Task Difficulty

If the GM feels that a success roll
should be easier or harder in a partic-
ular situation, he may assess a difficul-
ty modifier. This is separate from mod-
ifiers for the culture, equipment, lan-
guage, tech level, etc. of the person
attempting the task, in that it applies
to anyone who attempts the task. It is
cumulative with all other modifiers.
For instance, if the GM rules that
the only way to sway a particular audi-
ence is to make a Public Speaking roll
at -2, the difficulty modifier is -2. Any
speaker has -2, in addition to personal
modifiers (for culture, language,
Voice, etc.), when dealing with that
audience.
Equipment modifiers reflect the quality of:
• Special “tools of the trade,” for criminal, military,
and espionage skills such as Disguise, Explosives,
Forgery, Forward Observer, Holdout, and Lockpicking.
• The contents of your backpack, for outdoor skills
like Fishing and Survival.
• Your instruments or lab, for scientific and medical
skills such as Alchemy, Diagnosis, Meteorology,
Navigation, and Surgery.
• Your shop or toolkit, for Armoury, Carpentry,
Electrician, Electronics Repair, Engineer, Machinist,
Masonry, Mechanic, Smith, and other skills used to
build or repair things.
• Your studio, for artistic skills – Artist, Jeweler,
Photography, etc.
Example: For First Aid skill, “improvised” might
mean leaves and clean mud; “basic,” sterile bandages;
“good,” a standard first-aid kit; “fine,” a crash kit
(found in most ambulances); and “best,” an entire hos-
pital. Missing antiseptic would give -1, while a first-aid
kit salvaged from a wrecked vehicle might give -1 or
worse for damaged equipment.
Many skills suggest difficulty mod-
ifiers – e.g., the -5 to use Lockpicking
skill by touch – but the possible variety
of tasks is essentially infinite. Here are
some guidelines for GMs:
+10 – Automatic. Tasks so trivial that
the GM should waive the need for a
success roll, except under extraor-
dinary circumstances. Example: A
Driving roll to start a car.
+8 or +9 – Trivial. Situations where
failure is extremely unlikely, and
would require incredibly bad luck.
Example: A Driving roll to drive
around an empty parking lot.
+6 or +7 – Very Easy. Tasks where fail-
ure is possible, but would require
bad luck. Example: A Driving roll to
drive down an empty suburban
street.
+4 or +5 – Easy. Most mundane tasks,
including rolls made by ordinary
people at day-to-day jobs. Example:
A Driving roll to commute to work
in a small town.
+2 or +3 – Very Favorable. Mildly
risky tasks that most people
would undertake without hesita-
tion. Example: A Driving roll to
commute to work in a teeming
metropolis.
+1 – Favorable. Tasks that most people
would hesitate at, due to the risk,
but that a career adventurer would
regard as easy. Example: A Driving
roll to compete in a road rally.
0 – Average. Most adventuring tasks,
and the majority of skill use under
stress. Example: A Driving roll in a
car chase.
-1 – Unfavorable. Stressful tasks that
would challenge a novice adventur-
er, but not an old hand. Example: A
Driving roll in a high-speed car
chase.
-2 or -3 – Very Unfavorable. Stressful
tasks that would challenge a pro-
fessional. Skilled adventurers still
routinely
accept
such
risks!
Example: A Driving roll in a high-
speed car chase on a busy freeway.
-4 or -5 – Hard. Tasks so challenging
that even an expert will look for
alternatives. A true “master” is still
unlikely
to
feel
challenged.
Example: A Driving roll to keep the
car on the road while shooting a
gun out the window during a high-
speed chase.
-6 or -7 – Very Hard. Situations that
even the masters might have sec-
ond thoughts about. Example: A
Driving roll in a high-speed chase
during a blizzard.
-8 or -9 – Dangerous. Tasks at which
even the greatest masters expect to
fail. Example: A Driving roll while
shooting a gun in a high-speed
chase during a blizzard.
-10 – Impossible. No sane person
would attempt such a task. The
GM may wish to forbid such
attempts altogether. Example: A
Driving roll to steer a car with the
knees while firing a bazooka two-
handed during a chase through a
blizzard.
These modifiers assume a trained
character. To get an idea of how tough
a task would be for someone working
at default, add the default penalty to
the difficulty modifier.
Example: Someone who never
learned to drive is using Driving at its
DX-5 default. For him, an everyday
commute – “Easy” (+4 or +5) for a
trained driver – would be “Average”
(DX) or even “Unfavorable” (DX-1),
The GM may define major projects as “long tasks”
that require a number of man-hours of work with one
or more attributes or skills. For instance, the GM
might rule that building a rope bridge over a chasm
requires 40 man-hours of DX-based ordinary labor, 24
man-hours of Carpentry work, and eight man-hours of
Engineer work.
The normal limit on labor for each person involved
is eight hours per 24-hour day. At the end of each day,
each worker rolls vs. the skill used that day (the GM
rolls for NPCs). A success puts eight man-hours of
work toward the task; a critical success counts 50%
extra. A failure counts as half as much. A critical fail-
ure contributes nothing, and ruins 2d man-hours of
work already done!
A supervisor who works a full shift with his work-
ers may opt to coordinate his staff instead of working
himself. Make an Administration roll if organization
matters more than inspiration, or a Leadership roll in
the opposite situation (GM’s judgment). On a success,
the workers get +1 to their rolls for the day; on a criti-
cal success, they get +2. On any failure, the supervisor
contributes nothing at all.
and almost certainly a stressful
experience!
The GM can use difficulty modi-
fiers in place of other modifiers if the
outcome of a task is too unimportant
– or the action too hot – to justify stop-
ping to add up a long string of modi-
fiers. For instance, in a car chase
involving a car in bad repair, the GM
might bump the difficulty up a level or
two instead of assessing an equipment
modifier for the car.