Well, core only...

It's not 3E or 4E, which in itself means it can't be all that bad, relatively speaking. Does that count as a redeemable feature?

XP for killing monsters. And, I forget if it was a houserule or not, but we used to give it out for driving them off using the morale rules too (within reason).

So far, it appears that the original question that was begged has failed to be addressed.  From what does 2e need to be redeemed?

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;278675XP for killing monsters. And, I forget if it was a houserule or not, but we used to give it out for driving them off using the morale rules too (within reason).

AD&D 1e also had xp for killing monsters.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;278728AD&D 1e also had xp for killing monsters.

RPGPundit

I think he may have meant "XP for *not* killing monsters", which was highlighted in AD&D2e. It had a system by which thieves got XP for stealing, wizards for spell research, etc.

Quote from: Abyssal Maw;278730I think he may have meant "XP for *not* killing monsters", which was highlighted in AD&D2e. It had a system by which thieves got XP for stealing, wizards for spell research, etc.

Whoops, yeah, that was a typo. <:)

There were only a handful of fights to the death against sentient opponents in most of the AD&D 2e campaigns I was involved in. I remember one game where some PCs had to zipline across a cavern that was full of kobolds and the minions of a necromancer. They landed at the other end of the cavern right beside his giant cauldron full of a bubbling solution with bits of humans in it. They knocked the cauldron over and onto the kobolds that were streaming up onto the dais where the cauldron had been, and scattered the horde, which would have otherwise overwhelmed them.

Because it hadn't permanently dispersed the horde, merely disrupted it and broken it during battle, they only got half XP, but it was still enough to level them during their next break (or would have been if the necromancer hadn't killed half of them). IIRC, I gave them a bonus for the zipline idea too, which was clever and well executed.

Quote from: Abyssal Maw;278730I think he may have meant "XP for *not* killing monsters", which was highlighted in AD&D2e.

How the hell would that be an improvement?!

 

QuoteIt had a system by which thieves got XP for stealing, wizards for spell research, etc.

Ok, yes, I could see how this could be an improvement.

RPGPundit

Paul grants XP whether we kill the monster or not; in his mind, the XP is for achieving the goal, however we choose to go about that. If you only grant XP for killing the monster, you've just closed the possible tactics [from a metagame perspective, anyway] down immensely. [You also end up with lots of jokes about running through kobold hospitals with a dagger.]

For my part, I cannot imagine a GM only granting XP if the monster gets killed in the end. It seems like that just makes the game - in the end - about killing stuff, which doesn't interest me much at all. I like Shadowrun's system [of course], in which karma is given for survival, accomplishing goals, and good roleplaying, which seem to be to be the best possible set of goals for a session, for my purposes.

Quote from: RPGPundit;278811How the hell would that be an improvement?!

 ...

Ok, yes, I could see how this could be an improvement.

RPGPundit

I should have phrased that as "Activities other than killing monsters", and the emphasis at that time was supplementary. So it was expected that the PCs would still be out killing monsters, but they would get XP for the other stuff too.

I think fighters got XP for managing and drilling men at arms, clerics for performing services, etc.