Quote from: Ratman_tf;930820One off the top of my head.

Let's say the players are engaged in a rescue operation at a remote outpost. During the infiltration, they find out there's a restricted weapons research area. They can complete their mission as planned, or they could make a detour and risk the heightened security and time spent to check out the goodies in the weapons vault. It's like an optional side quest that will give them more potential xp and loot, allows the party to take on more risk if they want to.

Thanks for explaining. I think I get that, though the idea of an experience budget seems odd. So the GM has some sort of experience budget? How is the budget determined?

I run the CoC/BRP games as well, and I don't have trouble with the check being a magnet for cheaters, either--I call for that at the start of a session, and kind of watch folks as they roll, but we have gamed for a long long time together and never have had that problem.  The only variation is that I will sometimes allow people a second check in a box for either extraordinary role play or for a very good roll.  (Usually one can only get one at a time.)

Quote from: Bren;930821Thanks for explaining. I think I get that, though the idea of an experience budget seems odd. So the GM has some sort of experience budget? How is the budget determined?

SWN has a reccomended xp value per session table. Divide that amount for cash value of loot. The section is vague, maybe intentionally, as to what xp is awarded for besides loot.

D&D has had xp budgets since 3rd edition, I think? I know Pathfinder and 4th edition have xp budgets that the GM "spends" building encounters, adding traps, including loot, etc.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;930823SWN has a reccomended xp value per session table. Divide that amount for cash value of loot. The section is vague, maybe intentionally, as to what xp is awarded for besides loot.

D&D has had xp budgets since 3rd edition, I think? I know Pathfinder and 4th edition have xp budgets that the GM "spends" building encounters, adding traps, including loot, etc.

How curious. The budget concept seems a bit bizarre. It also seems like way more work than tracking fatigue in Runequest 3. What is it intended to accomplish?

Quote from: Bren;930850How curious. The budget concept seems a bit bizarre. It also seems like way more work than tracking fatigue in Runequest 3. What is it intended to accomplish?

It's a tool for DMs to balance the challenge of an encounter.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering#Table-Encounter-Design

Personally, I've developed my own technique that's similar, but I prefer to eyeball challenges and xp values, and not build them out of a strict system. Probably because I've DMed for so long that I've got a pretty good idea of how challenging most encounters in a d20 type system are. I can see it being pretty helpful for a new or intermediate GM.

D&D 3.x/Pathfinder doesn't really use a strict system either.  It's more more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules.  Some PFS scenario writers forget this.  That's how you get a tier 7-11 PFS scenario with an encounter where the PCs fight a swarm of CR2 morlocks.  In tier 10-11, there are 32 of the damn things.  Technically, it's a level appropriate encounter.  In reality, it's a tedious waste of time.

Quote from: jhkim;930502I'm running 5th ed D&D, but I'm just using level advancement as GM fiat, which amounts to a level advance every 4-5 sessions now.

(I've played with XP plenty, but I felt that XP calculation and tracking weren't adding anything to the game.)

I do the same in my 5e game, albeit with speedier advancement since we play irregularly but for a full day. That's faster than RAW, but I'm fine with it, especially as it allows my new-to-the-game players to get to play with their new toys on a regular basis.

Old school XP payout systems simply add bureaucracy and whining for no tangible benefit. (That said, I played in a deep ACKS game in which the old-school XP fit just fine in the rest of the mega spreadsheet craziness).

Quote from: Motorskills;930867Old school XP payout systems simply add bureaucracy and whining for no tangible benefit.

Try playing with grownups.

How do I hand out experience?

I say, "You get X experience points."

I give everyone an equal share of EXP at the end of the session.

I also award individual bonus EXP at the beginning of the session by hosting a Jeopardy!-style Q&A about the previous session about important NPCs, overarching story updates and factoids that are related to the adventure at-hand.

Finally, I award individual bonus EXP if players take the time to write an update from their character's point of view from the previous session on our shared wiki. The more players who participate in this weekly compounds the bonus EXP. So if the reward was 50 EXP per update between sessions individually, it would multiply to 150 EXP if three players made an update. To incentivize this, I only offer this bonus EXP if the update is made between sessions, before the new session.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;930932Try playing with grownups.

Ive DMed for kids that were far far more reasonable and open minded than some of the supposed grownups Ive had at the table.

Quote from: ZWEIHÄNDER;930940I give everyone an equal share of EXP at the end of the session.

I also award individual bonus EXP at the beginning of the session by hosting a Jeopardy!-style Q&A about the previous session about important NPCs, overarching story updates and factoids that are related to the adventure at-hand.

Finally, I award individual bonus EXP if players take the time to write an update from their character's point of view from the previous session on our shared wiki. The more players who participate in this weekly compounds the bonus EXP. So if the reward was 50 EXP per update between sessions individually, it would multiply to 150 EXP if three players made an update. To incentivize this, I only offer this bonus EXP if the update is made between sessions, before the new session.

What's the purpose of having them update the wiki? Does having a wiki make a difference?

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;930991What's the purpose of having them update the wiki? Does having a wiki make a difference?

It allows us to gaze upon previous games, remember old characters, read old stories and have a repository of information we can share with our friends and children when they begin playing. My players are incredibly diligent about logging between sessions. The key is to have everyone hyperlink, just like in wikipedia.

We started using freeware wiki software (Peanut Butter Wiki) in 2004 as beta testers. It currently has 1,904 pages of hyperlinked information, with 1.5gigs of total information. I recently finished transcribing all my old notes onto the wiki from when I started my campaign world over the past 25 years.

Quote from: trechriron;930768I am running a Castles & Crusades game.

I award XP for;

• 20% of the value of treasure.
• 20% of the GP value of magic items.
• Defeating (killing, negotiating, circumventing, etc.) antagonists.
• Roleplaying (interacting, approaching things from the "role's" perspective).
• Mission Bonus when I believe they have accomplished something significant.
• Bravery (are they being adventurous or stuck in analysis paralysis).

This is pooled together and divided by number of players and hirelings/NPC.

I also award other things like land, titles, contacts, etc.

This makes some good sense to me.

Quote from: CRKrueger;930373So, a question...
1. What games are you currently running?
2. How do you handle the experience in that game?

Right now I am just running my own game, Ogre Gate.

I give individual XP based on wha the characters did. Each character can generally earn 1-3 XP (in rare cases up to 5 if they get bonus XP for rare achievements). Each point is based on certain markers (like killing someone more powerful than them that session). If they hit each marker, they get the XP for it. In one group I've been doing individual XP, in another, just to keep things simple, we've been doing it as a group total.