Author Topic: FATE: Let's like talk about it.  (Read 43332 times)

SageNytell

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Re: FATE: Let's like talk about it.
« Reply #45 on: June 24, 2014, 03:10:45 PM »
This is FATE, there are no 'proficiencies'. A character can use and is good with using things that make sense given their role, the plot and their aspects.   :D

If the name Shoot bothers you, change the name of the skill for that character to 'Magical Blast'. Change the type of advantages it can create to magical ones, describe the mechanical effect as a bolt of magical energy, and you're good.

Also, is the character really going to be around long enough for the fact that they may or may not know how to use ranged weapons to matter? The fact that you're preparing a character with an attack skill to deal with the PCs seems to indicate their lifespan on the tabletop may be limited.  ;D



Edit: In fact, here's a pregen character I'm working on for an upcoming FAE game, it deals with this very issue.

Nausicaa, The Burner Of Ships
High Concept: Paranoid Pyrokinetic Princess Exiled Far From Home
Trouble: Everything I Care About Turns To Ash

Character Aspects:
Sometimes, You Have To Lead By Example
The Path Home Is Long And Fraught With Peril
My Regal Presence Is Unmistakable

Approaches:
Careful +0 Clever +2
Flashy +3 Forceful +2
Quick +1 Sneaky +1

Stunts:
The Galaxy Will Burn Before Me: When Nausicaa makes a Flashy Attack using her Pyrokinesis that succeeds with style, she can spend a fate point to prevent the target from checking a stress box to absorb harm ­- they'll have to spend a consequence or be taken out!

I Shall Fear No Flame: Nausicaa is immune to damage from Fire and her own Pyrokinesis, and gets a +2 bonus to all Defend rolls whenever she has the aspect 'On Fire'. Note that fire is extraordinarily dangerous in space, and she's not immune to other nasty side effects of fire like suffocating from lack of air!

Forge The Alliance: Nausicaa gets +1 to Flashily Create An Advantage or Overcome An Obstacle by addressing a crowd of people.

So this character can attack using Pyrokinesis. She's not able to do this because she has those two stunts related to the Pyrokinesis, she can do this because her high concept says that she's Pyrokinetic. Aspects are always true, and function follows fiction. This system is as complicated or as simple as you want to make it. I prefer to keep stunts for things that make characters dramatically better at doing cool things or break set rules of the game.
« Last Edit: June 24, 2014, 03:19:10 PM by SageNytell »

Leshrac

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Re: FATE: Let's like talk about it.
« Reply #46 on: June 24, 2014, 04:40:35 PM »
Yeah as pointed out function very much follows form and depends on the nature of how the game is meant to run.  If you want to run it easy, let the aspects define the limits and everything else tie back to it.

if you want magic to be more rare and limited..then make it a stunt..their are examples of that for fate core within the descriptions of optional magic system that cost stunt points, but they usually allow a share more versatility than a simple attack..

But if its basic..even in the core book it references that with fantasy scenario with the wizard they build..who does magic because 'aspect.'

Fate can be as simple..or as complicated as you want to make it. :)

SageNytell

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Re: FATE: Let's like talk about it.
« Reply #47 on: June 24, 2014, 07:29:53 PM »
Getting rid of the D&D thinking where everything is built like a PC is important, because it allows you to do some AWESOME stuff.
Someone over on the SA forums (I would credit him but the site is currently down) wrote this gem, and I think it's fantastic.

How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love FATE -or- The Treasure Map Battle
Just wanted to share a thought process about something I was working on...

The other day I was putting together a rough outline for a Legends of Anglerre five-encounter one-shot, and one of the "scenes" I wanted to do was the players following a treasure map on a uncharted tropical isle. But when I sat down to actually work out the scene, I realized I didn't want it to be a case of just having the PCs roll their "Figure Out Map" skill until they reached an arbitrary number of successesn because that's boring and pointless.

So I started thinking in terms of the Fate Fractal, and I realize what I really wanted was a challenge to the characters where they were trying to wrest infromation from a map designed to confound anyone besides the original mapper.

In other words, I wanted them to fight the treasure map.

Naturally, there were a few things I had to figure out for this to work. First off, how would the map fight back? It's not like it can grab a sword. What it can do, however, is lead the characters astray. It can trick them into quicksand, accidentally lead them into gator nests, or just get them so turned around they wind up wandering for hours under the hot sun. To simulate this, the map has an effective "attack skill" of +2; it's attacks are things like misdirection and sending the PCs into dangerous locations.

Another thing I had to figure out was how the map could "win" and how it could "lose". The map losing was easy; the PCs find what they were looking for. But how can it win? Well, technically, it can't. But it really doesn't need to. Yeah, if the players roll really poorly and spend too much time screwing around, the map can run them out of Stress. But that's pretty unlikely. This isn't about a win/lose, it's about making the treasure hunt interesting.

So how do the players attack the map? Well, the obvious answer is with skills like Survival or Academics, but there's no reason to prevent players from using other skills. ("I use my sword to cut a path through the jungle to make this easier; can I roll my Melee Weapons skill?")

The map really couldn't take Consequences; it would still have Stress of course. I figure 6 boxes should be enough to keep things interesting but not tedious.

Thinking a bit more on the map's attacks; I realized that since the map is leading the PCs into dangerous situations, "attack" is going to have a broader meaning. I can have the map's attacks be things like "you wander in the hot sun for an hour, take 2 Stress" or "You slip on some rocks crossing a wide stream, take 3 Stress", but what about other hazards? Well, critters can of course be represented by minions, but what about something like quicksand?

