I apologise in advance if I'm asking something that's come up before, but I tried a forum search and couldn't find anything that seemed applicable.

After skimming through the rulebook now I have it, there's one thing that seems a rather glaring ommission. I can't find any section that advises the GM on what the reccommended Experience Point awards are for a session. Is this just a case of the index not properly pointing out a page I've missed because I didn't thoroughly read the book, or is this indeed missing?

The only reference I've found is at the end of the "Trouble Brewing" adventure at the back of the book, which says the players get 20xp per session playing the adventure, with a 5xp bonus for objectives completed. If this is supposed to be a typical award, the advancement speed seems absurdly fast- a minimum of one skill/advance per session, with multiple levels bought in a session if the players are buying low-level talents and.or skills.

Any help/suggestions?

I can't recall the page, but in general an adventure should provide 10-20xp with bonuses provided for RP and other things as the GM allows. I think it balanced out to ~5xp/2 hour session.

The index isn't very helpful on the subject, you're right.

But on page 301 there is a section called "Awarding Experience Points".

"The amount awarded [at the end of a session] is typically 10 to 20 XP per character for a session of two or three major encounters and a handful of minor ones. An additional 5 XP bonus may be granted for reaching key milestones or completing story arcs. Playing to a character's Motivation also grants 5 XP per session at the GM's option. The GM may consider awarding an extra point or two of XP for exceptional roleplaying or highly clever thinking."

It also recommends giving the players an idea of where their XP came from (5 XP for escaping the exploding space station, 5 XP for avoiding arrest etc).

I don't think this is too much at all. There's a lot to spend XP on, and Talents and Skills become increasingly expensive.

I suspect that I'll go with 10xp per session, given that on the night we'll be playing there's a three-hour session of which one hour is usually not given to gameplay. Thinking it over, it's likely that my issue with the XP awards is a case of the FFG people assuming a longer and/or more focused session than this.

I'll see how it goes- though I've found it's better to start low, as increasing the XP awards generally goes better with the average player group than decreasing them.

I suspect that I'll go with 10xp per session, given that on the night we'll be playing there's a three-hour session of which one hour is usually not given to gameplay. Thinking it over, it's likely that my issue with the XP awards is a case of the FFG people assuming a longer and/or more focused session than this.

I'll see how it goes- though I've found it's better to start low, as increasing the XP awards generally goes better with the average player group than decreasing them.

I am in the same boat. I usually have to take into account that while my group typically plays every week our sessions are shorter than a typical group's session. I was probably going to go with 10xp to 15xp per session. Of course I would add in the extra xp for completing things as well.

Long campaigns, slower xp progression. Shorter campaigns, faster xp progression. 20 is a decent balance considering how expensive things get at third rank and on.

Considering my campaign is going to last for one college semester (maybe two if it is REALLY popular) once per week, I'm going to be dishing out 20+ a week so that my players can eventually get to do whatever the hell they want!

I miss playing rpgs at college... never got to play Star Wars (well, once or twice but never amounted to anything), but we played the hell out of Harp by ICE and it was awesome. 18 hours sessions, manwiches (lettuce, mayo, honey fried bacon, some good and perhaps different types of cheddar cheese, paprika, leek, eggs, mushrooms, and a chicken breast fillet, all in one ciabatta), PG-tips tea with milk and sugar (coffee in the UK is horrible, I think its because of the poor water quality), irn-bru... and evil sentient demon swords, framing of mates for murder of each other, sword and axe fights in bathtubs, losing of ears and fingers, Novlag ... and a seductive incubus whose interest in the party was never revealed, since most of them died and the rest went through a portal to some other realm. Idiots.

Anyway, as for XP rewards; I usually base a session upon how much they've done, not for how long we played. At minimum I hand out 10xp, but usually 15, sometimes 20, and then slap on a few extra if they were creative, clever and good with their roleplaying and solution of challenges. It's a gut feeling really. What do I think they deserve, and what do they think they deserve (not what they want necessarily).

Heh, never thought I'd see a PG Tips reference here! I'm a Barry's and Typhoo man myself.

My preferred brit-snack is pickled onions, a bit of Branston's pickle and cotswold cheese with water biscuits. Yum!

After reading through this thread, I had another question come to mind about XP... Does anyone award a huge amount at the end of an adventure or campaign? (More than the 10-20, and something more like 80-100)

The most I've done at the end of a campaign or session is 30 which includes 15 for finishing a major story arc, 10 for completing the mission and 5 for good role playing (if appropriate).

I can see where you could do higher amounts: if you wanted to fast forward and show how the characters progressed over the upcoming months years.

I go by the Jay Little Method, or at least the method he mentioned on the podcast.

He figures a rate of 5 xp per hour of actual game play, assuming that 25% of the time consists of tangents, BS, and Monty Python quotes.

So an average 4 hour game session earns 15xp.

