TEXT: Introduction
  A band of daring Musketeers cautiously sneak through a nobleman’s castle, intent on 
  reaching the dungeons without alerting the guards to their presence before the deranged 
  noble can complete the fell ritual to summon a demon. A carriage loaded with gunpowder 
  and a burning fuse careens down a hill toward the Spanish ambassador’s residence, closely 
  followed by mounted Musketeers desperate to board the moving vehicle and pull out 
  the fuse before the deadly cargo explodes. A madman stalks the streets of Paris by night, 
  murdering young noblewomen, but hot on his heels are the intrepid Musketeers. Can the 
  heroes deduce the identity of his next victim and locate her before the killer claims another 
  life? Do these situations sound like the sort of things you want your All for One characters 
  to be involved in, but you’re not sure how to pull it off? Well, look no further! This supple-
  ment contains rules for exactly just these sorts of wild and exciting events.
  Group Extended Actions
  Extended actions are a standard part of the Ubiquity rules. At their most basic, they in-
  volve one hero, perhaps with others providing a Teamwork bonus, attempting to acquire a 
  certain number of successes through using a single Skill in order to complete a task. Group 
  extended actions, as the name implies, are an extension of those rules, intended to involve 
  the entire group in the completion of a complex or lengthy task, while encouraging the 
  use of different Skills to complete the objective.
  Group extended actions are intended to simulate things such as chases, exploring a 
  castle, negotiating treaties, boarding actions or sieges, planting bombs, and so on. In com-
  bat situations, it is more likely the standard extended actions rules will apply, with just one 
  or two characters cooperating on a task while the rest lock swords with the group’s foes.
  The key difference between group and regular extended actions is that in these rules 
  every hero participates in the task. Although he makes a roll as an individual, his actions 
  usually directly benefit the entire group. For instance, if one character makes an Athletics 
  roll to close the distance to an escaping villain, then every member of the group acts as 
  if it scored the same total. We’ll have plenty of examples for you later, showcasing typi-
  cal scenes. Although the rules presented below may appear complex at first glance, they 
  are quite intuitive and extremely flexible once you learn the basics. The main thing to 
  remember is that these are abstract rules intended for a cinematic roleplaying game of 
  swashbuckling horror, and thus work differently than the standard combat round rules.
  201114
  PAUL “WIGGY” WADE-WILLIAMS
  r i c h e l i e u ’ s g u i d e  t o
  •         •
  Editing: Tom Cadorette
  Template Design: Robin Elliott
  Ubiquity System Design: Jeff Combos
  •                •
  Serious Situations
  www.tripleacegames.com
  Permission is granted to print this ebook. No site licence is given.
  This game uses the Ubiquity Roleplaying System, developed by Exile Game Studio (www.exilegames.com). Ubiquity Roleplaying 
  System, Exile Games Studio, and all associated logos and trademarks are copyright, Exile Games Studio, LLC. Used with permission.
  ©2010 Triple Ace Games. All For One: Règime Diabolique and all related marks and logos are  
  trademarks of Triple Ace Games. All Rights Reserved.
  
  Defining the Scene
  Before she can run a group extended action, the 
  Gamemaster needs to determine the nature of the scene, 
  the outcome, and what failure may do to the group.
  For now all she needs are the raw essentials—add-
  ing in specific details come later. For instance, a group 
  extended action might be defined as, “Chase the villain 
  through the bustling streets of Paris and catch him before 
  he disappears from sight and goes to ground.”
  Armed with this basic information, the Gamemaster 
  can now elaborate on the description at the start of the 
  scene, describing the location exactly as she would in 
  a combat encounter. As the extended action plays out, 
  the scene is likely to change, opening new avenues for 
  the characters and presenting them with new challenges 
  they must overcome.
  Running Group Actions
  In a combat scene, the characters and villains take 
  turns to perform actions in order of initiative. In a group 
  extended action, initiative is optional, as the villain may 
  be an inactive participant rather than an active one. That 
  is, only the characters’ rolls directly affect the outcome of 
  the scene. Whether or not initiative is used is left to the 
  Gamemaster to decide. If she elects not to roll, then the 
  characters can act in any order, even changing the order 
  in which they take actions on a turn-by-turn basis. Every 
  character must act.
  The Passage of Time
  Because a group extended action is abstract, so is 
  the passage of time. A “combat turn,” the time it takes 
  to perform an action, might represent a few seconds, 
  several minutes, one hour, or an entire day, depending 
  on the nature of the task. For instance, a chase through 
  the streets of Paris is likely to be run in standard combat 
  turns (about six seconds), whereas scouring Paris for 
  clues to the hideout of a notorious arsonist might take 
  an hour or an entire day per roll.
  Skills
  Characters can use either Skills or Attribute rolls in 
  group extended actions. For brevity we will refer only to 
  Skills below, to include both Skills or Attribute rolls. 
  In a group extended action, every character must take 
  one Attack action each turn. This can be an Attribute or 
  Skill roll. Every character must act, but one may delay his 
  action in order to use Teamwork (see below).
  Don’t bother with Move actions, even in a chase—it’s 
  logical that the party is moving, either at a cautious walk 
  or full sprint during the extended action. As a general 
  rule, running does not forfeit the character’s Attack ac-
  tion for the round. Remember, this is an abstract set of 
  rules intended to promote fun and dramatic play, not 
  stifle player creativity by strict adherence to the rules.
  For the purposes of group extended actions, Magick 
  is treated like any other Skill. The sorcerer does not have 
  to cast a spell over multiple rounds—he simply describes 
  his intended action and rolls the dice.
  The character’s choice of Skill is up to him. He should 
  pick whatever he thinks best fits the scene, his intended 
  action, and, of course, gives him the best chance of suc-
  cesses. However, repeated use of the same Skill should 
  be discourage and even penalized or disallowed. 
  Players should be encouraged to describe their 
  character’s action, not just designate Skills and roll dice. 
  Players are both actors in and the audience of a swash-
  buckling movie—performing exciting stunts and giving 
  cool descriptions should be rewarded with Style points. 
  Without this description, a group extended action be-
  comes a boring series of “I roll this” and “I roll that.”
  Skill Use
  Although certain Skills will be more suited to the 
  action than others, group extended actions are, for 
  the most part, intended to be dramatic and encourage 
  creative and collaborative roleplaying. In order to pre-
  vent characters from using their highest Skill turn after 
  turn or from relying on the same Skill over and over, 
  the Gamemaster may wish to use one of the following 
  options.
  * Each time the same Skill is used during the extended 
  action a cumulative –2 penalty is incurred, regardless of 
  who performs the action. This works for extended ac-
  tions where 20 or fewer successes are required, but it 
  gets very restrictive when the group needs more.
  * Each character may use a specific Skill only once 
  during the extended action. Thus, once a character has 
  attempted a Riding roll, he cannot use Riding again.
  * Skills may be reused, but each specific Skill may be 
  used only once a turn, regardless of how many charac-
  ters are in the group.
  * Each Skill may be used a set number of time through-
  out the extended action, regardless of which character 
  uses the Skill. As a general guideline, a Skill may be used 
  just once for every 10 successes required to complete the 
  extended action. Thus, a task with 30 successes permits 
  the same Skill to be used a maximum of three times.
  * No Skill is restricted. The characters can all use the 
  same Skill round after round. This is ideal for extended 
  group actions that take the form of combat, such as 
  boarding a pirate ship, where repeated use of certain 
  Skills is logical.
  Regardless of which option you use for a given action 
  group extended action, encourage the players to use dif-
  ferent Skills, and reward those who do in entertaining or 
  clever ways with a Style point. Characters who rely solely 
  on the same Skill should never lose Style points, but 
  they should not earn them either, even if they perform 
  dramatic stunts.
  All For One 
  
  
  Keeping the Group Together
  Despite just one character making each roll, he is 
  generally doing so on behalf of the entire group. For 
  example, if a character successfully uses Riding to bring 
  his horse level with a runaway carriage, then it is easiest 
  to assume the entire party moves to the same position so 
  you don’t have to begin tracking relative positions.
  However, in some circumstances actions will only 
  benefit the individual who made them. In general, such 
  actions do not count toward achieving ultimate success. 
  Using our example above, only the character who makes 
  an Athletics roll leaps from his horse onto the carriage 
  roof. 
  Gamemasters should try to keep the party together 
  for the sake of progressing the narrative, but common 
  sense must always apply.
  Example: Claudette is chasing a villain through the 
  streets of Paris. Henri, a fellow Musketeer, has already 
  used Athletics. If Claudette uses the same Skill, she will 
  incur a –2 penalty. A native of Paris, she asks the Game-
  master if she knows any short cuts. After a brief think, 
  the Gamemaster says she can use her Intelligence at Dif-
  ficulty 3 to know of a short cut.