Well, if I can represent the map as a creature, I can do the same with quicksand; Again, it has a "Quicksand" skill of, say, +3, and its first attack is always a maneuver to grab the target. If it succeeds, then the target is sinking. If it fails, the PC has an action to get away from it or the quicksand will make the same attack again. When a target starts sinking, it takes one stress per round until someone pulls him out (i.e., removing the "Sinking" Aspect). Of course, if the PCs don't take measures to be cautious, the quicksand can make attacks against them, too.

The thing about these "special attacks" is that they pretty much have to be dealt with before the PCs can continue, so if the PCs are dealing with a special attack, they can't attack the map until the threat is dealt with, and the threat takes over the map's slot in initative until polished off.


So here's the epic enemy and bane of adventurers everywhere: The Treasure Map!

Stress [] [] [] [] [] []
The map has an effective skill of +2 for any skill roll it needs to make.

Special Attacks:
Misdirection
"How many palm trees shaped like W's are there on this bloody island?"
- Turns out that the landmarks the guy who made the map picked aren't as unique as he thought. The map clears out two of its stress boxes. This can only be done once.

When Animals Attack (Because You're In Their Nest) [No attack roll required]
"Uh, Phil...that's not a log..."
- That was a bad place to stand. The map summons some minions that immediately attack the party; the players cannot attack the map again until the minions are dealt with in one form or another. Pick whatever you think would be funniest from the following list:
- Crocodile (Good): Aspects: Jaws Like A Vice, Thick Hide. Skills: Fight +3, Physique +2, Stealth +1, Athletics +1.
- Python (Fair): Aspects: Sharp Fangs, Lightning Fast. Skills: Fight +2, Athletics +1, Stealth +1. Likes to use its Athletics skill to put the “Wrapped Up” aspect on prey.
- Insect Swarms x 5 (Average): Aspect: Small Stinging Insects. Skills: Fight +1. Will form up as a mook group.
- Big Ass Spiders x 3 (Fair) : Aspects: Poisonous bite, Leaper. Skills: Stealth +2, Athletics +1, Fight +1. These are small-dog sized spiders who can jump far to attack their prey. When you get bitten by a Big Ass Spider, you must make a Physique roll or you gain the “Poisoned” aspect.
- Gorillas (Good): Aspects: Lord of the Jungle, Stronger Than Any Man. Skills: Physique +3, Athletics+2, Fight+1, Stealth +1.

Sinkholes
"Hey, why are you all getting taller?"
- That was a really bad place to stand. The map "summons" a sinkhole, a special "creature" that gets an immediate action. The sinkhole has four stress boxes and an effective Fight skill of +2 and a unique stunt “Pull Down” (see below). The sinkhole's first move against a target is always to Create Advantage to place the "Trapped in quicksand" aspect on the target. Following that, the sinkhole will attack the target. If other PCs try to free a trapped friend without taking precautions (grabbing a branch, for example), the sinkhole can make an attack against them on its next action. The sinkhole can make multiple attacks against valid targets in the same zone as itself as one action.
“Pull Down”: When the sinkhole attacks, the result of the attack roll is treated as an Obstacle against moving away from the sinkhole.

Booby Trap
"I guess he really didn't want anyone else finding the treasure, huh?"
-It might be a rope trap that leaves you hanging by one leg from a tree; it might be a pit of sharpened sticks. Either way, the target has to make a Notice roll with Great (+4) difficulty. If the character doesn’t see the trap, then it attacks with an effective Fight of +3. If it’s a deadly trap, it does +2 stress on a hit.

The Roundabout Way
-"Oh...I guess that really was a shortcut we passed two hours ago. Sorry, guys."
Looks like you've been wasting time, energy, and resources as the map leads you around the long way. This attack rolled once, but is applied to everyone in the group."

Flawless P

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Re: FATE: Let's like talk about it.
« Reply #48 on: June 25, 2014, 04:28:53 PM »
Stuff like that is kind of what made me want to try the system in the first place.

I have this idea for using this system to stat out a faction or group as an abstract.

Meaning the company gets skills and and aspects ect.

It's just not something I've gotten around to yet.
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Jae.

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Re: FATE: Let's like talk about it.
« Reply #49 on: June 25, 2014, 08:46:52 PM »
Stuff like that is kind of what made me want to try the system in the first place.

I have this idea for using this system to stat out a faction or group as an abstract.

Meaning the company gets skills and and aspects ect.

It's just not something I've gotten around to yet.

The Fate Fractal is the best part of the system to me. Even though Aspects are genius, I think the Fractal is pure genius and so simple.

If you check out the Evil Hat official site they have a section with free supplement downloads and one of them is Factions. It basically sets it up so you can do exactly what you talk about pretty easily. I looked through it and there were some things I would change but I imagine with that supplement plus their "Drops In A Pond" in the same section you could play a game where the players are key members of a faction, then you zoom out and do the Faction stuff, and then have the giant battle with Drops In A Pond and the players as the significant factors in that battle.
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Flawless P

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Re: FATE: Let's like talk about it.
« Reply #50 on: June 27, 2014, 04:49:47 PM »
Awesome!

The faction rules are literally what I was already building in my head.

The skills are nice and defined which is great. So yes now I just gotta wait till next Thursday to get the game under way.

We finished character creation last night so it's all play time now.
42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
If you can't fix it with duck tape you haven't used enough.
I intend to live forever -- so far, so good.