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How often do you game and how long are your sessions? If it’s weekly for six hours then the answer is far different to monthly three hour games.

One rule of thumb is maybe 10-15 per player per session. Another suggestion is 5xp, per player, per hour of gameplay. Four hour game = 20xp. Playing every other week, we give between 20-30 because we don't play much and we want more progress over real-life time. On Play-by-Post, it could be months of postings between XP so we've done about 5xp per month of play and then a little bit past that. We desire to be able to get to Dedication or buy another tree sometime within the first year of play.

I do about 5xp per involved "encounter". You should be looking at doing an encounter everyone 2 hours of play but as a minimum I give 10 xp. The most I gave was 20xp and that was a full on 3 hour combat scene.

2 hours ago, MrTInce said:

I do about 5xp per involved "encounter". You should be looking at doing an encounter everyone 2 hours of play but as a minimum I give 10 xp. The most I gave was 20xp and that was a full on 3 hour combat scene.

I think I'm going to move to this style of XP award for my new campaign. Up to now I've been using the 5XP per hour method, but my group frequently burn a lot of time on either monumentally in-depth planning or pun-ridden faffing about (which is fun, I freely admit), so in previous campaigns they've advanced rather more rapidly than the story justifies.

My group has been on hiatus for a while, but before that we usually gamed monthly, for 3-4hours. I would award about 20-25xp a session otherwise the players just never felt any real advancement.

2 hours ago, Dafydd said:

I think I'm going to move to this style of XP award for my new campaign. Up to now I've been using the 5XP per hour method, but my group frequently burn a lot of time on either monumentally in-depth planning or pun-ridden faffing about (which is fun, I freely admit), so in previous campaigns they've advanced rather more rapidly than the story justifies.

All you really need to do is discount the time that your group spends faffing about from the amount of time played.

When Jay Little proposed the "5XP per hour of game play" method, he specifically said he discounted stuff that didn't pertain directly to the adventure itself. So if in a four hour session, the players spent about an hour of it on OOC chatter about the IRL latest sportsball event or political whatsit, then they'd only get 15XP for the three hours of actual play.

As for the over-planning, that's more an issue of you as the GM needing to move things along and get the players back into the story. They might enjoy it, but if them gobbling up hours at a time of the session on such things is killing your enjoyment of running the game, then it's an issue that needs to be addressed. If you're not having fun as the GM, then really what's the point of you running in the first place?

51 minutes ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

All you really need to do is discount the time that your group spends faffing about from the amount of time played.

When Jay Little proposed the "5XP per hour of game play" method, he specifically said he discounted stuff that didn't pertain directly to the adventure itself. So if in a four hour session, the players spent about an hour of it on OOC chatter about the IRL latest sportsball event or political whatsit, then they'd only get 15XP for the three hours of actual play.

As for the over-planning, that's more an issue of you as the GM needing to move things along and get the players back into the story. They might enjoy it, but if them gobbling up hours at a time of the session on such things is killing your enjoyment of running the game, then it's an issue that needs to be addressed. If you're not having fun as the GM, then really what's the point of you running in the first place?

Unfortunately, it's a mindset that's pretty ingrained in the group, and I can be as bad as the rest. We've spent a lot of time playing campaigns in other systems that are much grittier and less forgiving that this. For instance, the first game we played was a Pendragon campaign that was retooled for a (somewhat) more realistic depiction of Dark Age Britain. There were plenty of Saxons running around who could kill a PC with a single swing of an axe - and vice versa, of course, we routinely killed Saxons with a single spear thrust. It was fun, but very intense and bred a mentality that death could come from a single failed dice roll.

I recommend being generous with the FFG Star Wars Exp.

I've played this game on both sides of the GM screen and players are happier when they earn a lot of Exp.

There are a lot of cool talents to play with and the costs to get those add up quickly. And some of those trees have worthless talents that a player is required to buy in order to get to the cool shiny talents.

On the other half of the equation, as the PC's start picking up cool talents, they'll begin doing awesome cinematic stuff that lets them easily waltz through previously tough encounters.

Just remember and be prepared to let your PC's do awesome stuff.

Let your PCs do awesome stuff! Exactly, @Mark Caliber

But also, as @Donovan Morningfire said, I use the 5XP / hour assuming hours spent actually playing, so for using my group as an example, I'm almost always gaming from 7pm-midnight, but only giving my players 20XP, sometimes less.

10 per session flat. Adjust if you game less frequently.

We play once a month and I give 15xp base and also add bonus xp for good roleplay with character motivations, duty, obligation, or hitting major plot points, etc.

I give a lot out on purpose because my group is a bunch of xp craving force users.

