· 6 years ago · Mar 15, 2019, 08:10 PM
1
2The Book of Hanz
3================
4
5Fate Core Thought of the Day
6
7Being a compilation of musings concerning the Fate RPG done by [Robert
8Hanz](https://plus.google.com/108546067488075210468) on Google+.
9
10Collected by [Tomasius
11Padeliensis](https://plus.google.com/108663594709031774490) .
12
13V01.50, 201805
14
15
16- [What's Fate?](#whats-fate)
17 - [Proactive characters](#proactive-characters)
18 - [Competent characters](#competent-characters)
19 - [Skills, aspects, compels,
20 invokes](#skills-aspects-compels-invokes)
21 - [The phase trio](#the-phase-trio)
22 - [Lack of charop](#lack-of-charop)
23 - ["Final" skills](#final-skills)
24 - [Lack of emphasis on system
25 mastery](#lack-of-emphasis-on-system-mastery)
26 - [**Branches, not gates**](#branches-not-gates)
27 - [Focus on opportunity cost](#focus-on-opportunity-cost)
28 - [A focus on what's important in the story, not modeling
29 reality](#a-focus-on-whats-important-in-the-story-not-modeling-reality)
30 - [Active instead of passive
31 bonuses](#active-instead-of-passive-bonuses)
32 - [Skills tied to results, not
33 actions](#skills-tied-to-results-not-actions)
34 - [Bell curve results](#bell-curve-results)
35- [Why the Heck am I Doing This?](#why-the-heck-am-i-doing-this)
36- [Introducing People to Fate](#introducing-people-to-fate)
37- [Fiction First, Fiction-Rules Interaction, and Nonsensical
38 Results](#fiction-first-fiction-rules-interaction-and-nonsensical-results)
39- [What Collaborative Setting Creation Means To
40 Me](#what-collaborative-setting-creation-means-to-me)
41 - [Group one](#group-one)
42 - [Group Two](#group-two)
43 - [Group Three](#group-three)
44- [Focus on the Table](#focus-on-the-table)
45- [Pacing Mechanisms in Fate](#pacing-mechanisms-in-fate)
46 - [What's a pacing mechanism?](#whats-a-pacing-mechanism)
47 - [Challenges](#challenges)
48 - [Conflicts](#conflicts)
49 - [Contests](#contests)
50 - [Choosing Based On Context](#choosing-based-on-context)
51 - [Last Thoughts](#last-thoughts)
52- [Calibration - the Dial Without a
53 Dial](#calibration---the-dial-without-a-dial)
54- [Conflicts (as well as Contests and Challenges) as
55 campaign/scenario-level pacing
56 structures.](#conflicts-as-well-as-contests-and-challenges-as-campaignscenario-level-pacing-structures.)
57- [Fiction, not Physics](#fiction-not-physics)
58- [Conflict with named NPCs](#conflict-with-named-npcs)
59- [Put a \[Bird\]](#put-a-bird)
60- [Fate Core character creation](#fate-core-character-creation)
61- [Just Do It.](#just-do-it.)
62- [Rob's Guide to Writing Good
63 Aspects](#robs-guide-to-writing-good-aspects)
64 - [Poor aspects](#poor-aspects)
65 - [What do aspects do?](#what-do-aspects-do)
66 - [Actually making your aspect](#actually-making-your-aspect)
67- [Intent and Task](#intent-and-task)
68- [Fate Doesn't Go To Eleven](#fate-doesnt-go-to-eleven)
69- [Fate doesn't have a damage
70 system](#fate-doesnt-have-a-damage-system)
71- [The Not-So-Hidden Logic of Paying to Invoke
72 Aspects](#the-not-so-hidden-logic-of-paying-to-invoke-aspects)
73- [How I GM Fate Core](#how-i-gm-fate-core)
74 - [Step one: The Pitch](#step-one-the-pitch)
75 - [Step Two: Initial Prep-work](#step-two-initial-prep-work)
76 - [Step Three: Session Zero](#step-three-session-zero)
77 - [Step Four: Post-Session
78 Zero ](#step-four-post-session-zero)
79 - [Step Five: Arc Generation](#step-five-arc-generation)
80 - [Step Six: Pre-Game Prep](#step-six-pre-game-prep)
81 - [Step Seven: Running the Session - Session
82 Start](#step-seven-running-the-session---session-start)
83 - [Step Eight: "What Do You Do?" - AKA, Setting the
84 Scene](#step-eight-what-do-you-do---aka-setting-the-scene)
85 - [Step Nine: Resolve the Scene](#step-nine-resolve-the-scene)
86 - [Step Ten: Ending the Scene](#step-ten-ending-the-scene)
87 - [Step Eleven: Ending the
88 Session](#step-eleven-ending-the-session)
89 - [Step Twelve: Next Session](#step-twelve-next-session)
90- [The Joy of Create Advantage](#the-joy-of-create-advantage)
91 - [1) It's more efficient.](#its-more-efficient.)
92 - [2) Create Advantage is
93 flexible.](#create-advantage-is-flexible.)
94 - [3) Create Advantage lets you choose the skill
95 match-up](#create-advantage-lets-you-choose-the-skill-match-up)
96 - [4) Create Advantage lets you set up huge
97 hits](#create-advantage-lets-you-set-up-huge-hits)
98 - [5) The Narrative Truth of
99 Aspects](#the-narrative-truth-of-aspects)
100- [Failure](#failure)
101- [Demystifying the Fate Fractal, and the Nature of
102 Aspects](#demystifying-the-fate-fractal-and-the-nature-of-aspects)
103- [Some advice for new Fate
104 players](#some-advice-for-new-fate-players)
105 - [Character Creation](#character-creation)
106 - [Basic strategy](#basic-strategy)
107 - [Playing the Game](#playing-the-game)
108- [Fate's Big Question](#fates-big-question)
109- [Pacing Mechanisms in Fate](#pacing-mechanisms-in-fate-1)
110 - [What's a pacing mechanism?](#whats-a-pacing-mechanism-1)
111 - [Challenges](#challenges-1)
112 - [Conflicts](#conflicts-1)
113 - [Contests](#contests-1)
114 - [Choosing Based On Context](#choosing-based-on-context-1)
115 - [Last Thoughts](#last-thoughts-1)
116- [Questions and Decisions](#questions-and-decisions)
117- [In Defense of Monster of the
118 Week](#in-defense-of-monster-of-the-week)
119- [Fate Core Thought of the Day: Aspects, the Information Economy,
120 and Chekov's
121 Gun](#fate-core-thought-of-the-day-aspects-the-information-economy-and-chekovs-gun)
122- [Character Creation Musings](#character-creation-musings)
123- ["Missing" rules in Fate](#missing-rules-in-fate)
124- [Fate Core Thought of the Day: What are Aspects? -
125 09/2016](#fate-core-thought-of-the-day-what-are-aspects---092016)
126- [Fate Core Thought of the Day: Fate is
127 Boring](#fate-core-thought-of-the-day-fate-is-boring)
128- [Fate Core Thought of the Day - Fate and Amber
129 Diceless](#fate-core-thought-of-the-day---fate-and-amber-diceless)
130- [Promises and Threats](#promises-and-threats)
131- [Fate Core Thought of the Day: Advanced Fiction
132 First](#fate-core-thought-of-the-day-advanced-fiction-first)
133- [Fate Core Thought of the Day: Fate is not abstract -
134 04.2015](#fate-core-thought-of-the-day-fate-is-not-abstract---04.2015)
135- [Fate Core Thought of the Day: The Fate Point Economy -
136 02.2015](#fate-core-thought-of-the-day-the-fate-point-economy---02.2015)
137- [Random Fate thought - 09.2014](#random-fate-thought---09.2014)
138- [Fate Core Thought of the - Oh, Hell, It's Been A While: The
139 Fate Action Resolution
140 Process](#fate-core-thought-of-the---oh-hell-its-been-a-while-the-fate-action-resolution-process)
141 - [1) The acting player declares their
142 action](#the-acting-player-declares-their-action)
143 - [2) We determine if the action makes sense/is at all
144 possible](#we-determine-if-the-action-makes-senseis-at-all-possible)
145 - [4) We determine if there is any active opposition, and if
146 so, the active opposition declares its
147 action](#we-determine-if-there-is-any-active-opposition-and-if-so-the-active-opposition-declares-its-action)
148 - [5) We determine if this makes sense to roll for - is there
149 an interesting success and
150 failure?](#we-determine-if-this-makes-sense-to-roll-for---is-there-an-interesting-success-and-failure)
151 - [6) We determine the mechanics to
152 use](#we-determine-the-mechanics-to-use)
153 - [7) Roll the dice!](#roll-the-dice)
154 - [8) Narrate up to the seeming dice
155 roll](#narrate-up-to-the-seeming-dice-roll)
156 - [9) Either side may invoke aspects as appropriate,
157 preferably including
158 narration](#either-side-may-invoke-aspects-as-appropriate-preferably-including-narration)
159 - [10) We resolve any mechanical consequences of this
160 action](#we-resolve-any-mechanical-consequences-of-this-action)
161 - [11) The final results give us narrative
162 constraints](#the-final-results-give-us-narrative-constraints)
163 - [12) We narrate the results within the constraints given to
164 us
165 mechanically](#we-narrate-the-results-within-the-constraints-given-to-us-mechanically)
166- [Weird Tangent](weird-tangent)
167
168
169What's Fate?
170------------
171
172A few posts have got me thinking about this, and it's a thought that's
173been in my head for a while in other ways - mostly around the whole "if
174you're hacking, what are the 'safer' things to hack, and at what point
175are you mucking with the base assumptions of the system?"
176
177Much like [Ryan
178Macklin](https://plus.google.com/115238641855986579653)'s post, I tend
179to think of Fate as being a specific game, that does specific things. It
180can cover a wide variety of settings, but it does so in a very Fate-like
181way. There's things Fate is super-awesome at, and things that Fate isn't
182super-awesome at. When I want to do something that Fate isn't
183super-awesome at, I tend to just pull out a game that **is**
184super-awesome at that.
185
186I don't consider that a negative on Fate in any way. I have a Jeep
187Wrangler. It's good at some things (transportation), awesome at other
188things (off-roading), and absolutely sucky at certain things (hauling
189lots of things, carrying lots of people, going fast). And making my
190Wrangler better at those things would almost necessarily make it worse
191at the things it does really well right now.
192
193So I don't use Fate to play D&D. I might use Fate to run a game in a D&D
194setting, but I don't think it would feel much like the D&D **game** -
195I've previously described what I think it would be as more like "D&D:
196The Movie: The Game" (no, not the horrible movie, but an imaginary good
197one).
198
199Yeah, I **could** hack Fate enough to run a passable "D&D game", but
200would it still be Fate in any recognizable way? I don't think it would,
201because the core questions and assumptions of D&D are very different
202than those of Fate. Which, again, isn't a knock on Fate or on D&D, much
203like saying that my Wrangler isn't as fast as a Ferrari isn't a knock on
204my Wrangler.
205
206So, what are the things that I consider to be "Fate"? Not as some kind
207of purity test, but rather as a more general gauge - if I see a Fate
208build that hits 95% of these, it'll probably "feel like" Fate to me. But
209if I see something that's ostensibly Fate that only hits 10% of things,
210it probably won't push those Fate buttons very well.
211
212### Proactive characters
213
214This is, to me, one of the biggest. Fate characters are proactive. They
215make things happen. The game progresses as a result of their actions.
216
217This seems like all games, but it's really not - it's an argument that
218railroading doesn't belong in Fate games. If you know what's going to
219happen, then at some level the characters aren't proactive. They're just
220looking for the magic "next scene" button. They have no real agency. And
221some games and styles are built heavily upon this kind of game
222structure. Which is fine - I just don't necessarily think it's a good
223fit for Fate.
224
225It also makes it a good question whether investigation-based games are a
226super-awesome fit for Fate, either. Investigation-based games are
227usually about following the breadcrumb that is left, which is often not
228very proactive on the part of the players. It also makes the level of
229narrative control that Fate gives players somewhat problematic.
230
231### Competent characters
232
233Fate characters are competent. They're **good** at stuff. Maybe not the
234best in the world, but whatever they're good at, they're **good** at it.
235They're not bumbling amateurs.
236
237### Skills, aspects, compels, invokes
238
239To me, this is the core of Fate. You can get rid of stunts and still
240have it "feel like" Fate, but if these four elements don't work more or
241less how they do in Core, it doesn't feel much like Fate to me.
242
243### The phase trio
244
245This has been around, and almost unchanged, since SotC. It works, and
246how it generates interlinked characters is, to me, a pretty important
247part of the Fate experience.
248
249### Lack of charop
250
251As a game, Fate seems to almost go out of its way to minimize character
252optimization. Discussion of what stunts do is directly opposed to the
253idea of "hey, let me find the combination of stuff that makes me
254awesome", as a general table veto is **built into** the process.
255
256### "Final" skills
257
258One of the things I really appreciate about Fate is the idea that skills
259represent your **final** ability to influence a scene - not your base
260ability that's then modified by a gazillion other factors. This ties in
261pretty heavily with the charop point above.
262
263### Lack of emphasis on system mastery
264
265Fate is, to me, not a game about learning to manipulate the game system.
266It's a game about the **fiction** (as in, the stuff we're imagining in
267our heads), not the rules. The rules get out of the way more than
268anything, and it's hard to have system mastery be important if you're
269trying to de-emphasize the system.
270
271Attempts to make Fate "crunchy" (that is, to make system mastery a more
272important thing) to me make games feel less like Fate.
273
274### **Branches, not gates**
275
276Scenes in Fate games to me work best as a series of possible branches.
277They're not challenges to be overcome. If there's a 95% chance of
278success at no cost, there's no real point in having a scene.
279
280### Focus on opportunity cost
281
282This is a big one to me. Unlike games that focus on system mastery and
283overcoming challenges, Fate to me works best when opportunity cost is
284shoved in the players' faces. That's a question that appears over and
285over in Fate - spending Fate points to buy a victory, success at a cost,
286accepting Compels - all of these point directly at the idea of "how much
287do you want this, and what are you willing to give up to get it?"
288
289If a Fate game de-emphasizes this, to me it starts to feel less like
290Fate. Hacks to Fate that do things like require the pre-spending of Fate
291Points or the like feel less-"Fate" to me.
292
293### A focus on what's important in the story, not modeling reality
294
295If you think on most fiction, the weapon that a given combatant uses
296isn't particularly relevant most of the time. The fact that someone uses
297an axe vs. a sword isn't going to mean that they lose in a scene. Sure,
298there are special pieces of equipment, but they tend to be just that -
299special.
300
301To me, a good Fate game approaches its systems in that way - what's
302actually important, in this genre? Do characters tend to lose fights
303because they're not armed with bigger weapons or sturdier armor? If not,
304then that shouldn't be how your game models it, either.
305
306A good example of this is thinking about mecha. How many stats should a
307mech have, and how much of its combat ability should be based on it
308instead of its pilot? And that boils down to - 'what story are you
309telling'? If it's about the pilot, and a good pilot in a weak or
310mediocre mecha can still be an effective combatant, then the mecha
311should only have a modifying impact on the pilot's skills, and the story
312will focus around the pilots. But if the story should focus around the
313attainment of awesome mecha, then they should have a larger impact. It's
314not a matter of what's "realistic". It's a matter of "what impact does
315this have on the game, and what elements do I want to be important in
316the game?"
317
318### Active instead of passive bonuses
319
320A big thing with Fate, to me, is the idea that most bonuses are active -
321they're the result of things that you **do**. This fits in with the
322"proactive" part of characters as well. This compares to other games
323where much of the game is focused on "how many bonuses can I find a way
324to make apply?" That can be a great type of game - but it ain't (to me)
325Fate.
326
327### Skills tied to results, not actions
328
329Another biggie. In many games, using a skill means you're engaging in a
330specific task that may have a variable result. In Fate, I see it more as
331"I'm trying to accomplish this - do I succeed?" It seems subtle, but
332it's a pretty important point, and colors how a lot of mechanics get
333applied.
334
335### Bell curve results
336
337Fate uses a randomization scheme that is heavily biased towards
338"average" results. It doesn't use a flat distribution. How that is
339specifically achieved, or exactly how biased it is, is somewhat more
340open - but a flat distribution doesn't feel like Fate to me.
341
342Anyway, those are the main things I can think of, at least for now. I'm
343sure I'll add more later!
344
345And these are just my opinions. They're not the word of God, and others
346will absolutely have different lists, and even things that they think I
347just got totally **wrong**. But, to me, this is kind of the core of what
348I consider to be "Fate" - and, if you look at it, a good predictor of
349what games I'll generally say don't feel "Fate-like" to me.
350
351Why the Heck am I Doing This?
352-----------------------------
353
354Okay, no big reveal (I'm actually working for Evil Hat! Muahahaha) or
355anything of the sort. But I've put a lot of time into some of these
356posts, and I'd like to just point out why I'm doing this. I mean, at the
357end of the day, this is just an RPG, a fun way to kill some time.
358
359I'm a long term gamer. Been playing for over thirty years now, started
360with Moldvay D&D. I've played a plethora of systems. I've worked with
361famous industry folks, though I certainly am not a "famous industry
362folk" myself.
363
364My mindset is pretty fully old-school. Yay, character death, and
365difficulty, and earning the awesome. If you had asked me a year ago if
366it would make sense for a character to find a secret door that wasn't on
367the map, just because they'd rolled well, I'd ask if you were crazy. If
368you told me a year ago that I'd advocate not killing characters without
369a discussion, I'd ask you to share your stash. (BTW, I'd still maintain
370those statements, *for certain types of games!*)
371
372I started Fate with SotC and DFRPG. And... it was a learning curve.
373There were things I just wasn't getting, and I knew it. But I liked
374enough of what was going on, and liked enough of Fate (my previous foray
375into more narrative systems had been Burning Wheel) that I stuck with
376it. And the biggest issue, over and over again, was the fact that I was
377unconsciously trying to make Fate act like a more traditional system.
378
379Where were the attributes? Where were the things you put together? How
380the heck did it make sense to have an aspect ***Really Strong***, yet it
381only came into play on occasion? This is madness!
382
383But I stuck with it. I read the books, I played with folks that got it
384(Hi, [Jacob Poss](https://plus.google.com/110682395387731432977)!). I
385read responses from the gurus on this community (more than I care to
386name... most of you know who you are!).
387
388At first, it was a few bits here and there that came together that were
389just awesome. And then, at some point, something clicked. It came
390together. I **got** it. "Fiction, not physics" became more than a cute
391catchphrase meaning that fun was more important than realism. I stopped
392looking for more systems. The airplanes-as-stunts in Kriegszeppelin
393Valkyrie made sense. The importance of the Phase Trio clicked, and it
394wasn't just party cohesion.
395
396When it all came together, I found a new way to play RPGs. A way that's
397pretty awesome, and not very much like the D&D I played when I was 10.
398
399Now, don't get me wrong - I still like other ways of playing. I've got
400no problem with a goold old fashioned dungeon crawl, or a set of
401tactical set piece encounters with some story/investigation bits between
402them. I've had a heck of a lot of fun over the years playing those
403games, and I'm sure I'll have more in the years to come. I want to run
404an X-COM game at some point, and it almost certainly won't be in Fate
405(GURPS and Savage Worlds are the frontrunners atm).
406
407And that's what these posts are about - detailing my realizations, and
408throwing them out there to maybe help other people that are struggling
409to come to grips with the same things I came to grips with. So if I post
410something like, "Fate doesn't have a damage system," don't take that as
411the prophet on the mount making a proclamation. I'm not into the holy
412prophet thing, given that the fashion choices are terrible and the life
413expectancy is generally worse. Instead, take it as me going, "Holy shit!
414I just realized, this game doesn't have a damage system! It thinks about
415the results of combat in an almost totally different way! That's crazy
416cool!"
417
418So that's what these posts are about. Trying to help others look at Fate
419with a bit of "beginner's mind," and seeing it through eyes not trained
420by years of gaming in other systems. It's about helping others to find
421the things that I find awesome in the system. It's not about telling
422people they're doing things "wrong" - there's no Fate Police ready to
423knock down doors, the last I checked. If you're having fun, as far as
424you're concerned, you're doing it right. It's about sharing the things
425that I've discovered about the system when I stopped trying to shove its
426square peg into a round hole.
427
428And I'll say, doing that is **tough**. We've got a lot of things in
429traditional gaming that work, and make for awesome games. In a lot of
430cases, deviating from those slightly doesn't work, as those games tend
431to sit on "local maxima" - areas where the decisions made work together
432in a tight, interlocked way. But I think Fate sits on a very different
433local maximum than most games, and to find it you've gotta change a lot
434of assumptions, and be willing to approach it like it was the very first
435game you've played. I've found it to be worth it, and so I want to share
436what I've learned to help others find that same awesome.Â
437
438And if you're interested, come on along for the journey. Share your
439insights with me, and I'll happily share mine with you. If not, hell,
440maybe we'll get together and play a game that sits in a different area,
441and have fun doing that.
442
443Introducing People to Fate
444--------------------------
445
446So, this seems to come up a bunch. Figured I'd get my thoughts out, and
447see what others have to say.
448
449Anyway. Fate does some things differently. Fundamentally, I think that's
450because it has ended up trying to answer very different questions than
451typical RPGs do. As such, it can look a bit weird at first for new
452players. There's a number of concepts that don't mesh particularly well
453with more 'traditional' or typical RPGs.
454
455So, how to introduce new players?
456
457The first thing I do is talk the system up - specifically its strengths.
458I point out how the system really allows you to think about **who** your
459character is, instead of just **what** they are and what they can
460**do**. I point out how fast it runs, and the great support it has for
461non-combat options and actions. I also point out that it's a different
462game, and that it's not a replacement for their favorite game.
463
464Assuming I've suckered gotten some people to be willing to try, I set up
465a game. Before the game, individually if possible, I go over a few
466things.
467
468First, I talk up the fact that in Fate, the expectation isn't that
469you'll be given a bunch of encounters, and that you have to overcome
470them. I point out that failure is normal and expected, and won't mean
471the end of the game.
472
473So at game time, I actually do go through cooperative setting/character
474creation. I find this builds investment in the setting, and eases the
475making a character bit.Â
476
477Usually, by the end of setting creation (which is pretty quick), I find
478that the players are pretty excited about the game. That's why I
479actually do it, BTW. Since setting creation is fun, and isn't where any
480of the usual stumbling blocks occur, getting players invested in the
481game and excited before they hit them seems to be really useful for
482getting them to plow through if they hit a rough patch.
483
484I make sure that when creating characters, it's done as a group - the
485person whose character is being made drives his part of that, of course,
486but everyone is paying attention and contributing.
487
488Helping explain aspects a bit at this point helps, as well as coming up
489with suggestions. Since we're still focused on the "story bits" at this
490point, it seems to work okay. I can drive them towards slightly more
491useful aspects with my knowledge without having to knowledge dump them.
492
493The usual explanation of assets I like to give is something like this:
494"Take Han Solo at the end of Star Wars. Let's say that there's some
495stories written about him between then and the beginning of Empire. What
496things would those stories have to include to really be 'Han Solo
497stories'?" Usually the answer will be things like the Falcon, Chewie,
498his debt to Jabba, him being a dashing/cocky guy, etc. And those are all
499things I'd consider to be his aspects.
500
501While the cooperative, one-at-a-time character creation may seem like it
502would be slow, in practice I find that it actually works a **lot**
503faster. I think the collaboration and interest level, combined with
504attention from someone that knows the game keeps things moving at a
505somewhat better clip. Also, for the "guest star" phases, it seems to
506help because the players will already be somewhat familiar with the
507stories they're guest-starring in.
508
509Skills are pretty easy, but I usually kind of gloss over stunts a bit,
510and just leave blanks. I may help them think of stunts that would work
511with their character, but I've found this to be the thing that can take
512the most time. Instead, I'll suggest stunts during play as they become
513available, and point out beforehand that this is what we'll be doing.
514
515Okay, so during play I make sure I stick with the model of
516TV/Movie/Book. All examples I use to explain rules will either be from
517one of those, or framed as being in one. I'll make references to "camera
518shots" and stuff like that - even do cutaways or "title sequences" as
519appropriate. To me, I find the key here is being consistent in framing
520things this way, to help overcome some of the "simulationist" tendencies
521that most new players (myself included) have.
522
523Also, during play I try to keep in mind what **I** would do if I was
524running that PC, and offer suggestions. I also keep an emphasis on
525"okay, but what do you **do**" whenever players start focusing more on
526the numbers than the game.
527
528One thing that I've seen is kind of difficult is for players to be
529proactive and try to actually drive things. The usual mode I've seen for
530players is to kind of passively investigate. So I will also frequently
531ask "Okay, what are you trying to get out of this? Imagine the best
532possible success for this - what does it look like?" Strangely, I think
533the idea that players can actually **succeed** at that level, and get
534what they want, is a novel concept in many cases.
535
536Almost certainly a physical Conflict (fight) will come up, if for no
537other reason than in most RPGs it's expected, and so I don't mind
538meeting that expectation. This is one of the other big points for
539teaching people Fate, I find.
540
541The key here is to get them thinking in terms of good Fate strategy -
542targeting weaknesses, using Create Advantage, and all of the other
543stuff. Again, I find it useful to go back to movies/TV/books. I've seen
544a number of people new to Fate (as in, almost everyone)Â just try to go
545head-to-head with a tough opponent, when they're not combat optimized -
546bad move. Either before the Conflict, or within a round or so, I'll call
547a quick timeout, and explain how it works, and how Create Advantage can
548really do wonders for your effectiveness, rather than trying to throw
549your 2 Fight against your opponent's 6.
550
551I'll also make sure they know about conceding, and will point out that
552they can offer to do so at any time. I'll emphasize that how long they
553stay in is really more about how much they're willing to risk to get
554what the Conflict is about, and reiterate that it's expected to lose on
555occasion. In many cases, this first fight will be deliberately designed
556to be lost/conceded. I'll often frame it as an inciting incident, so
557that it serves as them discovering the issue at hand.
558
559Anyway, that's my general outline. It's generally worked well, and when
560it hasn't I can pretty effectively point to one of the things I've
561listed above that I **haven't** done - this procedure is the result of
562mistakes and the lessons learned from them.
563
564One thing that I **don't** do is try to 'ease' the learning of Fate by
565making it more like other games. I know that's pretty common, but I
566haven't really seen any value in it, or any need for it. I find it
567usually works very well to just say "Yes, this is different. Here's why,
568and here's what it gets you. So let's try it out." For those things that
569"don't match", I think you have to do one or the other - either make it
570enough like what the expectation is that it doesn't trigger the
571reaction, or call it out so that it is in the conscious mind of
572everyone, which also bypasses that kind of unconscious reaction.
573
574So - what does everyone else do? Any tips or tricks? Experiences?
575Stories where it's gone amazingly well? Horror stories?
576
577Fiction First, Fiction-Rules Interaction, and Nonsensical Results
578-----------------------------------------------------------------
579
580So, this is just a collection on my thoughts on this subject, as I think
581it's often one of the most overlooked, often by me. Some of this stuff
582may be subtle or just pedantic. So, either bear with me, or call me an
583idiot. It's all good.
584
585"Fiction First" is the Golden Rule of Fate. To understand it, we have to
586define "fiction".
587
588"Fiction", to me, is just the crap we're imagining in our heads. When we
589forget about our numbers, and let our imagination take over the scene,
590**that's** the "fiction". It's not a statement of some kind of
591book-writing agenda, or talking about some kind of predetermined plot.
592It's what happens when we let our imaginations take over the game,
593instead of focusing on the dice and character sheets.
594
595And that's pretty damn powerful. I don't know about anybody else, but
596that's the reason I play RPGs. Not for the number crunching, but for
597that sense of being "in" the world, and seeing what happens. That's the
598good stuff - all the other stuff is just what helps us get there.
599
600So, what does "fiction first" mean, at least to me? It means that
601character actions should start with the "fiction", and be described in
602terms of the "fiction". Then, and only then should they be interpreted
603into mechanics.
604
605This means that in general, players shouldn't start with "I
606Attack/Overcome/Create". If you hear a ton of game jargon in terms of
607what's going on, it's time to place more emphasis on the "fiction", and
608less on the rules. Paint a picture. Make sure everybody is "seeing" the
609same thing in their mind. Have them say what their **character** does,
610not what the collection of numbers on the page suggest is the optimal
611course of action.
612
613From that, figure out what else is involved in this action. Who is
614opposing it? How difficult is it?
