Background Evolution¶

A Background does not stop shaping a character once play begins. As a character deepens their foundational skill, their understanding of the world, their reputation, and the expectations placed upon them expand as well.

Background Evolution represents this growth. It is not a promotion, a job title, or a ladder of authority. It reflects expanded competence, recognition, and consequence.

Background Evolution occurs when a character advances their Background Apprentice Skill to Journeyman, Expert, and Master. See Backgrounds for the full list of available backgrounds.

Each evolution tier expands the Background’s Narrative Permission, Mechanical Edge, or both.

Design Principles¶

Background Evolution follows these rules:

Evolutions are not player-designed. Options are chosen from defined lists to avoid power creep.
Evolutions deepen how a character acts, not simply how well.
Higher tiers introduce expectation and consequence, not just benefits.
Expert and Master tiers require narrative grounding, not just XP.
Master-tier evolution places the character in a position where others define themselves in relation to them.

Evolution Tiers Overview¶

Journeyman¶

Journeyman evolution reflects broadened competence and confidence.

Trigger: Background Skill raised to Journeyman.
No narrative gate required.
Power Level: Comparable to a minor Gift.
Focus: Reliability, flexibility, and reduced friction.

Journeyman evolutions are often universal within a category to prevent any one Background from becoming “correct.”

Expert¶

Expert evolution reflects recognition by peers, mentors, or institutions.

Trigger: Background Skill raised to Expert.
Requires narrative confirmation: training, recognition, or obligation.
Power Level: Comparable to a major Gift.
Focus: Authority, leverage, and structural impact.

Expert evolutions often do things Gifts cannot, such as redefining consequences or reshaping scenes.

Master¶

Master evolution reflects lasting influence.

Trigger: Background Skill raised to Master.
Requires strong narrative grounding and obligation.
Power Level: Access-granting rather than power-granting.
Focus: Legacy, institutions, and enduring consequence.

Master evolutions unlock access to Community, Legacy, or Spent-XP Gifts, but do not pay their costs.

Journeyman Evolution Frameworks¶

When a character reaches Journeyman in their Background Skill, choose one option from the appropriate category list.

Universal Journeyman Options¶

These may be used by any Background.

Refined Practice: Once per session, reduce the Effort cost of a Background-related roll by 2.
Broadened Application: You may apply your Background Skill to a closely related task without penalty, even if another skill would normally be required.
Steady Hand: Treat one failure per session on a Background-related roll as a partial success.

Category-Specific Journeyman Options¶

Some Background categories may instead draw from a limited internal list if more appropriate.
For example, Criminal & Shadow backgrounds may replace Refined Practice with stealth- or exposure-related options.

Expert Evolution Frameworks¶

Expert evolution reflects that others now recognize the character’s competence and respond to it.

Expert evolution always includes: - An expanded Narrative Permission. - A new expectation tied to a group, mentor, or reputation.

Choose one Expert Evolution option from the Background’s category list.

Common Expert Evolution Themes¶

These are examples of the shape Expert evolutions take.

Recognized Authority: You may impose structure or delay escalation in a scene by invoking your background reputation.
Institutional Leverage: You may call upon a related group for limited aid, information, or protection, creating an obligation.
Reframed Consequence: Once per session, convert a severe consequence into a lingering condition or future complication instead.

Expert evolution may create: - Ongoing obligations. - Increased scrutiny. - Expectations of leadership, discretion, or responsibility.

Refusing these expectations is allowed, but it creates consequences.

Master Evolution Frameworks¶

Master evolution signifies lasting influence.

A Master is no longer simply skilled.
They are a point of reference.

Master evolution always includes: - A permanent expansion of Narrative Permission. - Access to higher-order systems.

Master Evolution Effects¶

At Master tier, choose one of the following:

Institutional Anchor: You gain access to Community Gifts related to your Background.
Legacy Figure: You gain access to Legacy or Spent-XP Gifts tied to reputation, mentorship, or enduring influence.
Defining Presence: Once per arc, you may define a lasting truth about a community, institution, or practice related to your Background.

