thanks so much for the kind words! I haven't played RIG but I'm gonna check it out~
The final version of the game does have progression, but it's pretty limited since it's not the focus of the story.
For refrains, it varies! As written, whatever the player wants to happen simply happens, but we always want to respect consequences and make sure things are impactful so it shouldn't be a "get out of jail free" card. Sometimes I ask for a roll, but that's very limited. If someone were to use a refrain to fight a rival, I'd count it as a success but wouldn't necessarily have that mean a condition. As an example, I've had a player use a refrain to steal a Rival's weapon before. But I've also let a player use a refrain to keep their character from dying- basically lowering it to maxed-out condition tracks & a destroyed Dragon.