Extended Challenges
Table of contents
Some obstacles and challenges are more complex than could be resolved in a single Trait check, and are also not combative in nature. Helping to raise a barn, guide a ship through a stormy sea, or negotiating a peace treaty, would all fall under this heading.
In these cases, the GM may call for an Extended Challenge. At their core, these are simply stretched-out Trait checks.
Every Round, each Hero describes what they’re doing to help out, and rolls their Trait check as normal. These rolls are all totaled together – everyone helps push the group towards success, and it’s the efforts of the group, not any one individual, which will carry the day. Thus, it is in everyone’s interest to participate, since even a bad roll is better than no roll at all.
Number of Participants
The GM first must decide how many Heroes are participating in the Challenge. In most cases, this will be “all of them”. However, in some cases – such as one Hero disarming a complex mechanical trap while the other Heroes fight off enemies and give them cover – it may be a fewer.
Length of Challenge
The GM then decides how long they expect the Extended Challenge to last. In most cases, this will be three rounds, but it may be longer or shorter (2-4 rounds).
An Extended Challenge might need to be completed within that timeframe to be successful. In other cases, where finishing early or late is its own reward or punishment, the Challenge will just continue until the Heroes’ total exceeds the total DC.
Calculating the DC
As with a normal Trait Check, the GM then decides how difficult the task would be to accomplish, taking the DC from the chart.
Then, the GM multiplies that number by both the number of participants, and again by the length of the challenge. This is the Challenge’s final DC: if the Heroes meet or exceed this number, then they succeed; otherwise, they fail.
Type of Challenge
There are two types of Extended Challenges: Focused, and Mixed.
A Focused Extended Challenge uses only a single Trait. For instance, if the Challenge is to win a singing competition, then perhaps only the Perform Trait would make sense. Focused Challenges are best used for short or single-person Extended Challenges – not everyone will be skilled at the chosen Trait.
A Mixed Extended Challenge may use a wide variety of Traits – the GM may provide a list of (usually four or more) allowed Traits, or may allow the Heroes to use any Trait so long as they can roleplay and explain their reasoning for it. In a Mixed Challenge, each Hero may only use a given Trait once, so they must be prepared to mix it up and show off the breadth of their skills and knowledge.
A player may come up with a great idea to use a Trait that was not on the provided list, which the GM may then allow; or they may be trying to shoehorn in a usage of their most powerful Trait, which the GM would then not allow. The GM retains the final say on whether a Hero’s intended use of a given Trait is allowed in a Mixed Challenge.