When I agreed to change loot XP to be based on gross loot rather than net loot after expenses, I told the players that the amount of loot they would need would go up, but didn't give them exact numbers because I was still fiddling with the formula. Originally I had a table with values that went up every 50 character points, but that was gross -- I'd really prefer a continuous equation to a table. Preferably a short, simple equation that I could remember. Anyway, here's what I came up with.
Minimum loot to get 1 loot XP:
min(cost_of_living, current_character_points ^ 2 * $0.01)
The cost of living term is there for very low point PCs. Even if you only have 50 points, if you don't make enough on a delve to pay your cost of living for the next week ($150 by default in the DFRPG rules, more if you have certain disadvantages that require spending more), you're going to need to get a job to pay the rent, so you're clearly not making it as an adventurer yet.
The other term is what actually matters for my current PCs. If you have 160 points, square that to get 25600, then multiply that by $0.01 to get $256.
Then earning 2 loot XP takes 10 times the amount you need for 1 XP. So if $256 gets you 1 XP, $2560 gets you 2 XP.
A quick table of how much you need at a few round numbers, assuming a cost of living of $150/week:
| Points |
1 XP |
2 XP |
| 50 |
150 |
1500 |
| 100 |
150 |
1500 |
| 125 |
156 |
1560 |
| 150 |
225 |
2250 |
| 200 |
400 |
4000 |
| 250 |
625 |
6250 |
| 300 |
900 |
9000 |
| 350 |
1225 |
12250 |
| 400 |
1600 |
16000 |
| 450 |
2025 |
20250 |
| 500 |
2500 |
25000 |
(Note that the table is just giving some examples; I actually use the equation.)
What counts as loot? These rules are the same as I was using before, except I'm not subtracting off expenses anymore.
Any negotiable and identified coins and gems that you found for the first time on a recent adventure are counted at full value as soon as you bring them back to town; you don't actually have to exchange or spend them. (So really the only way you don't get full value for coins and gems is if you lose them before you get them to town, or you mis-identify the value of a gem and sell a $5000 diamond as a $50 cubic zirconium. Note that being tricked in the other direction won't generate extra XP; the power of positive thinking only goes so far. But feel free to take a Delusion that you have more points than you really do.)
(The "first time" rule is there to keep PCs who find a gigantic hoard from calculating exactly how much of it they need for 2 XP, only taking that portion of it back to town, hiding the rest, and then returning to the hoard again and again to grab loot in carefully measured 2 XP chunks. Would Conan milk the system like that? I don't think so.)
Other valuable items (jewelry, weapons, bottles of wine, scrolls, padlocks taken from chests, ...) generate XP when you sell them and turn them into cash. If you keep them for use, no XP. Again, there's a line there. If you only use them on the way back to town, or fiddle with items to help identify them, that's totally fine: the GM will give you full XP when you sell them. If you use them on future delves and sell them when you find better replacements, sorry, you don't get XP for the sale value. Basically, if you've used an item enough that you a reasonable person would no longer be able to return it to a store without feeling bad, it's not worth XP anymore when you sell it.
PCs with average Wealth typically get 40% of new cost as sale value on most items, so the Wealth advantage, which increases the sale value, indirectly helps you earn XP. Of course it also costs points, so the breakeven point where the advantage pays for itself might be far in the future. What's really good is convincing one of your friends to buy Very Wealthy and sell your stuff for you. They'll probably want a cut of the extra value they generate, though.
What's the intent of this rule? The "gamist" intent is that we're simulating the way the amount of XP needed to go up a level increased at higher levels in D&D. Because there are no levels in GURPS, we can't have increasing costs to go up a level, so instead we make it harder to earn each XP as PCs get more powerful. The "motivational" intent is to give PCs a reason to keep looking for bigger and better treasures even if they have enough money to buy whatever they can find for sale in the Gosterwick area. "Now that the castle is paid off, I'm thinking of going part-time" is totally reasonable, but probably not something Conan would say.
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