Chapter 3.7: Extended Tasks and Consequences

An Extended Task represents complex work performed under pressure. Repairing a relay over several calm days needs time and suitable tools. Repairing it before the containment field fails needs these rules.

Use one only when delay, failure, or repeated exposure carries a consequence. If the crew can work until the job is done without the situation changing, resolve one Task or state how long the work takes.

Build an Extended Task

Record four elements.

• Progress: the number of spaces required to finish. Use 6 for a short crisis, 10 for substantial work, and 14 for a commission-defining problem.
• Difficulty: the Difficulty of each Task that directly advances the work, usually 1 to 3.
• Resistance: how much each successful attempt's Impact is reduced, usually 0 to 3.
• Interval: how much fictional time one attempt consumes: a combat turn, ten minutes, an hour, a day, or another span suited to the scene.

State the consequence of running out of time or abandoning the work. Players should know the scale of that consequence before the first roll.

Attempting the Work

One character leads each attempt. Assistance, tools, Traits, Focuses, and ship support apply normally.

1. Describe the approach. Name the action and the Attribute and Specialization it uses. Repeating a failed approach without changing anything cannot advance the work.
2. Attempt the Task. Roll against the Extended Task's current Difficulty.
3. Determine Impact. Impact equals the Specialization used by the lead character. If the ship Assisted and its matching Specialization is higher, use the ship's rating. Reduce Impact by Resistance, to a minimum of 1.
4. Apply Progress. Mark Progress equal to final Impact. The Extended Task ends when its track is full.
5. Advance time and consequences. Consume one Interval and resolve any hazard, deadline, or opposing action tied to the attempt.

Spend 2 Momentum after a successful attempt to add 1 Impact. This is repeatable. Each Complication reduces Impact by 1, to a minimum of 1, in addition to its fictional effect. Succeed at Cost advances the work and applies its automatic Complication.

Breakthroughs

Place a Breakthrough halfway along a Progress track and another at three-quarters, rounding up. When Progress crosses one, change the situation. A Breakthrough may:

• reduce or increase Difficulty by 1;
• reduce or increase Resistance by 1;
• grant +2 Impact to the next successful attempt;
• create, remove, or change a Trait;
• reveal information or open a new approach;
• trigger an event already implicit in the scene.

State visible changes when they occur. A hidden discovery may remain concealed until the crew has the means to perceive it.

Crossing More Than One Breakthrough

Determine the attempt's final Impact before marking any Progress. If that Impact crosses more than one Breakthrough, resolve every crossed Breakthrough in track order, from the lowest space to the highest. A change to Difficulty, Resistance, or Impact does not alter the Task just rolled or the Impact already determined; it applies to the next attempt unless the Breakthrough explicitly describes an immediate event. If the same Impact fills the track, resolve all Breakthroughs crossed by it before resolving completion.

Your engineer begins an attempt with 4 of 10 Progress. The final Impact is 4, carrying the track through the Breakthroughs at 5 and 8. Resolve the change at 5 first, then the change at 8. If the first raises Resistance, it affects the next attempt; it does not reduce the 4 Progress already earned.

Trouble Tracks

A Trouble Track records a worsening situation outside the crew's direct control: an alarm approaching, a reactor destabilizing, negotiations collapsing, or a storm overtaking a ship.

Set a track of 6, 10, or 14 spaces and an Impact of 2 to 4. Name the events that advance it, such as a failed Task, a Complication, a missed deadline, a loud action, or an adversary's success. When a trigger occurs, mark Trouble equal to its Impact. The gamemaster may spend up to 3 Threat when a trigger occurs, adding 1 Impact per Threat.

Place Setbacks at the halfway and three-quarter marks. A Setback may raise a Difficulty, widen a Complication range, remove a stabilizing Trait, add 2 Threat, bring in opposition, or inflict Stress. Filling the track resolves the named consequence.

Players cannot spend Momentum to erase Trouble directly. They can change the fiction: silence the alarm, cool the reactor, secure an agreement, or create a Trait that removes a trigger. Where reversing accumulated Trouble is possible, make that a separate Extended Task or a specific effect of a successful action.

Common Structures

An Extended Task should invite several approaches. A relay repair might accept Engineering to rebuild a circuit, Science to model the failure, Diplomacy to coordinate frightened technicians, or Infiltration to bypass a locked control layer. Each approach still needs tools and a concrete contribution to the work.