Are tasks and missions considered items?

Question

If I draw a task or a mission from a Common Item or Unique Item deck respectively, are they considered "items" when face up? For instance, if I draw the "Join the Winning Team" mission and am later required to discard items, can I discard that?

I ask because the list of locations for me to visit isn't really a "thing" and so I'm not sure how it thematically could fit as an item to discard.

Similarly, if I get an encounter that says someone hands me a Common Item and I get a task, do I keep it since it's not really a thing that they can hand over to me. Is that an item too?

Answer 1

Tasks and missions are considered "items" as per the Dunwich rulebook (Page 5):

Tasks are a type of item found in the Common Item deck, while Missions are items found in the Unique Item deck.

If you receive an effect that requires you to discard items you can discard a task or mission as part of that, noting in the base rules (page 16):

Important: When adding up items before discarding them, count all Common Items, Unique Items, and Spells. In addition, the Deputy’s Revolver and the Patrol Wagon both count as items. Allies, Skills, and other cards do not count towards this total

As tasks and missions are explicitly described as items in the Dunwich rules, they do not fall under the Allies, Skills, and other cards

Spells are also not a "thing" but for ease of playing the game it's easier to consider it an item, hence the same application for tasks and missions.

Someone can ask you to complete a task, that's a completely normal thing. It could be something like a person saying "Yea, I know I said I had a thing to give you, but it's at a secure place, so you'll have to..."