Awarding Bonus Character Points in Dungeon Fantasy RPG

Now that the first session of DF Whiterock is done, I need to figure out how to give out bonus character points.  (Of course I thought about it before starting the campaign -- but eventually you have to make a choice and stick with it.)  I have noted before that this is designed to be a zero-to-hero game, starting at only 150 points instead of the usual 250 for Dungeon Fantasy, but with advancement also expected to be faster.  So, whichever system I come up with, it should be pretty generous.

The DFRPG default rules for giving out character points are on Exploits page 92.  There is a detailed list of session awards based on winning battles, overcoming various non-combat challenges, and finishing an adventure.  (The GM has to decide what counts as an adventure, though.  If the game hops from small dungeon to small dungeon, maybe each dungeon.  For a multi-level megadungeon, maybe each dungeon level.  For a quest-based game, maybe each quest finished or story arc.)

The other obvious place to look is GURPS Basic 4th Edition Campaigns, page 498, which says the GM can give out any number (which doesn't need stating because of Rule Zero: the GM can always do whatever) but recommends 0-5 points (most commonly 2-3) per session, based more on roleplaying than mission success, plus possibly bonus points roughly equal to about that given in a session upon concluding a major thing.  Not a whole lot of detail, but the basic ideas are solid: give some every session, maybe give more when the PCs complete a major thing, and vary the points based on how well they play.

Another good set of rules are the ones for Felltower, which are about loot, exploration, roleplaying, awesome bonus, and most valuable PC.

Finally, there's what I did last time I ran Whiterock (for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy rather than DFRPG, but they're almost the same game): pull a number out of the air every session.  Pull a larger number out of the air in sessions where the PCs complete a major goal.

So, the first question is, do the players know the precise rules for earning character points and have something concrete to aim for, or does the GM keep them secret?  ("Secret" could mean well-defined rules that the GM just doesn't share with the players, or it could mean the GM makes up the rules on the fly.)  Both the DFRPG rules and Felltower rules are player-facing, but there's still a great deal of leeway for the GM.  (What counts as a boss monster vs. a worthy monster?  Which areas are secret bonus zones?)  So the difference between these two may not be as large in practice as it looks in theory.

Another question is whether all PCs who participate get the same number of points, or some get more than others.  The GURPS 4E system that gives points mostly based on roleplaying is naturally going to reward the better or more careful roleplayers more.  The Felltower system explicitly has one MVP per session, who gets a bonus point, so if the same character is MVP a lot, they might start to pull away.  The DFRPG system feels more party-oriented, so all members of the party who show up probably progress at the same rate.

If there are NPCs in the party, do NPCs advance or not?  And how fast?  GURPS (but not DFRPG) has rules for Allies, who are purchased based on a percentage of the allied PC's points, and advance proportionally to their PC.  For other NPCs, it's not clear.  Last time I ran a game featuring non-purchased NPC allies, I arbitrarily gave them half as many points as the PCs, rounded down, purely to keep NPCs in secondary roles and the PCs in the spotlight, while still letting the NPCs improve a bit to be less of a drag on the party.  ("Sixth level of the dungeon and you still can't hike?  Maybe we should just leave you home.")  I think we have enough players that we shouldn't need NPCs in the party this game, though, so I can probably ignore this.

Here's what I'm thinking:

- Aim for about 5 points per PC for a normal session.  Only if the player and PC were involved in the session.  So participation will be key to advancement.
- If the party clears a major area (which may or may not directly correspond to a dungeon level), a bonus in the 5-point region will be given to everyone who was involved in the entire effort.  Since earning such a bonus will probably require multiple play sessions, I may do some scaling, such that if a player and PC were there for 4 of the 5 sessions during which an area was explored, that PC might get 4 bonus points instead of 5.
- Various 1-point bonuses may be possible for doing various cool things, but they won't be common or known to the players in advance.
- When the PCs reach a more difficult portion of the adventure, the starting points given to new PCs will be increased a bit, so they're not so outclassed by the most active and experienced PCs.  I don't want to give an exact formula yet.

The first session of Whiterock didn't achieve anything bonus-worthy yet (though the party is in a good position that may help lead to future bonuses), so I'm giving the 4 PCs 5 points each.  I think that will be a pretty common result.

Next time, rules for spending character points.