Character 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. When you roll in a group action that’s desperate, you also mark xp.
For example, if you roll a desperate Skirmish action, you mark xp in Prowess.
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, the Soldier’s is “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, heritage, 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 stress or conditions. Mark xp for this if your condition or source of stability affected you or your team in a meaningful way during the mission. This could be actions or decisions that complicated the mission, or a brief but emotional character-driven scene.
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.
Nadja is playing a Sniper. At the end of the mission, she reviews her xp triggers and tells the group how much xp she’s getting. She rolled two desperate Hunt actions during the mission, so she already marked 2 xp on her Insight xp track. She addressed several challenges with tracking or violence, so she marks 2 xp for that. She expressed her Romanian heritage many times when dealing with the Red Sashes, so she takes 2 xp for that. She also showcased her character’s beliefs, but 2 xp is the maximum for that category, so she doesn’t get any more. She didn’t struggle with her stress or conditions, so no xp there. That’s 4 xp at the end of the mission. She decides to put it all in her Insight xp track. This fills the track, so she adds a new action dot in Hunt.
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.