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Inheritance Gambit

Is This The End Of Humanity As We Know It?

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Challenges

A single overcome action is sufficient to deal with a straightforward goal or obstacle—the hero needs to pick this lock, disarm this bomb, sift out a vital piece of information, and so on. It’s also useful when the details of how something gets done aren’t important or worth spending an intense amount of time on, when what you need to know is whether the character can get something done without any setbacks or costs.

Sometimes, however, things get complicated. It’s not enough to pick the lock, because you also have to hold off the hordes of attacking zombies and set up the magical ward that’s going to keep pursuers off your back. It’s not enough to disarm the bomb, because you also have to land the crashing blimp and keep the unconscious scientist you’re rescuing from getting hurt in said landing.

A challenge is a series of overcome actions that you use to resolve an especially complicated or dynamic situation. Each overcome action uses a different skill to deal with one task or part of the situation, and you take the individual results as a whole to figure out how the situation resolves.

GMs, when you’re trying to figure out if it’s appropriate to call for a challenge, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Is each separate task something that can generate tension and drama independently of the other tasks? If all the tasks are really part of the same overall goal, like “detaching the detonator,” “stopping the timer”, and “disposing of the explosive material” when you’re disarming a bomb, then that should be one overcome action, where you use those details to explain what happened if the roll goes wrong.
  • Does the situation require different skills to deal with? Holding off the zombies (Fight) while pushing down a barricade (Physique) and fixing your broken wagon (Crafts) so that you can get away would be a good instance for a challenge.

To set up a challenge, simply identify the individual tasks or goals that make up the situation, and treat each one as a separate overcome roll. (Sometimes, only a certain sequence for the rolls will make sense to you; that’s okay too.) Depending on the situation, one character may be required to make several rolls, or multiple characters may be able to participate.

Example:

Zird the Arcane is attempting to finish the consecration ritual of the Qirik in order to sanctify the ground of the roadside inn and grant it the protection of the Qirik gods. Normally, this wouldn’t be too interesting, except that he’s trying to get it done before a horde of slavering, flesh-hungry zombies he unwittingly set free earlier in the adventure overruns the inn.

Amanda sees several different components to this scene. First there’s the ritual itself, then there’s keeping the inn boarded up, and finally there’s keeping the panicking inhabitants of the inn calm. That calls for Lore, Crafts, and some kind of social skill—Ryan immediately chooses Rapport.

Thus, Ryan will be rolling all three of those skills separately, one for each component Amanda identified. She sets the opposition for each of these at Good (+3)—she wants him to have even chances, while leaving room for a variable outcome.

Now they’re ready to start.

To conduct a challenge, call for each overcome action in whichever order seems most interesting, but don’t decide anything about how the situation turns out until after you’ve collected all the results—you want to have the freedom to sequence the events of each roll in the order that makes the most sense and is the most entertaining. Players, if you get a boost on one of your rolls, feel free to use it on another roll in the challenge, provided you can justify it.

GMs, after the rolls have been made, you’ll consider the successes, failures, and costs of each action as you interpret how the scene proceeds. It could be that the results lead you into another challenge, a contest, or even a conflict.

Example:

Ryan takes a deep breath and says, “All right, let’s do this.” He takes up the dice.

He decides to tackle securing the inn first, so he rolls his Good (+3) Crafts skill and gets a 0 on the dice. That ties the roll, allowing him to achieve the goal at a minor cost. Amanda says, “I’m going to say that I get a boost called Hasty Work to use against you if I need it—you are working fast, after all.”

Ryan sighs and nods, and then goes for the second goal in the challenge, which is calming the locals with his Good (+3) Rapport. He makes his roll and gets a terrible –3 on the dice! Now he has the option to fail or to succeed with a major cost. He goes for success, leaving Amanda to think of a good major cost.

She thinks a moment. How to make calming the villagers costly? Then she grins. “So, this is a story thing more than a mechanics thing, but you know… you’re using Rapport, so you’re probably being pretty inspirational right now. I could see you inadvertently convincing some of these farmers and peasants that those zombies are no real threat, and that they totally can go out and fight with little consequence. Because your magic is keeping them safe, right?”

Ryan says, “But they have to be in the inn for that to work!” Amanda is just grinning. Ryan sighs again. “Okay, fine. Some people get totally the wrong idea and are potentially going to get themselves killed. I can just hear them now… Zird, why did you let my husband die? Augh.”

Amanda grins some more.

