The Importance of Experience

It is often said that the AD&D game is not a "winners-and-losers" game. This is true. The AD&D game is not a game in which one player wins at the expense of the others. But at the same time there is winning and losing, based on how well the group plays and how well it achieves the goals set for it.

This does not mean that individuals in the group compete against each other (winning and losing) or that different groups of players compete against each other (as in football). If anything, an AD&D game player competes against himself. He tries to improve his role-playing and to develop his character every time he plays.

Experience points are a measure of this improvement, and the number of points given a player for a game session is a signal of how well the DM thinks the player did in the game--a reward for good role-playing. As with any other reward system, there are potential problems.

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