This chapter explains the core rules of RFI: Freelancers, which serve as the foundation for all gameplay mechanics. These rules will be referenced frequently throughout the game, and every player should understand them to fully enjoy and engage in play. They provide structure for storytelling and gameplay while allowing flexibility for creative problem-solving.
Scene > Episode > SeasonLike a well-crafted TV series, film, or novel, gameplay in RFI: Freelancers is structured into scenes, which build into episodes, and ultimately form a season. Each scene focuses on a specific moment in the story, covering a few minutes to an hour of in-game time, during which characters pursue goals, face challenges, or take significant actions. These scenes combine to form episodes, which are the building blocks of a season-long narrative.
A scene captures a single moment of action or interaction, where characters attempt to resolve conflicts, overcome challenges, or achieve specific goals. When the core purpose of a scene is resolved, the story transitions to a new location, situation, or group of characters. Scenes highlight the exciting, impactful parts of the story, skipping over less important details. What makes a scene "interesting" is flexible and will vary by group, allowing the narrative to adapt to each table's preferences.
The Gamemaster (GM) sets the stage for each scene, defining the location, characters, and events that Players will interact with. Once the scene begins, Players are free to act as they wish, while the GM reacts through Non-Player Characters (NPCs) and uses Threat to introduce new developments or complications. A scene ends when its primary action has been resolved, and nothing more can be accomplished in the current setting. At this point, the GM moves the story to the next scene.
An episode represents a larger goal or quest, achieved over multiple scenes. Episodes are pivotal moments in the campaign’s narrative and mark key milestones in the story. Completing an episode often provides opportunities for character growth and development, offering reflection on the journey so far.
A season is a collection of episodes that tells a complete story arc, akin to a season of a TV series. Seasons typically consist of a dozen or more episodes and provide the framework for a campaign’s overarching narrative. A full campaign, or series, may span multiple seasons, charting the characters’ evolution through a long-term, dynamic story.
Scenes in RFI: Freelancers are defined by their location, the events taking place, and the characters involved. These elements set the stage for player actions and determine what opportunities or obstacles may arise. In the game, these defining elements are known as Traits.
A Trait is a single word or short phrase that describes an important fact about a person, place, or situation. Traits act as narrative and mechanical tools, shaping what the characters can do and how the environment responds to their actions. By using Traits, the game ensures that every scene has clear, meaningful details that guide and enhance the story.
Traits represent the key facts and details that define a scene, focusing on the most significant elements that shape the story and gameplay. Think of Traits as the elements you immediately notice when watching a movie, TV show, or reading a novel. While there may be many minor or insignificant details in a scene, only those that matter become Traits. If something becomes important, it gains a Trait; if it stops being relevant or true, it loses its Trait.
Traits serve two main purposes: they help the Gamemaster (GM) determine what is possible in a scene and how difficult certain actions might be, and they provide players with a clearer understanding of the situation, aiding in decision-making and immersion.
Traits fall into several broad categories based on what they apply to and who might be affected by them. These categories are primarily a guideline for the GM but are useful for all players to understand.
Location Traits: These describe facts about the setting or environment. Every scene should have at least one location Trait to define where the action is taking place, such as "city street," "rowdy tavern," or "dense forest." These Traits persist for as long as the location exists. Characters are affected by location Traits when they interact with the environment.
Situation Traits: These describe conditions or circumstances present in the scene, such as "darkness," "heavy rain," "thick fog," or "bustling crowds." Situation Traits affect all characters in the scene but can often be changed or removed through player actions.
Personal Traits: These describe a character or creature’s state or qualities. Some may be innate and permanent, such as a species or a specific skillset, while others might be temporary, like an injury, emotional state, or belief. Characters are affected by their own personal Traits as well as those of others they interact with.
Equipment Traits: These describe an item, tool, or piece of equipment, such as "high-tech scanner" or "reinforced armor." Equipment Traits are permanent as long as the item functions and can be passed between characters. They primarily affect the character using the equipment for a relevant task.