Master evolutions do not grant XP discounts by default.
However, fulfilling heightened obligations may reduce future Spent-XP costs at the GM’s discretion.

Expectations and Consequences¶

Higher-tier Background Evolution creates pressure.

Journeyman creates confidence.
Expert creates expectation.
Master creates obligation.

The world will: - Ask more of you. - React when you refuse. - Change when you act.

These expectations should never force a character into a role, but they will shape how others respond.

Background Evolution and Gifts¶

Background Evolution: - Does not replace Gifts. - Does not grant Gifts for free. - May unlock Gifts otherwise inaccessible.

This keeps Gifts meaningful while allowing Background mastery to matter in ways XP alone cannot.

Narrative Gating¶

Journeyman evolution requires no narrative gate.

Expert and Master evolution require: - A mentor, institution, or group. - Recognition or obligation in the fiction. - GM confirmation that the evolution fits the story.

Grinding skills alone is not enough.

Journeyman Evolution by Background Category¶

When a character raises their Background Skill to Journeyman, they choose one Journeyman Evolution option from their Background’s category list.

These options reflect expanded competence, confidence, and fluency within a familiar sphere of life.
They do not grant authority, institutional power, or lasting obligation.
That begins at Expert.

Journeyman evolutions are intentionally modest. They should feel like something the character can now do reliably, not something they can do because others defer to them.

Civic and Trade¶

Backgrounds rooted in labor, commerce, and infrastructure. Choose one:

Efficient Practice: Once per session, reduce the Effort cost of a Background-related roll by 2.
Working Knowledge: When performing routine professional tasks related to your Background, you may succeed without rolling unless time pressure, scarcity, or opposition is present.
Practical Network: You may establish short-term cooperation with other workers or tradesfolk without payment, creating a minor future obligation instead.

Commoner¶

Backgrounds grounded in daily life, service, and community rhythms. Choose one:

Trusted Face: When interacting within a familiar community, reduce social friction by one step unless you have already caused harm there.
Steady Contribution: Once per session, you may negate a minor fatigue, stress, or environmental consequence affecting yourself or one ally through practical support.
Quiet Insight: When listening rather than leading in a social scene, you may learn one useful truth without rolling, provided it is being spoken openly.

Criminal & Shadow¶

Backgrounds shaped by secrecy, risk, and illegality. Choose one:

Controlled Exposure: Once per session, downgrade a consequence related to being noticed, remembered, or identified.
Clean Exit: When disengaging from a risky situation you initiated, treat a failure as a partial success that leaves evidence or suspicion behind.
Illicit Fluency: When dealing with criminal spaces or actors, you may ignore one minor complication caused by unfamiliar customs or hierarchy.

Devotional¶

Backgrounds formed by belief, service, or moral obligation. Choose one:

Ritual Confidence: When performing rites, observances, or moral acts aligned with your Background, reduce the Effort cost by 2.
Moral Anchor: Once per session, when fear, doubt, or panic would impose a Condition on you, you may ignore or downgrade it.
Quiet Authority: When speaking on matters of custom, belief, or duty, you may prevent immediate dismissal or mockery unless the listener is openly hostile.

Frontier & Nomadic¶

Backgrounds forged through movement, hardship, and uncertainty. Choose one:

Enduring Pace: Treat one long-duration hardship (travel, weather, scarcity) as one step less severe for yourself.
Situational Awareness: When entering unfamiliar territory, you may identify one environmental risk or opportunity without rolling.
Flexible Shelter: Once per session, you may establish safety, rest, or concealment more quickly than expected, avoiding a minor complication.

Militant¶

Backgrounds shaped by organized violence, discipline, or readiness. Choose one:

Battle Rhythm: Once per session, reduce the Effort cost of your first combat-related roll by 2.
Read the Field: At the start of combat, you may identify the most immediate threat, weakest target, or safest route without rolling.
Hardened Nerves: Ignore the first Condition imposed on you during a combat scene.

