Been a while. RPG Advancement & Experience Thoughts

Since the death of Google+ has essentially rendered my blog inert,I haven't rambled here in a while. So I'mma do that now.

Let's talk about advancement.

I recently finished playing in a phenomenal Invisible Sun game (shout out to Ms. Watson for doing a phenomenal job all around). At the game's conclusion, some of us were discussing different things we did and did not like about the system.
One player adored the milestone-based XP and advancement, whereas I really bounced off of it. Interestingly enough, we both cited the same specific and general reasons.
In my experience, having XP tied to character arcs felt limiting, like I couldn't do what I wanted to, because I'd only get XP for what I said my character would be doing two weeks, or more likely a month ago. If something came up in the game, I felt like I was punished for being in the moment, instead of saying "everybody stop and do what I want."
Interestingly enough, my fellow player listed it as their favorite xp experience ever. Which surprised me, given how much stress it looked (to me) like it was causing them. But I read that completely incorrectly, it seems. Either way, modifications were made to the advancement system to accommodate many players having issue with it.

Reality vs. Expectations

Upon reflection, it's worth noting that I was rarely hurting for "xp" in the system. Despite my feelings of being "punished," I probably accumulated more XP over the course of the game than any other single player, and I had plenty sitting around unspent for long stretches.

So why the disconnect? How could I be objectively benefiting from the system, while simultaneously feeling like I was being punished by it?

Couple answers. One of which is that I didn't necessarily connect with the descriptions of what did and did not count as a milestone. My GM interpreted things much more generously than I did (which is my paradigm in running games as well), but it didn't always feel like I was doing it "right," I guess. Is this just me being old-fashioned? I don't think so. I was super hyped for this part of the system: I wanted it to be really good. I expected to love it. Instead, I was frustrated at every turn.

Is this an indictment of the system? Did I engage with it in some weird fashion?

Who knows. As with most things, engaging with this is probably different for someone who doesn't have to deal with clinical anxiety. I tend to view such mechanical incentives through a lens of minimizing unwanted anxiety and stress, rather than maximizing positive experience. I never truly know if I'm overestimating the negative effects of such stressors on other participants, even if I go to pains to find out.

What I do know, is that it's a great opportunity to talk about achievements in games both digital and analog. So I'mma do that. :D

Achievement Unlocked

Anyone who's played a modern video game is familiar with the concept, but to break it down for our purposes, a capitol a Achievement commemorates you doing a particular thing. Maybe it's for romancing 30 kobolds, or baking 3 perfect cakes in a row. Maybe it's for progressing through the story, or finally beating a given boss.

You do the specific thing. That gets noted.

And usually, that's it. Hooray, good for you, have a sticker. TBH, that's never done much for me on itself. It can be nice, I guess, but I'm not an achievement hunter, never have been. It's fine if you are, but I am not.

Which is not to say that the concept has never worked for me. Far from it.

Unlocking Achievements

Let's use the Mass Effect video games as an example. This might not be exact -- it's been a hot minute -- but there were two main methods of achievements in-game. Now I don't mean the metagame stuff -- Playstation trophies, Steam achievements, or whatnot -- I mean in-game. In ME2, you could achieve little milestones like "defeat 50 enemies with tech abilities" or "kill 100 [badguytype]." And upon doing so, you got a nice little bonus, like +x to tech damage, or increased critical chance against [badguytype].

Am I misremembering the specifics? Almost certainly. But the point is, these gave me in-game candy for doing a thing, and I loved it to death.

Companion Quests are also an achievement of a sort, and more in line with tabletop RPG achievement norms. Your squadmate has a personal thing, doing their quest is how you unlock their ultimate combat skills, as well as getting their own business wrapped up.

I loved this. I loved every part of this. Especially since it wasn't the only means of advancement. I didn't feel like I was "wasting my time" if I did something else, it just made these actions feel significant, and tied to my character's growth.

Is there a point?

Probably! Almost certainly.

Can we get to it, then?

Ugh, fine.

I'm interested in seeing achievement-based advancement in analog RPGs, but maybe not as the sole means of character progression. Rather, I'd like to see peripheral -- but desirable -- elements tied to this. Invisible Sun missed a huge opportunity, with its different advancement currencies, and myriad of "I spend a resource to get new stuff on my sheet" options. Instead of like, abilities, feats, stunts or whatever, we had Order Ranks, Forte Abilities, and Secrets on top of advancing skills and the attribute pools.

So what if Secrets (basically cool tricks like D&D Feats) were tied to different milestones? Want the Lethal Lore secret (+3 damage on your attacks?) You could do "defeat X enemies," but that's a digital conceit. Instead, what if we tied it to something like completing your vengeance plot arc? Or successfully defending a group of characters from a threat? Any of the normal character arc stuff in the game. Even outside of a game with these kinds of options, there's room to explore. And I rather want to.

Anti-Achievements, or Flaws

I'm also inspired by the Outer Worlds' flaw system: you don't pick them at character creation, you are offered them during play. I fell from a lot of high places, and was offered an acrophobia flaw. That made sense. (I hit the wrong button to accept, but that's neither here nor there.) This thing has happened to the character: would you like mechanical reinforcement, and a goodie as well? It gives an interesting character beat, as well as some systemic reinforcement.

What makes this work for me

Whether it's tracking xp for killing each monster, using character arcs, or specific times you succeed (or fail) at a particular task, character advancement is a powerful incentive to what you want your game to be about. My favorite method (session's over, everybody gets X experience points) is essentially punting the issue downfield. It avoids the pitfalls of incentive-based xp, but, you know... does little to offer incentives.
On the flip side, achievement-only advancement feels punitive to me. Just like not killing monsters in traditional D&D can actively harm your character growth, if you're doing anything besides chasing these specific milestones, it can feel like you're sabotaging yourself. This disincentives anything besides these arcs.
Maybe that leads to a tight, focused game experience. Or maybe it leads to a choice between what the player wants to do, what the character would do, and what the system says they should do. And that's a design challenge I'm always interested in overcoming.
So is this a long-winded way of saying "RPGs could benefit from being more like these video games I like?" Yes. Welcome to the blog. :D But providing a steady stream of advancement opportunity in concert with incentivizing specific elements is a tantalizing proposal in my eyes. I think I'll try it for the next game that I run.
What are your thoughts? Is my own mental health stuff clouding my objectivity here? How do you interact with these elements: any horror stories or tales of glory you'd like to share? Any suggestions as to how to implement these things?

Not to sound like your favorite YouTubers, but let me know in the comments!

--Stay rad, my friends

~Killstring