I never really liked the amount of accounting that went into the normal awarding of XP. It just seemed like a waste of time sitting around and crunching the numbers. So I’ve been playing around with an idea to really simplify things.
Awarding XP: Each average game session is worth 1 XP. If it is very intense or long session award a second point.
Advancing Characters: To advance a level, a character needs a number of XP equal to the new level. So for to from First to Second Level, it costs 2 XP. Or from 7 to 8; 8 XP. When a character advances a level, his total XP is reset to 0. Any extra XP are lost.
But what about high ability scores? Normally, characters would get bonus XP for higher ability scores. Instead, I’ve opted with they get lucky. For any ability score that a character would normally get any XP bonus, they gain 1 Luck Point. Each point may be used to re-roll any of the character’s die rolls (except for HP). The second result must be taken even if it is worse. A character’s Luck Points reset each time he levels and any unused points are lost. For example, a Fighter from Swords & Wizardry with scores of 13 in Strength, Wisdom and Charisma would have 3 Luck Points per level.