Scholarly¶

Backgrounds devoted to knowledge, preservation, or interpretation. Choose one:

Focused Study: Once per session, when researching or analyzing, gain a useful lead without additional time.
Pattern Recognition: When encountering unfamiliar systems, phenomena, or texts, you may ask one clarifying question and receive a truthful answer.
Prepared Mind: Treat one failure on a knowledge-based roll as a partial success.

Station¶

Backgrounds defined by social position and expectation. Choose one:

Assumed Legitimacy: When acting within your social sphere, you may proceed as if you have basic authorization unless challenged directly.
Measured Presence: Once per session, you may delay escalation in a social conflict, buying time or space before consequences land.
Social Buffer: Downgrade one social consequence caused by misunderstanding, etiquette, or protocol.

Unusual / Supernatural¶

Backgrounds touched by forces outside the ordinary. Choose one:

Unsettling Awareness: Once per session, sense supernatural attention or influence before it fully manifests.
Strange Resilience: Downgrade one supernatural or metaphysical consequence affecting you.
Careful Touch: When interacting with magic or the unseen cautiously, reduce the risk of backlash by one step.

Notes on Journeyman Evolution¶

Journeyman evolution: - Requires no mentor or institution. - Should not create lasting obligations. - Should never grant access to Community, Legacy, or Spent-XP Gifts. - Represents competence becoming dependable rather than exceptional.

Expert evolution is where recognition and expectation begin.

Expert Evolution by Background Category¶

When a character raises their Background Skill to Expert, they choose one Expert Evolution option from their Background’s category list.

Expert evolution requires more than XP. It requires narrative grounding, such as recognition by peers, mentorship, institutional involvement, or demonstrated responsibility in play. Expert evolutions expand what the character can cause to happen, and what the world now expects of them.

Civic and Trade¶

Expert practitioners are no longer just competent. They are relied upon. Choose one:

Professional Authority: When resolving disputes, negotiations, or logistical problems within your trade, you may define the reasonable terms of success before rolling. Failure still carries consequences, but the scope is narrowed.
Resource Coordinator: Once per session, you may secure short-term access to tools, labor, or workspace appropriate to your Background, creating a concrete obligation rather than an immediate cost.
Operational Fixer: When a system, process, or supply chain breaks down, you may redirect the failure into delay, cost, or political fallout instead of collapse.

Expectation: Others now seek you out when things go wrong, and refusing too often damages trust.

Commoner¶

At Expert level, you are no longer just part of the community.
You are a stabilizing presence within it. Choose one:

Community Anchor: Once per session, when a situation would cause panic, flight, or breakdown among civilians, you may hold things together long enough for action to matter.
Unspoken Trust: When dealing with people who share your way of life, you may ask for help without payment once per session, creating a lasting social obligation instead.
Shared Burden: When an ally suffers a consequence due to exhaustion, stress, or hardship, you may take part of it onto yourself, reducing its severity.

Expectation: People expect you to stay, help, and care when things become difficult.

Criminal & Shadow¶

At Expert level, secrecy alone is no longer enough. Your name carries weight in the dark. Choose one:

Reputation Precedes You: Once per session, you may declare that someone in the scene has heard of you, and adjust their initial posture accordingly.
Clean Rewrite: When a criminal plan goes wrong, you may redirect the fallout toward investigation, pursuit, or delayed retaliation rather than immediate violence.
Silent Authority: When operating within criminal spaces, you may impose boundaries or rules without immediately provoking challenge, unless directly defied.

Expectation: Mistakes tied to you echo longer, and rivals watch for weakness.

Devotional¶

Expert devotion reshapes how belief manifests around you. You are no longer merely faithful. You are recognized. Choose one:

Moral Compass: Once per session, you may reframe a conflicted scene around a moral question, forcing others to declare where they stand before action continues.
Ritual Weight: When you perform a rite, observance, or blessing, its effects linger beyond the immediate moment, shaping mood, behavior, or resolve.
Sacred Intercession: You may redirect a supernatural or spiritual consequence from another willing participant onto yourself.

Expectation: Others look to you for guidance, judgment, or absolution, and your refusal carries weight.