Traits persist as long as they remain relevant or true. For example, if a location’s "darkness" Trait is removed by turning on the lights, the Trait changes to "brightly lit." Similarly, players can alter or remove Traits through their actions to change the situation.
When establishing a scene, the GM assigns Traits based on the environment and circumstances. This process should be collaborative, allowing players to suggest Traits at the start of a scene. As the scene progresses, Traits can evolve to reflect new developments.
Traits can be used in two primary ways, depending on your group’s preferences and playstyle. Most games will likely blend these approaches.
This approach keeps Traits informal, leaving them implied rather than explicitly stated. The GM integrates Traits naturally into the narrative, applying their effects as needed. For example, instead of explicitly stating a "torrential rain" Trait, the GM simply incorporates the rain’s effects when relevant.
This style reduces the mechanical focus on Traits and emphasizes storytelling, making it ideal for groups that prioritize immersion and narrative flow. However, it may limit players’ ability to interact directly with Traits as a game mechanic.
In this approach, Traits are treated as a central gameplay element. The GM notes down the key Traits for the scene and shares them with the players, perhaps by writing them on index cards or displaying them visibly. This allows players to see which elements are most significant in the scene and interact with them both narratively and mechanically.
While this method encourages deeper engagement with the mechanics, it can feel less immersive for groups that prefer to focus on the story rather than rules.
Traits influence gameplay beyond mere description, helping the GM determine what actions are possible and how difficult they might be. In mechanical terms, a Trait can:
For Traits with a particularly strong effect, the GM can stack multiple identical Traits to amplify their impact. For example, "dense fog 2" could represent particularly heavy fog, making activities even more challenging. This stacking can be represented by adding a number after the Trait name to indicate its intensity.
By integrating Traits thoughtfully into gameplay, GMs and players can create dynamic, immersive scenes that evolve naturally as the story unfolds. Traits ensure the game remains flexible and focused on the narrative while providing clear mechanical guidance.
While most Traits are neutral and simply describe the circumstances of a scene, positive and negative Traits directly impact specific characters, often as a result of their actions. These Traits “belong” to a character and have a clear effect on the situation, either aiding or hindering their efforts.
Positive and negative Traits can counteract each other. For example, a character might create a positive Trait (like finding a light source to negate "darkness") to overcome a negative one, or suffer a new negative Trait that nullifies the benefit of an existing positive Trait.
Traits, whether positive or negative, can be created in various ways by both Players and the GM. While some Traits may arise naturally or at no cost, deliberately creating positive or negative Traits typically involves a specific action, cost, or trigger described in the rules. This ensures that such Traits are meaningful and impactful within the context of the game.
Characters in RFI: Freelancers games are presumed to be skilled, competent, proactive individuals, knowledgeable in their chosen fields and with enough basic familiarity in other fields to ensure that they can engage with and overcome almost any problem or obstacle, given time and the right tools. However, there are situations where a character's success is in doubt, or where failure or mishap is interesting. This is where Tasks come into play.
A Task begins with the desire to achieve something. A player states what they want to accomplish, and how they intend to get it. The Gamemaster then judges, based on the current situation (represented by the scene's Traits), whether the character can achieve that goal. The GM will then determine one of three answers:
The first two answers are easy enough to handle: the player states their intent, the GM says "yes" or "no", and play continues from there.
The third answer is where Task come into play. Because there's doubt as to the outcome, a task determines what happens.
While examined in more depth in Chapter 3: Characters, it's nevertheless useful to have a brief overview of these elements of a character here as well, as they feed directly into the subject of Tasks.
A character has several Attributes, which encompass their innate capabilities. A character's Attributes range from 7 to 12.
A character then has several Skills, which cover the character's training and expertise in specific fields. A character's Skills range from 1 to 5.
A character also has Specialties, which are categories of specialization, representing advanced training and practical experience in specific fields. Specialties do not have a specific rating of their own.
