When you take your turn, you may take a single action, to either move an asset or use an asset. You are welcome to suggest actions which aren’t covered below, and the gamemaster determines how to resolve them (often by selecting which action is closest to what you’ve suggested and using it as a baseline).

Conflict Overview

Here is a high-level summary of how to make an attack…

1. Choose an asset to use in the attack.
2. Based on the type of attack you are making, choose an appropriate skill and drive, as well as a focus if one applies.
3. Roll your contest against the target.
1. If you win the contest, your attack is successful.
2. If you lose the contest, your attack fails.
4. On a successful attack, the outcome depends on your target.
1. If your foe is a minor character, they are defeated.
2. Otherwise, defeating the foe is an extended task with a requirement equal to the foe’s most appropriate skill. Each successful attack scores points equal to 2 plus the Quality of their asset. Once the task’s requirement has been reached, the foe is defeated.

Move

You move one of your assets (or your character, in some cases) from its current location to any adjacent zone. You may spend 2 points of Momentum to move your chosen asset one additional zone, or to choose a second asset to move one zone.

When you move, you may choose to try and gain an additional benefit, but there is a risk to this. You may attempt to move in a subtle way, trying to avoid attention, or you may move in a bold manner that provokes a response. In either case, this requires a skill test, with a Difficulty of 2. If you pass the skill test, you gain an additional benefit, listed below.

• If you move an asset subtly, your subtlety limits your opponents’ ability to respond. If you pass, then you move your asset, and you reduce the cost to Keep the Initiative to 0: your subtlety allows you to act again before your enemy can react.
• If you move an asset boldly, you provoke a hasty response from your opponent. If you pass, then you move your asset, and then you may move one of an opposing character’s assets: your daring ploy has provoked a reaction, just as you planned.

In either case, if you fail, you may not spend Momentum on additional movement, and one enemy may move a single asset one zone, as they react to your failed ploy. Further, if you fail, you may not Keep the Initiative.

Example: Kara and Nasir are both flying ornithopters to a secret facility run by their enemy, House Arcuri. As several security measures are in play, infiltrating the base becomes an espionage conflict. The gamemaster has divided the facility and its surroundings into zones that Kara and Nasir's ornithopters need to move into. 

Kara goes first and moves subtly. She makes a successful test and moves her ornithopter into the next zone, but it is a zone occupied by an enemy ‘thopter. She pays the cheaper price to Keep the Initiative, allowing Nasir to take an action before the enemy pilot. 

Nasir moves boldly, flying close enough to get the attention of the enemy pilots. Nasir can move to another zone, but also moves the enemy ornithopter in Kara's zone to a different one. The enemy pilot takes the bait, following Nasir's ornithopter as Kara flies low toward the facility, unseen.

Use an Asset

You may choose one of the assets you control and use it to achieve some other goal. You must declare what you are doing with the asset, and what effect you wish your action to have.

Common examples of ways to use an asset include, but are not limited to:

• Attacking an opponent with the intent of harming or defeating them (see Attacks, Defeat, and Recovery).
• Attempting to remove an opponent’s asset from play.
• Attempting to create a new trait for the scene, or a new asset for your character or an ally.
• Attempting to overcome an obstacle in the environment.
• Attempting to gain information about the situation.
• Attempting to remove a trait or similar complication from an ally, or to aid a defeated ally.

Regardless of the desired outcome, this action always requires a skill test. If you pass the test, then you get the desired effect. If you fail, then the action you’ve attempted is prevented, and you may not Keep the Initiative.

Actions which directly affect a specific opponent are contests rather than skill tests: the opponent gets to resist the action taken against them. The final Difficulty of a contest is influenced by the assets the defender has.

Some outcomes may not be possible to achieve in a single action. These turn into extended tasks, where the character makes progress toward their goal bit by bit over several actions. The requirement for the extended test is usually based on the defender's skill. The number of points made toward the requirement of the extended task is equal to 2 plus the Quality of the asset used: more potent assets make progress faster.

Remember that assets are simply additional traits you can use to modify the situation. However, in some cases they may be required to allow the conflict to occur at all.

