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."
