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Message: <blockquote data-quote="dbm" data-source="post: 9624256" data-attributes="member: 8014">To the OP question, Savage Worlds’ Dramatic Task system is an excellent tool for situations like this.I would probably run it as a four-step challenge, with the first round representing preparation, the second infiltration, the third achieving the specific aim (e.g. accessing a computer or safe) and the final round being exfiltration.The great thing about a Dramatic Task is, barring failure while on a club action card, you only determine success or failure at the end of the task. This means they are inherently ‘fail forward’ and it’s the narrative descriptions and suitable skills that will change based on the levels of success or failure that happen at every stage of the process.For example, if the party produce a whole stack of successes in the preparation phase then they have pulled off incredibly accurate reconnaissance and have a great load-out for what they are attempting, meaning that they need only a few more successes in subsequent stages. Conversely, if they get almost no successes during the first round they will need more at later steps, upping the pressure. To my mind this elegantly models the chain of successes / set backs that a party might experience during a raid or similar activity.I often think of Dramatic Tasks as a bit like montages in movies (to my mind, Savage Worlds is an excellent tool for running games that feel ‘cinematic’ in the sense of feeling like you are in a movie) and many times a heist would be run as montage of mini-scenes for the preparation, cutting between characters as they break in and try to achieve their goal, and get out again.The GM can put as much or as little mandatory shape on the task as they want, in response to the player’s stated actions. So, for example, if the party have had very little success and they need to really score big to get out they might describe ‘going dynamic’ and fighting their way out. This would then allow them to use combat skills for the characters on the ground and maybe ranged cover or running interference from party members who are nearby but not immediately present. At the end, and based on the level of total successes achieved relative to the target, the party might have taken damage, have been identified by the people they were raiding, have the authorities actively pursuing them and so on.It’s a very flexible tool for these kind of challenges and many others, too.</blockquote>

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