I always squirm while sitting though the end of session experience questions. This is mostly because it’s an unfamiliar situation for me. The questions are so player facing oriented, that I don’t get the usual cognitive feedback of other reward cycles. The questions are there to help the Player Character’s refine their own play, and not to help the GM formulate sessions.

I was quick to hack in explicit Beliefs and Drives, because I like taking those statements as telegraphed player interest and forming sessions around those ideas. But then I was also quick to realize how disruptive focusing on player level goals can be for the crew based job to job sandbox. Its was with that realization that I started viewing characters as tragic figures and the crew as the real engine of dramatic change. Being explicit about the crew’s goals can be helpful for a GM. Even better, the workshopping of such goals can occur in game in character and lead to some satisfying play.

I still miss prepping session around Xp triggers though. The closest I got to a fix was an add on xp trigger I called “Professional Pride”. These would be always/never statements about how each scoundrel prefers to conduct their business, and if the PC takes on trouble to maintain their pride they get xp at the end of the session. Some examples would be the master of disguise who never drops character while on the job, or the acrobatic prowler who always avoids confrontation. I find this kind of xp trigger useful to play up the player’s idea of their character and helps the GM prep interesting challenges.