  Claudette says, “This way, my friends! We should be 
  able to avoid the crowds by using these alleys, and per-
  haps even close the distance to our quarry.”
  On his action, Jacques mounts a horse and kicks its 
  flanks. Although this scores nothing toward the party’s 
  successes, Jacques can now use his Riding Skill on sub-
  sequent turns. Although he will be moving faster than 
  the others in theory, he is also clearing a path through 
  the street for his comrades to follow, allowing them to 
  stay close behind.
  Teamwork Bonuses
  Logically, the best thing the characters can do to en-
  sure success is use teamwork, where applicable, to sup-
  port the character with the highest dice pool in the hope 
  of getting a lot of successes.
  While this makes perfect sense from a purely game 
  mechanics point of view, it does nothing to encourage 
  creativity or promote acts of derring-do among the group 
  as a whole. In cinematic terms, it would look extremely 
  dull on the big screen if the main hero kept repeating the 
  same action over and over. As such, a maximum of one 
  character per round may provide a Teamwork bonus.
  Note that in extended actions where the villains get to 
  roll dice (see below), they never use Teamwork.
  Taking the Average
  Depending on the type of failure used and the 
  group’s dice pools, the Gamemaster may disallow Taking 
  the Average. While it is a standard die mechanic, group 
  extended actions are intended to be dramatic, and there 
  is no drama without the risk of failure.
  In general, Taking the Average should only be al-
  lowed when the extended action is time-sensitive, or 
  the characters suffer damage each turn the task is left 
  uncompleted. While the characters can accrue a small 
  number of successes each action, the time limit or dam-
  age is a natural encouragement to risk rolling the dice in 
  the hope of ending the venture sooner.
  Resources
  The Gamemaster must decide whether or not a Re-
  source Skill bonus can be applied. This should be based 
  on the Skill being augmented and the nature of the 
  group extended action.
  For instance, a character with Contacts (Church) likely 
  can’t use his Contacts’ knowledge if aboard a ship caught 
  in a storm, but by dropping a name or two he might be 
  able to gain a bonus to bluff his way past the Cardinal’s 
  Guards or convince a servant he is on an errand for a 
  senior churchman.
  Talents
  Certain Talents provide a fixed bonus to Skills. So 
  long as the appropriate Skill is being used, these apply 
  as normal during a group extended action. Other Talents 
  must be adjudicated by the Gamemaster, based on spe-
  cific circumstances and the nature of the scene.
  For instance, the Run Talent doubles a character’s 
  speed when running. Since extended actions forgo the 
  measurement of distances, the Gamemaster might decide 
  to grant a character a +2 bonus if he uses Athletics to try 
  and close the gap to a fleeing foe during a short duration 
  chase scene. The bonus probably doesn’t apply in chases 
  where a combat turn is measured in hours or days—the 
  character likely couldn’t keep up a run for that long.
  Skills Without Successes
  On occasion, a character might make a Skill roll that 
  does not push the extended action toward completion. 
  For instance, a character might ask to make an Intelli-
  gence roll to see if he knows of a shortcut, has visited a 
  location before, or knows a specific person in their path. 
  Another might use his Strength to bar a door, preventing 
  guards from following the characters, use Brawl to knock 
  out a sentry, or use Athletics to leap from the back of a 
  horse he is sharing, thus gaining him his own mount and 
  enabling him to use his Riding Skill on future turns.
  Successes gained from such actions may affect the 
  story, but they do not increase the accumulated successes 
  needed to complete the task.
  Moving the Action Forward
  At the end of each character’s action, the Gamemaster 
  should interpret the result and describe the outcome. 
  While this presents the characters with a clear refer-
  ence to how well they are doing and how near they are 
  to victory, it also gives the Gamemaster chance to insert 
  Richelieu’s Guide to Serious Situations
  
  
  new information or change the scene, advancing the 
  narrative of the extended action and giving the heroes 
  new problems to overcome. This in turn may bring other 
  Skills into play, preventing the action from grinding to a 
  halt as the characters start to run out of useful Skills.
  Example: Claudette makes her Intelligence roll and 
  succeeds. She leads the group into the narrow back al-
  leys of Paris. The Gamemaster says, “Claudette leads 
  you into a twisting maze of narrow alleys, taking left 
  and right turns seemingly at random. As she nears the 
  end of an alley, you see your quarry rush across the 
  entrance. You’ve closed the gap! 
  “Unfortunately, before you reach the end a group of 
  Cardinal’s Guards turns into the alleyway. On seeing 
  you, they stop, smiling evilly. Sensing you are giving 
  chase, and always seeking for ways to embarrass the 
  Musketeers, they move to block your route.”
  Whoever gets to act next might try Con, Diplomacy, 
  or Intimidation to get the Cardinals’ men to move 
  aside, use Acrobatics to tumble past them, or use Brawl 
  to shove them aside and clear a path.
  Difficulty
  The Difficulty of the task is determined by the Game-
  master. In most instances it should be based on the 
  player’s choice of Skill in relation to his description of 
  the action and the intended outcome. The more plau-
  sible and directly applicable a Skill is to the action, the 
  lower the Difficulty. However, even the most applicable 
  Skill has a minimum Difficulty of two.
  Other Difficulties might be set by a NPC’s attributes. 
  For instance, questioning a subject might have a Difficul-
  ty equal to the captive’s Willpower rating, while tricking 
  one is likely to be set against his Intelligence.
  Example: The Musketeers are chasing a suspected 
  murderer through the crowded streets of Paris. One 
  of the heroes wants to discharge his pistol in order to 
  cause the crowd to move aside. He proposes a Firearms 
  roll, saying he will fire at the walls to amplify the blast 
  and make it louder, and avoid hitting anyone. 
  The Gamemaster ponders this, and decides the Dif-
  ficulty is 5—firing a gun in the streets may well cause 
  a panic, with frightened citizens blocking the route in 
  their bid to escape the madman firing at them. Thus, it 
  is more a liability than an aid.
  Had the character opted for Intimidation, perhaps 
  barking out, “King’s men, let us through!” the Game-
  master would have lowered the Difficulty to 3—the 
  street is noisy and full of people, so the command might 
  not be heard.
  Modifiers
  Group extended actions rarely take place in static, 
  empty environments. Fields and roads are uneven, for-
  ests require maneuvering between trees, castles have 
  creaky floors, streets are crowded or slippery with filth, 
  ships toss and buck in storm-tossed seas, and darkness 
  can make it hard to pursue quarry. Such factors affect 
  the characters by imposing modifiers. Of course, not 
  every action taken during a group extended action will 
  be affected by environmental conditions, no matter how 
  prevalent they are.
  For instance, making an Athletics roll to sprint across 
  icy cobblestones while trying to work a path through 
  a flock of sheep might incur a –4 penalty for the twin 
  impediments. However, these environmental conditions 
  have little impact on an Animal Handling or Intimidation 
  roll to shoo the sheep along, or on a character who uses 
  Perception to keep an eye on the fleeing quarry.
  Positive modifiers are usually awarded based on 
  character decisions. For instance, if they are infiltrating 
  a noble’s castle on the night of a Satanic ritual, donning 
  black cloaks with face-concealing hoods may give them 
  a +2 bonus to fool guards or servants into thinking the 
  infiltrators are actually members of the coven. Similarly, a 
  necromancer likely knows a few generic terms that could 
  be used to fool sentries in a similar manner.
  Ending the Action
  A group extended action typically reaches its conclu-
  sion in one of three ways.
  * The party secures a set number of successes. Typi-
  cally, an easy action requires just 10 successes, a moder-
  ate one 20 successes, an arduous task 30 successes, and 
  a herculean endeavor 40+ successes. 
  The number of successes should be modified to suit 
  the characters’ competency. If the average rating of Skills 
  likely to be used in 8 or higher, then even a simple task 
  might require 20 successes. Conversely, if the party 
  is sorely lacking in useful Skills, a herculean endeavor 
  might be lowered to 30, or even 20, successes. The over-
  all requirement for victory might be lower, but without 
  the right Skills securing victory is no less arduous.
  * The characters fail (see below). 
  * The nature of the action might prematurely and per-
  manently change, invalidating the rest of the extended 
  task. For instance, the characters end their questioning 
  of a nobleman suspected of deviltry and decide to draw 
  their blades and engage him in combat.
  Breaking Down Actions
  Although a task usually has one overall objective, 
  reaching it might involve one or more shorter tasks. 
  Each of these small tasks should be completed when the 
  characters reach a set number of successes. 
  For instance, the characters have to infiltrate a noble’s 
  house, locate important papers, and then make good 
  their escape. The Gamemaster decides to split the ex-
  tended action into three scenes. The first, the infiltration, 
  requires 8 successes; the second, finding the papers just 
  4 successes; and the escape a further 8 successes.
