When a group of heroes works together over time to accomplish a common goal that requires more than a single characteristic, the Director can call for a montage test. Such tests typically take place over a prolonged period and focus on collective or shared activities. Navigating a vast desert, convincing farmers to rise up against a tyrannical leader, and performing a ritual to open a magically sealed gate can all be accomplished with montage tests.
In a montage test, the players take turns making tests as their characters tackle a task together in a montage test round. Each hero has a chance to make a test (or to assist another hero’s test; see Assist a Test above) intended to influence the outcome of the task.
A hero can also spend their turn using an item, ability, or other option they have available that they believe can help in the montage test. For example, if a group of heroes want to cross an ocean on a sailing ship before a storm begins, one hero might make use of a magic fan that creates wind to keep the sails full day and night. The Director decides that this clever action gives the heroes 2 automatic successes in the montage test, with no individual tests necessary (see Total Successes and Failures below).
Once a hero makes a test, assists with a test, or uses an ability or other option, they can’t do anything else as part of the montage test until each other hero involved in the montage test does so as well. A hero can also choose to do nothing, most often if they have no one to assist and fear that their actions might make the situation worse (see Montage Test Outcomes below). Once every hero has had a chance to act, the montage test round ends and a new one begins.
Time and Stakes
As the name suggests, montage tests create a kind of cinematic montage in the action of the game. A montage test can take place over the course of several hours or days, with each individual test or other activity set up as a brief vignette within the montage that stars one of the heroes. Combat encounters, negotiations, and other challenges and scenes can break up a montage test (see Sample Montage Test below).
The Director should deploy montage tests only when the players are engaged in overcoming a goal that has stakes for the story and some sort of pressure, such as a looming deadline or impending harm. A montage test is great for a race to get to another location before an enemy army does, a chase to escape or catch up to a foe, weathering a hazard, preparing a village for war, or similar activities. Low- or no-stakes activities such as travel through a forest with no time pressure, or training during a respite to use a new kit, can be narrated in montage style, but they don’t require a montage test.
Director Sets the Scene
At the start of a montage test, the Director should describe the scenario underlying the task at hand, and the various challenges the heroes might face as they attempt to collectively accomplish it. For example, if the heroes are chasing down a pickpocket through a crowded market, the Director might talk about the throngs of innocent people blocking the way forward, obscuring the characters’ vision, and making noise that complicates attempts to hear the thief’s nimble footsteps. There are also traveling carts to dodge, the speed and dexterity of the pursued character to contend with, and a pack of stray dogs who chase after anyone who sprints through the market. Describing these obstacles gives the heroes ideas about what they’re trying to overcome as they attempt to achieve their goals.
Individual Tests in Montage Tests
The difficulty of each individual test in a montage test is set by the Director and can vary from test to test. For instance, if the heroes are preparing the defenses of a village threatened by a band of approaching raiders, the Director might decide that a character who wants to dig a trench around the village needs to make an easy Might test. Another hero wants to train the untested farmers of the village in the ways of war, and the Director decides this is a hard Reason test.
The same rules and guidelines that apply to all individual tests apply in montage tests. If a hero has a clever, out-of-the-box idea that the Director thinks should automatically succeed without rolling dice, it does. If the circumstances of the test should grant an edge or a bane, they do. Individual test outcomes shouldn’t halt the story.
The Director should couch each success or failure as it relates to the overall goal of the montage test. If the heroes are trying to reach an ancient temple, failing a Might test to ford a river in their path doesn’t mean they don’t cross the river and are stuck on the other side. But it could mean that failing to cross the river in a timely manner gives a rival group of villains the chance to beat the party to the temple.
The rewards and consequences of individual tests made during a montage test are handled on an individual basis. The Director can use the default of gaining additional Malice in the next combat encounter for consequences and having the party gain hero tokens for rewards to keep the montage moving.
Can’t Use the Same Skill Twice
An individual character can’t use the same skill more than once in a montage test. Though multiple heroes can use the same skill, a test or an assist with a specific skill represents each characters’ entire contribution to the montage test with that skill. At the Director’s discretion, this restriction can be lifted for prolonged montage tests, or for montage tests that are limited in scope and have only a small number of skills that apply to them.
New Challenges for Each Test
In general, when a hero makes a test as part of a montage test, they should choose new obstacles to overcome that haven’t already been overcome as part of the test. If the heroes are chasing a thief through the marketplace and one of them has already distracted the pack of stray dogs with a deft hand and a piece of meat, additional tests made to distract the animals don’t count toward the outcome of the montage test.
