XP Tracker: Awards and Spending

EXPERIENCE AWARDS

You will get something in the ball park of about 15-30 XP per month, depending on two primary factors:

(1)Your level of participation. This will be most important. Not only do I have rules for what's expected out of players, but this will add a little extra motivation for you to participate. I got the idea from the concept of awarding extra XP for good role playing. And, for our purposes on PbP, good role playing will essentially come down to you participating. Players who participate as expected will get more experience. This makes sense on another level as well, as they're contributing more to the group's success, and part of becoming a more powerful player in the galaxy is to be a part of the struggle, rather than watching from the sidelines.

To be clear, the experience will be awarded for players who participate as expected; this means at the very least they join the game as expected Monday-Thursday and participate via meaningful posts. I am not awarding XP for participating outside of our active game periods.

(2)What the group accomplishes. Par for the course in role playing games. Get stuff done, power up. The greater the accomplishment, the greater the reward.

SPENDING EXPERIENCE

Whenever you spend XP to upgrade your character, make a note of it here, using the example below as your guide.


Venzo is going to pick up another Reflect talent for 15 XP. He'll also increase his Coercion for 10 more XP. Remaining XP is down to 5.

XP AWARDS AND STRUCTURE

Regarding XP awards and structure, the way I'm going to do things for now will be as follows:

Each day you post during our active game (M,T,W,Th) will be worth one XP point. Those of you who post every day during the week (M,T,W,Th), as expected, will also get an extra XP point for that week. So, you can potentially earn 5 XP per week, up to 20 XP per month (keep in mind that a month, for our purposes, starts on the first Monday of the month). For those less experienced in PbP, 20 XP a month is an excellent pace. I want you to feel like your characters are developing and progressing, with the possibility of becoming 'high level' at some point; I don't want you to feel like your characters are stagnant.

While this may not seem like much of a difference to some of you, it does add up. For example, if you miss a day every week you'll get 12 XP a month, whereas those of you who post 4 days a week (every game day) will get 20 XP a month. In 3 months, that would add up to 36 XP and 60 XP, respectively; over a year, the difference would be 144 to 240, respectively. At your character's current level, the difference over a year (96 XP) is enough to buy a second specialization and get straight to the bottom of a its tree, which is big).

These XP will be tallied (not awarded) throughout the month, then awarded on the first Monday of the next month (e.g., for this month, I'll tally XP through December and award the total on Monday, January 2nd).

Additionally, I will also occasionally award extra XP for accomplishing major goals and plot resolution (e.g., successfully completing Operation Dark Thrall would definitely gain some additional XP, to be sure). Likewise, if I think the group has had a particularly slow month, I may reduce the XP award to reflect as much (e.g., if the group spends the entire month in the spaceport hangar talking to Zhaff or deliberating what to do next, I might reduce the award by 5 or 10, depending).

These award reductions are meant to provide a reasonable balance to the base potential of 20 XP per month. I mean, we can't have the group hanging out in the spaceport cantina, drinking Corellian brandy and smoking death sticks until March 2017 just to level up, can we now? The good news is that I don't want to reduce your XP awards. I'll only do so if it seems appropriate.

I am also considering awarding monthly participation bonuses as well (or something similar). For example, if you were fully involved in the game and posted for all game days in the month, you'd be awarded an additional 5 XP. This is meant to further encourage participation, keeping the story moving forward while avoiding situations wherein the game bogs down.

Ultimately, to sum it up, your participation as a player will make up your base XP award for the month, modified as needed for the factors above. The structure is meant to imitate the table top game: XP are awarded to the players who are sitting in chairs, playing.

Part of the reasoning for awarding XP in this way is to provide a clear understanding for you to work with as far as how your character will advance. Also, I don't want any of you to be in a situation where you're wondering why you got less XP than someone else, or player 'X' always seems to get more XP, etc.

More importantly, I want to reward the players that are actually playing and contributing in a meaningful way as part of advancing the story and plot. A note on meaningful: moving forward, after working some of the kinks out last week, if you're literally just slapping a sentence or two down to get your XP for the day, that's not quite meeting expectations as described in a few different places, so it very likely will not count for XP purposes (I do, however, expect posting in combat to be simpler, depending on the the actions and the writer). This isn't intended to be punitive, rather, it's meant to encourage meaningful participation by awarding XP for doing so. You don't have to write a novel, but we're all writing and reading this story together, so any content and depth you can bring to the game is enjoyed and appreciated by all.

XP TALLY FOR DECEMBER 5-9

Everyone got 5 XP.

XP TALLY FOR DECEMBER 12-16

I understand that some of you will miss days, Things happen. Please tell us in advance if, for some reason, you're going to miss more than one day, otherwise you're leaving us in the dark. Also, I want to make sure those of you who are most involved are rewarded for the PbP equivalent of good role playing, via being engaged, participating, and helping move the story along. Ultimately, for all of you, how much your character shapes the story and how fast they level up and becomes more powerful is entirely up to you.


CCL: 3

Dramasailor: 5

Meribson: 3

Squeeks: 5

Tefmon: 5

XP TALLY FOR DECEMBER 19-23

I understand that some of you will miss days, Things happen. Please tell us in advance if, for some reason, you're going to miss more than one day, otherwise you're leaving us in the dark. Also, I want to make sure those of you who are most involved are rewarded for the PbP equivalent of good role playing, via being engaged, participating, and helping move the story along. Ultimately, for all of you, how much your character shapes the story and how fast they level up and becomes more powerful is entirely up to you.