Frontier & Nomadic¶

At Expert level, you are known as someone who survives where others fail. Choose one:

Pathfinder: Once per session, you may declare a viable route, shelter, or solution exists in a hostile environment, even if it is not immediately obvious.
Hard-Won Wisdom: When a hazard would escalate due to ignorance or inexperience, you may prevent that escalation entirely.
Endurance Leader: Allies who follow your lead during travel or hardship may ignore one minor consequence that would normally affect them.

Expectation: Others follow your judgment in dangerous places, and blame you when it goes wrong.

Militant¶

Expert combatants are no longer defined by personal skill alone. They shape the flow of violence around them. Choose one:

Tactical Presence: Once per combat, you may redefine the immediate objective of the fight, shifting focus from damage to positioning, withdrawal, capture, or protection.
Shared Discipline: When allies act according to a clear plan you established, they may ignore the first penalty caused by chaos, fear, or confusion.
Command Under Fire: When an ally fails a combat roll, you may convert the result into a partial success that creates a new tactical complication.

Expectation: Others expect direction in moments of danger, and hesitation costs lives.

Scholarly¶

At Expert level, knowledge stops being passive. It becomes intervention. Choose one:

Authoritative Interpretation: When knowledge is disputed, you may establish which interpretation frames the situation, even if others disagree.
Prepared Insight: Once per session, you may declare you anticipated a development related to your field, gaining advantage or avoiding surprise.
Intellectual Leverage: You may use specialized knowledge to impose constraints on others’ actions, such as revealing risks, contradictions, or overlooked consequences.

Expectation: Others expect answers from you, even when none are comfortable.

Station¶

Expert station is not about rank. It is about how power responds to you. Choose one:

Structural Leverage: Once per session, you may shift a conflict from personal to institutional terms, changing who bears the risk.
Shield of Protocol: When you act within formal bounds, consequences are delayed, redirected, or softened unless someone deliberately breaks decorum.
Weight of Office: When you speak formally, others must respond in kind or accept the social consequences of refusing.

Expectation: Your actions are noticed, recorded, and remembered.

Unusual / Supernatural¶

Expert contact with the unseen is no longer incidental. It is acknowledged. Choose one:

Resonant Presence: Supernatural forces react to you more strongly, for good or ill. Once per session, you may amplify or dampen a supernatural effect in your vicinity.
Bound Consequence: When magic or the unseen would spiral out of control, you may contain it, turning catastrophe into lingering instability.
Marked by the Strange: You may always tell when supernatural attention is directed at you or something near you, even if the source remains unclear.

Expectation: The unseen does not ignore you, and others notice when it responds.

Notes on Expert Evolution¶

Expert evolution: - Introduces expectation and obligation. - Expands narrative authority, not raw bonuses. - Often reframes consequences rather than preventing them. - Requires narrative justification beyond XP.

Master evolution is where this recognition becomes lasting and structural.

Master Evolution by Background Category¶

When a character raises their Background Skill to Master, they choose one Master Evolution option from their Background’s category list.

Master evolution requires strong narrative grounding.
A mentor, institution, community, or tradition must recognize the character as a defining figure rather than a capable participant.

Master evolutions do not grant free resources or XP.
They grant access, recognition, and structural weight.

At this tier, others define themselves in relation to the character.

Civic and Trade¶

Masters of civic and trade backgrounds no longer merely solve problems.
They shape how work is done. Choose one:

Institutional Pillar: You gain access to Community Gifts representing workshops, guild halls, trade networks, or logistical infrastructure related to your Background.
Standard Setter: When a dispute arises within your trade or profession, your judgment establishes precedent unless directly challenged by equal authority.
Economic Gravity: Once per arc, you may declare that a local market, labor pool, or supply chain reorganizes around a need, opportunity, or crisis you identify.

Expectation: Others expect you to take responsibility for long-term outcomes, not just immediate fixes.