For any given task, a character will add together a single Attribute and a single Skill to determine the Target Number for that Test. The character may also use a single specialty.
A task involves rolling two or more d20s, and follows a specific process. The following explanation mentions several ideas that will be described fully later in this Chapter.
0 to 5, but in some extreme cases can go higher. Some Tasks may have a default Difficulty listed in the rules, but circumstances (such as those represented by Traits) can affect those basic Difficulties. The Difficulty is the number of successes the Player must generate to successfully pass the task.
1 is a Critical Success, which scores two successes instead of one.
1 when you have an applicable specialty.20 causes a Complication.When the Gamemaster calls for a task, they set a Difficulty for that Test. Many Tasks detailed elsewhere in this book list a basic Difficulty, which means the Gamemaster doesn't need to determine that baseline, but even those Tasks should be evaluated in context to determine if other factors impact how difficult the task is at that moment. The Gamemaster should also determine if the task is possible or not, given the circumstances and the methods at the characters' disposal.
Unless otherwise noted, most Tasks will have a basic Difficulty of 1, though more routine or straightforward Tasks may have a Difficulty of 0, and more complex or problematic Tasks will have higher Difficulties. After this, the Gamemaster then considers if there are any other factors in the current scene and environment, or affecting the characters involved, which would alter this basic Difficulty.
These factors typically come in the form of Traits — already described above — which will have one of the following effects:
The Players should know the Difficulty of the Tasks they attempt: their characters are skilled professionals, who can easily evaluate how difficult an activity is. This allows the Players to determine what they'll need to do to have the best chance of success.
| Difficulty | Descriptor | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Simple | Opening a slightly stuck door Researching a widely known subject Shooting a target at a shooting range at optimal range |
| 1 | Routine | Overcoming a simple lock Researching a specialist subject Shooting an enemy at optimal range |
| 2 | Average | Overcoming a complex lock Researching obscure information Shooting an enemy at optimal range in poor light |
| 3 | Challenging | Overcoming a complex lock in a hurry Researching restricted information Shooting an enemy at long range in poor light |
| 4 | Difficult | Overcoming a complex lock in a hurry, without the proper tools Researching classified information Shooting an enemy at long range, in poor light and heavy rain |
| 5 | Daunting | Overcoming a complex lock in a hurry, without the proper tools, and in the middle of a battle Researching a subject where the facts have been thoroughly redacted from official records Shooting an enemy at extreme range in poor light and heavy rain |
Certain circumstances can reduce the Difficulty of a task, which may reduce the Difficulty to zero. At other times, a task may be so simple that it does not require dice to be rolled in the first place. If a Task is Difficulty 0, it does not require dice to be rolled: it is automatically successful with zero successes, with no risk of Complications. However, because no roll is made, it can generate no Momentum — even bonus Momentum from Talents, particularly advantageous situations, etc. — and the character cannot spend any Momentum on the Test's outcome either.
At the Gamemaster's discretion, a character can still choose to roll the dice against a Difficulty of 0 and can generate Momentum as normal (because zero successes are required, every success generated is Momentum), but this comes with the normal risk of Complications as well. This sort of Difficulty 0 Task can be quite useful if it's important to see how successful a character is, but there's no real chance of failure.
At times, a character will not simply be trying to overcome the challenges and difficulties posed by circumstances; instead, they may find themselves trying to best an opponent. These situations call for an Opposed Test.
With each Opposed Test, there will be a single character attempting to do something, and another seeking to resist or avoid the first character's attempts. These are the active and reactive characters, respectively. If there are more characters on each side, treat additional characters as assistants.
Both characters attempt a task normally, with a base Difficulty of 1, which may be adjusted by circumstances. If the situation dictates, each character may have a different Difficulty for their respective Tests. The outcome of the Opposed Test depends on both characters' Test results.
Things don't always go entirely to plan. When attempting a task, each d20 that rolls a 20 causes a Complication, which comes into effect once the Test has been resolved. Complications do not prevent a character from succeeding, but they may impede later activities, or they may simply be inconvenient, painful, or embarrassing.