  All For One 
  
  
  Each task is normally isolated from the next one. That 
  is, excess successes from one extended scene do not 
  carry over to the next—they are simply lost. However, 
  Gamemasters may carry these over if they feel the suc-
  cesses would help in the next scene as well.
  The advantage of designing smaller tasks is that while 
  a character might not have a Skill set suited to one part 
  of the overall task, he may shine in another.
  Example: Using the example above, the characters 
  have managed to sneak into a noble’s chateau and are 
  searching for incriminating letters that prove he is a 
  traitor. So far the group has accumulated a total of 10 
  successes. They need just two more to find the papers.
  Louis makes a Linguistics roll and scores a huge 8 
  successes! In a single scene task, the party would now 
  have secured 18 successes and be close to escaping (the 
  Gamemaster could rule that during the search Louis 
  uncovered a reference to a secret passage leading from 
  the noble’s study). However, because each scene is a sep-
  arate extended action, Louis scores 2 successes, enough 
  to complete the second part of the endeavor.
  Escaping with the papers still requires the party to 
  accrue another 8 successes.
  The Price of Failure
  The characters may be heroes, but success is not 
  guaranteed. If group extended actions simply allowed 
  the players to keep rolling dice until the characters suc-
  ceeded then there would be no drama, and little point in 
  actually rolling the dice. Hence, the possibility of failure 
  must be worked into each task.
  Failure can take many forms. Some options for failing 
  a die roll are presented below. The list is not exhaustive, 
  and Gamemasters are strongly encouraged to come up 
  with their own ideas suited to the specific task.
  Similarly, these suggestions need not be used in isola-
  tion, and in some cases they impose no overall chance 
  for failure by themselves. By combining two or more ele-
  ments, the Gamemaster can create a unique set of failure 
  conditions for a specific task.
  Regardless of the option chosen, failure in the group 
  extended action should not mean the entire adventure 
  comes to a sudden halt. Failure may result in reprimands, 
  loss of reputation, or loss of equipment, but there must 
  be an avenue open to continue the game. 
  For example, perhaps a storm sinks the heroes’ ship. 
  While the Gamemaster could rule they drown, he decides 
  they are washed up on a small island. Although they have 
  lost their only mode of transportation and much of the 
  personal equipment, they are alive. Maybe they can build 
  a raft, or they discover scurvy pirates using the island 
  as a base. The group’s misfortune may be a blessing in 
  disguise, as not only can they steal a ship, but they can 
  rid the sea of France’s enemies at the same time (and 
  maybe recover a little of the pirates’ booty).
  * Damage: At the end of each round, after every 
  character has completed one action, they, their mounts, 
  or their vehicles, as appropriate to the task at hand, 
  take damage. Damage may be lethal, representing ac-
  tual physical harm, or nonlethal, representing physical 
  and mental fatigue, or non-life threatening injuries like 
  bruises. Such damage is typically applied automatically, 
  ignoring all Defenses. For instance, if the characters are 
  trying to rescue someone from a burning house, they 
  suffer one automatic nonlethal wound from smoke inha-
  lation and the heat of the blaze at the end of each turn 
  until the task is completed.
  * Increased Difficulty #1: Each failed roll makes the 
  heroes’ task much harder to accomplish. If the party is 
  chasing someone, a failure might mean they are further 
  away, increasing the odds their prey will escape.
  Each failure increases every the Difficulty of every ac-
  tion by one point. Eventually the Difficulties will get so 
  high that the characters have no hope of success and will 
  be forced to abandon their endeavor.
  If the Gamemaster decides to use this, he should al-
  low the characters to lower the Difficulty penalty by one 
  point by forfeiting all the successes from a successful roll. 
  For instance, due to a run of bad luck the characters are 
  at +2 Difficulty to all actions and they still need another 
  9 successes to achieve victory. The next character to act 
  manages to score 2 successes. He elects to forfeit these. 
  The group still needs 9 successes, but the task is now 
  slightly easier as the Difficulty is only +1.
  * Increased Difficulty #2: As above, except only the 
  Difficulty of the next roll made by one of the characters 
  increases by 1. After this, the Difficulty resets to normal.
  * Individual Peril: A character who fails a roll may 
  be placed in individual peril. Actions used to rescue him 
  do not garner successes toward the greater goal—such is 
  the price of failure. For instance, a character who fails to 
  leap from his horse onto a carriage roof is clinging on by 
  his fingertips. He can drag himself up with a Strength or 
  Athletics roll, or nimbly flip onto the roof with an Acro-
  batics roll next turn, but his action does not accumulate 
  successes toward completion of the extended action.
  * Three Strikes: The characters fail the group ex-
  tended action if they score three failures before reaching 
  the required number of successes.
  * Time-Sensitive: The characters must achieve the re-
  quired number of successes in a fixed time period (such 
  as six turns) or they fail the task automatically. A failed 
  roll has no effect beyond wasting valuable time. As tide 
  and time wait for no man, there is nothing the heroes 
  can do to claw back lost time caused by failed rolls.
  * Zero Successes: Each level of failure subtracts from 
  the heroes’ accrued successes. For instance, a hero rolls 
  two successes on a Difficulty 4 action. The party loses 
  two successes from their accumulated total. Should the 
  total ever reach zero (or lower) at the end of a turn (after 
  every character has taken an action), then the group ex-
  tended action is a failure.
  Villainous Dice
  In most group extended actions, the focus of the story 
  Richelieu’s Guide to Serious Situations
  
  
  is centered solely on the player characters—they are the 
  stars of the adventure, and it is their actions that deter-
  mine success or failure. The villain might be running 
  away or chanting a dark incantation, but he has no direct 
  impact on play outside of the Gamemaster’s narrative.
  This complication allows the villain to roll dice each 
  turn, making them active participants in the scene. If the 
  Gamemaster is using initiative, then he takes his turn as 
  normal. When initiative is not used, the villain always 
  rolls last. His successes subtract directly from the party’s 
  accrued total. This is best used with the Zero Success 
  failure option.
  Opposed Rolls
  This optional rule is intended primarily for combat 
  scenes within a group extended action. Instead of slow-
  ing down the action by resorting to the regular combat 
  rules, things are handled abstractly. Rather than the hero 
  facing off against one specific foe, the roll simulates a 
  short period of time during which the character may face 
  and defeat several opponents.
  When a character uses a combat Skill, such as Brawl 
  or Fencing, against an enemy who can fight back, the 
  Gamemaster rolls dice for the opponents. For ease, most 
  minions have a pool of 6 or 7 dice. This covers both his 
  attack and Defense, which for these purposes is com-
  bined into a single abstract action.
  If the hero beats the villain’s roll, he kills one or more 
  enemies. Every success over that of his enemy counts 
  directly toward the overall number of successes the 
  group requires to complete the task. If the villain wins, 
  the character suffers automatic damage—Defense is not 
  used—equal to the difference in successes.
  Example: Henri is leading a company of French 
  soldiers in battle. The Gamemaster describes how a 
  company of Spanish pikemen are holding the right 
  flank, preventing the French from using their cavalry. 
  Henri, who likes to lead from the front, elects to use 
  Fencing, describing how he and his men charge the en-
  emy ranks.
  Henri has a Fencing rating of 8 (including his rapier 
  damage), the same as the Spanish pikemen. Henri rolls 
  his dice and scores 5 successes, while the Spanish score a 
  measly 3. The Gamemaster describes how Henri and his 
  men tie up the pikemen, allowing the French cavalry to 
  outflank them. Henri is now 2 successes near the goal.
  Had the results been reversed, Henri would now be 
  nursing 2 lethal wounds and several of his men lie dead 
  on the battlefield, his brave endeavor ending with the 
  French being soundly driven back by the wall of pikes.
  Sample Actions
  Detailed below are a number of generic group extend-
  ed actions. Gamemasters may use them straight from the 
  page or modifier them to fit a specific situation.
  Boarding Action
  While most combats will likely be played out using 
  the normal rules, there may be times when the Game-
  master wants to use group extended actions, instead. 
  This example is of the heroes and allied mariners board-
  ing a pirate ship. Although it is assumed the characters 
  have allies, the focus is purely on the heroes. Skills like 
  Diplomacy, Intimidation, and Warfare represent the ef-
  fectiveness of the allies’ actions.
  Difficulty: Non-combat Skills have a base Difficulty of 
  3. Combat Skills are Opposed actions against a generic 
  Skill rating of 6.
  Modifiers: If the characters and their allies outnum-
  ber the pirates by less than 2:1, all rolls have a +1 modi-
  fier. A ratio of 2:1 or better gives +2, 5:1 or higher a +4 
  modifier, and 10:1 or greater a +8. The opposite applies 
  if the pirates have superior numbers.