Ryan goes for the final part of the challenge—the ritual itself, cast with his Great (+4) Lore. Amanda invokes the boost she got earlier and says, “Yeah, you totally have very distracting zombies chipping apart your barricades. Very distracting.” That pushes the difficulty for the final roll up to Superb (+5).

He rolls a +2 and gets a Fantastic (+6), enough to succeed with no cost.

Amanda nods and together they finish describing the scene—Zird finishes the ritual just in time, and the holy power of the Qirik descends on the inn. Some zombies on the verge of breaking in get sizzled by the holy aura, and Zird breathes a sigh of relief… until he hears the panicked screams of villagers outside the inn…

But that’s next scene.

If you have any boosts that went unused in the challenge, feel free to keep them for the rest of this scene or whatever scene you’re transitioning to, if the events of the challenge connect directly to the next scene.

Advantages in a Challenge

You can try to create an advantage during a challenge, for yourself or to help someone else out. Creating an advantage doesn’t count towards completing one of the challenge goals, but failing the roll could create a cost or problem that negatively impacts one of the other goals. Be careful using this tactic; advantages can help complete tasks more effectively and create momentum, but trying to create them is not without risk.

Attacks in a Challenge

Because you’re always up against passive opposition in a challenge, you’ll never use the attack action. If you’re in a situation where it seems reasonable to roll an attack, you should start setting up for a conflict.

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  • Trust Fund Baby
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Powers

  • Animal Control
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  • Duplication
  • Elasticity
  • Energy Absorption
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  • Theme: Chaos Conduit (Mutant Only)
  • Theme: Corruption
  • Theme: Dark Conduit (Mutant Only)
  • Theme: Electricity Projection
  • Theme: Energy Manipulation
  • Theme: Fire Projection
  • Theme: Frost Projection
  • Theme: Gravity Manipulation
  • Theme: Light Conduit (Mutant Only)
  • Theme: Shadow Projection
  • Theme: Super Form
  • Theme: Technology
  • Wall-Crawling
  • Weather Control

Enhancements

  • Accelerated Growth
  • Alarm Bypass
  • Alertness
  • All the Things
  • Animal Telepathy
  • Banish Darkness
  • Black Bargain
  • Bloody Weapon
  • Built-In Wi-Fi
  • Capacitance
  • Cat’s Landing
  • Chessmastery
  • Close Observation
  • Cocoon
  • Collective Teleportation
  • Complex Summoning
  • Conductive Trip
  • Convincing
  • Critical Hit
  • Dark Aura
  • Dark Rites
  • Dark Sight
  • Dazzle
  • Defensive Blasts
  • Defensive Phasing
  • Disposable Duplicates
  • Distant Power Nullification
  • Dryad Step
  • Eagle-Eyed
  • Effective Duplication
  • Eye of the Needle
  • Familiar Presence
  • Fast Healing
  • Featherstep
  • Fire Control
  • Fortean Storm
  • Friend to Flames
  • Full Nullification
  • Full Sensory Overload
  • Giant Illusions
  • Growth
  • Horrifying to Behold
  • Hot Blooded
  • Human Pincushion
  • Ice Slick
  • Icy Aura
  • Immortal
  • Implacable
  • Improved Reaction Time
  • Intense Training
  • Ionize
  • Jaunt
  • Juggernaut
  • Kinetic Acceleration
  • Lasting Harm
  • Lingering Power Amplification
  • Lingering Power Replication
  • Lingering Weather
  • Long-Distance Telekinesis
  • Long-Distance Telepathy
  • Long-Range Blaster
  • Luck Curse
  • Machine Language
  • Mark and Recall
  • Master Absorption
  • Master Animal Control
  • Master Creature Summoning
  • Master Disguise
  • Master Duplication
  • Master Elasticity
  • Master Energy Blast
  • Master Flight
  • Master Gadgeteering
  • Master Hacking
  • Master Harm
  • Master Healing
  • Master Illusion
  • Master Influence
  • Master Invisibility
  • Master Item Summoning
  • Master Machine Control
  • Master Mimicry
  • Master Natural Weapon
  • Master Phasing
  • Master Plant Control
  • Master Power Amplification
  • Master Power Nullification
  • Master Power Replication
  • Master Precognition
  • Master Regeneration
  • Master Shape-Shifting
  • Master Shielding
  • Master Slowing
  • Master Super Agility
  • Master Super Intelligence
  • Master Super Senses
  • Master Super Speed
  • Master Super Strength
  • Master Super Toughness
  • Master Telekinesis
  • Master Telekinesis
  • Master Telepathy
  • Master Wall-Crawling
  • Master Weather Control
  • Menagerie
  • Mental Blasts
  • Mimicry Memory
  • Multiple Mimicry
  • Nice Toys
  • Obvious Target
  • Ongoing Mutations
  • Opaque Shields
  • Orbital Path
  • Out of the Shadows
  • Overhealing
  • Overwhelming Voice
  • Pain for Power
  • Piercing Damage
  • Portal Mastery
  • Power Generation
  • Power Suite Duplication
  • Power Vampire
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  • Radiohead
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  • Ray of Empowerment
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  • Restore Sanity
  • Sartorial Doubling
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  • Shrinking
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  • Slow Field
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  • Stand Fast
  • Stop
  • Stunning Blow
  • Superior Gadgeteering
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  • Taskmastery
  • Telekinetic Might
  • Telepathic Flexibility
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  • Temperature Reduction
  • The Right Tools for the Job
  • Tireless Grip
  • TK Shield
  • Tough Little Thing
  • Tunneling
  • Uncanny Dodge
  • Useful Devices
  • Visions
  • Walking Library
  • Wall Kick
  • Weather Precision
  • X-Ray Vision
  • Zoological Polyglot