Complications can take a few different forms, but the two most common are negative traits, and Threat. The Gamemaster may use a Complication to inflict a negative trait upon a character, which should relate in some way to the action that the character has just performed. As normal for a negative Trait, this will normally increase the difficulty of some Tasks the character wishes to attempt or makes certain actions impossible.
Alternatively, if the Player doesn't wish their character to suffer a Complication, or the Gamemaster doesn't wish to inflict a Complication at that point, the Complication can instead be "bought off" by adding two points to the Threat pool. The Gamemaster may do this and then immediately spend the Threat to create a different effect. This is discussed more in The Gamemaster. If an NPC suffered a Complication, the Gamemaster may choose to buy off the Complication by removing two points from Threat.
Some other sections of the rules may suggest specific effects for Complications. There are other possibilities for Complications beyond these, however. A useful alternative during a Conflict is to impose some immediate restriction or penalty – some problem that lasts a single Turn or Round, such as losing the ability to use an option that is normally available. This will be discussed more in Conflict.
Some circumstances can make a task uncertain, though not necessarily any more difficult. These factors increase the Complication Range of a Test, making it more likely that Complications will occur. A character has a Complication range of 1 normally, meaning that they suffer Complications for any d20 that rolls a 20. Increasing the Complication range by one means that Complications will occur for each d20 that rolls a 19 or 20 for that Test. Increasing the Complication range by two means Complications will occur on an 18, 19, or 20, and so forth, as summarized on the following table.
Complication Range can never be increased to more than five.
| Complication Range | Complications Occur On... |
|---|---|
| 1 | 20 |
| 2 | 19, 20 |
| 3 | 18, 19, 20 |
| 4 | 17, 18, 19, 20 |
| 5 | 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 |
Some Tasks can't really be failed outright; rather, there is uncertainty as to whether the Test can be completed without problems. In such a situation, the Gamemaster may allow characters to Succeed at a Cost, either stating this before the Test is attempted, or providing the option after the dice have been rolled. If this option is provided, then a failed task still results in a successful outcome, but the character also suffers one automatic Complication, in addition to any that occur because of the dice.
These Complications function exactly as if those generated by the dice. Though the Test has produced a successful outcome, Momentum cannot be spent to improve the outcome of a task that has Succeeded at Cost. Momentum can only be spent on the Test if it was successful.
In some cases, the ‘cost' can be increased further, at the Gamemaster's discretion, causing the character to suffer more than one automatic Complication on a failed Test. This should be made clear when the option to Succeed at Cost is presented.
Even the most driven person cannot give their full effort one hundred percent of the time; in tense
situations, they need to conserve their energy, capitalize on opportunities, and be willing to take risks to triumph. Thus, the RFI: Freelancers provides a few ways for characters to improve their chances of success, by buying additional d20s to roll on a task. Extra dice allow a character to score more successes, and thus reach higher Difficulties or simply generate more Momentum.
A character cannot purchase more than three additional d20s by any means.
The normal method of buying additional d20s is by spending Momentum, as discussed later. In brief, this is paid from the group's Momentum pool (because it's done before a task is rolled), and costs 1 point of Momentum for the first d20, two Momentum for the second d20, and 3 Momentum for the third d20.
As with any Momentum spend, a player may choose to add to Threat instead of spending Momentum, perhaps if there isn't enough Momentum left in the pool. The cost remains the same as buying dice with Momentum – 1 Threat for the first die, 2 for the second, 3 for the third. Players may even choose to pay part of the cost with Momentum and part with Threat.
If a character buys some dice with Momentum and some with Threat, the cost remains unchanged: the first die costs 1, the second costs 2, and the third costs three, regardless of how the cost is being paid.