When it fits the scenario, the Director can adjust this restriction. If part of a montage test involves searching for people trapped in a burning building, the Director is likely to allow multiple tests to fight or avoid the fire, since this will happen throughout the montage test, not just once.
Introducing More Challenges
During a montage test, a Director can introduce new challenges for the heroes to face. While attempting to run out of a burning building from the top floor, the characters might discover that by the time they reach the second floor, beams are starting to fall and glass windows are exploding as the structure starts to collapse. These new challenges can be incorporated into the tests the heroes subsequently make.
Total Successes and Failures
The Director or another player will track the total number of successes and failures the heroes earn during a montage test. Every montage test has a success limit and a failure limit. When the number of successful tests equals the success limit, the montage test ends and the heroes achieve total success (see Montage Test Outcomes below). The montage test can also end when the number of failed tests equals the failure limit, and the heroes suffer total failure.
Limited Rounds
A montage test should last only 2 montage test rounds. If the heroes don’t end the montage test by achieving the success limit or failure limit, the montage test ends when the second montage test round is over. This time limit helps to keep a montage test from becoming a slog, and prevents heroes from simply using their turns to assist the one hero with the best chance of success. This can inspire each hero to be a more active participant in the montage test. That said, the Director can increase the number of rounds a montage test lasts if they wish to create a particularly grueling challenge.
Montage Test Difficulty
The Director determines the success limit and failure limit of a montage test. They can share this information or keep it secret, depending on what feels the most fun and dramatic for the situation and the players.
In general, the higher the success limit, the harder and more complicated it is for the heroes to overcome the montage test, since a hero can’t make the same test twice. The Montage Test Difficulty table gives a recommended success limit and failure limit for easy, moderate, and hard montage tests for groups with five heroes.
Montage Test Difficulty Table
| Difficulty | Success Limit | Failure Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | 5 | 5 |
| Moderate | 6 | 4 |
| Hard | 7 | 3 |
For larger or smaller groups, the Director can make the following adjustments to keep montage tests achievable but challenging:
- For four or fewer heroes, decrease the success limit and failure limits by 1 (to a minimum of 2) for every hero fewer than five. For example, if a group has only three heroes, an easy montage test has a success limit and failure limit of 3.
- For six or more heroes, increase the success and failure limits by 1 for every hero more than five.
Montage Test Outcomes
A montage test can have three different outcomes:
- If the heroes hit the success limit before hitting the failure limit or before the time runs out for the test, they achieve total success.
- If the heroes hit the failure limit or time runs out, and if they’ve achieved at least two more successes than failures, they achieve a partial success.
- If the heroes hit the failure limit or time runs out, and if they don’t have at least two more successes than failures, they suffer total failure.
Total Success
If the heroes earn a total success, they achieve what they set out to do without complication. For instance, if the heroes engaged in a montage test to cross a desert and reach a city before a tyrant’s army arrives there and levels the place, a total success sees them arrive at the city gates with plenty of time to warn people of the impending assault.
The heroes earn 1 Victory when they achieve total success on an easy or moderate montage test, and 2 Victories on a hard montage test.
Partial Success
If the heroes earn a partial success, they succeed at what they set out to do, but there is a complication or a cost involved. For instance, when crossing the desert to reach and warn the city of the tyrant’s army, a mixed success sees the characters arrive at the city gates with the enemy forces just behind them. Alternatively, the Director might allow the heroes to arrive well before the army, but they don’t cover their movements well enough. The tyrant realizes the city has been warned and decides to call in a favor to have a powerful dragon join the siege.
The heroes earn 1 Victory when they achieve partial success on a hard or moderate montage test.
Total Failure
If the heroes suffer total failure, they don’t achieve what they set out to do. Just as with standard tests, failure on a group test shouldn’t bring a story to a halt. Total failure should make things more interesting and challenging! With a total failure in a montage test to cross the desert and warn the city, the characters arrive at the city to find it already under siege by the tyrant.
Sample Montage Test
Four heroes must cross the vast and inhospitable Infinite Desert to warn the city of Ahset that the tyrannical Empress Vardo is coming to conquer them. If the characters arrive in time, they can organize the defenses of the city, giving its people a greater chance of defeating the tyrant.
The Director determines that crossing the desert is a montage test of hard difficulty. With four heroes involved, the success limit is 6 and the failure limit is 2 as the montage test begins.
