How many character points do you give out per session?

[Ninja Monkey]

Originally Posted by Elf Monkey 16

I’ve been giving out 3 poker chips each at the start of the session. They can be used a little bit like the Luck advantage, adding 1pt to a Skill of their choice that their character can reasonably explain that they should have already had (preventing mistakes made in creation) and the optional rule with unspent character points and adding in minor details (can’t remember the page number but can look this up later). If they still have the chips at the end of the session they cash them in for character points.

Love this idea. Going to use that.

[bocephus]

Originally Posted by Anders

Pretty much that. How many character points do you give out? Do you have a system (if they do this they get 1 CP, if they do that they lose 1 CP, etc.)? If you have run many different campaigns, does it vary much from campaign to campaign?

I run "slow" campaigns similar to what Ultraviolet posted, typically 150pt starting. So 1-3pts per session (my sessions are usually between 2-4 hours). I NEVER take cp as a penalty. Rarely is the problem at the table a result of a player having to many points and that's my fault not theirs.

I always give 1 point per session no matter what gets accomplished, 2 if its an extraordinarily long session of 5 or more hours. If they progress a story line or complete a side quest I give another point. So its pretty rare that I don't give 2 points per session.

If they complete a "chapter", manage a major encounter to completion, or do something that surprises me in a positive way I give another point.

Early on at the start of a new group/campaign/player I will give a one time bonus for a usable written backstory (1pt) and 2 NPCs from the players history with a little background (2pts each). I will also give a 2pt bonus for creating an alternate character, can be used if the one you're playing dies or you decide that its not working out with the one you have (as things go on I can use them as NPCs saving me some work).

If I have a new group I also give role playing points out for a while, but at some point I generally stop giving special points for RP once everyone starts doing it. Its the point of the game after all, but I know some people need to be encouraged to speak as a different person.

I occasionally give points for exceptional RP, but I try to keep focus on group RP efforts not individual ones. Unless it was a truly exceptional individual idea that has some lasting impact to the direction of the big picture (whether the PC knows it or not).

I prefer campaigns that grow slowly over time. I scale the encounters to be a challenge for the players, so its not really about 'leveling' as much as doing something with what you have while you try to get stronger to do something that's out of reach at the moment.

I don't like having a laundry list of ways PCs can get points. I think it takes away from playing the game if someone is walking around with a checklist as they decide what to do.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Elf Monkey 16

I’ve been giving out 3 poker chips each at the start of the session. They can be used a little bit like the Luck advantage, adding 1pt to a Skill of their choice that their character can reasonably explain that they should have already had (preventing mistakes made in creation) and the optional rule with unspent character points and adding in minor details (can’t remember the page number but can look this up later). If they still have the chips at the end of the session they cash them in for character points.

My problem with this (and with spending character points) is that less effective characters get fewer points (since they have to spend them to get successes), which in turns keeps their character less effective (since they can't spend them to improve). Has this happened in your campaigns?

[Donny Brook]

Right now, I give :
1 automatically in a game session,
+ 1 for each PCs if collectively they have demonstrated effectiveness (broadly defined), and
+1 for each PC who calls out being affected by a Disad or a Quirk in play.

The last one is new to my players and still in testing.

[Boge]

My group typically gives out 2 per session, sometimes 3 if something special happened.

The problem we're bumping into is there is no time between sessions. The GMs are usually doing 1 day = 1 session. So after 20 days, our characters have gained 50 character points. It's an odd thing to try to balance their progression without limiting the players enjoyment or without giving the character very unrealistic advancement in a specific area. 20 days and a character has increased a skill by 6 or 8? That's dumb to me.

[bocephus]

Originally Posted by Celjabba

Looking at GCA for my 3 last campaigns, between 0 and 40...

More seriously, between 2-5 per game session (2 for a mundane, slow growth game, 5 for a cinematic game), plus sometimes (not always) 1-2 individual bonus cp for exceptional roleplaying, really funny joke, taking notes, ..

In one campaign, I would only award cp in lump sums at chapters end, as it meant a timeskip. Which explain the 0 or 40 above.

I sort of do this, I usually only give the points to the Players at the end of a chapter or long task and generally when they are in a place where they can take or plan to take down time.

Unless I am specifically trying to push them against a timer (which I do rarely) they can pretty much always take this opportunity between task completions and always between "chapters". It means a week of downtime for the PCs and there is still prior time investment requirements for skill ups and permission for Attribute-ups prior to actually spending the points but since I use a progressive scale of time to skill up Players get used to it before skill increases require planning.

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by Ninja Monkey

Part of the reason why I'm considering it is to have a process like how Rune Quest handles improving skills, which the players like about that system. Though thinking about RQ, the role is based on rolling over the skill with an element of the governing stat(s) involved here.

Hmmm, perhaps based on the governing stat will help with balance and prevent IQ 12 and above characters becoming experts in everything.

When I've done something like this, I've used the governing stat. I've also restricted it only to rolls that matter. No hitting a practice dummy for a Broadsword check!

[bocephus]

Originally Posted by Boge

My group typically gives out 2 per session, sometimes 3 if something special happened.

The problem we're bumping into is there is no time between sessions. The GMs are usually doing 1 day = 1 session. So after 20 days, our characters have gained 50 character points. It's an odd thing to try to balance their progression without limiting the players enjoyment or without giving the character very unrealistic advancement in a specific area. 20 days and a character has increased a skill by 6 or 8? That's dumb to me.

Session for me equals one time getting together to play. So one session can be in game 1/3 a busy day, or a 5 day mostly slow days on a caravan guard sidebar.

[bocephus]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

+1 for each PC who calls out being affected by a Disad or a Quirk in play.

The last one is new to my players and still in testing.

I think Im going to add that as an option for one of my groups. They are younger players and having difficulty with playing the disadvantages. I dont know why that never occured to me.

I will say that once they are used to RPing disads this will phase out a "only exceptional use" as well much like my points for general RPing.

[Mark Skarr]

I don't actually give out points/session. At the end of the major events of games, I look at what the characters have been working on and improving toward, and update them.