My PKs are about to embark upon a long quest which will have them adventuring for a good few months and maybe more. The adventure in question is one I've borrowed from Harn - The Earl's Progress - that I've adapted to suit my own campaign. It provides plenty of expansion for side plots on the main quest and I can see it being something that takes up many sessions.

I feel that compared to a normal year, where there is often much less adventuring, the rewards should be a little higher. Have other GMs given skill advancement rolls mid year when the year in question has been suitably hectic? Either this or I have thought of allowing two D20 rolls for the same skill thereby limiting the increase to 1 point but making it more likely to happen.

Your game, your call.

If you allow the former, then any year where there is a greater than normal amount of scenarios, the players will want the bonus (and they will get creative in wanting to do additional stuff). If the latter, as you said, they will have a better chance of increasing. A third option is to give them one or two skills they automatically increase in as a reward.

Robert Schroeder

I've not tried this before, although I can see its merit. With my group I would resist as they do have the tendency to chase every opportunity for reward even when unrealistic or infeasible! Of course there will be extra reward already in that over the year they will probably have accumulated more glory than in usual years? This seems to me to be an easier way to do it.

Hi Sir Pramalot,

I've never given advancement rolls mid year. Giving multiple rolls to increase is something I've done before but only in retrospect when a player has flubbed the increase roll and the circumstances that granted the tick were so awesome I really wanted them to get it. With hindsight, in the latter circumstances these days, I would probably use DM fiat and tell them to just increase it.

A couple of suggestions:

You could give little bundles of ticks for some of the activities that would go on during a progress but perhaps aren't being played through; very similar to some of the solo's that are available in the rules.

Or if you did want to go the house rule route, you could allow multiple ticks against a skill, up to a maximum of, say, three. Only one increase allowed per game year still.

HTH
GR

I feel that compared to a normal year, where there is often much less adventuring, the rewards should be a little higher. Have other GMs given skill advancement rolls mid year when the year in question has been suitably hectic? Either this or I have thought of allowing two D20 rolls for the same skill thereby limiting the increase to 1 point but making it more likely to happen.


I have tried this. The problem that arose is this:
1. The PCs will advance notably faster than the rest of the KAP world.
2. What is the measure to use? One check per session of adventure? An end-year check at the end of each season? An intense court scene, say at the Turning Castle, might require an entire session to cover the half day and half night of its length. How many checks or bumps when they get into a particular combat scene, perhaps a parade of foes from Dark Faerie, that requires half the session and only combat skills?
3. The normal players will thereafter attempt to exploit this at every chance. It's a huge pain in the butt when the players keep says "But daddy, you let me laaast time!" You can end up hating yourself for your momentary weakness and experimentation :D
4. Will you ever do a quick year, "OK, a year passes," or maybe use the "out of play experiences" that allow absent player to catch up their character with a few checks for garrison duty, etc? Will you use a limit to this, that is in balance with the bonus for extended play? Perhaps 1/2 of an experience roll for such? :)

I try to make such long adventures worthwhile for their content, not for the check marks. They are chances for great or rare deeds and unusually great Glory. Players will meet important characters (I still love the moment when the player realized that the little girl he was jumping rope with was the future High Queen of Britain!). They will learn important information, go to unique places, and do the powerful things that earned knights a place in Malory's books.

What Greg said. Player-knights already advance quickly enough for my tastes.

Thanks for the feedback.

To give them some credit, my players are not min/maxers and I do run a pretty low level gritty campaign. I might not get away with the "half skill check" for easy years though :)

GR - The skill bundle check is a nice idea.