Commoner¶

Mastery among common folk is rare, and deeply felt.
You are not powerful.
You are indispensable. Choose one:

Community Anchor: You gain access to Community Gifts representing neighborhoods, mutual aid networks, or local institutions that rely on you.
Voice of the Familiar: Once per arc, you may define how a community responds to an external threat, authority, or disruption.
Enduring Trust: When you ask for help within your community, refusal carries social cost, even if compliance is not guaranteed.

Expectation: People look to you when survival, cohesion, or identity is threatened.

Criminal & Shadow¶

Masters of the shadow do not rule openly.
They reshape the underworld by presence alone. Choose one:

Shadow Network: You gain access to Community or Legacy Gifts representing informants, fences, safe routes, or clandestine operations.
Feared Name: Once per arc, you may establish that your reputation alone prevents a hostile action from occurring.
Underworld Arbiter: When conflicts arise within criminal spaces, your involvement reframes the stakes from violence to negotiation or reprisal.

Expectation: Silence around you becomes deliberate, and betrayals are remembered.

Devotional¶

Master devotion reshapes belief itself.
Your actions become teachings. Choose one:

Living Doctrine: You gain access to Legacy or Community Gifts representing followers, sects, shrines, or traditions shaped by your example.
Sacred Authority: Once per arc, you may define what is considered righteous, forbidden, or necessary within a specific spiritual context.
Bearer of Burden: You may accept lasting spiritual obligations that allow you to shield others from consequences tied to belief, taboo, or supernatural judgment.

Expectation: Others measure their faith against your choices.

Frontier & Nomadic¶

A Master of the frontier becomes part of the map.
Routes bend toward you. Choose one:

Waymaker: You gain access to Community Gifts representing routes, waystations, camps, or migration patterns connected to you.
Survival Authority: Once per arc, you may declare that a group survives an otherwise lethal environment due to methods, traditions, or choices you establish.
Enduring Path: Places you frequent become safer, more stable, or better known because of your repeated presence.

Expectation: Others follow paths you opened, and blame you when they fail.

Militant¶

Mastery in violence is not about victory.
It is about control of escalation. Choose one:

Command Structure: You gain access to Community or Legacy Gifts representing forces, units, or defensive organizations tied to you.
Doctrine of Battle: Once per arc, you may define how a conflict is fought, such as rules of engagement, acceptable tactics, or victory conditions.
Symbol of Resolve: Your presence alone can harden or break morale, shifting large-scale conflict without direct action.

Expectation: Others expect you to take responsibility for the cost of violence.

Scholarly¶

Master knowledge changes what questions may be asked. Choose one:

Foundational Work: You gain access to Legacy Gifts representing schools of thought, texts, techniques, or methodologies tied to your name.
Defining Framework: Once per arc, you may establish the dominant interpretation of a phenomenon, history, or system within a community or institution.
Keeper of Dangerous Knowledge: You may restrict, encode, or safeguard truths whose misuse would cause harm, gaining authority over their dissemination.

Expectation: Ignorance around you is no longer accidental.

Station¶

Mastery of station is mastery of systems. Choose one:

Institutional Authority: You gain access to Community Gifts representing offices, courts, councils, or households that recognize your standing.
Power Broker: Once per arc, you may shift a conflict between individuals into a matter of policy, law, or precedent.
Living Symbol: Your actions are interpreted as signals, intentionally or not, shaping behavior across a social structure.

Expectation: Neutrality is no longer available to you.

Unusual / Supernatural¶

Masters of the strange are not fully of the world anymore.
They are accounted for by it. Choose one:

Marked Existence: You gain access to Legacy or Spent-XP Gifts tied to supernatural identity, bargains, or transformations.
Anchor of the Unseen: Once per arc, you may bind a supernatural effect, entity, or influence to a place, object, or condition.
Myth in Motion: Stories about you alter how the unseen behaves in your presence, even when you are not actively involved.

Expectation: The unseen responds to you as a known quantity.

Notes on Master Evolution¶

Master evolution: - Grants access, not raw bonuses. - Creates lasting narrative consequences. - Ties the character permanently into the world’s structure. - Often replaces the need for justification when pursuing Community or Legacy-scale actions.

A Master is not finished.
They are entangled.