Many Tasks can benefit from teamwork. If the situation allows, several characters can work together as a team when attempting a task. When more than one character is involved in a task, one character is the leader, and the other characters are assistants. The Gamemaster has the final say on whether a character can assist — there might be only limited space that keeps people from helping, for example — or apply limitations or additional penalties, such as an increase to the Complication range (+1 to Complication range for each assistant after the first). The Gamemaster should be wary of allowing more than one assistant on most Tasks.
To assist with a task, the Player must describe how their character is assisting the task's leader. If the Gamemaster agrees, then each assistant rolls 1d20, using their own Target Number, and their own Specialty (if any), to determine if any successes are scored. So long as the leader generates at least one success, then all successes generated by the assistants count towards the result. The Assistants' dice can generate Complications as normal.
Assistants do not have to use the same Attribute, Skill, or Specialty as any other character involved in the task; indeed, assistance can often be best provided by someone contributing something different. Assistants may only ever roll 1d20 while assisting, and cannot purchase additional d20s of their own. In a Conflict, assisting a task is considered to take up the assisting character's Turn.
Whenever a character succeeds at a task and scores a greater number of successes than the Difficulty, then these excess successes become Momentum, a valuable resource that allows characters to complete their task more quickly or thoroughly than normal, succeed with style, or otherwise gain additional benefits. Each success above and beyond the Difficulty of a task becomes one point of Momentum, which the character may use immediately, or save for later.
The normal use for Momentum is to improve the outcome of a successful task, such as gaining more information from observation or research, inflicting more damage with an attack, or making more progress with an ongoing problem.
Immediately after determining if a task is successful, the GM will describe the outcome of the Test. Momentum may then be spent to improve this outcome, or provide other benefits. Momentum used in this way doesn't need to be declared in advance, and each point can be spent one at a time as required. For example, a character may spend one Momentum to ask the GM a question, and then decide if they want to spend any more Momentum for more information once they've gotten an answer. Thus, Momentum cannot be wasted by being used on something that wasn't necessary.
Most uses for Momentum can only be used once on any given task, or once (by each character) in any given Round in a Conflict. Some uses of Momentum can be used repeatedly, and will be clearly noted as such, normally by noting that their effect is “per Momentum spent” or by marking that use as “repeatable”. These uses of Momentum can be used as many times as the character wises and is willing and able to pay for them.
Once a character's task has been resolved, any unspent Momentum is added to the group's pool, as described below. Momentum that cannot be added to the group pool – because the group pool is already full – is lost if it isn't spent.
The following options are the most common ways to spend Momentum in RFI: Freelancers. These options are likely to cover most things that you’ll want to achieve with your Momentum during normal play.
Some Momentum spends can be used immediately when they are required, rather than waiting until a successful task. These spends are referred to as Immediate, and they can be used at any point in play, though most will specify when they are used. When you use these options, you may spend Momentum directly from the group pool or you may pay for them by adding to Threat instead, one for one—however much Momentum you’d normally spend, add the equivalent amount of Threat.
