Alternate xp rules (à la Dungeon World)

Here's a set of alternate experience rules I'd like to try out sometime.

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Firstly, everyone marks experience every time they roll the worst result on the dice. That means a 6- on any roll except harm rolls and other custom moves the MC cooks up.

Secondly, at the end of each session, ask yourselves as a group the following three questions:
– Did we learn something new and important about the world?
– Did we resolve a threat to the community?
– Did we create something new in this world?
For every question answered with "yes", everyone marks experience.

Thirdly, everyone has two highlighted stats, just like normal. However, don't mark experience when you roll for them. Instead, after the session ask the group:
– Did I show how cool I can be?
– Did I show how hard I can be?
– Did I show how hot I can be?
– Did I show how sharp I can be?
– Did I show how weird I can be?
That is, ask the two questions corresponding to your highlighted stats. For each question the group answers with a "yes", you mark experience.

Fourthly, you mark experience from resetting Hx and being manipulated and following the advice of someone who's oftener right and stuff like that just as you always did.

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Notes:

For marking on a miss, I guess the MC could judge a custom move they made to not have any result worse than the other, and then you'd get no xp regardless. It'd be a pretty boring move though.

For the questions, I recommend you pick three questions appropriate for your campaign. Here are the ones I can come up with, feel free to add your own.
– Did we learn something new and important about the post-apocalyptic world?
– Did we learn something new and important about the apocalypse?
– Did we meet a notable new NPC?
– Did we resolve a threat to the community?
– Did we create something new in this world?
– Did we make a notable change in any power balance?
– Did we bask in the decadence, filth, or misery of the apocalypse world?
– Did we overcome a notable adversary?
Dungeon World also has "Did we loot a memorable treasure?" but that feels a bit off here.

I would totally be cool if my MC brought this to the table. Especially if the group gets to pick the questions at the end of the session. That way the players all agree on the sorts of things they want to be doing in game. If I want to explore the physchic maelstrom then I simply nominate the question "Did we learn of a new facet to the maelstrom this session?"

I totally dig it, *especially* the variant highlight questions. Will consider this a possible custom move for a future game. Thanks!

I fear this would be to slow

I think it would be slower than a "fast highlight", like hard on a gunlugger in a fighty session or weird on a brainer, but faster than a slow session – in my experience even sessions when I felt like I succeeded in being hot I only rolled the stat once or twice – and I've definitely played sessions where I haven't succeeded, and thus got zero experience whole session. In my system you'd get the same amount of xp regardless of which stats you rolled for, and if you did little or no rolling at all you still have five questions+Hx at the end, a potential whole advance on a jackpot on the questions.

And losing the possibility for 25 experience in a session or whatever that one guy keeps talking about, isn't something I'd mourn, actually.

Am I misreading the rules, or, uh... Don't you mark XP when you roll a highlighted stat? Not just when you make the roll? Under, of course, normal rules.

If anyone tries this proposed variant, I'd be interested in hearing how it went.

You're entirely right. What I meant was that I can go into a session in which I got hot highlighted thinking "I'm going to try being Hot today, and seek out opportunities to roll that hot and get me some xp" and then I can succeed with that goal to a higher or lesser degree. If I get to roll hot thrice and fail all the rolls that's pretty much a success, since I got my xp.

Failing that goal could stem from one of:
– I ended up in situations where I really didn't want to risk going hot (my hot is at -2, I'm a gunlugger, and the session mainly dealt with a very deadly firefight)
– I tried going for hot but for some reason I didn't get to roll (I made a great deal, mutually beneficient, and the MC said "that's not even a roll, they just go with it", another PC broke in and stole my thunder meaning I got to aid their manipulation roll)
– I tried going for a social situation but I wanted to resolve another scene first, and all five players were there so none of us didn't get very much screentime, and someone was late so we didn't get started on time, and in the end I only got to play out the situation I started in, and never got to the part where I wanted to hot

Now to be fair, if all players have a really good handle on where the session's going, especially noticing when the third is going to happen, they won't highlight stats that they don't think will have a chance of being rolled. But we do have a bit of a problem in our group that scenes tend to drag out and we end up not having accomplished much in the session, particularly when the time is split between five players (four would have been more ideal but we all like playing with each other :) )

I wanted to drop in here with an update. I'm currently playing with the following, much simplified, version of this:

Firstly, highlight as normal, but don't take xp when you roll. At the end of the session, ask the group the following the question:
- Did I show you how [stat] I can be? Alternatively, did I show you what happens when I try to be [stat]?
If at least one player answers "yes", take 2 xp.

Secondly, you get xp from playbook moves, seduce or manipulate, Hx resetting and whatever just as normal.


That's it, that's all. Compared to my first post, it seems like a lot less. However, this doesn't feel slow; in particular, no one player is "stuck", making 0-1 xp in the session. Everyone has so far gotten 2-5 xp per session. At the end of third session, everyone had advanced at least once; the fastest player just got their second advance.

I really like it.

It also fits with the new 2nd ed manipulate, 7-9 result: if they don't do it, erase one of their highlights. That's 2 xp at they don't get at the end of the session; possibly 2 xp they already secured by acting hard or whatever earlier in the session. With xp-for-rolling-highlighted, that option loses its teeth near the end of the session.

For in person games (sadly online games it doesn't work so well), i have taken to pooling XP.  when there is enough xp in the pool for everyone to level up, everyone levels up.

How do you balance that with moves that use exp as an incentive for certain actions?

How do you balance that with moves that use exp as an incentive for certain actions?

Those are kind of a big concern with any XP hack. Pooling means those moves contribute to everyone, which could be cool. XP for failure makes those moves very powerful because they're the only XP without negative consequence. The Quarantine and Visionary in particular but anyone regularly using Manipulate can individually supercharge the XP curve.  Pooling means that they now benefit themselves as well as others but others have less incentive to play along. Failed roll XP makes their XP moves even more of an incentive.

How do you balance that with moves that use exp as an incentive for certain actions?

It is still pooled.  For us it works.  The idea is I don't like to penalize folks that spend more time RPing and less time rolling.