615
616Once we've figured this out, then we can start figuring out how we're
617going to resolve the action. Is it an Attack? An Overcome? A Create
618Advantage? Is there passive opposition, and if so, at what level? Then
619we roll the dice, go through any invocation 'bidding', and finally get a
620resolution.
621
622And here we get to the next point. Fate doesn't actually tell you what
623happens. The dice never tell you what actually occurs - at least not the
624way they do in GURPS, where the system will tell you "you hit the orc in
625the arm, for x amount of damage, and have disabled the arm". Instead,
626they place **constraints** on the narration.
627
628If you Attack an opponent with a sword, and tie, you get a Boost. Great.
629What does that mean? It's nothing concrete, that's for sure, at least
630not like it would be in GURPS. We have to narrate what happens, but what
631does happen?
632
633Well, Fate doesn't tell us. What it **does** tell us is the general
634parameters of the narration. We know that no stress has been inflicted,
635so that the target isn't really inherently closer to being Taken Out. We
636know they haven't taken any Consequences, so nothing significant happens
637to them. We do know that they're placed at a temporary disadvantage,
638though, and the narration has to incorporate that... **how** we do that
639is up to us, though.
640
641For a gritty game, it could be that the shock of parrying the sword made
642them go slightly numb in that hand, but nothing that won't get shaken
643off. Or they could be knocked back by the force of the blow. For a
644swashbuckling game, maybe their clothes get ripped causing them to see
645red for a few seconds. In a more cinematic game, maybe they take a flesh
646wound that causes them to recoil.
647
648Wait.. What? How can a Boost actually be a hit that causes damage? We
649didn't inflict Stress!
650
651Well.... yeah. But Stress isn't damage - it's a pacing measure, a way of
652determining how close someone is to being Taken Out. And succeeding on
653an Attack doesn't mean you **hit**, and tying, or even losing, on the
654Attack doesn't mean you don't hit (though that's usually a good bet).
655Again, Fate doesn't tell you **what** happens, it just places
656**constraints** on the narration. And since Stress is really a measure
657of how close you are to being Taken Out, so long as the narration of the
658resolution is consistent with that, you're fine. You don't need to
659**hit** someone to get them to be closer to being Taken Out, and just
660because you hit someone doesn't mean that they **are** closer to being
661Taken Out.
662
663So we narrate the results, and get on with the game. This gives an
664overall flow that looks something like this:
665
6661) Describe scene in terms of "the fiction"
667
6682) Determine character's action in the "fiction"
669
6703) Determine opposition
671
6724) Determine how to apply rules
673
6745) Resolve action mechanically
675
6766) Get constraints on resolution from the mechanics
677
6787) Narrate the resolution within the given constraints
679
680Okay, so in my mind this clears up a few common questions/concerns that
681frequently come up about Fate, especially with more 'transitioning'
682players. You know, like me.
683
684First, if you can use Create Advantage to create an arbitrary aspect,
685why can't you just use it to come up with some blatantly overpowered
686thing that wins the scenario?
687
688So, this is answered by the fact that we're skipping the first five
689steps of the resolution process! If the proposed action doesn't make
690sense in the fiction, you'll never get past step two. And step four
691definitely stops it, as there's no real way to apply the rules to an
692impossible action.
693
694If we're playing a gritty military game, and someone says that they want
695to flap their arms and fly to the top of a guard tower... that just
696doesn't happen. Neither does making a bomb out of sticks and mud. To
697even get to the point where we roll dice, the action has to be accepted
698as **plausible**, even if unlikely.
699
700Secondly, I've heard a bunch of stuff about stress and damage and taking
701large hits and whatnot. The key here is that stress isn't tangible or
702concrete. It just places constraints on the narrative. If you "get hit"
703with a rocket launcher (aka, the Attack succeeded), and take a single
704point of stress, that doesn't mean that the rocket hit you full on the
705chest and you brushed it off.
706
707What it means is you take a point of stress. One point. And that the
708narration of what happens as part of the rocket launcher attack needs to
709be consistent with that. Since getting hit by a rocket launcher means,
710logically, that you're turned into the consistency of chunky salsa, then
711clearly you didn't actually get "hit" by the rocket launcher. Maybe you
712twisted your ankle dodging. Maybe you got hit by some kicked up rocks.
713Maybe you were mostly covered, but got singed a bit.
714
715But at any rate, Fate can't give you an illogical outcome, because **it
716doesn't give you an outcome**. For it to give you an illogical outcome,
717there would need to be no possible scenario in which that outcome made
718sense... and there are plenty of ways to justify taking a single point
719of stress as the outcome of a rocket launcher being shot at you.
720
721The third thing I see is the various forms of shooting someone in the
722head. This even shows up in the main Fate Core book! One of the sample
723characters (I forget which) drops an important NPC with a single hit
724from their sword. What about stress! What about consequences!
725
726Well, what about them? If a trained warrior hits an unarmed, unexpecting
727non-combatant with a sword, what do you **think** is going to happen?
728They're going to get pretty well murderified.
729
730This isn't really a Conflict, so stress isn't even relevant (stress is a
731**Conflict** pacing mechanic, not an inherent property of characters).
732The missed step in the resolution outline above is four - determining
733how to apply the rules to resolve the action. The core error here is
734really in assuming that every time someone swings a sword (or shoots a
735gun), it's a Conflict, and so we need to use the Conflict pacing
736mechanism and rules and all that jazz.
737
738But we don't. We don't skip step four! We should always think about what
739the right way to resolve an action is, even if just for a millisecond.
740And most importantly, that resolution mechanic is dependent on a few
741things:
742
7431) The action being performed
744
7452) The intended result
746
7473) The specific situation
748
7494) The larger "goal" of the scene
750
751In many systems, resolution is dependent **only** on the first of these.
752In Fate, though, that's not the case. Pushing someone can be an Attack
753(attempting to push them off a cliff), or it can be Create Advantage
754(knocking them down or off balance), or it can be an Overcome (moving
755them out of an advantageous position).
756
757Shooting someone doesn't mean it's an Attack - Attack is generally a
758Conflict action. If the scene is better modeled as a Challenge or
759Contest, or even just a simple Overcome, an Attack may not be necessary.
760Heck, a sniper shooting someone in the head **should** be able to take
761out his target with one shot - something that's not really possible
762against non-mooks using default stress/consequences. So... maybe that
763means that a 'typical' sniping situation (unaware target, etc.) isn't a
764Conflict - which would make sense since the target isn't providing
765active opposition, and isn't trying to hurt the sniper (yet!).
766
767So... that's what "fiction first" means to me. It means that the fiction
768drives the rules. It's called the "Golden Rule" of Fate for a reason,
769and that reason is that following that rules settles an absolute ton of
770other potential problems or questions.
771
772As well as being a hell of a lot more fun.
773
774What Collaborative Setting Creation Means To Me
775-----------------------------------------------
776
777Okay, so, collaborative setting creation seems to be one of those weird
778things for people new to more narrative games, and it was a bit of a
779hurdle for me. What exactly does the GM have power over? Does that mean
780that the players can just determine whatever they want? Does the GM do
781no worldbuilding? If the players can just declare anything they want,
782then doesn't the game just devolve into sitting around and telling a
783story?
784
785I think the best way I can explain my thoughts on this is to give you a
786few examples of what I think it means. As always, this is my opinion,
787and others will almost certainly disagree :)
788
789My examples will be three versions of a single pitch - government agents
790investigating supernatural threats - and how this changes according to
791the three groups it's run with. Any similarity to anything "real" is as
792utterly unintended as any similarity Nanoc the IP-Friendly Barbarian has
793to any other character.
794
795Some of this will be slightly not-strictly-according-to-the-rules for
796the sake of the examples.
797
798### Group one
799
800GM: "Okay, so government agents investigating the supernatural. What do
801you guys like for a threat? Kind of at the looming threat level?"
802
803P1: "Aliens. I like aliens."
804
805P2: "Cool! But, how about a conspiracy? Like, the aliens are working
806with the government?"
807
808GM: "I dig it. So you guys are what, then, FBI?"
809
810P1: "Yeah, that sounds cool. Some interesting possibilities for the
811government investigating itself and politics in there."
812
813GM: "Okay, any ideas on characters? I'd like to keep the players pretty
814normal - I don't want this to be a superhero game."
815
816P1: "Okay, I can do normal. Since we're doing aliens, how about if I'm
817an investigator obsessed with the supernatural, since my sister was
818abducted when I was a kid?"
819
820GM: "I like it."
821
822P2: "Good stuff... as a counter, why don't I play a character that's
823more skeptical? That'll make some good tension between the two?"
824
825GM: "Awesome. I'll work on some details, and we'll get to playing."
826
827### Group Two
828
829GM: "Okay, so government agents investigating the supernatural. What do
830you guys like for a threat? Kind of at the looming threat level?"
831
832P1: "Hrm. How about something like an alternate dimension?"
833
834P2: "Yeah, there could be something like a war looming, only we're
835unaware of it."
836
837P3: "That's... pretty cool. Though maybe there should be something else,
838some kind of group that's kind of... I don't know, dimensional cops or
839something."
840
841GM: "Good stuff. Okay, any character ideas?"
842
843P1: "Can I be a government agent? Maybe psychic?"
844
845GM: "I'd like to keep this pretty much with normal people. I guess
846psychic is okay, but is it okay if it's more 'plot-psychic', as in it's
847not a generally useful skill?"
848
849P1: "Sure, that works. It's not relevant until it is."
850
851P2: "I want to be a mad scientist, how's that?"
852
853P1: "Hey, you can have experimented on me when I was a kid, and that's
854why I'm sorta psychic!"
855
856P2: "Awesome. I love it."
857
858GM: "Cool. P3?"
859
860P3: "We're doing this dimension thing, right? How about if I'm someone
861from this other dimension?"
862
863GM: "Mmm, I kinda want to keep the other dimension thing unknown to the
864characters at the start."
865
866P3: "That's fine, maybe I just don't know it. Maybe I was dragged over
867here when I was a kid."
868
869P2: "... maybe by your friendly neighborhood mad scientist?"
870
871P3: "I love it. But why?"
872
873P2: "Maybe you're the alternate version of my dead son?"
874
875GM: "Oh, wow. I can't see that blowing up in anyone's faces. But does
876that mean that everyone has an alternate version?"
877
878P1: "Yeah, I think it would."
879
880GM: "That could get very cool if people start crossing dimensions. Love
881it. Okay, I'll set it up, see you guys next week."
882
883### Group Three
884
885GM: "Okay, so government agents investigating the supernatural. What do
886you guys like for a threat? Kind of at the looming threat level?"
887
888P1: "I really like the idea that myths are based on some kind of
889reality, even if it's heavily distorted. Can we do something like that."
890
891GM: "Sure. What kind of myths?"
892
893P2: "I dunno, most of the old myths are overdone."
894
895P3: "How about fairy tales? Except we've drastically misinterpreted
896them."
897
898GM: "That... could be cool. So, what are you guys thinking? FBI for you
899guys?"
900
901P1: "Mmmmm... how about something more low-scale at first, to kind of
902make the larger conflict seem bigger. Maybe local cops?"
903
904P2: "Yeah, I like it. And maybe the fairy-tale creatures are trying to
905rise to prominence like they used to be."
906
907P3: "Oh, that's awesome. But if we're going with misinterpreted fairy
908tales, I get to be the big bad wolf."
909
910GM: "Cute."
911
912P3: "No, really! Except I"m like, reformed, and a vegetarian.\"
913
914P1: "That's... kind of awesome."
915
916GM: "I really want to keep this more about regular people, not
917superheroes..."
918
919P3: "That's fine. Maybe I'm a bit tougher than most people, but that'd
920really be about it... I figure most of these supernatural folks are just
921kinda hanging out living regular lives anyway, so I don't really need
922anything super-awesome."
923
924GM: "Yeah, I can see that working."
925
926P1: "Okay, so these are fairy tales, right? How about if the fairy tales
927were written down originally as kind of a warning about the
928supernatural? And then I'm one of the descendants of this group that
929fought against them?"
930
931GM: "I like it. P2?"
932
933P2: "Well, you want to keep this grounded, and we've already got the big
934bad wolf and a monster hunter, so why don't I just be a regular cop?
935That'll provide at least some grounding back in reality. Plus, I think
936getting exposed to this stuff will lead to some cool character
937development."
938
939GM: "That's awesome. I'll get some stuff planned, and see you guys next
940week."
941
942So, in each case, the players have modified the setting, and the story
943of the games will end up revolving around them - it wouldn't really work
944with other characters. But, the GM still has a huge amount of
945responsibility over the game - the players have helped set the overall
946world, as well as the general themes of the game, but the individual
947events and scenarios still are well within the realm of what the GM
948does, even if they're often based on character aspects.
949
950Focus on the Table
951------------------
952
953Yeah, I know these aren't anywhere **near** daily, but it's still the
954though for **this** day, so that counts, right??
955
956This
957post [Weird Tangent](weird-tangent)
958got me thinking about one of the things that I find different about how
959I approach Fate.
960
961As brief background, the majority of my adult life has been spent making
962video games in various capacities. One of the high gurus of the field is
963Sid Meier, though he for some reason gets less credit than many of the
964"visionaries". Sid Meier has an incredible, almost perfect track record
965of making awesome games, with very few missteps. (Why he gets less
966"fame" is perhaps a topic for another day).
967
968There's a quote that's attributed to Sid Meier. It may be misattributed,
969but I think it's valid anyway. The quote is: "There are three types of
970games. There's games where the designer is having all of the fun.
971There's games where the computer is having all of the fun. And there's
972games where the player is having all of the fun." And whether or not Sid
973said this, I think it's an incredibly true quote.
974
975And it's applicable to RPGs. RPGs are famous for having incredibly
976intricate systems. But who is having the fun with those?
977
978Let's take a simple example, and make a game that's a very basic combat
979game. Barely an RPG, if at all. In this game, the only action is to
980attack. Now, let's say that there are two versions of this game. In one,
981you just roll a d6 to determine damage on an attack. In the other, you
982add in all kinds of factors about the situation, the characters
983involved, the weapons and armor, and detail out every aspect of the blow
984- the angle of blow, exactly how it penetrated armor, etc... and end up
985with damage between one and six.
986
987Who is having the fun in the second version? Assuming that the player
988has little control over the factors that go into the simulation, is the
989second game any different from a player perspective, except for the die
990rolling? (I'll acknowledge that this game may be fun as a
991"deck-building" type game, where manipulating those statistics is the
992point, but that's not the focus of this post).
993
994So, what happened? The designer of this game focused on making an
995accurate simulation (and I'm not saying that simulations are bad, btw,
996so let's avoid the GNS reactions, mkay?). In Sid's language, he made a
997game where the computer is having all of the fun.
998
999What decisions would we make with this game if we were focused on the
1000**player** having the fun? That's going to vary greatly based on what
1001any individual thinks is fun (and that's **definitely** a topic for
1002another day), but I think the most obvious thing that stands out is that
1003having exactly one thing to do - "attack" - on any turn isn't a very
1004interesting game. Hell, I don't even know if it **is** a game in any
1005real sense.
1006
1007Personally, I'd focus on the "chess-game" of combat. I'd give the player
1008various moves, and figure out how those moves worked. Maybe some kind of
1009double-blind mechanic to add uncertainty. I'd use a bit of Game Theory
1010(the mathy kind) to figure out something approaching an appropriate
1011payout structure, and use the minimum math possible to get the
1012interactions at the table to work out the way I want to.
1013
1014Okay, so what does this have to do with Fate? I've written quite a few
1015words, and exactly zero of them have had anything to do with dice that
1016have +s and -s on them.
1017
1018One of the things about Fate as a core/generic system is that it's
1019pretty common that it needs some level of tweaking to work with a
1020particular genre or setting.
1021
1022And that's where I get to the real point here - how and why do you
1023tweak/add? What's the priority? How do you know what to do?
1024
1025The common impulse in these cases, built by many years of gaming, is to
1026think of the game as some kind of a reality simulator, and come up with
1027some kind of model for how these parts work together. And that may be
1028useful.
1029
1030But what's really important is what happens at the table. How the
1031players interact with the system, the fiction, and each other. And
1032that's what this is really about.
1033
1034If you ask "how do I do cybernetics in Fate?" that's a great question.
1035It's also an example I come back to time and time again, so there's
1036that.
1037
1038So, how do we start? We can hypothesize that there's some kind of
1039humanity stress track. We can start looking at adding or removing
1040consequences or the like. These seem like pretty reasonable places to
1041start, but...
1042
1043These are all systems questions. These are all about building a model,
1044and they haven't explicitly looked at things from the player side at
1045all. There may be some kind of implicit idea of how players will
1046interact with them, but maybe that should be the starting point?
1047
1048So, what does cybernetic enhancement usually do? Well, it makes you
1049"better," for one - but, so does working out, so I don't know if we need
1050to really increase the overall cap on skills for that. And besides,
1051bigger numbers aren't super interesting.
1052
1053The usual thing we see with cybernetics is that there's some kind of
1054loss of empathy, especially as people become more enhanced. Also, they
1055may fail. On a more positive note, given that they're machine, they may
1056allow people to surpass human limits in some areas.
1057
1058These all seem very highly story-centric so far. The negatives seem very
1059much like compels, and the positive seems like it could be handled
1060perfectly fine with an invoke. If we wanted it to be more persistent, we
1061could add in a stunt.
1062
1063But the key point here isn't "go systems lite" - even though with Fate
1064you often can. Make as heavy of a system as you need to make. The
1065question is in defining how heavy of a system you need to make.
1066
1067As a software developer, I believe in something called Test Driven
1068Development. It's horribly misnamed. The basic idea of TDD (as it's
1069called) is a simple loop:
1070
10711) Define what "working" looks like
1072
10732) Make it work
1074
10753) Clean it up to make it nice
1076
1077The biggest key here is the first step. It seems obvious, but it's often
1078not followed in many disciplines. If you can't define what "success"
1079looks like, then how will you know if your work is successful or
1080complete?
1081
1082And when we do systems changes, we usually have some idea of what
1083"success" looks like, even if it's very implicit. And for me, the
1084implicit idea of success has generally been based on something like
1085"gives realistic results".
1086
1087Instead of that, I've learned now to look at success in terms of "what
1088do the players do at the table?" The math is mostly irrelevant, so long
1089as the interactions are there. And by doing this, I've started to focus
1090on making games that are fun for the **player**, and not the **system.**
1091
1092The funny thing about this is that when you start thinking in terms of
1093the players, a lot of times it turns out you need less system than you
1094thought. One of the most complex, deep games on the planet (Go) has
1095rules that can be described in... less than a page, probably. I
1096generally teach people the **rules** in about five minutes.
1097
1098I've focused so far in this post on modifying the game - and that's
1099because this is the place where this tends to show up the worst. But
1100it's a principle that's useful whenever thinking about RPGs, especially
1101as a GM. Who is this fun for?
1102
1103Is it fun because you get to show off your incredible creativity? Think
1104long and hard about the role of the players - they shouldn't be an
1105audience (especially in Fate).
1106
1107Is it fun because it's an intricate mathematical simulation that
1108produces great results? Again, think of it from the player perspective.
1109
1110Because at the end of the day, the game is about the players (including
1111the GM, of course). If they're not having fun, there's no game. It
1112doesn't matter if the system has fun. And the GM/designer needs to have
1113fun, of course, but not at the expense of the players.
1114
1115Pacing Mechanisms in Fate
1116-------------------------
1117
1118So, this is something I've wanted to write for a while, but haven't
1119gotten around to. Until today.
1120
1121### What's a pacing mechanism?
1122
1123One of the things I see some confusion about in Fate are the various
1124pacing mechanisms available - Conflicts, Contests, and Challenges, or as
1125I like to call them, the 3 Cs.
1126
1127So, I call them all pacing mechanisms. What the heck do I even mean by
1128that? That seems to imply that they're all related to each other, but
1129they're clearly not, right??
1130
1131Okay, so time for Rob to get pedantic (like that's new). We roll dice in
1132Fate to answer a question. **Technically**, if we wanted to, we could
1133answer any question, no matter how big or small, with a single die roll
1134- probably an Overcome.
1135
1136Hell, if we were running Star Wars as a Fate game, we could do the
1137entire game as a single Overcome roll against the Empire! But... what
1138fun would that be?
1139
1140And fundamentally, that's the point of pacing mechanisms. They're
1141nothing more, and nothing less, than a tool to make the resolution of a
1142single question take longer than one roll of the dice/action resolution.
1143
1144(And if you hear me refer to stress as a pacing mechanism, that's why -
1145stress determines, to a great extent, how long a Conflict will last).
1146
1147But why call them pacing mechanisms? For instance, aren't Contests
1148really chases? Isn't that what they model?
1149
1150Nope. Contests don't "model" anything. They just drag things out, and
1151provide an ending condition. Sure, their mechanics map reasonably well
1152to how you'd model a chase, but that doesn't mean that they actually
1153model chases. In general, you're best off if you use the pacing
1154mechanisms **as** pacing mechanisms, and leave the modeling to the
1155narrative level. Roll the dice, figure out the results, and then narrate
1156the results in a way that makes it clear that one side or the other is
1157getting closer to achieving their goal. In Fate, the "fiction", the
1158shared imagination and view of what's going on, informs the mechanics
1159rather than the other way around.
1160
1161So, which one of these do you use? This seems to be a common question,
1162and one that I think has a pretty simple answer, if you look at the
1163question from a slightly different way.Â
1164
1165Much like Attack vs. Overcome isn't based on what you're doing, but
1166rather whether you're trying to Take Out your opponent, which pacing
1167mechanism you choose isn't determined by the actions that are being
1168undertaken, primarily. It's determined by the nature of the opposition.
1169
1170### Challenges
1171
1172I'll start with Challenges, since they have the generally easiest
1173criteria. Use a Challenge when you don't have active opposition over the
1174entire Challenge. This could mean that that the opposition is the
1175environment (barring Fight Fire and the like). This could mean that the
1176opposition is unaware and inactive (see the Contest section for what I
1177mean by that). This could mean that you **do** have active opposition,
1178but only for part of the Challenge (in which case you can either model
1179that as an Overcome, or as a sub-Conflict/Contest as appropriate).
1180
1181Zird warding off the zombies meets these criteria. The zombies are
1182(mostly) a passive, environmental challenge, and at any rate he's really
1183barring the door to them. Convincing the townspeople is arguably active
1184opposition... but they're not interfering with the majority of the
1185challenge, and so is an Overcome. Casting the ritual is simply
1186environmental, and is an Overcome.
1187
1188Now, part of a Challenge **may** involve active opposition - such as the
1189villagers being convinced in the Zird example. In that case, you can
1190either treat it as a simple Overcome within the Challenge (remember,
1191that all pacing mechanisms are basically stand-ins for a single
1192resolution), or you can expand it out further into an inner
1193Conflict/Contest if appropriate.
1194
1195But what if you have active opposition - some individual or party that
1196is directly opposing the question that you're trying to answer? That
1197leaves Conflicts and Contests, which is where a lot of questions seem to
1198come up.
1199
1200### Conflicts
1201
1202If your opposition is active, and direct, you use a Conflict. By direct,
1203I mean that the goal of both parties is to get the other to back down in
1204some way - either by getting knocked out and killed, by surrendering, by
1205fleeing, etc. For a Conflict, the two things should be true:
1206
12071) Both sides are committed to getting the other side to back down
1208
12092) The "question" of the conflict is either:
1210
1211a) whether a particular side will back down in some way
1212
1213b) something that the winner can accomplish if the opposition isn't
1214 there
1215
1216So if you're trying to capture some bad guys (or the other way around),
1217that **could** be a Conflict, so long as both sides are exchanging blows
1218(by choice or because no other option exists). If you're trying to get
1219past guards to defuse a bomb, that's a Conflict, up until the guards run
1220off to save their hides, or you do.
1221
1222### Contests
1223
1224If your opposition is active and **indirect**, choose a Contest.
1225
1226By indirect, I mean simply that both sides aren't engaged in mutual
1227annihilation. The obvious cases would be races, or a chase. It could be
1228trying to capture someone, so long as they're trying to evade capture.
1229It could even be fleeing from a shooter (where the question becomes "Can
1230I make it to cover before I get shot/killed?"). But the key here is that
1231there are still two or more **active** participants/sides - you
1232generally don't use a Contest if one side is unaware.
1233
1234Aside: You might choose a Contest with an unaware side, if that side is
1235actively doing something that would bring the Contest to a close - a
1236sorcerer opening a gate to an evil realm, for instance, might be in a
1237contest with the adventurers trying to make it to his sanctum to
1238interrupt the spell, even if the sorcerer is unaware of their presence.
1239The real key here is the **active** bit.
1240
1241In general, any time you can phrase the question you're answering as "do
1242I *my desired goal* before they *their desired goal*" is a Contest,
1243unless both of the desired goals are "beat up the other guy".
1244
1245### Choosing Based On Context
1246
1247So that's the basic way that I divide up the pacing mechanisms. And it's
1248interesting, because some high-level actions may fall under any of the
1249three pacing mechanisms, based on the context of the action.
1250
1251As an example, let's say you're a sniper, and what to shoot someone in
1252the head. Is that a Challenge? Is it a Contest? Is it a Conflict?
1253
1254If the target is unaware of what you're doing, and there's no enemy
1255awareness of your presence, it's a challenge - there's no active
1256opposition, so there's no "other side". There's certainly some
1257**passive** opposition that must be overcome in some way or another, but
1258you're not dealing with an active opponent.
1259
1260If the target is unaware, but there's a patrol in the area that's
1261hunting you down, then it's a Contest - "do I shoot my target before the
1262enemy patrol finds me" definitely falls into the Contest template
1263described above.
1264
1265If you're in the middle of a firefight, and trying to snipe one of your
1266opponents, then it's a Conflict, pretty clearly.
1267
1268### Last Thoughts
1269
1270These three pacing mechanisms do a pretty good job of covering just
1271about all situations. Some might requiring a bit of coercing to get into
1272place, but they're all basically workable. I don't know that I'd mix
1273them - shooting someone that's running to me seems mostly like a
1274Contest, so I don't know that I'd necessarily mix Stress/Consequences
1275into that. And again, they don't really "model" anything. They're about
1276**pacing**, not **modeling**.
1277
1278And obviously there's other ways to handle pacing besides these three.
1279If there's something that really bugs you, come up with another
1280mechanism to handle it! But I'd keep the general idea of these being
1281**pacing** mechanisms intact, and keep the modeling in the narrative.
1282
1283Calibration - the Dial Without a Dial
1284-------------------------------------
1285
1286Oooh, how zen.
1287
1288A common thing that I see discussed in Fate is how to model
1289super-strength or the like. Which is a great question. If +4 Athletics
1290is a super-athletic person, and a +5Â or +6Â is an Olympic quality
1291gymnast, then how do you model something even more athletic than that?
1292Maybe peak skill should be a dial?
1293
1294(And as soon as I said dial, you probably looked at the title and went,
1295"Oh, Rob, you think you're so clever." Well, ya got me.)
1296
1297One of the things that I look at in Fate Core is that the mechanics are
1298really solid for a lot of scenarios out of the box. And that skills
1299don't represent an objective measure of training, but are rather the
1300ability to influence a scene in a particular way. These seem like
1301relatively contradictory things, but come together in the idea of
1302"calibration".
1303
1304In Fate Core, I don't think that +4Â Athletics means "very athletic
1305person". I don't think that +5Â or +6Â means "Olympic gymnast." I think
1306that +4Â means "the most Athletic that a starting character can be." No
1307more, no less.
1308
1309The meaning of this will, of course, vary from setting to setting. If
1310you're doing a Zero-Dark-Thirty style game, +4Â will mean a highly
1311trained, extremely strong, professional soldier, at or near the bounds
1312of human ability. +0Â means the baseline capabilities of a professional
1313soldier, below which you'd be drummed out of the service.
1314
1315Now, if you're doing a game about normal people in extraordinary
1316circumstances, the calibration is going to be a bit different -
1317+0Â probably means a more or less average person, while that +4Â may be
1318calibrated slightly beneath the "+4" in the previous example (who would
1319be likely closer to a +5Â in the "everyday people" game).
1320
1321And if you're running supers? Superman is probably a +5, and a normal
1322human being would be lucky to hit +1.
1323
1324The beauty of this is that then all of the differences can be handled
1325with narration, while the core math doesn't even get tweaked. Which is a
1326**great** thing - the core math works great, and modifications to it are
1327inherently more risky than simply modifying your narration
1328appropriately!
