Fortune rolls & action rolls don’t have to take place in the present. When the crew on a job and someone wants to establish something that happened in the past, they can flash back.

Flashbacks allow for the classic heist trope where the crew sets something up before the job, but the audience doesn’t learn about it until that setup pays off. Flashbacks also prevent over-planning before the job. Instead of talking through every possible scenario, the crew can retroactively “plan” for obstacles only when they come up.

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To flash back:

1. The player calling the flashback says when it’s taking place and what it’s going to set up.
2. The GM says what it costs:
   • 0 stress for extremely likely or simple actions
   • 1 stress for less likely or more complicated actions
   • 2 stress for highly unlikely or very complicated actions
3. The GM says if a roll is needed:
   • Make a fortune roll to find out how much or how good the prepared info/gear/setup is
   • Make an action roll to find out how well a risky preparation went
4. The player marks any required stress and makes any required rolls. </aside>

Flashbacks cannot undo something happening in the present. They also can’t “rewrite” things that happened in the past. Flashbacks can only add new info or resources on top of what already exists in the game world.

If an Imperial man-o-war appears on the horizon, a PC can flash back to when they stole an Imperial flag to fly on their sloop’s mast. They can’t flash back to when they blew up the man-o-war in dry dock two weeks ago – the man-o-war is here in front of them now.

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Notes on flashbacks:

• Anyone can call for a flashback. Players can use them to deal with obstacles. The GM can offer them as opportunities for new info, gear, planning, narrative, etc.
• As noted above, not all flashbacks require stress or a roll.
• Flashback stress & flashback rolls are also independent. A player could mark 2 stress for a flashback with no roll or 0 stress for a flashback that requires a full action roll.
• A flashback action roll can fail, even though a player marked stress. This is part of the risk in calling a flashback.
  • Consequences for a failed flashback action roll may happen in the past or the present. As flashback action rolls are the same as on-the-job action rolls, their consequences can be resisted.
  • The GM must decide what feels fair when calling for a flashback roll. If there isn’t a chance the flashback action could have failed, don’t call for an action roll. </aside>

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