  Suggested Skills:
  * Athletics (throwing grenades or grappling hooks, 
  climbing the rigging to cut ropes)
  * Combat Skills (Archery, Brawl, Fencing, Firearms, 
  Gunnery, Melee)
  * Diplomacy: Leadership (issuing orders)
  * Intimidation (issuing orders or scaring the pirates)
  * Magick (almost every Art is useful, especially those 
  intended to inflict damage)
  * Seamanship (maneuvering the ship to a good initial 
  position, fouling the enemy rigging)
  * Warfare (determining tactics, organizing the allied 
  mariners)
  Skill Limit: For each additional use of the Skill by a 
  single character, he alone suffers a cumulative –2 penalty. 
  Thus, every hero may use Fencing once and suffer no 
  penalty, but a hero who resorts to the same Skill twice 
  has a –2 modifier.
  Time: Every combat action represents approximately 
  one minute of time.
  Success: Defeating the pirates and capturing the ship 
  requires 20 successes.
  Failure: Failed opposed rolls inflict damage on the 
  character. If the characters as a group fail any three rolls 
  before securing 20 successes, the pirates win. The char-
  acters are captured, and their ship taken as a prize.
  Cross-Country Chase
  Whether mounted, in a carriage, or on foot, the char-
  acters are chasing someone across open country.
  Difficulty: Variable. Most Difficulties will be 2 or 3.
  Suggested Skills:
  * Animal Handling (urging the horses on)
  * Athletics (running, swimming)
  * Craft: Carpentry (building a raft to cross a river)
  * Magick (Transportation is the most useful Art, but 
  others can apply—Divination might reveal the quarry’s 
  route, Faunamancy may let a mage use a bird as a scout)
  •           •
  All For One 
  
  
  * Perception (looking out for signs of the quarry)
  * Riding
  * Streetwise (questioning locals as to whether they 
  have seen the heroes’ quarry passing through)
  * Survival (navigating through woods, finding short-
  cuts, tracking)
  Skill Limit: Each Skill may be used only once per 
  turn, and no individual may use the same Skill skill more 
  than once during the action.
  Time: The chase might be a short one, with combat 
  turns measured in minutes, or represent a lengthy pur-
  suit across a France, with each turn being a day or a set 
  number of miles.
  Success: Chases typically need 10 to 20 successes. 
  Once they reach their total, the character catch up with 
  their opponents, at which time the extended action ends 
  and normal play resumes.
  Failure: Three failures allow the quarry to escape, 
  forcing the characters to find alternate means of com-
  pleting their goal. The villains are allowed a single Skill 
  roll each round with no teamwork bonus. Any successful 
  roll (regardless of number) counts as one of the heroes’ 
  three failures.
  Escaping Captivity
  The characters have been captured. First they must 
  escape from their cell. After that, they must escape from 
  the prison in which they are being held.
  Difficulty: Variable based on the nature of the action 
  and the level of security. For example, sneaking through 
  the corridors of a castle bristling with guards might be 
  Difficulty 4, whereas throwing a makeshift hook to grab 
  keys left on a table might be Difficulty 2.
  Suggested Skills: 
  * Acrobatics (crawling through narrow gaps, squeez-
  ing through bars)
  * Athletics (climbing, throwing a makeshift hook to 
  grab keys)
  * Brawl (overpowering guards, potentially giving the 
  heroes access to weapons and thus other combat Skills)
  * Con (bluffing guards)
  * Empathy (determining which guards might be brib-
  able or fall for ruses)
  * Larceny (picking locks)
  * Magick (most Arts have uses; divination might let 
  a magician avoid patrols, geomancy may bend bars or 
  open locks, pyromancy can soften or melt metal, trans-
  mutation can make bars more malleable, and so on)
  * Strength (bending bars, smashing down doors)
  * Stealth (avoiding guards)
  Skill Limit: No Skill may be used more than three 
  times in total during the extended action, no matter 
  which characters makes the roll.
  Time: Variable. The Gamemaster determines the pas-
  sage of time based on individual actions.
  Success: In order to escape captivity, the characters 
  must secure 20 successes in total. The Gamemaster 
  breaks this into two separate extended actions. The first, 
  escaping the cell, requires just 5 successes. Once these 
  are achieved, they must escape the actual prison, a task 
  needing 15 successes. Extra successes gained in the first 
  part do not count toward the second task.
  Failure: Three failed rolls lead to the heroes being 
  recaptured and placed in a more secure holding facility.
  Find the Papers
  The characters have to sneak into a building and 
  find specific papers. This extended action might involve 
  infiltrating a Spanish military camp and swiping battle 
  plans, recovering a love letter that might incriminate a 
  powerful person, locating ledgers that prove a merchant 
  is involved in black market schemes, and so on..
  This extended action is divided into three separate 
  tasks—gaining entrance, finding the papers, and escap-
  ing. The first and third tasks involve similar Skills, while 
  the second requires a different set.
  Entering & Escaping
  Difficulty: Base Difficulty is set by the Gamemaster 
  based on the nature of the action. Any roll to locate the 
  papers is Difficulty 4.
  Suggested Skills:
  * Con (bluffing guards or servants)
  * Larceny (opening locks)
  * Magick (Divination is the most useful, though oth-
  ers can be beneficial in the right circumstances)
  * Perception (detecting guards)
  * Spying (bribing guards, acting unobtrusively to 
  avoid drawing attention)
  * Stealth (avoiding being seen)
  Skill Limits: Each time the same Skill is used during 
  the extended action a cumulative –2 penalty is incurred, 
  regardless of who performs the action.
  Time: Variable. Sneaking through corridors might 
  take just a few seconds, but searching a room might take 
  10 minutes.
  Success: Finding the right area requires 8 successes. 
  Once the papers are found, escaping also requires 8 suc-
  cesses.
  Failure: Any failure means the heroes encounter a 
  small squad of guards. These must be defeated using 
  regular combat. If victorious, the characters may con-
  tinue their search. However, more failures automatically 
  mean more guards are encountered.
  Finding the Papers
  Difficulty: Difficulty 3.
  Suggested Skills: 
  * Bureaucracy (recognizing specific types of papers)
  * Investigation (searching stacks of papers)
  * Linguistics (determining whether the papers are the 
  right ones)
  Richelieu’s Guide to Serious Situations
  
  
  * Magick (Divination is the most useful, though oth-
  ers can be beneficial in the right circumstances)
  * Spying (speed reading)
  Skill Limits: Each time the same Skill is used during 
  the extended action a cumulative –2 penalty is incurred, 
  regardless of who performs the action.
  Time: 10 minutes per roll.
  Success: Finding the papers requires four successes.
  Failure: As above.
  Interrogation
  The characters are charged with interrogating a pris-
  oner. He might be a suspected enemy spy, a bureaucrat 
  suspected of treasonous activities, a demon worshipper, 
  or a captured enemy soldier. In order to progress with 
  the adventure, the characters garner important informa-
  tion from their captive.
  Difficulty: Equal to the captive’s Willpower.
  Suggested Skills:
  * Con (tricking or seducing the captive into revealing 
  information)
  * Diplomacy (negotiating with the captive)
  * Empathy (reading body language, detecting lies)
  * Intimidation (threats or torture)
  * Investigation (interview technique, piecing together 
  snippets of informaion)
  * Magick (Divination and Homomancy—mind con-
  trol—are best suited)
  Skill Limit: A Skill may be used only once per turn.
  Time: One hour, one day, or one week per turn.
  Success: Basic information requires 10 successes, ris-
  ing higher for more secret information.
  Failure: Three failed Skill rolls means the prisoner 
  cannot be broken by any means—his will is simply too 
  strong. The heroes are going to need another prisoner.
  Investigation
  The character seek information. This might pertain 
  to the whereabouts of a kidnapped person, the head-
  quarters of a shadowy and sinister organization, the final 
  resting place of an ancient relic, or trying to find a bomb 
  before it explodes.
  Difficulty: Variable. Difficulty should be based on the 
  level of secrecy surrounding the information, the power 
  of an organization, or the antiquity of the object sought. 
  For instance, locating a missing child in a rural village 
  might be Difficulty 2 if she has simply wandered off, ris-
  ing to 4 or 5 if she has been kidnapped by a sinister cult. 
  Something like finding the resting place of the Ark of the 
  Covenant might be Difficulty 7 or 8, and uncovering the 
  head of a secret society Difficulty 8 or higher.
  Suggested Skills: 
  * Academics: History (ancient clues, similar patterns)
  * Bureaucracy (gaining access to documents, dealing 
  with officials)
  * Con (tricking people who may hold clues into re-
  vealing what they know)
  * Empathy (determining if someone is lying or under-
  standing their motives)
  * Intimidation (coercing information)
  * Investigation (studying crime scenes, interviewing 
  witnesses, trawling through libraries)
  * Magick (Divination works best)
  * Stealth (tailing a suspect)
  * Streetwise (following up rumors, finding leads to 
  people who may have pertinent information).