1329
1330I'll admit, of course, that there are circumstances where this doesn't
1331work. If you want one skill to have a higher scene influence than
1332another, for instance, or where you want the difference in capability
1333between the peak and the base to be higher. In practice, though, I think
1334those circumstances are relatively rare, and should probably be the
1335result of playtesting. You just don't put a +5 skill vs. a +0 with any
1336hope of success anyway.
1337
1338Damage is another thing that can benefit from calibration. The "gritty"
1339question keeps coming up, and I see lots of number-based ways to handle
1340grittiness. And those can work, but may not be necessary.
1341
1342Stress and consequences, to me, are about pacing and "aftermath".
1343They're not about damage or realism or grittiness. They're just about
1344how long fights last, and what carries with you afterwards.
1345
1346So let's say that with default Fate rules, you take a three stress hit
1347from a sword. You mark off your third stress box (moving you closer to
1348being Taken Out) and narrate this as taking a nasty cut across the
1349chest.
1350
1351Now, we want to have a grittier game. One where a nasty cut across the
1352chest may well be fatal, and taking one probably means that you're
1353pretty messed up. So, we can do this by dropping the stress track to
1354one, and making consequences only worth -1/-2/-3. Now, that's a moderate
1355consequence and your only stress box filled in! Grittier!
1356
1357It also makes fights shorter. Which **may** be what you're going for,
1358but isn't necessarily tied to grittiness. A gritty fight might be two
1359guys fighting each other for minutes, slowly wearing each other down,
1360small nicks and bruises adding up as they desperately struggle. That
1361certainly *sounds* gritty, anyway. And it's not necessarily short.
1362
1363So, how do we model a gritty fight in Fate, **without** changing any of
1364the dials? Again, you could change dials as well, but I think it's
1365interesting to see what happens if we **don't** change those dials.
1366
1367Okay, so we take a three-stress hit. What does this mean? Well,
1368mechanically, it means two things: We're somewhat closer to being Taken
1369Out, and there are no long lasting effects from this hit.
1370
1371So if we're going for "gritty", clearly this doesn't mean we took a
1372nasty slice across the chest. It could mean lots of things though. Some
1373things it might mean:
1374
1375- We've been forced out of position and are "on our heels"
1376
1377- We've taken a parry poorly, causing our hand to sting but no lasting
1378 damage
1379
1380- We had to jump out of the way to dodge, causing no injury, but
1381 making us get a bit more winded.
1382
1383But what would a nasty gash to the chest be, then? Well, probably it
1384would be Taken Out. Pain, muscle damage, blood loss and shock would
1385probably mean that a single serious blow means "game over".
1386
1387We can do the same thing with consequences. What **does** a -2
1388consequence mean?
1389
1390Well, mechanically, it means that the person that delivered it gets a
1391free invoke, it will likely go away shortly after the fight, and that
1392you're that much closer to being Taken Out.
1393
1394What that means, narratively, has to match the feel of the game. For a
1395"cinematic" game, that may mean a cut to the arm, or something like
1396that. For a "gritty" game, it may simply mean that you've lightly
1397twisted an ankle, got a bit of "dead arm" from a hit that your armor
1398soaked up, or the like.
1399
1400"But wait", you may be saying. "The descriptions of a lot of those don't
1401sound like hits at all!"
1402
1403And? The dice dictate the mechanical results of the action. A "hit" or a
1404"miss" is a narrative explanation of that mechanical effect. The dice
1405don't dictate narration - they just provide an end result that you
1406narrate **to**. "Does three stress" is a purely system-level statement.
1407How that translates into narrative is up to you - and should vary based
1408on the type of feel you're going for.
1409
1410What this ends up meaning is that, to create a grittier feel, you
1411paradoxically narrate effects of hits as being **weaker**, not greater.
1412A three stress hit becomes getting knocked out of position. A minor
1413consequence is getting winded, or a minor laceration from shrapnel. A
1414severe consequence is a mild cut rather than a severe gash. And being
1415Taken Out means you suffered a single hard blow, not half a dozen!
1416
1417Here's an example of how **the same fight** may play out in both
1418"cinematic" and "gritty" style. The same mechanical effects will be used
1419in both situations!
1420
1421Alfred hits Bob for three stress: "Alfed strikes at Bob, leaving a nasty
1422cut across his chest. Blood drips down as Bob begins his counterattack".
1423
1424Bob hits Alfred for four stress, Alfred takes 2 and a minor consequence:
1425"Bob's wicked counterattack catches Alfred off-guard, cutting him across
1426the arm. The cut looks deep, but Alfred's not out of the fight yet."
1427
1428Alfred hits Bob for five stress, Bob takes a Severe consequence and one
1429stress: "Alfred continues his furious assault at Bob, laying a nasty
1430strike to the leg. The cut doesn't look quite to the bone, but it's
1431pretty severe".
1432
1433... etc. Compare to:
1434
1435Alfred hits Bob for three stress: "Alfed strikes at Bob. Bob's not ready
1436for the sudden strike, so he stumbles and falls as he barely manages to
1437parry in time."
1438
1439Bob hits Alfred for four stress, Alfred takes 2 and a minor consequence:
1440"Alfred presses too hastily, and Bob lashes up from his off-balance
1441position. Bob manages to get his blade down in time, but it looks like
1442his hand is going to be sore from taken the impact poorly."
1443
1444Alfred hits Bob for five stress, Bob takes a Severe consequence and one
1445stress: "Nursing his injured hand, Alfred kicks at Bob and sprawls him
1446out. Bob gasps in pain, it feels like he may have a fractured rib."
1447
1448Same mechanics. Very different feel, based upon narration and
1449calibration.
1450
1451Conflicts (as well as Contests and Challenges) as campaign/scenario-level pacing structures.
1452--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1453
1454Okay, so one of the things I've been brewing in the back of my head is
1455some way to put some kind of larger structure into a Fate campaign - the
1456idea is pretty much directly stolen from Burning Empires (and, to a
1457lesser degree, Mouse Guard). There's something just kind of satisfying
1458to me about the idea. It also fits in with my idea of fractal challenges
1459(see:
1460[Weird Tangent](weird-tangent) ). I've
1461just finally got enough of my head wrapped around it to share it a bit
1462more.
1463
1464Just to note: I don't **know** that this is a good idea. It could be a
1465terrible idea. This is just my initial thought on how to implement it.
1466
1467The basic idea is that, ultimately, the entire plot of a game (at a
1468given level) can be viewed as a single Overcome roll. But that's not
1469particularly narratively interesting, so we employ a pacing mechanism to
1470drive more detail into the game and make it last longer. Each "turn" in
1471the pacing mechanism employed (be it Challenge, Conflict, or Contest)
1472can in turn be turned into another Challenge/Conflict/Contest, and so on
1473and so forth.
1474
1475For an initial pass, and because I like the symmetry, I'm going to
1476presume that the pacing mechanisms work the same on all levels. I don't
1477know if that's the right solution, but I think it's a good starting
1478place, and as I said the symmetry pleases me.
1479
1480To generate one of these pacing mechanisms, we create appropriate "side"
1481characters representing the factions involved. We give them skills
1482appropriate to the side and representing their ability to influence the
1483world. We also give the whole situation appropriate aspects.
1484
1485Note that the skills probably do **not** match in any way to the
1486character skill list!
1487
1488Let's assume a Conflict. Now, on each "turn", each side gets to make a
1489move, just like a "normal" Conflict. If the move is made in such a way
1490that it can't be framed as a scene involving the PCs, it's just rolled.
1491
1492However, if it **can** be framed as a scene involving the PCs (and the
1493effort should be made to do so!), we "drill down" into the fractal by
1494designing the scene.
1495
1496We come up with goals for each side of the scene, and an idea of what
1497pacing mechanism the scene uses. If the scene is an Overcome or a Create
1498Advantage, we define what "success with style" means. If it's an Attack,
1499we define what can be done in the scene, and how much stress it's worth.
1500
1501Then, the scene is played out. The results translate up to the "higher
1502level" Conflict just like if it were a single roll - if an Overcome is
1503successful, it removes an Aspect. If a Create Advantage move is
1504successful, a new aspect is generated. An Attack deals stress and
1505(possibly) Consequences.
1506
1507Then, we move to the next side's turn, until the higher-level conflict
1508is finalized in some way.
1509
1510So, the basic flowchart would look something like this:
1511
15121) Set up the Conflict
1513
1514a) Make sides, with appropriate skills and aspects and stress tracks
1515
1516b) Create situational aspects describing the scene
1517
1518c) Make zones, if necessary?
1519
15201) Decide who goes first by some manner
1521
15222) The side whose turn it is gets to declare a normal Conflict action.
1523 This should still be narrative rather than simply "I attack"
1524
15253) If this cannot be framed as a scene involving the PCs, simply roll
1526 as normal.
1527
15284) If this **can** be framed as a scene, create the scene:
1529
1530a) Give appropriate NPCs/resistance per the relative skills of the
1531 sides
1532
1533b) If aspects are invoked, modify appropriately
1534
1535c) Define success criteria, and stress values if this is an Attack
1536
15371) Play the scene out
1538
15392) Using the criteria set in step 5, transfer stress/aspect
1540 creation/destruction/consequences to the "upper" conflict.
1541
15423) Move to the next side and go to Step 4.
1543
1544So, I absolutely hate mechanics without examples, so here's the example.
1545This is pretty much the same example as the last time I mentioned this
1546in a comment.
1547
1548The Rebel Coalition is fighting off the Imperions! To destroy the Doom
1549Base, they first need to deactivate its shield generator on the forest
1550moon of Rodne.
1551
1552The rebels just have a few units in comparison to the Imperions. The
1553Imperions have a lot more hardware and men (though it's a relatively
1554small base), but they have the disadvantage of being in a known location
1555and pretty much unaware of the rebel presence. So we'll model that out:
1556
1557------------------------------------------------------------------------
1558
1559Rebels:
1560
1561Raid: +2
1562
1563Recon: +3
1564
1565Sneak: +4
1566
1567------------------------------------------------------------------------
1568
1569Imperions:
1570
1571Detect: +1
1572
1573Assault: +4
1574
1575Search: +2
1576
1577------------------------------------------------------------------------
1578
1579We'll say that the Imperions are *Blissfully Unaware*, as well as being
1580in a *Fixed Position*, but that they have *Heavy Support* and are *In a
1581Secure Bunker*.
1582
1583The Rebels are *Small and Mobile* and have the advantage of *No Fixed
1584Location*.
1585
1586There's also some *Hostile Natives* in the area, because hey, why not?
1587And the whole thing is in a *Thick Forest*.
1588
1589So, we decide the Imperions go first. Not because of any game reason,
1590but because I want the sample to more closely match the movie. Deal with
1591it.
1592
1593The Imperions are heavily limited by the aspects in play - they can't
1594really attack the Rebels while they're *Blissfully Unaware*. So the GM
1595decides that he wants to become aware of the Rebel presence. That sounds
1596like Detect vs. Sneak.
1597
1598Okay, we could roll here, but could we turn this into a scene?
1599Obviously, we can! So we decide an interesting scene would be for a
1600light Imperion patrol to find the Rebels, and then have a chase scene as
1601the Rebels try to catch the Imperions and prevent them from reporting
1602back to base! That sounds like a Contest, so we set that up
1603appropriately. The Imperions only have a +1 Detect, which isn't going to
1604work well for them, so they really only get a couple of mooks involved,
1605and the main PCs manage to chase them off in short order. (There's a
1606question here on whether the Imperions invoked their Heavy Support
1607aspect to bring the speeders into play or not...)
1608
1609Well, the PCs won that round, so the *Blissfully Unaware* aspect stays.
1610The PCs realize that a direct assault will be pretty pointless, so they
1611decide to get some help from the *Hostile Natives*. We decide that this
1612is likely a Challenge, and that SWS will require that the natives end up
1613believing that we are gods. Fortunately, the player of the translator
1614bot ends up pulling this off, giving the Rebels two free invokes on the
1615*Hostile Natives* aspect! Go, team!
1616
1617(My memory on the order of events in the movie gets a bit fuzzy here, so
1618forgive me if I gloss over a bit).
1619
1620So the Rebels decide that with their newfound friends, they have a
1621chance to attack the Imperions and take out the shield generator.
1622However, the Imperions have invoked their *Heavy Support*, making the
1623resistance pretty tough. The Rebels decide that their *Hostile Natives*
1624have come along for the ride, evening out the fight a bit. Appropriate
1625stress values are decided on for taking out various numbers of enemies,
1626and the Conflict is on! Some stress is done, but not enough for a
1627Consequence - boo, hiss, the Rebels have gained some ground but haven't
1628radically altered the course of battle - yet.
1629
1630The Imperions mount a counter-attack, which ends up being fended off by
1631the Rebels.
1632
1633The bunker is getting annoying! The Rebels decide it's time to
1634neutralize that, and spend their turn Overcoming that particular
1635obstacle. This is done as a Challenge, representing the difficulty of
1636gaining entry to the bunker, while fighting off the attacking
1637Thundertroopers. Again, the PCs succeed, meaning they get access to the
1638bunker! The fight moves inside!
1639
1640And so on, until the Imperions concede or are Taken Out.
1641
1642------------------------------------------------------------------------
1643
1644There's still some open questions I have like dealing with Fate Points -
1645since a Fate Point expenditure at the "upper level" has so much more
1646impact, how do I deal with them? Do I just say that expending a "upper"
1647Fate Point requires one FP per PC? Or do I give them a separate pool?
1648These are all good questions.
1649
1650I also don't really know how I feel about the inherent one-sidedness of
1651the Attack option. In a "normal" attack, only the attacker can deal
1652stress. I don't know how that fits in this case, but I guess you could
1653make the argument that a "success with style" boost could model a
1654scattered retreat, and in most cases, the attackers will simply retreat
1655rather than take any kind of significant casualties or loss of position.
1656
1657Anyway, thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Is this just a terrible idea
1658within the general Fate framework?
1659
1660Fiction, not Physics
1661--------------------
1662
1663"Fiction, not Physics". I find myself quoting this a lot, and it's
1664really become key to how I understand Fate. When I first heard it, I
1665assumed it meant "we're not concerned with realism, here!" And that's
1666part of it, but certainly not the whole thing, and probably not even the
1667most important thing (after all, you can have realistic fiction).
1668
1669What I've come to understand this phrase as meaning is that Fate sets
1670out to model how stories flow in actual story media - movies, novels,
1671etc.
1672
1673Here's an example: Let's say that our spy hero needs to get past a door,
1674guarded by a couple of mooks in a movie. We see him slip into the
1675shadows where the mooks can't see him. He then climbs into the pipes
1676above the guards, and once above them drops down, taking them both out
1677with his weight. He hauls the guards off behind some boxes and
1678proceeds...
1679
1680Okay, so in a more traditional RPG, this would be a stealth roll,
1681probably some more notice checks, probably a roll to get up on the
1682pipes, and then an attack roll with some bonuses.
1683
1684Now, sure, you could do something similar with Fate, after all it does
1685have elements like skill rolls and whatnot. But, really, it's better to
1686map actions to periods of "camera time", just like in the movie. So in
1687the first shot of the scene, we see our spy slip into the shadows...
1688That's a Create Advantage roll, opposed by the mooks' Notice.
1689
1690Then, our hero climbs up on the pipes. Again, this is Create Advantage,
1691but against a static difficulty this time (the danger of failing is more
1692from the inherent danger, and less from being noticed - we've already
1693established that our character is out of view.)
1694
1695With these aspects now in place (the scene is now ABOUT our hero being
1696"In the Shadows" and "On the Pipes Above the Door"), and our free tags
1697on them, it's a pretty easy Fighting roll to do enough stress to knock
1698out the two mooks.
1699
1700Concessions: Concessions are one of my favorite examples of this, since
1701they, more than anything else, model fiction. Otherwise, why would
1702**losing** make you, in a way, **stronger**?
1703
1704But think of it. The second act of many movies involves our hero getting
1705beat up, thrown around, and then coming back in the third act to stomp
1706the living tar out of the bad guys. And that's what concessions enable.
1707
1708Heck, if you put it in game terms, all of *The Empire Strikes Back* was
1709the players colluding to grant every concession they could for a couple
1710of sessions, to give them an absolute hoard of fate points to use to
1711crush the Empire! I'm convinced that the Ewoks being effective at all
1712was simply a matter of Han and Leia's players dumping fate points into
1713the "Useless (?) Ewoks" scene aspect...
1714
1715Star Wars gives me lots of examples of Fate Mechanics at play **in
1716fiction**, which gives me a lot of ideas on how to use them in games.
1717Han's on the run from the Imperials, and has flowin into an asteroid
1718belt. The opposition is overwhelming, and he knows he can't win in a
1719straight up fight, and it's a matter of time before he's worn down.
1720
1721------------------------------------------------------------------------
1722
1723Han: "Hey, I'm a smuggler. I want to find an asteroid with a big cave or
1724something I can hide inside."
1725
1726George: "Sure, give me a Pilot roll."
1727
1728Han: "Awesome, Succeed With Style! Let's say there's an asteroid with a
1729big, deep cave in it."
1730
1731George: "Okay, but you'll have to roll a Piloting roll to make it in
1732without damage - of course, so will the bad guys."
1733
1734Han: "No problem! I make it in fine."
1735
1736George: "So do the two TIE Fighters following you."
1737
1738Han: "Not so fast! I'm burning my tag on 'Deep Cave' to drop their
1739roll... and they're 0 point mooks, right?"
1740
1741George: "Yup, the TIE Fighters crash into the cave wall. You're safe -
1742for now. You hear bombs going off above as the Imperials try to find
1743your location." **gets a gleam in his eye and holds up a Fate Point**.
1744\"Hey, Han, don't you *Have a Bad Feeling About This*?
1745
1746Han: "Now that you mention it, I sure do!" **takes the fate point**
1747
1748George: "You've landed in the cave and are resting for a moment, when
1749something hits your front viewscreen. Some kind of creature..."
1750
1751Conflict with named NPCs
1752------------------------
1753
1754(I'm getting a little off in the weeds here. This is of course just
1755personal opinion, and I'd be happy, as always, to have people tell me
1756I'm dumb.)
1757
1758Conflict with named NPCs isn't really about who wins, or even tactics.
1759It's a test of your commitment to your goals. It's a bidding war - a
1760game of chicken.
1761
1762In a roughly even conflict, there's a steady escalation of resource
1763expenditures. Sure, you'll win if it takes nothing but some skills
1764rolls, after all, that costs nothing. But, are you willing to spend some
1765Fate points?
1766
1767Then we escalate to consequences - are you willing to take them? Are you
1768willing to risk being taken out?
1769
1770Here's where the concession mechanic really comes into play - at any
1771point, you can accept a loss and gain a fate point. That helps escalate
1772the stakes as the conflict goes on.
1773
1774At the beginning, it's just "the thing you want" vs getting a fate
1775point.
1776
1777Then, it becomes "the thing you want and spending fate points to get
1778them" vs. getting a fate point.
1779
1780After that it becomes "the thing you want and spending fate points"
1781vs. getting a fate point and not taking consequences.
1782
1783Then we get to the point of "the thing you want, spending fate points,
1784and taking consequences" vs. "a bunch of fate points"
1785
1786And only after that point do we really get to the point where being
1787Taken Out is even a consideration.
1788
1789And this same escalation is happening for both sides in the conflict,
1790simultaneously. Tactics and abilities can change how quickly each side
1791escalates, but at the end of the day it's about **how badly you want
1792it** more than anything else.
1793
1794Put a \[Bird\]
1795--------------
1796
1797I think I've mentioned before, but these are more like my journal of
1798unlearning other systems, and I'm not sharing them to be the Guru on the
1799Mount, but more as a record of my mis-steps in hopes that others can
1800avoid stepping in the same potholes. I fully expect lots of people to
1801look at these and go "yeah, duh."
1802
1803That's probably more true for today than any other one of these.
1804
1805So, let's talk Chapter 9, folks. You know, that chapter that I totally
1806ignored when I first read Fate Core, because, you know, I know all about
1807this long-term game planning stuff, that chapter must be for newbs. Just
1808get me to the crunchy bits.
1809
1810You'll also note that a recurring theme in these posts is how Fate ain't
1811other systems. So any time I think "hey, I know that" I'm probably about
1812ready to step in it.
1813
1814So I'm running my Kriegszeppelin game, and a player wants to hop up his
1815plane using some mechanics. I'm fully in GURPS/D&D mode, and so I have
1816him roll the dice. He succeeds, gets some invokes on a Scene Aspect, and
1817we move on. I did it right, right?
1818
1819Yeah, no. Couldn't have flubbed that one more if I tried. Where was the
1820drama? Where was the conflict? Where was the story? Nowhere, that's
1821where.
1822
1823What I **should** have done was frame this in a scene. "Okay, Eddie, the
1824plane's in the hangar with the other planes. When are you doing this? At
1825night, when nobody can see? Or are you being open about it? What do the
1826mechanics think of you messing with the plane? What about the other
1827pilots?"
1828
1829Then, I could have some framing for the scene. Once I've tied this to a
1830specific place and time, it becomes a lot more interesting - other
1831pilots can show up. The mechanics can show up themselves. Compels start
1832to suggest themselves. Conflict. Drama. Story. The reasons we play.
1833
1834So that's my big zen moment for the day. Any time something happens,
1835frame it in a scene. Contacts roll? Okay, where are they going that's
1836appropriate to find these people? Investigate? Okay, they're in a
1837library or pounding the streets. And given the new scene, how can you
1838absolutely screw with them? What opposed interests can be there, what
1839complications can arise? There is absolutely no mechanic that can't be
1840improved by framing it in a scene. Fiction, not physics - if you wanted
1841to get the desired result in a TV show, how would you show it on camera?
1842
1843And it goes the other way, as well. You want your players asking for
1844scenes so they can do stuff. Let them get the crew together before the
1845mission to make a Rapport roll and inspire them, getting a few free
1846invokes on a newly created scene aspect. Get them in a diner with the
1847Big Bad for a brief war of words, ala Heat.
1848
1849There's another subtle benefit of thinking in scenes. Things **happen**
1850in scenes. If you're in the "physics simulation" mode of what happens
1851moment-to-moment, it's easy to get stuck playing a lot of boring stuff.
1852But if you frame it in a scene, you've got to ask the big scene
1853questions first - What is this scene about? What's at stake? What could
1854go wrong? What interesting thing is about to happen? And if you don't
1855have interesting answers to those questions, it's probably not an
1856interesting scene and should just be skipped over. If your game was a TV
1857show or a movie, would they waste script time on this?
1858
1859Ramp it up. Put a scene on it.
1860
1861Fate Core character creation
1862----------------------------
1863
1864I love Fate Core character creation. But to explain why, I need to tell
1865a story.
1866
1867I was trying to play Burning Wheel a bit back, never really got the feel
1868for it. Then I had an opportunity to play with someone that **did** get
1869it, and it changed some of my perceptions. I remember talking about
1870running a "tapestry" game with this guy, and he basically said he didn't
1871see how that could work in Burning Wheel, and I totally didn't
1872understand it.
1873
1874Character creation seemed normal, and I did a lot of the usual things.
1875Specifically, I had taken an Enemy character, as well as a friend. We
1876worked up backstories for our characters, and awaited the first session.
1877
1878Then we started playing. It quickly became apparent that the enemy was a
1879significant enemy of the game. It quickly became apparent that the story
1880was **about** our characters, in a way that a D&D game isn't - it was
1881**our** story, not a story that you could drop random characters into.
1882
1883This was one of the first "aha!" moments for me with narrative gaming.
1884Backstories aren't "just" backstories. They're stories. They're what
1885drives the game forward.
1886
1887And that's why I love Fate character creation.
1888
1889First, it's one of the few character creation systems that focuses first
1890on **who** a character is, rather than **what** a character can **do**.
1891I find it in many ways hard to create characters in other systems now,
1892as it's an exercise in point optimization. Bleah.
1893
1894The shared stories also present the party a good reason to know each
1895other, and do a great job of banishing "you meet in a bar".
1896
1897But the real reason I enjoy character creation in Fate is more than
1898these. It's the Phase Trio. It's creating and enriching stories about
1899these characters. Because each time I go through the exercise, we end up
1900with a plethora of threats and antagonists in the world. We end up with
1901story threads that need to go somewhere, and that I want to find out
1902what happens with. I end up with complex relationships that I want to
1903see resolve in an interesting way.
1904
1905I can't imagine running a Fate game where character creation didn't
1906influence coming events. And if I played in one where our pasts didn't
1907come into play, I'd kind of feel like something was left out.
1908
1909I've learned to dislike the term "backstory" when it comes to Fate
1910characters. Backstory implies that it's the past, and in many gaming
1911circles carries the connotation that it's only important from a
1912motivational view - after all, the story was probably created before you
1913made your characters. But your character's history isn't that in Fate.
1914It's what drives the game. It's what creates complications, and gives
1915players the chance to decide what type of game they want to play.
1916
1917Just Do It.
1918-----------
1919
1920(this will likely be a two-parter, with the other part delivered when
1921the sun's up)
1922
1923One of the things I see a lot in Fate, both online and with people I
1924play with IRL, is questions like "Does Fate Core have rules for **xyz**"
1925
1926And, ultimately, I think that's the wrong question. The **right**
1927question is "Can I make a character like **xyz** in Fate Core?" And the
1928answer, nine times out of ten, is "Sure can! Without using anything
1929outside of the core rules, even!"
1930
1931Crazy, right? I mean, there's no rules for cybernetics, so how could I
1932make a character with a cybernetic arm?
1933
1934Real simple. You just have to unlearn some stuff. Start by asking "what
1935does the cybernetic arm mean?" Well, in fiction it probably means you're
1936strong. In some fiction it means that your connection to humanity is
1937lessening. Depending on the setting, it might also mean that people
1938react poorly to you. The arm could malfunction, requiring repairs.
1939
1940Now, I'm a traditional gamer by background. I started with Moldvay Basic
1941D&D, and GURPS was my system of choice for a long time. I don't want to
1942say I've played every system ever, but I played a ton of them in the
194380s. I've had a chance to play in some seriously old-school campaigns -
1944as in, run by the father of my friend, and dating back to probably 80 or
1945earlier and being adult-run and adult-played the whole time.
1946
1947I ain't saying this to win the geek wang competition, as I know there's
1948people reading this who have way bigger geek-peeners than me. My point
1949here is that through all of that time, my reaction to the problem of the
1950cybernetic arm is based on figuring out what it does, how it hurts me,
1951balancing it with some kind of character build resource cost, etc. I
1952mean, I **get** this line of thinking, and I understand the urge to add
1953this kind of stuff to Fate. It was sure my first instinct.
1954
1955But it's not needed, though it took me a long time to figure that out.
1956Here's how you build a guy with a cybernetic arm that makes him strong
1957in Fate:
1958
1959Give him a Physique skill (you could probably make a case for Athletics)
1960of 4.
1961
1962Give him an appropriate aspect representing his cybernetic arm.
1963
1964That's it. You're done. Have a beer, take the rest of the day off.
1965Seriously. You're done. No, I'm not kidding.
1966
1967But how can this be? Well, you want him to be strong, so give him the
1968appropriate skill - *Just do it*.
1969
1970You want the arm to malfunction, so make the aspect and it can be
1971compelled. *Just do it*.
1972
1973You want the arm to make him super-extra strong on occasion - so invoke
1974the aspect when needed. Most of the time, the bonus won't matter anyway,
1975so not much difference there - and realistically, having his cybernetic
1976arm make everything awesome would get a little one-note. *Just do it*
1977
1978You want the arm to cause him to have problems relating with people -
1979invoke the arm aspect against him when in social conflicts, and also
1980consider compelling when appropriate. *Just do it*
1981
1982So with two things, we've done a total implementation of a cybernetic
1983arm that's well balanced within Fate, and does everything we really want
1984it to do in terms of actual play.
1985
1986If you want to go a bit further, you could add in a stunt allowing extra
1987damage, similar to the already-existing stunt in the game. But I think
1988it would work pretty well without it.
1989
1990And this works for almost everything.
1991
1992Want illusion magic? Decide what you want, make up an appropriate skill
1993that does just that, and have the character have an "Illusionist" aspect
1994to grant access to the skill. Bam, done. *Just do it*.
1995
1996And we can go on and on with the examples. And I'll be honest - there's
1997some cases where you really do **need** to go a bit deeper into
1998Extras-Land to make things work. And sometimes it just adds a bit more
1999flavor. If you're remaking *Dresden Files*, you may want to consider a
2000bit more in the ways of stunts. In some cases, there will be bits that
2001are core to the fiction that don't really model well without some
2002modification - I think that *Camelot Trigger* is a pretty prime example
2003of that.
