Feats of Exploration

Feats of Exploration is a system for awarding experience points to characters in Old-School games.
In most iterations and retro-clones of the original fantasy roleplaying game, experience points (XP) are awarded for monsters defeated and treasure attained. The latter is commonly viewed as the primary impetus for exploration, especially in dungeon environments, wherein the dangling carrot of "what's around the next corner" often provides sufficient motivation for forward progress. Furthermore, monster XP is usually substantially less than the XP gained from the treasure that those same monsters guard. This facilitates clever thinking on the players' part in their efforts to accrue XP while minimizing the amount of risk and resource depletion.
Feats of Exploration are intended to supplement (not supplant) existing aware structures. It is often a burden for the referee to place sufficient treasure and monsters to ensure a satisfactory pace of leveling. In addition, the lure of treasure can lose its luster when other goals arise naturally from emergent gameplay, e.g. faction interplay, resolving quests, overcoming environmental obstacles, unearthing ancient lore, and so forth.
Whereas the tacit assumption in old-school play is that exploration is its own reward, the Feats of Exploration system takes an alternate approach by explicitly rewarding player-characters for interacting and progressing forward in campaign environments. These environments can manifest as dungeons, wildernesses, cities, planar jaunts, or any other setting in which exploration is a key pillar of play.
In short, if a referee/GM chooses to implement Feats of Exploration in their game, there are now three primary means of accruing XP:

• Defeating Mosnters
• Attaining Treasure
• Exploring Campaign Environments

Adding a third way to gain XP inevitably (and intentionally) leads to a faster leveling pace, which may not be desirable at some tables. However, before dismissing it outright, the GM should consider the following benefits to the system:

• The rate of XP gain is much steadier. Players not only proactively seek to achieve feats, but also accrue XP by exploring naturally.
• Numerical awards for achieving feats create a positive feedback loop. Players desire to continue exploring the environment, both for the inherent fun in engaging with the environment and also for the simple reason of gaining more XP.
• It rewards teamwork. All party members receive a given award regardless of who achieved it.
• The formula for determining the amount of awarded points favors low-level characters in higher-level parties. The outsized amount of XP gained by neophytes attached to a seasoned party affords them the ability to level quite quickly (if they can survive).

Although there is a requisite amount of GM fiat baked into this framework, it should be noted that Feats of Exploration is not a 'milestone' award system, wherein PCs gain entire levels based on arbitrary and predetermined story beats. PCs accrue experience points in an incremental manner for achieving specific goals during emergent gameplay, just like the default XP system which Feats of Exploration is designed to complement.

System Elements

Feat

An arbitrary descriptor for a discrete exploration achievement.

Total XP Needed (TXP)

The amount of XP a PC needs to advance from the start of their current level to the next level. For example, referring to the 2e FIghter Level Progression Table, a 3rd level Fighter always has a TXP of 4000, regardless of their XP total. In the case of multiclassed characters, this uses only the TXP for their most expensive class (The class that requires the most experience points).

Award Values

• Minor: yields 2% of TXP per Feat. Minor awards are the most commonly achieved during a session, and represent the normal challenges faced during exploration.
• Major: yields 5% of TXP per Feat. Major awards represent either less common challenges or more difficult versions of minor challenges, e.g. disarming a significantly complex trap or solving a puzzle with remarkable outside-the-box cleverness.
• Extraordinary: yields 10% of TXP per Feat. Extraordinary awards are very rarely achieved, and usually coincide with major campaign developments and shifts, e.g. factions changing alliances or filling power vacuums due to PC actions, major quest completions, etc.
• Campaign: yields 15% of TXP per Feat. Campaign rewards should be created by the GM as bespoke and extremely difficult goals for entire campaigns. They are highly specific, e.g. "Retrieve the Ancient Regalia from the four corners of the Empire", "Reinstate the Lost King to his throne", "Banish the Ravening Horde to the Abyss", etc. In emergent play, campaign rewards can (and should) be created and awarded on the fly as the story unfolds.

