Task Rolls

The Competency is a combination of the persona’s EXPS Level and her skills. A persona can use her EXPS Level for any task that fits within her vocation. If the persona also has an applicable skill, she can add this to her Competency.

If the persona does not have aptitude in the task area they cannot have competence. Aptitude can be as simple as staying in your vocation’s lane, or more nuanced. For a more nuanced view jump to Aptitude.

The more complicated something is the higher the Degree of Difficulty (DD). Almost every task has a degree of difficulty associated with it. While the lowest DD possible is 1 there is no limit to how high a DD can go. However, the DD can be so high that it is impossible to win the Task Roll. For example, cloning is a DD 42 task.

If a task does not exist or there is no assigned degree of difficulty, the players and referee must negotiate one. The players and referee only need to agree on a qualitative term describing the difficulty of the task. A dice roll will randomly determine the actual value of the DD.

Let’s consider a persona that wants to make some ice from water. If there is a freezer, this task should be automatic, but there may be some trivial interference. So the referee and players agree that this is task has a trivial difficulty. If there is no freezer, and the expedition is on a hot planet where the water is full of sediment, the difficulty should be impossible or bizarre.

The target roll is the actual number that the player must roll higher than to win the task roll. The target roll is like the Defence Rating of a task. The player must roll equal to or higher than the target roll. The higher the persona’s skill score (EXPS level plus skills), the lower the target roll. The higher the task’s degree of difficulty, the higher the target roll.

The target roll can be tabulated or calculated. A tabulated target roll employs a table comparing the degree of difficulty to skill score. A calculated target roll employs simple maths to determine the target roll. Very high skill scores and very high DDs require calculation.

The player adds bonuses to her 1d100 roll. Bonuses often mean the difference between success and failure. Bonuses can come from every which way. Some TOYs give task roll bonuses. Some computers give task roll bonuses. Many referees will offer task roll bonuses for good role-playing descriptions.

The player rolls the 1d100, adds in the bonuses and hopes to beat the target roll. Any roll equal to or higher than the target roll is a success. Any roll less than the target roll is a failure.

Every research team must have a team leader. The EXPS Level of the team leader determines the size of the research team. The team can consist of one persona per level of the team leader in addition to themselves. A team leader cannot lead a persona with a higher EXPS level than herself.

For example, a 5th level veterinarian could lead a team of 5 veterinarians. That could be a combined research team of skill score 30 with five five task rolls. Teams can accomplish amazing things. However, teams cannot get together to solve intricate campaign puzzles created by the referee. As always, plot points are dice roll resistant.

A team can be composed of different vocations. The players must justify each vocation type’s involvement on the research team. For example, a 7th level biologist could lead a team of 5 biologists, a mercenary, and a spie. If the research team was trying to determine the chance of alien revolution, this team makes sense. If the research team were trying to determine the direction of alien migration, including the spie and mercenary would not make sense.

An operating room research team has a 4th level veterinarian team leader. The team comprises two 3rd level vets, a 3rd level biologist and a 2nd level nomad. They are working together to fix a famous alien the expedition accidentally ran over with a hovercar. They need to repair her articulated wing flaps. The Degree of Difficulty of the procedure is 20DD.

The research team’s total skill score is 15 (4 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 2).

Each team member would get a chance to beat the Target Roll of 76. The procedure is a success if any of the five players roll 76 or higher.

General tasks represent day-to-day things that personas may want to do. Under normal circumstances, there should be no task roll required for these actions. The referee would need some fun excuse to force the player to make a task roll. If a persona needs to bake a cake for her dessert, she should simply bake a cake. If the persona is baking a cake to impress an alien dignitary, then a task roll is part of the fun. If the persona needs to bake a cake after drinking a uncombat:task_rolls.adoc, then a task roll is part of the fun.

Only a knite can accomplish knite tasks. .Knite Task Examples

Other vocations have little or no concept of these irrelevant skills. .Nothing Task Examples