I am a very new game master for Edge of the Empire and have only ran two sessions yet. However, I have ran lots of other systems, some with xp, some without. None of them give you enough xp to advance after every session you play.

Following the core rulebooks suggestion, I gave each player 10 xp for the first session and for the second session I gave all three 15 as a base, they all got 1 for roleplaying and one got 5 extra for following his motivation.

Somehow it doesn`t feel like much, but at the same time it is. You get enough xp to opt advancing every single session you play.

Do you think character advancement is fast or not? How much xp do you hand out?

How long do you intend for your campaign to last?

My group usually plays a game for about 3 months before switching to something else. So I am usually very generous with XP so they can feel like their character has progressed by the time we close the campaign and move on to something else.

The developers mention 5 XP / hour of Actual Gaming in an Order 66 podcast. I use that and it seems to work pretty well. Just estimate the chat & goof off time and deduct it from the total time to get the actual gaming time.

I run campaigns that tend to last very long time, so I'm conservative when it comes to handing out XP to avoid hitting the high-level gameplay too soon. Typically I give 30-35 XP per adventure, with each adventure typically running 2-3 sessions in length. In addition, of course, there's additional XP for playing motivations, coming up with particularly good (or amusing) plans, and so on.

5XP / hour works well IMHO. I've been giving about double that for my current campaign, but that's because my players are new-ish to the game, none of them own the rules, and they wouldn't know what to do with a Knight level start. Narratively it's explained by them having lived easy boring lives over the last few years, forgetting all their initial training, and now that the chaos has hit, the ton of XP is them "remembering" what they used to know. At some point soon I'll dial it back.

I give out 15.

I let my players dole out 5 extra for roleplaying if they felt anyone earned it.

i'm rather stingy with XP, mainly because I want the campaign to last as long as possible. The more quickly they go up in XP, the more quickly they attain their goals (whatever they may be), and the more difficult it starts to get with providing them a sufficient challenge without going too overboard with adversaries and dangerous situations. We've been playing for a bit over a year and they're at around 230 XP. They're just now starting to get into their own, and a number of them have purchased one additional specialization, and they're diversifying their characters rather nicely. Nobody complains about the XP rewards. Plus, not making XP rewards too "monty" helps them take the campaign more seriously, while still keeping it fun and spontaneous. In fact, most of the fun we've had with the campaign so far has been when they're obviously out-classed by the situation, and they still manage to get past the obstacles with their unique seat-of-the-pants, goofball style

If I'm running my own adventure for them, I'll reward them about 10 XP per session, which usually lasts about 5 or 6 hours. If I'm running canned adventures, I'll reward the appropriate XP after they complete an episode, which generally takes them between 2 and 4 sessions to complete. We emphasize fun during the game, so these guys are always going off on tangents and joking around, which tends to mean that they're not really that efficient in their game play But they do end up getting the job done.

I generally assign XP based on how often we play in a month. If we meet once a week or more, base XP is 5. Every other week is 10, and once a month is 20. They'll also get bonuses for extraordinary role-playing or completing personal objectives or major campaign milestones. If there's a time skip between sessions, I'll also usually give a little more to reflect the time between not being spent idly.

I may have blundered when I handed out about 50XP at the end of Trouble Brewing.

But then I didnt give them any during the adventure, and the book said approx 10 per session.

We had spent about 7 sessions on it, a couple were wasted sessions, but while its alot, I dont feel it was game breaking. It amounted to a skill rank and a talent overall for each player.

Have to remember, that things get more expensive as you progress.

15 xp a game session- play about once every three weeks.

PLUS

I DO a group vote: everyone chooses someone who did particular well as their character or something they thought was pivotal to the game. Who ever wins that vote gets 2xp.

PLUS

A GM vote-- something I saw that was pivotal or clever for that player to do. 2xp...

The last two are something I've done in LARPs that help others know that they are clever and thinking as their characters would-- incentive to playing that character they chose. So someone could grab 19 xp if they get it all.

It depends on the session. If my players want to spend the session doing random nonsense (gambling, carousing, shopping, etc.), I'm open to it, but only award 5 exp. This usually happens after a long break away from the campaign; I share our game night with another GM, who runs a WoD Technocracy campaign. We run for a couple of months, then switch.

Standard adventures run 10-15 exp per session, depending on role-playing, characterization, playing motivations, etc. And I typically award an extra 5 points at the end of a story arc.

I do the developer suggested 5xp per hour, minus 5 to account for goofin' off time because my group is like herding cats, plus 5 per significant thing they did beyond the call of that adventure.

For example:

It takes six hours to rescue Joe MacGuffin from the prison. While there, they also rescue Jane Doe, who's an important NPC, and a bunch of unnamed NPCs. They fight a ton of stormtroopers doing it, and even go toe to toe with an Inquisitor who captures one of the PCs!

They get:

5xp x 6 hours = 30xp - 5xp for goof off time = 25xp

The unnecessary but plot helpful rescue of Jane = 5xp

Fightin' stormtroopers = Nothing.

Fightin' Inquisitor = Nothing. In a couple sessions when it's a recurring bad guy, defeating them might be 5xp.

Rescuing random prisoners = Nothing.

Total: 30XP for a six hour session.

I then adjust obligation.

The everyone applicable rolls for morality gain/loss.

I then give everyone applicable 5 duty, and give everyone the opportunity to argue for more. "Well I sabotaged their heater so it'll kick on in the middle of the night, full blast, so nobody gets a good night's sleep until they figure out what's happening" could be worth 5 extra to someone with the sabotage duty.

New contribution rank is then checked, and if applicable, group decides on reward.

Unknown to the group, I then make the obligation roll for the next session so I have some time to figure out how to incorporate it in.

