Downtime // Advancement

Aftermath

Immediately after a Job is the Aftermath.
XP, Status, and Hostility are tallied up, and rewards for the job are paid out.

Experience (EXP)

Player Characters earn Experience for taking risks and completing jobs.

EXP is tracked on your Character Sheet in the form of Six, 8-Segment Clocks
Each Segment of a clock is equal to 1 EXP.

8/8 5/8 0/8 0/8 0/8 0/8

At the end of a job, mark segments on the left-most, non-full clock, for the following:

Trigger	Description	Amount
Survived	Even if the Job ended in failure, you made it back alive.	+2 EXP (or +3, for particularly long or challenging jobs. GM’s discretion.)
Suffered	You suffered a Trauma during the job.	+2 EXP (each)
Pushed your Luck	You spent one or more Action Points during the job.	+1 EXP
Gambled and Lost	You suffered one or more Banes during the job.	+1 EXP
Played to your Strengths	You acted in a way that aligns with your Aspects	+1 EXP
Chased a Dream	You made progress toward your Drive in some specific, meaningful way.	+1 EXP
Relied on your Friends	You made use of your Bonds with another player character, or otherwise developed your relationship with another PC in some meaningful way.	+1 EXP

GM Advice: For much faster games, double the amount of EXP gained from each source.
For marginally faster games, reduce the number of Segments each clock has to 6.
Likewise, for slower games, increase the number of Segments of each clock to 10 or 12.

Advancement

Advancements are improvements you can purchase for your Character, representing their growing skill and knowledge.

At any point during Downtime (the period of time between Jobs), a Player can spend full Experience Clocks on the following Advancements:

Advancement	Benefit	Cost
Improve Skill	Increase a Skill by +1. Max +4. There are upper limits on the number of skills you can have at certain levels. See details below this table.	1 Full EXP Clock per Level of Skill
Write an Expertise	Write a new Expertise next to a Skill. Max 3 Expertise per Skill	1 Full EXP Clock
Increase Maximum Action Points	Increase your Maximum Action Points by +1. Max +5	2 Full EXP Clocks
Increase Augmentation Slots	Increase your Maximum Augmentation Slots by +1. Max +6	1 Full EXP Clock

Skill Level Limits

To stop veteran characters from becoming ultimate jack-of-all-trades, there are limits imposed upon Skill levels:

Any number of Skills can be at +1. You can have a go at anything.
A maximum of 6 Skills can be at +2. You can be broadly competent at a wide range of skills.
A maximum number of 3 Skills can be at +3. Your specialist subjects are narrower.
A maximum of 2 Skills can be at +4. There isn’t enough time in the day to be a Master of everything.

GM Advice: If you want more heroic, veteran Player Characters, bump up or remove these limits.
Likewise, for less competent, veteran Player Characters, reduce these limits further.

Changing your Character

At the GM’s discretion, you may also make sideways adjustments to your character, such as:

Change an Aspect
Move a point in one Skill to another Skill.
Swap one Expertise for another
Swap out, add, or remove a Flaw (down to a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 6)
Change your Drive

When Advancing or Changing your Character, try to justify these changes based on your character’s shifting circumstances.

What lessons did you learn from the last job? What specific situation pushed you to change?
When changing skills or expertise, what made you shift your focus?
When writing new skills and expertise, how have you spent your time to improve these specialisms? How do you train? Who do you train with?
etc.

Status

Status indicates how well known, respected, and feared the Crew are among their clients, allies, and enemies.

As it increases, so does your Rank.

The Crew Sheet displays ten, 8-Segment Clocks.
Every point of Status adds one tick to a clock.

8/8 8/8 8/8 8/8 3/8 0/8 0/8 0/8 0/8 0/8

Example: The crew have 4 Full Clocks, one at 3/8, the rest empty.
The Crew are Rank 4 (“Connected”)
The number of fully filled clocks represents your Rank.

