Solipsist is a game about people who have the power to change reality. If you missed my Solipsist Review or my articles on Creating Your Solipsist's Vision or Picking Your Solipsist's Obsessions, you might want to take a quick read through those as background for this article.

So you've created a Vision for your Solipsist character, to give them a reason to want to change the world. You have distilled out of that Vision the Obsessions that will be your character's primary means of changing reality. Now you need to create the Limitations that hold your character back from achieving her Vision.

I've seen a number of newcomers to the game create characters, and some people immediately "get it", and some people don't. Here's my advice based on watching people create characters.

Limitations Are Not Disadvantages

The most common problem I see is that some players treat Limitations as disadvantages. For example, if their character's vision is about being Supergirl, they'll include a Limitation like, "I am vulnerable to Kryptonite".

This mostly happen with people who have played a lot of role playing games before, since that's how it works in other systems. But in Solipsist, Limitations are not about your character's Vision, they're about the person she really is.

To continue with the Supergirl example, a Limitation might be, "I am not strong". That's a characteristic of the real person that keeps her from achieving her Vision of being an ultra-powerful superhero.

So while Obsessions are about the Vision, Limitations are about the mundane world. That's the purpose of Limitations, to tie the character to the consensus reality, so that they don't ascend immediately.

Limitations Opposing Obsessions

It's perfectly okay to have Obsessions and Limitations that directly oppose each other.

The Supergirl character might have the Limitation of, "I am not strong", and the Obsession of, "I am super-strong". In any Change that deals with physical strength, both will apply, along with any other Obsessions and Limitations that match the Change.

Over time, either the Obsession or Limitation will become stronger, representing the character's detaching from consensus reality (if the Obsession becomes stronger) or the character's grounding to consensus reality (if the Limitation becomes stronger).

Limitations Are What You Give Up

Limitations can also represent something that your character must give up to achieve her Vision.

For example, the Supergirl character might have a Limitation of, "I enjoy being normal". Achieving her Vision will make her most definitely not normal. In Changes where that Limitation applies, succeeding in the Change makes her a little less normal than she was before.

Thinking in terms of what your character would need to give up to achieve her Vision can be a great way to bring several possible Limitations to mind.

Expect Your Limitations To Be Used

The GM will use your character's Limitations against you.

Any Limitation provides the GM with a handle for the Shadow to use to attack. Choose Limitations that match your character concept. For example, if the Supergirl character chose a Limitation of, "I must protect my family", expect the Shadow to focus attention on her family. By doing so, the Shadow is making it harder for her to succeed at Changes.

If she had a Limitation of, "I am crippled", expect that to be a factor in Changes. The Shadow might arrange an attack that requires her to leave her wheelchair and sprint to save a child from danger.

Use The Guidelines In The Rules

The rules have some guidelines on what sorts of Limitations you should choose. Those are just guidelines, but use them until you have a sense for how the system works. You'll end up with a better character for it.

Have any favorite Solipsist characters? Stop by the forum and share them!