5xp per hour

5xp per encounter a pc helped to resolve regardless of how they participated

An additional 5xp for pursuing your obligation when it comes up

An additional 5xp for spending time during the session to pursue your motivation

An additional 5xp for doing notable things: being exceptionally creative in handling a situation, doing something that gets the whole table laughing out loud, actively dramatic roleplaying.

On average I believe most sessions are 25-35xp. We play less than 12 times per year, so an accelerated rate isn't so bad.

We play twice a month (approximately 4 to 5 hours a session) and I give out 15xp plus 5 to 10 extra for milestones or special occasions.

My characters have now accumulated more than 400 xp, and it begins to affect the game in a way I don't like - talk abut superheroes (especially the Force user in the group). If I would start again, I would cut down to 5 xp for the session plus another 5 xp for a milestone. 15 xp tops per session.

But of course, it totally depends on the planned length of your campaign.

3 hours ago, PzVIE said:

My characters have now accumulated more than 400 xp, and it begins to affect the game in a way I don't like -

Rookie. The PC's in my group are running around with 1,200+ XP.

Truth be told, your players are just beginning to get the chance to play this game.

1 hour ago, Mark Caliber said:

Rookie. The PC's in my group are running around with 1,200+ XP.

Truth be told, your players are just beginning to get the chance to play this game.

My group's at 600-800xp right now (varying amounts depending on attendance and performance) and they are just starting to realize that they don't need to hyper focus on abilities to keep themselves alive anymore because they are fully combat tested.

I also went and gave them things they should never have had that make them stupidly more strong.

To the OP, consider this: If your character only had 1 spec tree, it would take 300xp to max out the talents, and 900xp to max out your career skills. 1,200xp just to complete the initial concept of "this is what my character is focused on". Every talent tree takes 300xp to fill, and costs xp just to get. That cost increases for each tree you already have. The new trees also give you new career skills.

Let's just say you wanted to stick with the initial 1,200xp to max career skills and one spec tree: at 20xp/session, which is the book recommendation, that's gonna take 60 game sessions.

To add to what @GroggyGolem said, that doesn't even include Force powers and Force ratings. If the PC is a Force user, he's going to need at least a second Force using spec just to get up to a decent FR, as well as plenty of XP for Force powers and upgrades.

Well, I accept the "Rookie" ... at least in this system 🙂

However, I still do think that the game has a very steep power curve if you give out too many XP. Of course you can always have the Nemesis surrounded by a couple of Rivals and Minions, or add +2 to the opponent's Presence or Willpower in social situations, but basically, the Tank outguns everything (especially with Auto-Fire), the Pilot outmaneuvers everything, the Charmer talks everyone down, and the Force user - using Move - handles Silhouette 4 objects pretty easily. So you have to adapt your encounters, but it also changes the tone of the game. From a band of entrepreneurs who look for jobs and have to deal with shady people to capable combat and social supermen who handle "small" situations with ease. Add that to the fact that this system is a system of success; meaning, at an Average difficulty and the player rolling GGYY, the success rate is nearly 80%, even 90% as they usually roll GGYYY in their specialized skills; two blacks would reduce this by approx. 10%, but they usually add up also some Boost dice too. So failure is more rare than in other systems. I can accept that, but as a GM, I need to tone up the adventures and encounters for my players to still offer a challenge. Not only combat-wise, but generally.

19 hours ago, PzVIE said:

If I would start again, I would cut down to 5 xp for the session plus another 5 xp for a milestone. 15 xp tops per session.

I would still do this.

I think you miss the point of the narraitive dice system used by Star Wars FFG. It isn't about success, that's the default expect result of most dice rolls, it is about advantages / triumphs and threats / despairs. In this system only one more success than failure on the dice is enough to succeed. That means every more success than that one more are wasted, except in a combat roll where they're used for damages. OTOH, the amount of advantages or threats left on the dice after cancelling, is important. One advantage or threat is not the same as two or three or more.

Most interesting the dice rolls results I've seen playing this system are : success with threats and failure with advantages. The first means the player succeed but with complications that will show their effects in the narrative of the game. And the second means the player failed but with the possibility of something positive to happen in the narrative of the story.

