Sentinel Comics RPG Core Rulebook

Create a Story Complication for Later
You can come up with a story complication that
occurs somewhere else or that doesn’t have an
obvious impact in the current scene; it will come
to bear in later scenes. To do so, pause for a brief
“Meanwhile” moment and describe something that
happens either here or somewhere else that has
future consequences on the hero(es).
Here are some examples. Meanwhile…
•a villain discovers your treasured secret
• one of your resources is in danger
• a trusted ally contemplates betrayal
• a kid stumbles across the entrance to your base
• you miss an important life event
•a reporter learns your embarrassing weakness
• someone watches from unseen cameras
• old foes of yours make an alliance
• an enemy progresses their plot
•someone sabotages your vehicle
These complications can be directly related to
the action going on right now in the scene, as in the
above example, or they can be (or at least seem)
unrelated. Remember, these are comic book stories,
it never hurts to drop some hints about a future arc.
The players might have a hint as to what’s coming,
but that doesn’t mean their heroes do, which adds
to the tension of their adventures.
The danger created by the twist can range from
things that directly impact the hero’s life today to
hints towards issues that won’t be fully realized for
years. But, one way or another, they need to add
some sort of complication to the hero’s story, at
least by increasing the tension felt by the players.
Additionally, the complications should fit with the
severity of the twist. Minor twists don’t tend to have
long term consequences, but a major twist can blow
up in a hero’s face unless they do something about
it. This might require some proactive measures on
the heroes’ part. Make sure they know they can
request a scene, a mission, even a whole issue to
deal with things like this.
In the illustrated example below, the twist
offered by the GM doesn’t negatively impact the
scene or deal any damage or create any immediate
complications. However, it’s clear that the negative
press Rockstar risks has a good chance of creating
further problems for the character down the road,
even potentially setting up an ongoing antagonistic
relationship with this reporter.
Depending on how the heroes choose to engage
with the twists, some minor twists which seemed
inconsequential might end up throwing a wrench
into everyone’s plans, while occasional major twists
might not be as big of a deal as they seemed. Don’t
worry too much about this — everyone responds
to threats in their own way. A variety of problems
will produce a variety of reactions.
GYRO-Based Severity?
Most of the time, the severity of a twist is
entirely determined by whether it’s a minor
or a major twist. However, there are twists
whose severity is adjusted based on GYRO
status: environment twists. We talk about
how to adjust their severity in Creating
Environments (page 244).
Creating Twists
Intro
Playing
the Game
Creating
Heroes
Moderating
the Game
B ullpen
the
Adventure
Issues
The
Archives
Appendices
201