2004
2005But really, the Fate Core system gives you not just a toolkit, but a
2006fully functioning 3d printer (thanks for the metaphor, [Jack
2007Gulick](https://plus.google.com/114357509183316569561), even if I'm
2008using it slightly different than your original intention).
2009
2010I think there's some primary reasons I see people wanting to add in more
2011"toolkit" like stuff to Fate.
2012
20131) That's how it's done, damnit! And I'll admit, that's how I initially
2014 approached the system. "Where's the rules for **xyz**?" Something
2015 different has to require more paragraphs, right?
2016
20172) Permission. The idea of *Just do it* is a bit wild to people,
2018 especially those used to running games like the ones I've talked
2019 about above, where you really can't do anything unless there's a
2020 rule for it.
2021
20223) Balance. Hey, if we just let people make up their stuff, it won't be
2023 balanced, right? I mean, what if they just make an aspect called
2024 *Awesome At Everything*? And my answer to that is pretty simple -
2025 just be mature. If you can't figure that out at the table, Fate may
2026 not be a great game for you. But also, let's be honest - are those
2027 complex character building games really balanced? Can you tell me
2028 that all 150-point GURPS characters are equally effective? I played
2029 that game for YEARS, and I will tell you emphatically that they're
2030 not. So if the complexity isn't buying us balance, why should we
2031 keep the complexity in the name of balance?
2032
20334) People like Legos. They just do. Lots of people enjoy the character
2034 creation minigame, and trying to put the pieces and parts together
2035 in new and interesting ways, and don't really do so well when just
2036 told "well, what do you want it to be?" This is probably the biggest
2037 "real" issue with moving away from a toolkit approach, IMHO.
2038
20395) Some people want to use the Lego/toolkit approach to get bigger
2040 numbers... and that's the topic of the second half of this, if I get
2041 around to writing it.
2042
2043Rob's Guide to Writing Good Aspects
2044-----------------------------------
2045
2046(This seems to be one of the recurring things people, especially new
2047people, have problems with, so I thought I'd toss my ideas in the ring
2048as well. Please feel free to tell me if there areas that this could be
2049improved in, or are flat out wrong)
2050
2051### Poor aspects
2052
2053Lots of people new to Fate think of aspects in terms of defining what
2054their characters can do, as Merits/Feats/Advantages work in other
2055systems.
2056
2057Try not to think of aspects in this way, it tends to create poor
2058aspects. Instead, the best overall view of aspects is "what would I want
2059to see in a story about this character?"
2060
2061Specifically, things that can be handled with skills or stunts should be
2062handled as skills or stunts. You don't need a *Good Shot* aspect to hit
2063people with a gun - that's what the Shoot skill is for. And if you want
2064to be a great sniper, an appropriate stunt will do the job much better
2065than an aspect will.
2066
2067On the other hand, *The White
2068Death* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo\*H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_Häyhä)
2069is pretty darn interesting, and the story of what happens to him after,
2070or during, the war would be pretty interesting. It also covers a few
2071other mechanical areas that simply *Good Sniper* doesn't.
2072
2073Now, what a **good** aspect is becomes a bit harder to define,
2074especially without a solid understanding of what aspects do. Don't
2075worry, I'm not going to dive too hard into the mechanics here, as my
2076goal is to make these ideas understandable with as little game jargon as
2077possible.
2078
2079### What do aspects do?
2080
2081To write a good aspect, it's fundamentally important that you understand
2082what they do in game. While this may depend on a number of things,
2083aspects on character typically do one or more of five things:
2084
20851) Grant permission
2086
20872) Make you awesome doing some things
2088
20893) Hinder you in some circumstances
2090
20914) Complicate your life
2092
20935) Create setting
2094
2095We'll cover each of these, and why they're important.
2096
2097#### Grant permission
2098
2099One of the common uses of aspects is to "grant permission" to do certain
2100things that the majority of people can't do. This is probably the
2101vaguest of the four uses of character aspects, so I'll try to clarify
2102with some examples.
2103
2104Most people can't use magic, but a *Wizard Private Eye* can.
2105
2106Most people can't use the Force, but *The Last Jedi* sure can.
2107
2108Most people can't go into the palace and talk to the king, but *The
2109Brother of the King* sure can.
2110
2111Most people can't find the assassin's guild, and certainly can't get in,
2112but *An Assassin in Good Standing* can.
2113
2114As you can see, a lot of times a 'grant permission' aspect follows the
2115formula "Most people can't **blank**, but **aspect** can".
2116
2117If you've got an aspect in mind, think of whether or not it gives you
2118any kind of permissions. If not, that's fine - not all aspects do.
2119
2120#### Make you awesome doing some things
2121
2122The most common use of an aspect is probably to make you more awesome
2123doing things. When coming up with an aspect, try to think of things that
2124your character might fail at if the aspect weren't true.
2125
2126"My character might have missed that shot, but *The White Death* doesn't
2127miss."
2128
2129"I may not have been able to defeat those stormtroopers had it not been
2130for *My Wookiie Copilot*"
2131
2132"I may not have been able to jump out of that carbonite trap had I not
2133been *The Last Jedi*"
2134
2135"They may have seen me try to sneak by, except for the fact that I'm
2136*One With the Shadows*"
2137
2138"I may not have been able to do what I want, but I'm a master of *White
2139Russian Diplomacy*"
2140
2141#### Hinder you in some circumstances
2142
2143This is the exact opposite of the previous section. Aspects under this
2144category can cause failure when otherwise you may have succeeded.
2145
2146Now, this is probably an odd concept. Why in the world would you want to
2147do this?
2148
2149Aspects are triggered by Fate Points. Each scene, the GM gets a Fate
2150Point for each character. If the GM chooses to use one against you on
2151one of your aspects, you get that Fate Point at the end of the scene.
2152
2153If the GM uses them on one of the NPC's aspects, you don't get them.
2154
2155Now, rest assured that the GM **will** use his Fate Point budget on each
2156scene. It's just going to happen. The only question is whether or not
2157you get those Fate Points, one of your fellow PCs gets them, or if they
2158just vanish into thin air.
2159
2160That said, the template for "bad" aspect use is almost exactly like the
2161"good" ones, so you can think of them in almost the same way.
2162
2163"I probably would have talked the official into doing things my way,
2164except that I'm obviously not trustworthy since I'm *One With the
2165Shadows*"
2166
2167"I would have been able to grab onto that ledge, except my *Bionic Hand*
2168froze up"
2169
2170"I would have been able to jump out of the trap, had it not been for my
2171*Lame Leg*"
2172
2173#### Complicate your life
2174
2175And here's another one where it seems aspects are negative. And the
2176reason for why you want these is exactly the same - to get delicious,
2177delicious Fate Points.
2178
2179Occasionally, the GM can decide to complicate your life by using one of
2180your aspects. If you're *The Last Jedi*, then there are probably people
2181hunting you down, and they very well might barge in on you at the most
2182inopportune moments. And when that does, the GM hands you a Fate Point
2183(don't worry, there are ways to stop this from happening, but that's
2184beyond the scope of this document).
2185
2186Even without the Fate Point, wouldn't you be better off without these
2187complications? Well... think about it. It's the GM's job to complicate
2188your life. It's what they do, or games would get really dull, really
2189quickly.
2190
2191So to see if this applies to your character, try and see if there are
2192ways that this will complicate your life. This is a bit different than
2193the previous set of ideas, though, in that these situations aren't about
2194directly helping or harming you at a task, rather they're about
2195story-level complications.
2196
2197For instance:
2198
2199"Hunting down the bounty hunter got a lot tougher when a bunch of
2200Imperials ambushed me since I'm *The Last Jedi*"
2201
2202"It gets tough to work in this town, since the cops like to hassle the
2203only known *Wizard Private Eye*"
2204
2205"Man, I keep creating trouble for myself since I'm a *Known
2206Troublemaker*"
2207
2208"People keep trying to kidnap me since I'm *The Brother of the King*"
2209
2210#### Creating Setting
2211
2212This is probably the **least** important use of aspects, but it's still
2213worth noting. Since with an aspect, you declare something as true about
2214your character, this is a good way to make things exist in the world
2215because you want them there.
2216
2217If you're a *Guild Assassin in Good Standing*, well, then, there must be
2218an Assassin's Guild.
2219
2220These are the types of things that your GM may veto, though, so keep
2221that in mind. But a lot of playing Fate is taking the ideas from
2222everyone at the whole table and making an awesome story, so your GM
2223should work with most **reasonable** ideas like this.
2224
2225### Actually making your aspect
2226
2227Okay, now we've talked about what aspects can do for you. How do you
2228make one?
2229
2230Lots of things can make good aspects - specific items, relationships
2231with people or organizations, internal aspects of your personality,
2232goals, or even catchphrases. Someone who's *Got a Bad Feeling About
2233This* is probably going to be right about those feelings at least some
2234of the time!
2235
2236So think of something that you think is interesting about your
2237character, something you'd want to show up in a story about them.
2238
2239Now, go through that list of how aspects are used, and see how many ways
2240that you can think of to use that aspect. The more, the better! If you
2241can think of at least three ways, you're in the right area. If some of
2242those help you, and some of those hinder you, you're on to something
2243good.
2244
2245Go **broad** in your aspects, not specific. If you choose a
2246relationship, consider a relationship that has a lot of implications.
2247*Brother of the King* lets some things happen, but *Exiled Half-Brother
2248of the Tyrant King* says a lot more! For non-relationships, think of
2249phrases that have both flavor as well as multiple connotations - *Mrs
2250Fixit* has some obvious uses, but *Monkey Wrench* (one of my favorite
2251all-time aspects) can be used all over the place - whether with hitting
2252things with a literal monkey wrench, fixing things, or causing or being
2253the recipient of a metaphorical "monkey wrench in the works".
2254
2255Lastly, think of aspects with **flavor**. Think of things that make you
2256excited about the character, and show the character's personality.
2257*Troubled Life* is kind of blah. *Penchant for Trouble* is a little
2258better, but *"I've Got a Bad Feeling About This"* says a lot about the
2259character.
2260
2261And mostly, **have fun**. This ain't rocket surgery. It's a game, and
2262it's supposed to be a fun one. And no decision you make is
2263super-permanent - the vast majority of your aspects can be swapped out
2264on a regular basis, so as you get a better feel for what is and is
2265**not** coming into play on a regular basis, you can adjust your aspects
2266so that they become more useful to you, or to reflect character
2267development.
2268
2269Intent and Task
2270---------------
2271
2272Okay, so I'm stealing a little Burning Wheel terminology here, forgive
2273me. It still applies, honest!
2274
2275One thing that I've seen as a stumbling block for people coming to Fate
2276is that Fate handles rolls and actions slightly different than a lot of
2277"mainstream" games.
2278
2279In a lot of these games, you describe what you want to do, roll the
2280dice, and then see what happens. So if you want to, say, throw somebody,
2281the rules might say that he's not thrown, or that he is thrown, and how
2282far he's thrown. I like to call these "task-based" games, as the player
2283decides what task he's going to accomplish, and then sees what the
2284result of that action is.
2285
2286Fate's a bit different. Fate's in the bucket of what I like to call
2287"intent-based" games. What that means is that a player starts with what
2288they want the results of their action to be. Then they see if they can
2289achieve that result.
2290
2291For an intent-based system to work, you need to know two things for
2292every action. The Intent - what it is you want to achieve, and the Task
2293- how the heck you're going to go about doing that. Without those two
2294pieces of information, you can't really determine how to roll for
2295something in Fate.
2296
2297For instance, let's say a PC is flying around and has an enemy plane *On
2298His Tail*. This player then says "I want to fly through the canyons."
2299Okay... that's probably a piloting roll, as the Task almost always
2300determines the skill rolled, but... which of the four actions should it
2301be?
2302
2303The clearest case is an Overcome, and the Intent of hte player may be to
2304get those pesky planes off of him!
2305
2306Or, it could be an attempt to Create An Advantage on either those
2307planes, or even other opponents, something like *Lost Him In The
2308Canyons*. The player may want that to really ensure they get those
2309planes off!
2310
2311Or, he could be pulling a Han Solo and trying to get the planes to fly
2312into the canyons and blow up - which sounds awfully like an Attack.
2313
2314So without both the Intent and the Task, we can't really resolve an
2315action. Several of the "classic" how does this work conundrums fall into
2316this category. Handcuffing someone to a desk - well, is it intended to
2317be permanent and effectively remove them from the fight? If so, it's
2318Taking them Out, and is an Attack. Is it just supposed to slow them
2319down? It's Creating an Advantage.
2320
2321Same with the Hulk throwing someone over the horizon... if you're trying
2322to throw them over the horizon and remove them from the Conflict, you're
2323trying to Take Them Out, and it's therefore an Attack. If you're just
2324trying to stun them, move them around, or whatever, it's Create An
2325Advantage.
2326
2327Getting players to say what their Intent is is often tricky, especially
2328if they're coming from more traditional (task-based) games. I like to
2329ask players when something is unclear "Okay, describe success. Let's say
2330this works - what is it that you want to happen?"
2331
2332Sometimes this isn't really necessary, of course. If the player says "I
2333run him through with my sword!" you can pretty well assume that the
2334Intent is to kill him.
2335
2336Intent and Task also are important when discussing Fate Core builds and
2337modifications/stunts. "How do I do cybernetics" is an unanswerable
2338question, without understanding what it is you want cybernetics to do.
2339If you want cybernetics to make people super-powered, that's one thing.
2340If you want them to grant some other bonus, that's another. If they can
2341reach the limit of human capability, that's fine, too.Â
2342
2343But what kind of difficulties can cybernetics cause? Can they break
2344down? Do they need maintenance? Could they even be hacked?
2345
2346On the other hand, there's also the social aspects of cybernetics to
2347consider - do cybernetics cause you to become removed from humanity? Do
2348they cause others to react differently?Â
2349
2350And really, cybernetics are a "Task". They're a means to an end. To
2351figure out how to use them, you really need to start with what you want
2352your game to be. If you want superheroes going around doing super stuff,
2353then you're going to approach them one way. If you want part of the
2354theme of your game to revolve around the loss of humanity, then you're
2355going to approach them a very different way. All those questions combine
2356to form the "Intent" of your cybernetics system. And depending on how
2357you answer them, you may decide that they're nothing but descriptive
2358fluff and have no narrative effect (people aren't against them, but you
2359don't want them to grant superhuman abilities, and don't want them to
2360really be troublesome, either).
2361
2362And all of those are great, and can serve a particular goal. But the
2363only way to judge the effectiveness of your cybernetics implementation
2364is against a defined goal.
2365
2366Fate Doesn't Go To Eleven
2367-------------------------
2368
2369(For those of you that don't get the reference... [Spinal Tap -
237011](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbVKWCpNFhY))
2371
2372Okay, so I may have over or mis-sold this one. This is really a second
2373thought that I think informs and supports the previous in a way that
2374it's kind of hard for me to talk about one without briefly mentioning
2375the other, and vice versa.
2376
2377I'm going to do a little setup on this one, as I think you need to
2378understand how I view skills to get the point I'm trying to make here.
2379As always, this is just Rob's Humble Opinion and obviously ain't
2380anything official. I work for a little software company in the
2381Northwest, not a huge gaming conglomerate in San Francisco!
2382
2383So let's talk about skills. Skills are how good you are at something,
2384right? I mean, that's what it says on the tin.
2385
2386That's true in most games, and is superficially true in Fate. But I
2387don't really look at skills as "skills" in Fate, because, hey, Physique
2388isn't a "skill". What I look at skills as is closer to "how a character
2389impacts the scene". This makes a lot of things make more sense. If you
2390think about someone with a gun versus a martial artist, realistically,
2391the martial artist will be less effective given the same skill.
2392
2393But, if we just say that the skill represents your ability to influence
2394the scene, then we can kind of roll the influence of the weapon into the
2395influence of the skill and call it a day. So with a hypothetical Martial
2396Arts skill of 4, you'd be Jackie Chan, but with a Shoot of 4, you'd be
2397pretty competent, as your weapon itself would be part of that scene
2398influence.
2399
2400I'm getting somewhere with this, really! Thanks for reading so far!
2401
2402In the previous post, I talked about modeling a cybernetic arm primarily
2403by just giving the character the appropriate skill (Physique or possibly
2404Athletics), an Aspect for the more narrative bits, and maybe possibly a
2405stunt, and calling it a day. This works because, to me, having that 4 in
2406Physique says "I have this much influence in scenes, when I approach
2407them in this way. *How* I got that influence is irrelevant, whether it's
2408working out, technology, magic, or whatever."
2409
2410At this point, you might ask "what if I was a body builder that had
2411cybernetics installed, hrm, Mr. Smarty Pants?"
2412
2413"Fate Doesn't Go To Eleven."
2414
2415Okay, I finally got around to the post title. But what the hell do I
2416mean by that? If you're not familiar with the phrase "goes to eleven,"
2417it comes from the movie *This Is Spinäl Tap*. In it, one of the
2418guitarists talks about his amps being special because while most amps
2419have ten as the highest setting on the dial, his goes to eleven.
2420Apparently he's too dumb to realize that it's the internals of the
2421system that determine the volume of the amp, and that the label is
2422exactly that, just a label.
2423
2424Fate does not go to eleven. If the maximum skill you can have in an area
2425is +4, then that's what you get. That also represents the maximum
2426ability that a starting character can have in that area. Period. (Okay,
2427there's stunts, too, but there shouldn't be anything granting a flat
2428bonus). +4 doesn't need to represent the same thing in every game. It
2429represents the maximum that a player can start with, in that game. +4
2430Physique could be the strongest a human can achieve in one game, and it
2431could be Superman in another. It's a scale, a way of calibrating. It's
2432not GURPS, where 15 STR means exactly what 15 STR means, and you have
2433lots of tables telling you exactly what 15 STR does, and you have to
2434have crazy high levels of strength to represent augmented individuals,
2435or supers, or whatever.
2436
2437Now I'm going to tie back to *Just Do It* again. One of the reasons that
2438people like toolboxes is that they like going to eleven. They like
2439hearing about the maximum value of something, and then finding a way to
2440surpass it. "How high can we stack the bonuses?" Many folks will want to
2441make a character with a cybernetic arm not because they think it makes a
2442great story, but because they think that it will allow them to go higher
2443than the supposed highest in the system - it lets them go to eleven.
2444Which, of course, means that the "highest" in fact wasn't, and the real
2445"highest" is totally dependent on how high you can stack your Lego
2446blocks.
2447
2448Fate doesn't do that. Fate just says, "You can have +4. And a few stunts
2449to let you do a bit better in specific situations. You can't have more.
2450Have a nice day." Fate just says your amp goes to 10, and if you want to
2451be louder, you need a louder amp - aka, play in a setting where +4 means
2452something else. It doesn't lie to you and just relabel the loudest as 11
2453so that you feel more awesome. It's honest in its calibrations and
2454ranges.
2455
2456Some people, of course, do love that type of charop. I personally have
2457litlte use for it, and I suspect some people agree with me. And
2458thankfully there's tons of games in the hobby, and **lots** of them
2459support that level of charop. If I want a game that does that, then I'll
2460play that type of game.
2461
2462I'm just glad that Fate doesn't do that, and that it gives me an option
2463that doesn't go to eleven.
2464
2465Fate doesn't have a damage system
2466---------------------------------
2467
2468(Yeah, [Wil Hutton](https://plus.google.com/113964487986010255855), you
2469kinda prompted this, but it's been in my head for a bit).
2470
2471Seriously, Fate doesn't have a damage system. I mean, read the books.
2472Where does it say 'damage'? We've got Stress, we've got Consequences.
2473But nothing that says Damage.
2474
2475Which means we have two ways to interpret this. "No, really, they
2476**mean** damage, they just didn't say it." Which would mean that [Fred
2477Hicks](https://plus.google.com/105843491826683668595)Â and [Leonard
2478Balsera](https://plus.google.com/101924479447471392932)Â are incompetent,
2479and didn't use the proper term. I don't buy that for a second.
2480
2481Which leads to the second interpretation. "They didn't use the
2482word"damage", because there's no such thing as damage." Yeah, that
2483sounds about right. I've found I've learned the most about Fate when
2484I've stopped trying to interpret it and just take it at face value.
2485
2486So what's Stress, if not damage? Well, at an abstract level it's a
2487pacing mechanism. What that means more concretely is that it's a measure
2488of how close you are to being taken out - and there's lots of reasons
2489you might be Taken Out! And since Stress clears at the end of a Scene,
2490it's pretty clear that it's not meant to represent actual physical
2491damage in any way.
2492
2493Well, what about Consequences, then?
2494
2495Nope. Still not damage. I'm going back to "physics, not fiction" here.
2496"Damage" is primarily a "physics" concept - what the actual physical
2497effect something like an attack or a fall has on your body. Fate doesn't
2498model that, and doesn't want to. It models fiction.
2499
2500Now, what's interesting about fights or other conflicts in fiction is
2501not the detailed description of exactly what the physical effects of a
2502sword blow are. It's the **impact** that they have on the story on an
2503ongoing basis. Whether it's Harry Dresden having a headache, or John
2504McClane limping from his feet being hurt from glass, what fiction cares
2505about is the impact that the fight has on the story. If an "injury" is
2506purely internal, or in another way doesn't impact the story, **it's
2507irrelevant**.
2508
2509And that's what Consequences model. They model the continuing impact of
2510the conflict and how it carries through the story.
2511
2512And this is awesome. Because it opens up all sorts of options. There's
2513only so many ways you can describe damage, but there's **lots**
2514of possible consequences from a fight. Big sword hit? Sure, it can be a
2515***Gashed Leg***. But.. that's not very interesting. But if you assume
2516that there's no damage model, then you can also dodge aside at the last
2517moment and hit your head, giving you a ***Ringing Headache***. You can
2518barely parry it aside at the last moment, making you ***Fearful of Your
2519Own Mortality***. It can destroy a mystic artifact you're holding,
2520leaving you ***Half In This World***.
2521
2522The Stress and Consequences model dictates the level of lasting impact
2523an Attack has on a character. It's not a "damage" model, so it doesn't
2524dictate the **type**. That's up to you, your table, and your game. Make
2525it awesome.
2526
2527The Not-So-Hidden Logic of Paying to Invoke Aspects
2528---------------------------------------------------
2529
2530(Whew, long title.)
2531
2532Okay, one of the things that tripped me up the most when I started
2533playing Fate (apart from the lack of statistics/abilities - that was a
2534doozy) was the fact that I could claim things like ***Rippling Barbarian
2535Thews*** for my barbarian warrior, but they didn't actually do anything
2536unless I spent a Fate Point on them.
2537
2538I mean, seriously, huh? How does that work? Aspects are kind of like a
2539combination of advantages and disadvantages from GURPS, only more
2540freeform, right? If I'm really strong, it would make sense that I'd
2541**always** be really strong, and it would be a constant bonus. I mean,
2542that's just how the world works, right?
2543
2544"Ahhhh," my older self says, as my younger self walks into the trap I
2545set. "That may be how the world works - but is it how *fiction* works?"
2546
2547Let's take a section of badly-written prose:
2548
2549*Nanoc, the IP-Friendly Barbarian warrior, waded into battle. He knew
2550his target, the evil warlord Baddaguy. A screaming warrior attacked him,
2551but Nanoc split him in half, the pieces falling to his sides. He looked
2552around for a glimpse of Baddaguy. There! Up on that hill! Nanoc started
2553making his way up the hill, only to find three of Baddaguy's filthy
2554minions blocking his path. A sword strike felled one, and a
2555parry-and-counter combination sent the next to hell. The third minion,
2556seeing his friends die in a matter of heartbeats, ran off like the
2557coward he was.*
2558
2559*Now there was nothing between Nanoc and Baddaguy. He charged up the
2560hill, screaming a barbarian warcry. Baddaguy faced him, and waved off
2561his useless troops to battle Nanoc one on one.*
2562
2563*Their blades clashed, sparks flying. The two opponents were evenly
2564matched, and traded light blows, neither being able to strike a solid
2565blow on the other.*
2566
2567*Their swords locked. They struggled against each other, strength
2568against strength. Nanoc's mighty barbarian thews rippled with the
2569effort, and he flung Baddaguy down. Baddaguy cowered in helpless fear as
2570Nanoc impaled him upon the tip of his blade.*
2571
2572Okay. That was crappy prose. But while Nanoc presumably always has
2573***Mighty Barbarian Thews***, they're only really narratively relevant
2574at one point, when Nanoc needed to really pull something out.
2575
2576Compare that to just this modified first paragraph:
2577
2578*Nanoc, the IP-Friendly Barbarian warrior, waded into battle. He knew
2579his target, the evil warlord Baddaguy. A screaming warrior attacked him,
2580but Nanoc split him in half with the strength from his might barbarian
2581thews, the* *pieces falling to his sides. He looked around for a glimpse
2582of Baddaguy. There! Up on that hill! Nanoc started making his way up the
2583hill, only to find three of Baddaguy's filthy minions blocking his path.
2584A sword strike fueled by his mighty barbarian thews felled one, and a
2585parry-and-counter combination, supported by the might of his barbarian
2586thews sent the next to hell. The third minion, seeing his friends die in
2587a matter of heartbeats, and quivering in fear of the mighty barbarian
2588thews, ran off like the coward he was.*
2589
2590As bad as the first section was, the second one is... I feel I need to
2591bathe in disinfectant for having written it.
2592
2593But that's the fundamental reason that aspects are "fueled by" Fate
2594Points. Nanoc's struggle against Baddaguy was the only place he really
2595needed to swing the narrative, and constantly talking about his mighty
2596barbarian thews is just **dull**.
2597
2598Fate Core, as far as I can see, tries to emulate fiction. That doesn't
2599just mean "a physical simulation of fictional worlds". That means the
2600flow and structure of fiction. That means that when we look at how a
2601game of Fate 'should' flow, our reference point should be 'does this
2602play out like a book, or a movie?' rather than 'does this work like how
2603it would work in the physical world'?
2604
2605A slippery, ice-covered surface, in fiction, doesn't mean that every
2606description or shot of people on it involves them slipping and sliding
2607around. That's boring. What it probably means is that at some key
2608moment, somebody will slip because of the surface creating some dramatic
2609moment. And that's what Fate tries to emulate - how the **dramatic**
2610elements work together, not the actual effects of fighting on a slippery
2611surface. It follows the rules of fiction - regardless of realism, not
2612reality - even 'cinematic' reality.
2613
2614How I GM Fate Core
2615------------------
2616
2617Note: This is how **I** run Fate. It's not the be-all, end-all. It's not
2618the only way to run it. It's not the One True Way, and other ways aren't
2619BadWrongFun. But it's how I run it, and it seems to fit the system well.
2620
2621### Step one: The Pitch
2622
2623This is where I just say to some people "Hey, let's play some Fate!"
2624I'll include a general description of what type of game I'm thinking
2625about running: "Let's play a basic fantasy-type game!" "Let's do a game
2626based on Brutal Legend!" or something along those lines. I don't really
2627have a lot in mind at this point - maybe something like an overall story
2628or theme, but I deliberately keep things pretty vague.
2629
2630### Step Two: Initial Prep-work
2631
2632Assuming that someone is dumb enough to play with me, I'll usually then
2633take a look at the skill list, dials in Fate, extra subsystems (Magic,
2634armor, etc.) and propose some defaults. This is still pretty
2635light-weight, and seriously subject to change. This is more about
2636setting an initial stake in the ground in terms of what the game will be
2637than anything. As part of this, I may flesh out some high level conflict
2638that I think may be interesting - but again, this is kept very vague and
2639loose, primarily so that I'm not overly attached to it if it turns out
2640the players go a totally different direction. Depending on how detailed
2641the pitch is, the planning I'll do at this point will typically be more
2642along the lines of coming up with NPCs/factions that may be opposing
2643each other and create dynamic forces in the world, not a series of
2644events. They'll typically be vague, so that I can insert appropriate
2645details from character creation.
2646
2647If I'm going to muck with the phases, etc., I'll usually do so at this
2648time and throw it past the players to see what sticks. This will be
2649based on what makes sense, thematically, for the scenario. In general,
2650I'll add an aspect or two before I actually remove the Phase Trio, but
2651if I need to dork with stuff more than that then I'll consider ditching
2652it in some way.
2653
2654I'll also try to come up with some kind of immediate
2655situation/encounter/etc. for session zero, though again, I go with
2656lightweight for this.
