I finally bit the bullet and downloaded Pokemon Go! the other night, just to give it a try. I don’t honestly know how much I’ll actually play it or for how long, but it’s proved to be an interesting diversion so far and something to do on group outings and easy date nights (hey, let’s go downtown and walk around and hit some PokeStops!).
One of the bigger things that Pokemon is known for is (though a far cry from having actually invented) is the idea of “Evolution.” As your Pokemon gain experience through battling they grow in power, eventually changing form and becoming more powerful versions of themselves. And it got me thinking about how that idea is presented in other games, specifically in table-top roleplaying games. Most gamers are no stranger to “leveling up” at the end of a session and getting new abilities, but it isn’t always presented in the same way, shape, or form, and I thought it might be fun to take a deeper look at some of the experience mechanics that are presented in various games, both popular and lesser known.
Whatever your feelings on level-based experience systems, you can’t talk about gaining experience without touching on them. Level-based gaming has many benefits such as an incredible robustness and ease of understanding. But it also has many drawbacks such as a breakdown of the math and slowing down of gameplay at higher levels. But we’re not here to talk about those. We’re here to talk about the legacy of the level system.
And you can’t talk about level-based experience systems without talking about the granddaddy of all roleplaying games – Dungeons and Dragons. It has meant different things over the lifetime of the game – from simply gaining some more hit points and maybe a new spell or small boost in your ability to hide in shadows and sneak around in the first editions of the game to the dizzying myriad of feats or powers that you could take to customize your character to your liking in later editions. Your character gaining a level has always been something that has been hard coded in the game in some way, shape or form – as you gain levels, you gain more and more power which allows you to take on more dangerous threats which in turn yield more experience which lets you gain higher levels and more epic powers. It can easily become recursive if handled incorrectly, and a lot of the time it can feel like threats are simply created to be bigger bags of hit points that can do extra damage to whittle down the PCs more easily (who have also become bigger bags of hit points) and so I understand why there are many gamers out there that don’t like it. But they can’t deny that it has been around for as long as it has without a reason – a lot of people love the small thrill that comes with hitting the next level and getting that feat they’ve been eyeing or getting access to the next level of spells.
They even started to include natural breaks in the power levels as the game went on. Although it was introduced early on with supplemental boxed sets, 3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons coined the term “Epic Level Play” as any character above level 20. They released a new book with all sorts of insane powers and spells that allowed the players to begin breaking the rules of the universe – of course as they did so, the dangers they faced would also increase, which didn’t address a lot of the problems that are so inherent in level based play.
4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons took that concept and ingrained it in their design philosophy – there were three levels or “tiers” of play that were designed to change the scale of the game as the players increased in level – an “evolution” of sorts for your character. The first ten levels were the “Heroic Tier” in which the characters were starting to make their mark as adventurers. Dangers were local and monsters were the standard fare as the characters grew in power and learned the ins and outs of their class. Levels 11 through 20 were “Paragon Tier” where the characters had distinguished themselves as heroes. The scope of the dangers they faced as their adventures took them farther and farther from their homes, quite possibly even into other planes of existence. Each character was able to choose a Paragon Path that gave them unique abilities to distinguish themselves from simple members of their chosen class. Finally levels 21 through 30 were the “Epic Tier.” The characters were on their way to becoming legends in their own right as they battle their way across the planes and faced down creatures of myth and legend. Maybe they would face the gods themselves in time. At this level of play they were able to choose an Epic Destiny to explore that separated them from even the most noteworthy of adventurers.
The benefits of the level system helped it to become a massively popular way for publishers to use in their games, and gamers saw any number of games embrace it from Star Wars to Pathfinder to d20 Modern to Mutants and Masterminds (albeit highly modified) to other retro clones such as Castles & Crusades and Dungeon Crawl Classics. The sheer number of titles that utilize the level system in and of itself shows the power of the system and why it has such a longevity within the world of roleplaying games.
Next week we’ll take a look at some other systems of character advancement and how they capture the feel of character evolution in how characters advance through play.
Ben Erickson