Feat	Definition
Exploration	Explore at least 5 areas of a single dungeon level.
Lore	Apply in-world lore in a useful or flavorful manner.
Rumor	Confirm arumor's veracity/truthfulness.
Secret	Find a secret or intrepet hidden lore.
Puzzle	Solve a puzzle.
Trap	Overcome a trap.
Hazards	Surmount an environmental obstacle or hazard.
Skills	Use equpment or abilities in an unorthodox but useful manner.
Location	Discover an important location.
NPC	Interact beneficially with an important NPC when stakes are at play.
Faction	Manipulate or cripple a faction to your benefit.
Quest	Complete a quest.
Safe Haven	Establish a reliable safe haven.

The Procedure

1. At the beginning of every session, note the number of players attending, the names of the PCs, and their current level in the fields provided.
2. Calculate the Total XP Needed (TXP) for each PC currently playing in the session. TXP is the amount of XP needed to advance from the start of the current level to the next level.
3. Total all of the TXP and input that value in the "Party TXP" field. This number is constant until either or both of the following occurs, at which point TXP should be re-calculated.
   1. The party make-up changes. This most commonly occurs due to player absences, or at an open table where player attendance fluctuates wildly between sessions. Other reasons could be character death or the choice to play a different character during a particular session.
   2. A PC gains a level. Because that PC's TXP is now exponentially higher, the Party TXP likewise increases.
4. Calculate the percentage values of the Party TXP for Minor (2%), Major (5%), Extraordinary (10%), and Campaign (15%), and input these values into the appropriate fields on the worksheet.
5. Whena Feat is achieved, regardless of who achieved it, the entire party is awarded the predetermined percentage of TXP listed under that Feat. Divide that number by the number of players present during the session to arrive at the per-PC share.

Best Practices for the GM

• Mark feat achievements during play by ticking the appropriate boxes and jotting down a brief description of the circumstances.
• Notify players every time they achieve a Feat.
• Tally all Exploration XP and award shares at the end of the session, so you aren't performing arithmetic mid-session.
• Do not award retainers with Exploration XP, and do not include their presence when determining per-share division of Exploration XP specifically. Retainers should be awarded as per the default rules with regard to Monster and Treasure XP.

Feats in Other Settings

The modularity of the rewards is one of the great features of the Feats of Exploration. A GM can create and insert any type of Feat into the system, encouraging whole different modes of play based on what the referee chooses to award; the math will always take care of itself. Suggestions for tailoring the charat for other common settings are provided below.

Wilderness

• Hex (Minor): Enter an unexplored hex for the first time.
• Weather (Minor or Major): Successfully navigate particularly dangerous weather conditions.
• Settlement (Major): Enter and rest in aparticular settlement for the first time.
• Explore (Major or Extraordinary): Discover and interact with all features of a single hex.
• Pathmaker (Extraordinary): Forge a navigable route through wilderness between two points of civilization.
• Stronghold (Campaign): Construct and maintain a stronghold.

City

• Neighborhood (Minor): Enter a new neighborhood for the first time.
• Authority (Minor or Major): Discover who holds the real power in a scenario where it is not obvious.
• Chaos (Major): Disrupt the normal routines of a neighborhood's citizenry.
• Clout (Major or Extraordinary): Gain a significant reputation with a notable faction or neighborhood.
• Business (Extraordinary): Establish a profitable business venture.
• Power (Campaign): Command the allegiance and/or attain authority over an entire neighborhood's populace or faction's membership.

Planar Jaunt

• Exotic (Minor): Interact substantively with a planar-native creature or being for the first time.
• Planehop (Minor or Major): Enter a new plane for the first time.
• Landmark (Major): Interact with a noted landmark of a given plane.
• Survival (Extraordinary): Survive an entire session without deleterious effect on a plane actively hostile to mortal life.
• Deity (Extraordinary): Proactively encounter and interact with a deity in a beneficial manner.
• Shift (Campaign): Actively induce an alignment change in a naturally-aligned planar power or environment.