  Skill Limit: A specific Skill may be used only once per 
  combat turn.
  Time: Varies. At minimum, each turn represents a day. 
  Trying to investigate well protected or forgotten informa-
  tion might allow one roll per week, month, or year.
  Success: Varies. Finding something trivial may require 
  10 successes, while finding extremely old or protected 
  information might require 40+ successes.
  Failure: Each failed roll increases the Difficulty of all 
  subsequent actions, either because the party is following 
  a false trail or because someone is placing obstacles in 
  their path. Three failures leads to a dead end. Worse, if 
  the party is investigation a person or organization they 
  are alerted to the characters’ interest in their activities.
  Mass Battle
  While in most adventures the heroes are operating as 
  a small group, the Musketeers are soldiers of France, and 
  France is currently at war. To that end, such characters 
  may on occasion find themselves ordered to participate 
  in battles. Later in their careers, once they have earned 
  sufficient rank, a character may even hold the fate of an 
  entire army in his hands.
  Difficulty: All combat Skills are opposed by the en-
  emy’s generic rating of 7 dice. Other Skills are typically 
  opposed by the enemy commander’s Warfare rating. An 
  incompetent officer has 5-6 dice, a competent one 7-8 
  dice, and an outstanding one 9-10 dice.
  Modifiers: If the characters and their allies outnum-
  ber the enemy by less than 2:1, all rolls have a +1 modi-
  fier. A ratio of 2:1 or better gives +2, 5:1 or higher a +4 
  modifier, and 10:1 or greater a +8. The opposite applies 
  if the enemy have superior numbers.
  Other modifiers may apply depending on the specific 
  battlefield. For instance, if the enemy holds the high 
  ground, then the heroes might suffer a –2 penalty, either 
  for the entire battle or until they score a certain number 
  of successes, at which time they storm the hill, denying 
  the enemy their advantage.
  Suggested Skills: 
  * Combat Skills (Archery, Brawl, Fencing, Firearms, 
  Gunnery, Melee)
  * Con (feints, false retreats, and other subterfuge de-
  signed to confuse the enemy)
  * Empathy (deducing the enemy’s next move)
  * Intimidation (orders)
  All For One 
  
  
  * Magick (most Arts are useful. Aeromancy might gen-
  erate fog to conceal troop movements, Floramancy might 
  cause grass to engage an enemy company, Hydromancy 
  can cause a downpour, Geomancy might cause holes to 
  appear in front of the cavalry, and so on.)
  * Riding (cavalry charge or maneuvering a forma-
  tion)
  * Stealth (camouflage, outflanking maneuvers)
  * Warfare (tactics, issuing commands)
  Skill Limit: Combat Skills (Brawl, Gunnery, etc.) and 
  Warfare have no restrictions. Other Skills may be used 
  only once per turn, and each subsequent use imposes 
  a cumulative –2 penalty as men become jaded or the 
  enemy becomes wise to the character’s tactics.
  Time: Typically 30 minutes or one hour per roll.
  Success: A skirmish requires 10 successes, a modest 
  engagement 20, and a clash of mighty armies 30.
  Failure: Failed combat Skills inflict damage on the 
  character and subtract from the total number of group 
  successes.
  Other failed rolls subtract from the characters’ accu-
  mulated successes. If the heroes end up with zero suc-
  cesses or fewer at the end of a turn then the allied army 
  is defeated. The heroes may be captured or forced to flee 
  in ignominy.
  Negotiation
  The characters are charged with negotiating with 
  an important person. This might be a temporary truce 
  between the French and Spanish, courting a nobleman 
  who has valuable information or resources, convincing 
  the mayor to release the peasants from the farms to help 
  hunt down a werewolf, or persuading a Spanish official 
  to turn traitor and serve the cause of France.
  Difficulty: Skills used against the dignitary directly 
  are opposed by his Willpower rating. Other Skills have 
  Difficulty 3.
  Suggested Skills: 
  * Academics (quoting legal or historical precedent, 
  quoting philosophical arguments)
  * Con (bluffing , seducing, or tricking)
  * Diplomacy (formal negotiation)
  * Empathy (detecting lies, reading body language, 
  understanding the dignitary’s motive)
  * Magick (Homomancy works best)
  Skill Limit: Each Skill may be used only once per 
  combat turn.
  Time: Each combat turn can represent one hour, one 
  day, or one week, depending on the seriousness of the 
  request and its possible repercussions.
  Success: 10 for a simple request, rising to 30 for ask-
  ing the dignitary to turn traitor.
  Failure: Three failures ends the negotiations. A char-
  acter who succeeds in a Skill roll may trade the successes 
  to remove an accrued failure.
  Special: The dignitary may have an advisor who ar-
  gues against the characters’ words. At the end of each 
  turn, after the characters are finished, he makes a suit-
  able Social Skill roll opposed by his master’s Willpower.
  Riding the Storm
  Mariners fear many things, for the sea is a harsh mis-
  tress. Storms are especially feared. Close to shore, they 
  may drive a ship onto the rocks, shattering its hull. At 
  sea, colossal waves may swamp her, causing the vessel to 
  capsize. The only guaranteed way of surviving is to lash 
  oneself down and ride out the storm.
  Difficulty: The base Difficulty for actions in a storm is 
  determined by the strength of the wind. A typical storm 
  has a base Difficulty of 3, while a hurricane has a base 
  Difficulty of 6.
  Suggested Skills: 
  * Athletics (climbing the rigging)
  * Intimidation (ordering the crew)
  * Magick (Aeromancy can negate the wind or propel 
  the ship, Homomancy stirs the hearts of men, and Hy-
  dromancy can be used to halt huge waves or pump the 
  bilges)
  * Seamanship (steering, handling the rigging)
  * Strength (hauling ropes)
  * Warfare (commanding the crew).
  Skill Limits: Each character may use a particular Skill 
  just once during the Scene.
  Time: Each combat turn represents 30 minutes.
  Success: Riding out the storm requires the group to 
  accumulate 20 successes.
  Failure: At the end of each turn, once every character 
  has performed an action, the ship suffers a number of 
  dice of structural damage equal to the storm’s Difficulty. 
  Should the Structure be reduced to zero, the ship floun-
  ders on rocks or capsizes.
  Special: Unless the characters are tethered, a critical 
  failure causes the hero to fall overboard. The character 
  has no hope of rescuing himself—he must make an Ath-
  letics: Swimming roll each round to avoid drowning. 
  Anyone aboard the ship can attempt to rescue him. 
  Athletics: Throwing is an obvious Skill choice. However, 
  any successes earned saving the stricken character do 
  not count toward weathering the storm.
  Smuggling
  The characters are tasked with smuggling something 
  past official inspectors. For instance, they might have to 
  smuggle a mage out of Paris past Richelieu’s guards, or 
  deliver weapons to rebel groups in French land occupied 
  by the Spanish.
  Difficulty: The Difficulty depends on the vigilance of 
  the officials being bypassed and the size of the cargo. 
  Smuggling a single, small object past guards might 
  warrant Difficulty 2, but trying to bring a wagon full of 
  weapons past Spanish soldiers without the cargo being 
  inspected might be Difficulty 4 or 5.
  Richelieu’s Guide to Serious Situations
  
  
  Suggested Skills:
  * Bureaucracy (expertise at dealing with officials)
  * Con (bluffing their way through)
  * Magick (Homomancy is ideal—“You don’t need to 
  search these crates”—but Transmutation can be very 
  handy as it allows the cargo to be disguised)
  * Perception (watching out for officials approaching)
  * Spying (bribery, or looking innocuous to avoid scru-
  tiny)
  * Stealth (hiding the smuggled goods)
  Skill Limit: Each Skill may be used only once per 
  combat turn.
  Time: A combat turn typically represents a few min-
  utes, though trying to unload a shipment of arms unde-
  tected might take 30 minutes per roll.
  Success: Typically 20 successes.
  Failure: Three failures means the characters are 
  caught red-handed. At best, the officials may want to 
  confiscate the item. At worst, they intend to hold the 
  characters captive and try them, possibly as traitors or 
  spies) depending on the nature of the cargo).
  Thwarting the Ritual
  A vile nobleman is in the process of conducting a ritual 
  intended to summon a powerful demon. The characters 
  have located his lair, his chateau, but they need to use 
  stealth to infiltrate the dungeons—the noble has a lot of 
  guards in his employ.
  Difficulty: The base Difficulty for most tasks is 3. 
  The guards are alert, there are servants moving around, 
  doors are securely locked, and so on.
