Supplement Four
SOC-14 5K
I started out looking for a method of character growth and player reward without unbalancing a CT game. What's evolved from this is a three-pronged method.
Tine 1 of our trident is the Experience idea that introduced a character's Focus Skill and skill improvement through either Practical Experience and/or Study & Practice.
Tine 2 is the CT introduction of Talents--a method of increasing character ability without unbalancing a CT game with too many raised skill levels (or new skills).
Tine 3 is the subject of this post. It's a mechanic I call Drawing on Experience--something I use to reward a player for outstanding play and great ideas contributed to a game session. I've mentioned this idea before, but here the idea is slightly tweaked and simplified.
These three methods, together, constitute a system for Character Growth and Experience that not only serves to reward players and grow characters--but to do this without unbalancing the game.
DRAWING ON EXPERIENCE
Whenever a player does something in a game that is impressive, award him an experience point. Right there. Right then. Immediate gratification.
Everybody likes to be patted on the back for a job well done, and that's the intention of this tine of the Experience Trident.
What do PCs do with Experience Points? Well, they collect them. And, when they have enough, they can use them for beneficial DMs during the game.
This does lead to some bookkeeping, sure. BUT, the GM doesn't have to bother with it, and the players enjoy increasing them. We're not talking about a lot of bookkeeping, anyway. It's more: "Oh, you did something cool?" or "Man, you sure role played that well." and give the player a point--then forget about it.
Take a look at the character sheet in my sig. On the front side of the sheet, to the right of the character's SOC stat, you'll see a blank for XP. This is where a player keeps track of his Experience Points (disregard the blank called "EXP" above the XP blank--that one is used for keeping track of the character's Experience Penalty...see the Experience idea for more info on that).
Whenever a character wants to benefit from his total of experience points, he simply makes a roll against his total number of XP. This is called Drawing on Experience.
THE PARTICULARS: The check is a 2D check (2D for XP Total or less). If the check is made, the character is awarded a +1DM he can use on his next throw. The cost of making the check is the total thrown on the dice (meaning that the character's XP total will be reduced by the amount thrown on the dice. If the check fails, no beneficial DM is awarded but the character's XP total is still reduced by the cost.
If a character desires a better DM on his next throw (maybe a +2DM...or even a +3DM), it is possible provided the check to draw on experience is made with an extra D6 (increasing both cost and the difficulty of making the check). Each extra D6 used to make the check equates to an extra beneficial point should the check succeed. However, a DM on a roll (using this method) can never be higher than the skill level of the skill used on the task (Level-0 skills can have a +1DM, though).
Let's look at an example to more clearly understand how the procedure of Drawing on Experience works....
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Example
Troh has built up 9 XP over the several game sessions of the campaign, and Troh has these three skills: AutoPistol-0, Engineering-2, Navigation-1.
If it is important to Troh to make his next pistol shot, he may want to draw on experience in order to obtain a +1DM on that shot. In order to do so, Troh must succeed on a throw of 2D for 9-.
He throws: 2, 3, for a total of 5 on the throw.
Since the throw of 5 is less than 9, Troh will be allowed a +1DM on his next autopistol attack. Troh's XP total has now dropped to 4.
But, let's say Troh, at the last moment, decides not to waste his XP on that one autopistol shot. Later in the game session, though, it becomes imperative for Troh to get the jump drive fixed. The GM has stated that Troh has to throw 9+ to fix the drive, and the only DMs Troh has is is skill (which effectively makes the roll needed at 7+).
Troh's only got one chance to fix the drive, and it's extremely important the the drive get fixed as fast as possible. So, Troh decides to be risky. He's going to attempt to draw on experience for a +2DM to his engineering roll.
Troh rolls 3D for 9-. He rolls: 1, 3, 2. The total of 6 is lower than 9, so Troh is successful drawing on his experience. Troh's XP is reduced to 3, but Troh now gets a +2DM when he makes that engineering roll to save the ship (with his skill, this will be a total of +4DM).
Note that Troh could have been safer and tried for a +1DM on the engineering roll by rolling is check using only 2D instead of 3D.
Also note that Troh couldn't have been riskier when drawing for experience (rolling a 4D check for a +3DM) because the number of points obtained from drawing on experience can never exceed the total of the skill used on the task (except in the case of Level-0 skills, where a +1DM is allowed). In this case, Troh's skill is Engineering-2, so a maximum of a +2DM can be obtained via drawing on experience (effectively doubling the skill level).
Now, Troh has only 3 XP left. But, during the last hour of the game session, Troh gets into a pickle again and desperately needs to make Navigation task.
