First, I really love how this thread started. The idea that how a group accomplishes something is partially (to greater/lesser degree) determined by who they are, not by how high they can roll is great. Roleplaying well and expressing it to the NPCs should have as much an impact on the outcome as the dice roll. Putting in combats that anything less than a Tier V table can't win is good, too, so long as we have hints not to engage, or a chance to run away.
I play Arcanis for the stories. And all the above supports that. A lot of the posts resonate with this.
I do think that in every mod the PCs should be the heroes, and be able to accomplish the primary goals. That there can/should be secondary goals that not all groups can accomplish (e.g., no ss'ressen in the party, no member of the Orthodoxy) is fine, but the PCs should walk away feeling like they accomplished something. Sure, there can be doubts (gee, should we have release that valinor?), but that's part of the greyness we love about Arcanis.
But, then I read:
Njal Val'Assante wrote:
So how would you all feel about the following suggestion:
"Standard" XP for modules becomes about half to three fifths (125 to 150XP) what it is now, as a baseline. If you play the adventure "correctly" (that is, you follow the story to its conclusion), you get "full standard XP". Then there are additional things that can give more XP, up to double the "full standard", such as completing SS missions, accomplishing things unrelated to the core story, and generally treating adventures as actual living experiences for your character?
In theory, I like the idea of giving out extra XP and other rewards for specific achievements. E.g., accomplishing a SS mission.
But it's not clear to me what the goal of adding these extras is. What do you hope to accomplish? What behaviors do you want to promote, and which ones do you want to discourage with this change?
As others have already pointed out, better rewards (rather than XP) are cool (but not powerful) items, limited-use favors, stuff with great flavor, things that distinguish your PC from the rest of the pack.
Dropping the average XP awarded per mod to below 250 will be an issue. Taking 5 mods to go up one rank is very slow.
Some of my nagging concerns are:
1. It seems like the intent is that only certain PCs at a table would get the extras, not the entire table. Which may mean:
-- The distribution of these extras may trend towards what mod writers consider "cool" or "unusual" in a PC. Or the reverse, meaning that only PCs that fit the most common models will be able to gain extras. Won't be intentional, but it may result in some PCs never being able to gain any extra because of who they are, while others can do it regularly. I wouldn't want to see this happen.
-- Competition vs teamwork: My interpretation is that the extras will reward PCs that act for themselves, to accomplish goals that are unique to the PC/PC type or to their society, not for the group as a whole. E.g., hogging the role-playing spotlight, stepping over the other players/PCs to accomplish their SS mission, lying/cheating the others to make an event turn out the way they want, to get those extra XP. Shouldn't we be fostering teamwork rather than cutthroat competition?
2. The size of the XP extras worry me. The bigger they are, the more worrisome they are. The tier/rank range of PCs that've played all the same mods will widen. If one PC consistently accumulates the extras, while another one doesn't, the former will quickly surpass the latter. As little as 50 to 100 XP per mod will add up fast. Part of the fun of RPGs is seeing your PC advance. If I see other PCs advancing lots faster than mine when we've played the same mods, that's going to be discouraging.
3. SS-missions. I've got a basic problem with rewarding these too much. I love the idea of the SSs for the purpose of encouraging role-play. But adding rewards changes things. How do all those PCs that don't belong to a SS, but without whom the SS-member couldn't have accomplished the goal, get rewarded? Put another way, what about all those PCs that the SS-member stepped on to accomplish the mission and get those extra XP? If it happens a few too many times, it could sour players on the game.
4. Seems like rewarding "accomplishing things unrelated to the core story" will reward groups that do not play at conventions, but rather that play in a home setting. Why? I expect that accomplishing these extra things will take time and you won't have the time to do so at a con where there's a hard deadline for ending the mod. In a home setting, no one's going to quibble about taking a little longer.
5. I'd like to hear more what's meant by "actual living experiences" for a PC. I don't know what's intended here.
One of things that's great about Arcanis mods is how grey they are. Every decision has two (or more) valid options, and I can often argue either side successfully. But sometimes a PC ends up in a situation where they can't act as they would in real life. For example, the party ends up split about what to do in a tough situation. So, the group votes. It's 4 to 2 to go rescue the damsel in distress, no matter what the Inquisition wants, or something like that
The point is even if my PC disagrees with the decision, she participates in the action. Who really wants the game to end after 1/2 hour? I also don't want to leave my friends in the lurch when they were counting on my PC as the party tank, or whatever. So if there are real-life-level consequences here -- like the PCs who rescue the damsel are now out of play because they're hunted by the Inquisition -- my PC is screwed. In real-life, she would've walked away from the situation. But because this is a game and we're here to have fun, she didn't.
Enough rambling for now …