DM XP

[Rusty]

Experience

There are six possible sources of XP available in ALFA:

• i) DM Quest XP
  ii) DM Role-play XP
  iii) DM Bonus XP
  iv) Static Quest XP
  v) Scripted RP XP
  vi) Combat XP

Of these six, the first three are directly under the control of DMs, while the sixth is indirectly controllable. Awards of the first two types are made by the use of the ALFA XP Wand, on the basis of real-life hours. This means that it is imperative that DMs record when their sessions start and end. It is also important that PCs not be penalised for acting swiftly and rewarded for acting unreasonably slowly. Ineffective use of time should lead to a proportionate decrease in any award, while effective use of time causing a proportionate increase.

• Example: a DM session of three hours includes a thirty-minute period in which nothing is achieved. This is due to a combination of real-life distractions, PCs being AFK, and general incompetence. When it comes to making an award at the end of the session, the DM discounts this half-hour from the total three hours, and makes an award for two-and-a-half hours instead.

It will be seen that the main avenue of DM XP gain is through plot advancement, taking risks, adventuring, and facing and overcoming challenges, while awards for role-playing will make up the rest of the award. The general proportion of quest awards to role-play awards will be around a ratio of 2:1.

DM XP is awarded individually, to each PC, and it is important that differences in the contribution of each PC, and the quality of their role-play are recognised with different awards. Those who contribute to the success of the party should be better rewarded than those who do not contribute or actively hinder the achievement of their goals. Similarly, individual role-play can vary significantly across a party and it is only right and proper that this is recognised when DM RP XP awards are made.

DMs must make awards at the end of each session: it is not appropriate to hold back XP except in extraordinary circumstances where real world or technical problems mean making the award is impossible. Should such occur, the amount to be awarded should be recorded in the relevant DM forum and it should be made to the PC at the earliest opportunity.

Finally, it is important to note that this list of XP sources is exclusive. DMs must not award XP from any other sources or for any other reasons. Indeed, ALFA’s NWN2 engine is configured such as to make other forms of XP award not possible. Attempting to circumvent these provisions will inevitably lead to censure.

[Rusty]

i) DM Quest XP

DM Quest XP awards take two main factors into account:

• the challenge faced by the PCs; and,
• the success of the PCs in overcoming that challenge.

The same quest can present a significantly different challenge to differently constituted parties. Cleric-heavy parties will find defeating undead a lot easier than others, while Rogue-heavy parties are a lot less susceptible to ambush and a lot more capable of overcoming trap-laden dungeons. PCs should not be over-rewarded for overcoming challenges that are inherently easy for them; but nor should they be penalised for facing challenges that they are necessarily unprepared for. PCs should also not be unduly penalised for being effective: if a particular tactic surprises a DM and neutralises a significant part of the challenge that the players are facing, it may be appropriate to reduce the ‘Challenge’ element – but increase the ‘Success’ element for the overall quest. Effectively, when one or another element is significantly increased or decreased, it is appropriate to increase or decrease the level of the award by a single band.

Awards are made for fixed amounts, by selecting the correct option on the ALFA XP Wand.

• Easy (20 XP / RL hour):
• the PCs should be able to overcome the challenge without any difficulty;
• the PCs should be able to overcome the challenge using only their key strengths;
• there is no significant chance of death or other plot-related failure;
• significant outlay of resources is not required;
• the PCs should be able to proceed directly on to another immediately.

• Normal (40 XP / RL hour):
• the PCs should be able to overcome the challenge without significant difficulty;
• the PCs should be able to overcome the challenge using their key strengths;
• there is no significant chance of death or other plot-related failure;
• significant outlay of resources is not required;
• the PCs should be able to proceed directly on to another quest with minimal recovery.

• Serious (60 XP / RL hour):
• the PCs should have some difficulty in overcoming the challenge;
• the PCs should have to prepare and plan properly to overcome the challenge;
• the PCs will be required to use skills and abilities other than their key strengths in order to succeed;
• there is a chance of death, or other significant plot-related failure;
• some outlay of resources is required, including temporary items;
• some recovery and restocking will be necessary before the PCs can proceed further.

• Exceptional (80 XP / RL hour):
• failure is a realistic possibility;
• the PCs will have to prepare and plan thoroughly in order to overcome the challenge;
• the PCs will be required to use skills and abilities that are the opposite of their key strengths in order to succeed;
• death or other significant plot-related failure is a realistic possibility;
• significant outlay of resources is required, including temporary items;
• a significant period of recovery and restocking will be necessary before the PCs can proceed further.

