Even with the carousing table, it's all a bit vague to me. Experience is the one thing about SD that I just can't bring myself to like. I have grown to appreciate the treasure to xp set up in principle, despite the fact that it's very vague overall.
Sometimes I award 2 XP it it feels between Normal and Fabulous
2. Boons, Secrets, and Blessings. This is left very much up to the GM but you can earn XP for essentially gaining information that is either hard to learn or dangerous to learn.
An example from the Luckless is they earned 2 XP for resolving Einar's issue peacefully and laying his and his families bones to rest.
3. Carousing. The more gold you spend the higher the bonus to your d8 roll in the carousing table. The higher your roll the more XP you can get, from 2-6 XP. You also can get boons (allies and treasure) or complications (banned from an Inn and robbed)
They really got the short end of the stick on this downtime session. Luckless is apt, sadly.
So, none of them got more than 5xp from carousing. Where did the other 5+ come from? I still don't fully understand ShadowDark advancement.
But I can see the confusion for sure, I think I'll start adding a footnote when they gain XP.
I think it's a neat thing to let people track but also could be helpful to see how I award it because outside of carousing it can feel a bit vague.
What's normal treasure vs fabulous?
Is this secret worth xp?
Etc
Even with the carousing table, it's all a bit vague to me. Experience is the one thing about SD that I just can't bring myself to like. I have grown to appreciate the treasure to xp set up in principle, despite the fact that it's very vague overall.
Thanks for the response though!
So XP comes from 3 general places.
1. Finding treasure. Whenever the group finds treasure they can earn XP based on how valuable/hard to get it was. The books guidelines are:
Normal (1 XP): Good value, worth protecting, useful.
Fabulous (3 XP): Incredible, prized, well-guarded.
Legendary (10 XP): Mythic, unique, quest-worthy
Sometimes I award 2 XP it it feels between Normal and Fabulous
2. Boons, Secrets, and Blessings. This is left very much up to the GM but you can earn XP for essentially gaining information that is either hard to learn or dangerous to learn.
An example from the Luckless is they earned 2 XP for resolving Einar's issue peacefully and laying his and his families bones to rest.
3. Carousing. The more gold you spend the higher the bonus to your d8 roll in the carousing table. The higher your roll the more XP you can get, from 2-6 XP. You also can get boons (allies and treasure) or complications (banned from an Inn and robbed)
I have been very keen to see how to use Carousing mechanics from ShadowDark. Thank you for such a clear example.
Absolutely! Glad it was helpful. I really like the carousing table as a start for inspiration.