Drawbacks
Immortal Freedom RPG > Rules > Encounters > Measuring Success
Drawbacks are the price you have to pay in order to be successful whenever you get a mixed success. You always decide on what Drawbacks affect you, picking from the following list of options after you activate any of your relevant abilities.
- The encounter becomes more intense.
- You receive with a Minor Injury.
- You are inflicted with a negative status.
- A status which benefits you is removed.
- You lose an item or cyberware, or it breaks and becomes unusable.
- You lose an amount of credits.
- You run out of ammo or energy cells for your weapon.
- You taunt a target until the end of their next turn.
- You worsen a target’s disposition.
If you’re unsure what Drawback to select, you can choose to make the encounter more intense, which gives the game master (GM) full discretion on how to apply the cost for your mixed success. Most often, they will introduce elements to an encounter earlier than originally intended, or new elements which further complicate matters. Sometimes, these elements will not be readily evident and arrive later within the encounter or the session.
Example
You are in the middle of negotiations with a group of Plumeth City gangsters for the release of a hostage. You roll for Logic and only get 1 success—a mixed success. Unsure which Drawback to select, you decide to give the GM discretion and declare that the encounter becomes more intense. The GM had already planned for dragoons to raid the gangster hideout, though they hadn’t planned for them to arrive for a few rounds. They have the dragoons smash down the door immediately as part of your Drawbacks.
Giving you the power to decide on Drawbacks allows you some narrative agency for your struggles. The goal is to always pick a Drawback which fits the situation and is narratively fulfilling, rather than whatever will be the least inconvenient.
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