2657
2658### Step Three: Session Zero
2659
2660Okay, now we're actually going to throw some dice. I come to this
2661session with my prep work, a new folder for game docs, some blank
2662character sheets, the Fate cheat sheets available, and a couple of
2663devices that can display my electronic versions of Fate.
2664
2665First is setting generation. I'm a big fan of "Places and Faces", and
2666setting up immediate/impending issues. One thing I've found with more
2667narrative games like Fate is that they work best if there's something
2668that demands **immediate** attention, so I try to make sure there's at
2669least one current issue.
2670
2671I do setting generation first, as it helps give the players something to
2672latch onto for character creation. I also try to be very permissive at
2673this stage - there's no game, so it makes no real sense to veto
2674anything, unless it just goes utterly contrary to the game pitch -
2675someone wanting to be a space alien in a fantasy game, for instance. Of
2676course, sometimes that can be worked into something that makes sense -
2677see Warforged in Eberron, for instance...
2678
2679Even in cases where there's an established setting, most of setting
2680generation makes sense, there's just a few more defined fences that
2681already exist. But in no published setting is every tavern, every
2682organization, and every city mapped out to the degree that players can't
2683add their own stuff to it, even without contradicting canon.
2684
2685As part of this, I'll expand on the faces/places created, and use those
2686to collaboratively world-build. Often, a single place/face will suggest
2687something larger about the world, so I'll drill down on that. If
2688organizations or governments are suggested, I'll guide the group into
2689fleshing those out.
2690
2691Then, character creation. I generally run this by-the-book. I'm a huge
2692fan of the Phase Trio, and think it's something that adds a lot of value
2693to Fate games, especially in terms of making the game **really about**
2694the characters. If you've already got a plot planned out that won't be
2695impacted by your characters' backstories... it's less important. But
2696that's not why I play Fate.
2697
2698I do the phase trio very collaboratively. I go from player to player, as
2699each phase goes out, and have them say what their story is, kind of on
2700the spot. I encourage other players to make suggestions or give input,
2701and if the player whose turn it is seems stuck, I'll ask them for their
2702kind of general thoughts on what they want, even if it's somewhat vague.
2703The idea here is to keep everyone involved and active and thinking
2704creatively. A second goal of this is to have all of the players involved
2705with **all** of the characters, so that they have some knowledge of
2706these characters and some investment in them. I is a sneaky GM.
2707
2708As we're going through the phases, I try to look for recurring themes,
2709pull out oppositional NPCs/groups, and start merging this into any
2710previous ideas I had about the big players in the scenario. If something
2711pre-planned doesn't fit, I ditch it. If there's a clear theme in the
2712characters, I run with it. If some of the backstories imply setting
2713facts that don't work with my preconceptions, I run with those and ditch
2714the preconceptions. This, to me, is really about the players telling me
2715what kind of game/world they want to play in, and it's kind of my job to
2716provide that.
2717
2718I have two primary jobs during all of this: Recording what is said, and
2719keeping things moving. I'll offer my own suggestions and input, but I
2720don't really assume that my input has any more weight than anyone
2721else's.
2722
2723If there's enough time after character creation, and there's enough for
2724me to grab onto, then I'll run some kind of initial encounter/inciting
2725incident. I usually **try** to get to this, since many people aren't
2726used to a 'play-less' Session Zero.
2727
2728### Step Four: Post-Session ZeroÂ
2729
2730This is probably the biggest prep time for me, even more than keeping
2731the game going. What I need to do now is to take my initial thoughts for
2732what the game might be and reconcile them with what the players and I
2733came up with. Between my initial thoughts, the current and impending
2734issues, setting creation, and player backstories (via the Phase Trio)
2735I'll have a number of elements to play with. Now, I take these elements
2736and try to integrate them into some kind of consistent setting.
2737
2738This will often require the creation of NPCs. I focus more on NPC
2739creation than plot creation - characters drive stories, not events.
2740Events happen due to conflicts between characters. I'll try to have
2741several NPCs/organizations/groups acting in opposition to each other, to
2742keep things interesting. Depending on the game, I also try for a little
2743ambiguity - bad guys who have good intentions or do some good work, or
2744good guys that have bad methods, or even two groups that both want
2745incompatible versions of good. I find these types of things make for
2746more interesting stories, generally. I'll write all this down in my
2747campaign folder, and use it to generate several possible initial arcs,
2748where an arc is usually defined by some NPC/group trying to achieve some
2749goal. I'll look at what their goal is, how other groups might be
2750involved, and go with that. Part of this is always going to be looking
2751at character aspects for things that tie into the characters - the story
2752**is** about them, after all! Though that is **generally** not an issue
2753since these groups/NPCs/goals have generally come out of setting
2754creation, character backstories, or the current/impending issues! Still,
2755ensuring that things are somehow tied into characters is always a good
2756thing to do.
2757
2758### Step Five: Arc Generation
2759
2760This is where I start actually planning the arc. I set this out as a
2761separate step, because there's a big loop here in longer games that goes
2762back here when an arc is resolved or is starting to be resolved.
2763
2764Arc generation is usually about taking one of the preliminary arc ideas
2765from Step Four, and fleshing it out. Again, I focus on NPCs, **not**
2766events. Who is trying to achieve what? Who might be in the way? Who
2767might assist them? And, perhaps most importantly, how do the PCs get
2768dragged into this? The best arcs, again, are about the PCs in some way
2769or another, and wouldn't work if you had a different set of characters.
2770That's a pretty good heuristic on story arcs, anyway.
2771
2772So, anyway, for arc generation, I usually try to answer some pretty
2773broad questions, and leave it at that. Those questions are:
2774
27751) Why is this relevant to the characters?
2776
27772) Who is involved in this?
2778
27793) What are they trying to achieve?
2780
27814) Who might be opposing them?
2782
27835) Who might be helping them?
2784
27856) What will they do, if unopposed?
2786
2787Question zero is especially important. When possible, the actions should
2788stem directly from the characters in some way. This becomes easier on
2789subsequent arcs after the first! At the minimum, what happens should be
2790something that is directly opposed to one of the characters in some way.
2791
2792More traditional players/GMs might find this artificial. I see it as a
2793focus on fiction - in fiction, the events **are** directly about the
2794characters, and often specifically to highlight inner conflict of the
2795characters. This involves the characters and players more directly, and
2796focuses the story on them. This is what changes Star Wars from a generic
2797story about shooting lasers to a more meaningful story about the
2798darkness within us, and the temptation of that darkness. This is what
2799gives us recurring enemies that players love to hate.
2800
2801Incidentally, one of the main reasons I use player-created opposition
2802when possible is the simple fact of investment. Players care about
2803things based on how much they have invested in them. GMs often forget
2804this - the big bad that **we** create is cool to us, because **we** have
2805invested in them heavily. The players could care less, until that bad
2806guy touches something that they have invested in. By stealing opposition
2807from the players, we **start** with some level of investment, even if
2808that's no more than the players coming up with a name! And we'll be
2809invested naturally through the prep process. So this ends up making a
2810more involved game for everyone.
2811
2812### Step Six: Pre-Game Prep
2813
2814Okay, now we've got the game and arc prep done, and it's time to do the
2815session prep. Fortunately, this is usually pretty easy.
2816
28171) So what's changed in the world since we last played, or as a result
2818 of the last session? This is my way of getting my head around all of
2819 the other NPCs in the game and what they're doing. How are they
2820 going to react to the events of the last game? How have their plans
2821 changed?
2822
28232) What are the relevant NPCs up to, anyway? Figure this out, and
2824 usually the next set of events will suggest themselves.
2825
28263) Look over the character sheets for any good compels/complications to
2827 add. Always try to tie things back to the characters!
2828
28294) Do I have an idea of where the characters are going this session?
2830 Hopefully, yes - Fate is a game about proactive characters, and so
2831 generally they should have been in motion at the end of the last
2832 session. If not, that's okay, we can get them in motion.
2833
28345) Prep some hand grenades. Hand grenades are events that occur that
2835 **demand** a PC response - even if not a particular response. They
2836 should be things that make the story more interesting. They may or
2837 may not be compels, but if they tie into a character or aspect,
2838 that's awesome! NPCs coming to the PCs for aid, revelations, NPC
2839 actions, these are all example of hand grenades.
2840
2841An example of a hand-grenade from one of the last games I ran: The PCs
2842were investigating some particularly nasty bandits, who it turned out to
2843be were demon-infested (void summoners). One of the PCs had the aspect
2844"Doesn't trust a pretty face", another one had the aspect "Compelled to
2845help those in need", and the PCs got stuck with the situation aspect
2846"They know who we are" as the result of a concession in the previous
2847game (the inciting incident, actually). The hand-grenade was the
2848youngish, female demon-infested bandit coming to the PCs **and asking
2849for help**.
2850
2851Demands action? Yup. Deliberately targets PC aspects, and creates
2852interesting conflict? Oh, yeah.
2853
28546) Sketch out possible set-pieces if they're clearly coming up. This is
2855 actually the thing I do the least, as it invests heavily in a
2856 defined course of action by the PCs, and I try not to do that. As a
2857 GM, it's way too easy to get a particular course of action in mind,
2858 and subtly "guide" the PCs that way. So I deliberate go the other
2859 way and **avoid** even thinking about what the PCs will do. Instead,
2860 I create interesting situations, and, as a "fan of the PCs", get
2861 excited about how they'll deal with those situations.
2862
2863### Step Seven: Running the Session - Session Start
2864
2865And now we're into the good stuff! I sit the players down, spread out
2866the snacks and drinks, hand out whatever handouts need to get there,
2867check out any character sheet updates if necessary, and ask a player to
2868recap the last session, including any corrections/etc. from my notes.
2869
2870During the game I have a laptop/tablet/etc. out that I can type on.
2871Since I typically use pdf versions of the game books, I try to have at
2872least two available, one set up just for note-taking.
2873
2874If this is the first session, I'll break out the inciting incident and
2875start the characters in-situ. Otherwise, it's time for that time-honored
2876question:
2877
2878### Step Eight: "What Do You Do?" - AKA, Setting the Scene
2879
2880Hopefully, the characters have some clear goal in mind, something that
2881just won't stand and demands action. If not, I break out a hand-grenade
2882and lob it at them. Done right, this will get them moving, even if in an
2883unknown to me direction! For instance, with the demon-infested girl
2884asking for help, I had **no idea** how that would go down, if the PCs
2885would offer to help, if they would attack and kill her, if they'd try to
2886track her back, or what. The important thing is to get them moving.
2887
2888Now, the PCs should come up with some course of action. This is where a
2889little GM subtle nudging comes into play. What we're trying to do at
2890this point is to quickly drive to an interesting scene. I find there's a
2891few things I can do to help this.
2892
28931) If the request is abstract, turn it into a real action.
2894 "Investigate" isn't a scene. "Go to the arcane academy's library and
2895 look up xyz" is a possible scene.
2896
28972) Understand what the PCs goal is. "Okay, so what are you trying to
2898 accomplish? If this goes your way, what changes?" It's amazing how
2899 often the players won't initially have an idea! Nudging them towards
2900 this allows me as a GM to:
2901
2902a) not railroad,
2903
2904b) provide appropriate opposition
2905
2906c) keep things moving!
2907
2908
29091) Figure out who might be opposed to this, and how it might go poorly.
2910 While in some cases 'behind the scenes' consequences can be
2911 interesting, I more often prefer to keep things "on-screen".
2912
2913If there's no interesting consequences, and no interesting opposition, I
2914generally just let them have what it is they're trying to do, or briefly
2915do a couple of rolls and get on with it. No point in spending time on
2916minutiae.
2917
2918Okay, so now we've got a scene! At this point, I'll set the scene, and
2919figure out the appropriate skill/roll structure for the scene -
2920challenge, conflict, contest, or just simple rolls. Lately I've been
2921trying to do less of the naturalistic 'roll after roll' sequence in
2922favor of more structure approaches, but that's a stylistic thing.
2923
2924Note that I'll generally allow almost **any** proactive action from the
2925players, even if it's not what I had in mind. If the players want to try
2926something that's just utterly against the precepts of the game/scenario,
2927I will warn them, but apart from that, anything is fair game. Three guys
2928taking on the entire King's Guard in broad daylight? Might be a bit
2929much, but they can try. However, if they want to try and poison the
2930garrison? Sure! If they want to try to drum up supporters? Sure! Find a
2931way to sneak in undetected through a hidden passage? Why not? Disguise
2932themselves and get in the front door? Sounds good to me! The players
2933setting the scene is more about what **kind** of challenge and story
2934we'll have than anything else, so I'm typically willing to allow
2935anything a chance of success unless it just makes no real sense within
2936the fiction.
2937
2938Another good thing to do when players want to do something that
2939short-circuits a lot of things is to add complications. "You want to
2940summon a ghost to find out who killed Baron Whatsisname? Sure, you can
2941do that. You'll just need to find a ghost summoning spell, or a
2942specialist. And figure out what materials are needed. And then you'll
2943need to enter the Dead Realm to find him." Again, the player course of
2944action is helping to determine what kind of story they'll have, it's not
2945short-cutting the story entirely. In many cases, the player course of
2946action will take more than a single scene, and that's fine - just handle
2947the scenes one at a time.
2948
2949### Step Nine: Resolve the Scene
2950
2951Took a while to get here, huh? Well, this part is pretty much in line
2952with the Fate Core rules, so I don't really have too much to add here.
2953The only thing I will say here is to keep looking at your characters'
2954aspects, and look for ways to compel them.
2955
2956Also, each die roll should have a potentially interesting consequence.
2957Before a player rolls, ask yourself "what could happen to make the
2958player go 'oh, crap!'?" That's your calibration point. Not necessarily
2959the **worst** thing that could happen. Not even the most dangerous. But
2960what's the most **interesting** thing that could happen as a result of
2961this if it goes wrong?
2962
2963So play through the scene, and determine the aftermath.
2964
2965### Step Ten: Ending the Scene
2966
2967Okay, so your players have done some crazy stuff. They'll either get
2968what they want, or get something else, or encounter a setback, or some
2969combination of the above.
2970
2971Now is time for what's called in the fiction-writing business a
2972"sequel". Recap with the players what's changed, figure out how the
2973opposition is going to react to this in the near time, and give the
2974players a chance to reflect on what's happened. Then - go back to Step
2975Eight, and repeat this until the end of the session.
2976
2977If a scene resolves well (as in, you've done a good job - not that the
2978players get what they want), you shouldn't have to lob many hand
2979grenades. A well-resolved scene will either provide the players
2980something that they need to move forward (which is why I ask them the
2981goal of the scene), or it will provide an obvious setback that needs to
2982be accounted for. If investigating at the arcane library, a success
2983might mean that they find the information that they need, which points
2984them in the direction of whatever it is they need to
2985find/kill/acquire/etc.  A failure might mean that enemy agents have
2986found them and are now chasing them. Either way, the players should have
2987some impetus to keep them moving.
2988
2989If for some reason, this **isn't** the case (hey, it happens), throw out
2990another hand grenade.
2991
2992Repeat Steps Eight through Ten until it's close to the session end.
2993
2994### Step Eleven: Ending the Session
2995
2996Hey, good job. Your players are having a good time, everyone's rolling
2997dice and laughing. Awesome!
2998
2999But at some point the clock is going to tick closer to the ending time,
3000or people will start yawning, or some other sign will occur that it's
3001getting close to the end.
3002
3003And that's a fine thing! You want to leave your players wanting more,
3004not anxious to leave! If they want more, they'll show up next time, and
3005you'll keep a healthy game going. If the game drags on and on, you'll
3006start to notice players not showing up. The goal isn't to keep the game
3007going on as long as possible - it's to keep the Awesome Per Minute as
3008high as possible! And if that starts to flag for any reason, call it a
3009day and get some more ideas for what would be Awesome!
3010
3011One of the best things to do is to end the session on a bang. Is there
3012some scenario-changing Compel you can throw down? Do it. Some great
3013revelation you can make? Great way to end the session. Set things up for
3014an epic battle? Oh, yeah. Make it a cliffhanger, and the players will
3015want to tune in next time!
3016
3017Once you've ended the actual 'game-time', you'll need to handle all the
3018wrap-up stuff. Tell the players what kind of milestone they've hit, and
3019what that means. Ask them if they've got any initial ideas on character
3020changes (especially aspects!) that they may want to make. Collect all of
3021your stuff, and do the clean-up.
3022
3023But perhaps most importantly - solicit feedback. You should always ask
3024after a game about what went well, what didn't go so well, what people
3025would like to see more/less of, etc. The goal of the game is for
3026everyone to have fun, and if they're not, then something needs to
3027change. Also make sure that players feel they can email you or contact
3028you privately, as some will not want to speak up.
3029
3030The most important thing about feedback is to listen to it. Don't get
3031defensive - even if you think something was awesome and that the players
3032are wrong, don't take it personally. It's not about what's "good" or
3033"bad", it's about what the players find fun. And that will not be the
3034same for every player. This is a learning process for you to be able to
3035improve your GMing skills. And even negative feedback doesn't mean what
3036you did was "wrong" - another group may have loved it. It's about
3037finding out what **this** group likes.
3038
3039In cases where you had to make a call that was contentious, explain why
3040you ended up making the call you did, the factors involved, and what
3041else you considered. Also, ask the players how they would have handled
3042it. Be open and honest - Fate is a game that encourages this kind of
3043behavior. Often, simply explaining the situation and asking the players
3044how they would have handled it is enough to get them to see your side,
3045as well.
3046
3047Collect any Fate Points, and see how players are doing with them.Â
3048
3049If they're hoarding FP, did this cost them? A session where players end
3050up with positive FP should, in general, be one where things went poorly
3051overall for the players (or they just got lucky). But if they're
3052hoarding FP consistently, and not suffering setbacks, throw more compels
3053at them and increase the difficulty of their opposition.
3054
3055Are they all drained of FP? If so, they should have made decent progress
3056- if not, you may have been too hard on them. In the future, you can
3057reduce the opposition or provide some 'weak' compels to increase their
3058Fate Point pools.
3059
3060### Step Twelve: Next Session
3061
3062So now you need to start thinking about the next session. Think about
3063the events that have happened so far, and what that means for the
3064future. If you're honest with yourself, you may need to revise some of
3065your plans for the future of the game - nothing prepped is "real" until
3066the players see it, anyway!
3067
3068Maybe some new characters/groups/etc. have been added to the game - make
3069sure you find some way to integrate these!
3070
3071Maybe something has been revealed that changes how you view one of the
3072groups/NPCs in the game - again, go with it! Maybe it makes more
3073dramatic sense for the supposed bad guy to actually just look bad, and
3074be fighting the "real" bad guy! Maybe some innocent guy makes more sense
3075to be the mastermind behind everything! Maybe an NPC changes their ways
3076based on events! Remember, the world needs to react to the players -
3077they are the protagonists, and they are the agents of change in the
3078world! It's **their** story!
3079
3080Has the arc ended? If so, plan the next arc like Step Five. Otherwise,
3081just plan the next session like Step Six.
3082
3083If the campaign has reached a natural conclusion, and there's no desire
3084(or easy way) to continue it, then great! Pitch a new game!
3085
3086------------------------------------------------------------------------
3087
3088There's also a couple of things that I try to do during the game. These
3089are overall guides, and so they don't really belong in any one section.
3090
30910) Try not to predict where the game will go. This one is so important,
3092 I'll put it at rule zero. The more you predict what **will** happen,
3093 the more you'll try to make it happen. Going into a game with no
3094 clue of where it will go is quite scary at first, but is also
3095 amazingly fun once you get used to it. It also ensures that you're
3096 listening to your players, and letting them drive the game. If
3097 there's an overall arc of the game that you're expecting, like
3098 fomenting a rebellion instead of having guerilla action, or heavy
3099 political play, make sure you talk to your players about that - this
3100 is the kind of thing that everyone should be on the same page about
3101 when it comes to "this is the game we're playing." It's also
3102 something that can be readily discussed without causing "spoilers".
3103
31041) Keep people involved, but respect styles. This is something that's a
3105 bit of a balancing act. As the GM, you are kind of the mediator.
3106 It's your job to keep everybody involved in the game, but some
3107 people are just naturally more introverted, and won't be as
3108 proactive or forceful in their opinions. Try to coax interaction out
3109 of them, but don't press the issue. Your main job with this is to
3110 keep the more extroverted/forceful folks from drowning them out or
3111 dominating the game.
3112
31132) Keep things dramatic! Fate is a game about drama. It's not a very
3114 good game about prepping the hell out of things so that there's no
3115 chance of things going wrong. Don't get me wrong - that can work
3116 well with certain types of games, but those are usually the games
3117 with enough tactical 'crunch' to support this.
3118
31193) Keep things centered on the players! Show, don't tell. As I said
3120 earlier, some 'behind the scenes' stuff can be interesting, but in
3121 general you want to keep things visible and on-screen. Your job is
3122 to keep the players interested with what's happening, not keep
3123 **yourself** interested with all of the behind-the-scenes hidden
3124 stuff that you know about.
3125
31264) I usually like difficulties to be based on dramatic importance more
3127 than anything. If something is critical, make the players decide how
3128 bad they want it! Fate is more about deciding what's important, via
3129 Fate Point expenditures, than it is about micro-managing bonuses or
3130 simulating reality. So put those hard decisions front and center!
3131
31325) Keep failures interesting! Success with a cost is great, and
3133 interesting failures are great, too. What's not great is "that
3134 doesn't work." Keep things moving, even if not in the direction the
3135 characters necessarily wanted to go!
3136
31376) Solicit player input. This is a great way to offload some work.
3138 Details about a holiday? Ask the players! Who's the innkeep? Ask the
3139 players! Also, encourage collaboration. If a player feels on the
3140 spot by a question like that, ask them for any kind of thought they
3141 have on it, and then get others to jump in and collaborate.
3142
31437) Be **honest**. Fate is a great game for honesty. There's nothing
3144 wrong with telling the players the consequences of a failed roll
3145 before you roll - especially if you're planning something that's not
3146 super-obvious. Talk about why you're setting things a certain way,
3147 and encourage players to be involved in that.
3148
31498) Keep consequences appropriate. I like to say "For someone to be
3150 Taken Out, they have to be Taken Out." That's my way of basically
3151 saying that you can't shortcut the stress/consequences track by,
3152 say, throwing someone off of a cliff - if they still have
3153 stress/consequences, then maybe they're holding onto the cliff,
3154 evaded your grab and twisted their ankle, etc. But it works for
3155 other rolls, too. A check to cast a trivial spell **generally**
3156 shouldn't have the end of the universe as failure! This can be true
3157 even if it would "make sense". Instead, take a higher-leveled view:
3158 Even if the particular spell failing **would** result in the end of
3159 the world, maybe a failure means something else - maybe it means
3160 that as part of casting the spell, something bad happens - or it
3161 takes longer than you expected - or possibly you realize that you
3162 don't have something you need or can't summon the energy.
3163
3164In general, I like to keep the results of success and failure
3165**roughly** even. If a success in something will gain a huge advantage,
3166it's pretty reasonable to make failure a large risk as well. While this
3167may not always make sense from a "how things work" perspective, it's
3168almost always good dramatically, and if you pull back and abstract just
3169slightly, you can almost always find a way to justify it.
3170
31719) Help players with the rules and strategy! Man, if I could change one
3172 thing about the first couple of times I ran Fate, this would be it.
3173 Effective strategies in Fate aren't always obvious to new players,
3174 and as such the game can be very frustrating. Make sure your players
3175 know how Create Advantage works, especially in a Conflict. Make sure
3176 they know how to use CA to use their better skills against either
3177 environment opposition, or their opponents' weaker skills. As a GM,
3178 constantly ask yourself "hey, what would I do if I was this
3179 player?"Â and suggest that to the players! Have a brief conversation
3180 with them about skill matchups, stacking aspects granted via CA, and
3181 even the tradeoffs between big hits (fewer rounds to take someone
3182 out, requires more shifts) and little hits (more rounds to take
3183 someone out, requires fewer shifts).Â
3184
318510) This goes along with the last one. Get your players used to success
3186 and failure in Fate! Specifically, make sure they know how tough it
3187 is to get Taken Out in a single blow! Put them through a Concession
3188 early if they're not used to Fate, and show them how the game keeps
3189 going. Have them fail some rolls, and again show them how the game
3190 keeps going. Many gamers are used to games where "failure" = "game
3191 over", so this is a key part of Fate for new players.
3192
3193And... most of all...
3194
3195HAVE FUN
3196
3197Fate is a great game... but it's still a game! The point of playing is
3198for everyone - player and GM - to have fun. If you're not having fun,
3199FIX IT! If someone at the table isn't having fun, FIX IT!
3200
3201The Joy of Create Advantage
3202---------------------------
3203
3204While most of my posts are probably GM-centric, this one's a lot more
3205player-centric. Hey, gotta change it up, right?
3206
3207One of the things that I see with players new to Fate is that they
3208overly-rely on the Attack action in conflicts. My experience has shown
3209that, in many cases, Attack is actually the least effective option, when
3210viewed from an overall perspective. Sure, you can't Create Advantage
3211someone to death (or to Taken Out, as the case may be), but CA has a lot
3212of advantages over Attack overall, and especially as a lead-up to an
3213actual damaging attack.
3214
3215To most vets, this stuff will be obvious, so I apologize for that... but
3216these might be good points to raise with your players, especially if
3217they're having issues, or over-relying on Attack actions.
3218
3219Here's a few of the main reasons why Create Advantage should be the
3220majority of the players' actions in a Conflict:
3221
3222### 1) It's more efficient.
3223
3224Both Attack and Create Advantage give you the opportunity to buy shifts
3225of effect. For Create Advantage, these shifts (via free invocations) are
3226delayed, but for a given success threshold, you'll actually get **more**
3227shifts of effect than Attack for the vast majority of cases...
3228
3229 Margin of success  Create Advantage shifts  Attack shifts
3230 -------------------- ----------------------------- -----------------
3231 0 Â 2 (boost) 2 (boost)
3232 1 Â 2Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1
3233 2 Â 2Â 2
3234 3 Â 4 (two free invokes)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 3
3235 4 Â 4Â Â 4
3236
3237Admittedly, after a margin of success of four, Attack starts to win out
3238- but you generally won't see that margin of success unless you've got a
3239number of free invokes to boost you there, or burn a bunch of fate
3240points!
3241
3242### 2) Create Advantage is flexible.
3243
3244Attack does one thing - it causes stress and consequences to your
3245opponent. However, the shifts of effect (free invokes) created by Create
3246Advantage can, depending on the advantage, be used for Attack **or**
3247Defense! And they also have the potential of being used by other members
3248of your group. Or they can be used with an Attack to do straight damage.
3249Create Advantage creates **options**.
3250
3251### 3) Create Advantage lets you choose the skill match-up
3252
3253In conflicts, and especially with an Attack, absolute skill levels are
3254irrelevant. What's important is the **relative** skill level between you
3255and your opponent. And one of the main 'strategy' bits in Fate is
3256figuring out, narratively, how to maximize that difference in your
3257favor.
3258
3259Using your 'best' skill isn't always the best idea. If you've got Fight
3260of 4, and you're facing an opponent with Fight 6, you're at a permanent
3261disadvantage. And it's usually pretty hard to justify why you're using
3262another skill for Attack, or why Fight can't be used to defend
3263(substitute Shoot/Athletics as appropriate).
3264
3265But Create Advantage lets you get around this. So long as the action you
3266create justifies it, it allows **you** to set up the skill matchup. So
3267if you've got Fight 4, and the bad guy has Fight 6? No problem... maybe
3268you've got Intimidate 4, and he's got a Will of only 1! Scare him with
3269that! Or use your athletics skill to set up a favorable position,
3270perhaps challenged by his Notice skill.
3271
3272Once you've internalized this, the big bruiser just looks like a big
3273opportunity, since you know he probably has some pretty weak social
3274skills just waiting to be exploited. (Strangely, against a superior
3275combatant, it's often the combat-focused characters that are the
3276**least** effective, as they have fewer good skill matchups).
3277
3278Of course, an especially ninja trick is to use Create Advantage actions
3279that are resisted by the environment, rather than the enemy - these are
3280**very** likely to be easier to accomplish than something with passive
3281resistance!
3282
3283### 4) Create Advantage lets you set up huge hits
3284
3285While it's not *always* the case, in Fate it's often true that a single
3286big hit is worth more than two little ones. If you've got three stress,
3287a pair of two-stress hits will just mark off your second and third
3288stress boxes - but a single four-stress hit will force you to take a
3289Consequence.
3290
3291In general, bigger hits will take down enemies quicker, while smaller
3292hits will be more efficient (require fewer overall successes) at the
3293expense of taking more actual attacks to accomplish.