When Status passes certain Thresholds, the Crew’s Rank increases.

Clocks Req.	Rank	Title
0 Clocks	- Rank 1 -	Unknown
1 Clock	- Rank 2 -	Whispers
2 Clocks	- Rank 3 -	Known
4 Clocks	- Rank 4 -	Connected
7 Clocks	- Rank 5 -	Respected
10 Clocks	- Rank 6 -	Legends

As your Crew Rank increases, you gain access to new Features and Advantages.
See Crew Advancement for more details.

Gaining Status

Status is gained at the end of a job, depending on a number of factors:


Success:	Gain +1 Status if the job was a Success. Meaning, the primary objective was achieved (even if it came at a cost).
Archetype:	Gain +1 Status if the group played to the Strengths of your Crew Archetype.
Noise:	Gain +1 Status if you gained 2 or more Hostility during the job.
Profile:	Gain +1 to +3 Status, depending on the Rank of the target. 0-1: +1 2-3: +2 4+: +3.
Bonus:	At the GM’s discretion, the Crew may gain an additional +1-2 Status for longer jobs, or for especially successful jobs (Quiet, clean, bonus objectives, etc.)

Hostility

Hostility represents how likely your enemies are to make a move against you.

Hostility is displayed as three 3-Segment Clocks. For each full clock, your Hostility Rating increases.

3/3 3/3 1/3

Example: The crew have 2 Full Clocks, one at 1/3, the rest empty.
The Crew have a Hostility Rating of 2.

As your Hostility increases, the events and complications you’ll face during downtime become more severe.

Gaining Hostility

Hostility is gained at the end of a job, depending on a number of factors:


Noise:	If the job was loud and chaotic, Gain +1 Hostility.
Evidence:	If the Crew were identified, or left evidence linking back to them, Gain +1 Hostility.
Profile:	If either of the above were true: Gain +1 Hostility for each Rank of the Target above the Crew’s.

Hostility clocks are spent by the GM during Downtime to introduce complications.

At any time between Jobs, usually during Life scenes (See: Life Phase) the GM can choose to spend any number of Full Hostility Clocks to introduce trouble and complications.

The more Clocks spent, the greater the potential complication could be:

Single-Clock complications are rarely more than threats, or petty acts of vandalism.
A Three-Clock complication usually means murderous, highly destructive intent.

For Example:

A Faction the crew have targeted previously comes for revenge.
- The level of response probably depends on how badly they’ve been fucked with, from threats to murderous intent.
A PC’s Rival makes moves to complicate their lives.
- They might damage their status with a contact, making them unavailable until they make amends.
A group of corrupt, Cerberus enforcers begin harassing the Crew.
- What do they want? Bribes? Dirty Work? Maybe nothing right now, but they want to make sure the Crew knows who’s boss.
An unknown Faction takes sudden interest in the crew.
- Everywhere they go, they can’t help but feel watched. Another threat to deal with? Or a potential ally? It’s up to the GM whether or not their identity is revealed.
Someone takes advantage of a lack of security to steal something from the Crew.
- A vehicle, or it’s wheels/engine/stereo.
The location of the Crew’s safehouse is revealed.
- Maybe someone is starting to sniff around. Or worse, it’s being raided right now.

GM Advice: Don’t feel like you need to do this every downtime.
Introduce these scenes when it is most dramatically appropriate, and/or when it serves to pressure the Crew into action.
Additionally, you don’t need to spend clocks to narrate the more subtle influence of heat on the Crew’s lives.
For example, if they’re sitting at 3 heat, and you haven’t spent it yet, put them on edge, remind them that retribution could come at any time.

Reducing Hostility

Outside of the GM spending Hostility, the crew have other opportunities to reduce their Hostility:


Crew Features:	The “Cleaners” crew feature can reduce Hostility by 2 per job.
Favours:	Call upon a Faction you are Familiar/Friendly/Allied with. Reduce Heat by 2. You now owe that Faction a favour in return.
Go to Ground:	Pay ₩1000 per Crew Rank on supplies and shoring up your defences, and spend at least 1 week per Heat Clock cleared, staying low and out of sight. This is time for the active situation to change and opportunities to be lost.