In order to draw on experience for this task, Troh must throw 2D for 3-. It's not likely, but Troh really needs the help on the throw. He tries anyway.
He makes the check, rolling: 1, 6. The total of 7 is higher than 3, so the check fails. And, in the process, eats up all of Troh's XP.
Troh ends the game session with 0 XP.
It will take incredible role playing moments and creative ideas by Troh's player during future game sessions to re-fill the XP trough.
Other ways to use the benefit of Drawing on Experience?
Sure there is. Get creative with it. It's up to the GM.
In my game, I even allow characters to draw on experience to get points to reduce damage scored against them from enemies...or even to soak up some damage applied towards a PC's physical stats.
That's totally up to the GM, but I find it a nice little perk the players characters have (and I'm fairly stingy in awarding XP...a player really has to impress me to get a point...even then, with the cost, it's not every game session that PCs will be Drawing on Experience. They just don't have the XP to do it that often.).
Other ways to get XP?
Again, this is totally up to the GM. One thing I do is allow something special for the character if a Critical Success is scored on a task throw. But, I only allow them one thing.
Maybe it's an extra die of damage (or making one of the damage dice applied randomly on the target) on a combat attack.
Maybe it's the opportunity to make the INT check to see if the skill used becomes the character's Focus Skill.
Or maybe, it's that a XP point is tied to that skill.
Check out the character sheet in my sig again. Notice the XP blank next to the skills? This is where I record XP that is tied to specific skills.
How does that work?
Well, let's say a character is using his Communications skill on a task to fix the busted radio in the jeep. Let's also say that a critical success was rolled on this repair task.
As I state above, I like to provide some benefit to the character if a critical success was rolled on a task (they happen so rarely using the UGM CS rules).
Now, in this case, there's no extra or random damage I can award, because it's not a combat task. Repair time wasn't important to the character since there was no time pressure on the task, so stating that the character fixed the radio in half the ususal time is no real benefit to the character.
If the player doesn't care to attempt to make Communications his character's Focus Skill, then what I will do is allow an XP point to be tied to that skill.
This XP is recorded in the blank next to the skill (see the sheet in my sig).
The next time this character draws on experience for DMs using the communications skill, the XP tied to the skill can be added to the general XP total before the check is made when the character draws on his experience.
Tine 1 of our trident is the Experience idea that introduced a character's Focus Skill and skill improvement through either Practical Experience and/or Study & Practice.
Tine 2 is the CT introduction of Talents--a method of increasing character ability without unbalancing a CT game with too many raised skill levels (or new skills).
Tine 3 is the subject of this post. It's a mechanic I call Drawing on Experience--something I use to reward a player for outstanding play and great ideas contributed to a game session. I've mentioned this idea before, but here the idea is slightly tweaked and simplified.
These three methods, together, constitute a system for Character Growth and Experience that not only serves to reward players and grow characters--but to do this without unbalancing the game.
DRAWING ON EXPERIENCE
Whenever a player does something in a game that is impressive, award him an experience point. Right there. Right then. Immediate gratification.
Everybody likes to be patted on the back for a job well done, and that's the intention of this tine of the Experience Trident.
What do PCs do with Experience Points? Well, they collect them. And, when they have enough, they can use them for beneficial DMs during the game.
This does lead to some bookkeeping, sure. BUT, the GM doesn't have to bother with it, and the players enjoy increasing them. We're not talking about a lot of bookkeeping, anyway. It's more: "Oh, you did something cool?" or "Man, you sure role played that well." and give the player a point--then forget about it.
Take a look at the character sheet in my sig. On the front side of the sheet, to the right of the character's SOC stat, you'll see a blank for XP. This is where a player keeps track of his Experience Points (disregard the blank called "EXP" above the XP blank--that one is used for keeping track of the character's Experience Penalty...see the Experience idea for more info on that).
Whenever a character wants to benefit from his total of experience points, he simply makes a roll against his total number of XP. This is called Drawing on Experience.
THE PARTICULARS: The check is a 2D check (2D for XP Total or less). If the check is made, the character is awarded a +1DM he can use on his next throw. The cost of making the check is the total thrown on the dice (meaning that the character's XP total will be reduced by the amount thrown on the dice. If the check fails, no beneficial DM is awarded but the character's XP total is still reduced by the cost.