Improved Special Effects

  • Bullrush
  • Dangerous Weather
  • Duplicate Action
  • Flame On
  • Hammer Toss
  • Healing Wave
  • Ice Shield
  • Magical Disruption
  • Visions of Change

Drawbacks

  • A Danger to Anyone Nearby
  • Accident-Prone While Indoors
  • Always Freezing
  • Always on Fire
  • Always Shrouded in Darkness
  • Bright Green Skin
  • Burnout
  • Can’t Climb Perfectly Smooth Surfaces
  • Can’t Get Rid of Your Creature
  • Can’t Heal Someone You Don’t Like
  • Can’t Shut It Off
  • Caught Up In Dark Plans
  • Clumsy
  • Completely Visible Reflection
  • Constant Migraines
  • Darkened Soul
  • Destructive Rage
  • Doesn’t Work on Clothes
  • Don’t Get Along with Yourself
  • Don’t Know Who You Are Anymore
  • Don’t Know Your Own Strength
  • Easily Distracted
  • Easily Forgotten
  • Easily Overwhelmed
  • Energetic Diet
  • Energetic Distraction
  • Exhausting
  • Extended Transformation Sequence
  • Feel Their Pain
  • Fragile as Glass
  • From Another Time
  • Fueled By Rage
  • Grotesque
  • Grotesquely Scarred
  • Hackable
  • Half-Feral
  • Hard to Maneuver in Flight
  • Horrifying to Behold
  • Hot-Tempered
  • Huge, Visible, Pulsating Brain
  • Hyperactive
  • Illusions Dissipate in Daylight
  • Illusions Don’t Show Up on Video
  • Inaccurate at Close Range
  • Inhuman Visage
  • Intensely Sleep-Deprived
  • Involuntary Bursts of Energy
  • Involuntary Energy Field
  • Involuntary Mimicry
  • It Has a Mind of Its Own
  • It Looks Like a Living Nightmare
  • Kept Alive by Your Own Devices
  • Leaves You Weakened
  • Lethargic
  • Limited Fuel
  • Limited Fuel
  • Limited to Organic Materials
  • Limited to Terrestrial Mammals
  • Lots of Collateral Damage
  • Machinery Tends to Fail Around You
  • Massive Bursts of Ill-Smelling Smoke
  • Modern Tech Just Doesn’t Like You
  • Must Maintain Physical Contact
  • Need a Hardline
  • Need a Mask to Protect Those Around You
  • Need a Spark
  • Need Solid Anchor Points
  • Need to Concentrate to Stay Solid
  • No Empathy
  • Not Useful Indoors
  • Not Very Useful Indoors
  • Often Arguing with Yourself
  • Only Effective While Indoors
  • Only Good Up Close
  • Only Live in the Cold
  • Overflowing Light
  • Overwhelming Animal Instincts
  • Power Drain
  • Power-Hungry
  • Psychic Feedback
  • Quite Frail
  • Racked with Guilt
  • Radioactive
  • Reality Kind of Hates You
  • Require a Prop
  • Require Complete Concentration
  • Requires Physical Contact
  • Requires Sustained Physical Contact
  • Restless
  • Shabby Equipment
  • Short-Range Control
  • Slow
  • Slow to Form
  • Slowed Reaction Time
  • Sometimes Things Drop Right Through Your Hands
  • Sticky-Fingered (Literally)
  • Subconscious Made Real
  • Surrounded by Admirers
  • Sympathetic Weather Patterns
  • Tend to Abuse Your Power
  • The Machines Never Stop Talking!
  • Touch-Activated
  • Trail of Random Stuff
  • Unpredictable Superpower Misfires
  • Unwanted Feedback
  • Unwanted Feedback (Hacking)
  • Unwanted Menagerie
  • Up, up and away
  • Very Noticeable
  • Visibly Corrupted
  • Water Shorts You Out
  • Weak
  • Weak and Frail Body
  • Weakened by Daylight
  • Weakened in Ordered Environments
  • Weighty
  • You Can’t Breathe While Phasing
  • You Can’t Feel Much of Anything
  • You Can’t Turn It Off
  • You Don’t Look Quite Human
  • You Have Trouble Seeing the Present
  • You Think You’re Better than Everyone

