Experience System

The XP system

Experience (XP) is the growth a character gains from going through all kinds of things. A character with extraordinary experiences ordinary people don't have naturally has more seasoning, experience, and knowledge than most. XP can raise a character's Skills and gain them more techniques (Feats), and hard training can also strengthen their body and mind. On top of that, some upgrades given by the Overseer also take extra experience to understand and practice before they are truly mastered.

Any ability that reduces XP costs can only be used when the ability it applies to is learned with XP.

Examples: Feats, self-taught Skills, and so on.

In the Infinite Horror TRPG, the XP each player gets depends on how well they do. In general, the ST should note the XP each person earns after each session, based on how they did that time; and after each Film, award more XP based on how each person did over the whole Film. In most cases, the ST can hand out all this XP at once at the end of a Film. If a player's character gets a fairly long time to rest and train during a Film (or a chapter outside a Film), the ST can also hand out the XP already earned early, so the player can raise the Skills they need to train.

In general, XP is used for:

Buying Attributes. Raising an Attribute by 1 costs (current Attribute) x 2 XP.

Buying Skills. Raising a Skill by 1 costs (current Skill rating - 1) x 2 XP. Raising one from 0 to 1 costs 3 XP.

Buying Specialties. Each Specialty costs 1 XP.

Buying Feats. A Feat costs the level bought x 3 XP. Feats with several levels must be bought one level at a time, in order. A Team Feat costs its level x 6 XP.

Buying or improving certain special abilities, as each ability describes.

Teaching yourself Skills. See the "Self-Taught Abilities" rules.

For Newcomer STs who have no experience and don't know how to hand out XP, here are two ways to do it, as examples only:

The first: fixed awards, which are basically the same every session.

Each Film (or each chapter), every surviving PC gets a certain amount of XP, made up as follows:

They get X points of base XP (usually 10; a fixed amount may give long campaigns less and short ones more), plus some points for each of the PC's great moments, and finally some wrap-up points (given only once):

The PC took part in every session and took basic actions: 1 point.

The PC was roleplayed well and true to their personality: 1 to 3 points, depending on how well.

The PC had standout roleplaying and character development throughout the Film that was believable and consistent: 3 to 10 points, depending on how good it was.

The PC escaped near-certain death, or solved a seemingly impossible problem: 1 to 3 points.

The PC stuck to behavior true to their personality from start to finish, and didn't give up even when it brought them serious blows, setbacks, and hardship: 2 to 6 points, depending on the resistance and losses they faced.

The PC did something especially heroic: 1 point.

The PC learned something. Depending on the situation, a related Skill can rise by 1. In general, it only rises when what they learned is clearly beyond their previous level.

For example, a character who had never touched a car learns to drive during the Film and drives on the highway, so their Drive (Cars) can rise from 0 to 1.

The PC defeated very powerful, pivotal enemies: 1 to 3 points, depending on how many and how strong.

For example, the Alien Queen in Aliens, or the Dark Lord Darth Vader in Star Wars.

If you use the Virtue/Vice system, give 3 points for each time a Virtue was triggered in the Film, and 1 point for each time a Vice was triggered. If you use the Character Trait system, give the matching performance points for each Character Trait triggered.

The second: dynamic awards, which depend on how generous the ST is.

XP is split into 5 parts. Add up the 5 parts based on the PC's performance; the total is the PC's XP.

Part 1: base value. The base value depends on how many PCs are in the session: for each PC above 5, everyone gets 1 point of base value. For example, with 6 PCs, each PC gets 1 point of base XP.

Part 2: reward XP. Reward XP totals all the points and Rank all PCs earned this session: 1 XP for each D, and 1 XP for each 500 points. Then divide that by the number of PCs in the session, rounding up, and each PC gets that much reward XP.

Part 3: attendance. Attendance means the PC took part in every session and took basic actions; the player gets 1 to 2 XP for each session they attend. (In general, a session shouldn't have more than 5 fights.)

Part 4: performance awards. Performance awards are extra rewards the ST gives based on how players did in the campaign, covering combat power, standout RP, story moments, and so on. To make it feel like recognition, it is usually based on the number of surviving PCs - 1. For example, with 4 PCs, the best gets 3 points, an average one 2 points, a weaker one 1 point, and the weakest none. With 6 PCs, first place gets 5 points.

Part 5: adjustments. Adjustments are a special part: the ST fine-tunes based on the points the PCs earned this session, and it can be positive or negative. Example: for each PC who died, every surviving PC gets 1 point. Example: if a planned side plot is lost or an important NPC dies, every PC loses 1 point.