Gaining Experience

I removed the concept of "experience points" from of my current game. To advance, PCs must go on an adventure, return to town for a full rest, and waste coins proclaiming their deeds. This basically amounts to "xp for gold" without bothering with the mechanics of exchanging one for the other. So far, I like it.

But, at the same time, I have also been theorizing how I might include several similar mechanics that could combine to form some sort of mutated XP system. The mechanics are:

Hero Coins (ICRPG) / Inspiration (5e) / Bennies (Savage Worlds)

A form of currency that players can spend to re-roll dice. Pretty simple. Usually awarded for "good roleplaying," whatever that means.

Experience Points for Failing (Dungeon World)

The concept that you gain experience through your failures, trial and error, etc. Dungeon World grants this XP for any roll that isn't a partial or complete success (6 or less on  2d6 roll). I would either map it to critical failures or rolling 6 or less on any d20 roll (which aligns nicely to my d20 reaction roll results).

GM Intrusions (Cypher System)

A mechanic that gives the referee permission to introduce a complication while awarding the players with additional XP. I have the least experience using this, but I like the Alexandrian's take on how this mechanic can help to embrace the "rulings not rules" style of play.

Adventurers captured in mid-experience (art by Matt Morrow)

Unifying these concepts together yields an XP system that looks something like this:

PCs gain experience points in three ways:

• Show Up: Every PC receives 1 XP to start a session.

• Learn from Your Mistakes: A PC receives 1 XP when they critically fail.

• Take Risks: A PC receives 2 XP when they accept an Intrusion.

Once earned, PCs can spend experience points to:

• Re-roll an ability check or save

• Refuse an Intrusion

• Advance to their Next Level

During character advancement, PCs trade in all of their experience points. They must have experience points equal to at least double their new Level.

That isn't too cumbersome of an addition, at first glance. The caveat that players lose all XP when leveling up no matter how many they have provides incentive to spend some as opposed to hoarding them all for later use.

I might introduce this during my next adventure.