The Rancor Pit Forum Index
Welcome to The Rancor Pit forums!

The Rancor Pit Forum Index
FAQ   ::   Search   ::   Memberlist   ::   Usergroups   ::   Register   ::   Profile   ::   Log in to check your private messages   ::   Log in

Starting XP for Replacement Characters
Post new topic   Reply to topic    The Rancor Pit Forum Index -> Gamemasters -> Starting XP for Replacement Characters Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Sovereign Protector


Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14022
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.

PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 5:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bren wrote:
For them, I recommend my previous evil suggestion to award non-functional XPs.


Muahahhahah
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Bren
Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral


Joined: 19 Aug 2010
Posts: 3868
Location: Maryland, USA

PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 6:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

southpaw wrote:
...which brings me to my next question, how often to you give XP/SP/CP out? my campaign rolls onwards, but where one adventure ends and another begins is becoming murkier and murkier....
You might also look in the archives as this gets asked fairly regularly - along with how many CPs do people give out.

I award CPs at the end of the adventure - which for us is usually 4 or more play sessions. The rate is approximately 1 CP per hour of play or less which is about 10-15 CPs per adventure. A A lot of other folks around here award CPs at the end of each play session. If you don't have distinct adventures the latter method may work better for you.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
dph
Lieutenant
Lieutenant


Joined: 17 Jul 2009
Posts: 95

PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As a rule, in any RPG I run, a 'replacement' comes in at essentially the same 'XP' as the rest of the party. I don't see any reason why not, I don't feel the need to punish or penalise a character, in fact i regularly put out the call to my players when it's an appropriate time (if ever there is) to play a new character (though no one has in many years )

In fact, when playing games like Star Wars where the 'total' is not normally recorded I've actually added a section on my custom character sheet to record their XP totals; so if I need to, I can say how many CPs a new or replacement character should have.

With my campaign on Obsidian Portal (see below) we've had players have to leave for a short time due to RL reasons and this worked great; Their NPC took a back seat and when they returned, I compared the average total of the party with total at departure and recieved the difference. I probably made it a few points shy admitedly... And set a cap for how many points could be spent on any one skill.

Anyways, I don't think there's a right or wrong, I just do it that way.
_________________
Check out my campaign and others on Obsidian Portal!

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/roguetraders
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Sovereign Protector


Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14022
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.

PostPosted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 4:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So if death means no loss of xp/.cp etc, what does it mean?
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Guardian_A
Commodore
Commodore


Joined: 24 May 2011
Posts: 1654
Location: South Dakota, USA

PostPosted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 4:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

garhkal wrote:
So if death means no loss of xp/.cp etc, what does it mean?


It means you loose a cherished character that you have invested a lot of time and love into.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MacRauri
Ensign
Ensign


Joined: 26 Nov 2011
Posts: 47
Location: Twin Cities MN

PostPosted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 7:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've been trying a system for late-comers where they start off as a regular beginning level character i.e. 7D improvement to skills, 5 CPs 1 FP, but at the end of the session they get the normal CP rewards plus some fraction of whatever the other players have earned before they joined.

But I have a group that I'm transitioning into d6 from 4e so I want them to get used to how to make starting level characters.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Fallon Kell
Commodore
Commodore


Joined: 07 Mar 2011
Posts: 1846
Location: Tacoma, WA

PostPosted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Guardian_A wrote:

It means you loose a cherished character that you have invested a lot of time and love into.

But what if you already lost the cherished character and now you're faced with losing the replacement you put together last Tuesday?
_________________
Or that excessively long "Noooooooooo" was the Whining Side of the Force leaving him. - Dustflier

Complete Starship Construction System
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MacRauri
Ensign
Ensign


Joined: 26 Nov 2011
Posts: 47
Location: Twin Cities MN

PostPosted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fallon Kell wrote:
Guardian_A wrote:

It means you loose a cherished character that you have invested a lot of time and love into.

But what if you already lost the cherished character and now you're faced with losing the replacement you put together last Tuesday?


When dealing with such a quick turn around I tend to remember my old friend's motto: 16+ is kill OR maim. The RauriMac Cyber Shack has all your prosthetic needs and let me tell you business is a boomin'!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Fallon Kell
Commodore
Commodore


Joined: 07 Mar 2011
Posts: 1846
Location: Tacoma, WA

PostPosted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 10:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

MacRauri wrote:
Fallon Kell wrote:
Guardian_A wrote:

It means you loose a cherished character that you have invested a lot of time and love into.

But what if you already lost the cherished character and now you're faced with losing the replacement you put together last Tuesday?


When dealing with such a quick turn around I tend to remember my old friend's motto: 16+ is kill OR maim. The RauriMac Cyber Shack has all your prosthetic needs and let me tell you business is a boomin'!

Isn't that a further reduction in penalty?
_________________
Or that excessively long "Noooooooooo" was the Whining Side of the Force leaving him. - Dustflier

Complete Starship Construction System
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Bren
Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral


Joined: 19 Aug 2010
Posts: 3868
Location: Maryland, USA

PostPosted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 4:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fallon Kell wrote:
Isn't that a further reduction in penalty?
It is a result that is in accord with the RAW. And yes it is (mostly) a reduction in penalty from being dead.

So is any system that separates CPs earned from the character and awards any portion of those points to the player to use on another character - since the next character gains this benefit.

So is any system that starts a character out at above base level. (Which is something a number of groups do as a house rule.)