  Suggested Skills: 
  * Acrobatics (squeezing through windows)
  * Athletics (scaling the outer walls)
  * Con (convincing guards you belong in the castle)
  * Empathy (deducing when the guards may change 
  shifts, leave their post for patrol duties, or fall asleep)
  * Investigation (searching for secret doors or stair-
  cases)
  * Larceny (opening locked doors to find a more ex-
  pedient route)
  * Magick (Aeromancy can dampen sounds, Divination 
  can help deduce the best route, Geomancy can open 
  locks, and so on)
  * Perception (hear patrols advancing or servants talk-
  ing behind closed doors)
  * Spying (disguise or acting like you belong in the 
  castle)
  * Stealth.
  Skill Limit: Each time the same Skill is used during 
  the extended action a cumulative –2 penalty is incurred, 
  regardless of who performs the action.
  Time: Variable. One turn might represent a few min-
  utes of sneaking, while another may involve ten minutes 
  bluffing the guards.
  Success: The Gamemaster splits the action into three 
  separate extended actions.
  The first involves them sneaking through the chateau’s 
  ground and gaining access to the main house. Achieving 
  this requires 5 successes.
  Exploring the chateau, a sprawling structure with many 
  wings, and locating the extensive dungeons requires a 
  further 10 successes. The chateau is well guarded, and 
  many servants are wondering the corridors. Difficulties 
  are increased by 1 due to the number of NPCs present.
  Finally, the characters must navigate through the dun-
  geons and find the hidden chamber the noble is using 
  for the summoning. This requires 5 successes. Once in 
  the summoning chamber, the action reverts to normal 
  combat against the sorcerer and his lackeys.
  As normal, successes from one extended action task 
  do not carry forward to the next.
  Failure: This extended action has two separate failure 
  conditions.
  First, if the party fails three rolls the alarm is sounded, 
  forcing them to fight their way to the dungeon through a 
  squad of the noble’s guards. After the fight, the Difficulty 
  of all actions is increased by one point, the guards now 
  patrolling the grounds, checking rooms for the intrud-
  ers, locking doors to prevent further trespass, standing 
  outside key areas, and so on.
  Second, they have just six combat turns to reach the 
  dungeons or midnight will strike and the ritual will be 
  completed. Not only must they then combat a powerful 
  sorcerer, but also a demon.
  Detailed Example
  Below is a detailed example of a group extended ac-
  tion. The player characters are all taken straight from the 
  sample characters in the core rulebook. Alain (played by 
  Jim) is an impoverished nobleman, Bertrand (Steve) is a 
  messenger, Clementine (Maggie) is a spy (but an openly 
  female Musketeer), and Didier (Wayne) is a polymath.
  M. de Tréville has learned that a Spanish spy is carry-
  ing a coded message from the Spanish court to a Spanish 
  spy in Paris. The Musketeer’s’ captain requires his men 
  to locate the spy before he reaches the city, acquire the 
  message without alerting the spy, decode it, and then 
  slip it back into his possession. 
  The Gamemaster breaks the group extended action 
  into four separate tasks—hunting the spy, getting the 
  message, decoding the message, and returning the mes-
  sage.
  Finding the Spy
  The first task involves locating the spy. All the heroes 
  know is he is mounted, will be approaching Paris from 
  the west, having landed at La Rochelle several days ago, 
  and wears a black rose emblem. After some discussion, 
  the characters decide to travel to Orleans, his likely route, 
  and question tavern owners. If he has passed through 
  recently, they hope to have the time to give chase before 
  he reaches Paris. If he has yet to enter Orleans, they can 
  •           •
  All For One 
  10
  
  set up a temporary spy network among the tavern own-
  ers to inform them when he arrives.
  Difficulty: The Gamemaster decides he will set the 
  Difficulty based on the characters’ actions.
  Suggested Skills:
  * Con (lies, bluffs)
  * Diplomacy (polite questioning)
  * Empathy (detecting lies)
  * Intimidation (threats)
  * Investigation (interviewing patrons)
  * Perception (spotting the messenger)
  * Streetwise (questioning locals)
  Skill Limit: Given the low number of successes re-
  quired, the Gamemaster decides each Skill can be used 
  just once during this part of the extended action.
  Time: One hour per combat turn.
  Success: The characters must score 5 successes to 
  find the spy.
  Failure: Each failure increases the Difficulty of all 
  subsequent actions by one. Should the party score two 
  failures, the spy has already left Orleans. If this happens, 
  the Gamemaster plans to allow a chase to give the char-
  acters chance to catch up with him.
  The Gamemaster allows the heroes to act in whatever 
  order they want. Alain’s player decides to go first.
  Alain (Jim): (to GM) I’m going to remove my Mus-
  keteer garb and don my noble clothing—no point in 
  scaring the spy away if he’s already here and overhears 
  us asking questions. Then I’ll begin trawling the tav-
  erns. I’m going to pretend I’m a nobleman looking for a 
  friend I’m supposed to be meeting. I’ll use Streetwise to 
  pick up any rumors of a man wearing a black rose.
  The Gamemaster agrees Streetwise is a suitable Skill. 
  Because Alain is dressed the part and using his full noble 
  title, he can use his Status 1 Resource to boost his roll. 
  Orleans has a lot of taverns, so the Gamemaster sets the 
  Difficulty at 4.
  Jim picks up his dice (5 from Streetwise and 2 from 
  his Status) and rolls 4 successes. This is not enough to 
  score a success, but neither is it a failure.
  Gamemaster: The nobility does not seem to be in 
  favor right now. A few citizens shrug, claiming to have 
  seen no one matching that description, but most just 
  turn their backs on you. Do you want to spend Style 
  points?
  Alain (jim): (To GM) No, it’s too soon to start spend-
  ing them. (To others) “Ignorant peasants! Sorry, mes 
  amis, but the influence of the nobility does not seem to 
  carry the weight it once did. Maybe one of you will have 
  more luck. You are commoners, after all.”
  Bertrand (Steve): (To GM) I’m a messenger. I want to 
  put myself in our quarry’s shoes. I’m carrying a secret 
  message to a Spanish agent, so I’d want to avoid trouble 
  and people who might ask too many questions. So what 
  sort of taverns might I stay in for the night. Hopefully I 
  can reduce the number of places we have to visit.
  Gamemaster: (To Steve) Okay, I can go with that. 
  Make an Intelligence roll.
  Bertrand (Steve): (To GM) I have Contacts 1 among 
  tavern owners. I reckon that gives me a good knowledge 
  of the sorts of taverns around here, and maybe a few 
  friends who can point me in the right direction.
  Although Steve isn’t making a Skill roll, the Gamemas-
  ter agrees that his Contacts would be helpful in helping 
  him find a certain class of establishment. Steve rolls 6 
  dice (double his Intelligence 3) and adds 2 bonus dice 
  for his Contacts. Given he and the messenger share the 
  same occupation and thus a certain mindset, the Game-
  master grants Steve a further +1 bonus.
  With the field narrowed down, the Gamemaster de-
  cides the Difficulty is 3—still not an easy task. Steve rolls 
  his dice and gets 6 successes. After subtracting the Dif-
  ficulty, that nets him 3 successes toward the goal.
  Gamemaster: Good roll! After spending a few min-
  utes talking to one of your old contacts, he mentions 
  that a man wearing a black rose emblem came into his 
  tavern just a few hours ago. He didn’t stay, but he did 
  ask where to find a quiet tavern. The owner pointed 
  him to the north of town, where there are several small 
  taverns popular with travelers.
  Clementine (Maggie): I’ll go next! I’m going to 
  strip off my Musketeer clothing as well an unbutton my 
  blouse a little. I’ll visit the taverns in that area why you 
  guys wait outside. I’m going to pretend I’m looking for 
  my brother.
  Gamemaster: Okay. Combined with your cleavage 
  exposure, that sounds like a Con roll to me.
  Clementine (Maggie): Okay, that’s just 5 dice.
  The Gamemaster sets the Difficulty at 2—the charac-
  ters are in the right area of town and there are plenty 
  of men willing to help a damsel in distress, especially 
  one showing a little flesh. Maggie rolls just 3 successes, 
  netting the group another 1 success,
  Gamemaster: Most people just stare at your chest, 
  but one elderly patron says he saw a man with the 
  black rose emblem enter the Goose and Lion just down 
  the street. At least he thinks, he did.
  Didier (Wayne): I’ll go into the tavern, order a drink, 
  and have a look round. If he’s there I should be able to 
  spot his distinctive emblem.
  Wayne is scanning the patrons, he opts to use Percep-
  tion (6 dice). Given the characters are now at the right 
  tavern and there are only a handful of patrons, the Diffi-
  culty is 1. Wayne scores 4 successes, bringing the group’s 
  total to 7 and ending this task.
  Gamemaster: It doesn’t take you long to spot him. 
  He’s seated away from the fire, his back to the wall, 
  allowing him to watch the entire tavern. Okay, you’ve 
  successfully completed this part of the task with flying 
  colors. The next thing you have to do is get the message 
  from him without alerting the messenger.
