O.G.R.E.S.: XP for high hit dice creatures
Games that are Powered by O.G.R.E.S. can theoretically progress to infinite levels. There will eventually, however, be a major disparity in the amount of XP you need to gain a level, and the amount of XP offered by a high hit die creature. This is an admitted limitation of the system and something to consider in future printings. It's also why I, as a GM, strongly prefer the Freeform XP system presented in the Night Shift: VSW core rulebook, page 192. Let's look at the issue in detail and examine some workarounds for it.
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How It Came Up
The "default" XP system in O.G.R.E.S. is drawn from the original iteration of the first fantasy RPG and its Basic and Advanced evolutions. This system also had an issue with XP values for very high hit die monsters. In the Night Companion, instead of adding XP values for creatures like Rank 10 and 11 Angels, I simply listed, "assume an automatic level gain if the creature is defeated."
Just this morning, one of my partners/freelancers inquired about the issue, after having designed a Class IV demon with 16 hit dice, and realizing that the XP value, when totaled, came out to over 2 million XP. He was aghast and felt he must've done something wrong. The truth is, he didn't. XP values do, in fact, inflate that much at very high levels. So is this a problem, and if so, how do we deal with that in game?
Is This a Problem?
It's hard to argue that it's not a problem, having such high XP values for monsters. At the same time, let's look at what such a creature represents, and how much XP it means when actually applied. First, creatures of 12 or more hit dice are obscenely powerful. If your heroes have gotten high enough level to battle such a creature, they are indeed movers and shakers on a cosmic level.
Such creatures should be rare beyond rare; even high level parties shouldn't be facing monsters of this power level on a regular basis. There's an argument to be made for retiring characters after level 12 or 13 at most, because they do become so powerful that it's difficult to challenge them on a consistent basis without an apocalypse every other day. That being said, it's far better to throw high level characters against multiple creatures of say 8 or 9 hit dice than it is a single 16-hit die creature, even as a "Big Bad."
Next, let's look at how the XP award breaks down. If you have a group of 5 players, 2 million XP divides out to 400,000 per character. This is still an automatic level gain, possibly 2 levels at most, depending on where the PCs' current XP totals lie. If you have 6 players, it's 333,333 XP each, again, enough for a level gain. By 12th level, every character class has defaulted to a "+250,000 XP" gain and maxed out most of their abilities, gaining only a hit die, maybe an extra +1 to hit in combat, maybe an extra use of existing abilities, etc.
So yes, there is an argument to be made that such high XP values are just fine as they sit. It's equally valid, however, to feel that such big numbers are simply too big. This is especially true when one considers abilities like summoning, which arguably add even more XP to the table from fighting the extra creatures. Let's look at how to deal with that.
Solution 1: Gain a Level
In the original versions of the first fantasy game, very high level creatures like demon lords rarely had listed XP values (and didn't even list hit dice; only hit points). You could handle high HD creatures like that and just assume, as in the Companion, that defeating them simply results in a level gain. This is a perfectly valid approach.
Solution 2: Cap XP Awards
Solution 2 is to put a cap on the XP value of a monster--that is, no matter how powerful the creature is, it can't award any more than, say, 100,000 XP. This is another approach that represents the idea that experience only accounts for so much. You can only learn so much from an encounter, no matter how powerful the creature at its heart is.
This also becomes a consideration when dealing with issues like summoning. You should not be adding extra XP for creatures summoned to help a big bad high-HD creature. That XP is subsumed into the summoning special ability of the main monster. Always keep that in mind.
Solution 3: Switch to Freeform XP
Just as you can switch from cinematic to realistic to gritty options for your game to keep characters challenged, there's no reason you can't switch your XP method as you get higher in level to offset the incresingly high XP awards. This is probably the best solution, and the one I personally recommend. The Freeform XP award system really allows you to control how fast your characters advance at any level.
In the end, almost every game suffers some sort of power creep breakdown at very high levels, and Night Shift: VSW is no different; it would be disingenuous of me to pretend otherwise. That's not to say the game isn't playable at high levels; it's just that as a simple factor of characters getting more and more powerful, it becomes more and more difficult to challenge them, and their rewards for defeating high level challenges can border on obscene. At some point, I would argue, it's simply time to retire the heroes and start with a new group of adventurers, perhaps those who have the original heroes as grizzled mentors guiding them on their path.
To learn more about the O.G.R.E.S. system, check out our website and grab your copy today!
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