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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Crion on May 24, 2011, 04:49:03 PM
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Now that my game is running rather smoothly with the DFRPG rules, I'm curious as to how frequently other GMs implement the various milestones. Do any of you have a cut-and-dry view as to how frequently they occur, or do you have some details as to what you believe must occur before a milestone is given to the players?
--Crion
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Personally, I do the minor every session.
For the Significant milestones, make sure you have a mini-arc complete. For example, "Reveal the Black Court Presence" is a mini-arc that could span three or four sessions.
Major milestones are really up to you. When your group finishes a meta-plotline, really upsets the balance, or runs into something uber.
-EF
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I GM a PbP game, so divisions between "sessions" sometimes blurs. Generally I do alternating bwteen Significant and Major milestones every session. Sometimes I might switch it up if it suits the story.
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Personally I favor rapid advancement with Major Milestones happening every story with Side Job style stories being Significant Milestones and an occasional Significant being thrown into the middle of larger stories.
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I'm the opposite end of that spectrum, as I like things to go slow. We've played 10 sessions so far (12 sessions for one of the players doing a two-part mini adventure) and they've only had one Significant milestone. That's not to say that the story hasn't been forthcoming with complications, but I like things to build up to test their creativity. After next session, if everything goes to plan like I suspect it will, we'll have crossed a Major Mile stone.
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I like a significant milestone every time we accomplish something (wrap up a short-story). So usually about every other to every three sessions. If we're still running from the bad guys, not done investigating, etc. then no milestone.
I like a major milestone every time the plot really hits a climax. That is, if there's a denouement session (like a monster of the week) or a major shift in group goals.
Finally, I don't really like minor milestones. I figure they can be rolled into major milestones. Although we tend to use a "play with it for a session, make any changes you want, but you're stuck with the second one. Revise at the next sig or maj milestone, or when we introduce a new player to keep everyone on the same page."
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Personally I favor rapid advancement with Major Milestones happening every story with Side Job style stories being Significant Milestones and an occasional Significant being thrown into the middle of larger stories.
I do not run advancement as fast as you.
Side Job Style stories are minor milestones, often stories that happen because one or two guys could not make it to the session. The nice thing about minor milestones is that while nothing significant happened in the overall campaign arc, character wise it provides an excuse for the character to change Aspects or swap skills around.
But if everyone makes it to the game, it is at least a significant milestone. Every 2 to 3 full sessions and it is a major milestone.
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I do not run advancement as fast as you.
Side Job Style stories are minor milestones, often stories that happen because one or two guys could not make it to the session. The nice thing about minor milestones is that while nothing significant happened in the overall campaign arc, character wise it provides an excuse for the character to change Aspects or swap skills around.
But if everyone makes it to the game, it is at least a significant milestone. Every 2 to 3 full sessions and it is a major milestone.
I have been struggling with advancement speed in my own game (I've pushed it off with minor milestones and 1 significant for long enough), and I like how you handle it here. Every PC's background will have gotten some major spotlighting after my next session, and that'll be a major for me. That's 3-4 sessions.
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I'm glad to see that things are all over the spectrum and I'm not the only one with various ideas.
My party just finished a story arc that they've been working on since January (about 8 sessions), and I am giving them a major milestone. We were using a difference system at first for more than half of it, which is why I didn't have the chance to really do much else.
I was thinking of using the minor milestones after (or even during) each game to allow those dynamic changes to take place, a moderate milestone or two as they progress through a longer story, and major milestone once they finish the overall arc. Since we only meet twice a month (with some exceptions due to scheduling conflicts), I think this will allow the party to feel as though they are still making progress and developing their characters while not being horribly overpowered for the setting.
Again, just my thoughts on the matter since I didn't post them sooner.
--Crion
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I do a minor milestone ever session, a significant milestone every 1-6 sessions depending on if a plot was resolved or not, and I have done one major milestone so far in the 12 sessions I've run, with an in game break in the action of several months.
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I typically have them past some sort of minor after the conclusion of a significant event, the more significant the event the bigger the milestone. I've been running my game every Sunday since a little after Christmas and they've hit several minor milestones, 4 significant and 2 majors. But we also run in six hour sessions so a lot gets done, even with the usual chatter. I also didn't start the game at Submerged level so now they are starting to grow into their power and luckily I have good players who haven't been abusing the system but having a lot of fun with what they have available to them.
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Since my group tends to do a lot of stuff on their own, completely devoid of actual plot from me, I tend to base the Milestones on how much they actually move or interact with the planned plot. Minor milestones for having a good session, significant milestone for moving the plot forward and having it take on some momentum and major milestones at the end of the plot. I have been thinking about adopting a more traditional XP system akin to Strands of Fate though.