Rather than a raw number of XP's for a campaign, I'd rather talk in XP's per daily session.

I use to grant my players with 10 to 15 XP's for this daily run with up to 5 additional XP's. Then each time one part of the campaign is completed the gain goes up to 30 to 50.

As my players usually need around 5 daily sessions to end up one part of the campaign, they may expect up to 100 to 120 XP's ; the more the parts in the campaign, the more the benefits. Usually, I end the campaign after 3 parts, hence leading to ar.400 XP's...

... and even with such "low" gains I consider the PC's are developing too fast and do cope too easily with the hazards...

My highest current campaign is about 1100XP now- it transitioned from EotE to F&D characters over time but is still rolling along with no end in sight as the characters have a ton of stuff to do plot wise (Letting Ancient Sith spirits out on Yavin IV when there are Inquisitors about is a bad idea... who knew?) that I cannot see them retiring anytime soon.

I have run several short games that ended in approx 400 XP as the story was done.

Played in two campaigns that both ended at about 600XP as we completed the plot.

Just started a new campaign and I told the players that we will award XP to the characters when it makes sense. Had the first session with no XP award post-session and there was no funereal mood after the game, nobody burst into flames nor did they have a psychotic break. I'm just as surprised and shocked as you all are at the news. Perhaps Plato is right and there is more to it than just the shadows on the back of the cave cast by the flames.

I announced the no XP thing before we started. The discussions after the session were all about the story and character development going forward. Keeping in mind I am not saying you should do this, I'm just saying that you can if you want.

4 hours ago, Archlyte said:

Just started a new campaign and I told the players that we will award XP to the characters when it makes sense. Had the first session with no XP award post-session and there was no funereal mood after the game, nobody burst into flames nor did they have a psychotic break. I'm just as surprised and shocked as you all are at the news. Perhaps Plato is right and there is more to it than just the shadows on the back of the cave cast by the flames.

I announced the no XP thing before we started. The discussions after the session were all about the story and character development going forward. Keeping in mind I am not saying you should do this, I'm just saying that you can if you want.

This is the other thread on XP.

On 5/4/2019 at 1:11 PM, RNST said:

Rather than a raw number of XP's for a campaign, I'd rather talk in XP's per daily session.

I use to grant my players with 10 to 15 XP's for this daily run with up to 5 additional XP's. Then each time one part of the campaign is completed the gain goes up to 30 to 50.

As my players usually need around 5 daily sessions to end up one part of the campaign, they may expect up to 100 to 120 XP's ; the more the parts in the campaign, the more the benefits. Usually, I end the campaign after 3 parts, hence leading to ar.400 XP's...

... and even with such "low" gains I consider the PC's are developing too fast and do cope too easily with the hazards...

How many hours do you spend at the gaming table each day? My group is lucky if we average one 4-5 hour session every two months.

NEVER! XD

If find this question and its answers totally helpful and interesting.

I currently GM an EotE campaign every other Friday (it's the first time I use this system); we play for approximately 5 hours each night and I give out 15 XP as a base, and 5 extra if they reached a milestone, do something extraordinary great, or at the end of an adventure. One of the adventures we played was Shadows of a Black Sun, and my group - then at approx. 200 XP each - wasted the end boss (the Nikto bounty hunter who got 2 activations each round) in 2 rounds. He had good stats and all, but he didn't stand a chance. Not even a bit.

We're currently at 300 XP and I wonder ... how many stormtroopers do I need to provide a challenge for the players when they reach 500 or so?

17 hours ago, PzVIE said:

If find this question and its answers totally helpful and interesting.

I currently GM an EotE campaign every other Friday (it's the first time I use this system); we play for approximately 5 hours each night and I give out 15 XP as a base, and 5 extra if they reached a milestone, do something extraordinary great, or at the end of an adventure. One of the adventures we played was Shadows of a Black Sun, and my group - then at approx. 200 XP each - wasted the end boss (the Nikto bounty hunter who got 2 activations each round) in 2 rounds. He had good stats and all, but he didn't stand a chance. Not even a bit.