3294
3295And what's the easiest way to set up a big hit? Either burn through your
3296Fate Point supply or... set up a bunch of free invocations of aspects
3297via Create Advantage. You know what happens to bad guys if your whole
3298team concentrates for a round or two on Creating Advantages, and then
3299passes all of those free invocations to your most competent combatant?
3300**Pain**.Â
3301
3302Combine this with the higher efficiency and preferred skill-matchup of
3303Create Advantage, and you have a recipe for Taking Out even the
3304nastiest, ugliest enemy you encounter (or, the most attractive, suave
3305enemy if it's a social conflict!)
3306
3307### 5) The Narrative Truth of Aspects
3308
3309So far, I've just talked about the purely mechanical, math-based
3310benefits of Create Advantage. But that's only part of the story.
3311
3312In addition to all of the other advantages listed above, Create
3313Advantage **creates narrative truth**. If you get your opponent
3314*Cowering in Fear*, then he's doing that. Which should restrict his
3315actions.
3316
3317Aspects can do all sorts of things, from action permission to denial, to
3318setting up difficulties where none existed, to granting permission for
3319active interference.Â
3320
3321They knock people on the ground, disarm them, have them wandering about
3322in a fog.
3323
3324And this is all **on top of** the mechanical benefits. Beautiful, I tell
3325you!
3326
3327So, anyway, I hope this helps in some way. It's based on my observation
3328of new Fate players, and is basically a rundown of the points I make
3329with them to get them out of the "Attack Attack Attack" cycle, and
3330thinking more "like Fate", which often gets them into describing
3331narrative goodness and all the other coolness I've come to associate
3332with Fate.
3333
3334Failure
3335-------
3336
3337So, before getting into this, I'd like to say again that these posts are
3338about my experiences coming from a traditional game background. They're
3339also about how **I** play Fate, and in many ways about how I've figured
3340out how to play Fate in a way that has little friction in the system,
3341not by modifying it or changing in when I found friction, but rather by
3342abandoning my preconceptions that were causing friction with Fate Core
3343As Written.
3344
3345So, again, don't take what I write as any kind of authoritative source.
3346Take it more as my revelations and me going "wow! It makes sense now!"
3347rather than anything else. (This is also why I'm probably a bit more
3348critical towards Fate hacks than many others - I've found in many cases
3349that the 'need' for hacks is more about the preconceptions I've brought
3350into the game than anything else, and that it's easier to either abandon
3351those preconceptions, or play something that's better aligned with them
3352if I really want that experience).
3353
3354Also, keep in mind that if I say something about traditional games, or
3355people that play them, I'm **not** being critical. I **like**
3356traditional games! And most of the things that I portray as 'things
3357traditional gamers say' are things that I've said myself at various
3358points. So, again, nothing that I'm going to say in this is really
3359intended as a value judgement at all.
3360
3361Anyway. Failure.
3362
3363One of the things that I've said here a bunch is that Fate is a game
3364that encourages players to fail. I've also argued that just about any
3365player-created plan should have a chance of working (which seems
3366contradictory, I know). Recent posters have said that their players want
3367a risk of death. In the past, I myself have argued that games without
3368death were weak, and that allowing players to always have a chance of
3369success was crazy.
3370
3371These seem like a whole ton of unrelated topics, but they're not. They
3372all come down to a key concept: Failure, and what it means in the game.
3373(At a slightly deeper level, it's about game structure, and we'll get to
3374that).
3375
3376So in a typical RPG session, you've got some goal. The GM probably has
3377some kind of quest path planned out. Princess Perky has been cursed! You
3378have to go into the Clammy Caves to retrieve the Dewdrop of Decursing!
3379And, once you do, unknown to you, Princess Perky will tell you the name
3380of the Wiley Wizard that cursed her!
3381
3382Okay, great. Heck, you could even set up a Fate game like that if you
3383wanted. Sure, it's a deliberately cliché-ridden example, but the major
3384elements are there.
3385
3386So the characters go into the Clammy Caverns, and encounter a room with
3387bad guys and traps and whatnot. Awesome. They get into a fight.
3388
3389Okay, here's the real thing. In most traditional games, you're going to
3390win that fight. Flat-out. Because the other real option is TPK, and
3391that's not fun.
3392
3393The trick is that players want the impression that they may lose. And so
3394a lot of the GM's job in these types of games is to make the opposition
3395hard enough that the players feel at risk, but weak enough that they
3396will win.
3397
3398Even players that say things like 'I want death to be a possibility' are
3399kind of being vague and missing the point. They want the feeling of
3400danger. They probably don't want their characters to die (or, at worst,
3401they want death to be an inconvenience). They surely don't want a game
3402so lethal that they have a character dying every session.
3403
3404Here's an experiment: The next time that a player says 'they want a game
3405where death is a real possibility', ask them what percentage of games
3406that they think the game should include **their** character dying, and
3407whether they think that resurrection should be freely available.
3408
3409BTW, I don't blame players for this. When games are often about going
3410through a series of challenges (whether they're puzzles, exploration
3411issues, non-combat challenges, combat, or whatever), and they're gated
3412by the solution, it becomes pretty obvious that they're very likely to
3413actually succeed, and that the 'risk' is mostly imaginary. They just
3414want to believe it's not.
3415
3416There's two fundamental reasons for this:
3417
34181) the number of games ('Adventure Paths', I'm looking at you!) that
3419 utterly remove player agency in terms of the overall story structure
3420
34212) the number of games that don't provide for meaningful failures that
3422 **aren't** death. If you lose combat, the orcs kill you. If you fail
3423 your jump, you fall into the deathy-death pit of death. Or, you lose
3424 hit points, which will either eventually result in death, or
3425 effectively has no consequence.
3426
3427Okay, so let's get back to Fate again, and more 'narrative' styles of
3428games in general.
3429
3430In Fate, death is a rare occurrence. By the rules. To kill someone, you
3431have to Take Them Out before they can concede, and even then you have to
3432explicitly choose that they die. There's no automatic death condition,
3433and Taking Someone Out before they get a chance to react or concede is
3434virtually impossible.
3435
3436To my traditional game eyes, when I snap back to that mode, that makes
3437it seem like you can't fail in Fate. So, why bother playing?
3438
3439A similar issue occurs when you get to things like 'if a player wants
3440there to be a hidden passage, give it a chance to exist.' My traditional
3441gamer brain hears this and says 'what? That fortress is a challenge,
3442designed to test the players' abilities. If you just let any old thing
3443possibly succeed, then what's the point?'
3444
3445And here we get to the crux of the matter, truly.
3446
3447I've described this kind of 'gated event' structure a bit before, I
3448think. And you know what, it can be a lot of fun in the right game.
3449There's nothing wrong with puzzles that are meant to be solved - you can
3450buy jigsaw puzzles all over, and they're clearly meant to be solved, and
3451the challenge of the jigsaw is figuring out how to do it. That's a lot
3452of fun!
3453
3454But other things exist that let you make pictures. Like crayons. And
3455crayons let you make any picture you want. That's crazy! Where's the
3456challenge! How do you know you've done it right?
3457
3458Here's the thing. I adore Fate. Truly. It's one amazingly elegant
3459system. And I find it incredibly poor at producing the types of
3460challenges I find in traditional games. It's a weak tactical skirmish
3461game, at best. The rules don't have a lot of support for
3462'puzzle-solving' type activities, either. The existence of Fate Points
3463essentially means that players can 'buy' success at just about anything.
3464
3465And with a weak challenge system, the whole idea of 'gated challenges'
3466utterly fails.
3467
3468So when traditional game players say things like 'what's the point,
3469you'll always win!' they kind of have a point. Fate is a pretty bad
3470system to run traditional (gated challenge) adventures in.
3471
3472So let's not try. Let's rethink what these 'encounters' are. And let's
3473use the rules to guide us.
3474
3475Let's look at an incredibly simple situation. A locked door.
3476
3477In a traditional game, you'll have a chance to get past this door. If
3478you fail, you fail. If you **really need** to get past that door, you're
3479SOL. But nothing else will likely happen, just the door doesn't open.
3480
3481But if you really need to get past that door, other options will be
3482available, somewhere - this is often called "The Rule of Three". And
3483while it seems like it's not the "gated challenge" structure, it really
3484is - there's just multiple 'solutions' to the challenge.
3485
3486But... what about in Fate?
3487
3488Fate Core, pg. 187: *If you can't imagine an interesting outcome from
3489both results, then don't call for that roll.*
3490
3491Whoa. That's weird. Does that mean if you can't think of how to make
3492opening the door interesting, then it just opens? Where's the challenge
3493in that???
3494
3495But there's a hidden gem in there that's the key to understanding
3496'failure' in Fate. If you have an interesting outcome for both results,
3497then opening the door isn't a "gated challenge". It's a fork in the
3498road. It's a place where the story can go one of two places, and you
3499*don't know which one will happen*. So the roll becomes less about 'do
3500we pass the challenge?' and more about 'how does the story progress?'
3501
3502So with the door, we want to break it down. Great. We now need to come
3503up with an interesting failure, another way that the story can go. "It
3504just doesn't open" isn't a story, it's a stall in the story. It kills
3505momentum, and doesn't progress anything. But... trying to break down the
3506door is probably pretty noisy - so if you keep trying it, maybe someone
3507will hear you... Now you've got an interesting branch! You can either
3508get through the door, or be found by the guards! Either of them will
3509keep the action going, and either of them can make an interesting story.
3510
3511I've suggested the idea of 'Fractal Challenges' before (the idea that a
3512single roll can be expanded into a Conflict, Challenge, or Contest, and
3513that the inverse is true as well). So let's look at Princess Perky from
3514the same view.
3515
3516In the original version, if you don't make it through the Clammy Caves,
3517you don't save Princess Perky, and she doesn't tell you who the Wiley
3518Wizard is. And, due to how traditional systems generally work, the
3519available choices will probably be 'you get the Dewdrop of Decursing' or
3520'TPK'.
3521
3522In Fate, the same 'interesting result' rule for a single roll applies to
3523a Conflict as a whole. If there's not an interesting result if you fail
3524the conflict, don't have one. So what does failure mean? Well... it
3525could mean you're captured. It could just mean you don't get the
3526Dewdrop... which could mean that Princess Perky doesn't get cured. What
3527happens then? Maybe Princess Perky turns into some kind of demonic
3528vessel? Maybe the curse spreads across the town over time, cursing NPCs
3529that the players either have relationships with, or that are useful
3530assets. Maybe Baron Boring even gets cursed, and declares the PCs to be
3531outlaws, and causes them to be hunted! By viewing the Conflict as a
3532decision point, as a branch in the story, rather than a challenge to be
3533overcome, we allow for 'failure', where in the traditional game failure
3534tends to be rather game-ending.
3535
3536For the third example, finding a secret passageway - again, the roll
3537indicates less 'we overcame the challenge' than it indicates 'how will
3538the story progress?' Finding a hidden passageway doesn't mean that the
3539challenge is defeated. It just means that the story progresses a
3540different way - it becomes a story about trudging through the dark,
3541forgotten passages underneath the castle, and the horrors that lurk
3542there. Maybe you figured that the game would be more about being sneaky
3543and stealthy. Or heroically fighting into the castle. Or some masterful
3544bluff. But a scary hidden passageway story is just as good, and can be
3545just as tense. And you might still get your way - after all, if the
3546attempt to find the passageway fails, then something bad is likely to
3547happen as a result of the characters poking around!
3548
3549And here's the thing - since 'failure' will generally mean that things
3550get worse for the heroes, it can be a real threat in **every single
3551encounter**. You can run the game so that **no encounter** is
3552guaranteed. Your failure rate can be 50%. PCs can go into every
3553encounter knowing that something is on the line, even if it's not
3554usually their lives. Instead of winning 99% of the time, losing will be
3555a real threat.
3556
3557I'll go so far as to say that every die roll in Fate should be tense.
3558That's where the system works best. This isn't a game where the goal is
3559to stack your bonuses so high that you never fail. This is a game where
3560failure should **always** be a possibility, where things getting worse
3561can **always** happen.
3562
3563Because here's the thing - Fate Points and the concession mechanics also
3564combine to ensure that, in almost any situation, players can get their
3565way if they choose to dedicate enough resources, in terms of Fate Points
3566and consequences. I've seen it said here that the initial die roll isn't
3567about whether you succeed or fail, it's about the cost of success. And
3568that seems pretty accurate.
3569
3570So, when I see questions like "how do I make sure a fight is
3571challenging, without having the players lose", my answer is "who cares?"
3572Make it tough. Let them buy their way out of it and carry those
3573consequences. Or let them lose, and let the story go that way.
3574
3575Fate isn't easier because of these things. It's harder. A Fate game, run
3576**as Fate** can be far more brutal than any D&D game I've ever played.
3577Embrace this. Embrace failure in your games. Embrace not knowing what
3578will happen. Embrace rolls, Contests, Challenges, and Conflicts as
3579decision points. Embrace Concessions, and don't think of them as a
3580cop-out.
3581
3582Failure is a core part of Fate "as Fate". Embrace it.
3583
3584Demystifying the Fate Fractal, and the Nature of Aspects
3585--------------------------------------------------------
3586
3587(AKA, how are those even related?)
3588
3589So, my first real exposure (in terms of playing Fate) was Spirit of the
3590Century. I had come from a long history of playing traditional games.
3591And so I saw Aspects and thought "Hey, neat! Those are just like
3592Advantages/Feats/Edges/etc.!, except you get to name them cool things
3593and you can make anything you want!" It seemed pretty obvious, and
3594pretty cool. Having figured that out, I went on to the rest of the
3595system.
3596
3597Except that I was wrong. I couldn't have been any more wrong if my name
3598was W. Wrong Wrongenstein.
3599
3600This was just one of my first errors in understanding Fate, but it's a
3601pretty significant one. I was thinking of an aspect as primarily
3602something that gave a bonus, and something that was attached to
3603something else, like an adjective. And you can make an argument that
3604some aspects are like that, but it's really not a very good
3605understanding. An aspect is both simpler, and more complex than that.
3606
3607An aspect, really, is a story element. It is something, anything, that
3608is important to the story in some way. It's an 'aspect' of the story, if
3609you will.
3610
3611At it's most simple, it's something that the story is about.
3612
3613I'm going to go back to 'narrative first' here. We need to understand
3614what is important to the story (at least at this point, this scene), and
3615then we capture those things, stick little labels on them, and call them
3616'aspects'.
3617
3618But what about characters, you may ask. They're important to the story,
3619clearly! And they're characters, not aspects!
3620
3621Ah-ha! You have fallen into my trap, oh
3622non-existent-person-that-I-put-words-in-the-mouth-of! You're assuming
3623that characters aren't aspects, but they clearly are!
3624
3625Well, then how come characters have skills, and aspects don't? I mean,
3626clearly *Pitch Darkness* can't drive a car!
3627
3628And here, perhaps, there's some presumptions made about what a 'skill'
3629is. A 'skill' doesn't represent training. It represents the ability of a
3630story 'aspect' to influence a scene, without being invoked by someone
3631else.
3632
3633Okay, that sounds like a bunch of crazy meta-talk, so let's try and get
3634back to English.
3635
3636A character is a story element. It can influence a scene. It does so by
3637using skills. What a skill represents, then, is the ability for an story
3638element to influence a scene, without the influence of another.
3639
3640So, what about *Pitch Darkness*? It certainly can't drive! This is true,
3641which is why it won't have the Drive skill. But, depending on the game
3642and scene, it **can** influence things! Darkness can make people
3643paranoid, it can cause them mental stress. Instead of having a bunch of
3644rules for all of these things, Fate just handles it by saying 'Sure,
3645*Pitch Darkness* can be active and influence a scene if appropriate.
3646Just give it skills'.
3647
3648And this is one of the fundamental points of the fractal - that story
3649elements can influence scenes, and they do those using 'skills'.
3650
3651A character isn't really any different than *Pitch Darkness*. It's just
3652easier to lump up some commonalities of story elements controlled by
3653players, and call it a 'character' by convention.
3654
3655And story elements can have other story elements. The character story
3656element Han Solo is associated with *The Millennium Falcon*. It's easy
3657to call the Falcon a 'detail' of Han Solo since, if he wasn't in the
3658story, the Falcon wouldn't be either. So we declare *The Millennium
3659Falcon* to be an 'aspect' of Han Solo (who is, himself, an aspect - a
3660story element). And, of course, the Falcon can have its own skills, and
3661its own aspects (*Hidden Storage Everywhere*, for instance).
3662
3663And that's a pretty good description of the Fractal. But there's one
3664piece that's missing. A fundamental feature of fractals, in math, is
3665that they have infinite detail. You can zoom out of them, view them at a
3666larger scale, or zoom into them, and see them at a tighter scale, and
3667they still have equivalent detail. That's pretty cool. And it's pretty
3668important to understanding the Fate Fractal, as well.
3669
3670Let's say we're playing some fantasy game, and there's the setting
3671aspect *The City State of Warrington*. It's relevant to the story, so
3672it's an aspect, and as such can be invoked or compelled.
3673
3674Now, later on, our protagonists get closer to Warrington, and so it
3675becomes more relevant to the story. We can start giving it aspects of
3676its own, such as *Rules With An Iron Fist*, *Constantly Guarded*, and
3677*Bloodthirsty Militia*. We can give it skills, like Conquer Other
3678City-States:4.
3679
3680Now, let's say that our protagonists get closer to the city. The city is
3681constantly guarded, but we want some more detail, so we can declare a
3682*Gate Guards* aspect. If the protagonists maintain their distance, an
3683aspect, by itself, is probably sufficient to indicate their effect on
3684the scene.
3685
3686But if we get closer, we might want to have some more detail there,
3687again. Maybe we decide that there's a *Fat Guard* and a *Skinny Guard*.
3688As we get closer, maybe they get some aspects of their own. And
3689certainly, if we storm the gates, they'll need skills, and possibly
3690equipment, and so on! And even their equipment could get aspects - if a
3691PC uses Create Advantage to declare that the Skinny Guard's sword is old
3692and brittle, then so it is!
3693
3694This is, fundamentally, what the Fate Fractal is really about. It's
3695about having a universal way of describing story elements, and their
3696ability to impact the world. It's about having the ability to describe
3697these elements **with the right amount of detail for the current
3698scene**. I don't need to know specifics about the two guards if I'm a
3699hundred miles from Warrington. I need to know that it exists, and that
3700it's oppressive.
3701
3702But as I get closer, its ability to manipulate things becomes important.
3703I need to know more about how it impacts the scenes characters are in.
3704So the Fate Fractal gives me tools to flesh this out. Even the guards go
3705from being a generalized aspect (*Gate Guards*), to individuals, to
3706individual elements containing skills, and possibly even sub-elements.
3707
3708And none of this changes a single thing about them, at any point. The
3709guards don't suddenly 'gain skills' when I get close to them. They
3710always had them. It's just that they weren't actually important until we
3711were in a position to interact with them. They didn't 'change' from
3712'aspects' to 'characters'Â - that's a false distinction. They were
3713**always** aspects, in that every story element is an aspect! And they
3714were always 'characters', because what else could a guard be? But as we
3715needed to know more about them, we detailed them out further, and when
3716we didn't need that detail, we didn't have to think about it. The
3717city-state of Warrington didn't become a fractal aspect when we needed
3718more detail - it's still 'an aspect', just one with less detail
3719associated with it. Nothing about its fundamental nature changed.
3720
3721So if you have an aspect that needs to be active in a scene, just give
3722it a skill! There's no change in 'type' that needs to occur. 'Skills' is
3723just how story elements impact scenes, without being driven by another
3724story element.
3725
3726It's all just aspects. All the way down.
3727
3728Until you reach the turtles.
3729
3730Some advice for new Fate players
3731--------------------------------
3732
3733### Character Creation
3734
3735- - Remember, aspects are more about your character's story than
3736 anything else. Feat/Advantage equivalents are in stunts.
3737
3738- Choose your top three skills carefully. It's a tendency in many
3739 games that hyper-specialization is the way to win. This is less true
3740 in Fate, where skills tend to be more "complete". Think of a variety
3741 of scenarios you think you'll be in, and try to have a skill that
3742 will be useful in each
3743
3744- Remember that the advice for GMs, for solo enemies at least, is to
3745 have their peak skill at the PC peak +2. When encountering an enemy
3746 like that, you'd better have something that can target one of their
3747 weak areas.
3748
3749- Remember that nothing on your character sheet is permanent. Skills,
3750 stunts, aspects, they should all change over time.
3751
3752- If you can, don't set all of your stunts at first. See what
3753 situations you find yourself in frequently, and tailor your stunts
3754 to that (and your character).
3755
3756- Seriously consider the stunts outside of the typical "+2 to skill
3757 when **circumstance**" mold. They can be surprisingly effective.
3758
3759- Make sure you and the GM have an understanding of what your stunts
3760 and aspects do - when they come into play, how they can be used, how
3761 they won't be used.
3762
3763### Basic strategy
3764
3765- The number one "strategy" in Fate is to get a good skill matchup.
3766 Try to find a way to bring one of your better skills into play.Â
3767
3768- Against any opposition, it's more important to have a higher
3769 relative skill than a higher absolute skill. +2 vs. +0 is better
3770 than +4Â vs +6.
3771
3772- Don't get too paranoid even by imposing opposition. It's nearly
3773 impossible to be Taken Out in a single hit.
3774
3775- **Create Advantage is your friend.**
3776
3777- Teamwork is also your friend. You may not be able to get a good
3778 Attack matchup, but you can definitely pass along those free invokes
3779 (if narratively appropriate) to someone else on your side, who can
3780 use them to clean up.
3781
3782### Playing the Game
3783
3784- Play "fiction-first". Think of what you want to do in the "fiction",
3785 and then work with the GM to translate that into game mechanics.
3786 Frankly, Fate doesn't really have enough "crunch" to play a
3787 mechanics-first game.
3788
3789- **Prepare to fail.** Fate is a game where occasional failure is
3790 encouraged. Don't fear it. If you're playing Fate "by the book," a
3791 failure of any sort doesn't end the game or the story, it just
3792 pushes it in a different direction. Don't feel you have to "win"
3793 every encounter/scene - save the Fate Points for where you **really,
3794 really** want the story to go a particular way.
3795
3796- Conceding is your friend. If you're getting your butt handed to you,
3797 Concede! It's a lot better than being Taken Out, and you'll even get
3798 Fate Points for it!
3799
3800- Self-compel whenever you can. The GM **will** complicate your life.
3801 That's his job. By self-compelling, you at least get a Fate Point
3802 out of the deal.
3803
3804- Be proactive. Call for scenes. Figure out how you want to drive the
3805 story forward. A good Fate GM will work with this - after all, your
3806 characters are the protagonists and **should** drive the story, not
3807 just react to what happens.
3808
3809- **Think in terms of goals**. Your actions should be geared to drive
3810 the story forward. Figure out what "amazing success" looks like, and
3811 make sure the GM knows what you're after. Fate is less about probing
3812 the existing scenario, and more about driving a story forward. Even
3813 if your "amazing success" doesn't make sense for some reason, the GM
3814 can at least give you something similar.
3815
3816- Negotiate with the GM, but accept that some things won't go your
3817 way. In Fate, the GM has a lot of power. And sometimes you'll
3818 disagree with him. Fate also recommends bringing things up to the
3819 table, and so a good GM will do so when there's a dispute.
3820 Sometimes, though, you'll still disagree with the final answer. Deal
3821 with it. If it's not happening all of the time, and isn't just
3822 completely ruining the game, let it go. Think about it after the
3823 game, and if it still bugs you, take it up with the GM - away from
3824 the table.
3825
3826Fate's Big Question
3827-------------------
3828
3829This is something that's been poking around my head for a bit, and I
3830think I've finally figured out how to express it.
3831
3832I think that all RPGs have a "Big Question" - that is, a fundamental
3833decision-making exercise that's really the point of the game. To a great
3834extent, competence with this question is what separates a "good" player
3835from a "bad" player in a given game, so that's a useful metric to figure
3836out what this Big Question is.
3837
3838For early D&D, the Big Question was "can I use the resources at my
3839disposal, and those I get on the way, to get as much treasure as
3840possible out of the dungeon without dying?" And by looking at that Big
3841Question, we can kind of see the choices that drive the game - resource
3842management, the risk of death, and a desire to gain treasure. It's all
3843there, spelled out in front of us.
3844
3845The vast majority of RPGs today have variations on the same Big
3846Question: "Is my ability to build a character, and my ability to
3847manipulate the mechanics of the game, sufficient to overcome these
3848obstacles?" And that's how most games are played - the first two
3849factors, in various proportions, are put up against a set of obstacles
3850to see if the player is skillful enough to beat them.
3851
3852(BTW, I understand that most games aren't "just" that. I'm not talking
3853about the totality, just the primary emphasis).
3854
3855And because a lot of elements in Fate look like those systems, it's
3856pretty common to assume that Fate has the same Big Question.
3857
3858But it doesn't.
3859
3860Fate Core doesn't really allow for optimization in a way that makes
3861charop an interesting exercise. Character *building*, sure. Character
3862op? Not so much. If you're halfway proficient in the system, it's hard
3863to make a character that's really incompetent, or super-competent. (As
3864an aside, I find the biggest issue with charop in Fate is, ironically
3865enough, people that over-specialize, which is the **best** strategy in
3866most games).
3867
3868And Fate Core's mechanical systems don't really support a deep game of
3869mechanical fiddling. Again, yeah, there's some basics, but once you've
3870got the general hang of using Create Advantage, the mechanics of
3871Stress/Consequences, and how to get good skill matchups, you're pretty
3872much good to go.
3873
3874So, those can't be Fate's Big Question. But what is?
3875
3876One thing that I've been saying a lot more recently about Fate is that a
3877Fate Character can do **anything**, but they can't do **everything**.
3878
3879Now, that's obviously an exaggeration. There are some things that
3880character just **can't** do in a given setting. But that's not really
3881what I'm talking about.
3882
3883What I'm talking about here is the fact that, given sufficient Fate
3884Points to spend, and sufficient willingness to take on Consequences, a
3885character can accomplish just about any reasonable goal. If the
3886character wants to sneak into the castle, **he will**. It's almost
3887inevitable. Almost **anything** can be accomplished.
3888
3889But doing so will deplete those resources. You'll end up out of Fate
3890Points, and with your Consequences all consumed. And then you'll find
3891yourself at the whims of the dice next time around - which is exactly
3892why you can't accomplish **everything**.
3893
3894And to me this leads right to Fate's Big Question. And that question is
3895simple:
3896
3897"How much do you want this?" Or, since cost is really only interesting
3898in terms of opportunity cost, "Which of these do you want more?"
3899
3900And to me, that's the Big Question of Fate. And just like every
3901encounter in a "typical" RPG has to drive towards being a challenging
3902exercise of build/tactics, every scene in Fate should drive towards
3903making the players make those tough choices. The choice of which thing
3904they care about they can have, and which one they don't get to have.
3905
3906That's why failure is important in Fate - if you never fail, then that
3907means that you've gotten everything you want - and you've never had to
3908make that hard choice. That's why we drive plots off of character
3909aspects - because otherwise, it's likely that the players/characters
3910won't really care enough about anything to make the choice a tough one.
3911And that's why we let the characters be proactive - to ensure that they
3912get to make the decisions, that **they** set up the hard choices for
3913themselves by conveniently telling the GM what they care about, and what
3914they're invested in.
3915
3916So what a GM really needs to think about in Fate is not "how do I make
3917this encounter mechanically interesting" (at least, primarily - though
3918that's a great secondary concern). It's "how much am I going to charge
3919them to get their way on this?" It's fundamentally a costing exercise,
3920and the cost should be high. Every time they buy something, it should be
3921painful, knowing that getting this means that there's something else
3922that they care about that they'll have to forego, or a painful cost that
3923they'll have to bear.
3924
3925(spoiler alert)
3926
3927Want an example of this? Harry Dresden. He refused to sign up with the
3928bad guys for years, until his GM (aka Jim Butcher) made him choose
3929between his daughter's life and signing on with one of the bad guys.
3930
3931He had to make that hard choice. That's great drama. That's great
3932gameplay. That's the point of Fate.
3933
3934So drive that cost. Figure out what the players want, and make them
3935**pay** for it. Make them give you the "you're a dick" look on
3936Concessions or Compels. Let their priorities get them in deeper and
3937deeper.
3938
3939They'll thank you for it.
3940
3941Pacing Mechanisms in Fate
3942-------------------------
3943
3944So, this is something I've wanted to write for a while, but haven't
3945gotten around to. Until today.
