Character Points: Methods?

[Boge]

The problem I've had is that you have two different times to deal with.

1. Play time - My group plays every other week for about 5 hours a session. Our campaigns last about 15 sessions before a break or we're finished.

2. In game time - typically our GM has been doing a day is 1 play session. So there really isn't realistic time for our characters to train and gain anything. If a campaign lasts 15 days, our characters should have barely advanced if at all.

So after a campaign, which is 15 days in game time, I've seen our characters go from mediocre in skill, to masters...in 15 days!! It's ridiculous. But if we don't do that, then our characters don't even advance, and it's not very exciting for us.

So I think it's more important to go with the players time rather than the characters time. The player is the one experiencing the advancement afterall. So I've suggested 2 points per session with a limitation on 1 point per skill used (or specified training) during that session. So in a campaign, a character could gain up to about 4 levels in a skill (assuming 4 points per level) which is a good amount of advancement, but not off the charts. They'd have to focus completely on that skill alone and would have to have opportunities to use that skill during the session, which doesn't happen all the time.

Our GM also hands out other rewards in the game, such as a blessing for doing a certain quest, or special items or advantages we gain. So the 2 points doesn't seem so small. In a higher point value campaign, we give out 4-5. I'm not a big fan of rewarding players individually for special things that happen. Jealousy happens and nobody wants that.

So far it's working out well. But I understand our way of play is likely quite different than most.

[ericthered]

I try to be very deliberate in how I distribute points. Some types of games shouldn't feature character growth at all. Others games have character growth as the focus of their plot.

"Per session" can mean a lot of different things. Much of my play has been done in two hours sessions, and rewarding points at the end of each one of those would both be too fast and take away from our limited time.

I find I give points either with narrative beats, according to character time, or not at all. I use character point award scheduling as a way of setting goals, and of celebrating victories. I also use it as a kind of progress bar: I'll tell the players I have three triggers that can give them CP when unraveling some one else's plot, and they can see their progress through the layers of misdirection as they earn points.

I apply points evenly: I don't like the book keeping of tracking which character has 206 points and which 208.

[Black Leviathan]

1. Our group awards points at the beginning of the next session. We game every other week so a little review helps keep the game fresh in our heads. We have settled at about 4CP per session. We usually have about 8-16 sessions in a play run, so it doesn't add-up to a lot of development. We don't deal with improvement through study and we're fairly restrictive about what you can buy with CP, generally only skills that would make sense for your character in proportion's that are reasonable. We enforce having to pay for advantages you gain in play for them to be an advantage to you.

2. We softball CP allotment so that nobody feels especially picked on or like anyone is the teacher's pet. You have to be mostly checked out or pretty far off out of character to not get your 4. We give you a PFP, point for having a pulse. We give a point for playing your character, my new metric for this is to ask each player for an example of how their disadvantages or quirks were an obstruction from what they would have rather done last game. Next we ask two questions, Typically one for each player and one for a consensus answer, They're participation questions, no right answer like "You've been on a long journey last session, it brings to mind places you've been meaning to go. Where has your character always wanted to visit and why?"

3. We pay CPs exclusively for Roleplay work. If you want to blog the game that's awesome. If you draw character sketches for everyone we will find a way to pay you back but CP is only for what your character does in the game. On super rare occasions the GM can and has thrown out on-the-spot awards of a single CP for remarkable stuff.

4. On some games we'll give out a CP parcel to represent character growth during downtime. Like when we step away from the characters for 3 years we'll give them 10 CP to spend on the things they've learned as their lives changed.

5. You should ask yourself how long your game is going in sessions and where you want your PCs to be at the end. Be generous with this math, players will miss sessions or they'll spend things on stuff that's character driven and if they don't a few extra points won't upend your game. You should ask yourself how much you want your players to have to fight for CP. There are answers but they're all on you and what your players will enjoy.

[Stormcrow]

You can tailor character points to your adventures. The Basic Set only gives you guidelines because your adventures are yours to run.

Caravan to Ein Arris gives you 1 point for completing the adventure, 1 point for saving someone you're supposed to keep alive, 1 point for good role-playing in character.

All in a Night's Work (the solo adventure from the third edition Basic Set) gives you 1 point for surviving, 1 point per $2,000 of loot you stole (maximum 3 points), and 1 point if you fought the guard, but you lose 2 points for each person you kill, minimum 0 points.

So think of some goals for your adventures and assign character point rewards for achieving them.

And don't forget to reward players with other opportunities, like chances to acquire new advantages or obtaining special equipment or valuables. Maybe rescuing the Crown Prince of Oobadoo gives you the opportunity to acquire a new Patron, for instance.

[AlexanderHowl]

I generally give characters 5 CP per session, though NPC progression depends on their proportional point value to the PCs. In the majority of games, I will have PCs start at 250 CP and retire at 500 CP, so players get around one campaign out of a particular character. Retired PCs become important NPCs for future games, though usually not with the same players.

[GWJ]

Directly in proportion to the number of snacks packs bought by a given player :P

[Verjigorm]

In addition to session CP, I tend to throw out rewards for significant milestones. I try to tailor them to the characters and what they have done, their goals, things like that.

