Some activities may take a while to complete, requiring ongoing effort over a prolonged period. This is especially useful when an ongoing action can be interrupted or cannot be completed all in one go.

These Extended Tasks occur entirely at the gamemaster’s discretion and can be used for a wide range of situations. When the gamemaster decides that a situation is an extended task—and this can be something caused during play, perhaps by spending Threat point or because of a complication—they choose how big the extended task is. This is called the requirement. Each passed skill test made toward completing an extended task scores one or more points, and when a total number of points have been scored equal to the requirement, then the extended task is complete, and whatever event or activity the task represented is resolved.

As a rule of thumb, each passed skill test should score 2 points towards the requirement, which can be reduced by Complications and increased by spending Momentum. If an extended task is based on overcoming something set in place by an opponent, then using one of their skill ratings is a good basis for the task’s requirement. In either case, appropriate traits may increase these scores further. If an asset has a Quality rating of 1 or above, this also adds to the points scored towards the requirement.

Extended Tasks can also be presented from the opposite direction to represent impending problems, with failed Skill Tests, Complications, or perilous actions adding points, and the problem occurring when the requirement is met. Situations may have both an extended task for you to work toward, and one representing a problem, with one or other increasing depending on whether Skill Tests were passed or not.

Example: Her behavior at the party has not done Kara’s reputation any good. She has upset a few of the guests with her questions, and possibly embarrassed herself by drinking too much. She also clearly had a conflict of some form with Marcus, who has many friends at the gathering. Kara’s player asks the gamemaster if there is anything Kara can do to repair her reputation, so it doesn’t suffer any damage when people talk of how the evening went.

The gamemaster decides this is an extended task, with a requirement of 5 to settle any of the other guests’ ruffled feathers. However, the party will eventually end, meaning Kara has a limited amount of time to perform the task.

The gamemaster decides Kara can only make three rolls before the party ends—there’s only so much effort she can make to fix this. The first test makes decent progress, succeeding and scoring 2 points toward the requirement. On the second test, she struggles to assuage the partygoers’ concerns, succeeding but suffering a complication, which means she only scores 1 point. On the third attempt, she succeeds—scoring the last two points she needed—and even generates some Momentum, which she saves for later, as it’s not needed here. While it takes her the rest of the night, she manages to talk to all the guests and assure them that Marcus simply felt ill and had to retire. While it is exhausting, she finally leaves the party having made a new deal, beaten a deadly enemy, and maintained the reputation of herself and her House. All in all, quite a good evening.