Quote:
Originally Posted by umbros
In DF 3: The Next Level we are given guidelines on how much XP to award for a number of different scenarios.
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First, I went though this myself with my own DF game, and blogged it here:
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com...use-rules.html
Quote:
Originally Posted by umbros
My first question concerns Completion XP.
What if the dungeon is a megadungeon that may take years of playtime to clear, or a wilderness area that can never be truly cleared?
In a sandbox style game there may be no discrete end-point that could be called a completion point. What do you recommend?
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I'd drop the completion XP. The whole point of a megadungeon is that clearing levels is unnecessary and/or impossible. So offering completion XP is a bad idea - it encourages an attempt at something you can't reasonably do and don't want people to do.
You can offer a bonus for completion the "specials" of a level, or just for those specials. You cleared the Evil Shrine on level 1? Great, +2. Wiped out the Orc Menace on level 2? Great, +1. How about +3 for solving the Mysterious Moon Man Portals on level 7? Fine.
I plan to have bonuses for finding and solving neat stuff in my megadungeon (2 1/2 levels mapped, just started on levels 3 and one of the sub-levels of 4) but nothing for "completion." It's a concept that doesn't mesh well with a "megadungeon" IMO.
Quote:
Originally Posted by umbros
What if you want to encourage (or at least allow for the possibility for) not fighting everything you see? What if you want a more old-school feel where exploration of dangerous places and acquisition of treasure is more important (or at least more efficient to get XP) than killing things?
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Check my blog for that - I dislike giving out XP for killing stuff. It makes monsters and people into targets for killing, and "you are worth more to me dead than alive." I make it about exploration and treasure. This encourages clever, non-resource-consuming approaches to problems. Why kill the dragon if you can rob him? Why slaughter the hobgoblins and risk a critical that kills your 250 point guy when you can bargain with them for safe passage and protection money (given or received). Why fight the morlocks if you can recruit them in return for helping you get More Loot? If you give XP for killing them, they'll get killed. If they are obstacles to your main goal of getting rich, well, maybe giving them $100 each to help you tote back $500 of treasure (maybe something valueless to them) each to the surface works out for all sides.
But FWIW I've averaged about 4-6 XP per session in my game, and that seems to work out fine. I plan on giving a large completion bonus for the long, involved clearing of the Temple of Evil Chaos in the Caves of Chaos, because it's inevitably multi-session and it's an assigned mission.
Hope that helps.