Experience and Development

This a version of the experience rules for IDEAS(c). Read through this to find out how you are awarded experience, how you can spend it and how your character can develop.

Awarding Experience:

"Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want"

Your character is awarded experience at the end of each session depending on their performance in game. The award is broken up as follows:

Objectives OBJ (on 80): How well did the character complete their objectives during the session? As a character's personal objectives can vary a great deal upon the adventure, this is a highly subjective score. Peopel who were "frontrunners" -- the people who were pushing for the plot's completion -- will receive higher scores and the "lollygaggers" -- those who obstructed or distracted the plot, will receive less. Any character who attended the game and was reasonably involved will receive a decent score.

Update! "What do you do?" WDYD (on 80): For IRC RPG only, this score rates how involved a player was in the internet game. The code-word WDYD is used by the DMJ to signal when he needs action from the players. The WDYD score rates how much the game was held up waiting for responses to WDYD signals. Players who responded quickly will receive 80, players who slowed up the game and the other players will receive less.

Role-Playing RP (on 100): How well did you role-play your character? Role-playing is the crux of the experience award and a very tricky award. Part of it is how well you played your character, but also, how much of an addition your character was to the story -- did they add to the plot, were they entertaining, were they dramatic? Did they bring the game tone up or did they bring it down? Role-playing your character well inside a story is not like acting, which many people mistake. It is also a measure of input given by players to a story.
Ideas ID (on 20): Did your character have any ideas during the game? A character receives 5 if they had some ideas, 10 if they had some great ideas, and 20 if they had great ideas that really helped the plot along.

In addition, a DMJ can award to any player in-game a number of bonus experience points, usually around 10 xp. These are given out when the player does something truly remarkable or impressive, says or does something that just makes the game 10x better, or otherwise makes a special contribution to the game. This can be an act of courage, a tremendous idea, a bit of sparkling role-play, or just something very entertaining. This award is granted immediately to help the player and DMJ better learn each other's playing styles.

Special Note: Sometimes, there can be a conflict between Objectives and Role-Playing. A good role-player will sometimes find it hard to be involved in a particular story because "it isn't something their character would do." The options here are: a) To play the character properly, and stop the story, in which case you gain RP and lose OBJ; b) To play the story and sacrifice the character, losing RP and gaining OBJ; c) to figure a way they do fit the story, or d) play out the characters conflict within the story, which can both yield full scores.

Keeping track of your current amount of Experience is your responsability as a player.

Spending Experience:

Development:

As a general rule, for every 25 xp the player spends, the character gains 1 cp. These cp can be spent in any way they could be at development time, with the restriction that any improvement must make sense within the character:

Improving powers: An unmodified power costs 1 cp per level, but most powers have modifiers that alter their cost (e.g., Extra Range 150%). A good way to know the cost of any of the powers on your PC sheet is to compare the costs column with the level column. If your character has a power of 50 levels and it costs 25 cp, then the cost is 1/2 the level.
Improving skills: A normal skill costs 1 cp per 5 levels up to the Base for that skill (a base is the score the skill depends on, like Agility for Swimming), and then 1 cp per level as normal. It is very easy to improve skills up to their base, then the progress slows.
Scores: Basic scores cost 3 cp per 2 levels increase. The easiest way to do this over time is to cost 1cp when the score is odd, and 2cp when the score is even.
New powers or skills - consult your DMJ for costs.

Either the developments should be logical from game-events (such as the development of more Unarmed Combat from training sessions), or a development the DMJ agrees to.

Powerups:

I couldnt' think of a better word for the non-development uses of xps so I used this video game term.

Heroic Efforts: The most standard other use of xps for the experienced IDEAS gamer is the "Heroic Effort", this is where the character gives back some experience in return for being given a better chance to make an important move, as 10xp for +1DG of result. The condition of a heroic effort is that the player must make a role-play before they can spend xps. As xps are dear, these as generally reserved for only the most dire emergency, to mimick the way in dramatic stories the hero can do the impossible when pressed enough. Note that this mechanism allows a character to exceed his or her limits in very dramatic moments.

A further stretch of these rules allows "heroic efforts" to compensate for any cp cost and in previous IDEAS games, has been used in place of scores the character doesn't have, or modifiers on powers the character does not have. For example, Bancroft wishes to implant a permanent command in someone's mind, for which he normally needs the indep modifier. To have his Mind Control power be indep would cost 150%, so he must pay 1/2 the cost of the power to simulate that modifier for his heroic effort (and make his role-play as above..)

Note: Like Awards, above, this is another communication mechanism, allowing the DMJ to know what's important to the player.

Prop Calls: In traditional RPG, unless a player specifies everything they are carrying on their person they're screwed. This is a bit anal and has largely been discarded in modern RPG. The DMJ usually allows the player to have any reasonable items on their person. In some rare cases, though, where a PC wants to have something very fortuitous and useful, a DMJ may veto it on the grounds they didn't say they were carrying it. In this case, in IDEAS, a player may ask for a Prop Call, where they spend xp and receive the item they wanted. The cost is usually 25xp, but if the item is very useful the DMJ can say the price will be higher, though usually highly useful items are simply veto'ed. An example would be "oh look, I've got a lighter" when they fall in a dark caller, and doesn't usually extend to anything actually significant, like a phone or weapon.
Plot Calls: Expanding on the Prop Call, this rule encourages players to increase the flow of game and their own input into the story by making subtle alterations to minor plot events in their favor. It has similar costs, but is far more experimental. An example would be that a PC at a crime scene would say, "Hey.. that cop there.. he stopped me last week for speeding.." The use of this rule encourages more open game-play and can draw the style away from the dry DMJ narrative.
Powers: Some rare powers cost xps to use.