As you adventure in Gauntlet Tales, you will learn from your experiences and become stronger. The  requirement for advancement is simple: do interesting things. Of course, the definition of “interesting  things” varies depending on the gaming group. One gaming group might prefer dungeon crawls and  monster battles, while another gaming group might prefer political intrigue and sandbox style  gameplay. It’s up to the gaming group to work together to determine a character advancement option  that works best for them. Here are some of the most popular advancement options: 

● Combat: Kill a dangerous monster. 

● Exploration: Explore a perilous dungeon. 

● Interaction: Resolve an important political problem. 

● Quest: Complete an adventure. 

● Personal: Explore a character’s backstory and develop their personality. 

● Roleplay: Have engaging in character conversations with other characters. 

● Sandbox: Go out into the world and find adventure. 

● All of the above! 

Killing monsters isn’t the only way to level up. If your gaming group adores sandbox style gameplay, then the players might level up by purchasing and outfitting a naval ship so that they can seek adventure across the high seas. If your gaming group emphasizes roleplaying, the players  might level up by helping one of the player characters mend a broken relationship with their estranged father. It’s important for the GM and the players to clearly communicate so that everybody knows the driving purpose of the game. 

Levels and Leveling Up 

Characters typically start with three traits, one from each of the three pillars. It’s important to note that the GM has the option of starting  characters at a much higher or lower number. If they like, the GM could start the players at level 15 for a high level game. Alternatively, they could start the players at level 0 (none of the players have any traits)  so that the players can roleplay their first steps into the world of adventuring. It’s generally recommended that players start at level 1 because then they will have 1 combat, 1 exploration, and 1 interaction trait. 

When a GM feels that the players have fulfilled the purpose of the game, they announce that the  players level up. Leveling up grants the following bonuses: 

● Gain 1 trait from any theme. 

● When you level up, you must gain traits as evenly between combat, exploration, and  interaction. For example: if you were to select a combat trait you could not select another until you have selected one each from exploration and interaction.

How Leveling Up Affects Power 

When players level up, they become more well rounded with the addition of new traits. This gives them more options, but it doesn’t necessarily allow them to hit harder, fight longer, and kill bigger monsters. Some combat traits make players more powerful, but this isn’t always the case. As the GM, you need to be careful about the monsters you use. Level 9 players might seem stronger than level 5 characters, but in truth they will probably have the same life and deal the same damage as their lower level counterparts. Why don’t players get higher stats every time they level up? This is to prevent unnecessary power creep. Getting bigger numbers every time a player levels up simply leads to  complicated math and balance issues. By keeping power relatively static, the GM will always have a  good idea of players’ strength and design appropriate challenges. That leads to an obvious question: If a level 10 character is approximately as strong as a level 1 character, how is the level 10 character supposed to feel more powerful? That’s where the increase/decrease system comes in. 

Retraining 

You can change some aspects of your character by retraining. To retrain, you simply need to take a  week off from the adventuring life and rest. It’s a good idea to retrain in between sessions so that it doesn’t disrupt gameplay. You can retrain the following aspect of your character: Traits. The new trait must be the same theme and category as the old trait. For example, suppose that John gets tired of Nomad, which is an interaction trait from the Savagery theme. After resting for a week, he can remove Nomad from his character sheet and replace it with another Savagery interaction  trait.