A Session at This Table
Here is the shape of an evening, so you know what you are signing up for.
The rhythm
A session is usually three or four scenes with a downtime scene somewhere in the middle. Scenes end when the interesting question is answered, not when everyone is unconscious. If you are two exchanges into a fight and the outcome is obvious, say so — the GM will cut.
You should expect to roll maybe eight to fifteen times in a session. That is not many, and it is deliberate. Most of what you do either works (because you outclass it) or does not (because it outclasses you), and the dice come out for the narrow band in between where it is genuinely uncertain.
What earns XP
| Trigger | XP |
|---|---|
| Showing up | 1 |
| You leaned on a Tie | +1 |
| You acted on your Creed at a cost | +1 |
Three a session is a good session. Note the shape of that table: two thirds of your advancement comes from playing the person you wrote rather than from winning.
Your sheet tracks this for you: XP Earned goes up at the end of the session, XP Spent goes up when you buy something, and XP Available is the difference and looks after itself.
What you can buy
| Cost | Buy |
|---|---|
| 3 | +1 Approach, or a new Power Aspect |
| 5 | +1 Power Rating |
| 8 | +1 Attribute, or a new Power at Rating 1 |
Scale is not on this table and never will be. Ascension is the only route, and Ascension only happens when you Break.
Playing well here
Describe first, mechanise second. Say what you do. The Approach follows from the description; it is not a menu you order from.
Spend Strain. A player sitting on a clean track at the end of a session left the interesting version of the evening unplayed. Push early. Overclock when the gap is 1 and it matters.
Use your Ties on purpose. Both directions. Take the free Push, and volunteer the scene where your brother is the problem. The GM will use them anyway; a player who offers them gets to choose the framing.
Take the Setback. When you roll zero hits, lean in. A Setback is the GM handing you a new fact about the world, and the new fact is nearly always more useful than the thing you were trying to do.
Let the gap teach you. The first time you swing at something two bands above you and the GM says "that does not work — it is not a roll," it will feel bad. That feeling is the system doing its job. Go and find the Lever. There is always a Lever, and finding it is the best scene in most arcs.
The one thing to remember
Somebody at this table is going to end the campaign able to move a bridge. They will still be afraid of exactly the same three people they were afraid of on night one, because @Missing file works on a Titan and a phone call works on everybody.
That is Ascent. The power curve goes up forever. The stakes never move.