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Advancement

PC Advancement​

Each player keeps track of the experience points (xp) that their character earns.

During the game session, mark xp:

  • When you make a desperate action roll. Mark 1 xp in the attribute for the action you rolled. For example, if you roll a desperate Skirmish action, you mark xp in Prowess. When you roll in a group action that’s desperate, you also mark xp.

At the end of the session, review the xp triggers on your character sheet. For each one, mark 1 xp if it happened at all, or mark 2 xp if it happened a lot during the session. The xp triggers are:

  • Your playbook-specific xp trigger. For example “Address a challenge with violence or coercion.” To “address a challenge,” your character should attempt to overcome a tough obstacle or threat. It doesn’t matter if the action is successful or not. You get xp either way.
  • You expressed your beliefs, drives, ancestry, or background. Your character’s beliefs and drives are yours to define, session to session. Feel free to tell the group about them when you mark xp.
  • You struggled with issues from your vice or traumas. Mark xp for this if your vice tempted you to some bad action or if a trauma condition caused you trouble. Simply indulging your vice doesn’t count as struggling with it (unless you overindulge).

You may mark end-of-session xp on any xp tracks you want (any attribute or your playbook xp track).

When you fill an xp track, clear all the marks and take an advance. When you take an advance from your playbook track, you may choose an additional special ability. When you take an advance from an attribute, you may add an additional action dot to one of the actions under that attribute.

You can also earn xp by training during downtime. When you train, mark xp in one of your attributes or in your playbook. A given xp track can be trained only once per downtime phase.

Party Advancement​

At the end of the session, review the party xp triggers and mark 1 party xp for each item that occurred during the session. If an item occurred multiple times or in a major way, mark 2 party xp for it. The party xp triggers are:

  • Your party-specific xp trigger. For example, the Troupe’s is “Execute a successful performance, gain influence or expand your repertoire.” If the party successfully completed a performance from this trigger, mark xp.
  • Contend with challenges above your current station. If you tangled with higher Tiers or more dangerous opposition, mark xp for this.
  • Bolster your party’s reputation or develop a new one. Review your party’s reputation. Did you do anything to promote it? Also mark xp if you developed a new reputation for the party.
  • Express the goals, drives, inner conflict, or essential nature of the party. This one is very broad! Essentially, did anything happen that highlighted the specific elements that make your party unique?

When you fill your party advancement tracker, clear the marks and take a new special ability or mark two party upgrade boxes.

Say how you’ve obtained this new ability or upgrades for the party. Where did it come from? How does it become a new part of the party?

Profits​

Every time the party advances, each PC gets stash equal to the party Tier+2, to represent profits generated by the party as they’ve been operating.