Okay, I promised that I'd tell you about APs. Advancement Points are like the currency you use to improve your character. Characters improve pretty fast in this game, so we'll probably be doing a little bit of advancement after every session. There are Levels and Ranks, but these do not drive character advancement they way they do in some other RPGs.

Essentially, you get 1AP for every hour of play. That's it. You don't get them for killing monsters. You don't get them for overcoming challenges. You get them based on the number of hours played.

But... I also have a policy of giving out extra APs for outstanding gaming. "You just killed that gigantic horak with one swing of your plasma sword? Have an AP!" or "You just seduced the one person who could actually tell you what was going on, and are now spending a night of sweaty passion and information-gathering? Have an AP!"

Also, I have a "player's pocket", where each player has 1AP per session that they can give to another player for similar reasons. "You just distracted the guard so that I could pick the lock on the door to the bank vault and we're now going to get away with 17kg worth of pure gold? Have an AP!"

APs are spend during advancement. You can spend them on Feats and on Masteries. Masteries make you better at Feats. Weapons and armour are Feats, by the way, and you can buy Masteries for them. It costs 2AP to buy a new Feat. It costs 5APs for your first Mastery in a Feat, and 1AP for additional Masteries. Feats are like skills and powers. Noumalia's psychic powers are Feats. Feats are good. They let you do cool stuff. Masteries are also good. They let you do *really* cool stuff. Masteries usually require you to spend Meta.