Get Paid

At the end of a job, the team (as a collective) are paid an amount of ₩on determined by the nature, opposition, and expected challenges of the job.

Opposition/Employer/Rank - Typical Payout

Street Gang / Rank I: ₩1,500 - ₩3,000
Organised Gang / Rank II - Rank III: ₩3,000 - ₩6,000
Major Syndicate / Rank III - Rank IV: ₩6,000 - ₩12,000
Corporation / Rank IV - Rank V: ₩12,000 - ₩24,000
Mega-Corporation / Rank VI+: ₩24,000 - ₩50,000+

Expect these payouts to be modified by some percentage depending on the client’s requirements, additional objectives, relative success, and possibly the cost of any specialist gear provided to pull off the job.

If it seems interesting, play out a Vignette of the crew meeting with their client to secure the payment.

Who goes to meet the client?
Are there any complications with getting paid?
Is there any difficult news to deliver to the client?

Whatever happens, if the Crew succeeded in any capacity they should get at least 75% of the intended payout, one way or another, even if its delayed.
Don’t short-change them.

Selling Loot

Additional loot such as data and loose items can usually be sold to a fence for a marked-down fee. Player contacts or other special efforts to locate the right buyer could increase the amount gained.

Play out a vignette, or make a future job out of the players finding a buyer and organising a sale if the loot is interesting or dangerous.

Otherwise, feel free to add an additional percent of the total job payout as earnings from selling loot, and move past it.

GM Advice: A good starting figure here is somewhere between 10 - 20% of the total job payout.
Add an additional 10% for rare and valuable loot.
Add an additional 10% if the crew makes efforts to find the right buyer.
Or, to add a degree of randomness, roll 2, 3, or 4d10, add the result together. This is the percentage of the total job payout made from selling loot.

Debriefing

Gather the crew together after the job.

If it seems interesting, play out a vignette and allow the Characters to discuss the fallout of the job.

Where do they meet up? What condition are the Characters in? Is anybody missing?
How did the job go? How are the Characters feeling right now?
What do the Characters do to celebrate or commiserate?

Downtime

The period between Jobs is called Downtime.
Characters can spend this time on beneficial activities and preparations for future jobs.

Characters can do up to 3 Downtime Activities per-downtime.

Activity	Description
Rest/Recover	Heal Level One Wounds. Reduce Level Two Wounds. Attempt to Reduce Trauma
Seek Medicare	Pay to Reduce Wounds and Trauma.
Training	Gain +1EXP.
Side Hustle	Make some extra cash.
Work on Project	Make progress on a Project.

Rest/Recover

Once per-downtime, spend time resting and recuperating to lower the severity of your Wounds.

When choosing this Activity, resolve the following in order:

Remove all of your Level One Wounds, and any Conditions you still have.
Reduce all of your Level Two Wounds to Level One Wounds.

Then, for each Trauma:

Roll a Check. You cannot spend Action Points on the result.
Add PLUS for any Skills, Expertise, Crew Features, and Lifestyle factors that might help you recover.
- Medical Skills, yours or an ally’s. Safehouse advantages such as “Medbay” or “Amenities”. Lifestyle advantages such as “Decent Diet”, etc.
Add +2 MINUS for each Trauma you currently have.
Add MINUS for any Lifestyle factors that might hinder your recovery.
- No Safe Place to Sleep, Poor Diet, Poor Hygiene, etc.

Compare the Outcome with the list below:

On a Boon: The Trauma is healed completely.
On a Major Success: The Trauma is reduced to a Level One Wound.
On a Minor Success: The Trauma is reduced to a Level Two Wound.
On a Hollow Success or Bane: The Trauma remains.

