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XP Award Guidelines

Experience

There are six possible sources of XP available in ALFA:

Of these six, the first three are directly under the control of DMs, while the sixth is indirectly controllable. Awards of the first two types are made by the use of the ALFA XP Wand, on the basis of real-life hours. This means that it is imperative that DMs record when their sessions start and end. It is also important that PCs not be penalized for acting swiftly and rewarded for acting unreasonably slowly. Ineffective use of time should lead to a proportionate decrease in any award, while effective use of time causing a proportionate increase.

Example: a DM session of three hours includes a thirty-minute period in which nothing is achieved. This is due to a combination of real-life distractions, PCs being AFK, and general incompetence. When it comes to making an award at the end of the session, the DM discounts this half-hour from the total three hours, and makes an award for two-and-a-half hours instead.

It will be seen that the main avenue of DM XP gain is through plot advancement, taking risks, adventuring, and facing and overcoming challenges, while awards for role-playing will make up the rest of the award. The general proportion of quest awards to role-play awards will be around a ratio of 2:1.

DM XP is awarded individually, to each PC, and it is important that differences in the contribution of each PC, and the quality of their role-play are recognized with different awards. Those who contribute to the success of the party should be better rewarded than those who do not contribute or actively hinder (for OOC reasons and/or through OOC methods) the achievement of their goals. Similarly, individual role-play can vary significantly across a party and it is only right and proper that this is recognized when DM RP XP awards are made.

DMs must make awards at the end of each session: it is not appropriate to hold back XP except in extraordinary circumstances where real world or technical problems mean making the award is impossible. Should such occur, the amount to be awarded should be recorded in the relevant DM forum and it should be made to the PC at the earliest opportunity.

Finally, it is important to note that this list of XP sources is exclusive. DMs must not award XP from any other sources or for any other reasons. Indeed, ALFA’s NWN2 engine is configured such as to make other forms of XP award not possible. Attempting to circumvent these provisions will inevitably lead to censure.