For example, a loyal guard ( Motivation: Follow My Boss’ Orders, Instinct: Kill the PCs) might be scared off by a sufficiently impressive threat (Provoke) designed to change his motivation to Save My Own Skin. Once the PCs know an NPC’s motivation, they can try to alter that motivation using a variety of social skills, replacing the motivation with a urgent concern based on new information (Rapport) or attempting to falsely convince the target that their motivation is based on bad assumptions (Deceive). Characters can pick up on small clues (Empathy), challenge the NPC through taunts or provocative statements (Provoke), or even pretend to be someone the NPC can trust (Deceive), in order to discover NPC motivations.

In order to discover an NPC’s motivations, the PCs need to create advantages using an appropriate social skill. While some NPCs will clearly announce why they are opposing the PCs-“I’ve come to avenge my father!”-most people don’t run around shouting out their internal monologues to the world. Of course, motivations are sometimes difficult to detect. Remember the Bronze Rule! Discovering and Modifying Motivations

You might notice that most motivations double as situation aspects that can be invoked and compelled using fate points.

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