CCL: 3

Dramasailor: 3

Meribson: 5

Squeeks: 5

Tefmon: 5

XP TALLY FOR DECEMBER 26-30

I understand that some of you will miss days, Things happen. Please tell us in advance if, for some reason, you're going to miss more than one day, otherwise you're leaving us in the dark. Also, I want to make sure those of you who are most involved are rewarded for the PbP equivalent of good role playing, via being engaged, participating, and helping move the story along. Ultimately, for all of you, how much your character shapes the story and how fast they level up and becomes more powerful is entirely up to you.


CCL:5

Dramasailor: 5

Meribson: 5

Squeeks: 5

Tefmon: 5

XP AWARDS FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 2ND



CCL: 16

Dramasailor: 18

Meribson: 18

Squeeks: 20 + 5 XP monthly bonus = 25

Tefmon: 20 + 5 XP monthly bonus = 25

I'd like to spend some of Hawke's XP on the following:
10 XP - Armor Master talent
5 XP - 1st rank in Vigilance

Tajanna will spend 15 XP to pick up the Sleight of Mind talent from the Shadow specialization. She'll have 10 XP still available to spend.

Done.

Done. If you're using Stealth, remind me of Sleight of Mind please. I'll try to keep an eye out for it, but it could only help your cause to remind me.

XP TALLY FOR JANUARY 2-6

I understand that some of you will miss days, Things happen. Please tell us in advance if, for some reason, you're going to miss more than one day, otherwise you're leaving us in the dark. Also, I want to make sure those of you who are most involved are rewarded for the PbP equivalent of good role playing, via being engaged, participating, and helping move the story along. Ultimately, for all of you, how much your character shapes the story and how fast they level up and becomes more powerful is entirely up to you.


CCL:5

Dramasailor: 5

Meribson: 5

Squeeks: 3

Tefmon: 5

XP TALLY FOR JANUARY 9-14

I understand that some of you will miss days, Things happen. Please tell us in advance if, for some reason, you're going to miss more than one day, otherwise you're leaving us in the dark. Also, I want to make sure those of you who are most involved are rewarded for the PbP equivalent of good role playing, via being engaged, participating, and helping move the story along. Ultimately, for all of you, how much your character shapes the story and how fast they level up and becomes more powerful is entirely up to you.


CCL:5

Dramasailor: 5

Meribson: 5

Squeeks: 5

Tefmon: 5

XP TALLY FOR JANUARY 16-21

I understand that some of you will miss days, Things happen. Please tell us in advance if, for some reason, you're going to miss more than one day, otherwise you're leaving us in the dark. Also, I want to make sure those of you who are most involved are rewarded for the PbP equivalent of good role playing, via being engaged, participating, and helping move the story along. Ultimately, for all of you, how much your character shapes the story and how fast they level up and becomes more powerful is entirely up to you.


CCL:5

Dramasailor: 3

Meribson: 5

Squeeks: 2

Tefmon: 5

XP TALLY FOR JANUARY 23-28

I understand that some of you will miss days, Things happen. Please tell us in advance if, for some reason, you're going to miss more than one day, otherwise you're leaving us in the dark. Also, I want to make sure those of you who are most involved are rewarded for the PbP equivalent of good role playing, via being engaged, participating, and helping move the story along. Ultimately, for all of you, how much your character shapes the story and how fast they level up and becomes more powerful is entirely up to you.


CCL:5

Dramasailor: 5

Meribson: 5

Squeeks: 5

Tefmon: 5

XP TALLY FOR JANUARY 30 - February 4

I understand that some of you will miss days, Things happen. Please tell us in advance if, for some reason, you're going to miss more than one day, otherwise you're leaving us in the dark. Also, I want to make sure those of you who are most involved are rewarded for the PbP equivalent of good role playing, via being engaged, participating, and helping move the story along. Ultimately, for all of you, how much your character shapes the story and how fast they level up and becomes more powerful is entirely up to you.


CCL:5

Dramasailor: 5

Meribson: 5

Squeeks: 5

Tefmon: 5

MONTHLY XP AWARDS FOR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6TH
These points have been added to your character sheets and are now available to spend

The progress adjustment doesn't reflect poor game playing on your part; it's simply an adjustment based on what happened during the game month, as a means of balancing XP gain relative to what is happening in the game.


CCL: 25 + (5 XP monthly bonus) - (5 adjustment for progress) = 25 XP

Dramasailor: 23 XP - (5 adjustment for progress) = 18 XP

Meribson: 25 + (5 XP monthly bonus) - (5 adjustment for progress) = 25 XP

Squeeks: 22 XP - (5 adjustment for progress) = 17 XP

Tefmon: 25 + (5 XP monthly bonus) - (5 adjustment for progress) = 25 XP

Tajanna will spend 20 XP to pick up the Now You See Me talent from the Shadow specialization. She'll have 15 XP still available to spend.

Done.

Regarding 'once per session' abilities and such, to clarify 'once per session', I'm going to have sessions last as long as it takes until the next Conflict/Morality check. I'm going to go with what seems to make sense in another game I'm a player in, and do them every three months.

We'll see how it goes, but for now we can consider new sessions to be starting in March, June, September, December. Of course, we'll still hand out monthly XP :)