You basically pick which skills you're going to be working on learning in each downtime. Whatever xp you gain is distributed evenly amongst the ones you've chosen (if you want to concentrate on one then you can or you can work on a load of them at the same time).  There is however a maximum amount you can spend on learning a new skill. (just so that people can't rack up loads and loads of xp then spend them all at once to become uberpowerful overnight

Once you've spent enough xp and have learnt the skill, the ref will let you know that you can use it.
Whilst you're still in the process of learning it, the ref will just say "You're still learning".
The reality of learning is that you cant say "Okay Im going to learn fencing and I know that I'll be at a basic standard within a week". Its not that simple, you just don't know how quickly you're going to learn it.

If after two weeks of training for it the player decides that he's had enough then he can go learn something else instead, or add another skill they'd like to learn at the same time. They dont lose the points already spent, but they can't use the skill until they've expended all the xp needed.

The xp required to purchase the skill will be a base cost plus a penalty if its not in your specialist area (We have Arms, Stealth, Magic, Mysticism and "Companion"), or your secondary area. Also the maximum xp you can put into it each month suffers a penalty if its not your Primary area

So......say Spellcraft level 1 is a 3 point Skill for the Arcana skill set:-

1) Albaron is a Mage and has Magic as his primary skill type - To purchase Level 1 Arcana will cost 3 xp and he can put 3xp into it each month. So he will learn it in a month
2) Bob the Spellsword has Arcana and Arms as joint secondary paths. So he has to pay 4 xp to learn level 1 (3 plus 1 xp penalty). As its only a secondary path he can only put 2 xp in each month, so it'll take him 2 months
3) Simon the Barbarian has Arms as Primary, so it's going to cost him 5xp to buy level 1 Arcana (2 point penalty. Also as Arcana is an Arcana Domain skill, which Simon doesn't ahve as a primary or secondary Skill, he can only put 1 xp into it each month. So it'll take him 5 months to learn level 1

The trick is that people can put their xp into as many things as they want, so if they're trying to learn 9 skills at the same time then its going to take them longer. The might also not really know how long its going to take them to learn it, some people pick things up quiker than others and with less effort

We won't be publishing the xp costs, but we will publish a description of all the skills that are available.

I basically don't want people saying "Right I've got 6 xp, so I'll learn that one this month, and save two for next month so hopefully I can learn level 2 within 2 months" and min-maxing
I want people thinking as their characters and saying "Damn I really must learn to use a sword. Im not sure whether I'll be any good at it, but lets give it a go" after 3 months they've not got very good at it still and they don't really know how much longer they need to practice.

So, is it a workable system? Would players be happy buying skills not knowing how long its going to take. 5 months to learn a skill is a long time, but you're probably going to be learning about 3 or 4 skills at the same time and some you'll probably pick up in one session.

Others you'll have to wait for. i just think its more realisitic (or more realistic for xp which is a fairly unrealisitic system in the first place)

Dark Light LRP
www.darklightlrp.com

  E.g., Bob tells Dave IC that he's thinking about learning how to use a sword, Dave responds "well, we find that if you really put your mind to it and don't get too distracted, it's about as easy to learn as two minor flangespells."

  In that example the information transfer is all totally IC, but a lot of people probably wouldn't see anything wrong with sharing the information OOC either.

  If someone's character dies, are they expected to do their best to forget how long it took them to learn common skills when they're statting their next character?

  Personally I think I would find secret XP costs to be fairly frustrating and not really something that added to my enjoyment of the game.  However, that might just be personal taste.  If you did implement it, I think you'd need to make it fairly clear to everyone whether you wanted people sharing IC or OOC information about XP costs.

So, Bob wants to learn Necromancy. He has a magic library, lives next to a graveyard, has a laboratory for hacking up the bodies he steals from the graveyard and is a member of the Grishnak race who are an evil race renowned for their affinity to the dark arts. So, he gets this skill relatively easily.

Florence, on the other hand, is an elf warrior who lives in the woods and doesn't have a library or graveyard. It will take them a lot longer to learn necromancy than Bob but they can probably learn tracking a lot easier than Bob who, to be frank, doesn't spend enough time in the fresh air to work out what a track looks like never mind work out how to follow them.

So, your spreadsheet would have a number of headings - number of appropriate learning resources, race affinity, class affinity and so on. The higher the number in each category, the less time it takes to learn the skill (inverse proportions). Each skill would have a modifier to increase that based on how difficult it is to learn. Instead of XP, you determine a set number of hours that each player has each downtime (say a set number a week). This is the free time they have available when they are not doing things like eating, sleeping or doing their normal job which can be used to learn things and also to perform other downtime tasks like research plot stuff, carry out missions, make potions, craft items and so on . This means that not only do the players not know how long it is likely to take to learn things, they also have to make a decision as to how long they spend learning stuff and may have to sacrifice some 'XP' in order to progress plot things in downtime.

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The Whispering God is your friend... trust the Whispering God...

Ruins of Empire

1st - 3rd Feb, 2008, Gladstone scout centre, Chester

The Whispering God is your friend... trust the Whispering God...

Ruins of Empire

1st - 3rd Feb, 2008, Gladstone scout centre, Chester

My newest idea for high fantasy XP systems is to have all the characters working for prophecies, gods, demons...or whatever (I know its a tried and tested long living cliche but it works).  When a character gets XP and wants to buy up a skill you could do either one of 2 things.  They choose what they want to develop and their prophecy, God, demon literally gifts them with that skill e.g. you suddenly know how to make alchemical concoctions....no studdying required.

Alternatively as players get XP you as the ref could select to choose FOR them what they get in the way of skills.  Although this may annoy some players as it limits their control regarding character skill development.

Anyway just thought I'd throw in a couple more ideas to the mix.

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If I wanted to listen to an arsehole, I'd fart!

  That's an interesting idea- it does sound more 'realistic' (not really the word I'm looking for, given that we're talking about high fantasy... more believable, maybe?).

  Would the characters also need to do specific things to keep the god/ demon/ whatever happy (e.g. offering sacrifices), or would the skill-givers be fairly easygoing and undemanding (in a guardian angel sort of way)?