Leveling Up

There is no set system for leveling up characters in the Window, but there are basically two ways that you can do it. You can simply discuss the topic with your players. Ask them if they think it would be appropriate for their characters to level up in this or that skill at certain points in the plot and make sure that they feel free to bring up the subject with you as well. For games where the characters are not likely to do a lot of leveling up, this is perfectly fine. However, all of the player characters in our game are children who would be growing and maturing as we played. So for me, it was necessary to set up a system of experience points. I made this chart, where XP stands for experience points:

Level	XP from Last Level	Total XP necessary
D(30)	0	0
D(20)	5	5
D(12)	7	12
D(10)	9	21
D(8)	11	32
D(6)	13	45
D(4)	N/A	N/A

In case the chart doesn't make sense, I'll explain. Let's say that Kristopher has a d30 in Research Capacity (the ability to find information in books). To level up this skill to a d20, he will need 5 experience points. This chart can also work backwards for skills where you are more likely to lose experience points, like Sanity (a trait we did not use in our game). For instance, Megara has a d10 in Sanity, so she effectively has 21 experience points in that ability. If she loses 9 experience points in Sanity, that ability will drop to a d12. You can tweek this chart as necessary to make it harder or easier to move up and down the levels.