Experience & Projects

In Solspire experience points (XP are awarded every week (10 days of in-game time. Contrary to other games these XP cannot be used directly to raise an attribute, a skill or gain/remove a special ability. Characters need to create a project and assign the XP on that project.

Projects

Characters can undertake various activities, called “projects,” to gain experience, acquire skills, or achieve specific goals. Whether working in a factory, crafting a weapon, exploring new territories, researching alchemical properties, building muscles, or mastering a new skill, these efforts require time and dedication. Projects allow characters to invest “sixths” of their time to make progress and ultimately reap rewards.

Projects can be categorized into three types: Simple, Training, Learning, and Complex. Simple projects require only time investment, while Complex projects are tied to specific skills and require skill checks for each sixth invested. These checks can be modified by the task’s difficulty, leading to bonuses or penalties. Other characters can assist by contributing their sixths, potentially providing bonuses or penalties based on their own skill checks.

A character can manage multiple projects simultaneously, up to a maximum of (Intelligence - 8, with a minimum of 2 active projects at any time.

Simple Projects

Going to Work

In a Simple Project, the time (measured in sixths directly correlates to progress. For instance, if Raymond works in a factory and spends 3 sixths a day on the job, he earns 25 Quid.

Solving a 1000-Piece Puzzle

Completing a 1000-piece puzzle is a Simple Project that typically requires 5 ticks (1 sixth each). The reward is the satisfaction of finishing the puzzle and the option to display it as a wall decoration.

Training Projects

Training Projects focus on improving a character’s attributes. For each week a character dedicates at least 10 sixths (approximately one-sixth per day to a Training Project, they gain 10 Additional ticks toward that project.

For example, Regina wants to increase her Strength by working out. She must acquire 150 ticks (15 XP)

Learning Projects

Learning Projects are used when a character focuses on improving a specific skill. Characters usually have an active Learning Project at all times. To increase the a rank on a skill a character needs to acquire The XP cost of the rank times 10 in ticks. A character gains a tick on a skill if they dedicate 1 sixth in training or make 10 in-session rolls.

If a character spends more than 10 sixths training in a single week they get an additional 5 ticks bonus that week.

If a character does a critical hit or a critical failure they automatically gain a tick on that project (if the project was active)

Complex Projects

Complex Projects, like crafting a gun or exploring a new area, depend heavily on the task’s difficulty and the character’s skills.

Exploring the Jungle

Morris is tasked with scouting and mapping a jungle near his ships landing site. The GM determines that this task requires 25 ticks and imposes a +3 difficulty penalty.

Morris rolls his Survival - Jungle skill, gaining ticks based on the result: 1 point for an ordinary success, 2 for a good success, 3 for an amazing success, and -1 for a failure. He rolls 1d20 + 1d8, with the d8 representing the +3 step penalty. If all goes perfectly, Morris could map the area in 3 days by dedicating 3 sixths each day. On average, it may take a full week.

If Morris completes this task and spent more than 10 sixths on it, he can also treat it as a Learning Project, gaining 10 extra tickstowards improving his Survival - Jungle skill.

Creating an Ablative Crystal

Tybalt the Alchemist is creating a batch of 3 Ablative Crystals, which protect the wearer by absorbing damage while draining the crystal. To succeed, Tybalt needs 8 success points on his Alchemy skill roll, with a +2 (+1d6 penalty due to the difficulty (reduced from +4 (+1d12 because of his experience.

This project is time-sensitive and must be completed within 2 days, meaning Tybalt needs to dedicate more than 3 sixths each day to ensure success. If he fails, 3/4 of the materials will be lost. Tybalt can also treat this as a Learning Project if he spends more than 10 sixths working on Alchemy-related projects, allowing him to “tick” the skill and earn1 bonus XP.

Gaining Experience

Experience Points (XP are awarded once per 10-day week of play.

Roleplaying Bonus

Characters may gain an additional 1 XP for roleplaying according to their social attributes, morals, or goals. The player must provide examples of how they did so.
Heroic Acts

The GM may award an additional 1 XP for extraordinary acts, such as heroism, exceptional roleplaying, or resolving a major story arc.

These XP can be used to

• Add Feats
• Remove Flaws
• Gain some achievements ***
• Add Bonus ticks (10/XP) to projects (up to 1 per week )

Project Completion

Characters who ticked the ticks required per week on a project, gain 1 XP for that project. This XP cannot be recovered if the project is abandoned.

Exertion

If a character spends more than half their time in a week (5+ sixths per day on projects, they risk exertion. Each consecutive week of heavy project work requires a Stamina-Endurance check with a penalty of +1 per week. On a failure, the character takes 1d4-1 Fatigue damage (minimum 1 damage.

Downtime Experience

During downtime, characters receive 1 XP per 10 days. If they have regular work, they also receive their weekly salary (daily salary multiplied by 8 or 7, depending on the class. For non-regular work, profits depend on the success of their Complex Projects.

Exceptions

Skills like

• Perception
• Intuition
• Deduce
• Stamina - Endurance

Can only be trained by using skill points

Relevant Reading