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Nils_Lindeberg · 07-24-2020, 11:23 AM

Campaigns with super hero stats are definitely more about play-style than anything else. Just like access to magic items and gold can make a 35 point character into a demi-god.

Just do the calcualtions beforehand.

If I want my characters to go a complete story arch that ends with them around 42 point character level. How many nights do I think I can hold the game together. How deadly will the campaign be and when PC's die, do they come back as starting character or at average experience level?. Are those 42 point attributes with or without magic items. How many talents will they pick before you consider them 1 attribute level higher, power wise?

So when you know all that you can set up a leveling scheme and a reward scheme that works. Calculate some averages and stick to it. If you don't you will always run the risk of a maunty haul campaign, a run away power train or end up with characters that are severly under powered for your story ending.

This aspect of GMing is just as important as considering time available for a campaign. I have played in 500+ session campaigns with multiple world changing epic stories and in three game nights mini campaigns featuring a complete story arch. What will be realistic time wise? How often and for how long can your players stick to a schedule. How reliable are the players. How reliable are you? How often do you actually manage to finish campaigns with your gaming group?

When I was a teenager, all campaigns could potentially keep going for ever, but never did. Then when I became a student we had both time and consistency and some truly epic long going camapigns were played. Now I am happy if we can keep the same group together for 10 sessions and actually playing more than 1 or 2 times a month is a luxury for many of us.

An XP system needs to be adjustable to fit within your frame work. If you are going from Zero to Hero in three nights of summer play, your XP gain will need to be extreme with multiple level gains per night. If you are planning on a mega campaign played out over years with 100+ game nights and preferably without perma death, then leveling up attributes will have to be mega slow and the magic item rewards very low per game night.

07-24-2020, 11:23 AM	#72
Nils_Lindeberg Join Date: Jul 2018	Re: Experience Points Campaigns with super hero stats are definitely more about play-style than anything else. Just like access to magic items and gold can make a 35 point character into a demi-god. Just do the calcualtions beforehand. If I want my characters to go a complete story arch that ends with them around 42 point character level. How many nights do I think I can hold the game together. How deadly will the campaign be and when PC's die, do they come back as starting character or at average experience level?. Are those 42 point attributes with or without magic items. How many talents will they pick before you consider them 1 attribute level higher, power wise? So when you know all that you can set up a leveling scheme and a reward scheme that works. Calculate some averages and stick to it. If you don't you will always run the risk of a maunty haul campaign, a run away power train or end up with characters that are severly under powered for your story ending. This aspect of GMing is just as important as considering time available for a campaign. I have played in 500+ session campaigns with multiple world changing epic stories and in three game nights mini campaigns featuring a complete story arch. What will be realistic time wise? How often and for how long can your players stick to a schedule. How reliable are the players. How reliable are you? How often do you actually manage to finish campaigns with your gaming group? When I was a teenager, all campaigns could potentially keep going for ever, but never did. Then when I became a student we had both time and consistency and some truly epic long going camapigns were played. Now I am happy if we can keep the same group together for 10 sessions and actually playing more than 1 or 2 times a month is a luxury for many of us. An XP system needs to be adjustable to fit within your frame work. If you are going from Zero to Hero in three nights of summer play, your XP gain will need to be extreme with multiple level gains per night. If you are planning on a mega campaign played out over years with 100+ game nights and preferably without perma death, then leveling up attributes will have to be mega slow and the magic item rewards very low per game night.