Stitches
Plot Points can be used to enable the character to make some other useful arrangement in that scenario’s past that turns out to be helpful in the present episode. This is called a Stitch.
Example: Character is locked in a dungeon. After several futile attempts to escape with means at hand, she burns a Fate Point. Then she finds the key she hid for herself (in some future episode set in this location’s past) and lets herself out.
Stitches are subject to XP approval. If a character spends Plops on a Stitch, they should get some clear and immediate benefit from it. The particulars, though, must seem reasonable for both the player and the XP.
Does this then obligate the XP to place the characters in this location’s past in some future episode? Yes – yes it does. It also obligates the player to arrange the stitch within that episode. Failure to arrange that stitch could result in an Anomaly and those are Very Bad.
Locked Fate
A RCM can Lock Away Plops for use at a future date. This is used to circumvent the 24 Fate limit and/or provide a narrative out for the indecisive. The player puts aside Fate, and sets a condition for its release, typically some achievement or growth as a person. The XP must approve the condition. They should both then write that down somewhere.
When that condition is met, the RCM receives the Fate put aside in one lump sum. He then has until the start of the next episode to spend down to the 24 Plops limit.
This is often used to develop a higher level with the RCM’s power, or a major complementary power.
If the use of the Plops is predetermined, meaning it must be spent on some particular aspect of the character, the XP must add one Plop per episode into the box until it is unlocked. This is in addition to any Plops awarded through play.
Players can Lock Away Plops at any time between episodes.