If it seems interesting, play out a vignette.
Where do you go to recover? Who comes to see you? How do you spend your recovery time?

Seek Medicare

If you need to be fighting fit ASAP, and you have money to burn, you can pay for specialist Medicare to speed up the process.

Pay ₩1,000 to remove all Level One Wounds.
Pay ₩2,000 to remove all Level Two Wounds.
Pay ₩3,000 to remove a Trauma.

You can do this after attempting to heal using the Rest/Recover action.

Training

Once per-downtime, a character can spend time training and honing their skills.

Mark +1EXP on an Experience Clock.
- The “Training Room” Safehouse upgrade increases this to +2EXP.

If it seems interesting, play out a vignette.
How do you train? Who do you train with? Do you have a Mentor?

Side Hustle

Characters can apply their skills to Side Hustles to earn additional ₩, once per-downtime.

The amount you make is based on the payout of the previous job (an abstract of the sort of cash your crew can bring in), and how much of a challenge you choose to take on.

Follow this procedure:

Decide on the Skill you are monetising, add PLUS for it and any relevant Expertise.
Add MINUS based on how much of a challenge you want to take on.
- The more MINUS you add, the more you stand to make.
Compare the Challenge and Outcome with the table below.
The percentage is based on the payout from the previous job.

Challenge	Boon (Max 35%)	Major Success (Max 25%)	Minor Success (Max 15%)	Hollow Success (Max 10%)	Bane (Max 5%)
MINUS x2	10%	5%	2%	0%	0%
MINUS x3	15%	10%	5%	2%	0%
MINUS x4	20%	15%	10%	5%	2%
MINUS x5	25%	20%	15%	5%	2%
MINUS x6	30%	25%	15%	10%	5%
MINUS x7	35%	25%	15%	10%	5%

If it seems interesting, play out a vignette.
What do you do for your Side Hustle? Who’s the client? What does it look like?

Projects

Once per-downtime, Players can pile time, money and skill into Projects, which come to fruition at a later date.

A long-term project could be any number of things: Working your way into a social circle, uncovering information, researching new tech, crafting and upgrading gear, repairing a damaged vehicle, etc.

Starting a Project

Agree with the GM how complex the project is to achieve.

The Project Clock has a number of segments equal to:
8 - Relevant Skill

For example, a character with +2 Engineering wants to build a Drone.
The Project Clock has 8 Segments - 2 for Engineering Skill.

Total Segments: 6.

0/8 > 0/6

Project Costs

Depending on the nature of the Project, you may also need to pay ₩ toward Materials, Bribes, and other overheads.

When Crafting Gear/Drugs: You need to pay for materials (100% of the base item/mod cost - 20% for each level in the most relevant Skill).
For anything else: ₩0 to ₩300 per Clock Segment.
- Use the Difficulty established below as a guide.
- Use logic, if there’s no reason for the project to cost anything, it’s free.

These are one-off payments to get the Project started.

Making Progress

Once per downtime, make a Check:


Base Skill & Expertise	Pick and add PLUS for the most relevant Skill and any associated Expertise.
Advantages	Add PLUS for any useful gear, access to workshops, or access to expert contacts that could help.
Base Difficulty	Projects have a base number of MINUS between +1 and +3. Determine this between the Player and the GM. Consider how complicated the Project is. How hard is it to access the materials/people you need?
Lacking Something	Without the right knowledge, contacts, tools, schematics, or access to an expert, the GM may decide to add +1 to +3MINUS to the check to progress the Project, depending on the complexity of the item.

Then, compare the result with the table below:

Result	Outcome
Boon	+1 Ticks on the Project Clock per Boon
Major Success	+2 Ticks on the Project Clock
Minor Success	+1 Ticks on the Project Clock
Hollow Success	0 Ticks on the Project Clock
Bane	0 Ticks on the Project Clock

Limitations & Exceptions

Vehicles:

You can Mod a Vehicle as Project, but you cannot create one from scratch.
Vehicle mods are complex.
- Start with a Base Difficulty of 3 MINUS.

