"Dear JB" Mailbag #5

Dear JB:

Hey y'all. I'm about to start DMing for the first time and I was wondering what kinda time scale do y'all have when it comes to leveling up. How long between each level up?

New DM

Hey, New:

Every edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game has rules with regard to how experience points are acquired. Since the acquisition of these points is dependent on player action, how quickly players level up will largely be determined by how well the players play when it comes to performing the actions that are rewarded with experience. 

In other words: leveling depends on your players' competence.

Now, having said that you have to understand you (as DM) are the vital piece of determining their potential for acquiring experience points. For example, in an edition of D&D that rewards the bulk of its experience through treasure acquisition, you LIMIT your players potential for advancement by failing to include enough loot in your adventure scenarios. Likewise, if playing a later edition of D&D that only awards x.p. for defeating opponents in combat, you must include enough creatures of the proper challenge level for players to murder.  YOU are RESPONSIBLE for stocking this potential; if you fail in this regard, it will not matter how competent the players are at playing the game.

The players cannot acquire what isn't there to acquire.

As for what makes a good amount of "potential x.p." to stock in one's adventures: this varies from edition to edition and from group to group, and should factor in both regularity with which a group plays, and number of hours per session. A weekly game with three hour sessions requires less stocking than a game that means only once a month for an eight hour haul. Without knowing the specifics of your group, I can't suggest a proper scale. Moldvay suggests a new campaign should provide enough treasure that PCs should reach 2nd level in three-four sessions; however, I do not find it unusual (nor inappropriate) for my AD&D campaign to see players reach 2nd level after two...or even one!...session, depending on how many PCs were killed (thus leaving more spoils for for fewer individuals). 

Sincerely,

JB