3946
3947### What's a pacing mechanism?
3948
3949One of the things I see some confusion about in Fate are the various
3950pacing mechanisms available - Conflicts, Contests, and Challenges, or as
3951I like to call them, the 3 Cs.
3952
3953So, I call them all pacing mechanisms. What the heck do I even mean by
3954that? That seems to imply that they're all related to each other, but
3955they're clearly not, right??
3956
3957Okay, so time for Rob to get pedantic (like that's new). We roll dice in
3958Fate to answer a question. **Technically**, if we wanted to, we could
3959answer any question, no matter how big or small, with a single die roll
3960- probably an Overcome.
3961
3962Hell, if we were running Star Wars as a Fate game, we could do the
3963entire game as a single Overcome roll against the Empire! But... what
3964fun would that be?
3965
3966And fundamentally, that's the point of pacing mechanisms. They're
3967nothing more, and nothing less, than a tool to make the resolution of a
3968single question take longer than one roll of the dice/action resolution.
3969
3970(And if you hear me refer to stress as a pacing mechanism, that's why -
3971stress determines, to a great extent, how long a Conflict will last).
3972
3973But why call them pacing mechanisms? For instance, aren't Contests
3974really chases? Isn't that what they model?
3975
3976Nope. Contests don't "model" anything. They just drag things out, and
3977provide an ending condition. Sure, their mechanics map reasonably well
3978to how you'd model a chase, but that doesn't mean that they actually
3979model chases. In general, you're best off if you use the pacing
3980mechanisms **as** pacing mechanisms, and leave the modeling to the
3981narrative level. Roll the dice, figure out the results, and then narrate
3982the results in a way that makes it clear that one side or the other is
3983getting closer to achieving their goal. In Fate, the "fiction", the
3984shared imagination and view of what's going on, informs the mechanics
3985rather than the other way around.
3986
3987So, which one of these do you use? This seems to be a common question,
3988and one that I think has a pretty simple answer, if you look at the
3989question from a slightly different way.Â
3990
3991Much like Attack vs. Overcome isn't based on what you're doing, but
3992rather whether you're trying to Take Out your opponent, which pacing
3993mechanism you choose isn't determined by the actions that are being
3994undertaken, primarily. It's determined by the nature of the opposition.
3995
3996### Challenges
3997
3998I'll start with Challenges, since they have the generally easiest
3999criteria. Use a Challenge when you don't have active opposition over the
4000entire Challenge. This could mean that that the opposition is the
4001environment (barring Fight Fire and the like). This could mean that the
4002opposition is unaware and inactive (see the Contest section for what I
4003mean by that). This could mean that you **do** have active opposition,
4004but only for part of the Challenge (in which case you can either model
4005that as an Overcome, or as a sub-Conflict/Contest as appropriate).
4006
4007Zird warding off the zombies meets these criteria. The zombies are
4008(mostly) a passive, environmental challenge, and at any rate he's really
4009barring the door to them. Convincing the townspeople is arguably active
4010opposition... but they're not interfering with the majority of the
4011challenge, and so is an Overcome. Casting the ritual is simply
4012environmental, and is an Overcome.
4013
4014Now, part of a Challenge **may** involve active opposition - such as the
4015villagers being convinced in the Zird example. In that case, you can
4016either treat it as a simple Overcome within the Challenge (remember,
4017that all pacing mechanisms are basically stand-ins for a single
4018resolution), or you can expand it out further into an inner
4019Conflict/Contest if appropriate.
4020
4021But what if you have active opposition - some individual or party that
4022is directly opposing the question that you're trying to answer? That
4023leaves Conflicts and Contests, which is where a lot of questions seem to
4024come up.
4025
4026### Conflicts
4027
4028If your opposition is active, and direct, you use a Conflict. By direct,
4029I mean that the goal of both parties is to get the other to back down in
4030some way - either by getting knocked out and killed, by surrendering, by
4031fleeing, etc. For a Conflict, the two things should be true:
4032
40331. Both sides are committed to getting the other side to back down
4034
40352. The "question" of the conflict is either:
4036
4037a. whether a particular side will back down in some way
4038
4039b. something that the winner can accomplish if the opposition isn't
4040 there
4041
4042So if you're trying to capture some bad guys (or the other way around),
4043that **could** be a Conflict, so long as both sides are exchanging blows
4044(by choice or because no other option exists). If you're trying to get
4045past guards to defuse a bomb, that's a Conflict, up until the guards run
4046off to save their hides, or you do.
4047
4048### Contests
4049
4050If your opposition is active and **indirect**, choose a Contest.
4051
4052By indirect, I mean simply that both sides aren't engaged in mutual
4053annihilation. The obvious cases would be races, or a chase. It could be
4054trying to capture someone, so long as they're trying to evade capture.
4055It could even be fleeing from a shooter (where the question becomes "Can
4056I make it to cover before I get shot/killed?"). But the key here is that
4057there are still two or more **active** participants/sides - you
4058generally don't use a Contest if one side is unaware.
4059
4060Aside: You might choose a Contest with an unaware side, if that side is
4061actively doing something that would bring the Contest to a close - a
4062sorcerer opening a gate to an evil realm, for instance, might be in a
4063contest with the adventurers trying to make it to his sanctum to
4064interrupt the spell, even if the sorcerer is unaware of their presence.
4065The real key here is the **active** bit.
4066
4067In general, any time you can phrase the question you're answering as "do
4068I **my desired goal** before they **their desired goal**" is a Contest,
4069unless both of the desired goals are "beat up the other guy".
4070
4071### Choosing Based On Context
4072
4073So that's the basic way that I divide up the pacing mechanisms. And it's
4074interesting, because some high-level actions may fall under any of the
4075three pacing mechanisms, based on the context of the action.
4076
4077As an example, let's say you're a sniper, and what to shoot someone in
4078the head. Is that a Challenge? Is it a Contest? Is it a Conflict?
4079
4080If the target is unaware of what you're doing, and there's no enemy
4081awareness of your presence, it's a challenge - there's no active
4082opposition, so there's no "other side". There's certainly some
4083**passive** opposition that must be overcome in some way or another, but
4084you're not dealing with an active opponent.
4085
4086If the target is unaware, but there's a patrol in the area that's
4087hunting you down, then it's a Contest - "do I shoot my target before the
4088enemy patrol finds me" definitely falls into the Contest template
4089described above.
4090
4091If you're in the middle of a firefight, and trying to snipe one of your
4092opponents, then it's a Conflict, pretty clearly.
4093
4094### Last Thoughts
4095
4096These three pacing mechanisms do a pretty good job of covering just
4097about all situations. Some might requiring a bit of coercing to get into
4098place, but they're all basically workable. I don't know that I'd mix
4099them - shooting someone that's running to me seems mostly like a
4100Contest, so I don't know that I'd necessarily mix Stress/Consequences
4101into that. And again, they don't really "model" anything. They're about
4102**pacing**, not **modeling**.
4103
4104And obviously there's other ways to handle pacing besides these three.
4105If there's something that really bugs you, come up with another
4106mechanism to handle it! But I'd keep the general idea of these being
4107**pacing** mechanisms intact, and keep the modeling in the narrative.
4108
4109Questions and Decisions
4110-----------------------
4111
4112Okay, this is more of a general RPG thing, but it applies very well to
4113Fate Core.
4114
4115So, I read *Save the Cat!* recently. It kind of opened my eyes to a lot
4116of script structure, and pushed me in a few directions I had already
4117been going.
4118
4119I think there's two things that are critical in every RPG. Questions,
4120and decisions.
4121
4122Every RPG session should answer some question. This is what drives play,
4123and keeps people engaged. This is no different than a story, be it book,
4124movie, or whatever. We watch *Star Wars* because we want to know "Will
4125Luke manage to destroy the Death Star?"
4126
4127That's more of a campaign level question. But there are other questions
4128as well - "Will Luke find R2?" "Will they find a pilot?" "Will they
4129disable the tractor beam?" These are all interesting questions.
4130
4131So when starting a campaign, ask yourself what the campaign question or
4132questions are. A grand, sweeping question is fine, but then there needs
4133to be something more immediate, relevant, and obtainable. "Will Luke
4134defeat the Galactic Empire" is an interesting question, but it's huge.
4135"Will he get off of Tatooine before the Stormtroopers find him" is a
4136much more approachable, and solvable question.
4137
4138The other thing is to ensure that the players **care** about the
4139questions. So think about what your players care about - which is
4140generally stuff they've invested something in. In Fate, that means their
4141characters, but can also mean the setting bits that they've had input
4142into. You may have a grand idea for a war between massive factions, but
4143the players, at least to start, don't really care about your factions.
4144You do, because you made them - you're invested in them.
4145
4146Even on a smaller level, most scenes should answer a question. Sure,
4147there are scenes that are just exposition, or character development, but
4148a good dramatic scene has to have a question that it answers. If you
4149can't figure that out, then maybe you should skip over the scene, or
4150give the players enough information that they can get to a scene with an
4151important question.
4152
4153The other part of this equation is decisions. Questions set the stage,
4154and create the drama. But player **decisions** are what answer the
4155questions.
4156
4157Whenever you're looking at a scenario, think about what decisions the
4158players are making. If they're just going along from point A to B to C,
4159and defeating challenges, then they're not making a ton of decisions,
4160and not doing much to answer the important questions. That's fine for
4161some games, but it seems kind of counter to the games where Fate really
4162shines.
4163
4164A lot of times we look at adding mechanics, or encounters, or tweaking
4165things, or setting up scenarios. And that's great. But I find it's best
4166to always do those things with a mind towards "what decisions does this
4167enable for the players?"
4168
4169You've got a town that's having an internal power struggle? Great! One's
4170clearly the good guys, and one's clearly bad... well, you've just
4171removed a decision, in that (hopefully!) the players will align with the
4172good guys. Instead, try to make the two sides have implications for the
4173future of the town that aren't just "good" and "bad" - or even better
4174yet, tie them into character aspects, especially if you can find
4175conflicting aspects!
4176
4177Same with game mechanics. Got some funky new dice mechanic you want to
4178try? Awesome! But what decision points does it give to the players that
4179they don't have? If the players are still making the same decisions (or
4180worse, fewer because the new mechanics provide some kind of optimal
4181path), then rethink your mechanic.
4182
4183Note that if the players' decisions are driving the answer to the
4184questions of the game, then **you can't know the answers ahead of
4185time**. I deliberately avoid planning what will happen - even to the
4186point of thinking about how cool things might be, and then stopping
4187myself from thinking about that.
4188
4189Questions and decisions. Get those, and you're pretty much golden.
4190
4191In Defense of Monster of the Week
4192---------------------------------
4193
4194Okay, so this has been on my mind for a bit. It's a little bit less
4195about grokking the system, and a bit more practical in terms of running
4196sessions. Weird, huh?
4197
4198Anyway.
4199
4200("Monster of the week" doesn't necessarily mean a monster, of course -
4201just any one-shot episode not related to the primary story).
4202
4203Monster of the week episodes on TV get a bad rap, and they can also get
4204a bad rap in game sessions. The usual idea is that they're filler
4205content that takes little creativity and has nothing to do with the
4206overall plot that's occurring.
4207
4208And they **can** be all of those things. But they can be so much more.
4209
4210Monster of the week sessions are great trial balloons. They're ways of
4211throwing elements at the players and seeing what the players like. If
4212they **like** something, it's easy to bring it back, or something like
4213it. But if they **don't** like an element, it's a lot easier to just
4214forget about it and move on with the game, as opposed to bringing in a
4215new NPC that's more integrated with the overall game.
4216
4217Especially at the beginning of a campaign, MotW sessions are great for
4218helping to get a feel for the overall tone of the game, and figuring out
4219what the group, as a whole, responds to. It's a great way to figure out
4220what elements players will want to deal with, and to take those and
4221start integrating them into the bigger picture.
4222
4223And those are all valid points in favor of MotW sessions.
4224
4225But there's a huge misconception about MotW sessions/episodes. And
4226that's the idea that they're not relevant because they're not part of
4227the overall plot. But they're very, very relevant. Because a monster of
4228the week episode/session ain't about the **monster**.
4229
4230It's about the characters.
4231
4232Look at the first season of Buffy, for instance. Witch cheerleader mom?
4233Totally unrelated to the overall plot. Monster of the week. Pointless,
4234right?
4235
4236Nope. Because the episode wasn't about the **witch**. It was about Buffy
4237wanting to live a normal life, and about how she can't because of what
4238she is.
4239
4240Mantis teacher? Pointless, right? Nope. It was about Xander being
4241unlucky (and a bit desperate) in love.
4242
4243Hyena gang? That's a double-whammy, being both about Xander's desire to
4244fit in, but mostly about how much Willow cares about Xander.
4245
4246Computer demon? Another double-whammy, hitting up Willow's unluckiness
4247in love as well as Giles' love of books/discomfort of technology.
4248
4249The point of these episodes isn't to advance the plot. It's to highlight
4250and flesh out the characters that are involved. And that's the key.
4251
4252So if you're doing a monster of the week, great! Good for you! But do it
4253**right**. Make it about the characters. Don't start with a monster
4254idea. Start with the aspects of the characters, and then make up a
4255'monster' that reflects that aspect, or shows the weakness, or drives
4256that conflict home.
4257
4258Fate Core Thought of the Day: Aspects, the Information Economy, and Chekov's Gun
4259--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4260
4261(No, not the Star Trek guy).
4262
4263Okay, I think most people are aware of Chekov's Gun - "if a gun is on
4264the wall in the first act, it should be fired by the third."
4265
4266Ultimately, what this really means is "don't bother the audience with
4267extraneous detail." Especially in a play, everything that's there should
4268be there for a reason. There's a deliberate choice that's made to focus
4269on what's important, and remove everything that isn't.
4270
4271We see this in TV shows, movies, and books, as well, but not to as great
4272of an extent. Most of these media try to immerse their audience in the
4273reality of what's happening, something that's generally not a goal for
4274plays. And so there might very well be a gun on the wall that never gets
4275fired, or a shadow that nobody leaps out of.
4276
4277But the camera will never focus on those things. And that's a useful way
4278of looking at it, as well - an aspect is something that gets camera
4279focus in describing the scene.
4280
4281To put it another way, there's a difference between a scene being dark,
4282and a scene being Dark. A dark scene may be a poorly lit bar - but the
4283lighting is just ambience. It doesn't influence the plot in any way. It
4284doesn't really impact how the characters do things. It's just there to
4285set a mood.
4286
4287A Dark scene is different. In a Dark scene, we can expect somebody to
4288jump out of the shadows at some point, or disappear into them.
4289
4290And that's kind of what aspects are. They're the things we're pointing
4291out to the players as important. We don't try to capture every detail,
4292or worry about the minor things that have a slight influence on what
4293happens. Size advantages/disadvantages aren't a big deal, until you're
4294talking about something on the level of Bruce Lee vs. Kareem Abdul
4295Jabaar... yeah, one guy might have a slightly longer reach, and one guy
4296might be slightly faster, yada, yada, yada, but all of those are minor
4297factors.
4298
4299Fate worries about the major factors. It worries about the big things
4300that will swing how the scenes play out. It doesn't worry about the
4301minor effects, even though those certainly can add up to a big effect -
4302but it assumes that, like a TV show or movie, that those turn out to be
4303a wash most of the time.
4304
4305Now, since we don't have full control of the story, we can't fully obey
4306the law of Chekov's Gun. But it's important to keep in mind that every
4307aspect should be something that **could** be important, and that
4308**could** be something that causes the scene to swing a different way.
4309
4310And that's why aspect "spamming" is kind of a bad thing. The point of
4311aspects is to restrict what the players have to think about, to restrict
4312the important elements in a scene. If your scene has a list of twenty
4313aspects, then you've destroyed this economy of information, and have
4314reduced the value of calling out things as aspects in the first place.
4315
4316Character Creation Musings
4317--------------------------
4318
4319So, I've done character creation a bit. Mostly because I force my
4320players through it for one-shots, since those often end up as a sales
4321pitch for the game as a whole.
4322
4323Anyway.
4324
4325Through doing character creation, I've noticed that there are some
4326things that are very quick, and some things that aren't. I've also
4327noticed that some things are very valuable, and some things less so.
4328Annoyingly, many of the things that are less useful are also the things
4329that take the longest.
4330
4331I've decided that I like scoping out the "First Adventure" phase as
4332"your first spotlight episode". It seems to help players in coming up
4333with stories (antagonists, etc.) rather than vignettes for their first
4334adventures. It also eases some of the time issues that I've had occur. A
4335nice side bonus of this is it gives me a pretty good idea of what the
4336players think an episode/minor arc should look like! I don't see a lot
4337of problems with this, except that it leaves out the possibilities for
4338stuff that occurred before the "series starts". Luckily, that's handled
4339well by...
4340
4341I add the Early Life and Turning Point phases back in. I think it was
4342[Ryan Macklin](https://plus.google.com/115238641855986579653)Â that
4343suggested this, and I think it's a great idea.
4344
4345Of course, this only really works if you decouple aspects from phases,
4346so that's a given. Fortunately, one of the low-benefit, high-cost areas
4347that I see is defining aspects at character creation. At this point, the
4348character is usually being felt out, and I always give the go-ahead for
4349massive aspect modification after the first few session. So, if I'm
4350going to do that, why not just allow for FAE-style aspect creation on
4351the fly?
4352
4353Same with stunts. Stunts have been the highest-cost, lowest-value part
4354of character creation that I've seen from day one, so I've switched to
4355FAE style, on-the-fly stunt creation. If people have stunts that they
4356know they want at the start, that's fine of course.
4357
4358I also only really ask that players fill in the top three skills, though
4359I find that generally they do the entire pyramid.
4360
4361Procedurally, I think this will go something like:
4362
43631) Go around the table, come up with High Concept
4364
43652) Go around the table, come up with Trouble
4366
43673) Go around the table, do early life/turning point as appropriate
4368
43694) Go around the table, do first spotlight episode
4370
43715) Go around the table, do first crossing paths
4372
43736) Go around the table, do second crossing paths
4374
43757) Opportunity for people to write down aspects if they choose and get
4376 input
4377
43788) Individually write down your top three skills, + more and stunts as
4379 appropriate
4380
4381"Missing" rules in Fate
4382-----------------------
4383
4384There's a lot of rules that Fate "doesn't have". In many cases, these
4385seem to be rules that are derivatives of the core rules, may be
4386different based on a particular setting, often are variable in nature,
4387and can easily be agreed upon at the table if you have reasonable
4388people.
4389
4390Take the eternal example: "on fire". Many games say "being on fire means
4391you take some amount of damage per turn."
4392
4393That's one interpretation. Fate allows for that, with the fractal
4394(though it's usually framed as an attack, not an automatic damage. Close
4395enough.)
4396
4397But being "on fire" could mean lots of things, everywhere from being
4398fully engulfed in fire to having a couple of flames on your sleeve. Is
4399one answer really correct here? One single mechanic? If not, how many
4400mechanics would it really take to cover all the possible situations? Do
4401we just handle the mechanical, physical effects? What about the
4402instinctual terror that something like being on fire tends to cause? I
4403mean, get me around a wasp, and I guarantee I don't act in any kind of
4404rational manner!
4405
4406And that's assuming a single genre. A similar cause (say, having your
4407clothes on fire) might have very different effects in different genres -
4408an Action Movie Star might just blow it off, while someone in a horror
4409movie could totally freak out.
4410
4411Fate Core's model (figure out what you want to do, then apply the rules)
4412handles these variations incredibly well.
4413
4414There's disadvantages to this approach, of course. The lack of explicit
4415mechanics means that there's room for negotiation and disagreement. If
4416you can't come to some kind of an agreement without Appeal to Authority,
4417Fate isn't going to work for you. If every bit of judgement call is
4418going to result in an hour-long argument with flying dice, Fate
4419definitely ain't the game for you.
4420
4421Personally, I prefer to game with people that can compromise, accept
4422judgement calls, and don't have to argue about every little thing. So in
4423that way, this weakness is actually a feature, as it's a great way to
4424detect people that I probably won't enjoy gaming with long term anyway.
4425
4426Â
4427
4428Fate Core Thought of the Day: What are Aspects? - 09/2016
4429---------------------------------------------------------
4430
4431So, this is something I've been noodling over for a while. Mostly
4432because I see lots of people misunderstand (IMHO) what aspects are, and
4433try to use them in inappropriate places, or for inappropriate things.
4434
4435Mostly, people seem to view aspects as kind of combined
4436Advantages/Disadvantages/Feats/Edges/etc. And... they're mostly not
4437that.
4438
4439"So, what are they then, Mr. Smarty Pants?" you might ask. And while my
4440pants are indeed smarter than me, that's likely more about me than the
4441pants.
4442
4443Aspects are, simply put, established narrative facts. And this is a
4444definition that will either have you nodding along or be totally useless
4445to you. So, lemme drill a bit further into this.
4446
4447Most game systems try to model reality - turns represent people doing
4448things over discrete time slices, we try to figure out what would happen
4449during this time bit, etc.
4450
4451Not Fate. Fate models how fiction works. And not in the base sense of
4452"cinematic reality" either - you can certainly have realistic fiction!
4453What Fate models is how scenes and camera shots work together to make
4454things work and make sense. This is one of the cool things about Fate!
4455We've learned over centuries how to tell stories, so applying that
4456knowledge to RPGs is a serious win!
4457
4458(Of course, it also means that if you want a world-simulator, Fate's not
4459really your bag. Sorry about that.)
4460
4461So, let's look at something I consider to be a perfect example of this.
4462In the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy, we see Star-Lord flying
4463over the surface of a planet, and see geysers going off. Cool stuff.
4464Later on, as he's trying to get away, one of those geysers goes off
4465underneath the Milano, causing him problems.
4466
4467Here's the thing - narratively, we can't just have the geyser go off
4468under the Milano with no warning, or it feels abrupt and like "cheating"
4469we have to establish that "hey, geysers going off all over the place on
4470this planet is totally a thing, so you know, if it happens, don't be
4471surprised."
4472
4473That's a great example of a situation aspect. As the GM describes the
4474scene, and mentions the geysers, he writes down "Crazy Geysers" as a
4475scene aspect, and then he's free to Compel it later.
4476
4477Basically, an aspect is something that we've introduced, that we've
4478established as something important or notable, that we can then later
4479"cash in" on. That's the difference between a dark room, and one that is
4480specifically pointed out (via camera shot or dialog) as being Dark. In
4481the one case, it's scenery. In the other case, we know something is
4482going to jump out of the darkness.
4483
4484So that describes situation aspects pretty well, but what about
4485character aspects, and Create Advantage?
4486
4487Well, basically the same thing.
4488
4489Han Solo's meeting with Greedo? It exists for the sole reason that we
4490need to establish with the audience that Han Solo is actually wanted by
4491Jabba. That way when Jabba starts interfering later, we're not
4492surprised. It feels like a logical extension of what's going on.
4493
4494Okay, so that's a character aspect, but how about Create Advantage?
4495
4496Well, let's look at having a weak point in the armor of something.
4497That's common enough, right? What happens in a TV show? Well, one of two
4498things happens, 99% of the time - either we see a camera shot (and when
4499I say "camera shot" you should think "action", unless we're talking
4500about setting a scene or introducing a character) of the armored thing
4501moving in a way that exposes the weak point, or we have someone shout
4502out "hey, when he does **thing** his armor's exposed". This seems
4503extraneous, and it is from a "realism" standpoint. But what it does is
4504inform the viewer of the weak point, so that when the hero takes
4505advantage of it, it feels logical and connected rather than random.
4506
4507And that's how Fate works with aspects. Either we establish them as part
4508of setting the scene, or we establish them as some kind of camera
4509shot/action that informs the viewer/players of what's going on and sets
4510up our later use of them. And those times when something gets revealed
4511without setup? That's what Fate Points are for!
4512
4513This is also a big part of why I'm not a fan of hidden aspects. If
4514aspects are narratively established facts, and they're hidden, then
4515they're not established! At the minimum, the aspect should reflect the
4516information that is available to the audience - that is, the players.
4517
4518Fate Core Thought of the Day: Fate is Boring
4519--------------------------------------------
4520
4521There. I said it. You know you've been thinking it.
4522
4523And you're not the only ones. How many people have said "eh, I read
4524Fate, and there's nothing special in there." And you know what? They're
4525right.
4526
4527Seriously. As a system, Fate's pretty boring. Unremarkable. Dull, even.
4528I mean, look at other systems! They try and show you how amazing they
4529are. That one there, showing its pages of critical hit and miss charts?
4530I mean, you can trip on an imaginary turtle! That's pretty awesome.
4531
4532And that system over there, tantalizingly showing us a bit of its books
4533and books worth of classes? Bet we could put **those** together in some
4534pretty interesting ways, huh?
4535
4536Or how about that system over there, showing off its powerful material
4537strength charts? It even has rules to show how having armor on vehicles
4538at different angles impacts protection. I could swoon.
4539
4540Yep, all of these systems are pretty good at showing us how awesome they
4541are. They all want to convince us that we want to show up at the gaming
4542table with **them** on our arm, to show off that we're good enough to be
4543seen with **them**.
4544
4545The problem is that these systems are also pretty high maintenance. They
4546want things to go a certain way, and heaven help you if you disagree.
4547And you find that they want to be the center of attention. They want
4548alllllll of the focus on them. Want to heroically run down the streets?
4549You just tripped on an invisible turtle, pal. Hope you weren't planning
4550on having a cool chase, because now we're dealing with someone's
4551invisible turtle issues. Want to have a cool fight? Well, better study
4552up first, because you'd better know how somebody did some contortions
4553with their characters and what they're capable of. Or want to have a
4554cool firefight? Break out your calculators, because we've got some
4555figurin' to do. That system is going to tell you **everything it knows**
4556about armor and angles and it's gonna make damn well sure you know how
4557smart it is.
4558
4559Fate... doesn't do that.
4560
4561Fate knows that its job is to make you look good. All of you. Fate wants
4562to just kind of slip into the background, and quietly support you. Fate
4563anticipates your needs, even ones you didn't know you had. Fate gently
4564prompts you for coolness, subtly nudges you to be awesome. Fate does
4565everything it can do to help you and everyone at your table shine, and
4566then just kind of slink off into the background again.
4567
4568Fate's kind of like a really good butler, or a roadie. Nobody talks
4569about how awesome the butler or roadie is. If they're doing their job
4570right, you don't notice them. They spend their time figuring out how to
4571do their job to make someone else shine, and to not draw attention to
4572themselves.
4573
4574Fate doesn't want attention. Fate shies away from attention. Fate wants
4575you to pay attention to your character, your story, your friends. Fate
4576knows that those are the important things, that those are the things
4577that people remember and talk about.
4578
4579So, you're sitting there and run into a problem. Fate's there for you.
4580Fate's got your solution. And Fate does its job simply and quietly and
4581effectively. And then gets out of the way and lets you carry on, without
4582any fuss or calling any attention to itself.
4583
4584Fate's boring. And that's just the way Fate likes it.
4585
4586Fate Core Thought of the Day - Fate and Amber Diceless
4587------------------------------------------------------
4588
4589It's fairly well-known that Fred is a big Amber fan. And I think it's
4590safe to say that Amber Diceless is a huge influence on Fate.
4591
4592Every Fate GM should pick up a copy and at least read through it. No,
4593really, go buy the pdf here and read it: I'll wait.
4594
4595http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/1447/Amber?it=1
4596
4597So, great. Amber's a nifty system, and is really interesting for Fate
4598GMs since it's not really fiction-first. It's more accurately
4599fiction-only. There are rules, sure, but the rules basically boil down
4600to this:
4601
4602"In any given conflict, all other things being equal, the character with
4603the higher relevant stat will eventually win."
4604
4605Yup, that's it. No, really, that's pretty much the game. And in that
4606simple elegance lies a world of complexity. While not immediately
4607apparent, that complexity lies in the phrases "the higher relevant stat"
4608and "*all other things being equal*"
4609
4610So, gameplay in Amber revolves, really, around a few things.
4611
46121) Setting up the scenario to benefit you, win or lose.
4613
46142) Setting up the situation so that the stat that's being used is the
4615 one you're superior in
4616
46173) Making all other things decidedly UNequal
4618
4619Here's what Erick Wujick says you should do if playing a grandmaster at
4620chess, with the world on the line:
4621
4622What do you think, should you play fair?
4623
4624We'll call your opponent Kumenkov, one of the Russian's top chess guns.
4625Flat out, the best there is.
4626
4627Here's what you might do.
