Skip to content

Complications

Complications represent the narrative cost of investing in relationships, communities, and legacies. They are not punishments. They are obligations made meaningful.

When you gain power, influence, or connection through Gifts—particularly Community Gifts and Legacy Gifts—you do not acquire neutral tools. You acquire responsibilities. Complications are what happen when those responsibilities demand attention.

What Complications Are

A Complication is a Downtime-level narrative problem tied to a specific Gift or Relationship that requires player action to resolve, ignore, or mitigate.

Complications are:

  • Concrete and actionable, not vague anxiety
  • Proportional to the Gift's scope, not catastrophic
  • Resolvable through choice, not forced outcomes
  • Story-generating, not story-ending

Complications are not:

  • Automatic failures or losses
  • Punishments for taking Gifts
  • Unavoidable disasters
  • Permanent character penalties

Instead, they are the friction that makes relationships and influence feel real. A leader without problems to solve is not a leader. A community without needs is not a community. Complications ensure that power feels like work.

When Complications Arise

Complications typically arise during Downtime, triggered by:

  1. Extended Neglect: You have not tended to a Relationship or Community Gift in several sessions
  2. Narrative Pressure: Events in play naturally create stress on your holdings or connections
  3. GM Fiat: The story would benefit from a specific complication surfacing now
  4. Player Request: You actively want more engagement with a specific Gift

Complications should not arrive every Downtime. A good cadence is one Complication every 2-3 Downtime periods per active Gift or significant Relationship, adjusted based on campaign pacing.

Types of Complications

Relationship Complications

Attached to: Significant NPCs, allies, contacts, or rivals you have cultivated

These arise when the people you've invested in need something from you, have been affected by your actions, or are experiencing their own problems.

Examples:

  • Your mentor has been accused of something and needs your help clearing their name
  • An ally you relied on is now in debt and asks you to cosign a dangerous obligation
  • A contact you've ignored for months shows up angry, wounded, or desperate
  • Someone you wronged returns, and they want restitution or revenge
  • A relationship you've maintained with opposing factions forces you to choose sides

Resolution Options:

  • Intervene personally (costs Downtime action, possibly Effort or resources)
  • Delegate to others (costs coin, favors, or reputation)
  • Ignore it (relationship degrades, future complications worsen)
  • Cut ties (lose the relationship permanently, but end the complications)

Community Gift Complications

Attached to: Community Gifts that represent holdings, organizations, followers, or infrastructure you maintain

These arise when the thing you built or manage develops internal problems, external threats, or resource shortages.

Examples:

  • Your safe house has been discovered; you must move it or reinforce security
  • Your spy network reports conflicting information and someone may be a traitor
  • The business you invested in is failing and needs capital or a creative solution
  • Followers you recruited are arguing over leadership or direction in your absence
  • The workshop you established has drawn unwanted attention from authorities or rivals

Resolution Options:

  • Address it directly (costs Downtime action, possibly coin or XP investment)
  • Hire someone to manage it (ongoing cost, but frees your time)
  • Accept degraded function (the Gift still works, but less reliably)
  • Dissolve or abandon it (lose the Gift's benefits, but stop the problems)

Legacy Gift Complications

Attached to: Legacy Gifts that represent long-term projects, built infrastructure, or family/lineage connections

These arise when something you've built for the future demands maintenance, when descendants or inheritors have needs, or when your long-term work faces unexpected challenges.

Examples:

  • A structure you commissioned is behind schedule and needs additional funding
  • Apprentices you're training have been poached by a rival or threatened
  • A long-term research project has stalled and needs rare materials or expertise
  • Family members expect you to attend an important event you'd rather avoid
  • The reputation you've cultivated is being undermined by someone using your name

Resolution Options:

  • Invest more (costs XP, coin, or Downtime actions to stabilize)
  • Renegotiate terms (reduce scope in exchange for reliability)
  • Pause progress (no immediate benefit, but no worsening either)
  • Abandon the project (lose all invested XP, but stop the drain)

Complication Severity

Complications come in three rough tiers:

Minor Complications

Resolution cost: 1 Downtime action OR modest coin/resources
If ignored: Becomes a Moderate Complication next Downtime

Examples:

  • A contact needs a favor that's inconvenient but not dangerous
  • Your safe house needs basic upkeep or rent
  • Followers need reassurance or minor guidance

Moderate Complications

Resolution cost: 1-2 Downtime actions AND coin/resources OR Effort expenditure
If ignored: Becomes a Major Complication or degrades the associated Gift

Examples:

  • A mentor is in legal trouble and needs you to testify or intervene
  • Your business is being extorted and you must negotiate or fight
  • Apprentices are leaving unless you address their concerns

Major Complications

Resolution cost: Multiple Downtime actions, significant resources, OR an entire session's worth of play
If ignored: The Gift or Relationship is lost, possibly with additional consequences

Examples:

  • Your organization is under active attack and may be destroyed
  • A close ally has been captured and will die unless you act
  • Your family's reputation is being publicly destroyed and requires dramatic intervention

Resolving Complications

Immediate Resolution

Spend Downtime actions, resources, or Effort to address the Complication directly. The GM narrates the outcome based on what you invest and what approach you take.