Example: Nasir has an enemy pilot on his tail in the same zone, and he needs to defeat that pilot to escape. Flying in different vehicles makes it impossible for Nasir to take any action against the pilot himself. So, he must first declare he is using his ornithopter asset to make the conflict between them possible. The enemy pilot uses his ornithopter asset to make a defense possible.

Nasir may be able to apply other traits, just like any other contest, to get a better Difficulty rating. But having used his ornithopter to initiate the conflict, it cannot also adjust the Difficulty.

Nasir also has a personal shield, but the gamemaster tells him that won't be any use if his ornithopter is forced out of the sky. He might also create the trait ‘Clear Skies’ for the environment, but as that helps the enemy pilot as well the advantages cancel each other out.

Having declared all the traits they wish to use, Nasir and the enemy pilot make an opposed test against each other. Nasir gains a success and so defeats his opponent. In this case he describes forcing the other ornithopter out of the sky with some clever flying.

Attacks, Defeat, and Recovery

A common choice in conflicts, characters may attempt to defeat their opponents in order to remove those opponents from the conflict. Any action where the goal is to defeat an opponent is classified as an attack, and defeated opponents are no longer able to participate in that conflict: they may be injured or even dead, they may have been forced out of a social gathering, or they’re otherwise incapable of continuing to affect the conflict.

Example: Having taken out an enemy ornithopter, Nasir is feeling confident, until he notices a cannon turret activating and taking aim at him. The turret is an asset that was already in the zone Nasir has entered, so now the gamemaster decides to use it. 

The gamemaster makes an attack with the turret against Nasir in the ornithopter and wins the opposed test. This would defeat a minor character, but Nasir is far more than that! So, the test must be an extended test, which in this case has a requirement of 4. The cannon turret is a powerful asset with a Quality of 1, so the gamemaster scores a total of 3 of the 4 points they need, leaving only 1 left. Another hit, and Nasir will be blown out of the sky! 

Making an attack is always a contest, because it affects another character. The type of contest, and the skill and assets involved, can differ depending on what kind of combat you’re engaging in (personal, espionage, etc.), as well as the circumstances of that conflict. For example, a skirmish normally involves the Battle skill and a melee weapon, while an intrigue interaction might use the Communicate skill and a blackmail asset. (Examples of appropriate contests appear in each combat type section later in this chapter.) 

Contest Results

If you win the contest, then you successfully attack the enemy—see Successful Attack Outcomes, following. If you lose the contest, then your attack has failed, and the action ends. You may not Keep the Initiative after failing. Regardless of the result, complications may allow the enemy to gain an advantage over you, like opening you up for a counterattack.

Successful Attack Outcomes

• If the attack is against a minor non-player character or minor supporting character, then a successful attack against them means they are defeated.
• If the attack is against a notable or major non-player character, a notable supporting character, or a main player character—or if the target is a military asset in a warfare conflict—then defeating the character is an extended task, with a requirement equal to the most appropriate skill of the character. Each successful attack scores points equal to 2 plus the Quality of the asset used; you may spend 2 points of Momentum to increase the Quality of the asset by +1 for that attack only. Once the task’s requirement has been reached, the character is defeated.

As noted above, a defeated character can no longer take part in the scene, at least until they’ve had an opportunity to recover. This may require time, action from allies (see below), a specific condition being met (such as restoring a tarnished reputation after a social defeat), or some combination of the three.

Some defeats may be impossible to fully recover from, such as serious debilitating injuries or death—though permanent defeats for player characters should be rare, as anyone as significant as a player character is likely to be captured, to ransom or subvert, since they’re too valuable to simply kill. Defeats with a long-lasting effect may add new traits to player characters, at the gamemaster’s discretion, reflecting permanent effects from injury, disgrace, or similar. If you want to inflict a lasting injury on an opponent, spend 2 points of Momentum after the attack which defeats that opponent.

Resisting Defeat

Some characters are harder to overcome than others, possessing a limited ability to fend off the attacks—literal or figurative—that would lay them low. This kind of desperate, last-ditch survival cannot be achieved often, and it always comes at a price: something lost, something suffered, or some advantage given to the enemy.

All player characters have this option, as do all notable and major non-player characters, and all notable supporting characters.

