Spoils and Fame as Level Advancement

Say you want to run a game based on a Warrior Ethos - Epic and Heroic in the literary sense. Think Homer, Beowulf, the Viking Sagas. Whether your game is set in Antiquity, a pre-Medieval age, a different planet or a pocket dimension, you're going for a certain genre here. A genre where a Hero and his Warband trudge the land looking for a Fame that will outlast their deaths. Tying level advancement to the genre/setting will help your table hit more of the right notes.


An Epic's version of an adventuring party, or an RPG version of an Epic, breaks down like this:

1. A Hero and his Warband share the spoils in return for shared loyalty on the battlefield. The spoils are the worldly manifestation of lasting Fame/Glory/Renown. (If this agreement breaks down, Achilles sulks in his tent, good luck getting any war done, thank you very much.)

2. The Warriors' Fame will outlive them, if their praise is sung and their spoils are well known. (Extra points if the spoils are passed down within the family, who will then do their part to ensure that the Fame stays alive.) Fame = Spoils (treasure) and Songs.

3. The greater the Fame, the longer the Warrior's Name will outlive him, but also, the greater the Warrior's potential for even more Fame before death. Fame = Heroic potential = Level Advancement.

Now to the bronze nuts and bolts. Here's how you tie this into your favorite system.

1- The XP requirements for the Player Characters can be kept the same, or optionally averaged among the party. XP gained is always shared equally among the party long as they adventure together - and it is in their interest to do so.

2- Treasure is XP (as in LotFP etcetera). Rewards count if they come from a patron who has Fame of their own among their party's society (Levels/HD) equaling or surpassing that of the party. Of course, these rewards usually come at a price paid in loyalty.

3- Items gained through defeating an enemy with Fame of their own always count for XP purposes, even if they have no other practical purpose or cannot be sold. Always assign "monetary" value to these items for XP purposes. Remember, there ain't no capitalism in this kind of world - battle treasures matter because of what they represent. Characters don't necessarily trade in their golden arm rings or their dragon gold for a meal; they are given a meal because the spoils make them heroes.

4- The more renowned an enemy, the more valuable it is to defeat him. Assign some multiplier to the spoils. A renowned enemy must have a name. A simple example: The party (level 1) is facing 6 HD Grendel-like Cadmun, who guards a hoard worth 1000sp in real or symbolic value. Cadmun's shield-breaking exploits are well known and feared, so the hoard's XP value is bumped up to 5000 ((6-1) x 1000). Or some other strange algebra - you're the GM. The important thing is the enemy's Fame in relation to the party's, for the same reason why Achilles killing Hector is more momentous than Hector killing Patroclus.

5- Songs are XP: If the party takes efforts to make their Fame spread, this is worth more XP. Every time the party has personally delivered the news of their exploits to somebody new and relevant ( = of Fame equal or higher to the party's), they gain anew a fraction of the XP from their exploits. Example: Beregond the Broad Shouldered and his battle-brothers (highest level = 3) reach King Dugild of the Bedes (level 5). Their best-singing Warrior delivers a harrowing tale of defeating the screeching, wild Cadmun. 5-3 = 2, so the party gains .2 (20%) of the XP they gained from Cadmun's hoard just by teling the tale. You can tie this to Charisma in some way if you want to further complicate the party's bookkeeping; again, you're the GM.

Are we coming dangerously close to killing = XP?

Homer never wrote a hymn about the tenth centaur Odysseus slew. The party cannot find a continent of gold-hoarding creatures and stay for a year amassing XP. After the first time you did Something That Kind of Heroic, that treasure is only worth treasure. Then again, what am I thinking? A GM of your caliber wouldn't put that in front of the players - what is this, World of Warcraft? (File under yet another reason against having a bestiary...)

Plus, "defeating" a creature can be done through ways other than killing it, and again, you do not need to defeat an enemy to squirrel its treasure away. There are plenty of Epics about tricksters and trickstery acts.

If your system has no XP

If your game uses some other gimmick, like milestones, pips, crystal-children heads, what have you, no worries. You can get a similar result by observing the same basic principle behind an XP table: A Hero becomes more Heroic by doing increasingly difficult feats. So, you can reach level 2 by doing two Heroic Things gaining you two Heroic Treasures; level 3 by doing three Heroic Things, and so on (think Hercules' Labors). Likewise, opportunities for Greater Glory may only come about if you sing of your exploits. Again, if you want harder math, be my guest.

Using this to play a Saga

Fame will ensure the childless don't fade (hello again Achilles), but you could also play out a campaign where your table plays characters of the same family throughout generations. Unless your table is into starting from scratch every time, you could make every successive generation start at a fraction of the level of the previous generation. Now go cannibalize someone else's ideas.