Augmentations:

You can opt to swap Engineering/Tech for Medical.
You cannot craft Augmentations from scratch, but you can craft Augmentation Mods.
Augmentation Mods are significantly more complex than regular items.
- Start with a Base Difficulty of 3 MINUS.
- Expertise is vital, anything missing will definitely add MINUS.

Drugs & Grenades:

For Drugs, swap Engineering/Tech for Medical.
For both Drugs & Grenades, the Project Clock starts at 4 Segments instead of 8.

Preparations

At any time between Jobs, players can seek out and purchase/upgrade gear, or install/swap Augmentations.

The only limit is how much ₩ you have.

Purchase/Upgrade Gear

To Purchase or Upgrade Gear, first, declare what it is you are buying.

Common Gear

If the GM agrees it is reasonable and common enough for you to find:

Pay the ₩ and write it on your character sheet.

If you decide to look for better prices on common gear, make a Check:

Add PLUS for Awareness or Influence (for searching, or dealing), and any attached Expertise.
Add MINUS equal to 4 - the Skill you are using.

Compare the Result with the table below:

Result	Outcome
Boon	Additional 5% less, per Boon
Major Success	25% Less
Minor Success	10% Less
Hollow Success	100% of the Cost
Bane	Additional 10% more, per Bane

Uncommon Gear

If the GM agrees the item is reasonable, but difficult to locate, make a Check:

Add PLUS for Awareness or Influence (for searching, or dealing), and any attached Expertise.
Add MINUS equal to 6 - the Skill you are using.

Compare the Result with the table below:

Result	Outcome
Boon	Additional 5% less per Boon.
Major Success	You find it, and it costs 25% less.
Minor Success	You find it
Hollow Success	You find it, but it costs 25% more.
Bane	You don’t find it.

If it seems interesting, play out a vignette.
How do you go about your search? Where do you look? Who do you speak to?

Install/Swap Augmentations

As long as you have free Augmentation Slots, you can install new Augs.

Installing and Swapping out Augmentations puts strain on the body.
When attempting, roll a Check:

Add PLUS for a Skill and any Expertise that would help you with either the procedure or the recovery.
Add +1PLUS for any help from expert contacts, or another Player Character with relevant Skills.
Add PLUS for any Lifestyle Advantages or Crew Features that might help with the procedure or the recovery.
Add MINUS for each currently occupied Augmentation Slot.

On a Hollow Success, or a Minor Success with a Bane:

You suffer the Augmentation Rejection condition, which lasts for the duration of the next job.
Your nervous system flares in response to your new steel. Using your new Aug in a check adds +1 MINUS.

Life Phase

This is an opportunity to play out scenes from the characters’ everyday lives.

This could be one of the following, or something completely different:

Meeting with a Contact
Securing a new Job
Getting caught up in Complications
Working toward a Drive
Exploring a character’s Aspects

Life scenes don’t have to take place in sequence, they can take place all at the same time, or even as part of a flashback (i.e. in a character’s past, before the last job, etc.).

Scenes played out during this phase share the same mechanics as the Job phase.
Checks are made when it seems like what the characters are doing has a chance of failure or complication.

The GM might go easy on serious consequences in this phase, but don’t push your luck!

GM Advice: If it makes sense, and it seems as though the fiction is naturally pushing the characters into the next Job, establish Loadout and jump straight into the action.

Only play out life scenes that seem interesting to you as GM, and your Players.
As a GM, make use of these scenes to seed hooks for new jobs.

GM Advice: Some groups might want to spend more time here, while others will want to get back to the action ASAP.
In addition, keep them short and limited to one per-player, per-downtime. If you already ran scenes as part of Downtime Actions, feel free to skip it here.

If by the end of this phase the crew have no clear new Job to go to, prompt the group about what their goals are, or introduce an appropriate scenario.