• Example: Our party spend several IG days planning their raid on an orc camp, including making some specific tactical purchases – a Wand of Sleep and a half-dozen Antidote Potions – to exploit the weakness of the orc barbarians and counter one of their strengths (poisoned weapons). Our party is a traditional Fighter/Fighter/Cleric/Wizard/Rogue combination, but in order to make their approach to the orc camp undetected, they are required to be as stealthy as possible – not a key strength for the fighters and clerics and available only for the wizard by magical means. Their plan works and they successfully raid the camp, their stealthy approach and Wand of Sleep allowing them to neutralise the outlying guards before they can sound the alarm. They free a human slave, although they have to use several Antidote Potions, various healing abilities and potions, and several charges on the Wand of Sleep. Our party has successfully overcome a significant challenge by good use of their abilities and good planning. This quest would be properly assessed as ‘Serious’.
  
  Example: Situation as above, but our party consists of three Fighters and two Clerics and their approach is to buff and slaughter. They fail to neutralise the outlying guards and the camp is alerted to their presence. They narrowly succeed in winning the ensuing mass melee and freeing the human slave. Although the final result may be similar, their approach has been significantly less successful than our first example, so it could be properly assessed as ‘Normal’.
  
  Example: Situation as above, but this time our party consists of three Rogues and two Rangers, and their approach is to use stealth. They carefully reconnoitre the orc camp and are able to sneak in, assassinate the orc leader and liberate the slave, whose escape they facilitate with a series of Potions of Invisibility. While they may have arguably been the most successful of the three parties, they have not been significantly challenged: they have made use of a single set of abilities, key to their classes, that the orcs have been unable to counter. Again, this quest could be properly assessed as of ‘Normal’ difficulty.

[Rusty]

ii) DM Role-play XP

As with DM Quest XP, DM Role-play XP awards are made for fixed amounts, by selecting the correct option on the ALFA XP Wand. Assessing role-play quality is necessarily more subjective than assessing the challenge level of a quest or the success with which that challenge is met.

As with DM Quest XP, DM Role-play XP awards are made on the basis of four categories:

• Poor (15 XP / RL hour):
• the general quality of PC’s role-play is poor;
• the PC takes little or no account of circumstances;
• the role-play is of no long-term significance;
• some or all of the following negative modifiers are present:
  • OOC comments;
  • metagaming;
  • powergaming
  • OOC or inconsistent behaviour.

• Normal (30 XP / RL hour):
• the general quality of PC’s role-play is acceptable;
• the PC takes some account of circumstances;
• the role-play is not of particular long-term significance;
• some of the following negative modifiers are present:
  • OOC comments;
  • metagaming;
  • powergaming
  • OOC or inconsistent behaviour.

• Good (45 XP / RL hour):
• the general quality of PC’s role-play is good;
• the PC takes account of circumstances;
• the role-play may be of long-term significance;
• none of the following negative modifiers are present:
  • OOC comments;
  • metagaming;
  • powergaming
  • OOC or inconsistent behaviour.

• Exceptional (60 XP / RL hour):
• the general quality of PC’s role-play is outstanding;
• the PC takes full account of all circumstances;
• the role-play is of long-term significance;
• none of the following negative modifiers are present:
  • OOC comments;
  • metagaming;
  • powergaming
  • OOC or inconsistent behaviour.

• Example: During their raid on the orc camp, our party operates as a disciplined, effective unit, following the orders given to them by their chosen leader. As a group of Triad-worshipping adventurers of LG and LN alignment, this is perfectly typical behaviour. There are no negative incidents and their role-play can consequently be rated as Normal.
  
  Example: Our party operates in a similarly disciplined and effective manner, including the two Wisdom 8 CN halfling twins who habitually get each other into comically careless situations. While the three other PCs are rated Normal, these two should be regarded as Poor.
  
  Example: Our party consists of a broadly chaotic group of adventurers sworn to the service of some generic evil deity. Their church has granted one member, the Cleric, total authority over the group. During their approach to the orc camp, a dispute over tactics breaks out amongst the party. The method proposed by the anointed leader is questioned by one of the party members, a CN Rogue with a high INT and WIS and a reputation for good planning. The CE Wizard, who seeks to supplant the current leader, but the two Fighters, both heavily indoctrinated and loyal servants of their church, line up alongside the Cleric. The Wizard and Rogue back down in the face of overwhelming force. The Rogue’s plan was objectively superior and in following the Cleric’s plan, the party nearly fails to rescue the slave – a servant of one of their church’s temples. This is an example of high-quality role-play, where the objectively right thing to do is sacrificed to for subjective, in-character reasons. This should properly be rated as Good role-play.

