Where you and the other players have Momentum, the gamemaster has Threat. Threat works much the same as Momentum, but for your opponents and enemies. Threat can be used for the same things as Momentum, but the gamemaster can also use Threat to alter situations or the story in a few special ways. Threat represents perils, unforeseen dangers, and the potential for drama and excitement, and it rises and falls during play. In addition to this, if you’re low on Momentum, you can buy extra dice by adding to Threat, essentially taking risks to get an advantage.

As player characters generate and spend Momentum, the gamemaster generates and spends their own resource: Threat. The gamemaster makes use of Threat to alter scenes, empower non-player characters, and generally make things challenging, perilous, or unpredictable for the player characters. Threat is a method by which the game, and the gamemaster, builds tension: the larger the Threat pool, the greater the likelihood that something endangers or threatens the player characters. In this way, Threat mimics the rise and fall of tension that builds throughout a story, eventually culminating in a high-tension finale. Strictly speaking, characters don’t know about Threat, but they have a sense of the stakes of their current situation, and the potential for things to go wrong. 

The gamemaster typically begins each adventure with two points of Threat for each player present at the start of the adventure, though this can be adjusted based on the tone and underlying tension of a given adventure: if the stakes are high, the gamemaster may begin with more Threat, while a calmer, quieter situation may reduce the gamemaster’s starting Threat. Part of this is defined by the size of the player characters’ House: a powerful House invites challenge and breeds enemies and rivalries, and this is represented by larger amounts of starting Threat.

Adding to Threat

Player characters can add to the Threat pool in the following ways: 

• Buying d20s: As noted earlier in this chapter, characters may buy bonus d20s for skill tests by adding points to Threat instead of spending Momentum. As normal, no more than three dice can be bought, and the cost increases for each dice: the first costs 1, the second costs 2, and the third costs 3. 
• Complications: Whenever a player character suffers one or more complications on a skill test, they or the gamemaster may choose to add two points to the Threat pool to ignore a complication. This may be done for as many or as few complications as desired.
• Escalation: At times, the gamemaster (or the rules) may state that a specific action or decision risks escalating the situation, making it more dangerous or unpredictable. If a character performs an action that risks escalation, they immediately add one point of Threat to the pool. 

The gamemaster may add to Threat in the following ways: 

• Threatening Circumstances: The environment or circumstances of a new scene may be threatening or perilous enough to warrant adding one or two points of Threat to the pool automatically. Similarly, some non-player characters may generate Threat simply by arriving, in response to changes in the situation, or by taking certain actions. This also includes activities that escalate the tensions of the scene, such as non-player characters raising an alarm. 
• Non-player Character Momentum: Non-player characters with unspent Momentum cannot save it as player characters can, as they don’t have a group Momentum pool. Instead, a non-player character may add to Threat, adding one point of Threat for every Momentum they have remaining.

Example: Realizing the stakes have increased, Kara’s player decides to shake off the Intoxicated complication, adding 2 points of Threat to the gamemaster’s pool. The gamemaster also decides to add another point of Threat to their pool, given that Marcus is now looking to either silence Kara or at least ensure she doesn’t interfere.

Spending Threat

The gamemaster can spend Threat in several common ways: 

• Buying d20s: The gamemaster can purchase d20s for a skill test attempted by one of their non-player characters. The cost of this increases for each die purchased: the first die costs 1 point of Threat, the second costs 2 Threat, and the third costs 3. No more than three bonus d20s may be bought for a single skill test, regardless of the source. 
• Increase Difficulty: The gamemaster can choose to make things more difficult for a character, increasing the Difficulty of a single skill test by one for every 2 points of Threat spent. The decision to increase a skill test’s Difficulty must be made before any dice are bought or rolled on that skill test. 
• Non-player Character Threat Spends: When a player character’s action would normally add points to Threat, a non-player character performing that same action, or making the same choice, must spend an equivalent number of points of Threat. 
• Non-player Character Complications: If a non-player character suffers a complication, the gamemaster may buy off that complication by spending two points of Threat. 
• Traits: The gamemaster may change, remove, or create a trait by spending two points of Threat. This must come naturally from some part of the current situation. 
• Environmental Effects and Narrative Changes: The gamemaster may trigger or cause problems with the scene or environment by spending Threat. 
• Rival House Action: The gamemaster may spend a Threat point to introduce a known enemy House to the situation. It may be one of their agents simply taking an opportunity to attack the player characters, or it may turn out that they have an alliance with whomever the player characters are dealing with. Either way, the House makes an appearance in some way to complicate the situation for the player characters.

Example: As the situation is heating up, the gamemaster decides to spend some of their Threat. They decide that Marcus has a lot of friends at the party who have become irked at Kara’s questioning. The gamemaster spends a point of Threat to add the environmental effect ‘Hostile Room’.