Sentinel Comics RPG Core Rulebook

actions often end up with the same hero repeating
the same action over several turns, which can
become a bit tedious for everyone.
If you want to limit the progress on a challenge to
one action per turn, make sure to note it explicitly
and come up with a good in-game reason for it.
Since the game assumes no particular duration to
how long actions take or how long turns last, you
need to take this into account when applying these
forms of limits to challenges.
Muse and headlong are scouting a villain’s
island base when their communication gear
cuts out, but they find the villain’s satellite
uplink system they can Hijack to get word
back to the rest of the team in megalopolis.
Advanced Challenges
Not all challenges can be represented by a simple
progression of steps. Over the next few pages,
we dig into a few ways to plan and create unique
challenges that involve their own complexities and
provide a variety of options.
Timed Challenges: No Time to Lose
Whenever you want something the heroes need
to deal with quickly, you can add a timer to a
challenge. This kind of challenge covers classic
tropes such as time bombs, crashing planes, and
people falling from high places.
You decide how long your challenge should go
and what the consequences are if the timer reaches
its limit. Generally, the worse the consequence is
for the overall story, the longer the trigger delay
should be. The delay you set and the perceived
threat of the challenge becomes the dramatic
driver of your scene, so choose accordingly.
If the timing of the challenge is imminent, but
not necessarily catastrophic, you can use a timer
of a turn or two. However, if the challenge has the
opportunity to result in major fallout, it should have
enough time to give the heroes a chance to do
something about it. Use this chart as a guideline for
figuring out your timers:
Impact
Limited civilian impact
or danger to heroes
Major civilian impact
or danger to heroes
Catastrophic impact
on immediate area
Timer
1-2 turns
Change of scene status
(ex: from Yellow to Red)
See Doomsday Devices
(pages 197-199)
Of course, you can create challenges that both
require multiple successes and have timers. When
you bring such challenges into play, make sure
heroes are aware of the threat’s potency or have
plenty of opportunities to know of it in advance to
expect it and plan accordingly.
Timed challenges are a great way to add tension
to a scene and focus the heroes’ actions. In a scene
with a lot of dangerous elements, it can be difficult for
the heroes to prioritize between hordes of minions,
powerful lieutenants, important challenges, and
monologuing villains, but giving them a challenge they
know has a limited amount of time to complete tends
to spur them into action to save the day!
Creating Challenges
Intro
Playing
the Game
Creating
Heroes
Moderating
the Game
B ullpen
the
Adventure
Issues
The
Archives
Appendices
191