  Alain: “We should wait until later in the evening, mes 
  amis. If the tavern is busier, it will be easier to cause a 
  distraction.”
  Gamemaster: Unless you want to do anything in 
  the meantime, we can skip ahead to the evening. All 
  okay with that? Great! Okay, several hours pass. The 
  messenger orders a light lunch and a few weak beers, 
  Richelieu’s Guide to Serious Situations
  11
  
  but doesn’t leave his seat. During that time you notice 
  he has a small satchel, which he keeps very close to his 
  person. As the sun sets, the tavern grows busier, with 
  new patrons ready for a night on the town.
  Stealing the Papers
  Difficulty: The Gamemaster decides he will set the 
  Difficulty based on the characters’ actions.
  Suggested Skills:
  * Con (seduction, distractions)
  * Diplomacy (trying to make a friend)
  * Empathy (reading his emotions)
  * Larceny (trying to lift the letter)
  * Performance (distraction)
  Skill Limit: The Gamemaster decides each Skill can 
  be used just once during the extended action.
  Time: The Gamemaster sets no specific time for the 
  actions, since it is unimportant to the task.
  Success: The characters must score 10 successes to 
  take possession of the letter.
  Failure: The characters have 3 turns to acquire the let-
  ter. After that, the spy meets several local contacts, who 
  escort him to a well-protected safe house. Each failed roll 
  makes the messenger suspicious, causing him to tighten 
  his watch over the satchel. All Difficulties increase by one 
  for every failure.
  Alain (Jim): (To GM) I want to try and work out 
  what sort of person he is, deduce his possible interests 
  and what might distract him from that satchel.
  Gamemaster: Good call. Sounds like an Empathy 
  roll to me. Roll your dice.
  Alain grabs 5 dice, his Empathy rating and rolls them. 
  The man is a complete stranger, but there are several 
  activities going on in the tavern that could attract his at-
  tention. Since knowing these will open up new avenues 
  for the characters, he sets the Difficulty at 2. Jim rolls 4 
  successes, getting his 2 toward the group’s goal.
  Gamemaster: He looks generally shifty, continually 
  glancing at the door each time it opens. When he isn’t 
  doing that his eyes wander between the serving girls, 
  and a game of cards taking place at a nearby table.
  Clementine (Maggie): So he likes pretty girls, eh? Is 
  there any music? A band, maybe?
  Gamemaster: No band, but there is a musician play-
  ing a lute quietly by the fireside. No one is paying him 
  much attention, really.
  Clementine (Maggie): That’s okay, so long as there’s 
  music. I’m going to dance for a bit. Nothing fancy, just 
  a wiggle of the hips to get his attention and distract him 
  long enough for one of you to grab the letter.
  Gamemaster: Okay, dancing is definitely Perfor-
  mance. Roll your dice!
  Clementine (Maggie): Since I’m trying to be sexy as 
  well, can I use Skill Synergy with Con? I have 5 dice in 
  that.
  Gamemaster: Sure! That makes perfect sense. So 
  that’s a total of 7 dice for you. You don’t get your Acting 
  Specialization, though, since you’re dancing.
  Maggie rolls 7 dice against Difficulty 3—the messen-
  ger’s Willpower. She manages 6 successes. Overall, that’s 
  3 successes, leaving the party needing just 5 more.
  Gamemaster: As you gyrate through the tavern the 
  others notice the messenger’s eyes, and those of many 
  other patrons, drift to follow you. His right hand, which 
  is lying across the satchel, drifts away momentarily, but 
  quickly returns to rest across it once more.
  Bertrand (Steve): Right, I’ve got a plan. I’m going to 
  act drunk and stagger into his table, spilling my beer 
  over him. With any luck he’ll be so angry he stands up, 
  forgetting his satchel, and allowing... er... Didier to rifle 
  through it.
  Didier (Wayne): “A poor choice, sir. I’m a scholar, 
  not a common thief! Clementine is better at that sort of 
  thing. No offence, m’lady.”
  Bertrand (Steve): (Breaking character) Yes, but she’s 
  already acted this combat turn. After me, you’re the 
  only one left to act. I have 6 dice in Acrobatics, which 
  should give me a chance of soaking him in beer.
  Wayne relents, albeit reluctantly. Steve repeats his 
  intended action for the Gamemaster. The Difficulty is set 
  at 2—drenching the messenger with beer is easy enough, 
  but unless it looks convincing he may detect the ruse. 
  Wayne reaches for his 6 dice. Everyone looks on as the 
  dice roll to a halt—and groans as a measly three suc-
  cesses are revealed. After accounting for the Difficulty, 
  that’s just one success toward the total.
  Bertrand (Steve): If I spend Style points I get one 
  bonus die per Style point, right? (The GM nods). So if 
  I spend four I’ll get another four dice to roll. Even a 
  few more successes might take some of the pressure off 
  Didier. Okay, I’ll spend four Style points!
  Steve picks up four more dice and rolls them. Every-
  one groans loudly as the dice reveal just one more suc-
  cess. The party now needs three successes to grab the 
  papers from the satchel. All eyes turn to Wayne.
  Gamemaster: You stagger across the bar, tripping 
  just at the right place to send your ale flying toward 
  the messenger. Splat! It soaks the front of his tunic. He 
  quickly stands, cursing you vehemently. Alas, he has 
  picked up his satchel with one hand while he wipes 
  away from excess liquid.
  Bertrand (Steve): I’ll apologize, trying my best to 
  make the situation worse yet seeming to be helpful. 
  Maybe he’ll drop the satchel as he tries to get rid of me.
  Gamemaster: Actually, it’s Didier’s turn to act now.
  Didier (Wayne): Ah. Right.
  Gamemaster: Just do something that suits the situa-
  tion. I know your Skills aren’t best suited to this situa-
  tion, but you’ll get your chance to shine real soon.
  Didier (Wayne): Can I make an Investigation roll? 
  I want to see what sort of clasp the satchel has. That 
  might make it easier for someone to open quickly.
  Gamemaster: Hmm, you can, but it won’t count 
  toward the successes you need for victory. I’ll tell you 
  what, though, if you succeed I’ll let you grant a +2 bo-
  nus to anyone who tries Larceny to covertly open the 
  satchel. How does that sound?
  All For One 
  1
  
  Didier (Wayne): That’s fine. Okay, that’s 6 dice.
  Didier is across the tavern and the satchel is partially 
  concealed, so the Gamemaster sets the Difficulty at 4. 
  Wayne rolls three successes, not enough.
  Gamemaster: Unfortunately you can’t get a clear 
  look at the satchel. On the plus side, though, your action 
  goes unnoticed, so it doesn’t count as a failure in terms 
  of the overall objective. Right, everyone has acted so a 
  new combat turn begins.
  Clementine (Maggie): While the messenger is insult-
  ing Bertrand, I’ll quietly sneak behind him and try to 
  open the satchel using my Larceny. That’s 6 dice.
  Gamemaster: Okay, that’ll be an opposed roll 
  against the guy’s Perception, which is 5 dice. Since he 
  is involved in a row with your fellow Musketeer and 
  somewhat distracted, I’ll give you a +2 bonus.
  Maggie grabs her dice and scores 6 successes from 
  8 dice. The Gamemaster rolls 4 dice for the messenger 
  and only manages 1 success. Maggie doesn’t know it yet, 
  but her five successes are enough to complete the group 
  extended action.
  Gamemaster: The messenger shoves Bertrand with 
  both hands, leaving the satchel unguarded just for a mo-
  ment. With a nimble flick you manage to lift the clasp. 
  Inside is a large letter, folded and sealed with wax.
  Clementine (Maggie): I’ll grab it quickly! Then I’ll 
  wink to Bertrand so he knows it’s time to back off and 
  cool things down. Oh, and I’ll refasten the clasp so the 
  messenger in none the wiser.
  Gamemaster: Good work. Right, that’s the second 
  task complete. Now you need to decode the letter.
  Decoding the Letter
  Difficulty: The code is quite complex and time is 
  against the characters, so the Difficulty is set at 4.
  Suggested Skills:
  * Intelligence (clever insights)
  * Linguistics (cracking codes)
  Skill Limit: The Gamemaster decides there is no limit 
  to how many times a Skill can be used.
  Time: Ten minutes per combat turn. The time means 
  nothing in terms of the adventure, but the Gamemaster 
  wants the players to sweat a little.
  Success: The characters must score 5 successes to 
  crack the cipher.
  Failure: A single failure means the code cannot be 
  cracked without a lot more work, more time than the 
  heroes can reasonably spare. The Gamemaster also re-
  cords that he earlier set a limit of three combat turns. 
  He decides to keep this in place—the characters have to 
  crack the code and return the letter in just two turns!
  Gamemaster: Right, we’ll carry on from where we 
  left off in terms of who has acted. That’s just Clementine 
  for the current combat turn, so everyone else can take 
  their action now.
