Simple, yes! That's exactly it. I wanted keep in line with OSR and Shadowdark design, which is simple and straightforward. No cluttery byzantine rules, let's get right to the point.
Arbitrary? No, at least that's not the intent. I had a couple of design ideas in mind with these rules.
Add flavor to Shadowdark by rewarding monster kills but not to distract too much from the core idea of Loot XP. So you get some, but not more XP than the Loot will get you.
Don't encourage players to become Murder Hobos, so you don't get XP for killing monsters that are weaker than your PC.
Avoid book keeping. When you reward XP at the end of a 5e game, it's like going over the restaurant bill to add everything up right -- "OK, who killed the Kobolds? And was it really 11? OK, carry the one from Column A to Column B...divide by Party size,...do I want to multiply by CR for extra XP?" Give out simple points with simple math.
Add in some old fashioned party contention with a Keep What Ya Kill rule. That's the only arbitrary rule you can easily do away with, but it is designed to add party tension. In the ODD and early RPG days, even our long-time group of gamer friends could compete for XP and treasure. I forget which game, but there was an Old School RPG that rewarded XP only for personal kills and personal treasure. Boy did that make for some interesting games!
Thanks again for reading it over, I hope this helps explain why the rules are the way they are.
I agree with your points about encouraging competition but not murder hoboing.
I worry that only giving XP to the PC who gets the killing blow could lead to a large variance in player levels. Also, wouldn't adding this to loot XP level the players too fast? Have you played with these rules yet?
I am readying to move my group to Shadowdark, but admittedly I have not DMed the game proper yet.
Hi, yes, these rules have been used with my group - so I guess they are playtested. I agree that the killing blow for XP is arbitrary, but that was by design to add additional tension. You can easily not use that rule and divide up XP otherwise - remember that they don't get XP for weaker monsters, so even of they kill a horde of 0 level Kobolds it doesn't count. I'm also not worried about power creep like in 5e since Shadowdark has a different level progression and HP system -- basically its fatal enough combat that I don't worry about power creep as a GM.
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It feels a bit too simple and arbitrary to me. (Edited to remove a hasty conclusion on my part.)
Simple, yes! That's exactly it. I wanted keep in line with OSR and Shadowdark design, which is simple and straightforward. No cluttery byzantine rules, let's get right to the point.
Arbitrary? No, at least that's not the intent. I had a couple of design ideas in mind with these rules.
Thanks again for reading it over, I hope this helps explain why the rules are the way they are.
I agree with your points about encouraging competition but not murder hoboing.
I worry that only giving XP to the PC who gets the killing blow could lead to a large variance in player levels. Also, wouldn't adding this to loot XP level the players too fast? Have you played with these rules yet?
I am readying to move my group to Shadowdark, but admittedly I have not DMed the game proper yet.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply!
Hi, yes, these rules have been used with my group - so I guess they are playtested. I agree that the killing blow for XP is arbitrary, but that was by design to add additional tension. You can easily not use that rule and divide up XP otherwise - remember that they don't get XP for weaker monsters, so even of they kill a horde of 0 level Kobolds it doesn't count. I'm also not worried about power creep like in 5e since Shadowdark has a different level progression and HP system -- basically its fatal enough combat that I don't worry about power creep as a GM.
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