Montage Test Round 1
When the test begins, the Director sets the scene. They tell the players that the desert has extreme temperatures, sudden sandstorms, high dunes to cross, deep sand, chasms, and quicksand lakes. The Director decides that the challenges of dunes, deep sand, and quicksand can be tackled multiple times in the test, since the Infinite Desert is filled with these hazards.
Urdoncara, a fury, starts things off by asking to make an Intuition test using the Nature skill to predict the best times of day to travel and rest. She wants the party to avoid the worst of the desert’s extreme temperatures and any sandstorms or other weather phenomena, so that the journey is quickened. The Director decides this is an easy test. Urdoncara makes the test and gets a total of 12, earning 1 success for the montage test.
Jorn, a tactician, wants to make a Reason test using the Climb skill to lead the party over dunes and other hazards with minimal effort. The Director allows the attempt, but says that knowing what makes one dune easier to climb than another is tricky, setting the difficulty at hard. Jorn gets a 9 on the test and fails with a consequence, which the Director decides will cause him to take a bane on his next power roll due to the exertion. The montage test has 1 success and 1 failure.
Karrel, an elementalist, thinks the group might cross the desert faster if they have specially modified sandshoes that distribute their weight and prevent their feet from sinking into the sand. The Director loves the idea, and decides that making four pairs of the shoes while traveling the desert is a medium Reason test. Karrel gets to use their Tailoring skill and winds up with a total of 13-a success with a consequence. The Director decides to gain an additional 2 Malice at the start of the next combat encounter as a consequence, but the group now has 2 successes and 1 failure on the montage test.
Val, a conduit, offers to scout ahead for the group with an Intuition test, using the Navigate skill to find the best path forward and avoid hazards such as chasms and quicksand. The Director thinks that acting as lookout in a vast desert is an easy task. Val smashes it with a 21-a success with a reward—and the Director decides to get creative. Val’s lookout skills grant the next hero to act in the montage test an edge on their test. At the end of the first montage test round, the heroes have 3 successes and 1 failure.
Interlude
Before the next montage test round, the Director pauses the montage test to run a battle with a kingfissure worm, who attacks the heroes as they cross over an ancient ruin partially buried in the sand. After the heroes defeat the kingfissure worm, the test continues.
Montage Test Round 2
Urdoncara wants to make a Might test using the Lift skill to carry most of the group’s equipment as they cross the desert, allowing her allies to move more quickly while she keeps up with her superior fortitude. The Director thinks this arduous task has a hard difficulty. Urdoncara gets a 17 on the test thanks to the edge from Val’s earlier success. The montage test has 4 successes and 1 failure.
Jorn, eager to prove himself after his last failure, asks to make a Might test using the Lead skill, representing tying a rope around his waist to drag his weaker friends over the tallest dunes. The Director likes the idea but doesn’t think the Lead skill applies to the task. They tell Jorn that Lift is more appropriate, since the tactician is using his physical skill to aid his friends and not really doing anything interpersonal. Jorn agrees, and the Director sets the test at medium difficulty. Making the test with a bane because of his previous failure, the tactician rolls a 15, which is a success with a consequence. The montage test has 5 successes and 1 failure, but the consequence gives the Director another 2 Malice at the start of the next combat encounter.
Since the group needs only one more success to achieve total success, Karrel says she’d like to assist Val in whatever task she decides to take on. Val wants to recall lore about the Khem-hor-the inhabitants of the Infinite Desert—to remember their time-honored travel techniques using the History skill. Karrel has the Culture skill, which she can use to assist by providing information about the lives and society of the Khem-hor. She makes a Reason test to assist and gets a 16, granting Val an edge on her upcoming test.
Val attempts to recall lore about the Khem-hor, wanting to know if she can remember any of their travel from her studies of the history of the region. The Director has her make a hard Reason test with an edge, thanks to Karrel’s input on the current state of Khem-hor culture. Val gets a 17, and the Director decides that the conduit recalls a shortcut through a canyon tunnel that leads directly to Ahset, avoiding a vast lake of quicksand. The heroes get their sixth success in the montage test, achieving total success, and earn 2 Victories.
Other Options
The heroes could have attempted other tests during their travels, such as an Agility test using the Sneak skill to lead the group through dangerous shortcuts in the desert without being seen or waylaid by predators, a Reason test using the Nature skill to find enough food and water to keep the group hydrated and fed, or a Presence test using the Music skill to inspire allies to travel faster with song.