Into The Strange XP Thread

[Ravenhurst ST]

I will post XP awards in this thread.

 

 

Current XP Total Earned Log for each character - i will update this when XP is awarded to show the total earned I will not show xp that you spend

Lexi - 10

Juno - 11

Curtis - 10

Ian - 10

Firanis - 11

Scott - 3

[Ravenhurst ST]

From the OOC thread

 

 

XP Awarded So Far

1xp to each player for creating an interesting BackGround - This includes Ian and Firanis

 

1 Xp For compleating the First Session - this includes Ian his PM thread with me counts as his session

 

Intrusion Xp

+1 - Juno +1 for Lexi

+1 - Curtis +1 to Lexi

 

Bonus for creative connections

 

+1 to each Player in the Main Thread

 

Undisclosed Bonuses +1 from various sources awarded by discretionary action

 

Current XP Log for each character

Lexi - 5

Juno - 5

Curtis - 4

Ian - 4

Firanis - 3

 

Background threads and side threads will also award 1-2 xp per thread to any/all characters who contribute. so far i have 2 side/background threads underway. Xp will be awarded for these when they are compleat adn posted for all to read. but these should not be posted until complete or in complete chapters if they are long.

[Ravenhurst ST]

xp for this session

 

Curtis - 6

Lexi - 5

Juno - 5

Ian - 5

Scott - 3

[Ravenhurst ST]

ok since this si really teh first big xp award I have posted the XP and advancement rulles here. Also My aplogies I had forgotten some of teh short term benifits. but that just means yall didnt spend an points on them so you have agood ly amount of ponts to spend if you desire.

 

PROGRESSING TO A NEW TIER

Tiers in The Strange aren’t entirely like levels in other roleplaying games. In The Strange, gaining levels is not the players’ only goal or the only measure of achievement. Starting (first-tier) characters are already competent, and there are only six tiers. Character advancement has a power curve, but it’s only steep enough to keep things interesting. In other words, gaining levels is cool and fun, but it’s not the only path to success or power. If you spend all your XP on immediate, short- and medium-term benefits, you would be different from someone who spends her points on longterm benefits, but you would not be “behind” that character.

The general idea is that most characters will spend half their XP on tier advancement and long-term benefits, and the rest on immediate and short-term benefits (which are used during gameplay). Some groups might decide that XP earned during a game is to be spent on immediate and short-term benefits (gameplay uses), and XP awarded between sessions for discoveries is to be spent on character advancement (long-term uses).

Ultimately, the idea is to make experience points into tools that the players and the GM can use to shape the story and the characters, not just a bookkeeping hassle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPENDING EXPERIENCE POINTS

Experience points are meant to be used. Hoarding them is not a good idea; if a player accumulates more than 10 XP, the GM can require her to spend some of them. Generally, experience points can be spent in four ways: immediate benefits, short-term benefits, long-term benefits, and character advancement.

IMMEDIATE BENEFITS

The most straightforward way for a player to use XP is to reroll any roll in the game—even one that she didn’t make. This costs 1 XP per reroll, and the player chooses the best result.

She can continue to spend XP on rerolls, but this can quickly become an expensive proposition. It’s a fine way to try to prevent disaster, but it’s not a good idea to use of a lot of XP to reroll a single action over and over.

A player can also spend 1 XP to refuse a GM intrusion.

SHORT- AND MEDIUM-TERM BENEFITS

By spending 2 XP, a character can gain a skill— or, more rarely, an ability—that provides a short-term benefit. Let’s say a character notices that the computer terminals in the facility she’s infiltrating are similar to those used by the company she once worked for. She spends 2 XP and says that she has a great deal of experience

in using these. As a result, she is trained in operating (and breaking into) these computers.

This is just like being trained in computer use or hacking, but it applies only to computers found in that particular location. The skill is extremely useful in the facility, but nowhere else.

Medium-term benefits are usually story based. For example, a character can spend 2 XP while climbing through mountains and say that she has experience with climbing in regions like these, or perhaps she spends the XP after she’s been in the mountains for a while and says that she’s picked up the feel for climbing

there. Either way, from now on, she is trained in climbing in those mountains. This helps her now and any time she returns to the area, but she’s not trained in climbing everywhere.

This method allows a character to get immediate training in a skill for half the normal cost. (Normally, it costs 4 XP to become trained in a skill.) It’s also a way to gain a new skill even if the PC has already gained a new skill as a step toward attaining the next tier.

