Experience

Building a Better you…

The primary means of character progression in House Games is our unique system of Powers, but we haven't forgotten about the fundamentals either. If you want to improve your character's basic skill level or capacity to perform actions, you'll need to use Experience points to do so.

Earning Experience

A Contractor who accepts an offer to participate in a Game is Imbued by the sponsoring Harbinger. Imbuing alters how a person learns; they learn faster than normal from Games, but lose the capacity to learn from anything other than a Game. Contractors who retire lose their Imbuing and begin learning at a normal pace. A character who loses his Imbuing, for whatever reason, is no longer a Contractors and can never become a Contractor again through any means – even through the efforts of Harbingers.

Primary Methods

At the end of each game, characters receive an amount of experience based on the events of the game.

  • 2xp Accepting the challenge of participating in a house game
  • 2xp Succeeding in your given objectives. The GM may require completion of all objectives, or they may award the usual Gift for victory but gate this 2xp behind secondary objectives.
  • 2xp MVP. The GM may award 2 additional experience points to one character per game solely at their discretion. This can be awarded based on any criteria (most useful character, best last action line, best costume, etc.) but it's good practice for the GM to announce what criteria they will use at the start of the game.

So in general, you can expect to earn four experience a night, with less if you lose and more if your character stands out as a crucial performer. You may also earn experience points to spend on one of your characters by doing the following:

  • 2xp Act as Game Master for a game where at least one character dies and one wins. Note that you are to remain an impartial referee. Do not alter the course of your game purposefully to achieve this. This is added to the Improvement point you get for GMing a game for a total of 6 xp.
  • 3xp Playing a ringer character that fulfills their major purpose. (THIS AMOUNT IS LIKELY TO CHANGE)

Bonus Experience

Outside of playing in or acting as Game Master for a House Game, there are a few "Extra Credit" activities which you can do in order to gain bonus experience. At this point that includes the following:

Character Development Extra Credit

  • Journal Entry: If you post a Journal Entry at least half a page in length recording your character's perspective of a Game, your character may be awarded an additional 2 XP. This must be done within one week from the date of the game. Every five journal entries, you recieve one gift to put toward improving a power you already have.
  • Side Game Report: If you post a Side Game Report at least half a page in length recording your character's perspective of a Side Game, your character may be awarded an additional 1 XP. This must be done within one week from the date of the game.
  • Downtime Journal: If you post an Interlude at least half a page in length describing your character's activities between Games, your character may be awarded an additional 1 XP. This must be done within one week of the Game.
  • Questionnaire: Characters receive 2, 4, or 8 experience per section of the Questionnaire submitted, depending on how many games the character has been in.
  • Soundtrack: You can receive extra XP by providing a ten-song "Soundtrack" that represents the character in question. Songs may be symbolic, what your character might like, or similar. To qualify for the bonus, you need to post a link to the song and provide a brief description relating its significance as applied to the character. A Soundtrack is worth 2xp for novices, 4xp for seasoned characters, or 8 xp for vets.

Content Building Extra Credit

GMs are eligible to earn 2 to 4xp per full House Game scenario submitted. Games must be approved, and must be submitted as open source. Unlike Journals, these points may be received retroactively, as this encourages people to write up their Games. To receive experience for submitting a Game:

  • It must be approved by an Admin.
  • Only original scenarios can receive full xp. Modifying an existing roleplaying scenario to House Games or ripping off a TV show is worth only 2xp.
  • It must be in a readable format (Google Docs is ideal but Open Office is fine as well).
  • It must be submitted to other active cells, if applicable. (Admins will handle this for you.)
  • Optional Rule by Region: You must submit your last Game before running another one.

Spending Experience

The cost to increase a Trait by one is as follows.

  • Attributes: Current Rating x4
  • Abilities: 3 for the first rank [MAY CHANGE], then Current Rating x2
  • Willpower: 4 XP per additional level to a maximum of 10
  • Merits: Rating x3 to acquire; requires GM approval and possible side-game [MAY CHANGE]
  • Flaws: Buying off Flaws costs Rating x3; requires GM approval and possible side-game [MAY CHANGE]

Trait Maximums

Any Trait may be raised to a maximum of 5, except Willpower which may be raised to 10. There may be Powers that alter these maximums; if you receive such a Power, you will be informed and the change will be specifically delineated. Do not assume anything applies unless you have a written copy of changes made. That is the method we use to keep track of the revolving cast of characters.

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