If a character desires a better DM on his next throw (maybe a +2DM...or even a +3DM), it is possible provided the check to draw on experience is made with an extra D6 (increasing both cost and the difficulty of making the check). Each extra D6 used to make the check equates to an extra beneficial point should the check succeed. However, a DM on a roll (using this method) can never be higher than the skill level of the skill used on the task (Level-0 skills can have a +1DM, though).
Let's look at an example to more clearly understand how the procedure of Drawing on Experience works....
-------------------------------------------------
Example
Troh has built up 9 XP over the several game sessions of the campaign, and Troh has these three skills: AutoPistol-0, Engineering-2, Navigation-1.
If it is important to Troh to make his next pistol shot, he may want to draw on experience in order to obtain a +1DM on that shot. In order to do so, Troh must succeed on a throw of 2D for 9-.
He throws: 2, 3, for a total of 5 on the throw.
Since the throw of 5 is less than 9, Troh will be allowed a +1DM on his next autopistol attack. Troh's XP total has now dropped to 4.
But, let's say Troh, at the last moment, decides not to waste his XP on that one autopistol shot. Later in the game session, though, it becomes imperative for Troh to get the jump drive fixed. The GM has stated that Troh has to throw 9+ to fix the drive, and the only DMs Troh has is is skill (which effectively makes the roll needed at 7+).
Troh's only got one chance to fix the drive, and it's extremely important the the drive get fixed as fast as possible. So, Troh decides to be risky. He's going to attempt to draw on experience for a +2DM to his engineering roll.
Troh rolls 3D for 9-. He rolls: 1, 3, 2. The total of 6 is lower than 9, so Troh is successful drawing on his experience. Troh's XP is reduced to 3, but Troh now gets a +2DM when he makes that engineering roll to save the ship (with his skill, this will be a total of +4DM).
Note that Troh could have been safer and tried for a +1DM on the engineering roll by rolling is check using only 2D instead of 3D.
Also note that Troh couldn't have been riskier when drawing for experience (rolling a 4D check for a +3DM) because the number of points obtained from drawing on experience can never exceed the total of the skill used on the task (except in the case of Level-0 skills, where a +1DM is allowed). In this case, Troh's skill is Engineering-2, so a maximum of a +2DM can be obtained via drawing on experience (effectively doubling the skill level).
Now, Troh has only 3 XP left. But, during the last hour of the game session, Troh gets into a pickle again and desperately needs to make Navigation task.
In order to draw on experience for this task, Troh must throw 2D for 3-. It's not likely, but Troh really needs the help on the throw. He tries anyway.
He makes the check, rolling: 1, 6. The total of 7 is higher than 3, so the check fails. And, in the process, eats up all of Troh's XP.
Troh ends the game session with 0 XP.
It will take incredible role playing moments and creative ideas by Troh's player during future game sessions to re-fill the XP trough.
Other ways to use the benefit of Drawing on Experience?
Sure there is. Get creative with it. It's up to the GM.
In my game, I even allow characters to draw on experience to get points to reduce damage scored against them from enemies...or even to soak up some damage applied towards a PC's physical stats.
That's totally up to the GM, but I find it a nice little perk the players characters have (and I'm fairly stingy in awarding XP...a player really has to impress me to get a point...even then, with the cost, it's not every game session that PCs will be Drawing on Experience. They just don't have the XP to do it that often.).
Other ways to get XP?
Again, this is totally up to the GM. One thing I do is allow something special for the character if a Critical Success is scored on a task throw. But, I only allow them one thing.
Maybe it's an extra die of damage (or making one of the damage dice applied randomly on the target) on a combat attack.
Maybe it's the opportunity to make the INT check to see if the skill used becomes the character's Focus Skill.
Or maybe, it's that a XP point is tied to that skill.
Check out the character sheet in my sig again. Notice the XP blank next to the skills? This is where I record XP that is tied to specific skills.
How does that work?
Well, let's say a character is using his Communications skill on a task to fix the busted radio in the jeep. Let's also say that a critical success was rolled on this repair task.
As I state above, I like to provide some benefit to the character if a critical success was rolled on a task (they happen so rarely using the UGM CS rules).
Now, in this case, there's no extra or random damage I can award, because it's not a combat task. Repair time wasn't important to the character since there was no time pressure on the task, so stating that the character fixed the radio in half the ususal time is no real benefit to the character.
If the player doesn't care to attempt to make Communications his character's Focus Skill, then what I will do is allow an XP point to be tied to that skill.
This XP is recorded in the blank next to the skill (see the sheet in my sig).
The next time this character draws on experience for DMs using the communications skill, the XP tied to the skill can be added to the general XP total before the check is made when the character draws on his experience.
