Many years ago, during a game my players decided to push their luck in combat. All five of them needed less than 200-300 xp to level up, so they were taking some serious risks, especially because the didn't know that more enemies were coming. They were going to die instead of level up.
On a whim, I told everyone to against their lowest ability score. When several of them made a successful roll, I declared they leveled up and they gained their hp and new abilities on the spot. Their reaction was amazing, after a few swipes with better odds, they retreated to take stock.
Never did it again. What I did to keep the suspense going was to keep a running tab of their experience points and when I handed out EXP, I only gave them combat experience totals. If they gain roleplaying EXP I kept it to myself and would drop it on them, usually in the middle of a dramatic moment during the session. "Hey! You leveled up!" I never invoked the die roll thing again.
I don't like taking things from players, but sometimes a little mystery is good. What do you think?
Since my players get the bulk of their exp from loot, I've never had the issue of exp-related suicidal tendencies!
ReplyDeleteYou know, I have never done the exp for gold thing. I tend to give away the "exp store" for good ideas, good role play.
ReplyDeleteI had this one campaign where I gave the characters so much gold, they could have retired instantly. Instead, what I did was have the town go through financial collapse and had the PC pick up the pieces. Effectively, they were max level PCs with no hp points. They became mayor, town guard, duke, etc. via money.
Since they were still exploring the dungeon, that played into it. One guy kept looking for traps in places where there shouldn't be traps and I decided that he found one. I gave a good description of it and he disarmed it. But it stuck them with the idea that someone was trying to assassinate them, probably for the money. Of course, I ran with it and invented an assassin for them. It took a year, but they hunted that guy down and killed him completely. They were very happy with the results, and were now experienced enough to actually retire.
I worry that handing out exp arbitrarily like that means that player motivation becomes "impress the DM" instead of "engage with the world".
ReplyDeleteIf you give exp for monster killing they'll kill monsters, if you give exp for loot they'll avoid combat and seek loot.
If they're awarded for role play then it's a game of performatively roleplaying for the DM and hoping he likes what he sees.
Game where the players are too rich for the local area and send it into an economic death spiral sounds great!
What really got the creative juices flowing was the characters would hire someone to explore the dungeon and it was a tossup as to if they died or took off with the money. Eventually, the super rich party had to explore it themselves. Star Trek Bridge Crew style.
ReplyDeleteThey had to watch out for not only monsters, but people back on the surface trying to wipe them out, either for real or financially.
The great twist on it was, the characters were convinced that an assassin was trying to wipe them out. Their belief in this "fact" kept the less savory townies from doing too much to the PCs, because they didn't want the assassin targeting them next.
It all made so much sense.
Awesome!
ReplyDeleteMy players' main use for money at this point is blowing it on carousing (1:1 cash>exp conversion with chance of drunken mishap), but since they're on a time limit lately they haven't had a chance to blow their great wealth.
One of the players inherited a hoard of gold due to shenanigans recently and so so wants to blow it all on hookers and cocaine, but can't!
That could be a part solution to your players seeking out monsters to murder for the exp reward actually. Let them blow cash on carousing to get exp, so if they're just about to level they end up blowing money on a party rather than wandering around trying to trigger random encounters.