Rewards
Expedition XP
An expedition ends when you return to relatively-safe civilization (or in an urban adventure, after you escape pursuit and other immediate repercussions). All XP is tallied for the expedition, then divided among the PCs (1 share each) and NPC companions (1/2 share each). Companions are those who face danger on a roughly equal footing to the PCs. Camp guards, porters, and other hirelings don't get a share. The monetary value of any treasure can be divided as desired, without affecting the XP. Companions generally expect at least a 1/2 share of the monetary rewards as well.
Treasure
Gain 1 XP per 1 GP of treasure retrieved during your expedition. Treasure means loot gained from facing monsters, traps, and other dangers or hardships, including from rewards paid for facing that danger in pursuit of some goal. Some rewards may be inflated with "non-XP-bearing wealth" (such as from haggling up the base price). Mundane arms, armor, and other gear does not count as treasure for XP, but can be sold for money. Ornate gear (jeweled daggers, inlaid armor, etc) does count as treasure. Magic items, if sold promptly rather than used, count toward the XP total. If used and sold later, they grant money but not XP. - Treasure: 1 xp per gp from wealth recovered via adventure (quest rewards, dungeon treasure, heist loot, etc). I'm going to try making knowledge of dungeons a bit more public (somewhat subject to your research successes and sources) so you'll have more of a sense of risk and reward among the places you know of.
Defeating Enemies
Defeated enemies can be slain, captured, or comprehensively driven off. Their XP is added to the expedition pot and divided at the end. Each individual monster defeated grants an XP amount based on its level and presence of special abilities (base XP + XP per significant ability). <1) 5 + 1 1) 10 + 3 1+) 15 + 6 2) 20 + 9 2+) 35 + 12 3) 50 + 15 3+) 65 + 35 4) 80 + 55 4+) 140 + 75 5) 200 + 150 5+) 260 + 200 6) 320 + 250 6+) 380 + 300 7) 440 + 350 7+) 500 + 400 8) 600 + 500 9) 700 + 600 10) 850 + 700 11) 1,000 + 800 12) 1,200 + 900 13) 1,400 + 1,000 14) 1,600 + 1,100 15) 1,800 + 1,200 16) 2,000 + 1,300 17) 2,200 + 1,400 18) 2,400 + 1,500 19) 2,600 + 1,600 20) 2,800 + 1,800 21) 3,000 + 2,000 +250 + 250 per level beyond 21
- Monsters: xp based on monster level for each one slain / permanently defeated, divided among the party.
- Discoveries: treasure-like blocks of xp divided among the party for making big discoveries / solving puzzles / solving mysteries.
Post-Expedition XP
After a significant expedition has returned to relative safety, party-members can perform either or both of these options once.
Carousing
You can "waste" money on a variety of activities, gaining 1 XP per 1 GP spent. The settlement must be large / significant enough to provide the resources for your carousing. You must spend at least (level x 100 gp) carousing for it to be worthy of your stature, and can spend up to (level x 500 gp). Roll 2d6... 6-: Bane: trouble or complications arise from your carousing. You get no XP and the DM rolls an event. If a Bane forces you to spend additional money, and you can't cover it, roll an additional Bane. 7-9: All's Well: you get your XP and everything goes smoothly. On a double 4: you get both a Boon and a Bane instead, but still get your XP. 10+: Boon: you get your XP and the DM rolls a positive event. Forms of Carousing (each has its own possibilities for Boons and Banes, as well as RP) Indulging: you make it rain, enjoying sex, drugs, gambling, feasting, and/or rock-and-roll. Flaunting: you deck yourself out in finery, eat the choicest delicacies, and consume conspicuously. Schmoozing: you rub-elbows with the highest status folk you can access, attending or hosting events. Donation: giving to religion, ideology, affiliation, or charity.
- Carousing: 1 xp per gp spent on carousing after a victorious return to town (min 100 x level, max 500 x level), roll 2d6 for chance of a boon (10+) or bane (6-) event, or one of each (double 4). Lose gp and no xp on a 6- bane.
Funeral Rites
If a party-member or favored companion dies and their body is returned to civilization and laid to rest, add 1 XP per GP spent on the funerary rites, wake, etc, to the expedition's pool of XP to be divided among the survivors, up to the amount they would have earned if they had survived.
More elaborate rites, wakes, monuments, etc can be paid for, treating this as a form of Carousing, using the deceased's level to determine cost and adding +1 to your die roll.
- Funerals: if you bring the body of a fallen PC back and give them a proper burial, pay funerary costs as if the dead PC was carousing (including chance of boon/bane, but no chance of not getting the xp). Split this xp among party participants. If you use the funeral as a forum for individual carousing, roll 3d6 and keep the best 2 for the boon / bane roll. The funeral fills the need for a victory, for both the deceased and the survivors, in case the expedition was otherwise a bust.
"Experiences" - Experiences: xp awards for just seeing / learning / experiencing things (encountering unknown monsters, climbing notable mountains, sticking your noses into dream bubbles, licking the frog-god, rescuing / doing favors for NPCs, etc). If there's no real danger involved, just time, you earn 1% of your current level's base xp (e.g. if you're 4th level, the min xp for 4th level is 8000, so a basic experience is worth 80 xp; each character earns their own award, it's not divided). If there's danger or greater significance, you might earn a multiple (2%, 3%, 5%, etc). Just a trickle to help make poking around off the critical treasure-path feel like less of an opportunity cost.
Faction Defeat XP
- Factions: factions (cults, bandit gangs, noble houses, etc) will have a character level. Winning them as allies or thoroughly trouncing them awards the base xp value of a character of that level, divided among the characters. E.g a 4th level bandit gang would be worth 8000 xp if defeated in detail or you won their full allegiance. Less complete defeats / alliances are worth a smaller portion of the total. You earn monster xp from individual kills as usual, but the faction xp is awarded when they are dispersed as a group or their big scheme is thwarted, which doesn't have to include killing everyone involved. Some factions may have sub-factions for my own ease of book-keeping, so a big cult might be level 8, but the local branch you're fighting is level 4, and can be dealt with independently).
Domain XP
Domain XP Domain XP can be earned each month. Like expedition XP, it is divided among the PCs and companions who overseer the domain. There is a threshold value of GP based on each character's level that is subtracted from the monthly income before the rest is turned into 1 XP per GP. 1st) 25 2nd) 75 3rd) 150 4th) 300 5th) 650 6th) 1,250 7th) 2,500 8th) 5,000 9th) 12,000 10th) 18,000 11th) 40,000 12th) 60,000 13th) 150,000 14th) 425,000
Merchant Venturing Merchant venturing is the transport of goods across perilous lands to sell them at a tidy profit. When you return home, XP equal to (earnings - (level threhsold x venture's length in months)) is divided among the party (min 1 month). Earnings are the gross profit you return with (either in straight treasure, or from sale of goods purchased for the return trip). If you are handling goods on someone else's behalf, your earning are only you own share. XP is only awarded to the actual venturers; an absentee backer may get a cut (or even most of) of the profit, but not the XP.
Domain Prosperity Domains (lands, businesses, tithes, etc) produce earnings each month. Each character involved in overseeing the domain gets a share of these earnings, and gets XP equal to this share - level threshold.
Victory & Plunder XP earned for defeating enemy armies (including in defense of your own domain) and carrying off plunder (including tribute, ransoms, and reparations made by aggressors) TBD... plunder will probably be treated like merchant venturing; each leader's share of the loot (after expenses and shares doled out to followers) - (length of campaign x level threshold). could apply this to campaigns of piracy or banditry as well.