  Bertrand (Steve): Carrying on sounds ominous. We 
  may be under a time limit or something. I have Linguis-
  tics 5 specializing in Codes, so maybe I should go first?
  Didier (Wayne): My Linguistics rating is 7. Do we 
  work together using Teamwork or make individual 
  rolls. If you helped me, that would be 9 dice. That’s an 
  average of 4+, so we could be methodical.
  Bertrand (Steve): What if the code is complex? Even 
  9 dice might not be enough for a quick success. Maybe 
  we should each make a roll and spend Style points? Not 
  that I have many left, mind you. Anything Alain can do 
  to help us?
  Alain (Jim): Not my thing, sadly. I guess I can make 
  an unskilled roll, though. I have Intelligence 3, so that 
  would give me... oh... just one die. Not much point help-
  ing. I’ll hold for now and try to think of something in 
  case you guys fail.
  Didier (Wayne): I’ll go first. I’ll start using standard 
  cipher keys to the letter to see if I can find a pattern. 
  Hang on, can I get a Synergy bonus from my Investiga-
  tion? It says I can solve riddles and enigmas.
  Gamemaster: Er... sure, you can use it for a +2 bo-
  nus since it has a rating of 6. So that’s 9 dice in total.
  Wayne rolls his 9 dice at Difficulty 4 and scores 6 suc-
  cesses, netting the group 2 toward their goal.
  Gamemaster: It looks like a substitution code, but 
  there’s also a key element needed. Without that, the task 
  will take some time.
  Didier (Wayne): I have three Style points. I’ll blow 
  the lot for 3 more dice.
  Wayne achieves another 2 successes. Four down, and 
  just one to go (not that the players know that).
  Gamemaster: Excellent work. You think the cipher 
  has something to do with “black rose,” which you can 
  recognize in the code. Now you know that, the task is 
  just a matter of time.
  Bertrand (Steve): Right, I’ll carry on from Didier’s 
  observations, applying what he has learned. I have Lin-
  guistics: Codes at 6 dice and one Style point left.
  Steve scores 5 successes. At Difficulty four, that nets 
  him just enough to complete the task.
  Gamemaster: Didier has already done much of the 
  work, but with your assistance the task is complete! I’ll 
  tell you what the message reads afterward. Now, you 
  need to put the letter back before the messenger realizes 
  it is gone.
  Returning the Letter
  Difficulty: Again, the Gamemaster decides he will set 
  the Difficulty based on the characters’ actions.
  Suggested Skills:
  * Con (seduction, distractions)
  * Empathy (reading his emotions)
  * Larceny (trying to lift the letter)
  * Performance (distraction)
  * Stealth (surreptitious behavior)
  Skill Limit: Again, the Gamemaster waives recording 
  any passage of time.
  Time: Ten minutes per combat turn.
  Success: The characters must score 5 successes to 
  discretely return the letter to the satchel.
  Richelieu’s Guide to Serious Situations
  1
  
  Failure: The Gamemaster elects to keep time flow-
  ing, leaving the characters with just an action from Alain 
  and then one more combat turn before the messenger’s 
  contacts arrive.
  Gamemaster: We’re carrying on from where we left 
  off again, so it’s just Alain to act in order to finish this 
  combat turn. What are you planning on doing?
  Alain: Do I know they’ve decoded the message yet?
  Gamemaster: Sorry. Yes, you do. You see Bertrand 
  and Didier return to the main bar area and give you a 
  nod. Now it’s time to distract the messenger so the letter 
  can be returned.
  Didier (Wayne): We forgot to reseal the letter after 
  we broke the wax!
  Gamemaster: Don’t worry. You guys are profession-
  als, especially Bertrand, who does this sort of thing all 
  the time. I’ll assume this time you carefully put it back 
  in place and stuck it down with a blob from one of the 
  candles you were reading by.
  Alain (Jim): Time for a distraction, then. You said 
  earlier that the messenger was watching a card game, 
  didn’t you? (GM affirms this). Okay, I’ll start a card 
  game nearby. On the next table if possible. Thing is, I 
  want to play to lose. Can I do that? I want to make him 
  think he can win big by playing cards with me.
  Gamemaster: Nice idea. Have a Style point. Okay, I 
  guess you just need to make a Gambling roll to play to 
  lose a few hands.
  Jim rolls Alain’s Gambling, 5 dice. Losing is much 
  easier than winning, since you can through away good 
  hands, so the Difficulty is set at 2. Jim scores 4 successes, 
  netting two toward the required total.
  Gamemaster: After a few hands, you notice the mes-
  senger taking a great deal of interest in you. He politely 
  coughs, and asks if he might join you for a hand or two 
  before he retires for the night.
  Alain (Jim): “I would be most grateful for the com-
  pany, sir. Perhaps you are my lucky charm and the tide 
  of fortune will turn in my favor.”
  Gamemaster: (Speaking as the messenger) “Let us 
  pray it does not change too much, sir.” 
  Clementine (Maggie): Where he has put the satchel? 
  Has he left it on his table?
  Gamemaster: No, he’s taken it with him and placed 
  it on the back of his chair. After a few minutes, it’s his 
  turn to deal, so he needs to use both hands and is dis-
  tracted. More so thanks to Alain’s losing streak.
  Bertrand (Steve): Alain is impoverished. How can 
  he afford to lose this much money?
  Clementine (Maggie): Here goes northing. I shall 
  grab a tray and some beers, and wander over to the 
  card game. I’ll put the tray down and lean across to 
  hand out the drinks, if you know what I mean. While 
  I’m doing that I’ll use one hand to slip the letter into 
  the satchel.
  Gamemaster: Are you focusing on the distraction 
  side or slipping the letter back? One will be Con and the 
  other Larceny.
  Clementine (Maggie): Can I use Larceny, but get a 
  Synergy from Con? I know they’re separate things, but 
  one is directly related to the other, isn’t it?
  Gamemaster: Fair enough. But you roll is opposed 
  by his Perception with no modifier this time. So he’ll be 
  rolling four dice. 
  Clementine (Maggie): Okay. I have Larceny 5, and 
  get another two dice from my Con Synergy. That’s 7 dice 
  in total against your four.
  The Gamemaster rolls first and scores 4 successes! 
  Maggie grimaces and rolls her 7 dice—also scoring four. 
  It isn’t failure, but it doesn’t give her any successes to-
  ward putting the letter back. Maggie decides to spend 
  three Style points. She rolls two successes, leaving the 
  group needing just one more.
  Unfortunately, time is passing and there are just Ber-
  trand and Didier left to act before the messenger’s goons 
  turn up.
  Gamemaster: The messenger casts a quick eye over 
  you, but he doesn’t seem particularly distracted. Rather, 
  he leans back to check his cards, causing you to fumble 
  with the clasp. The satchel is open, but the letter is still 
  in your hands.
  Bertrand (Steve): Didier will have to act next.
  Didier (Wayne): Why me?
  Bertrand (Steve): Because he knows my face. All 
  we need is a simple distraction and the letter can be 
  dropped into the satchel. Just go and ask him for a light 
  for your pipe.
  Didier (Wayne): I’ll walk up to the table and ask if I 
  can borrow their candle to light my pipe. I don’t really 
  have any useful Skills for this sort of thing. Can I make 
  a Charisma roll?
  Gamemaster: Sure. Just roll your Charisma dice.
  Wayne rolls 3 dice, Didier’s Charisma. The Difficulty is 
  set at 1—all the party needs is a momentary distraction. 
  Wayne manages to score two!
  Gamemaster: The messenger looks up at you and 
  leans forward slightly, just enough for Clementine to 
  quickly open the satchel and slide the letter inside.
  Just then, the door opens and four burly men enter. 
  They look around the room, pause, and then head for 
  the card game! One of them stands behind the mes-
  senger and coughs politely while glaring menacingly at 
  Alain. “Sir, we are here to escort you to your lodgings 
  for the night.”
  The messenger looks up and nods. “Sir,” he says to 
  Alain as he rakes in his winnings, “it has been a pleasure 
  playing with you. Perhaps next time your luck will run 
  better, yes?” With that he lifts the satchel off the chair 
  and indicates to the goons he is ready to follow them.
  Clementine (Maggie): Wow! That was close!
  Didier (Wayne): We need to get the information back 
  to M. de Tréville. What does it say, by the way?
  Bertrand (Steve): What I want to know is how could 
  Alain afford to lose so much money at cards? He’s an 
  impoverished noble with the Poor Flaw.
  Alain (Jim): (Accepting a Style point from the grin-
  ning Gamemaster). Easy! I used the money I took from 
  your saddlebags last night!
  All For One 
  1
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Triple Ace Games/All For One/Compendium 2 [split]/Richelieu's Guide To Serious Situations.pdf