Complex Tasks

In some situations, a single Skill Check would not be appropriate to handle a task. For these more complex tasks, a board should be constructed. A board is a series of checks all contributing to the same task combining at least 3 checks. As a character progresses along the board, place your Skill Check card on the board from left to right to track your progression and level of success. When the Skill Check result cards reach the goal card or the end of the board, the task completes, and the outcome is determined.

A Board

A board is constructed by first drawing 3 or more cards from the Dealer’s Event Deck and placing them in a row. The Players start from the left and progress to their goal on the right.  The goal should be marked by one of the Dealer’s cards.  This goal may shift, or just stay stationary, it depends on the type of task being performed.

The Event Deck

The Event Deck is one of the two decks used by the Dealer that by default consists of all of the 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s, and 8s of a standard deck of playing cards.  These cards are used to create the boards.  The suits inspire the events and narration that occur during the complex task, and the numbers can be used to influence the difficulty.

Completing a Complex Task

A character will perform Skill Checks to progress along the board. With each success, they place their successful card on the furthest open spot on the left side of the board.  If they fail a check, they place their card face down on the furthest open slot on the right side of the board, preventing the character from reaching that level of success for this task.

When the character places a card on the goal spot or the last open spot, the complex task is completed, and the results are described.

Failing a Complex Task

Sometimes a character will fail more than they succeed and will prevent themselves from reaching the goal on the board.  In this case the character continues the task until all the slots on the board are filled.  Then the Dealer describes the results of the task. The degree of success is up to both the Dealer and the character's progress on the board.

Example: Disarming a Bomb

The Dealer sets up an small but difficult board of 4 in length with the goal card on the third slot.  This requires the Players to have 3 successes before two failures.  Emily starts by using Investigation – Mechanical Working and gets a 6 on the check, and she successfully identifies the trigger device. Next, she uses a Tinker Disable Device Check to try to cut the wire and gets a 5.  Her hand slips and she cuts the wrong wire. The bomb remains ticking but doesn’t explode. Her crew member Jake attempts to calm her down with a Persuasion Clam check to help her succeed.  Jake succeeds with an 8. Her other crewmate Chelsea attempts to repair the wire with Tinker Repair Skill, but she fails with a 3.  The wire touches part of the circuit board, triggering the explosion.  Their professor comes in the room an announces how they would all be dead had this not been a simulation. Better luck next time, Emily and team.

Social Contests as Complex tasks

Contests between two characters, be it an arm wrestling contest or a debate, can easily be resolved using a board. The board should be an odd number of spaces with the goal card placed in the center. 

As the two contesting characters battle, the goal moves toward one side, signaling that character is winning the contest.  If the goal card ever moves off the board, due to a successful Skill Check, the Player on that side of the board wins the contest.

When the card moves toward one side, the card furthest from the center on the opposite side is removed from the board.  This mechanic keeps the tension up and forces the contest to eventually end. Narratively it represents that even though your character has won, they have also tired slightly in the process.

Chases

When you need to catch a character trying to escape, or you yourself need to escape that is a chase. Set up a board with at least 5 cards. The goal card on starts on the first space. This represents the escapee. If the escapee has a huge lead, start them on the second space. The escapee always acts first.

When the Players succeed on a Skill Check and they are the escapee, move the goal card one space to the right. If they are the pursuer, remove 1 card from the left side of the board.

Then every round, the NPC will act, if they are the escapee, the goal card will move one space to the right, if they are the pursuer, remove 1 card from the left side of the board.

If the goal card is ever off of the board, the task is resolved. This can happen by the goal card reaching the right hand side, or the card underneath the goal card is removed.

Preparation and Planning

Sometimes players will want to plan an ambush, coordinate events for a heist, or prepare for an incoming attack.  Laying down a board with no goal would be a good way to keep track of the strength of their preparations.  For these cases, lay down a number of cards between 3 and 8 depending on the complexity of the task.  An ambush on a caravan may be only 3 cards, while citywide preparation for a siege would be closer to 8 cards.  Once the board is placed, let the players describe what they do to prepare and then have them draw a card for each Skill Check.

Board Types

There are two types of Boards.  The standard board where each Skill Check is compared against one card on the board, from left to right, and the number of failures and successes are compared at the end of the board to determine the overall result.

The limit board only requires a specific number of successes before the entire board is resolved and the cards can be resolved in any order.  Meaning in a limit board(3)of length five, you can choose to perform your Skill Check against the first, third, and then fourth cards if you feel your character is better suited for those obstacles.  Additionally, some of the cards can be face down meaning you will not know the difficulty of the obstacle until you commit to the Skill Check. 

Boards can have modifiers applied to individual cards as decided by the Dealer.  This will be indicated by a + or - with a number and the position of that modifier.  This increases the value of the card drawn in that location, making it either easier or harder to succeed at that task. Additionally, each use of a Specific Skill on a board, increases the difficulty of using that same Specific Skill on the board by +2 cumulatively. Using a General Skill without a Specific Skill increases difficulty in the same way.

Based on the number of Successes and failures for each board, the Dealer will adjust the encounter results accordingly.