Complications

Under the Hood: Complications and Up-Front Rewards

Some roleplaying game systems include complications, disadvantages, or similar problematic character traits which offer "bonus points" for creating the character; essentially, you get more points for your character's good traits when you take on some bad ones.

The problem with such "up-front" rewards for giving a character flaws is that the player gets all of the reward (the bonus design points) immediately, but the disadvantage only occasionally limits or affects the character, sometimes even randomly. Since there is only so much "screen time" in a game session, there is virtually no way for the GM to spotlight every one of every character's disadvantages, so some end up being worth "more" in the sense of reward in exchange for drawbacks. Plus, after they have "paid out" their initial benefit, front-loaded negative traits are nothing but a burden to the character from that point forward, leading players to try and avoid or mitigate them as much as possible.

Complications address this issue by having a "pay-as-you-go" approach: if the GM uses a complication in the game, and the player responds by going along with it, the player gets a reward in the form of a victory point. This means that although the hero has to deal with some "bad stuff" from time to time, there is an upside, and a reason for players to want their characters' complications to come into play! Why do powerful heroes lead such complicated lives? They need the points!

Comic books are full of storylines involving personal complications, and players are encouraged to come up with some for their heroes. Complications have a specific use in the game as well: they give the Gamemaster a "handle" on your hero, different challenges to introduce or include in adventures. When the GM does so, you earn victory points you can use to enhance your character's chances of success, amongst other things. (See Victory Points in The Basics and Gameplay Rules for more information.)

Choosing Complications

Choose at least two complications for your hero: a motivation and another that is not. You can take as many complications as you wish, although the GM may set limits for the sake of being able to keep track of them all. Complications are also self-limiting, in that you only earn victory points for those complications that actually come into play. So even if you have more than a dozen, if the GM can only include a couple in a game session, then those are the ones that earn you victory points for that game. You can--and generally should--look for opportunities to include your hero's complications and offer suggestions to the GM, who makes the final decision on which complications come into play at any given time.

The GM also decides what complications are appropriate for the game and can overrule any particular complication, based on the style and needs of the story and the series. Keep in mind the adventure needs to have room for all of the heroes' complications, so individual ones can only come up so often.

Also see example complications.

Motivation

Every hero has something that drove him or her to become a hero in the first place--a motivation that keeps them going when things get tough. Sometimes motivation is the only difference between a hero and a villain. What made your hero decide to fight for justice rather than turning toward more selfish goals? How does it affect the hero's methods of fighting crime? Is there anything that might change or affect the hero's motivation?

Motivation is a complication because it often determines what a hero will do in a particular situation. The GM can use your hero's motivation to encourage certain actions, and enemies may do the same. When you properly play out your hero's motivation, if it isn't necessarily the "smartest" thing to do, the GM awards you a victory point. No victory points are given out if following the motivation is a good idea since you would do that anyway.

For example motivation complications see example complications.

Motivation And Influence

A shared motivation can create an empathic bond with others. With the GM's permission, you might get a circumstance bonus on interaction skill checks when dealing with someone with the same motivation as yours. Similarly, you may suffer a circumstance penalty to interaction when dealing with characters of a strongly differing motivation.

Motivations As Descriptors

At the GM's option motivation can function as a descriptor for powers (see Descriptors), allowing character to have a power affecting only subjects with a particular motivation, for example, or the ability to detect characters with a particular motivation (see Detect). Gamemasters should be very careful when applying power modifiers based on subjective qualities like motivation. An attack power affecting only "evil" targets, for example, is useless against inanimate objects, constructs, and animals (which cannot have such a quality) as well as "good" targets. It might also not affect characters without a specific evil motivation (such as selfish mercenaries, violent vigilantes, or despots devoted solely to order, but not "evil" per se).

Motivations As Origins

Some characters may derive their powers from their motivation in some way, such as heroes who draw strength from their convictions, faith, or morality. This provides a descriptor for those powers, but the hero may also suffer Power Loss (see Complications) from a change or wavering in motivation.

Motivations In Conflict

A character with different motivations may find them in conflict from time to time. Such conflicts provide roleplaying opportunities and complications for players and story hooks for the Gamemaster. For example, a hero motivated by Patriotism may discover a secret government agency acting against the interests of justice in the world. What is stronger, the hero's patriotism or the desire to see the truth known and justice done? Some conflicts may even result in heroes changing motivations. See Changing Complications, in the following section, for more on this.

Changing Complications

Complications can (and generally should) change over the course of a series: old enemies die or are put away for good, rivalries and psychological issues are resolved, new romances and relationships begin as others end, and so forth. Work with the GM to come up with new complications for your hero as old ones are resolved. As mentioned previously, the Gamemaster may set limits as to how many ongoing complications your hero can have in play at any given time.