Monks & Mummies: XP

(AKA Monsters and Monasteries)

This is for a game I want to put together little by little. Basically is OSR D&D but slightly based on martial arts animes and JRPGs.

One thing that didn't worked for me about the PCs being wandering fighters is that those kind of people don't seem too much interested in gold; so making XP for Gold Retrieved seemed a little dissonant about character goals / player goals. Yeah, sometimes a master can require a treasure for paying their training but is hard to justify that monks are delving in dungeons all the time and no training.

XP per monster killed, though more fitting at first, is also not perfect as it incentivizes players to fight whatever shit they're thrown. And the trope of the fighter asking another fighter to battle just to "test their styles" is cool, but is not something you can base a game upon (Also, straight sweeping hordes of monsters works in JRPGs due to the videogame mindset, but grinding during hours with no lateral approaches doesn't traslate well to pen and paper)

What I've done is to write a check list of milestones in order to guide the players through the sandbox. Every box ticked is 1 level, but doing each must involve a serious quest so as a GM you have to make it challenging

[_] Help an NPC to solve his first world problem
[_] Defeat 1 monster with your same HP*, alone
[_] Defeat 1 monster with higher HP*, alone
[_] Defeat 1 monster with double HP*, in group.
[_] Build a Dojo or other similar Settlement; and mantain it for a time (basically put a trouble on the way and make the PC overcome it)
[_] Join a sect or swear fealty to a kingdom; and upheld its honor in a quarrel or defeat a rival sect
[_] Train under the supervision of a master and complete his quest (the quest might be the lesson itself or just a test to be judged worthy)
[_] Set up a personal quest and achieve it (decide it at anytime, GM put a trouble on the way)
[_] close a wound about your character's past (a revenge, a lost love, a promise, etc. Decide it at anytime what it was, no need to do it at creation. GM put a trouble on the way, if you achieve the atonement, tick this. If you dont, a new chance will appear on another quest)
[_] retrieve 800 GP
[_] retrieve 2000 GP
[_] retrieve 5000 GP
[_] retrieve 10000 GP

There are more than 10 so you don't have to undertake all of them to reach level 10 if playing by classic standards (If you're an evil person, I'll spare you from helping that NPC, man) and some GP related points so I can still run a dungeon/heist or two if needed

I'm thinking on adding one about "[_] having your character wounded with consequences". As in losing an eye, an arm, etc; or just changing the way you play your character dramatically; but it must have mechanical (- to a stat) and narrative consequences for it to be fairly executed; and also a mechanic to make this happen in combat organically.

Other alternatives that still use XP is giving XP per victory after a battle encounter (to prevent unnecessary carnage, getting an enemy surrendering, admiting defeat or fleeing counts as victory) or XP given by Masters (Master is a "monster" on the random wilderness encounter. His special powers is giving a trial or a quest. On fulfillment, his treasure is just XP without the GP that usually accompanies it)

*Change it for HD (Hit Dice) instead of Hit Points for classic conversion, but I use it like this for some reasons I'll explain on further entries.