4628
4629*First, you make a few arrangements. Like learning the game, but also*
4630*getting a team of the finest chess coaches money can buy, and a little*
4631*microphone so you can hear their advice.*
4632
4633*Then, you set up the room where the game is going to take place.
4634Figure* *out everything Kurmenkov hates, heat, loud colors, rock music,
4635whatever.* *Give him the works, but only at critical moments, on and
4636off. And if* *that isn't enough?*
4637
4638*Then you go for some real equalizers. Have his wife call, mid-game,*
4639*threatening divorce, madness, and/or suicide. Then a high-ranking*
4640*Russian officer, informing Kurmenkov that if he has been accused of*
4641*anti-state activities, and his victory in the game will be sufficient*
4642*proof to warrant his arrest and/or execution.*
4643
4644Still not enough?
4645
4646*When his back is turned, steal pieces from the board. Drug him, and*
4647*move twice for every move he makes. At least once, during some
4648critical* *move, just as Kurmenkov reached for a piece, have someone put
4649a gun to* *his head and offer to blow his brains out if he makes that
4650particular* *move.*
4651
4652Now could you win?
4653
4654Sound familiar? Does each one of those things sound like something in a
4655Fate game? Like... Create Advantage?
4656
4657Of course it does! And that's one of the basics of Fate conflicts - if
4658your opponent outmatches you, even the odds. Don't play fair!
4659
4660Here's another example. In this case, the PC played by Peggy has a
4661terrible Warfare rating, but is quite Strong.
4662
4663*GM: There's a big thump, and it sounds like it came from behind you.*
4664
4665*PEGGY I whirl around, what do I see?*
4666
4667*GM: There's something moving right at you, something hard to see.*
4668
4669*PEGGY I back away quickly!*
4670
4671*GM Yes, it seems to be some kind of ape, it's fur is a mottled brown
4672and* *green, making it hard to see against the backdrop of jungle. It's
4673on* *it's hind legs and attacking with swinging arms.*
4674
4675*PEGGY: I'll go on the defensive.*
4676
4677*GM: With swinging arms it's better than you.*
4678
4679*PEGGY: I'll go for Strength. I want to grab it.*
4680
4681*GM: You move in, getting scratched by it's claws, but you grab it. You*
4682*seem stronger. What are you doing?*
4683
4684*PEGGY: I want to break its neck!*
4685
4686*GM Okay, it dies.*
4687
4688(Note that this is for a low-detail version of combat, more like an
4689Overcome than a Conflict)
4690
4691So, what's going on here? Peggy knows that her character will flat-out
4692lose in a fighting contest, because her fighting rank is terrible. So
4693she narrates her character doing things that turn it into a strength
4694contest instead, where she wins. And then in what is basically a
4695by-the-book Fate move, she dictates what Taken Out means in this case.
4696
4697The entire book is filled with examples like this. While some of the
4698things (descriptions of particular Amberite powers and magic) may not be
4699useful, every single bit of GM advice is Fate GOLD.
4700
4701I really don't think that it's inaccurate to say that Fate is, in many
4702ways, Amber but only with some randomization added to the result, and a
4703bit more codified way of handling the various advantages and maneuvers
4704that characters might try to pull off.
4705
4706If you're having trouble grokking Fate, read Amber Diceless. It can only
4707make you a better Fate GM.
4708
4709Promises and Threats
4710--------------------
4711
4712So one thing that I've seen as a question is when to use a social
4713contest, vs. a social conflict.
4714
4715So while this is pretty clearly a grey area, I think I've come up with a
4716reasonable heuristic for quickly determining which is appropriate.
4717
4718Apocalypse World talks about "leverage" a bit. When you're trying to
4719convince someone to do something you want, you need to have something as
4720a bargaining chip. If you walk up to the king and say "let me marry your
4721daughter", he will laugh in your face. If you say "let me marry your
4722daughter, or my giant army will crush you" he may talk. If you say "let
4723me marry your daughter, and I'll give you a pile of gold coins" he also
4724may talk.
4725
4726So that's two kinds of leverage right there. You've got a threat - that
4727is, something that the other person doesn't want that you will make
4728happen if they don't give in to your demands. On the other hand, you
4729have a promise - something that the other person does want, and if they
4730do what you want, they'll give it to you.
4731
4732Threats lead to Conflicts. Promises lead to Contests.
4733
4734Fate Core Thought of the Day: Advanced Fiction First
4735----------------------------------------------------
4736
4737Ooooooh. Advanced. Sounds pretentious. And, honestly, this is kind of a
4738weird subject, so I might have to approach it somewhat obliquely in a
4739few ways.
4740
4741So, most of the time, when I talk about "Fiction First" it's from the
4742viewpoint of resolving actions. And that's a pretty good use of it,
4743because it can be really hard to resolve Fate actions if you don't do it
4744in a fiction first way.
4745
4746This is the same, but slightly different. Maybe a bit deeper, or more
4747theoretical. Maybe slightly less immediately practical. Maybe I've just
4748finally gone off the deep end. Maybe more than one of the above.
4749
4750Perhaps, it'd be better described as "the primacy of fiction". But that
4751sounds even more bizarre than "fiction first".
4752
4753Anyway, the canonical example of this is that a room isn't dark because
4754it has the **Dark** aspect. The room has the **Dark** aspect because
4755it's dark.
4756
4757The way I look at it, there's four primary elements in most RPGs. The
4758players, the GM, the "fiction", and "the bits". The fiction being the
4759stuff we imagine in our heads, and the bits being the stuff written down
4760on a piece of paper, or the dice, or the tokens on the map.
4761
4762So what this really kinda says here is that "the fiction" is what drives
4763the bits, and not the other way around.
4764
4765Basically, imagining a dark room is "the fiction". The 3X5 card or
4766whiteboard note or whatever saying **Dark** is "the bits". And the
4767fiction is what comes first, and what drives the bits. Always. We use
4768the minimum amount of "bits" to keep everyone on the same page, and to
4769make sure we don't forget stuff.
4770
4771So when somebody gets knocked on the ground, that's what leads. The fact
4772that **On the Ground** is an aspect is really more of a note of this, so
4773that we don't forget it, and a hint that we can use certain mechanics
4774relating to this fact now.
4775
4776So, here's a slightly more advanced example. One of the things we hear
4777is "situation aspects exist until they're not longer narratively
4778relevant." What the hell does that mean? Here's a more concrete example.
4779
4780You're providing **Covering Fire**. Then, you go inside a cave that has
4781no visibility to the area you were providing covering fire for. What
4782happens?
4783
4784So, if we do a "mechanics first" approach (or, "primacy of the bits" if
4785you want), there's an aspect there, and we need to have some mechanical
4786interaction to get rid of the **Covering Fire** aspect, or maybe it's
4787even there. It seems a bit.... odd.
4788
4789But from a "fiction first" approach, it all just... works. The aspect is
4790just a reflection of the 'reality' of your PC providing covering fire.
4791If you're in the cave, you're clearly not providing covering fire any
4792more, and so there's no reason for there to be an aspect, right?
4793
4794And that, right there, is the core of "fiction first". The mechanics do
4795not define the reality. They merely *reflect* the reality, and
4796specifically only certain parts of it. If the imagined reality ever
4797conflicts with the mechanical bits, the imagined reality wins.
4798
4799And when we start applying this idea more broadly, a lot of things
4800become really obvious. Have a **Broken Leg** consequence? Weird that it
4801means you can't climb a ladder without a Compel? Yeah, that would be
4802weird. But, in the fiction, it makes perfect sense that you can't just
4803climb a ladder if you have a broken leg, right? We don't even get to the
4804point of a roll or anything else, because the fiction coming first tells
4805us that the action doesn't even make any sense to begin with.
4806
4807This isn't how all games work! Many games have lists of specific
4808conditions, that tell you exactly what you can and can't do, with
4809specific modifiers and conditions. And that causes a lot of confusion -
4810people see "Aspects can be invoked for +2 or Compelled" and assume
4811that's all they can do, because those are the only mechanical effects.
4812
4813But that's not even half of the story - yes, those are the pure
4814mechanical effects (apart from providing passive opposition), but since
4815aspects are **true**, and the fiction **leads**, then any logical
4816consequence of those aspects is true as well. And, really, again, the
4817aspect is just a note, a reflection of the imagined 'reality' in the
4818first place.
4819
4820To me, fully understanding this idea is the point at which Fate goes
4821from being a fairly complex game to being an incredibly simple and
4822streamlined game, and the point at which it really begins to "sing".
4823
4824Fate Core Thought of the Day: Fate is not abstract - 04.2015
4825------------------------------------------------------------
4826
4827One of the criticisms I frequently hear of Fate is that it's a very
4828abstract system. This is understandable. It certainly looks like an
4829abstract system - I mean, there's like no concrete actions except Attack
4830in there at all! And aspects are pretty abstract, right?
4831
4832I can understand this view. I also disagree with it. A lot.
4833
4834The key for me is really, truly grasping "Fiction First". In a lot of
4835games, the basic sequence might look something like this:
4836
48371) I choose Power Attack
48382) I describe "I swing my sword down with all my might!"
48393) The GM rolls the dice and says the mechanical result
48404) The GM describes what happens
4841
4842Now, the key here is really that steps 2 and 4 are kinda really
4843optional. The "meat" of what's happening is in steps 1 and 3. And that,
4844to me, is pretty key in understanding why some people find Fate super
4845abstract, and others don't.
4846
4847Here's how I view Fate's resolution system
4848
48491) I say "I bring down my axe on the orc's head with all my might!"
48502) The GM translates this as one of the four actions, and ties it to a
4851 skill or approach
48523) Dice are rolled, which give some mechanical impact and constrain the
4853 narrative 4)The GM and/or player describe the outcome.
4854
4855There's a bunch of main differences I note here.
4856
4857The order of the first two steps changes between the examples. In the
4858first example, we're choosing a game mechanic **directly**, and then
4859throwing on some description. In the second, the description drives the
4860choice of game mechanic.
4861
4862Secondly, in Fate, I usually have the GM be responsible for choosing the
4863mechanical bits - especially in FAE. This isn't 100% of course, as
4864someone saying "I drive the axe down at the orc's head with all my
4865power" is clearly angling for a Forceful Attack. But in Fate, you're not
4866actually choosing a mechanical action directly most of the time.
4867
4868Third, and I think most importantly, there are optional steps in each
4869example. However, they're not the same steps. In the first example, it's
4870the description that's optional - it's totally valid to just do the
4871mechanics. However, in Fate, it's really the mechanical bits that are
4872optional. If it's totally clear what's happening, we can just skip them.
4873If I'm behind a totally unaware enemy, and do the aforementioned
4874axe-to-the-head maneuver, it'd be totally legitimate to say it just
4875cleaves his skull. I wouldn't blink for a second at a GM that did that.
4876
4877So in Fate, it's the descriptions that are mandatory. They're the "meat"
4878of the game, not just the decoration. The mechanics exist solely to help
4879us get past the parts where what happens isn't obvious. This is mirrored
4880all over the place - 'if you can't think of something interesting for
4881both success and failure, don't roll'.
4882
4883To put it another way, let's look at a Create Advantage roll to trip
4884someone. Pretty typical, right?
4885
4886Let's look at how that works:
4887
48881) "I lash out my foot and take the enemy's leg from underneath him!"
48892) "Okay, Roll CA with Physique"
48903) *roll roll* "Yay, you made it! Put Tripped on the bad guy!"
48914) "The bad guy falls face first in the dirt."
4892
4893So, what's really happening here? What's important?
4894
4895If you view steps 2 and 3 as the 'real' game, then, yes, it's
4896ridiculously abstract.
4897
4898I view steps 1 and 4 as the important bits. My character isn't "Creating
4899Advantage" - he's tripping someone. The bad guy doesn't end up with an
4900aspect, he ends up face down in the dirt. The mechanical bits are just
4901there to help us figure out what happens, and to give us future
4902mechanical reinforcement. They're not the "real" thing.
4903
4904So from my view, I really look at the sequence as:
4905
49061) "I lash out my foot and take the enemy's leg from underneath him!"
49072) "The bad guy falls face first in the dirt."
4908
4909There is nothing abstract about this whatsoever. This works because I'm
4910putting the "reality" of the situation above the mechanical
4911representation.
4912
4913However, many people will look at the 'real' sequence as being:
4914
49152) "Okay, Roll CA with Physique"
49163) *roll roll* "Yay, you made it! Put Tripped on the bad guy!"
4917
4918This is ridiculously abstract, especially if coming from a system like
4919GURPS, where the system itself will tell you exactly what happens.
4920
4921But the rules in Fate aren't like that. They're not a "physics engine".
4922They're not even rules, really - they're more like 'rule templates' to
4923be used by the GM when adjudicating actions. This is a pretty big shift
4924from many games where the rules are concrete things, and are intended to
4925be used very directly by players. It's a shift that took me quite a
4926while to make, personally.
4927
4928So yeah, I can see how some people think Fate is abstract. I certainly
4929did when I started playing. But I think that's mostly due to a
4930misunderstanding of how the rules are meant to be used in Fate, and an
4931expectation that they do things that they intentionally do not do.
4932
4933Fate Core Thought of the Day: The Fate Point Economy - 02.2015
4934--------------------------------------------------------------
4935
4936I may ruffle some feathers with this one. (Also, if you feel like I'm
4937calling you out, I'm not. This is something I've had in mind for a
4938while).
4939
4940One of the most common criticisms I hear about Fate is that it's all
4941about the meta and the "Fate Point Economy". While understanding the
4942flow of points in your game is important, for some reason, with some
4943people, this idea has taken a life of its own.
4944
4945The version I'm talking about is this idea that a Fate game is all about
4946the Fate Points flying madly and furiously, and if players don't have a
4947bucket of chips in front of them at all times to Invoke and Compel,
4948you're doing it wrong.
4949
4950Screw that.
4951
4952(See, I told you I'd ruffle some feathers here. Keep in mind that this
4953is just **my** opinion. I'm going to tell you how **I** like to do
4954things. I'm not saying any other way is BadWrongFun, but I **am** going
4955to tell you how and why this idea is incompatible with the way that I
4956like to run Fate).
4957
4958See, to me, Fate is best when it's the Game of Hard Choices. I like my
4959players to fail at least one scene a game. Preferably more. I like tough
4960choices, hard compromises, and ugly sacrifices. I tell my players before
4961they start playing with me that they'll likely fail at things, because
4962many of them aren't used to it. (I also tell them that failure usually
4963means complications, not "game ends", to help soften that). When I
4964introduce people to Fate, a tough encounter that they likely won't win
4965is usually going to be on the menu, to help drive that home as well as
4966teach Concessions.
4967
4968But, yeah, Hard Choices. And Fate Points are the currency of Hard
4969Choices.
4970
4971How much do you **really** want to win this fight? Is it **that**
4972important that you take out this particular set of bad guys? Really? How
4973important is it, really, that you convince the King to go along with
4974your plan? Not getting captured here, how important is it, really? Or
4975helping the wanted person get away? Or getting the bomb? Or stopping the
4976ritual? Or....
4977
4978Because, as I like to say, a Fate character can do **anything**, but
4979they can't do **everything**. With Fate Points, you can pretty much get
4980a success anywhere you want it. But doing so means you're setting
4981yourself up for failure elsewhere. So, do you really want it? How
4982important is it?
4983
4984And that's the problem with the hyper-speed "Fate Point Economy." If
4985Fate Points are flowing like mad, then there's no trade-off. Of
4986**course** you spend the Fate Point. Why wouldn't you? You'll just get
4987another pile in a few minutes. Instead of being the currency of Hard
4988Choices, they become the currency of Always Winning. And, to me, always
4989winning is **boring**. We don't read books where the hero stomps his way
4990to the antagonist just taking out everyone in his path without worry or
4991concern. That'd be **boring**.
4992
4993Another point - Fate Points should be **dramatic**. These are the times
4994in the movie where we focus in on the hero, where he has the flashback
4995to his family, where he thinks he's down but finds some inner reserve or
4996pulls out a trick to overcome adversity anyway. If you spend Fate Points
4997like mad, you reduce their dramatic effect. And that's **boring**. It's
4998fun, in a way, I guess. Kind of like playing a first person shooter with
4999all the cheats on, but it kinda robs the game of the full experience.
5000
5001Now, there is a simple way I look at the Fate Point economy. And I do
5002use it as a tool to determine if I\"m throwing appropriate opposition
5003against my players.
5004
5005If a session ends, and they have a ton of FP, they should have lost
5006ground in the narrative (and that's cool).
5007
5008If a session ends, and they're dry of FP (and have even burned some
5009stockpiled ones), then they should have gained good ground in the
5010narrative.
5011
5012If these things aren't true, then the difficulty of opposition I'm
5013throwing against the players is off, and needs to be adjusted. That's
5014about as deeply as I look into the "Fate Point Economy".?
5015
5016Random Fate thought - 09.2014
5017-----------------------------
5018
5019There's a lot of rules that Fate "doesn't have". In many cases, these
5020seem to be rules that are derivatives of the core rules, may be
5021different based on a particular setting, often are variable in nature,
5022and can easily be agreed upon at the table if you have reasonable
5023people.
5024
5025Take the eternal example: "on fire". Many games say "being on fire means
5026you take some amount of damage per turn."
5027
5028That's one interpretation. Fate allows for that, with the fractal
5029(though it's usually framed as an attack, not an automatic damage. Close
5030enough.)
5031
5032But being "on fire" could mean lots of things, everywhere from being
5033fully engulfed in fire to having a couple of flames on your sleeve. Is
5034one answer really correct here? One single mechanic? If not, how many
5035mechanics would it really take to cover all the possible situations? Do
5036we just handle the mechanical, physical effects? What about the
5037instinctual terror that something like being on fire tends to cause? I
5038mean, get me around a wasp, and I guarantee I don't act in any kind of
5039rational manner!
5040
5041And that's assuming a single genre. A similar cause (say, having your
5042clothes on fire) might have very different effects in different genres -
5043an Action Movie Star might just blow it off, while someone in a horror
5044movie could totally freak out.
5045
5046Fate Core's model (figure out what you want to do, then apply the rules)
5047handles these variations incredibly well.
5048
5049There's disadvantages to this approach, of course. The lack of explicit
5050mechanics means that there's room for negotiation and disagreement. If
5051you can't come to some kind of an agreement without Appeal to Authority,
5052Fate isn't going to work for you. If every bit of judgement call is
5053going to result in an hour-long argument with flying dice, Fate
5054definitely ain't the game for you.
5055
5056Personally, I prefer to game with people that can compromise, accept
5057judgement calls, and don't have to argue about every little thing. So in
5058that way, this weakness is actually a feature, as it's a great way to
5059detect people that I probably won't enjoy gaming with long term anyway.
5060
5061Fate Core Thought of the - Oh, Hell, It's Been A While: The Fate Action Resolution Process - 05.2018
5062----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5063
5064A thread up on rpgnet was lamenting the fact that many people seem to
5065have difficulties learning Fate, and so one of the things I wanted to
5066bring up, and post here for future posterity, is how I generally go
5067about action adjudication. I'm not going to go into scene setup (a
5068totally different thing). Some of this is probably going to duplicate my
5069"How I Run Fate" post. It's not an official answer, the Evil Hat guys
5070may tell me I'm high on crack, YMMV, objects in mirror may be closer
5071than they appear, etc.
5072
5073The flowchart: (I'll give the expanded version later)
5074
50751) The acting player declares their action
50762) We determine if the action makes sense/is at all possible
50773) We determine if there is any passive opposition
50784) We determine if there is any active opposition, and if so, the
5079 active opposition declares its action
50805) We determine if this makes sense to roll for - is there an
5081 interesting success and failure?
50826) We determine the mechanics to use
50837) Roll the dice!
50848) Narrate up to the seeming dice roll
50859) Either side may invoke aspects as appropriate, preferably including
5086 narration
508710) We resolve any mechanical consequences of this action
508811) The final results give us narrative constraints
508912) We narrate the results within the constraints given to us
5090 mechanically
5091
5092Now, let's be clear here: In practice, most of this stuff is done in a
5093matter of moments or quickly glossed over. This is not a ten minute
5094process, here. This is just laying all of those things out in a very
5095explicit, step-by-step way to hopefully help people who aren't sure
5096exactly what's going on when they see people play, or hear advice that's
5097based on an already internalized version of this.
5098
5099And the further in-depth discussion:
5100
5101### 1) The acting player declares their action
5102
5103Ideally this is something that happens in the "fictional" layer - in
5104other words, we say what our character is doing, not necessarily the
5105mechanical widgets we're using. This should preferentially include not
5106only what we're doing, but what effect we're going for, especially if
5107it's not obvious (if you're "stabbing the orc through with your sword",
5108it's fairly safe to assume your intent is "make the orc stop
5109breathing").
5110
5111Sometimes an intent isn't possible in one action, so this is where we
5112clarify what a success will mean, and what impact it will have, and hash
5113it out until we agree (this is usually a matter of seconds, at most!)
5114
5115If the setting/scene is not obvious, this should be clarified here as
5116well - ideally, most if not all actions take place in some kind of
5117concrete scene and are tied to something kind of concrete that's going
5118on.You don't just "find someone", you go to a bar and start asking
5119around. This is useful information because it gives us context and
5120allows us to determine what both success and failure look like, as well
5121as what kind of opposition may exist.
5122
5123Once everybody has a good picture of what's going on, we proceed.
5124
5125### 2) We determine if the action makes sense/is at all possible
5126
5127Does the action make sense? Is it possible? This boils down to a ton of
5128shared understanding of the world. We can break this down a bit further,
5129though:
5130
51312a: Is this an action that is generally possible?
5132
51332b: Is there some kind
5134of aspect, personal or situational, that would prevent this action from
5135occurring? While most people can jump, you can't really do that in a
5136wheelchair, or if you're **Stuck In A Web**.
5137
51382c: If this action is generally
5139not something that we expect a character can do, is there some kind of
5140aspect that permits it? Most people can't fly, but if you're a
5141BirdPerson you probably can, or if you have a **Jetpack**
5142
5143### 3) We determine if there is any passive opposition
5144
5145Is there a reason this is difficult? Going down the stairs is easy, most
5146of the time. However, if there's a raging fire, or the stairs are
5147falling apart, it might be difficult. We can look at the overall
5148situation for reasons this isn't easy, taking special note of any
5149aspects in play.
5150
5151### 4) We determine if there is any active opposition, and if so, the active opposition declares its action
5152
5153Is there any active character (or Bronze-ruled aspect) that can get in
5154the way of this? If so, they should declare what they're doing to stop
5155this, and we apply the same checks in Step 2 to the opposition's action.
5156Keep in mind that "does this make sense for someone to be able to do?"
5157is also impacted by aspects!
5158
5159### 5) We determine if this makes sense to roll for - is there an interesting success and failure?
5160
5161We don't roll for everything. If there's a low fence and no pressure,
5162it's safe to say you'll eventually climb it. So unless there's some
5163reason or pressure that makes failure interesting, we can just allow you
5164to succeed.
5165
5166I don't take "interesting" here to mean "ooo it has to be some super
5167cool fancy idea." It just means that if you fail, something happens -
5168the situation changes in some way. We can generally assume that a Fate
5169character can succeed at anything, given enough time and effort. So
5170we're really asking here "what's to stop the character from doing this
5171until they succeed?"
5172
5173Context matters here, too. If you're stuck in a web with nothing else
5174going on, it's safe to say that eventually you'll break out, so rolling
5175isn't really necessary. However, in a Conflict, failing to break out
5176means you're not acting, which is "interesting" in a "consequences" way,
5177even if it's not that interesting of a result naturally. Bad guys
5178getting to do stuff while you're stuck isn't "nothing happens"!
5179
5180### 6) We determine the mechanics to use
5181
5182Is this an Overcome? An Attack? A Create Advantage? What skills are in
5183place? What's the final opposition?
5184
5185### 7) Roll the dice!
5186
5187This one, I hope, is fairly self explanatory!
5188
5189### 8) Narrate up to the seeming dice roll
5190
5191This is the ellipsis trick - narrate the action up to the point where it
5192seems like the result is clear, but leaving space for other things to
5193happen. "You miss your parry, and the orc's axe comes down at your
5194head." If nothing changes, the orc will hit you, but there's still time
5195to make something change and alter the final result.
5196
5197### 9) Either side may invoke aspects as appropriate, preferably including narration
5198
5199Pretty self-explanatory. I tend to be a fair stickler on narration of
5200aspects invocations in most cases, as I think the back-and-forth creates
5201some of the most memorable Fate bits. But sometimes, when it's obvious
5202what's going on and not super critical, it's fairly safe to gloss over.
5203
5204### 10) We resolve any mechanical consequences of this action
5205
5206Are we dealing with Stress or Consequences or Conditions? Did an aspect
5207get Overcome? Did an aspect get created? Do we have any boosts. I
5208usually do the bookkeeping here, though that's more or less simultaneous
5209with the next point. However, when there's mechanical choices
5210(stress/consequences), approaching these first can be very informative
5211for the next step.
5212
5213### 11) The final results give us narrative constraints
5214
5215At this point we know what the dice have said about the final result,
5216and any mechanical bits. This tells us what boundaries we have to do our
5217narration in (and keep in mind that narration is **real**, it establishes
5218facts, even if those facts aren't represented by a widget).
5219
5220### 12) We narrate the results within the constraints given to us mechanically
5221
5222At this point, we know success or failure, and we know what bounds we
5223have to work within. So we can determine the actual final results in the
5224imaginary world.
5225
5226If the character succeeded, they should get their negotiated intent from
5227step 1. That's a given. However, depending on the opposition and margin
5228of success, there may be other details added.
5229
5230On the other hand, if they failed, we should go back to what we talked
5231about in step 5 to figure out what that failure looks like. It could be
5232some kind of failure, it could be a complication on a success with a
5233cost. So long as we work within the constraints of the setting and the
5234situation, and the results given to us by the dice, we're good!
5235
5236I'll try to come up with a worked example later.
5237
5238
5239
5240Weird Tangent
5241-------------
5242Okay, so I'm going to go off on a weird tangent here. I'd love to hear thoughts and feedback.
5243
5244We all know and love the Fate Fractal. Or at least we should. But a thread on the Yahoo FateRPG group got me thinking.
5245
5246Basically, the context was using a single die roll to represent an entire battle. I went off with the slightly flippant "we have that, it's called Overcome" remark, after which I got slightly less flippant (it's been a long week) and suggested that perhaps any Conflict, Contest, or Challenge could be represented by a single Overcome.
5247
5248Now... what if the reverse was true as well? What if we say that any given single roll can be exploded into a Conflict, Contest, or Challenge?
5249
5250Now we've got a second fractal structure in Fate, mirroring the Aspect fractal (which defines areas of narrative interest). Now we can describe the actions on an ever-increasing scale of detail.
5251
5252And... if a campaign aspect (like an Impending or Current Issue) is really an Aspect... couldn't it be Overcome? And couldn't we then take that Overcome and turn it into a Challenge, Contest, or Conflict? Each part of which could explode downward?
5253
5254So, let's say I'm running Brütal Fäte. The Current Issues is We're Out of Beer!
5255
5256Okay... that could be Overcome, but that would be boring. Since there's no (apparent) opposition yet, we could turn that into something like a Challenge, with three parts:
5257
5258* Get to Beerhenge
5259* Get the beer
5260* Get back to Bladehenge
5261
5262Okay, so what does this give me? Well, I can now determine how to run each of those things based on the level of narrative importance/interest. Getting to Beerhenge doesn't sound all that interesting, narratively, so we boil that sucker down to a single Overcome. Fail? Maybe we run into some of the remnants of the Hair Metal Militia or something, or I throw some other complication in the way.
5263
5264Getting the beer will likely be harder (no spoilers!). So that will likely end up a challenge of its own. After all, figuring out why there's no beer, and making sure we get some seems a lot more narratively interesting than just driving over! And each part of getting the beer, if it's interesting enough, can be drilled down into for even more detail. Beer trees have been overrun? Sounds like a Conflict. Getting the keg pipelines working with the beer trees again? Could be a Challenge.
5265
5266Now, getting back to Badehenge is probably more interesting, so again we'll probably not treat that as a single Overcome, even though it's the same terrain.
5267
5268But you could go the other way with this, too. A single Attack roll in a fight? Well, if that's really "the" sword blow to change the course of the game, why not drill down on it even further? Treat it as its own challenge. I'm not sure offhand how you'd break that down further, but why not?
5269
5270So, this seems to make overall sense to me. I've got some open questions, like when zooming between resolution levels if there should be any kind of mechanical effect, or if it should just be handled on a narrative level.