Ive been play testing dungeon world for a while and I’ve been thinking has anyone else felt that the amounts of XP needed to get to higher levels is too little? The amount of levels is fine but I have felt there to be a need of slightly more xp to the point where I have house ruled that the amount of XP required for each level is 20 plus the next level your ascending to. I chose the 20 as I was inspired by old school d20 but I suppose a 12 from 2d6 would be more fitting for DW. I know that xp gets harder to get as you level, but I like long term rpg storylines and I like characters to take it slow and enjoy utilizing the basic moves they have so each new move is special and appreciated and well earned. Has a home else fooled around with XP? Please tell your opinions or stories.
Ive been play testing dungeon world for a while and I’ve been thinking has anyone else felt that the amounts of XP…
Ive been play testing dungeon world for a while and I’ve been thinking has anyone else felt that the amounts of XP…
I used 10. And it’s looking quite good
My group tends to level up about 2 out of every 3 sessions, using the XP system as written. (At least that’s true at levels 2-5.) I don’t mind it, but it is a pretty quick pace.
Ray Otus could you give any detail of your system?
It’s not my system. I don’t mod the “as written” system at all. IOW, XP comes in two parts: marking 1 XP every time you roll a failure and, at the end of the session, the End of Session move. The latter nets you from 1-4 XP, but is usually 2-3. Re: the former, it’s quite common for players to fail between 4 and 11 times per session at my table at lower levels. (Less at higher levels.)
Oh, and the other (third) “as written” part is the Level Up move. Which says you need your level +7 XP to level up – so 8 XP to make level 2.
Ray Otus sorry there were misunderstanding from my side.
How fast the XP points fly around has a lot to do with how often moves are triggered in your game.
If you feel XP is coming in very slow, likely what’s happening is that a lot of moments where a move would be triggered are being passed over in favor of just roleplaying the situation without dice.
I only recently made this realization myself when we finished a session that was mostly just roleplay, and we didn’t actually use any of the social-situation type moves at all (because we’re not used to rolling for those)
I’ve come across this concept of character longevity before and my advice was this: DW is not meant to be played the same by all people. Meaning that the original intent is as written. It’s been playtested. If your characters advance differently and it works for you, then by all means, make the alteration. You don’t always have to agree with the ruleset, most importantly is that your group has fun.
I, for one, am thankful that higher levels take less time, because I hate open ended campaigns, and getting to level 10 in around 15-20 sessions is fantastic.
You can always have someone start another playbook at level 10 and make them start at level 11 for that.
In the Roll20 actual play with Adam Koebel as the GM, he very explicitly states that XP is one of the dials in DW that any group and/or GM can and should fiddle with to suit their tastes. So… it all depends on how quickly your group expects to level up and also how frequently they are rolling (and getting 6-).
Following from this, Adam also suggested that groups handing out a lot of XP per session might be rolling too much since failures are Golden Opportunities for the GM to hit them and hit them hard.
The book also says that the XP system is fairly fluid.
I actually give out XP for hitting Alignments or Bonds in a way that makes things complicated and adds interesting things to the story so that people level FASTER.
I like your instinct of just making ti 12+level. Also, don’t forget to subtract the XP each time! Or don’t, and set level up points at 13, 27, 42, 58, 75, 93, 112, 132, 153, 175.
Interesting, I have trouble leveling up. I think it’s because I’m so dang lucky with my Rolls ha-ha.
Robert Doe, one of the many things I love about DW is the fork between success and experience. Sometimes you almost crave failure in order to pick up a few more XP. I’ve had players lie about their dice outcomes, scooping up their dice and saying “Dang! I blew it” with a grin on their face. LOL.
That’s hilarious, a system where people want to fail. Lol
I want a slower advancement rate in Stonetop, so I went with:
– 12+level XP required to level up
– a few days or weeks of downtime (i.e. can’t level up during an adventure)
– a new special move, Burning Bright, that lets you burn excess XP (when have enough to level) in exchange for after-the-roll +1s.
The last two are there to prevent the ol’ “go adventuring for a week and come back with 3 levels” problem.
Jeremy Strandberg have you also altered the End of Session move? I think the three questions are one of the easiest places to fiddle with the tone and advancement rate (2 questions about killing things vs 5 about NPC relationships)
oh, yup, sure did. But not in a way that I think would seriously change the advancement rate. They are:
* Did we learn something about the wider
world or its history?
* Did we overcome a threat to Stonetop or the
greater region?
* Did we improve our standing or influence
with our neighbors?
Resolving bonds is still basically the same, as is the Drive mechanice.