Character Advancement

At the end of each session, characters earn XP:

• 1 XP for participation
• 1 XP for making progress toward a personal goal
• 1 XP for taking a significant risk to further your Pursuit
• 1 XP for making a non-“optimal” choice due to roleplaying Affinities
• 1 XP for being convinced/persuaded of something during the course of social conflict (accepting a negative outcome)

At the end of each Season/Story Arc, all players may be grant 1 bonus XP. In addition, you may optionally vote as a group to determine which single character best expressed each theme used throughout the Season/Arc. Suggested themes:

• Steam: the character most involved with discovering, creating, using, or learning about advanced science/technology.
• Punk: the character that most actively supported or threatened a social system/institution.
• Victorian: the character most involved in historical Victorian society: politics, romantic entanglements, fashion, etc.
• Horror: the character most involved in uncovering hidden knowledge, most impacted by Pontus events, chimera/aberrations, or surviving personal horror.

This scale may be increased or decreased depending on the planned length of the campaign.

You can spend XP at any time, including in the middle of a session, but the advancement must be congruent with your behavior or training. If you've never picked up a sword, it doesn't make sense to gain Fencing; but if you took lessons or tried to fight with a sword stolen from a wall in a pinch in an earlier session, a single new rank may make sense.

Some Assets & Liabilities offer guidelines for story requirements in their descriptions.

• Remove Affliction: spend 12 XP to attain Rank 1 in the afflicted Aptitude. (And remove the Esteem penalty)

A temporary windfall that allows you to make a certain number of purchases with a Cost higher than your Means (typically not more than 2 Ranks above the party median Means). Similarly, marrying above one's Class or Means may provide a temporary boost to those Ranks. Completing a Mission may provide access to an organization's Membership.

When you participate in reducing/increasing an NC's Affinity/Reputation, you may spend your own XP to make that change permanent. If changing multiple ranks, spend XP for each Rank level separately.