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Roll dice pools to resolve opposed actions. Spend one point of your Will for each Aspect or Condition that contributes dice to your pool. Your Aspects can contribute dice to your opponent's pool if it makes sense that those Aspects would work against you. When an Aspect is used against you in this way, add one to your Will.
You and your opponent both roll; whoever rolls the highest number on a single die wins. The number of successes is the number of dice that beat the loser's highest die. (In other words, the loser's high die sets the TN for the winner.)
If both sides have the same highest die, ignore that pair and look at the next two dice. If all the dice are tied, the side who rolled more dice wins, with one success.
If both sides have the same size pools and rolled exactly the same roll then it's a real stalemate, and the GM shifts the situation.
What does success do?
First, the roll decides the fiction. Does Abigail convince Christopher to not attack Bob? Does OB1 get the high ground? Does precious favorite NPC get croaked?
Second, the winner can turn the number of successes they rolled into a Condition. Conditions are temporary Aspects that belong to the setting / scene / situation. To create a condition just say (or write down) what it's called and how many dice it has. Conditions can be invoked (at the cost of 1 Will point) to contribute dice to a pool.
Third, the loser crosses off the box on their Power track equal to the number of successes that the winner rolled. If the loser would rather not cross off a box, they can create an Injury Condition for their character instead. If the box is already crossed off, cross off the next highest available box AND create an Injury Condition equal to the box that was crossed off!
A Condition lasts until it goes away naturally as a result of the fiction, or until someone does something to get rid of it. You make a Recovery roll against a Condition to get rid of it; just reduce the Condition by the number of successes you roll. (Conditions don't have Power tracks.) Other characters can make Recovery rolls to help you. This can be actual doctoring / first aid (for physical injuries), pep talks / encouragement for “social injuries,” and so on. Successes reduce the severity of the Injury die for die.
Since Conditions are Aspects, you can also get rid of them by spending Advances.
As usual, this is all governed by fictional positioning. If you get cut up, the cuts will eventually heal and the Condition will go away on its own as game time passes. If you're Ashamed and Embarrassed it might just evaporate when you start the next scene. If your arm got cut off, it won't grow back (unless you're an axolotl).
You can spend an advance to move a 1D Aspect to your Background. (You'll still only have one arm, but it won't cause you problems or give you advantages, mechanically.)
Power Track -
The Power track is like temporary hit-points. It is fully restored by having a Refreshment scene with another character. Refreshment scenes also clear up any transient Conditions / Injuries / Effects that may be hanging around. (Your arm won't grow back, but you'll stop feeling Panicked!)
I like Eero's rule that when you have a refreshment scene you're letting your guard down. So you get to heal up whenever you want, but when you do the GM gets to fuck with you.
Players call for refreshment scenes between scenes. You can get one whenever you want, between scenes, but you can't get one in the middle of a scene.
Refreshment scenes also restore your Will pool, if it has fallen below its starting value. If you have more Will than the starting value, you don't lose the extra Will. (Or maybe Will just can't go over its maximum, which means if your Will is full, people can invoke Aspects against you for free.)
In addition to triggering Injury Effects, the Power track also determines when you're knocked out of a confrontation. Whenever the last (highest) box of the Power track is crossed off, you're out of the scene.
Gear -
Gear give you bonus dice or penalty dice depending on the scene. Gear probably doesn't give more than +/-3 dice.
You don't pay or receive Will to use Gear; the dice simply apply.
XP -
XP comes from Keys
There are two kinds of Keys:
Dramatic Key Framework: Keys of this type describe dramatic motifs
1 XP - The dramatic issue is involved in a scene 2 XP - The character encounters significant challenges related to the theme. 5 XP - The motif progresses. Buyoff (10XP) - The theme is discarded from the game.
Motivation Key Framework: Keys of this type describe psychology
1 XP - The character expresses the motivation 3 XP - The character follows the motivation despite risk, personal cost, or other considerations Buyoff (10XP) - The character opts to let go of the trait represented by the Key
Every 5 XP is an Advance.
You can spend your Advances right away, or save them.
In general, it costs 1 Advance per die to change your character.
So, 1 Advance can move a 1D Aspect to your Background (or promote a Background to a 1D Aspect), or promote a 1D Cultural Identity Ability to 2D, or create a new 1D Aspect out of thin air (well, out of fictional positioning). A new Key also costs 1 Advance.
It costs 2 Advances to raise or lower a 2D Aspect or Ability one die, 3 Advances to raise or lower a 3D Aspect or Ability one die, and so on.
You can see why it's generally better to heal your wounds with First Aid than with Advances…
