This is just an idea I literally had only a few minutes ago. Why not use the strife also as the XP one gets? It would basically be a variation of learning from mistakes that some games have. So, could this work?

nope. it would not.

That actually reminds me of a 1980’s French RPG ( Rêve: the Dream Ouroboros, in the English version) which had something like this: failure to various tasks would accrue stress, but the more stress you got, the more extra xp you received at the end of the session.

Here I don’t think it would be advisable because:

- First of all, Strife does not equate failure and you don’t necessarily learn much from getting enraged by other people dropping Fire opportunities in your face 😛

- Most importantly, it is way too easy to control how much Strife you’re getting that this would be open to waaaay too much abuse given how the system works. Heck the section about Strife even says a character can voluntarily put on more Strife if it makes narrative sense when exposed to an emotional situation. That would basically mean “make your own XP” at will, or close enough.

That’s my take on it anyway

Finally, a point of XP is worth a lot in this system.

Almost no purchase, up to and including ultimate skill and ring ranks for end-game supercharacters, requires more than 10 XP in one go.

By comparison, picking up 3-4 strife on a single check is quite doable.

Oh yeah, if the assumption was a one for one ratio of xp to Strife then this would be even more impractical. You’d go from char gen to rank 6 in just a couple of sessions (especially with the possibility to abuse that system - like PCs rolling with Fire and strifing the heck out of each other with opportunities :p).

Also worth noting: if the idea is to reward failure, there is already a very powerful mechanic for that in the game. It consists in failing a roll where one of your adversities applies. It nets you a Void point, not XP’s, but Void points are also worth a LOT!

As others said it would be quite a usable by players, so even if you go with 10:1, the strife gains are in their court.

I like the idea though. Perhaps giving extra cost when they unmask? Or if they choose not to unmask and suffer/fail as a result?

That or the gm fiat and give them bonus do on an individual player basis based on solid RPing.

It reminds me of the Powered by the Apocalypse systems which I quite enjoy... But I don't think it would work so well in this system, at least in a pure mechanical/chart kind of way.

But like I say, case by case scenarios can still be fun and rewarding for PCs, and depending on how you choose to give it out can add some extra pressure to PCs... But it can also cause meta gamers to break character and immersion to ensure the highest experience yield. Especially if you tell them your system.

Best of luck with whatever you experiment with. (Or should I say... "XP-riment" with...?)

I'll see myself out.

1 hour ago, Arolem said:

Or should I say... "XP-riment" with...?

On 12/12/2018 at 12:19 PM, Drudenfusz said:

This is just an idea I literally had only a few minutes ago. Why not use the strife also as the XP one gets? It would basically be a variation of learning from mistakes that some games have. So, could this work?

Consider this - my average session, I give 6 XP. My players earn more than 40 strife per session, and seldom are they getting below Compusure/2...

They would skyrocket in power.

Strife as XP would need a lot of mathing out to make for a good ratio (1:1 is way too high). But you could compose a checklist of " group objectives" that give XP at end of the session if checked - and one of them could be "Unmasked during a scene" (and one other probably could be "Exited a scene when Compromised to avoid Unmasking", to reward both playstyles). Obviously, each deed should give only 1 xp, even if achieved multiple times.

On 12/18/2018 at 3:04 AM, AK_Aramis said:

My players earn more than 40 strife per session

H-how? 😲

Just now, AtoMaki said:

H-how? 😲

all the enemies are archers with pelting arrow kata ? obviously.

On 12/17/2018 at 6:04 PM, AK_Aramis said:

Consider this - my average session, I give 6 XP. My players earn more than 40 strife per session, and seldom are they getting below Compusure/2...

They would skyrocket in power.

On 12/22/2018 at 7:31 AM, AtoMaki said:

H-how? 😲

Simply put: by not avoiding it!

And controlling it by unmasking, by using scene ends, by using strife removal techniques.

Oh, and 3.5 to 4 hour sessions.

Last night, I was playing rather than GMing. I got to 10 in scene 1, back to 4 at end of scene. Then back to 10 in scene 2. And back to 4 at end of scene. (total 16), Then scene 3, dropped to 0 without unmask, then up to 15 (was at 8, not compromised, when I got a 7 strife on an attack in fire). Back to 4 end of scene. (total 31) Final scene, up to 7, then back to 6, then up to 10, unmask, back to 0, then back to 12, then end of scene to 4. (50 total strife earned. Not counting the 7 or I opportunitied away before marking.

I dunno, I wouldn't say that my group is avoiding Strife, but a single character earning 30+ Strife in an average (~8 hours) session is so rare, the only case I can remember from the top of my head was a Beta game where we actively embraced Strife. 40 Strife... huh... that's incredible!

1 hour ago, AtoMaki said:

I dunno, I wouldn't say that my group is avoiding Strife, but a single character earning 30+ Strife in an average (~8 hours) session is so rare, the only case I can remember from the top of my head was a Beta game where we actively embraced Strife. 40 Strife... huh... that's incredible!

Simply put - I believe you're in the "Sometimes we roll the dice" clade. I am not, never have been, never will be, and don't/wouldn't want to be, in that clade. We spend a lot of time in mechanical conflicts. Not all are combats. But structured conflicts dominate our playstyle.

For people of my playstyle, RP alone is NEVER enough to assure success on an attempt to sway opinion, nor to extract information. Nor is a roll alone, either. Both the argument and the roll have to be "good enough"... A good argument reduces the needed momentum or the Vigilance or Focus based TN. If failure is possible, then it goes to the dice.

On 12/12/2018 at 12:19 PM, Drudenfusz said:

This is just an idea I literally had only a few minutes ago. Why not use the strife also as the XP one gets? It would basically be a variation of learning from mistakes that some games have. So, could this work?

Dunno! Maybe give us a shot and tell us how it goes! I think it would depend on what particular relationship between action and growth you're trying to model; what makes the idea appealing to you?

As others have said, 1:1 ratio would probably be a little too high, but that should be easy to adjust--maybe figure out how many XP you want players to be getting from strife, then estimate how many they're getting per session, and divide. I'd be inclined to make conflict strife worth less than other forms, because there're so many rolls in conflicts.