[Rusty]

iii) DM Bonus XP

Bonus XP operates outside of the context of criteria-based Quest XP. It takes the form of a small one-off rewards of 10 XP, and can be triggered by anything from a particularly clever idea, to a perfect piece of role-play representing a PC’s personality, to anything that significantly adds to the general enjoyment of the other players – and DMs. Bonus awards should be made sparingly, but often enough to provide general encouragement for players. Bonus awards are made via the ALFA XP Bonus Cookie Widget.

[ç i p h é r]

How does this square with the DM Wand (which became a GUI) implementation we had discussed, Rusty?

(Quest XP + RolePlay XP) * Session Duration

http://alandfaraway.org/projects.php

I'll post screens of the GUI for clarity, but the implementation is essentially a single, comprehensive XP reward tool for DMs. Is that what you had intended? Or do you want these broken out into separate tools (radial options in the context menu). Hard to gauge from the way you presented the specification here. I don't have time to drudge through all the forum threads if I'm going to get this stuff done by the 15th, so if I've missed anything, apologies in advance.

[ç i p h é r]

[Rusty]

The implementation appears to be exactly what is required, no?

[ç i p h é r]

Ok so a single interface was what you had in mind too. In that case, we won't need separate radial menu options, just our version of Give Experience. Let's talk about logging then.

If quest rating > 0, log the xp as QUEST XP.

If quest rating = 0, log the xp as RP XP.

Satisfactory?

QUEST XP will always include some amount of RP XP unless we add a 0 option for Roleplay Rating.

p.s. I also added support for rewarding XP to the entire party, not just the targeted PC, for convenience (in situations where the XP reward is the same across the board).

[Rusty]

I initially thought of a split interface, but a single GUI is much better.

Would it be possible to log the actual inputs, A, B & C?

[AcadiusLost]

p.s. I also added support for rewarding XP to the entire party, not just the targeted PC, for convenience (in situations where the XP reward is the same across the board).

Two questions on this: Can we include a mechanism by which the awarding DM is informed (via SendMessageToPC, perhaps) who is actually awarded to with a group XP award? It's impossible to tell who is partied with whom as a DM, so if a party has a few members who are on the other end of the server hanging out at the casino, it'd be best if, minimally, the DM realizes if they erroneously got a Quest reward due to party status.

Following up on that- will there still be some mechanism to deduct XP if there is a mistake? Not going to be common, but would be pretty maddening to lose the ability to correct DM mistakes entirely.

[Rusty]

Both good points.

Re. first: might have to remove add to whole group?

Re. second: we still have SetXP for emergencies; I guess that covers?

[ç i p h é r]

I initially thought of a split interface, but a single GUI is much better.

Ok, good.

Would it be possible to log the actual inputs, A, B & C?

Yes. Easy adjustment.

RE: Party XP - Yes, I can SendMessageToDM for each player who gets the XP. Adjustments can be made with the Set Experience radial option. If that's sufficient, we're covered.

Radial Options:



Give Experience:



What do you think is better/easier? A 'Reward Party' radio button or submit button?

Set Experience:

[Rusty]

I like the Reward Party / Reward PC option. Clearer, I think.

[AcadiusLost]

Maybe a silly question... but wouldn't selecting a Serious (60) quest with Exceptional (60) RP for 1 hour, enp up yielding 135 (60+60+15 from RPXP tracking) XP for an hour's play? (plus any combat XP yielded)

I'd gone with 100xp/hr as an absolute maximum in my DMing before- looks like we're now condoning up to 155+combat+bonusXP per hour?

Just curious, as I know the 100/hr was a rule of thumb and not an absolute ceiling, and this system certainly bookends gain rate nicely.

[Veilan]

Hm, I'm with AL on this.

My own initial XP system, from which Rusty adapted this, set out with getting DMs used to the idea that 90xp/hour should be around the common average for challenging quests with good rp, and that rewards above 120xp, if given at all - and the conditions to do so were quite demanding - need be especially documented.

I think the way this system is set up means the "average" will be serious / good, not normal, the way it is set up. We have to keep in mind how people view and see brackets psychology wise, you're not going to award in the lower half and say it's "normal", as DMs identify with their players and their own adventure. A three step system might be more advisable.