[Rupert]

My current group plays once a week (assuming no Real Life interruptions - we're on break for the next 3-4 weeks due to these) for about 3 hours a session, because that's all that people can fit in after work these days.

I used to award 3-5 points a session, but found that in a long-running campaign where points aren't spent in-session, it was too high. The current award is 3/session until the PC is worth over 400 points, 2 per session to 800 points, and 1/session thereafter. Party NPCs get about 1/session that they are with the PCs.

[Gef]

Hi Gumby Bush, those are good questions:

>>>1. What rates have others used in various campaigns? What do you change it based on? I imagine allowing improvement through study diminishes the need for CP, for instance.

Campaign-dependent. I once ran a 2-year-long supers campaign handing out hardly any points, mostly for training/time-use when the PCs decided they wanted to form a parahuman rescue team and learn a collection of skills like First Aid and FOrced Entry. But they started with hundreds of points' worth of super powers, and I allowed power stunts, so they kept getting more powerful by figuring out better ways to use their abilities

That's unusual for me though. I tend to run campaigns with 100pt starting characters and hand out a base award of 2 per session (just 1 for players who were absent), +1 bonus point for the MVP by acclaim of his peers, +1 for player contribution (see below). The "MVP" point can be for tactical brilliance, good dramatization, comic relief - whatever the other players vote for. It tends to go around.

Lately my game sessions have been less frequent, but longer, so I give a base award of 3 points. I don't track time use but simply allow players to spend points on anything they said they were working on, anything that came up during the session, or in a fantasy game with standard magic system, any spell for which they already had all the prerequisites (including access to a copy of the spell formula). I allow initial purchase or one level improvement at a time.

An award of 2-3 points is enough to pick up skills or spells every session or buy a 5pt ability every other session, like a level of a narrow Talent (and I freely allow custom talents based on role and encourage players to use them, one reason I start with 100pt characters). I allow players to get a start on an advantage with any reasonable-sounding limitation, or the "potential advantage" rule, half price for half normal effect. Like for instance, a "potential" Extra Attack that applies every other turn. Or they could take Per +1 today for 5, Will +1 tomorrow for another 5, and replace them with full IQ +1 later for just the balance of 10 points. All this means that with awards of 2-3 points per session, players can see consistent advancement toward their goals without having to save up for ages.

>>>2. How have others determined CP allotments? How do you set player expectations? What sorts of rubrics have you created? I know many reserve a "Force for Good" point for things like pointing out detrimental rules that should be applying.

Hmm, I think I covered that above.

>>>3. I am also curious about "extra credit" options. I've heard of outsourcing session notes to players for a CP, or having players write in-character journal entries for a CP. What other ideas have people tried? What are concerns with or advantages of doing this?

I'm a big fan of player contributions, but I've learned the hard way: 1 point per session, max. Some people are just more able than others to make contributions, and a max of 1 per session keeps the differential from getting too extreme. Ways to contribute:

--Keep a log of the session, or alternately write an in-character diary of it.

--Contribute a painted figuring of an important character (player keeps his property - the point is he selects and paints a figure specifically to represent that character and makes it available for use in game).

--Other artwork to help visualize the fantasy elements. For instance, I had a player contribute a digital image to scale of a griffin and rider, with armor in the style I had described.

--Maps. I have given out a lot of points for maps of the campaign world, or the city in which it is currently set. A rough map to get us started gets a point, and then filling it in with more details as they come up in play gets more points.

--Consultation on world-building. This is an ambitious hope, but sometimes players who are GMs of their own games take this on. So for instance, in a recent fantasy game, I had a player write up the culture of a major kingdom, addressing weather, crops, and river transport (based on the Map provided by another player as his contribution), and factional tensions based on the info I already had on race and religion, and a lot of stuff he made up about local languages and styles of dress and architecture to give the place a lot of local color. This info came in piecemeal, earning quite a few points over all, but this guy ran hard into the 1-per-session limit.

>>>4. Do you give more CP after a climactic session? Why or why not? If so, how much more?

Yes. Mostly because it feels right. Also because I'll typically declare that time passes before the next big adventure starts, and PCs may see some changes in their situations, like a promotion in Military Rank based on the events of the preceeding sessions. I like 5 points for this, basically a double award, because it's just enough to pay for a level of Rank (or half the way, as a Potential Advantage, to the next level of Wealth).


Hope that helps!

GEF

[Dalin]

I used to do 2-3 points per session, generally awarded to all the participants equally. (I mostly play in adult groups with good role-players, so it doesn't seem worth it anymore to provide bonus points, though I do still do that with younger players.) With DF, I'm leaning toward more points, like 4-5.

I often award the points even if people miss sessions. I think of it more like the campaign point level rises as we keep playing. If a character dies, you create a new one at the new point level. If you take a vacation and miss a few games, you come back and have a bunch of points to spend. I've never had anyone complain about it, and it keeps things simple.

Characters can, of course, gain new disadvantages and advantages in play, so individual CP values can fluctuate a bit from the campaign point level.