14 hours ago, PzVIE said:

Well, I accept the "Rookie" ... at least in this system 🙂

However, I still do think that the game has a very steep power curve if you give out too many XP. Of course you can always have the Nemesis surrounded by a couple of Rivals and Minions, or add +2 to the opponent's Presence or Willpower in social situations, but basically, the Tank outguns everything (especially with Auto-Fire), the Pilot outmaneuvers everything, the Charmer talks everyone down, and the Force user - using Move - handles Silhouette 4 objects pretty easily. So you have to adapt your encounters, but it also changes the tone of the game. From a band of entrepreneurs who look for jobs and have to deal with shady people to capable combat and social supermen who handle "small" situations with ease. Add that to the fact that this system is a system of success; meaning, at an Average difficulty and the player rolling GGYY, the success rate is nearly 80%, even 90% as they usually roll GGYYY in their specialized skills; two blacks would reduce this by approx. 10%, but they usually add up also some Boost dice too. So failure is more rare than in other systems. I can accept that, but as a GM, I need to tone up the adventures and encounters for my players to still offer a challenge. Not only combat-wise, but generally.

I would still do this.

I think you might be playing with a bunch of Min-Maxers here.

14 hours ago, Tramp Graphics said:

I think you might be playing with a bunch of Min-Maxers here.

Naaa, if there's a weak link in my game, than it's me, the GM. FFG's SW is the last system I can think about when it comes to min-maxing, as the theme is so prevalent. But if you rush through your class-tree you get so many useful talents and of course you will try to get two or three ranks in your favorite skill.

Nevertheless, it hurts a little when your Force sensitive character is using his Move power to throw a fighter-sized object onto a group of three opponents, squeezing them before they even get a chance to react.

5 hours ago, PzVIE said:

Nevertheless, it hurts a little when your Force sensitive character is using his Move power to throw a fighter-sized object onto a group of three opponents, squeezing them before they even get a chance to react.

Sometimes there won't be that size of object to throw. Other times the object will be there, but there will be other things that happen. I would especially upgrade rolls and add setback when there's a lot of damage thrown around. The more damage something does, the more likely it will hit allies or bystanders and then your Telekinetic monster has to face the consequences of harming the innocent, injuring his allies, or even manslaughter, because he used his power in excess.

9 hours ago, PzVIE said:

Naaa, if there's a weak link in my game, than it's me, the GM. FFG's SW is the last system I can think about when it comes to min-maxing, as the theme is so prevalent. But if you rush through your class-tree you get so many useful talents and of course you will try to get two or three ranks in your favorite skill.

Nevertheless, it hurts a little when your Force sensitive character is using his Move power to throw a fighter-sized object onto a group of three opponents, squeezing them before they even get a chance to react.

3 hours ago, GroggyGolem said:

Sometimes there won't be that size of object to throw. Other times the object will be there, but there will be other things that happen. I would especially upgrade rolls and add setback when there's a lot of damage thrown around. The more damage something does, the more likely it will hit allies or bystanders and then your Telekinetic monster has to face the consequences of harming the innocent, injuring his allies, or even manslaughter, because he used his power in excess.

@GroggyGolem is correct here. If the Force user is abusing a given Force power, don't give him the ammunition to do so. If he's constantly throwing Sil 3 Starfighters at his oponents, don't put Starfighters around him when he's fighting the bad guys. Put him in situations where he has to use other skills or Force powers instead.

I, I have to admit, give out xp somewhat haphazardly.

Here is how I do it:
+5 (once per campaign* 10) xp for playing to a motivation well.
+5 xp for particular inventiveness or cleverness. Basically doing a good job at whatever, but not for rolling well, that just means you were either just lucky, or so stacked that you couldn't fail. In the case of the inverse, a failure doesn't mean it wasn't a good idea.
10-25 xp for a session based on the characters performance (again, not constrained by rolls) as well as consideration for difficulty, time (IRL and IG), and story advancement. Which can be reduced by time spent laid out in the road because you missed when trying to jump onto an ITT and instead bonked your head on the back of the thing (actually happened).
And lastly pity xp: I will sometimes give some pity xp for characters who were just straight-up unlucky (see above example).

The most xp I ever awarded was 35 (2 of 4, the other 2 got 30) for a ~6-hour session where they infiltrated an Imperial base to sabotage the base's Shield/power Generator and 2 of them nearly died (twice). Here is how I awarded one of the characters: 25 xp for a long, difficult, eventful session, 5 pity xp for getting 5 crits and nearly dying (twice), and 5 xp for particular cleverness.

The minimum xp I would suggest is 10, but only for short and/or easy and/or uneventful sessions.

Note: I do not support stinginess with giving out xp as xp doesn't really go all that far unless you are spreading it around the lower-level stuff or driving to a particular goal with no consideration for other xp expenditures (and even then not really).

*Once per campaign means in all likely-hood never, because it is sort of like trying to guess when you are at your greatest need (a la The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian).

On 8/15/2019 at 9:49 PM, PzVIE said:

but basically, the Tank outguns everything (especially with Auto-Fire), the Pilot outmaneuvers everything, the Charmer talks everyone down,

Um, isn't that the point? To be goddamned awesome at what you do?