There is a nice post on the SWRPG subreddit that goes into the multiple attitudes to answer this question.

http://www.reddit.com/r/swrpg/wiki/howmuchxptogive

It was written because that topic comes up a lot and often the same answers get regurgitated with little to no new advice.

I may have blundered when I handed out about 50XP at the end of Trouble Brewing.

But then I didnt give them any during the adventure, and the book said approx 10 per session.

We had spent about 7 sessions on it, a couple were wasted sessions, but while its alot, I dont feel it was game breaking. It amounted to a skill rank and a talent overall for each player.

Have to remember, that things get more expensive as you progress.

Considering it took them 7 sessions to go through, I don't think 50 XP is too high. As I mentioned, I'm all for advancing slowly, but steadily. You want to give them enough to do something with their character if they want to (buy another skill rank, or another 5 or 10 point talent), or to get that much closer to buying that new specialization, 25 point talent, new Force power, or whatever.

In my experience, the slow, steady approach will also help them get a long-run idea of what they want to do with their character and may prevent them from spending that quickly-increasing pile of XP on a whim, which they'll regret later. For instance, they may be saving up XP to make a major change to their character based on current events (we need a pilot!), but after a few more sessions, they may get a better feel for their character and decide on a different course, or maybe decide to go a couple of different ways instead (a pilot's important, but we could also used a skilled starship mechanic as well).

Of course, it all really comes down to your group and what makes them happy. If they're all power players, they might get bored or frustrated if it's taking them too long to become gods among men If they have short attention spans, and you know from past experience that campaigns rarely last past four months with the group, then maybe you need to hand out more XP so they'll be able to experience more of the game in the time they have. Or if they really like variety and get bored playing the same characters all the time, then maybe what's best for them is doing a series of one-shots, or small "campaigns" lasting only a few sessions, in which case XP rewards may not even matter, as they'll just move onto a new character anyway.

I give out between 15 and 25 xp per session.

Also, I give out a bonus at the end of a longer campaign so last time my players got 40xp (25xp for the session + 15xp bonus) which was a huge amount for them.

Now, mind you, we only play about once every month so their characters aren't developing that rapidly.

I also do about 5 XP/h, but no more than 25 XP/session. As there is quite a discrepancy between the gentleman bachelors and the family guys in the group, I began to tax the top two 5 XP each and gave them as subsidies to the bottom PC to bridge the 100 XP gap. Everbody was happy with that.

And, there are sometimes up to 5 extra to a single PC for creative thinking or exceptional roleplaying.

We got to nigh 300 XP in a little less than half a year. Personally, I don't mind PCs going up in XP fast, as long as they have a session to get used to each new ability. Furthermore, there is quite some nasty stuff I'd like to do to them, and they need to be beyond 500 XP for that, I believe.

Here are my guidelines straight from my house rules

· 5-10 XP per session base (usually 5)

· +10 completing a major story arc/adventure

· +5 XP creative storytelling/roleplaying/playing to a character’s motivation

· +1-5 XP for other creative ideas, in-character suggestions, or situations

I give out extra EXP in the beginning of the campaign (+10-15 for the first few sessions) and subtract 5 or so for 5-6 sessions to even it out. I do this so Player's can get their PCs fleshed out skill/talent-wise earlier. I let everyone know this at the beginning and it's worked out pretty well so far.

I don't add for RP, I give Boost dice or flip a Dark Side Destiny to LS for free.

Two important things that you have to consider:

- Total Game lenght

- Max Power level

After knowing this two points, define the XP to adapt it to each session. If you are planning a massive marathonian game, consider to just give 0-10 per minor event, 5-15 per mid events or 10-20 per major events. Add +5 en each cases if do you consider that players created an awesome scene instead on thinking on itself and "leveling up".

If this is so much experience, use "cinematic experience" system, where you and your players, considering common sense, prequisites and time, learn concrete skills/talents or other type or awards.

Hope it helped mate

5-10 per session. I am rather stingy with the rewards. Been playing once a month for over a year. My players are in the 250 XP range right now and becoming quite powerful. Most have two specializations.

right now we are on the third episode of beyond the RIm and I have stopped giving out XP per a session, and instead use the guidelines of XP in the adventure book. in the next 2-3 sessions we should finish Beyond the rim and they should have over 300 XP.

Defiantly will be posting a recap when it is done

I do the developer suggested 5xp per hour, minus 5 to account for goofin' off time because my group is like herding cats, plus 5 per significant thing they did beyond the call of that adventure.

For example:

It takes six hours to rescue Joe MacGuffin from the prison. While there, they also rescue Jane Doe, who's an important NPC, and a bunch of unnamed NPCs. They fight a ton of stormtroopers doing it, and even go toe to toe with an Inquisitor who captures one of the PCs!

They get:

5xp x 6 hours = 30xp - 5xp for goof off time = 25xp

The unnecessary but plot helpful rescue of Jane = 5xp

Fightin' stormtroopers = Nothing.

Fightin' Inquisitor = Nothing. In a couple sessions when it's a recurring bad guy, defeating them might be 5xp.

Rescuing random prisoners = Nothing.

Total: 30XP for a six hour session.

I then adjust obligation.

The everyone applicable rolls for morality gain/loss.

I then give everyone applicable 5 duty, and give everyone the opportunity to argue for more. "Well I sabotaged their heater so it'll kick on in the middle of the night, full blast, so nobody gets a good night's sleep until they figure out what's happening" could be worth 5 extra to someone with the sabotage duty.

New contribution rank is then checked, and if applicable, group decides on reward.

Unknown to the group, I then make the obligation roll for the next session so I have some time to figure out how to incorporate it in.

This is how I tend to do things

If it doesn't "feel" like it was enough, or too much, I adjust it for the pace.