Foolishness Check

While running a "summer slasher flick" one-off adventure for d20 Modern, I wanted to make sure that the characters still acted like the idiots we normally see in horror films--particularly since all my players were horror fans, and certainly knew better.  Below is the mechanic I settled on.  It added a sense of plausibility to the genre, and the players loved it.

Since the trope ultimately has its origins in gothic literature, the Foolishness Check would also be appropriate in a gothic fantasy setting/story.  It may now, however, be used as frequently as in a modern horror game with victim-style characters.  Since that slasher game, I have kept the mechanic in my back pocket to use whenever I feel the need.

Eliminating XP

"How many experience points for that encounter?"  

"How much experience do I get for this treasure?"  

"If I seduce the bartender, will that be enough to level up?'  

In my game-mastering experience, some players are so focused on the immediate reward of points that it drives a rift between them and those players who want to enjoy the game.  Over time, juggling exact numbers just proves to be tedious--particularly when a 9th level character is 12-points shy of her next level.  Yeah "just fudge it" could solve that situation--but how can you make sure you have been fudging fairly for everyone?

I like the idea of eliminating experience points all together, shifting "leveling up" to something session- and story-based.  In this post, I will be exploring and expanding on an idea presented almost as a footnote in the 5th edition Dungeon Master's Guide:

... Advance characters based on how many sessions they play, or when they accomplish significant story goals in the campaign.  In either case, you tell the players when their characters gain a level. ...

A good rate of session-based advancement is to have characters reach 2nd level after the first session of play, 3rd level after another session, and 4th level after two more sessions. Then spend two or three sessions for each subsequent level.  This rate mirrors the standard rate of advancement, assuming sessions are about four hours long.