In rare cases, a GM might allow a character to spend 2 XP to gain an entirely new ability— such as a device, a move, a twist, a revision, or a special mental power—for a short time, usually no longer than the course of one

scenario. The player and the GM should agree on a story-based explanation for the benefit. Perhaps the ability has a specific, rare requirement, such as a tool, a battery, a drug, or some kind of treatment. For example, a

character who wants to explore a submerged location has several biotech enhancements, and he spends 2 XP to cobble together a device that lets him breathe underwater. This gives him the ability for a considerable length of time, but not permanently—the device might work for only eight hours. Again, the story and the logic of the situation dictate the parameters.

LONG-TERM BENEFITS

In many ways, the long-term benefits a PC can gain by spending XP are a means of integrating the mechanics of the game with the story.

Players can codify things that happen to their characters by talking to the GM and spending 3 XP. For example, a spinner named Jessica spends a long time working in a kitchen in a restaurant that she believes is owned by a

man working for agents from Ruk on Earth.

During that time, she becomes familiar with cooking. Jessica’s player talks with the GM and says that she would like to have the spinner’s experiences have a lasting effect on the character. She spends 3 XP and gains familiarity with cooking.

Some things that a PC can acquire as a long-term benefit are story based. In the course of play, the character might gain a friend (a contact) or build a log cabin (a home).

These benefits are probably not the result of spending XP. The new contact comes to the PC and starts the relationship. The new home is granted to him as a reward for service to a powerful or wealthy patron, or maybe the character inherits the home from a relative.

Things that affect character abilities, like a familiarity or an artifact, are different. They likely require XP and time, money, and so on. Long-term benefits can include the following.

Familiarity: The character gains a +1 bonus to rolls involving one kind of task.

Contact: The character gains a long-term NPC contact of importance—someone who will help him with information, equipment, or physical tasks. The player and GM should work out the details of the relationship.

Home: The PC acquires a full-time residence. This can be an apartment in a city, a cabin in the wilderness, a base in an ancient complex, or whatever fits the situation. It should be a secure place where the PC can leave his belongings and sleep soundly. Several characters could combine their XP and buy a home together.

Title or job: The PC is granted a position of importance or authority. It might come with responsibilities, prestige, and rewards, or it might also simply be an honorarium.

Wealth: The PC comes into a considerable amount of wealth, whether it’s a windfall, an inheritance, or a gift. It might be enough to buy a home or a title, but that’s not really the point.

The main benefit is that the PC no longer needs to worry about the cost of simple equipment, lodging, food, and so on. This wealth could mean a set amount—perhaps 50,000 dollars— or it could bestow the ability to ignore minor costs, as decided by the player and GM.

Artifact: The PC creates an artifact that has a power of his choosing. If the item is fairly simple, the GM can skip the crafting details and just say that after a period of time, the PC creates it. For an item that significantly

alters gameplay—granting the character vast telepathic powers or giving him the ability to teleport at will—the GM might require difficult rolls, a considerable amount of time, and rare, hard-to-find components and materials.

CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT

Progressing to the next tier involves four stages. When a PC has spent 4 XP on each of the stages, he advances to the next tier and gains all the type and focus benefits of that tier. The four stages can be purchased in any order, but each can be purchased only once per tier. In other words, a PC must buy all four stages and advance to the next tier before he can buy the same stage again.

Increasing Capabilities: You gain 4 new points to add to your stat Pools. You can allocate the points among your Pools however you wish.

Moving Toward Perfection: You add 1 to your Might Edge, your Speed Edge, or your Intellect Edge (your choice).

Extra Effort: Your Effort score increases by 1.

Skills: You become trained in one skill of your choice, other than attacks or defense. If you choose a skill that you are already trained in, you become specialized in that skill, reducing the difficulty of related tasks by two steps instead of one.

Other Options: Players can also spend 4 XP to purchase other special options. Selecting any of these options counts as purchasing one of the four stages necessary to advance to the next tier. The special options are as follows:

• Reduce the cost for wearing armor. This option lowers the Might cost by 1 and lowers the Speed reduction by 1.

• Add 2 to your recovery rolls.

[SalmonMax]

Hm yes. Not far from a tier increase. Neat!

 

How do artifacts work? I could do 2 advancements and an artifact...hard to judge if the tradeoff of slower advancement is worth that though.

[Nina]

artifacts are in their most basic form like cyphers that are prmanant. if you explore the core rule book you can find examples of artifacts in the sections dealing with the specifics of each recursion. I also hae a book which deals more in depth with artifacts for numenara which can be used as source material con tact me in chat if you need more info.

 

 

as a side note unless it something you really just have to have right now. I would be more inclined to allow you to find an artifact you would wan ti the courses of play than to waste xp on one. and this goes for anyone if there are items, specific cyphers things like artifacts or well just about anything. Let me know in a pm  and I will probably work it into the game.