Optional System: Effect-Based (Victory Point) Task Resolution

Some tasks involve a number of steps, are exceedingly complicated or just take more time than others. Resolving these kinds of tasks with a single binary pass/fail check may not reflect the experience and challenge you wish the crew to face. Reducing an involved process down to basically a matter of "luck of the draw" may not be your idea of a good time, either; it results in novices occasionally pulling off feats they should have no right to brag about later on, and sometimes leaves salty experts stymied by simple tasks.

This system aims to average out the luck factor a bit, and also to reflect the fact that some tasks cannot usually be accomplished in a single round of action time. However, skilled characters will often complete these kinds of tasks faster than others.

Extended Actions

An extended action is a task check that will likely span more than one combat round in action time. Outside of combat, where time is not of the essence, attempting to resolve an extended action is a simple minigame.

When the Master decides that a task should be an extended action (for example, picking a lock) he will assign a difficulty TN to the task. This is the TN that the character must meet or exceed with each attempt at the task to earn any measure of success. If the character does so, they begin to accumulate victory points toward successful completion.

Some examples of extended actions might be:

• Picking a lock
  
• Hacking into a computer
  
• Repairing something
  
• Setting demolition charges
  
• Breaking down a door
  
• Climbing something
  

...And so on.

Victory Points

In addition to an extended action having a difficulty TN, it will also be assigned a number of victory points (VP) that must be gained before the task is successful or complete. The number of VP may or may not be known by the player. While operating under action time, this gives players (or possibly just the Master) an idea of how long it will likely take to complete a task. When a character attempts an extended action and succeeds at the task check, refer to the effect chart on the action card. If a character used 3d10 for his task check, this would be the effect result referenced, as well. For each bump to the task check, the effect row is bumped down one, as well, the same as for damage inflicted in combat. For every full 6 points of effect, the character earns one VP.

"But," you say, "Does that mean an unskilled person or novice locksmith can break into a bank vault outside of combat just because they have all the time in the world to try it?" It does not. The other part of a pass/fail system is the "fail" part. When making the skill check to see if you gain VP, if you don't succeed, it doesn't just mean the lack of progress; it also includes failure, or negative progress.

If you fail an extended action check, you will also refer to the effect portion of the action card. Based on the TN of the task and the amount you failed the check by will determine the magnitude of failure (negative effect). For every 6 points of negative effect or portion thereof, deduct 1 VP from the total. One point of negative effect would still result in the loss of one VP. Eleven points of negative effect would result in the loss of two VP.

TN	Effect Column
3	d4
5	d6
7	d8
9	d10
11+	d12

The amount the target was missed by will determine the row. If the target number is failed by 8, add row 1 and 7 results; if missed by 9, add row 2 and 7 results and so on. A result of CF is equal to 1, but treat the card as having "extra effect," meaning you draw another card and add the negative effect results to find the total. If the card in question is already an extra effect card, draw another card and add its effect to the first card as normal, and draw yet another card for the CF result and add its effect to find the total.

Cal is attempting to obtain the cargo manifest for a ship docked at Bellerophon VII. This requires a hacking attempt. The Master decides that the TN for this task will be 7 and that it will require 5 VP. Cal's dice pool is 2d10 for her skill check, so Rumi (Cal's player) draws a card for the task check and sees that it is a 4 (card 50). This result misses the mark by 3. She then refers to the effect portion of the card. With a TN of 7, she uses the d8 column and checks the cell in the third row, a 15, resulting in a loss of 3 VP. Right about now Cal is wishing there was an "undo last" button she could use...

If the VP total goes negative, the character can still try to right their mistakes. They can continue to attempt the extended action, but if they fail again while the VP total is negative, the goal is beyond their reach for the timebeing. Before they can try again they will have to either improve their skills, come back with better equipment or specific information on how to accomplish the task. If the final VP results are deeply in the negatives, the Master may bring special complications to bear, just to make things interesting.

Undeterred by this setback, Cal dives into her hacking attempt again. Rumi draws a card (card 28) and sees that the skill check result for 2d10 is CF. On the effect chart she would check the 6d8 cell (d8 column because it is a TN 7 task and row 6 because 7-1=6, with CF results being treated as 1). Card 28 shows a result of 44 for effect, and is an extra effect card, as well. The next card (14) shows a 16 for 6d8 in effect, and the last card (for the CF result) is card 43, which shows 30 effect for 6d8. This yields a total of 90 negative effect, which comes out to -15 VP. This, subtracted from her current total of -3 VP brings Cal to a grand total of -18 VP. Yikes. Since Cal failed (and spectacularly, at that) while her VP total was negative, this particular task is simply too much for her. She closes out her workstation and begins trying to figure out how to tell the captain why they should have left the Bellerophon system, like, yesterday.

Assigning Victory Conditions

When determining the VP required for a task, consider that VP are a reflection of the task's complexity rather than outright difficulty. A higher VP requirement will simply mean the character has to work longer at the task. Setting a demolition charge may have a TN of 5 and VP of 5. Daisy-chaining six of the same charges together to blow up a hardened structure may have the same TN, but the VP requirement might be 15. Picking a deadbolt and picking a padlock might require the same number of VP, but one lock may be more complex, having a much higher TN.

With a d6 in a trait and a successful skill check, a character can fairly expect to earn 1 VP/attempt for every 2 levels in their skill pool (40/54 chance with the standard action deck). Keep this in mind when assigning VP to tasks; if the VP requirement is too high, a hero may never be able to complete the task in the middle of a combat scene. If outside a combat, drawing card after card and tallying up numbers may bog the game down unnecessarily.

Sample Victory Conditions

Sample Action	TN	VP
Picking a padlock	5	5
Picking a deadbolt	7	5
Cracking a Safe	9	15
Breaking down a heavy door	9	3
Hotwiring a car	5	8
Setting a demolition charge	5	5
Daisy-chaining multiple demo charges	5	15
Hacking a computer on the fly	11	5

Edges and Extended Actions

If attempting an extended action where a sharp edge may be applied, you can spend a story chip to reduce the required effect to earn a VP from 6 to 5. This bonus lasts for the duration of the extended action.

Likewise, if a rough edge is invoked while attempting an extended action, it can increase the required effect to earn a VP from 6 to 7. This will earn the player a story chip draw.