Example:
Complication: Your spy network reports a traitor.
Resolution: You spend 1 Downtime action and 1 Effort to personally investigate, identify the leak, and deal with them quietly.
Outcome: Network remains intact, but one contact is gone and trust is shaken.

Delegated Resolution

Pay someone else (coin, favors, or renown) to handle it. Less personal investment, but less control over the outcome.

Example:
Complication: Your safe house needs to be moved.
Resolution: You hire a reliable crew (Moderate coin cost) to relocate everything.
Outcome: Safe house is moved, but the new location is slightly less convenient and the crew knows where it is.

Acceptance

Do nothing. The Complication worsens, but you save your Downtime actions for other priorities.

Example:
Complication: Your mentor is accused of embezzlement.
Resolution: You ignore it. You don't have time.
Outcome: Your mentor is found guilty and disgraced. Your relationship degrades significantly, and anyone who knows you trained under them now looks at you differently.

Dissolution

Permanently sever the relationship or abandon the Gift to stop future Complications.

Example:
Complication: Your business is failing and competitors are circling.
Resolution: You sell it at a loss and walk away.
Outcome: You lose the Community Gift and any ongoing benefits, but you're free of the obligation.

GM Guidance

Designing Good Complications

Do:

  • Tie Complications directly to player choices and investments
  • Offer multiple resolution paths with different costs
  • Make the outcome matter to the character, not just the mechanics
  • Use Complications to introduce NPCs, factions, or plot hooks
  • Let players choose which Complications to prioritize

Don't:

  • Use Complications as punishment for taking Gifts
  • Make every Complication urgent or catastrophic
  • Remove player agency in resolution
  • Create unsolvable problems
  • Pile on Complications faster than players can address them

Timing

Complications should arrive at narratively appropriate moments, not on a rigid schedule. Good times to introduce them:

  • During Downtime after a major arc concludes
  • When a player hasn't engaged with a Gift in several sessions
  • When the campaign needs a new direction or personal stakes
  • When a player explicitly asks for more engagement with their investments

Player Buy-In

Before introducing a Complication, ask yourself:

  • Does this player want more story around this Gift/Relationship?
  • Is this Complication interesting enough to be worth table time?
  • Does resolving this create more story, or just busywork?

If the answer to any of these is "no," reconsider or delay.

Examples in Play

Example 1: Community Gift - "Safe House"

Complication: Local authorities have started asking questions about the building. Someone noticed unusual traffic.

Player Options:

  • Act: Spend 1 Downtime action + Moderate coin to bribe officials and redirect suspicion (Minor Complication)
  • Delegate: Pay a fixer to handle it (costs more coin, less reliable outcome)
  • Ignore: Risk escalates to a raid (becomes Major Complication)
  • Dissolve: Abandon the safe house and find a new one elsewhere (lose Gift)

Resolution: Player bribes officials. Safe house remains secure, but now they owe a favor to a corrupt bureaucrat (new potential Relationship/Complication).

Example 2: Relationship - "Mentor"

Complication: Your mentor is ill and their enemies are circling, hoping to claim their position or settle old scores while they're vulnerable.

Player Options:

  • Act: Spend 2 Downtime actions visiting, protecting, and ensuring proper care (Moderate Complication)
  • Delegate: Hire bodyguards and a healer (Significant coin cost)
  • Ignore: Mentor dies or is forced to retire under pressure (lose Relationship, gain enemy)
  • Cut Ties: Distance yourself publicly to avoid association (keep Relationship at reduced strength, avoid worst outcomes)

Resolution: Player acts personally. Mentor survives and remembers the loyalty. Relationship deepens, and one of the circling enemies becomes a named rival.

Example 3: Legacy Gift - "Trained Apprentices"

Complication: Your apprentices have been offered better pay and safer work by a rival organization. They're considering leaving unless you match the offer or give them a reason to stay.

Player Options:

  • Act: Spend XP to improve their training, or offer them equity in future projects (Investment cost)
  • Delegate: Negotiate with the rival to back off (costs Renown or favors)
  • Ignore: Apprentices leave, taking your techniques with them (lose Gift, rival gains advantage)
  • Dissolve: Release them from obligation and wish them well (lose Gift gracefully, maintain goodwill)

Resolution: Player invests XP to advance their training. Apprentices stay, but now expect continued growth opportunities. Future Complications will involve their ambitions and independence.

Summary

Complications make Gifts and Relationships feel alive. They are the price of influence, connection, and legacy. Used well, they:

  • Generate story hooks organically
  • Create meaningful Downtime decisions
  • Reward player investment with deeper engagement
  • Prevent "fire and forget" use of Community/Legacy Gifts

Complications are not obstacles. They are stories waiting to unfold.