So some clarification is in order - to me, "level up" means your PC collects enough experience to allow the PC to gain a level and then get all the associated bonuses of gaining that higher XP level.
The GDW games do not work this way, they are skill based and the skill can increase (AKA level up) but the character does not gain a level (or "level up" so to speak).
By way of another example, Call of Cthulhu is not a level up game either, it too is a skill based system where the skills will increase but the PC does not gain levels as such.
Because of this approach, some Players, those who have been raised on D&D style, PC level up games, sometimes feel as though they are not getting any sort of reward because they don't feel that their PC is advancing. Some of them feel as though the rules of skill based games, cheat them out of their reward.
They aren't getting cheated in any way at all, but their assumption is that they should see that their PC has advanced (because they have assumed that the reward is their PC gaining a new level and gaining some new abilities, skills, feats and so on). They don't see a skill increase or Initiative increase as a significant enough reward and therefore feel as though their PC has not "advanced".
I'm facing this exact problem with one of my group at the moment. They want to feel as though their PC has increased in power in some way. The GDW system doesn't feed into the power fantasy the way this Player wants.
Thus, this particular Player does not like the GDW system because they don't believe they are getting properly rewarded.
Hence why I started my post with "... it has some serious ramifications depending on your Players"
|