Fame and Fortune

The online D&D campaign that I DM is nearing the point where experience points (xp) will be awarded to the surviving characters for the first time. In the many editions of classic D&D there is variance and flexibility in the guidelines for awarding xp, so I thought it best to decide exactly how it will be done in this campaign.

Perhaps the most prominent feature of the classic D&D character advancement guidelines is that treasure is literally worth it's weight in xp. One gold piece worth of treasure is worth one xp. This is commonly cited as one of the worst flaws of classic D&D. At one time I was in agreement, but eventually I came to see it as a defining and wonderful feature of the game. There is no single correct way to play classic D&D, but my preferred theme is that of "poor adventurer seeking fame and fortune" and the 1 gp = 1 xp guideline encourages and reinforces that theme.

Depending upon how much treasure the DM makes accessible to the PCs, this guideline can have the effect of making treasure the primary source of xp for the PCs. The xp gained from slaying monsters is comparatively small. This in turn can have the effect of encouraging the PCs to avoid combat if possible and instead try to be more sneaky and clever in their quest for fame and fortune.

Anyways, back to the task at hand...deciding how to award xp in this campaign. It adopts the xp for gp guideline because it reinforces the theme (especially the fortune part) of this campaign, but how else can xp be earned? Classic D&D also contains guidelines for awarding xp for other things such as good roleplaying and accomplishing quests, etc. These guidelines are rather nonspecific, so to tailor them to this campaign I've decided to define it as:

Any accomplishment or action that contributes to the growing fame of the PCs is rewarded with xp.

An example would be defeating (killing or cleverly bypassing) monsters. Conveniently, the rules already define how much xp is earned for defeating monsters, but xp awards for other accomplishments are not so precisely defined. So, I'll make judgment calls in these situations, awarding xp based upon the risk and results of the actions and accomplishments. By this measure, I suppose xp could even be awarded for spectacular failure.

To summarize, the advancement system in this campaign is an abstraction for tracking the growing fame and fortune of the PCs. As an abstraction, it doesn't necessarily aim to simulate and accurately track every factor that contributes to a PC's growing power, but rather is a user friendly aggregate of many factors such as perceived wealth, influence, skill, fame/infamy, confidence, etc.

Another issue is that of training. In this campaign, formal training is not necessary to advance from level to level as it is in some RPGs. The abstract advancement system already factors such honing of skills into account. In fact, a PC could plausibly gain xp from formal training, but only relatively small amounts since training alone usually doesn't contribute much to fame and fortune. One must prove oneself.

..............

This next thing isn't connected to the D&D campaign, but is instead a related concept for designing a new RPG:

If the classic D&D level advancement system is an abstract representation of the character's growing power, what about taking it one step further and making the gameplay itself a representation of the character's exploits? In other words, the players don't play the ADVENTURES of their characters, they play the LEGENDS of their characters. Or something like that. It may be a subtle distinction, but game mechanics could be devised to create and reinforce an immersive play experience of being a "participant in a legend" rather than a "player of a character".

Sure, nearly any RPG session could be interpreted in hindsight as the creation of a legend, but I'm talking about something more explicit and integrated into the mechanics of play so as to facilitate a different play experience. One quality that the game would emphasize is the episodic and ephemeral feel that myths and legends often have.

I don't claim this idea is entirely unique. I first thought of it more than a year ago and will someday try to hammer out some mechanics to make a little RPG out of it. In the meantime, I've come across related ideas in various RPGs, but nothing exactly like what I have in mind.