Long Arm of the Hutt and XP

[Solid Rock 6]

Hello! I just purchased the beginners box and I am looking forward to running both adventures with my friends soon enough.

In the adventure the Long Arm of the Hutt I never see any mention of XP, when it should be distributed or when it should be spent. I know the beginner's rule book has info about how to handle such things normally but how do you handle this specific adventure?

Bonus Question: Sasha and Mathus are mentioned once in the beginning of the adventure but are then ignored, would you think it wise to let my characters choose them from the get go (Escape from Mos Shuuta) or at the start of the second adventure or maybe just find them as NPCs when infiltrating Teemo's palace (as they are not mentioned while the 4 starting PCs are)?

 

Than kyou for your time.

[Yoshiyahu 545]

I haven't played through Long Arm of the Hutt with my group yet, but we did tackle Escape from Mos Shuuta with six players, including Mathus and Sasha. I had to do a bit of scaling for the increased number of players, but it still went very smoothly. If we had used Mathus and Sasha instead of two of the characters included in the box, I wouldn't have had to change anything.

The impression I got from the Beginner Box was that XP was supposed to be handed at at a rate of about ten per session (at the end of the session), plus bonuses for characters playing to their motivations, etc. I don't know exactly how LAotH is broken down, but it's three adventures, correct? It would stand to reason, then, unless the adventures are broken down further you'll be handing out about 10 XP per player per section of the module that you've completed.

If I'm wrong here, someone please correct me.

[Solid Rock 6]

Thanks for the reply and the tip, I will probably go with 10 xp per adventure (not session since you never know how long they are). My "problem" with including the new characters, as I said, is that the 4 you start with have small awesome tidbits of dialouge that makes it feel like they are invested in the adventure, and the adventure just includes Sasha and Mathus in the "prologue". 

I guess you could call it a small complaint to an otherwise awesome and seemingly very fun adventure. 

 

[AK_Aramis 1,002]

The rate in the Beta as amended is as follows:

 

AWARDING EXPERIENCE POINTS

The GM should award experience points after every session. The amount awarded depends on the pace the GM wants to set for level advancement. The default reward is 15 XP for one session consisting of one to three major encounters and two to three minor encounters (note, these do not have to be combat encounters) is 15 XP. If the GM wants characters to advance quickly and gain new abilities every session, however, he can increase this to 20 XP. Conversely, if he wants his characters to grow slowly (or encourage earning additional XP through roleplaying to Motivations), he can award 10 XP per session. Whichever he chooses, he should announce this to his players at the beginning of the game and be consistent throughout the campaign. An additional 5 XP bonus may be granted for reaching key milestones or completing story arcs. The GM may consider awarding an extra point or two of XP for exceptional roleplaying or highly clever thinking. Published adventures may include recommend XP awards. Playing to a character's Motivation also grants 5 XP per session.

Note the key elements: 3 major and 3 minor encounters is a "session"

Per Session:
 —— 10-20, nominally 15
 —— +5 if motivation played
 —— +5 milestone hit
 —— +2 for roleplaying well

That nominal 15 can be broken down to 5 per each pair of major and minor encounters,  or 3 for a major and 2 for a minor, if you're that kind of obsessive…

 

[Solid Rock 6]

Thank you Aramis, that was most helpful. I will take a gander at the adventure and see how many major and minor encounters it has.