Read the trouble out loud. Keep the other two lines to yourself until somebody pushes.
Nothing has gone wrong yet.
Press Conjure and something will.
An encounter adds a scene. A complication turns the one you are in.
Every book has random encounter tables, and they all answer the same question: what turns up? Wolves. Bandits. A merchant with a cart. The question a Game Master actually has, most nights, is a different one — what goes wrong with what they are already doing? The bridge is down. The guard’s description matches one of you. The torch is guttering, and it is guttering because the air down here is going bad.
That is what this rolls, and it rolls three lines that agree with each other:
- The trouble — one sentence, specific to where the party is, that you can read out as it stands. The road forks, and the signpost has been turned.
- The squeeze — what it costs, so nobody at the table can shrug it off. Both roads look used. It starts to rain.
- A way through — a detail the players can find that turns the trouble into a decision rather than a dead end. The post-hole is fresh-dug, and the old one is a pace to the left. This line is yours, not theirs: hold it until somebody pushes.
Where they are matters
Trouble on the road is not trouble in a negotiation. The six situations — the road, a town, underground, mid-fight, at camp, at the table — each have their own set, written for that pressure. A fight goes wrong by the light going out or one side yielding while the rest do not; a negotiation goes wrong by somebody at the table not being who they were introduced as. Pick the one the party is in, or let the die pick and see what it suggests.
Re-roll the line that is almost right
The trouble is good but the squeeze is wrong for your table? Each of the three has its own ↻. A new squeeze or a new way through stays attached to the same trouble; a new trouble brings its own pair with it. Every result has a Link that opens on exactly what you see, re-rolls included, and the last dozen stay on the page under Still on the desk — so the one you nearly used last week is still there.
Say it, then stop
The best way to use one of these is to read the trouble aloud and then say nothing. The squeeze is for the moment a player says “we just go round”. The way through is for the moment they go looking. If they find a better one than the one on the card, theirs wins — the card is there so that you have an answer, not so that you have the answer.
If the trouble needs a face, the NPC generator gives the toll-keeper or the stranger at the fire a name, a want and a secret in one press.
Questions
What is a complication, and how is it different from a random encounter?
A random encounter is a thing that turns up: wolves, bandits, a merchant. A complication is a thing that goes wrong with what the party is already doing: the bridge is down, the guard’s description matches one of you, the torch is guttering because the air is bad. Encounters add a scene; complications turn the scene you are in. Every book has encounter tables. Almost nothing gives a Game Master the second kind, tied to where the party actually is.
What are the squeeze and the way through?
The squeeze is what the trouble costs — the pressure that stops the party shrugging it off: the ford is two hours upstream and the light is going. The way through is a detail the players can find that turns the trouble into a decision rather than a dead end: the timbers were cut clean, so whoever wanted the bridge down is still nearby. All three are drawn from the same entry, so they agree with each other, and each can be re-rolled on its own.
When should I use it in a session?
When the scene stalls, when the plan worked and nobody knows what happens next, or when the table has gone quiet in a way that means nobody is enjoying the quiet. Pick the situation the party is in and read the trouble out. Keep the squeeze and the way through to yourself until the players push on it.
Is the complication generator free to use?
Completely free, with no account and no limit. It runs in your browser, so you can keep it open beside you mid-session. Every result has a link you can copy, and the last dozen stay on the page for next time.