We're currently at 300 XP and I wonder ... how many stormtroopers do I need to provide a challenge for the players when they reach 500 or so?

Why should the characters with 500 XP (and probably with a lot accomplished at their back) fight ordinary Stormtroopers?
They should have Nemesis', special commandos or pirates hunting them, rivaling with Grand Moffs, Vigos, Hutts. If your PCs grow, their enemies will grow too. I think it's the most logical next step. Raise the stakes. Only the common soldiers have trouble with the Stormtroopers, the PCs grew over them. They are Han, Chewie, Leia, Luke. Go on grand scale missions, don't limit yourself

22 hours ago, PzVIE said:

If find this question and its answers totally helpful and interesting.

I currently GM an EotE campaign every other Friday (it's the first time I use this system); we play for approximately 5 hours each night and I give out 15 XP as a base, and 5 extra if they reached a milestone, do something extraordinary great, or at the end of an adventure. One of the adventures we played was Shadows of a Black Sun, and my group - then at approx. 200 XP each - wasted the end boss (the Nikto bounty hunter who got 2 activations each round) in 2 rounds. He had good stats and all, but he didn't stand a chance. Not even a bit.

We're currently at 300 XP and I wonder ... how many stormtroopers do I need to provide a challenge for the players when they reach 500 or so?

Tonight my players will be getting up to some shenanigans inside a Star Destroyer - so I won't run out of stormtroopers. My basic plan is to let them decide how they want to remain undetected and if/when they fail they'll be confronted by: 2 x ST SGT, 4 x (5 x ST) Minion groups. Depending on the location one of the ST SGT will be replaced by a group of ST using an E-Web. I'll spend a DP to add a fresh new squad (ST SGT + 4 (5x ST) Minion groups). I'm also going to throw in elite Stormtroopers (black pauldrons) which will use the Dark Trooper stats (using plasma cannon, no jetpack). It's going to be a bit of attrition. The tough encounter is not the Stormtroopers but rather the 2 Inquisitors on board (+ supporting troopers).

There some other stuff I have planned but my approach to challenging 5 PCs (1200XP) with Stormtroopers is to include at least 5 per group and enough groups (+ rivals) that they're not going to kill them all in one round so will get fired on. In a scenario like a Star Destroyer I can keep throwing Stormtroopers at them, in scenarios where such a supply of troopers doesn't make sense then I add more groups (+ rivals) to the encounter and not count on re-enforcements.

I've also used Assassin Droid stats for Elite Stormtrooper Nemesis leaders. I've taken the basic ST SGT and kicked up the Agility and Ranged (Heavy) as well. A basic Minion Stormtrooper squad with 5 members has a good chance of hitting and doing good damage even against 1200 XP characters, the trick is keeping them around long enough to get a shot (by having lots or re-enforcement) and re-skinning the better Rival/Nemesis entries as leadership (and having 2-3 of these). A rule of thumb I use is that enemy dice pools should match or almost match PC dice pools (I usually opt for almost match) - not hard to do. And be careful about which Talents Nemesis/Rivals have - that's why I like the Assassin Droid because it has damage boosting Talents but nothing that's signature/unique for the PCs.

On 5/7/2019 at 11:06 AM, PzVIE said:

One of the adventures we played was Shadows of a Black Sun, and my group - then at approx. 200 XP each - wasted the end boss (the Nikto bounty hunter who got 2 activations each round) in 2 rounds. He had good stats and all, but he didn't stand a chance. Not even a bit.

There are quite a few threads on how to deal with the "weak Nemesis" problem, might want to check them out. It's not really an XP problem, it's an encounter setup problem.

My PCs are 2000+ XP for 3 years now, we have thought of retiring characters once they established a new jedi order (pre-rebellion era jedi) and switching to padwans.

But it won't happen soon, at least 1000 xp more.