The end of the 1st quad of 2018 has been a long time coming. It's June 26th and I think the last of the groups XP has just been tallied, because, life. EP for the quad still must be posted to the ledgers Each quad, there is significant pleading to get others to do the XP tabulation, usually for a sizable EP bribe. Finding AGMs that stick around is hard. Do we need to make it so difficult on ourselves?
With the introduction of the ROLL20 games, a new standard for awarding XP has been established for Palladium characters. In the Roll20 Rifts game it's a flat 5 XP per level up to level 10, and 10 XP per level from from 11 to 15.
As an active player of the HU2 game, I would say less progress is made in 5 months there than in PBP, so if a player can go from level 3 to level 5 just by showing up for 12 months (11 XP to 23 XP), I don't see a problem applying a similar system to PBP.
So the question becomes; how do we adapt this to PBP? I think Savage Rifts has shown us the way. Savage Rifts uses the following system of awarding XP:
Experience Awards. Each quarter, the GM determines whether everyone earned 1 to 3 Experience Points. Total experience points are awarded to players at the end of each quarter.
The group accomplished little, 1 Point.
The group had more successes than failures, 2 Points.
The group succeeded greatly, and their adventure had a significant impact on the overall story, 3 points.
This means players should earn 1-3 experience points per quarter, in addition to any bonuses listed below.
Player Reward System. At the end of each quarter we also calculate post rates to ensure players are keeping up with the site minimum. This is a simple calculation that takes the number of player posts in the quad divided by 10 weeks (yes we know quarters usually have 12 weeks. This gives you a little wiggle room). There’s even a little extra juice for you if you exceed the minimum.
0.99 or lower = Failure! Up your game.
1.0 post rate = Success! You met the target number.
1.01-1.49 post rate = Success with a raise! Receive 1 EP + 1 XP
1.5 - 1.99 post rate = Success with two raises! Receive 2 EP + 2 XP
2.00+ post rate = Holy crap! Receive 3 EP +2 XP and a bonus benny for the quarter.
From what I've seen on the Savage Worlds side (as a player there as well), the active engagement of the player base means that per quarter, most are getting about 5 XP. So an engaged EU player posting more than the minimum (and keeping to quadrimesters) could most likely go from level 3 (11 XP) to level 6 (26 XP) in one year. They'd get to level 9 (41 XP) by the end of year 2, and be level 15 in about 6 years.
For the average player earning only 3 XP per quad: Level 5 by the end of year 1, level 6, by the end of year 2, and take about 9 years to get to level 15.
Now I do have a caveat: I find the stories being told between the GM and the players on EU are much easier to follow than Savage Worlds. Consistent formatting and requirements (action, dialogue, etc) go a long way. I'd penalize a player a point if the posts were difficult to read even if they were posting actively.
What do people think?