Collateral Damage

  • “DIE!”
  • Armor Piercing
  • Army of Me
  • Bad Ride
  • Balloon
  • Battle Plan
  • Berserk
  • Black Blessing
  • Blizzard
  • Bulking Up
  • Bulletproof
  • Charged Shot
  • Come to Me!
  • Deadly Ivy
  • Decay
  • Deflection
  • Demonic Gaze
  • Direct Control
  • Dramatic Entrance
  • Earthing
  • Escape Plan
  • Eviscerate
  • Expected Backup
  • Extra Copies
  • Flaming
  • Flashburn
  • Foreign Objects
  • Future Echoes
  • Gravity Manipulation
  • Grounded Discharge
  • Hair-Trigger Reaction
  • Handmade Off Button
  • Highly Experimental Device
  • Hold Fast
  • Holding Pattern
  • Horror Show
  • Hyper-Mode
  • Hyper-Visibility
  • Hyperfocus
  • Interception
  • Invulnerability Charge
  • Jaunt
  • Killing Disguise
  • Killswitch
  • Mass Empowerment
  • Mass Hysteria
  • Mass Illness
  • Mass Slowing
  • Megaton Punch
  • Mental Map
  • Micro Singularity
  • Mighty Bound
  • Missed Me
  • No More
  • Noble Sacrifice
  • Overload
  • Pacifist Aura
  • Pawn Interception
  • Perfect Evasion
  • POW!
  • Psychic Lockdown
  • Psychic Maelstrom
  • Puppetry
  • Quantum Tunneling
  • Rapid Fire
  • Rapid Reforestation
  • Ravage
  • Replicated Collateral Damage
  • Rubber Vengeance
  • Shadow Beast
  • Shield Bubble
  • SMASH!
  • Speed Demon
  • Stegosaurus
  • Sturm und Drang
  • Super-Power Strike
  • Sweet Ride
  • T-Rex
  • Take Up Arms
  • Through the Grid
  • Timeless Zone
  • Unstoppable Telekinesis
  • Untouchably Airy
  • Virtual Possession
  • Whirlwind
  • Winds of Change
  • Wormhole

News

  • Website Updates 2 Jul 2020
  • Pandora Jones has been approved for Roleplay 23 Mar 2019
  • Empire State Heroes MUSH 1 Mar 2019
  • Adrien Thomas has been approved for Roleplay 29 Dec 2018
  • Nate Forgeson has been approved for Roleplay 5 Dec 2018
  • Lincoln Fox has been approved for Roleplay 24 Nov 2018
  • Miranda Moore has been approved for Roleplay 22 Nov 2018
  • Lilli Remilliard has been approved for Roleplay 18 Nov 2018
  • Ivara Lee Armstrong has been approved for Roleplay 9 Oct 2018
  • Website Updates 15 Sep 2018
... more news

Scenes

Performing A Duet

IC date: June 24, 2052 | Cast: Cailean (Kaylee) Simmons, Jericho Trent

Something Like Top Gun

IC date: June 12, 2052 | Cast: Kamila Novac, Liam Whelan

Defying Murphy

IC date: June 03, 2052 | Cast: Cailean (Kaylee) Simmons, Ian Owenshire, Jericho Trent

Aura Of The Alpha

IC date: June 01, 2052 | Cast: Brinley Irvine, Jeremiah Gleason

Breaking The Programming

IC date: May 24, 2052 | Cast: Michael Cross, Nekesa (Neke) Okeke

... More Scenes

Setting/Theme

  • Glossary
  • Map
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  • World

Systems

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