Alternative Experience Points

I must confess, I've never been a fan of traditional experience points.  Across my entire GMing career, I have almost always ignored them, and simply doled out level-ups when I felt they were appropriate (usually once every three adventures or so).  Most of my players over the years haven't complained about this, so it just became gaming status quo for me.

When I set out to design Great & Small, however, I had to wrestle with the concept again.  XP advancement is arguably one of the core assumptions of D&D, one that has followed it through every iteration and edition.  But I just couldn't bring myself to like it enough to include in G&S.

The reasons why are probably less interesting than what I replaced it with: automatic advancement in your character's niche lore after an arbitrary number of adventures determined by the BM, with an advancement-by-skill-check system (an idea adapted from the original version of Bunnies & Burrows) for lores outside your niche.

I did this because I prefer to reward player commitment, investment, and participation over mere bookkeeping, but also because a game about animals ultimately isn't likely going to have "bash down doors/kill all the monsters/take all their stuff" as its main focus.

But, it occurs to me that leaving level-ups solely to BM fiat could itself degrade into a "level up just for showing up" system.  So, here's an alternative scheme I'm considering for the expanded version of the game, should it ever come to fruition.

Advancement is based on XPs awarded for the player's level of participation, decided by consensus vote of the other players if there is a dispute (the BM and disputing player would both abstain from this vote).  The system uses a unified XP table for all characters, as follows:

Level    1....XP  0
            2....XP 10
            3....XP 21
            4....XP 33
            5....XP 46
            6....XP 60
            7....XP 75
            8....XP 91
            9....XP 108
          10....XP 126
          11....XP 145
          12....XP 160
              +20 points per level for each level over 12.

XP Awards Per Session:
0 = No-show or no participation
1 = Minimal participation or partial session
2 = Average participation
3 = Epic participation

Advancement in your niche is automatic once you earn the required number of XP.  Transferring the XP to a non-niche lore still requires prior planning and the skill-check system described in the Quick Start rules.

Hail and well met, traveler!

I know what you're thinking.

"What necromancy is this? Another retroclone?! Looks like someone failed their save vs. feeblemind.  Hasn't everyone raided this corpse for anything worthwhile by now?  There can't possibly be anything new left to find."

Well, I humbly submit that I have indeed found something that qualifies as, if not "new" exactly, then definitely as distinct.  You can learn more about my project by clicking on the page tabs above, so I won't bother repeating myself.  I'll just say hello, and welcome to my little blog.

It's my dream that Great & Small: The Roleplaying Game Of Animal Fantasy will grow to become a commercial project, where a portion of every sale goes to aid an animal charity of the purchaser's choice (you can see some of my favorites on the links to the right).  But that's probably a long way off, if not a pipe dream altogether, so let's just call this my baby's first steps.

Over the next year, I'll be using this blog to expand the options from the Quick Start documents, in order to broaden the scope of G&S games for all players.  This will include a regular installment called Featured Creature, in which I provide the playable game stats for a new species of animal each time; proposed house rules that, if popular enough, might make it into the final expanded version; and details on three different campaign schemes (and some accompanying adventure seeds) for animal player characters.

Along the way, I'll also occasionally share reviews of other game products, shine a spotlight on some of the literature and movies that served as inspiration for the G&S game, and post animal news from the real world.

Thanks again for stopping by, and please feel free to send me feedback on the material you find here.  I want to make this project the best it can be -- for myself, for all of you, and for our fellow Earthlings, great and small.