| Momentum Spend | Effect |
|---|---|
| Create Opportunity (buy d20s) (Immediate, Repeatable) | Before you attempt a task (but after the gamemaster sets its Difficulty), build your dice pool, starting with 2d20. Add bonus d20s granted from talents and other game effects. Add more d20s by spending Momentum or adding Threat. The first bonus die costs 1, the second costs 2 more, and the third costs 3 more. You can't roll more than 5d20 on any task attempt. |
| Create a Trait | You can spend 2 Momentum to establish a new trait in the scene (see Establishing a Scene) or to change, increase the potency of, or remove a trait currently in play. A trait you create must relate to the task you just passed, and it must be something that would result from your actions. |
| Keep the Initiative (Immediate) | After taking a turn in an action scene (see Action and Conflict), instead of handing the action to the opposing side, a character may choose to Keep the Initiative. To Keep the Initiative, the character who has just completed their turn may spend 2 Momentum and then hand the action to another character on their own side. Once one side has opted to Keep the Initiative, nobody on that side may do so again until the opposition has taken at least one turn of their own. Both player characters and NPCs may use Keep the Initiative. |
| Obtain Information (Repeatable) | You can ask the gamemaster a single question about the scene by spending 1 Momentum. The question must be related to the task attempted, and the gamemaster must answer truthfully but doesn’t have to give complete information. If there’s no information your character could determine, the gamemaster may answer “you don’t know,” but they must refund the Momentum spent for that question. |
| Reduce Time | You can spend 2 Momentum to reduce the time it takes to complete the activity represented by the task, typically taking half the normal amount of time. You can’t use this option during an action scene. See also Timed Challenges. |
| Swift Action | During your turn in an action scene, you may spend 2 Momentum to take an additional major action. However, any task roll attempted as part of this action increases in Difficulty by 1. |
| Extra Minor Action | During your turn in an action scene, you may spend 1 Momentum to take an additional minor action. Each minor action may only be performed once per turn. |
Most uses for Momentum can only be used once on a task, or once in any given round in a conflict. Some Momentum spends are Repeatable, which means they can be used as many times as you want and have the Momentum available to spend.
Note that some Momentum spends can be both Immediate and Repeatable.
Instead of using a listed Momentum spend option, be creative when using Momentum. When you succeed at a task and generate a lot of Momentum, think of how that incredible success might affect the task’s immediate results, or how it could affect what happens next.
Together with your group, you may invent ways to spend Momentum if they make sense in the context in which you generated that Momentum. Any option you and your gamemaster agree upon is feasible. Of course, your gamemaster can veto proposed Momentum spends that do not reflect the scene.
As noted above, characters can save their unspent Momentum, rather than letting it go to waste. This saved Momentum goes into a group pool, which can be added to or used by any character in the group, representing the benefits of their collective successes. The group pool cannot contain more than six Momentum at any time.
Whenever a member of the group wishes to spend Momentum, they may spend points from the group pool. This is in addition to any generated during a successful task. As normal, Momentum only needs to be spent as required, so a character doesn't need to choose how much Momentum they wish to take from the group pool until they choose to spend it, and it doesn't need to be spent all at once.
At the end of each scene, remove 1 Momentum from the Momentum pool if possible; Momentum cannot be saved indefinitely.
NPCs don't save Momentum in this fashion. Instead, they interact with the Threat pool, described below.
Much as the player characters generate and spend Momentum, the GM generates and spends Threat. The GM 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 GM, builds tension: the larger the Threat pool, the greater the likelihood that something will endanger or threaten the Player Characters. Strictly speaking, characters don't know about Threat, but they will have a sense of the stakes of a situation, and the potential for things to go wrong, and these things are what Threat represents.
Throughout the game, the Gamemaster will gain Threat, and spend it to create problems or change the situation. In this way, Threat mimics the rise and fall of tension that builds throughout a story, eventually culminating in a high-tension finale.
Threat comes from action, much as Momentum does. PCs and NPCs alike will increase Threat during play, and that Threat is spent by the GM to create consequences and raise the stakes during different scenes. In this way, Threat serves as a visible “cause and effect” for the game, with actions and consequences linked by the rise and fall of the Threat pool.
The Gamemaster typically begins each episode with two Threat for each Player Character, though this can be adjusted based on the tone and underlying tension of a given episode: if the stakes are high, the GM may begin with more Threat, while a calmer, quieter situation may reduce the GM's starting Threat.
Player Characters can add to Threat in a few ways.
Player characters typically do not spend Threat: it is spent to challenge or threaten them.
The Gamemaster may add to Threat in the following ways:
In return, the Gamemaster can spend Threat in several common ways:
Player Characters have access to a special resource called Fortune. Fortune reflects the fact that the Player Characters are the game's protagonists, with ambition, drive, and miraculous luck beyond that of most people. Such individuals shape their own fates by action and will, and the fate of the world around them often follows suit. Whether they are regarded as heroes in any traditional sense, Player Characters are larger than life.
