About Late/Just-in-Time choosing of Special Abilities for Characters and/or Crews + Crew Upgrades:

About Late/Just-in-Time choosing of Special Abilities for Characters and/or Crews + Crew Upgrades:

About Late/Just-in-Time choosing of Special Abilities for Characters and/or Crews + Crew Upgrades:

In my group we made the experience that sometimes it’s hard to choose the next special ability or crew advancement. Sometimes it’s not, because you already planned for some cool ability and you just know that next pick will be X or Y because it already fits the story of the PC or crew. But more often, you’re not sure because THEY ALL SO DAMN COOL (ahem, sorry for yelling) and you may pick X if you only know what the next score will be, but you don’t know, yet.

Another point is that it may be not so easy to ground them in the fiction right now. You may have a story which fits or not but it may feel a bit unorganic right here at the end of the session doing XP.

So, we have a house rule now that it’s ok to keep an advance on hold and in the right moment you have a kind-of-flashback during the score, like “Let us pick “sychronized” as a crew ability now, because it is useful and it fits the story and it makes us competent scoundrels and …” or “I was not sure if X or Y will be my next abiltiy but now (during Score) I know that it’s X because of yadder, yadder, yadder”

Sounds a bit munchkin but works great because the focus is a cool story. Give it a try, it may work for your group, too.

5 thoughts on “About Late/Just-in-Time choosing of Special Abilities for Characters and/or Crews + Crew Upgrades:”

  1. I too encourage this kind of play. Abilities chosen mid session get added punch from being added through fictional events and sidestepping XP requirements feels like WINNING. Also, I give them the benefit of the doubt and grant them XP early in a session to finish off an XP track and choose an ability during critical moments – describing it was a result of the culmination of their recent activities. Players say they enjoy this because it feels much more like an organic change is underway, than a contrived one

  2. I used a similar system for my RPG Fleshscape. To me it seems perfectly in line with the general concept of flashback for events and gear. As long as the group or character had access to an advance, choosing it on the spot will be fine I think. As lomg as it doesn’t break the action!

  3. I’m 100% in favor of this in play, but for purely logistical purposes I don’t like potential advances lingering for more than a session – turning it into something to track undermines a lot the appeal.

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