5-6 hours might earn you 20 or so.

A good game session like my college days when I could run for 8 hours would be 30xp.

Add bonuses for great RP or end of story arc milestones as needed. This gives folks XP at a pretty decent rate, depending on how often you play. I've got a bi-weekly game that's been going since Spring and the PCs are up to about 180-200xp. It feels like they're earning XP at a clip where they feel like they're progressing, but still having to earn it.

I run 12 hour games and was dishing out the 20xp per session recommended, but found this too slow progression wise. After picking up the adventure books and doing an episode per game session, I was awarding the 50xp or so that it says at the end of each. Now my players seem to be getting lots of new things each session. I may have to tweak things further.

Off-topic question.

Anyone else thinks that could be great a "post merge" or "forum cleanse"? Merge some posts with the same topic or delete older ones.

Anyone more agree with this petition?

PS: I offer my help as voluntary if this could help the Moderators.

I run 12 hour games and was dishing out the 20xp per session recommended, but found this too slow progression wise. After picking up the adventure books and doing an episode per game session, I was awarding the 50xp or so that it says at the end of each. Now my players seem to be getting lots of new things each session. I may have to tweak things further.

That actually sounds about right. 12 hours under the method I use would be about 45xp per session.

Big question; how often do you run these 12 hour game sessions?

We run every other week and play for about ten hours. I award around 25-35 XP per character for these. We normally do pretty good about staying on track, but not always.

We run every other week and play for about ten hours. I award around 25-35 XP per character for these. We normally do pretty good about staying on track, but not always.

I miss those days.

Stupid job.

We run every other week and play for about ten hours. I award around 25-35 XP per character for these. We normally do pretty good about staying on track, but not always.

I miss those days.

Stupid job.

Most of the guys I game with either don't have a job or are barely working part-time (12-15 hours a week)... It isn't a way to live.

This is a topic which is bothering me more as I get closer to running my own game. Published sources of guidance for awarding xp seem confusing to me. The CRB seems to suggest awarding on the basis of encounters (even though it doesn't define what constitutes a major vs minor encounter, or how much xp for each of these subtypes*). It also mentions some extra awards for milestones, story arcs, motivation, and RP.

As this is less detailed than I'd like, I look to published adventures to show me what they mean. Trouble Brewing suggests 20xp per session** spent on the adventure...... so there's no accommodation for encounters as all. If the PCs start and bumble around and talk at the cantina for a session they get 20xp. It does have 5xp for a special objective. This approach is also taken for Debts to Pay, which tells GMs to offer a "standard" reward each session, with a 10xp special objective.

This changes when you look at the full length adventures. Beyond the Rim suggests both a "baseline" session xp on page 8 as well as XP for encounters and objectives at the end of each episode. This means if everything in Episode 1/2/3 is completed in two sessions each then the PCs should get 60/75/70 xp. This changes again in The Jewel of Yavin*** where there is no "baseline" suggestion, only per Episode encounter/objective rewards (and mostly objectives at that).

All this leaves me wondering should I have a XP per session for basically just showing up as implied in some of the adventures, or only for the things they do (encounters and objectives) as implied by the CRB and other adventures, or a mix of both. If this is supposed to be left up to the GM, why is that not said? Thanks for reading!

* The size of a major or minor encounter can obviously be variable, but guidance on what the difference between a 1xp minor vs a 3xp (or more?) minor encounter is could be helpful.

** I have yet to see any printed information on how long a session should be except for a handful of minor encounter and 2-3 major ones. More on this could be helpful too.

*** As far as I can tell, I haven't read it cover to cover yet.

I run a bi-monthly Sunday game which runs around 6-7 hours.

I give out a flat 15XP for the session. You show up and play, you get 15XP.

I place a pile of amber/orange glass beads on the table. These are AP, or Awesome Points. (Idea robbed a bit from another RPG) Anyone at the table may give an AP to anyone else whenever they do something they think is awesome.

Multiple players may give the same person an AP for the same thing, but each player may only give out 1

AP per Awesome action. I, as GM, reserve the right to contribute variable AP (1-5) If I think something was

really, really awesome. You CAN'T give yourself AP.

This ends up with players taking home roughly 25-35XP per session. It encourages everyone to step up their

game and become more invested. It has worked to great effect bringing some quieter players out

of their shells. Especially when you know you've got 15XP and you want that 25 point talent by the end of the session.

Oops, forgot to clarify.....1AP = 1XP at the end of the session.

I really dig that idea... Might steal it.

I would recommend just following the book and hand out 5 XP per actual hour of game play. We play every other Saturday for about 8-12 hours. I usually hand out 25-35 XP for those sessions. Our in-game time is not 8-12 hours. We can get about 6-10 hours of game play in. We have diner and stuff... Anyway, do that a few times, and see if your characters are progressing like you want, if not raise the amount you hand a little more.