Whenever you score more successes than you needed on a skill test, each extra success becomes Momentum, which you can spend to improve the outcome of the skill test you’ve just passed. Any Momentum you don’t spend can be saved, and saved Momentum goes into a group pool for everyone to use. Up to 6 points of Momentum can be saved like this. Momentum can be used for several things, including getting extra information about a situation, creating or changing traits in the scene, or buying extra dice for skill tests.

Spending Momentum

You can spend Momentum to improve the outcome of a skill test you have passed, such as gaining more information or creating a lasting effect.

After a skill test has passed, the gamemaster describes what happens. You can then spend Momentum to improve this outcome, gain other benefits, or generally make the situation better for you and your allies, or worse for your opponents.

Momentum that you use in this way doesn’t need to be declared in advance, and each point can be spent one at a time as needed. For example, if you spend Momentum to get more information from the gamemaster, you can wait to see what that information is before you decide what to do with the rest of the Momentum, so you don’t waste Momentum by using it unnecessarily.

Unless otherwise noted, each use of Momentum—often called Momentum spends—can only be used once on any single skill test. Some uses of Momentum can be used multiple times, or their effect is ‘per point of Momentum spent’. These options can be used as many times as you wish.

Once a skill test has been resolved, any unspent Momentum is saved into the group pool, as described below. Momentum that can’t be added to the group pool—because the group pool is already full, or because it was bonus Momentum—is lost if it isn’t spent.

Example: Kara’s test to learn more about what Marcus might be up to goes very well, yielding 4 successes. She passes the test and gains 1 point of Momentum. 

The gamemaster tells her that officially Marcus is here to make a spice deal, but many suspect he may have another motive. Kara can spend her bonus point of Momentum to ask a further question. Fearing Marcus may be looking to offer a deal to the same spice merchant, she considers asking who he might be making a deal with. However, she knows Marcus is also known to be a skilled assassin, so instead she asks, “Is he here to kill someone?” 

The gamemaster replies “Probably”, leaving Kara to wonder who the target might be—her spice merchant, or even herself! If only she had another point of Momentum to ask another question...

Bonus Momentum

Some assets and talents grant a character bonus Momentum to successful skill tests, under specific circumstances. This is added to the amount of Momentum the character generates when they succeed at a skill test. Something which grants bonus Momentum may specify that it can only be used in specific ways.

Bonus Momentum differs from normal Momentum in that it cannot be saved into the group pool: if it is not used, then it is lost.

Saving Momentum

Saved Momentum goes into a group collection called the Momentum pool, also referred to as the group pool. Momentum in this pool can be used by anyone in the group, representing the benefits of prior successes and collective effort. The Momentum pool cannot contain more than 6 Momentum points at any time.

Whenever you wish to spend Momentum, you may spend from the group pool in addition to or instead of any Momentum you’ve generated yourself on a skill test. As normal, you don’t have to choose how you’re spending Momentum in advance, so you don’t need to choose how much to take from the group pool until after you’ve decided how to spend it, and you don’t need to spend it all at once.

At the end of a scene, 1 point of Momentum from the group pool is lost. Momentum needs to be maintained, and it does not last forever, so it’s in your interests to spend it rather than saving it up.

Timing Momentum

The majority of uses of Momentum come immediately after a successful skill test, to improve the outcome of that skill test. However, a few important uses for Momentum happen spontaneously during play. These options have their own restrictions on how and when they are used, which is made clear in their text. Buying extra d20s is the most common example of this. 

Common Uses

You’re encouraged to be creative in your uses of Momentum. When you pass a skill test and generate Momentum, think of how your superb performance might be reflected in the outcome, or how it might influence what happens next.

However, there are a few common Momentum spends which are key to how the system works and which serve as examples for what you can do with Momentum.

Regardless of how you use it, Momentum must make a degree of sense in the story—the benefit you’ve gained from Momentum must make sense from the perspective of the characters—and the gamemaster can veto any uses of Momentum that don’t fit with the story or the scene.

• Buying d20s is one of the most common uses for Momentum. This is done before you roll the dice pool, but after the gamemaster decides on the Difficulty. The cost increases for each die purchased: the first die costs 1 point of Momentum, the second costs 2 Momentum, and the third costs 3. No more than three bonus d20s may be bought for a single skill test. As noted in Improving the Odds, you may pay for some or all this cost by adding to Threat instead of spending Momentum.
• Create a Trait allows you to define a new fact about the scene or situation. Spending 2 points of Momentum either creates a brand-new trait, changes an existing one, or removes one currently in play. When you create a trait, it must relate to the action you’ve just attempted, and it must be something that could reasonably result from that action. 
• Create an Asset works in the same way as creating a trait, but there are some limitations to the kinds of assets you can create. An asset created has a Quality of 0, and it should be useful in the current type of conflict. Assets created in this way are temporary and cease to exist at the end of the scene. Whatever the asset represents is discarded or ceases to be useful. You may spend 2 Momentum to make an Asset created during a scene permanent (at Quality 0) in which case it is added to the list of assets on your character sheet. 
• Obtain Information allows you to learn more about the scene and situation. Each point of Momentum you spend allows you to ask the gamemaster one question about the current situation. The gamemaster must answer this question truthfully, but the answer doesn’t need to be complete: partial or incomplete answers that leave room for further questions are more common. The answers must reflect the skill you’ve used to gain the information, and it should be something that your character would be able to determine themselves. “You don’t know” or “You can’t tell” are valid answers from the gamemaster, but the gamemaster must refund any Momentum spent if they give answers like that.

Example: So far, Kara has used Momentum to buy extra d20s and to Obtain Information by asking about Marcus' secret mission. 

If she had more Momentum she might ask more questions. However, she could still create a new trait such as ‘Inquisitive’ that might give her a bonus to further investigations.