XP

Which is correct? The special move in the character sheets telling me to subtract (level+7) XP from my total, or the description in the Beta Test V2.3 rules telling me to reduce the XP to zero?

The "fairest" way would be the "subtract 7+level" way, because that means any extra XP from that session isn't wasted.  I doubt any player is going to like getting 10xp and losing two of them when they level up to level 2.

On the other hand, "subtract 7+level" seems unnecessarily complex.

Yeah, we just stack XPs and level up when you have enough for that level:

2: 8
3: 17
4: 27
5: 38
6: 50
7: 63
8: 77
9: 92
10: 108

I think they phrased the level up move that way just to have it contained in a paragraph.

Originally it was "erase all your XP" but then I had a player nearly kill me a realized how much that sucked. The idea was to give you more reasons to make camp and find safety ASAP, but 1) it broke up the flow too much and 2) it was too punishing. So now you just "spend" XP equal to your level+7. If somehow you have enough XP to level twice you only get one level per safe camp (which isn't in the rules yet, but probably should be).

Didn't you even say, just once per session?

I don't know that I've said that, but maybe!

XP is totally the most hackable part of the game. If you want 1/session, go for it. Practically, since most XP is in the End of Session move, you're most likely to only level once per session anyway.

Most XP is End of Session move? Wouldn't marking XP on every result of 6- provide a large chunk of that XP? Or are 6- results rarer than I think?

Anecdotaly, End of Session at least feels like more XP. You're likely getting 3-5 XP right there, whereas 5 failed rolls by one player in one night is quite a few. It's possible for sure, but 5 XP for End of Session is pretty common.

Most XP is End of Session move? Wouldn't marking XP on every result of 6- provide a large chunk of that XP? Or are 6- results rarer than I think?

Surprisingly, yes. I've only run the game for one session. No one rolled a miss the entire time, and thus no one got XP for it. All of the session's XP came from the End of Session move.

It makes sense when you look at the numbers too. Rolling a 6- has a ~40% chance on 2d6, but realistically players/characters will be fictionally playing to their strengths and are more likely to have a positive modifier on most rolls, changing how often they'll roll a 6-. Even a +1 to a roll changes the chance of rolling 6- to ~30%, not to mention having higher modifiers.

Interesting.  The one session we ran, 2 out of 3 players got 5 XP based solely on misses.  (Since it was a one-shot, we were playing with 5 XP = level; hence remembering.)

There's nothing wrong with getting more XP during the session or end of session! My opinion reflected my anecdotal experience, not something that needs to happen for the game to work. If you get more XP during the middle of the session, great! As long as you can find a place to make camp (and risk whatever might come across you in the night) you can level up. If you're really worried about that you can use a 1/session cap, but I doubt it'll come into play much unless your sessions are pretty long.

It's worth noting that the system makes it so much more enticing to play to your weaknesses, too, and that makes me happy, both as a player and a DM.