Once per scene, if your character would be defeated, you may choose to Resist Defeat. Resisting defeat prevents that defeat from occurring—your character remains active in the scene. When you choose to Resist Defeat, it costs 1 point of Momentum, or adds 1 to Threat, and causes you to suffer a complication (non-player characters opposing the players spend Threat instead). This complication could cause the loss of one of your assets, an advantage the enemy has gained over you, or some hindrance suffered avoiding the defeat.

The amount of Momentum or Threat spent to Resist Defeat increases by an amount equal to the Quality of the asset used to cause that defeat; it’s harder to avoid an injury caused by a poisoned dagger than some ruffian’s blade. The attacker inflicting the defeat can increase this cost further by spending Momentum.

Defensive Assets

The attacker’s final Difficulty increases by +1 for each defensive asset in the target’s zone. Essentially, a defensive asset is a trait that can be used to increase the Difficulty of any attack to that zone. With the attacker doing the work of initiating the conflict, this is simply the best use of a defensive asset. 

In many cases a defensive asset cannot move. Armor is worn on one part of the body, shields cover the whole body (for the most part). Defenses are set up and remain where they are to protect a zone. However, a few defensive assets can be moved as a more active defense. A half shield can be moved to keep the protected side towards the attacker. A knife can be used to parry and is therefore treated like a defensive asset if in the same zone as an attacking one.

The Quality rating of a defensive asset should be is added to the requirement of the extended test to defeat the wielder. For this reason, attacking and removing defensive assets from an opponent can be a vital tactic.

Targeting Assets

Denying assets to the enemy is a key element of conflict—the fewer assets they have, the harder it is for them to attack you or defend against your attacks—so targeting assets is likely to be a common choice of action.

First, select the asset you wish to target. Then describe how you are trying to remove that asset from play, and make a skill test. Typically speaking, targeting an asset is a skill test with a Difficulty of 2. If the asset is being wielded directly by a character—as in, it is an object in their hands—then it is a contest instead.

If the test is passed, then the outcome depends on what kind of asset has been targeted. An intangible asset is destroyed. A tangible asset is set aside, unable to be used by their owner, but continuing to exist; that asset can be recovered as an action, or at the end of the scene. 

Creating a Trait or Asset

It’s likely that you’ll seek to try and shift circumstances in your favor during a conflict. This may come about by establishing new facts and details about the current scene or environment, by creating a trait, or by obtaining or revealing a new tool or resource at your disposal by creating an asset.

If you wish to create a trait, describe the sort of effect you want, and how you wish to create it. Then, attempt a skill test with a Difficulty of 2. If you pass, then you’ve managed to create the desired trait.

Creating an asset works in the same way, but there are some limitations to the kinds of assets you can create. A created asset has a Quality of 0, and it should be useful in the current type of conflict. This can be an intangible asset, such as advantageous positioning in a skirmish or duel, additional preparations, useful information, or some other non-physical benefit. Alternatively, it could be a tangible asset, but this must be something that your character could reasonably have concealed from everyone else (and you’re revealing it now), or something which you could find in the scene.

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 points of Momentum to make an asset created during a scene permanent, in which case it is added to the list of assets on your character sheet.

Example: While Nasir is maintaining a distraction, Kara has landed and entered the facility. But upon seeing Nasir is in trouble, she decides to try and neutralize the cannon turret. As she is some distance away, she needs some sort of asset to do so. Kara’s player spends Momentum and makes a test to create a new intangible asset of ‘security access’. Kara's player narrates her sneaking up on one of the House Arcuri technicians and stealing his uniform and access pass. 

Moving the asset (subtly) into the same zone as the cannon turret represents Kara finding the right control system. Keeping the Initiative, Kara then uses the asset to make an attack on the cannon turret, accessing its controls to overload it. She makes a successful test and the cannon turret explodes in a ball of flame. 

What If I Don't Have an Asset?

Assets are not only useful, they can be vital. But they are not always essential. Like any trait, they can grant options you wouldn't normally have or make a task much easier. The right tools for the right job. But unless you need one to allow the test, their use is optional, and there are many other traits and talents that might allow a character to perform an otherwise impossible action. Hyperawareness, for instance, allows a character to see the minutiae others miss, making certain advanced observation tests possible. It is important to remember that assets are just one weapon in any character's arsenal. In themselves they are only a potential key to power; opening the door is more about how they are applied and wielded.

