_Hideki_
Topic Author
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri 23 Mar 2018, 09:45

Experience points

Fri 23 Mar 2018, 10:16

Hi! I'm new to M:Y0, so sorry if my questions might seem dumb. I don't get how PCs earn XPs.
For each of the following questions that you can answer with a “yes”, you get one XP:
1) Did you participate in the session? (You getone XP just for being there.)
2) Did you perform a Day’s Work for a project inthe Ark (page 103)?
3) Did you explore at least one new sector in the Zone?
4) Did you sacrifice or risk something for your PC buddy (page 22)?
5) Did you sacrifice or risk something for the NPC you want to keep safe?
6) Did you sacrifice or risk something to mess with the NPC you hate?
7) Did you sacrifice or risk something to reach your big dream?
1) & 2) are obvious.
3) - Does scouting from a lookout point counts as exploring (according to p.122 - yes) in this case? Does every explored sector count as a separate XP or do you get only 1 XP, even when you explore (with or without a lookout point) multiple sectors? When a stalker "explores" a sector from a lookout point, do all PCs gain XP for this or only the stalker does?
4)-7) - Could you give some examples? Does giving grub/water/bullets/gear to a buddy counts? How can you risk/sacrifice something for a NPC never leaving the Ark, when he's not in danger? When you have a NPC you hate what do you do? Do you deliberately find him in the Ark and start a fight? In my opinion it's just XP-grinding, not roleplaying. How can you risk/sacrifice something to reach your big dream like "find Eden" or "find something to die for"?
 
Nilo
Posts: 157
Joined: Thu 14 Apr 2011, 11:55

Re: Experience points

Fri 23 Mar 2018, 10:38

 We have experienced that this system works best if you talk about the questions in the group and form a common interpretation, over time, instead of having a "judge"-GM. Also, risks and sacrifices don't have to be physical. I could risk my trust in you, or my sanity or my reputation. Try to find a "yes", but be honest. Let the players decide. The questions are a good way of starting conversations about the characters that will really enhance the game. "Were you really prepared to risk looking like a fool to save me from being turned down by the leader, or was it just a trick? How close are we?" 
 
Unslain
Posts: 16
Joined: Mon 25 Jul 2016, 12:46

Re: Experience points

Sun 25 Mar 2018, 23:38

A few examples from personal experience:

4) running in to Heal a broken buddy with only 1pt in Empathy yourself, giving away your last grub ration, using successes on a Move roll (to flee) on others but not yourself, using Manipulate in combat to draw an enemy's attention away from your buddy, any of the ideas under 5) below

5) any of the above, giving up grub/water/bullets when you're running low, delaying other plans to help the NPC out, helping them out with something that could have bad consequences (now or later), protecting them from themselves at the cost of friendship

6) direct opposition (physical or social), stealing from them or a key ally, refusing a trade that would benefit you both, sabotaging an Ark project they are invested in, causing them to lose face, sending them on a wild goose chase into the Zone, turning other NPCs against them, killing them (multiple times, in the case of one NPC)
Note:- these can be really quite tricky for a PC to survive when the pick the Elder for their NPC to mess with. But definitely deserving of XP when they pull it off!

7) extending or diverting a zone journey past the original plan to follow the dream, a zone journey specifically because of your dream, ignoring a Threat to chase your dream, engaging in conflict over it, lying to the other PCs, trading artifacts or valuable objects/resources for information, putting a PC or NPC (especially the NPC you want to keep safe!) at risk, abandoning the Ark, murder and/or theft
Note:- we awarded XP for Big Dream even if the discovery or step toward the dream happened by accident, so long as the PC had been at risk in the course of finding it. Yes this probably encouraged recklessness but that made for drama and fun (and a fairly high bodycount).

It's absolutely worth discussing each of these categories around the table at the end of each session. We announce the condition (eg. "Did you risk anything for your PC buddy?") and go around the table player by player. Anyone who can state the risk their PC took and convince everyone else, gets a poker chip as an XP token. Then we do the same for the next question, and so on. This way we tend to police each other and sometimes another player points out a valid risk for someone else's PC. Though I think calling bull**** is far more common in our group...
 
_Hideki_
Topic Author
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri 23 Mar 2018, 09:45

Re: Experience points

Mon 26 Mar 2018, 09:34

Thank you, Unslain, for you feedback! It helped me a lot!

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