11-16-2022, 11:12 AM | #1 |
Pike's Pique
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio U.S.A.
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Points per each Game Session? What is average or normal?
Question for both GURPS GMS/reffs and the writers and designers of the game system :
What is the 'normal' number of points award for each game session? Two? Three? When do you give more? When do you award less than usual? -Ed C.
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11-16-2022, 11:18 AM | #2 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: Points per each Game Session? What is average or normal?
"Awarding Bonus Character Points", p. B498-99, has some pretty good guidelines.
Personally, I can usually reply on my players to roleplay well, and to make progress towards objectives, so I usually give 3 points per session, with occasional general bonuses for achieving exceptional results.
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11-16-2022, 11:48 AM | #3 | |
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Brazil
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Re: Points per each Game Session? What is average or normal?
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If you want a regular rate of growth, 3 is fine, but 2 or even 1 will do good for more "street level" games with a very slow rate of char development. Heck, some superheroe comics have even 0 points growth (but most often its the result of reboots). So the answer is: it depends on what you want. Remember that the amount of points is entirely arbitrary, based on what kind of game you want. This question is the same as "should my starting PCs have 100 points or 1000?" And the answer is "it depends on what you want". |
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11-16-2022, 12:07 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Snoopy's basement
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Re: Points per each Game Session? What is average or normal?
Short session or limited role play = 1 each
Normal session = 2 each (sometimes +1 for someone who did something special) Long session or particularly good roleplay or problem solving = 3 each |
11-16-2022, 12:11 PM | #5 | |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: Points per each Game Session? What is average or normal?
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I tend to have slower climbs, when an "arc" finishes I'm liable to give out five points. I had a recent game where each arc gave 10 points, and each arc was about 4 sessions long... but that was a high gain in power for my games. In some games I say "this is a one-shot, there will be no character growth." Its also worth noting that not everyone's session is equivalent. I run two-hour sessions on week-nights. Some people run eight hour marathon sessions on weekends.
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11-16-2022, 12:30 PM | #6 | |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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Re: Points per each Game Session? What is average or normal?
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It also depends on time invested (in and out of game) 2-3 for a typical 3 to 4 session is fine, probably 5 for an 8+ hour session. I want growth but how fast varies based on the campaign. Character growth is a key thing to keeping players actively involved IMO.
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11-16-2022, 12:33 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: Points per each Game Session? What is average or normal?
You can also award extra points based on metrics other than roleplaying, such as problem solving, comedy, staying true to genre tropes, being a mensch at the gaming table, etc.
Some GMs hold off awarding XP until the end of an adventure, others hand them out at the end of each play session. Some GMs might spontaneously give players a small reward based on in play action. e.g., gaining an NPC as a minor Contact due to good Reaction Rolls or gaining a point in a particular skill as a result of spending several weeks of game time in a particular situation. The final consideration is how "cinematic" you want the campaign to be and how fast do you want the characters to gain power. If you want PCs to get god-like fast, then it's not too crazy to hand out 2 or 3 times the usual XP awards. If you want PCs to remain reasonably static in power levels, be stingy with the XP. The big deal is making sure that everyone understands when and how much XP get awarded and why. I'd only award 0 points if little actual adventuring gets done during a play session, if a player consciously and repeatedly acts like a jerk, or deliberately and seriously breaks character to gain some advantage in play - like a player playing a PC with Cowardice refusing to play that disadvantage when it's inconvenient. If the GM wants to be merciful, they can save the docked points for a later session. |
11-16-2022, 01:18 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Points per each Game Session? What is average or normal?
I customarily give 3. I may give one more, either for accomplishment of something noteworthy, or for especially good roleplaying.
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11-16-2022, 02:03 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Pioneer Valley
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Re: Points per each Game Session? What is average or normal?
A slow, routine or maintenance session: 1 point.
A relatively lively session with decent action/RP: 2 points. An outstanding session, or the finale of a successful plot arc: 3 points. The grand climax of a multi-year plot arc: 5 pts or so. The player does something really clever, or has me breaking down in peals of laughter (something that's good for me): +1 point. The player sits there like a lump, and/or does egregiously stupid or jackass actions: -1 point, and no more than 1 pt for the session. (I've given out a handful of zeros over the years to players so uncommunicative to provoke me to think "Why did you bother showing up?") Beyond all that, I've given "extra credit" points for doing writeups of things I need for a gameworld that 44 years in, I'm nowhere near finishing. Cuisine of the elven empire, epic religious tales, a twenty-page full scale writeup of one of my religions, these are examples. And I also, very rarely, toss out extra points for things that really make me happy. Everyone got +10 pts when the Springfield Indians -- the minor league hockey team for which I was then a season-ticket holder -- won the league championship. (Heck, the deciding game was on a play day. We had a session, then I took the whole group to the game.) But all that being said, there's no such thing as "average" or "normal" across the whole spectrum of GURPSdom. There's just what's average or normal at individual tables.
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11-16-2022, 05:54 PM | #10 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado
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Re: Points per each Game Session? What is average or normal?
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Everybody can get something for their characters, but nobody gets everything they want. For short sessions, or one in which everybody sat around and goofed off (which is fine, we're all friends), I'll give out two points. For hard-charging sessions with good role-playimg and significant plot advancement, I'll give out four -- but that doesn't happen, very often.
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bonus points, character advancement |
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