Overcoming an Obstacle

A conflict may occur in an environment littered with obstacles, hindrances, and challenges to overcome. These obstacles are traits and don’t strictly belong to any one character, but they are still problems that need to be overcome in some way.

In a physical environment, such as for a skirmish or warfare scene, these obstacles are features of the terrain: walls and similar barriers, fast-flowing water, dense mud, shifting sands, and other features that impair movement and action. During espionage or intrigue, these obstacles may represent factors that prevent access to places or people.

When you attempt to overcome an obstacle, you must describe how you are bypassing it, and then attempt a skill test. The gamemaster determines the Difficulty; this normally has a Difficulty of 1, but more challenging obstacles naturally have a higher Difficulty. Passing this test means that you’ve managed to pass the obstacle unhindered. Failure means that you’ve been stopped for the time being, and you’ll need to find a different method to overcome the obstacle.

Gaining Information

Often, a situation may not be entirely as it seems, and many conflicts revolve around keeping secrets and relying on misdirection and misinformation. You’re likely to find yourself in a position where you need to try and gain information during a conflict in order to win, particularly in espionage and intrigue conflicts.

How this is resolved can differ based on the nature of the information you seek and what you plan to do with it. Basic information-gathering is typically a Difficulty 0 skill test the skill depending on the conflict, with Momentum spent to ask the gamemaster questions about the situation. Momentum from this can also be used to create traits representing advantages gained from knowledge, or to remove traits that represented concealment or deception. You may instead seek to create an asset, or overcome an obstacle by gaining information, as noted above. The Momentum can even be saved for later if it doesn't exceed the usual limit, representing the advantage of scouting out the terrain or your opponents first.

The Difficulty of this skill test increases if there are any factors that would make the information harder to uncover. Classified, restricted, or obscure information is harder to find, while secrets may be impossible to uncover unless you know where to look or who to ask.

This form of test can be exceptionally useful for a gamemaster. Players often want to ask what their character can learn by (for instance) mingling with the guests at a party, surveying a battlefield, or asking around about their enemy. Often there isn't any specific information they can learn, but the action might yield something useful. So, a test to gain information offers a chance to build Momentum (or ask more specific questions) that represents the minor details they learned that they might turn to their advantage. 

Example: Inside the facility, Kara defeats the base commander in a duel and sets about interrogating him for the information she is after. This could be run as an intrigue conflict, but the commander has already been defeated. So, the gamemaster asks Kara's player to make a Communicate skill test to see what she learns from the interrogation. As the commander has just been defeated, the gamemaster makes the Difficulty 0, but a more resistant captive might offer a greater Difficulty. 

Kara gets three successes on her test, so she gains 3 points of Momentum. She can save this for later, making it useful information about the base and its soldiers that might aid her in her next objective. But she can also use it to ask the gamemaster questions, representing what the commander actually told her. She asks the gamemaster two questions. Satisfied with her answers, she saves the third point for later.

Aiding an Ally

Your character may end up in a situation where their allies are hurt or impaired in some way and you want to try and help them. These kinds of problems tend to take the form of traits or complications inflicted on characters, and removing traits from a scene is much the same as adding them.

If you wish to remove a trait, choose which trait you wish to remove and describe how you wish to get rid of it. Then, attempt a skill test, with a Difficulty of 2. If you pass, then you’ve managed to remove the chosen trait.

Helping a defeated ally during the scene they were defeated in works in much the same way but is somewhat more challenging. There are two ways you can go about this.

• If the defeat would have a lasting or permanent effect (death, adding a new character trait, or some other long-lasting consequence), then you may attempt to prevent that lasting effect. Describe how you wish to aid the defeated character and attempt a skill test with a Difficulty of 2. If you pass, then the ally is still defeated, but the lasting effect is prevented: you’ve stabilized a dying ally, or you’ve helped alleviate the lasting effect, but the ally still needs time to recover and can’t rejoin the scene.
• If the defeat has no lasting or permanent effect, then you can try to recover the defeat directly. Describe how you wish to recover the defeat, and begin an extended task, with a requirement equal to 4 plus the Quality of the asset used to defeat that ally. If the extended task is completed, then the ally is no longer defeated and they may rejoin the scene.