Really there is no one way to handle these issues and there does not need to be only one way. Although it is often best to be consistent and handle this the same for all players whose character dies.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MacRauri
Ensign
Ensign


Joined: 26 Nov 2011
Posts: 47
Location: Twin Cities MN

PostPosted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 7:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fallon Kell wrote:
MacRauri wrote:
Fallon Kell wrote:
Guardian_A wrote:

It means you loose a cherished character that you have invested a lot of time and love into.

But what if you already lost the cherished character and now you're faced with losing the replacement you put together last Tuesday?


When dealing with such a quick turn around I tend to remember my old friend's motto: 16+ is kill OR maim. The RauriMac Cyber Shack has all your prosthetic needs and let me tell you business is a boomin'!

Isn't that a further reduction in penalty?


It is if the group's healthcare plan covers cybernetic replacements. Nothing like smacking with the group with some surprise medical costs because Torval decided to suicide into the stormtroopers but unfortunately lived to tell the tale.

I agree that there are lots of ways to handle character loss and quite a bit of it comes down to how attached the players are to their characters. I remember back in the 90s my friends and I would create entirely new groups every couple of weeks just to try out different templates, settings and stories (this was largely a function of who was around to play at any given time). It was always understood that you would start off at the very beginning with 7D for skills. We tried a lot of stuff. It's interesting now to be playing campaigns and be thinking about them as campaigns from the beginning.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Sovereign Protector


Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14022
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.

PostPosted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 7:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

While the maim rule does exist (as an optional rule), i only use it if
A) the damage is coming from an NPC
B) the npc is one who might choose it.
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Fallon Kell
Commodore
Commodore


Joined: 07 Mar 2011
Posts: 1846
Location: Tacoma, WA

PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 6:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

MacRauri wrote:
Fallon Kell wrote:
MacRauri wrote:
Fallon Kell wrote:
Guardian_A wrote:

It means you loose a cherished character that you have invested a lot of time and love into.

But what if you already lost the cherished character and now you're faced with losing the replacement you put together last Tuesday?


When dealing with such a quick turn around I tend to remember my old friend's motto: 16+ is kill OR maim. The RauriMac Cyber Shack has all your prosthetic needs and let me tell you business is a boomin'!

Isn't that a further reduction in penalty?


It is if the group's healthcare plan covers cybernetic replacements. Nothing like smacking with the group with some surprise medical costs because Torval decided to suicide into the stormtroopers but unfortunately lived to tell the tale.

We would just have opened up the Big Crate Full of Guns and sold off some to pay for the new body parts. Maybe installed one or two along with the new arm while we were at it... 8)
_________________
Or that excessively long "Noooooooooo" was the Whining Side of the Force leaving him. - Dustflier

Complete Starship Construction System
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MacRauri
Ensign
Ensign


Joined: 26 Nov 2011
Posts: 47
Location: Twin Cities MN

PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 7:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fallon Kell wrote:

We would just have opened up the Big Crate Full of Guns and sold off some to pay for the new body parts. Maybe installed one or two along with the new arm while we were at it... 8)


This *does* sound familiar. You're taking me back Fallon Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Zarm R'keeg
Commander
Commander


Joined: 14 Apr 2012
Posts: 481
Location: PA

PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 3:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think I'm going to go with a slight variation, probably, as the CPs spent between various characters vary wildly- instead, I'm just going to use the straight improvement points spent so far (for this particular character, who was already weakest in the group, so it'll probably work out about the same anyway).

In other words, the CP used to improve characters are bound to the player and transfer to the new character to keep them up-to-speed, as opposed to being bound to the specific character they improved and 'wasted' if the player dies.

Thank you, Guardian_A- this is a dilemma I've had for some time (and am just dealing with it afresh as my Balosar Scout sister-in-law just got decapitated last night), and I think this is an excellent solution.

(I also like Southpaw's solution: "I've decided to go with equal the current XP for heroic death and half the current XP for characters leaving voluntarily or dying by stupid player actions.")

Guardian_A wrote:
garhkal wrote:
So if all 6 pc's earned 46 cp, but two spent 41 of them, 1 spent 38, and the last 3 spent all 46.. 1 pc dies and now comes in with 38 cp??


Its a touch more complicated than that, but you've got the jest of it.

For example. Over the course of your campaign, you award 46CP's to all of your players. You would add the points that each player spent on stats and their remaining CP when creating your total.

Player 1:
Spent In Game: 3
Spent On Stats: 41
Remainging: 2

Player 2:
Spent In Game: 5
Spent On Stats: 41
Remainging: 0

Player 3:
Spent In Game: 1
Spent on Stats: 38
Remaining: 7

Player 4:
Spent In Game: 0
Spent on Stats 46
Remaining: 0

The CP totals would look like this:
Player 1: 43
Player 2: 41
Player 3: 45
Player 4: 46

The new character would be created normally, then have 41CP that they could use to build up their character. Any left over CPs remain in that character's CP pool.

Its really not very hard to keep track of if you write things down at the end of every session. I have an index card where I keep track of how many CP I have awarded during a campaign along with a running tally each character that looks like the above example. On the rare occasions I have needed a CP total, I can call a short recess while I add up a couple of totals

_________________
Star Wars: Marvels, the audio drama: www.nolinecinemas.com

Hard core OT, all the way!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    The Rancor Pit Forum Index -> Gamemasters All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next
Page 3 of 5

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group


v2.0