Dear Santa Vermin...

[Merc]

I have been a very good boy this session. I think I deserve a lot of XP bonus presents. Here is a list of things that I think I did good this session and why you should give me lots of XP bonus presents.

1) Use of Command spell. While I was planning on saving it in case some bandit tried to hold a knife to the girl as hostage, when the big guy showed up and was more than likely the biggest threat of the bandit schmucks, used it to limit his potential for hurting our group and gave everyone some clear shots. (Even if wabbit-orc didn't need it)

2) Because of Mage Armor, the AoO that Command invited didn't feel particularly dangerous either. Casting it before the battle allowed for leeway in the fight, and I think some attacks that might have gotten through didn't because of it. It also meant I didn't invite AoO casting it.

3) Blessed the party as soon as bandits starting grouping up in numbers, though wabbit-orc didn't really need it. That darn wabbit-orc could have hit one of the bandits if he remembered though and added to his kill count! Again, cast it early enough not to have to deal with inviting AoO for it.

4) Reminded you about a few bandits, since you seemed to get a bit lost with the sheer number of characters.

5) Struck down a fleeing bandit, thus saving the area from the evil of one scum that may very well have only learned not to pick a fight with tougher opponents instead of learning that banditry is bad! And scored 20 gp more too.

6) Immidiately set to aiding the hurt girl and trying to sooth her once the fighting was done. Remembered her name was Isia and called her by it as well!

7) I typed a lot faster than in my individual session so you didn't have to wait till forever. XP bonus would encourage me to continue to type fast!

8) Just plain ol' good RP'ing! >_>

I think that's all of it, but I'll write you another letter, Santa Vermin, if I think of more stuff.

Sincerely,

Kethean

PS. I'll remember to leave some cheese this time with the cookies and milk for when you come in Christmas morning, Santa Vermin.

PSS. Oh, and I'll also remember to make sure there's no fire going on the fireplace this year. Sorry about that last year. I hope your tail has healed, Santa Vermin.

[Iron Dragoon]

I'm not going to beg, bullshit, or kiss ass to get XP. If you see something you think I should get a bonus for, give it, if not, don't.

Personally, I don't think there's a single reason for me to have to kiss ass to keep leveling.

I don't know why you want to do it like this, but I hope it's not because you're; 1) Too lazy to award it yourself, or 2) Just because you can.

If there's a problem with that, let me know, and I'll withdraw my character now before we get too far in the game.

Now, if there is an actual, logical reason for you wanting to do it this way, please let me know what it is, and I'll probably go along with it, but from here, so far, it looks like you're doing it because of either/both #1) and #2).

[Carthrat]

No, I'm not doing this because I'm lazy, and I'm not doing this because I can, anymore than I GM because I can.

The reason I did it was becuase I thought it'd be kinda neat. I've had to do it before in games I've played and it ok there so I thought I'd give it a try. Why do it? It gets you to give the session a brief once-over beforehand, gets you thinking about your character a little more, and lets me see what you honestly think you're doing well, and by extension doing not so well. In essence, it's another form of feedback.

I don't honestly have a problem losing the idea. I'm surprised that you dislike it so much, but hey. o-o

[Ebiris]

The reason I did it was becuase I thought it'd be kinda neat. I've had to do it before in games I've played and it ok there so I thought I'd give it a try. Why do it? It gets you to give the session a brief once-over beforehand, gets you thinking about your character a little more, and lets me see what you honestly think you're doing well, and by extension doing not so well. In essence, it's another form of feedback.

See, that sounds like you're bribing us with XP for extra feedback, which is something I can get behind. When you mentioned it in IRC it kind of came across as high and mighty "Convince me what you're worth," which inspired negative reactions.

So long as the bonus XP for this activity is minor in the form of "You get XP for doing something optional" rather than "Here's some XP because you talked up how cool this was, and here's some more because you mention that..." I've got no problem at all with this. And with that in mind...

I pumped my guild contact for info which was then used to base our planning around. Okay, said plan fell apart at the first opportunity, but for a few brief shining moments we seemed to have things together.

During the fighting I tried to intimidate the bandits to make them panic. Sure, it failed, but it livened things up beyond the tit-for-tat hitting until someone dies. This also ties in with what we told you about needing more flavour and description during combat. Anyway, I'll probably try an intimidate check in every fight whenever I manage something especially brutal.

Overall, I feel like I've already got a good handle on Thrall's character. He's grim and reserved most of the time, but in the thick of combat his orcish heritage shines through. Then once things are over he returns to being ruthlessly pragmatic (scalping the bandits). As things stand he's still fairly shallow - I've yet to get into what really motivates him and such, but on a superficial level his personality feels solid, and gives me a good base to work from.

[Carthrat]

Convincing me of worth, huh? Well, sorry 'bout that.

I did kinda jump the gun and assign bonus XP for this session already.. but hmm. What does everyone else think of the idea, really?

[Iron Dragoon]

Yeah, see, that I can understand. It to get us to give our feedback more readily and be more interactive. That I got no problem with..

As for xp bonuses.. Ehh, I don't think I did anything worth a bonus, unless you consider when I willing took that AOO to keep using my bow worth it..

Beyond that, I've yet to do anything note-worthy, I think.

[Carthrat]

Ok, I think I've got everyone's opinion on this now.

What I think I'll do is that I'll give out bonus xp normally, but I'll still pester you all privately for what you think you've done well and learned; I may give extra xp out for that, but it won't be that much. A small amount of bribery. I won't *force* you to do so but I'd like it if you did. >_>

For this session, I think I'll stick with just the bonus xp, and work this into it next adventure.