Complication Tables

General Complications (d12)

Roll or choose when players catch their breath or checks produce complications:

1. You've attracted attention. Predator, patrol, or rival noticed your activity.
2. Equipment malfunction. Something critical jams, breaks, or runs out of power at the worst time.
3. Weather shifts. Wind changes direction, temperature drops/spikes, or dust kicks up.
4. Someone needs help. Injured traveler, trapped animal, or distress signal nearby.
5. You're being followed. Movement behind you. Could be hostile, could be curious.
6. Route is blocked. Collapse, debris, or territorial creature cuts off your path.
7. You're running low. Water, food, or thermal cells depleting faster than expected.
8. Unstable ground. Tremors, crumbling stone, or shifting sand threatens footing.
9. Unwanted company. Another group arrives—traders, scavengers, or faction agents.
10. Something feels wrong. Psychic unease, unusual silence, or environmental oddity.
11. You left something behind. Dropped item, forgotten cache, or visible tracks.
12. Local complication. Adapt to current location (ruins = structural damage, caves = echo attracts creatures, settlement = authority questions you).

Using Complications Dynamically:

These complications are intentionally generic—interpret them based on current context:

• "You've attracted attention" in ruins = thermal lizard. In settlement = suspicious guard. In Deep Roads = crevice eel senses vibrations.
• "Equipment malfunction" = whatever makes sense. Wind compass in storm. Thermal suit near day side. Comm crystal underground.
• "Route is blocked" = adapt to terrain. Collapsed tunnel. Superstorm ahead. Territorial wind serpent nesting site.

Don't roll and then force fit the result. Roll, read it, and interpret based on what's happening right now. Complications should feel natural, not arbitrary.

If a complication doesn't fit the scene at all, reroll or pick one that does. The goal is tension, not random chaos.

Environmental Events (d8)

1. Thermal Inversion: Temperature gradient reverses unexpectedly. Day side cools slightly, night side warms. Causes disorientation and ecological chaos.
2. Dust Storm: Day-side winds carry abrasive particles into twilight belt. Visibility zero. Exposed skin lacerated.
3. Ice Storm: Night-side cold front pushes deep into twilight belt. Water sources freeze. Crops threatened.
4. Auroral Surge: Night-side aurora intensifies, visible even in twilight belt. Beautiful but disrupts psychic abilities and tech.
5. Geothermal Eruption: Vent releases superheated steam and gases. Area becomes temporarily uninhabitable.
6. Wind Shift: Predictable wind patterns change. Navigation becomes unreliable. Caravans lost.
7. Bioluminescent Bloom: Glowcap spores fill the air. Beautiful but hallucinogenic. Psychics experience amplified sensitivity.
8. Silent Zone: Area where wind inexplicably stops. Unnerving. Often precedes catastrophic storm.

Predator Encounters (d6)

1. Wind Serpent (Unbonded): 30-meter flying predator. Hunts in packs. Intelligent and territorial. Vulnerable: exposed underbelly.
2. Thermal Lizard: Heat-seeking ambush predator. Camouflaged in ruins or day-side margins. Vulnerable: cold (ice weapons).
3. Shadow Stalker: Night-side apex predator. Nearly invisible in darkness. Hunts by sound. Vulnerable: light sources (bioluminescence).
4. Glowworm Swarm: Bioluminescent cave-dwellers. Individually harmless, overwhelming in numbers. Disorient prey with light pulses.
5. Sand Skimmer: Day-side scavenger. Burrows through superheated sand. Attracted to movement. Vulnerable: sonic weapons.
6. Feral Bonded Creature: Former Beastwalker mount gone rogue. Retains training, making it unpredictable and dangerous.

Psychic Phenomena (d6)

1. Weather Wraith: Psychic manifestation in storm fronts. Echoes of dead weather workers. Causes fear, disorientation, and amplified storms.
2. Deep Resonance: Cave system produces low-frequency vibrations. Causes nausea, hallucinations, structural instability.
3. Thermal Ghost: Heat signature of deceased person. Appears to thermal sensitives. May be hallucination or genuine psychic echo.
4. Psychic Burnout Wave: Area where overuse of abilities has created feedback loop. Entering causes immediate stress to psychics.
5. Bonding Backlash: Beastwalker's connection to creature inverted. Creature experiences human's emotions, becomes erratic.
6. Storm Memory: Superstorm "remembers" previous patterns. Weather workers sense echoes of past events encoded in wind.