Sometimes a possibility for complication presents itself without any particular aspect being obviously associated with it. I've had times when a compel seems to rise naturally out of the narrative, but finding a matching aspect would feel forced and unnatural.
As a GM I could just use fiat to declare that the complication occurs, but I sometimes I like using compels to involve my players in these decisions while simultaneously driving the Fate point economy (allowing them to decline the complication at a price, or rewarding them for accepting the complication). So far as I know, though, compels always build on aspects:
If you’re in a situation where having or being around a certain aspect means your character’s life is more dramatic or complicated, someone can compel the aspect. (Fate Core 71)
I do know the Silver Rule gives us carte blanche to do whatever makes sense in the narrative, including this. I'm still interested in what documentation or discussion exists on the topic of compels without aspects:
- Does any Fate system talks about compels that have no aspect associated with them?
- Is this discussed usefully by Fate game designers or players in blogs, forums, or the like?
I'm not asking if I should do this, or if it's a good idea. I'm asking whether there is precedent for aspectless compels.
(I'm tagging this fate instead of fate-core because I welcome answers from any system which uses the Fate engine... and I suspect I need to be that broad in order to get good answers.)
(I have removed the specific examples because they produced answers focused on the examples rather than on the concept I was using the examples to illustrate. I'm not interested in how to justify a specific compel, but in what documentation or discussion exists for this idea of "compels without aspects.")