Chapter 3.3: Determination, Values, and Directives
Momentum is frequent and tactical. Determination is the rarer resource that marks a protagonist's strongest convictions. A character spends it when a Value or commission Directive gives them the resolve to force a decisive moment. They gain it when the same conviction makes the present situation harder.
Determination belongs to a character. Any player-controlled character with at least one Value begins a commission with 1 Determination and can hold no more than 3. A Companion or Supporting Character with a Value follows the same rule when they first enter the commission. A character without a Value has no Determination pool.
At the end of a commission, discard every character's remaining Determination. Each qualifying character begins the next commission with 1. Determination spends no Momentum and adds no Threat.
Spending Determination
To spend Determination, name one of the acting character's Values or one of the commission's Directives and explain how it supports the action. Spend 1 Determination and choose one effect:
- Moment of Inspiration. After rolling a Task, re-roll any number of d20s in the pool. Keep the new results.
- Perfect Opportunity. Before rolling a Task, after buying any extra dice, set one d20 in the pool to a result of 1. It scores a critical success.
- Special Technique. Gain one Talent for the rest of the current scene. The character must meet its requirements, and the Talent must follow from training, equipment, or circumstances the fiction can support. The gamemaster has the final word.
Your engineer is trying to hold a failing relay together long enough for a settlement to evacuate. Her Value, Nothing Fails While I Still Have Hands, applies. After buying her extra dice, she spends 1 Determination on Perfect Opportunity and sets one die to 1, securing a critical success before the rest of the pool is rolled.
Gaining Determination from a Value
A Value can narrow a character's choices as forcefully as it can support them. When a Value would make the situation harder, the gamemaster may offer 1 Determination. A player may also identify the conflict and propose it. The player chooses one response:
- Comply. Follow the Value and accept a Complication that changes the situation, closes off the easier course, or makes the chosen action harder. Gain 1 Determination.
- Challenge. Act against the Value and cross it out for the remainder of the commission. Gain 1 Determination. Rewrite the Value after the commission to reflect what changed.
A crossed-out Value cannot authorize another Determination spend or gain during that commission. Determination gained beyond the maximum of 3 is discarded.
Commission Directives
Directives are the crew's operational instructions for a commission. The gamemaster establishes them when Mission delivers the commission, drawing from its Mandate, any specific limits attached to the work, and the standing obligations of the Charter and the Doctrine of Response. Keep the list short enough to remain present at the table.
A Directive can authorize a Determination spend exactly as a Value can. When following one creates a genuine cost, the character may comply, accept the Complication, and gain 1 Determination.
A character may also challenge a Directive for a meaningful reason. They gain 1 Determination and act outside that instruction for the immediate choice. The Directive keeps its wording and remains in force for the crew. Challenging it grants no wider Mandate and clears none of the accountability that follows.
Each character may gain Determination from each Directive once per commission, whether by complying at a cost or by challenging it. Mark that use beside the Directive. The instruction remains available to authorize Determination spends.
The gamemaster confirms that the cost or challenge materially changes the situation before awarding Determination. Repeating a settled conflict, creating an avoidable difficulty solely to claim the point, or citing a Directive with no bearing on the immediate choice earns nothing. A challenge remains an action in the fiction. Apply its ordinary consequences, including opposition, damaged trust, a lost Judgment award during the debrief, or a Board of Inquiry where the decision warrants one. Determination provides resolve during the choice. It grants no immunity from accountability.
A commission to investigate a silent station carries the Directive Hold the line, protect the vulnerable, wait for the Mandate. The crew discovers the people who attacked it fleeing toward an uncharted relay. Your scout can comply, remain with the survivors, and gain 1 Determination for letting the attackers go. She can challenge the Directive and pursue them, gaining the same point while accepting that the pursuit exceeds the commission's stated authority.
Values belong to characters and can change with them. Directives belong to the commission and end when it does.