In role-playing games, experience points are usually abbreviated as “XP”. But why not “EP”? The reason for this is provided by one of the main authors of Dungeons & Dragons.
What’s the deal with experience points? Every role player depends on them: experience points. They are earned through actions in the game and ensure that we gradually level up.
If you had to shorten the long word, it makes sense to say “EP”. Nevertheless, “XP” is considered the standard in the role-playing world. Why is that?
The main author of Dungeons & Dragons, the role-playing game series par excellence, is responsible for this. In a new interview he revealed what “XP” is all about.
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A decision within 20 minutes
How did “XP” come about? Lawrence Schick is a real veteran in the D&D world. He recently worked on Baldur’s Gate 3 as lead author. But many years before that, he worked with one of D&D’s inventors, Gary Gygax, on early versions of the role-playing game.
Today Schick tells us how he edited the first manuscript for the “Dungeon Master’s Guide”. He realized that the game needed an abbreviation for the awkward word “Experience Points”.
“EP” was obvious, but this abbreviation was already taken. Shortly before, Gary Gygax had expanded the currency to include the so-called “Electrum Pieces”. Although only a few players used them, “EP” was already occupied.
Schick continues: “And so I was faced with the problem of finding a shortcut for experience points, so I came up with XP and used it, and it stuck.”
One random afternoon, Schick decided on the new shortcut in about 20 minutes. That should have consequences.
The new standard was born
What happened next? The new abbreviation was soon adopted by other tabletop publishers. Most games that allow characters to level up are based on D&D. “XP” quickly became the new standard and was also used in other media, such as video games. D&D itself became very popular, there are some films and campaigns that have been running for over 40 years.
To this day, Lawrence Schick is still not at the end of his work. On the contrary: he is still busy developing and reinventing role-playing games.
“We haven’t found the limits yet, if there are any. We’re still pushing out. That’s what keeps me doing these things, years after most of my colleagues have retired or passed away.”
The great success of Baldur’s Gate 3 surprised him, says Schick. Larian’s role-playing game managed to adapt the essence and appeal of the D&D template for itself. Years before, the first parts of Baldur’s Gate were real role-playing gems. An author who was employed at Bioware at the time had already played 20,000 hours of D&D.