This is my first go-through as a GM OR player in an RPG. For a good dry run do you recommend doling out xp and then allowing a certain amount of sp to be converted or just allow the players to debit their sp account without giving anything extra? It seems kind of a tricky balance.
I think in general, you'll want to keep an eye on the guideline on page 332, as they're intended to reward players for their contributions. You can deduct the awarded XPs from your SP pool.
The primary focus of the WP/SP pool is to give you an easy mechanism to cover logistics, including replacement personnel. Let's say you're hiring on a new specialist, and want him to be rather powerful and experienced, you could deduct 1,000 SP to make him a base 6,000 XP character or NPC. (He'll be *quite* powerful then)
Let me phrase it another way: What kind of xp award rate would give a noticeable, smooth progression for players if we get together maybe once every two weeks? This isn't a rules question exactly, but I could use the input and it'll help get the kind of feeback you want.
The math we used to create the tables on p. 332 presumes 12 sessions/game year, 10ish XP per session, with some select spikes when campaigns get completed, or players do something particularly awesome.
Note that we also account for downtime on p. 334.
So, on average, after 6 months of 1 session every 2 weeks, we'd presume you to be about a year downrange of in-universe time. Naturally, this could be much more or much less time, during some situations, 12 sessions might be 12 days, or even less than that.
Presuming 10+ XP per session means a player can start backfilling holes in their skill roster in as little as 2 sessions, and 3-4 sessions would allow a lower-end skill to get promoted.
A commitment of 8-10 sessions seems required to get a lower-end Trait, or to bump an Attribute. (If you're inclined to make that available to your players)
As a general rule of thumb, don't neglect that players tend to like toys, so make sure they're exposed to some nice hardware; even if they can't keep it.
An even more general (and IMO, important) note is that the key is to have fun, and do cool stuff. XP and gear are means to an end, to give players tangible evidence of progress. Ultimately, they should crave having to deal with your next set of problems for them more than they crave XP.
Final remark: don't hesitate to deviate from the guidelines of p. 332. If people are advancing too slow for your tastes, even when you award them XP using the Difficult challenges scores, just crank it up even higher. Just realize that fairly soon, they'll be more difficult to challenge.
Hope this helps.
Paul