Fortune can be used to pull off exciting stunts, provide an edge during tense situations, or otherwise help to advance the story. To best take advantage of this, however, there needs to be a steady flow of Fortune points made available to the players. Gamemasters are encouraged to award Fortune points to the Player Characters regularly, because it is a tangible way of reinforcing the grand and dynamic ways of the characters, and increasing the involvement of the players. The more each player participates in making the game thrilling, the plot twisting, and their characters memorable, the more chances they will get to do more of the same.
Each Player Character begins each episode with three Fortune points, and cannot have more than five Fortune points at any time. Any excess points are immediately discarded.
There are a few ways in which Fortune points can be spent.
The Gamemaster may sometimes award a Fortune point to a single player in the group for particularly noteworthy action — perhaps one player came up with the perfect plan to thwart the enemy, made a bold sacrifice for the benefit of the group, gave a memorable in-character speech, or perhaps uttered a funny quip that diffused the tension and made everyone at the table laugh.
Other times, the Gamemaster may choose to award Fortune points to all the players based on their progress in a campaign, or during the transition between key scenes. Fortune points make excellent rewards when characters reach a certain narrative milestone, completing an episode, defeat an important villain, solve a mystery, or survive a tense encounter. They can also be spent immediately, and thus provide instant gratification.
As a general guideline, the Gamemaster should award players with one to three Fortune points per hour of gameplay, depending on the course of play and the rate they are being spent.
Beyond refreshing Fortune points at the start of each episode, there are a few ways player characters can gain Fortune points during play.
First and foremost, Fortune points are given by the Gamemaster during gameplay to reward players for good roleplaying, clever plans, successfully overcoming difficult challenges, using teamwork, or otherwise making the game more fun for all. Players may have other opportunities to gain Fortune points by achieving certain goals within an encounter, reaching a milestone in the story, or choosing to be the one to suffer the Complications of some dire event. As a general guideline, there should be two to three opportunities for players to gain Fortune points per hour of play. In each of these cases, the Gamemaster should determine whether the point is warranted, and award a single point per instance.
It's generally useful for the Gamemaster to ask the players to keep their Fortune points visible, such as using tokens, for the Gamemaster to judge how plentiful they are amongst the characters. If Fortune points are being handed out too often and the players are each at the maximum, then the Gamemaster can either hand them out less often, or can increase the challenges the player characters face, encouraging their use. If the players are frequently low or out of Fortune points, then it's a good time to evaluate if the encounters are too challenging, or if the players are not accomplishing meaningful goals within the course of play, or even having a good time. Adjustments can then be made to improve that situation. A good rule of thumb would be that each player has, on average, about half of their Fortune points at any given time.
Characters may choose to voluntarily fail a task, allowed at the Gamemaster's discretion. This should only be invoked when the Player Character has something significant to gain, or something significant to lose, when the task is being made. The Test is failed automatically, with no dice rolled, and with no risk of Complications. Voluntarily failing a task provides the Gamemaster with one point of Threat, and the Player Character immediately gains one point of Fortune in return.
Voluntary failure cannot be used on a task that uses the success at cost rule, nor can it be used on a Difficulty 0 task.
Finally, Player Characters have their Truths, i.e. their Essance and Struggle, as well as their Traits. The player chooses when to have these Truths or Traits come into play in a negative fashion, creating an immediate Complication for their character and earning one point of Fortune. The Gamemaster may suggest instances where these features can easily come into play, but the final decision on when a feature is invoked always comes down to the player.
A Challenge is any circumstance, situation, or sequence of events which requires multiple tasks to overcome. There are a few different ways to structure a Challenge, depending on the nature of that Challenge and how the GM wishes to present the situation. These different options can be combined as the GM sees fit, providing a toolbox for structuring a wide range of different problems for the characters to overcome.
A Challenge can exist on any scale, with some serving as the core of a specific scene, while others act as a framework that connects different scenes together, with individual parts of the Challenge serving as the basis for different scenes.
