I have received some ... dissenting opinions in response to my post "
Eliminating XP." The general theme of these responses is that XP are a good way to reward characters not only for the typical reasons, but also for ingenuity and playing in-character. I attempted to advance the idea that these could be rewarded using game mechanics other than XP. However, my initial post doesn't really go into this--it glosses over it with links to another post wherein Hero Points are discussed in an epilogue. I have since made an effort to gain some experience with this type of play, and will share with your my experience and insight.
As most of you should be aware, I have been running
a Pathfinder campaign since
last fall. In this campaign, I have chosen to
avoid experience points. My regular players include two D&D veterans, two players with only a couple of years experience, and two brand new initiates into RPGs. When I informed them that I would be awarding experience levels based on attendance and participation instead of combat, no one complained. When I told them they would receive Hero Points as rewards for special actions, they didn't really know what I was talking about.
