non-combat encounters is pretty ad hoc in 3rd and 3.5 edition D&D. 4th edition introduced non-combat skill challenges as a way to create a non-combat encounter with a clear challenge rating, but this system also substituted dice rolls for time that would otherwise be spent roleplaying a character. Instead of the players trying to convince the stormtroopers these are not the droids they're looking for, they let the dice do the talking.

Over the past several years, I have managed to kajigger (technical term) a system, by which I can assign XP for non-combat encounters in a way that I feel helps keep their rewards on par with those gained through stabbing things with claws and teeth. Here's how it works:

First: I determine how important and/or dangerous a given encounter is. If it is directly related to advancing the main plot, or if it could potentially devolve into combat if handled poorly, I assign it an XP value equal to the party's level. If it is not as important, I give it half that amount. HOWEVER. Because my group is larger than the baseline 4 character party 3.5 edition is built around, I make sure to give each of my players the equivalent of the xp / 4 for roleplaying, puzzle or other non-combat encounters. I do this, because, while having an extra sword arm might make a fight less difficult (thus worth less xp per person) it does not necessarily help with roleplaying or problem-solving challenges.

Second: For encounters that rely heavily on the actions of one particular player, such as the rogue for disarming traps, or if one player does all the talking or puzzle solving, I typically give the active participants full points and the passive party members 1/2 points. Why give the non-participants any XP at all? Mainly to keep the group fairly close in their advancement. Balancing an adventure for characters with a broad range of levels is a real pain in the butt!

Third: I give bonus XP for awesome roleplaying. I typically dish this out to one or two characters per session. The total bonus is usually 10% of the XP total for the night, and I make sure to let my players know who got it and why. This encourages them to dance for me like the greedy XP monkeys they are. >: )

Fellow GMs, how do you go about rewarding your players for stuff not otherwise covered in the rules?

E is for Excel!

Bwaaaaahuuuuuuuh!?

When did this turn into a blog about accounting, you ask? Well, it didn't. Truth is, The trusty spreadsheet program known as Excel has proven to be one of the most useful and versatile tools in my GM toolbox. In fact, when I first started gaming, I ran my whole game from an Excel spreadsheet. Since then, I have scaled back my use of the software at the game table. However, there are still a number of game management-related tasks that I take care of using the program... namely the tracking of experience and loot.

Let's break it down, shall we?

Experience Tracking:
Experience, or (XP) is the metric by which characters in Dungeons & Dragons gain levels, and by doing so, gain new powers. The formula for doling out xp in my chosen edition (3.5) is a convoluted affair full of abbreviations and formulas based around a group of four characters. Essentially, if a group of four PCs (player characters) overcomes a monster of a CR (challenge rating) equal to their level, they gain a certain amount of XP (experience points). The amount of XP dished out fluctuates if the challenge faced is of a higher or lower level than the party, and if the number of PCs is greater or less than the ideal group of four. Strictly speaking, the system is a downright mess.

Anyway, the formula for actually calculating XP is far too convoluted for me to bother with, because I have seven players, which is 1.75x the ideal adventuring group. So, for calculating the XP in any given encounter, I turn to a handy online tool I found. I just plug my characters' levels and the baddies' levels into the fields and it churns out the XP each character should receive.

That is when Excel comes in. Since my game sessions tend to be short (on a weeknight) my players often do not reach a point where it would be appropriate to hand out XP. When you add in the fact that we only play about twice per month, this can make it a real pain to keep track of where the characters stand experience-wise, and when they can expect to hit the next level. This planning is further complicated by the fact that I hand out bonus XP for exceptionally good roleplaying or problem-solving during a session and 1/2 xp for any character whose player was absent. This is why, after I have calculated the XP for an encounter, I plug it in to a custom XP Tracker* I built in... you guessed it! Excel!!

The Tracker tells me how much experience each player gained in each encounter and each session of play as well as the total XP of each player and how many points they have to go to reach the next level. This can be a tremendous help when my players start complaining that it feels like they haven't leveled in years. I can just check my tracker and say... "Chill out, it's only been 4 encounters since the last time you leveled!"


Loot Tracking:
Another aspect of running a tabletop RPG which is a lot of fun for the players but a potential headache for the GM is keeping track of all the spoils. If I had a nickle for every time I had this conversation:

Player: "Hey, I have this unidentified potion written on my character sheet, do you know what it is?"
Me: "Do you recall where your character found it?"
Player: "No, it's been on there for the past few months though..."
Me: *sound of minor aneurysm*

I would have a lot of nickles and the aneurysms to match. That is why, I once again turned to Excel and borrowed one of the essential tools I use in my day job (in museums) the catalog number. Simply put, I built an ever-growing loot list in which each item is assigned a unique ID number. My formula for the ID breaks down like so:

[party level].[session].[item]

Portrait of Spear and Magic Helmet, with Fudd and Wabbit

So, a scroll numbered 9.61.003 was obtained when the party was an average level of 9, during session 61 and it was the third piece of loot acquired in the session. Now, when I hand out treasure, I have my players write down the number in front of the item they got, just in case it takes them several months in real-time before we get a session where they can sit down and identify all their ill-gotten spears and magic helmets. As long as they wrote down the catalog number, it is a simple matter of checking the number against my spreadsheet to determine the object's true identity.

*If you are a GM looking for an XP tracking system, feel free to snag the one I have linked. It's an Excel 2007 document, so people with earlier versions might need to convert it. You will also, of course need to clear the data from the main part of the tracker and change the character names to fit your own.