A basic Challenge is, as the name suggests, the most straightforward form of Challenge, and is the basis for the other forms of Challenge discussed later. A Challenge consists of two or more Tasks, of a type and Difficulty determined by the GM. These Tests are the core of the Challenge, and are crucial activities that must be completed to overcome the Challenge, and they are referred to as Key Tests. Once all the Key Tests have been completed successfully, the Challenge is complete.
The Key Tests can be attempted in whatever order the characters wish, and characters may attempt other Tasks during a Challenge; these do not contribute directly to completing the Challenge, but can be used to create Traits, generate Momentum, fend off a threat or other problem, or otherwise do something helpful for the group.
There are other ways for the GM to structure a Challenge, however, which can make the situation more interesting or challenging.
Linear Challenges arrange the Key Tests into a specific order, where each Key Test must be completed before the next can be attempted. This can be fairly limiting, but is good for situations where there are multiple difficult stages.
Gates Challenges require a little more effort for the GM to set up, but can be quite versatile and represent a wide range of different situations. In a Gated Challenge, some Key Tests can only be attempted if one or more other Key Tests are completed first (representing things that need to be done in a certain order, or which require set-up). This also allows for the GM to create a branching choice, where taking one path opens one set of Tasks and closes off others. The Gamemaster must determine the “victory conditions” for the Challenge, and inform the players of this: it will normally be a single Key Test, or one of a small number of possible Key Tests, each of which are locked behind different choices. The Gamemaster might want to present a flow chart that shows how the Challenge progresses and which Key Tests “unlock” restricted ones.
In some circumstances, characters may be working against an opposing force. There are a few ways to resolve this, depending on what the Challenge represents, and the nature of the opposition.
Direct Opposition: The opponents directly resist the Tasks attempted, turning them into Opposed Tests. This may also add extra hazards or consequences to those Tasks, as the opposition may create extra problems on failed Tests. This is common for social interactions, or attempting to avoid guards or pursuers, where the obstacles are people.
Contests: The opposition is attempting to complete the same objective, or a similar one, and the winner is the one that reaches their goal first. The Gamemaster selects one side to have Priority at the start of the Challenge; this will be the Player Characters unless the GM spends 2 Threat. Then, each side attempts a single task towards their Contest, starting with the side that has Priority; once each side has attempted a Test, the sequence begins again. The side that doesn't have Priority may gain Priority for the next round of Tests by spending 2 Momentum, if they succeeded at their Test. Whichever side completes their Challenge first gains some greater benefit (or may even prevent the other side from finishing).
Conflict: Discussed in depth in Action and Conflict, the opposition have different, mutually-exclusive goals to the characters, and the sequence of events is split into Rounds and Turns.
Adding time as a concern to a Challenge can increase tension and make a situation more exciting.
At the start of the Challenge, the GM determines an interval: this is a set time period, normally a few minutes or hours, which serve as a basic unit of time taken for each task: fifteen minutes, or half an hour are both good baselines for this. Each task attempted takes two intervals to attempt as standard, whether it succeeds or fails. Characters may spend 2 Momentum on a successful Test to reduce this by one interval. On a failed test, a character may add 2 to Threat to reduce the time taken by one interval, representing cutting their losses and giving up on the failure early. The GM may use Complications to make attempted Tests to take longer, adding one interval per Complication; for this reason, Tests under time pressure often succeed at cost (the Test isn't failed, it just took longer than planned). This applies to any Tasks attempted during the Challenge.
How these intervals interact with the Challenge is up to the GM. Normally, the GM will determine a total amount of time that the Challenge must be completed within; this will normally be 2-3 intervals per Key Test required, with fewer intervals representing more pressure. The GM should define some consequence for the characters failing to achieve their goal in time.
If different parts of the Challenge can be attempted in parallel, the GM can also use intervals to determine who is and who isn't busy at any given moment. This works well as a resource/people management problem, especially if the GM varies the number of intervals that individual Tests take to complete.