Challenges

Every good character faces challenges. These can be narrative challenges that are in place due to their backstory. They can be curses, geases, or quests. They can be a bad reputation, a distinct worldview, or a magical problem. Or they can be disabilites the world is not set up to accommodate. Or they can be outright weaknesses, vulnerabilities, flaws, or faults to their personality, ethics, morals, principles, or philosophies. It must simply be some part of them that presents challenges to their lives.

Narrative Challenges

curses, geases, quests

Reputation

Debts

Disabilities

If one is playing a character with disabilities, it is paramount that you do so with sensitivity and understanding. Any physical disability extant in the real world could be present in a character. This only results in stat changes if they are new to the character (in a time of adjustment) or if there's a clearcut reason for it (a blind character would not have lower overall AWA, but their visual perception substat would be ~1). If the character is of a species that has features humans do not have (wings, fins, extra limbs, etc.), a disability relating to those are possible. Take careful consideration for how the changes would affect the character's life and how the people around them treat them, how they interact with the society they are in, and how their disability is part of them but not their only defining feature.

Medical Conditions

Chronic illnesses and medical conditions can present challenges to a character. They might even be terminally ill, if the player wants. Whatever the player and GM agree on must be done - again, for emphasis - with sensitivity. If it is a chronic illness with physical effects,

Addiction

While use of drugs, alcohol, and other substances in game can be done recreationally and safely (for most substances), if a player chooses to play someone with an addiction, it should be done with research into the addiction. Addiction is not a matter of willpower or strength, but a health condition that affects the physical body. So while it may be convenient to use STR for rolls against addiction-related difficulties, this should be its own substat that is not contingent on base STR. In other words, a character with a 25 STR might have a chemical dependency score that is much lower. They roll against a difficulty determined by the length of their physical dependency, the resources they have to resist otherwise, and the other challenges present in their life that might exacerbate their desire to use what they are addicted to.

Because other conditions might make it harder or easier to manage addiction, the player and GM may decide that circumstances dictate the difficulty they roll against or whether or not they take high or low die to roll against it. They might also roll other stats - base STR, WIL, PRS, or AWA - against a lower or higher difficulty depending on circumstance to give them a bonus to resisting their dependency. For example, if they are struggling because of social conditions - a bad breakup - they might roll AWA to remember others who love them or PRS to engage the emotional pain more healthily. If they are physically in the presence of their dependency, they may roll raw STR or WIL to actively fight themselves, but ultimately, this is just to give a modifier to their physical dependency score. Furthermore, this can work the other way - they may face penalties to any stat because of their addiction distracting them or altering their priorities.

There are, of course, variances in addictions. It may be "functional alcoholism" or unacknowledged physical addiction to something they use casually, or it may be life-shattering, all-consuming addiction that has taken over every aspect of their life. It may be socially accepted - caffeine, for example - or it may be a source of derision from others. It may be something they try to hide, or it might be something they make a joke out of, or it might be something that isn't even recognized as an addiction.

Addiction should be reflected in their Motivations.

Gambling Addiction

The psychological manipulation present in casinos leads to conditions that create a feedback loop that is very much addictive in people, creating the equivalent of a physical addiction. It works very similarly to other addictions, but of course, there's the gambling aspect that affects finances more unpredictably.

Obsesssions

Obsessions are things the character cannot stop thinking about or doing, sometimes to an unhealthy degree.

Beliefs

Sometimes a character's beliefs present challenges. This may be if their beliefs are too rigid, or if their beliefs require that they oppose the status quo, they might put them against the bulk of society, right or wrong. This can be anything from a belief in opposing the values of the empires that dominate the world to embracing bigotries spread by those same empires that makes working with others harder. Or it could be more offbeat, such as a belief that the world is flat, that there's no such thing as the tooth fairy, or that there's a secret cabal of gnomes stealing your socks. Or it could be more complex, such as faith in an obscure deity that is misunderstood by others, beliefs that run counter to one's own culture but not truly conflicting, or a fervent belief in a specific ideology or philosophical outlook that is not mainstream.

These all would also fall under Convictions in Motivations.

Flaws

Flaws are characteristics, personality quirks, or features of the character's background that cause them problems and difficulties in life. Preferably, they are part of their personality, atttiude, or outlook, but they can be health conditions, curses, or other problems. Effectively, they are negative edges that add a mechanic to the system. The mechanical function of a flaw is that every time it causes a problem for the character or player, they get a token. These tokens can be spent as usual, but not to get out of the problem created by the flaw.

Some common flaws include the following:

• Arrogance
• Cynicism
• Ignorance
• Machismo
• Misinformed
• Naivete
• Pessimism
• Poor self-control
• Prejudice
• Quick anger
• Toxic positivity