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<blockquote data-quote="Aldarc" data-source="post: 9226312" data-attributes="member: 5142"><p>Good grief. I think that you may be overreacting.</p><p></p><p>Fabula Ultima is not a PbtA game nor did I say that it was. If you are familiar with Vincent Baker or Luke Crane, you will hear the echoes of their advice and such, but if not, then you will probably be completely oblivious to the fact that it's there. When I say that FU contains the clear influence of narrative game philosophy from Vincent Baker and Luke Crane, it's mostly in terms of concepts, game principles, or advice on how to run the game rather than mechanics. These are things like following the rules, don't subvert the outcomes, emerging story, breathe life into the world, play to find out what happens, ask questions and build on the answers, making the stakes of failure clear before a roll, "the fiction," etc.</p><p></p><p>If Fate went over your head, that's fine. IMO, Fate doesn't do a good job of explaining itself as a game. (Condensed is slightly better.) Much as [USER=86653]@overgeeked[/USER] says, however, FU does do a good job of explaining itself and providing step-by-step guidance.</p><p></p><p>Fabula Ultima has aspect-like Traits. Inn Fate or Cortex, we would call these sort aspects "<em>guided </em>traits/aspects." A character has three traits (i.e., aspects): Identity, Theme, and Origin. There is instruction on how to write them.</p><p></p><p>You are not going to have a "sword is tied to my hands" trait in FU. In Fate, aspects do most of the heavy lifting. That is not the case in Fabula Ultima. Likewise, you are not going to have situational/scene aspects or the Create an Advantage action like in Fate. Instead, you are going to get players spending Fabula points to invoke their Traits ("Disgraced Master Swordsman") and/or Bonds (+1 Inferiority: PC 1; +1 Admiration: Church of Light; +2 Hatred: BBEG) to improve their rolls. Think of them as BIFTs from 5e that actually work as intended!</p><p></p><p>However, Fabula Ultima does NOT want the GM to present a pre-authored story or guide the players through an adventure path or engage in setting tourism. If that is what you want, then Fabula Ultima is NOT for you. However, that would also be the case for OSR. Or even the Alexandrian, which often advocates "prepare scenarios, not plots!"</p><p></p><p></p><p>Overall, I feel liberated as a GM and player by these types of systems.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Derek and his channel refers to mostly freeform roleplaying that is detached from the mechanics as "fluffy b.s. time." The GM rules for PbtA are <em>far from</em> "fluffy b.s. time." Most PbtA provide pretty good advice on when and how to apply the principles of play, and that advice has only improved over time and iterations of PbtA games. Like if you compare the GMing advice between Dungeon World and Stonetop, the latter is leaps and bounds ahead in providing examples, elaborating on advice, giving tips, and even suggesting when to make certain GM moves!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Aldarc, post: 9226312, member: 5142"] Good grief. I think that you may be overreacting. Fabula Ultima is not a PbtA game nor did I say that it was. If you are familiar with Vincent Baker or Luke Crane, you will hear the echoes of their advice and such, but if not, then you will probably be completely oblivious to the fact that it's there. When I say that FU contains the clear influence of narrative game philosophy from Vincent Baker and Luke Crane, it's mostly in terms of concepts, game principles, or advice on how to run the game rather than mechanics. These are things like following the rules, don't subvert the outcomes, emerging story, breathe life into the world, play to find out what happens, ask questions and build on the answers, making the stakes of failure clear before a roll, "the fiction," etc. If Fate went over your head, that's fine. IMO, Fate doesn't do a good job of explaining itself as a game. (Condensed is slightly better.) Much as [USER=86653]@overgeeked[/USER] says, however, FU does do a good job of explaining itself and providing step-by-step guidance. Fabula Ultima has aspect-like Traits. Inn Fate or Cortex, we would call these sort aspects "[I]guided [/I]traits/aspects." A character has three traits (i.e., aspects): Identity, Theme, and Origin. There is instruction on how to write them. You are not going to have a "sword is tied to my hands" trait in FU. In Fate, aspects do most of the heavy lifting. That is not the case in Fabula Ultima. Likewise, you are not going to have situational/scene aspects or the Create an Advantage action like in Fate. Instead, you are going to get players spending Fabula points to invoke their Traits ("Disgraced Master Swordsman") and/or Bonds (+1 Inferiority: PC 1; +1 Admiration: Church of Light; +2 Hatred: BBEG) to improve their rolls. Think of them as BIFTs from 5e that actually work as intended! However, Fabula Ultima does NOT want the GM to present a pre-authored story or guide the players through an adventure path or engage in setting tourism. If that is what you want, then Fabula Ultima is NOT for you. However, that would also be the case for OSR. Or even the Alexandrian, which often advocates "prepare scenarios, not plots!" Overall, I feel liberated as a GM and player by these types of systems. Derek and his channel refers to mostly freeform roleplaying that is detached from the mechanics as "fluffy b.s. time." The GM rules for PbtA are [I]far from[/I] "fluffy b.s. time." Most PbtA provide pretty good advice on when and how to apply the principles of play, and that advice has only improved over time and iterations of PbtA games. Like if you compare the GMing advice between Dungeon World and Stonetop, the latter is leaps and bounds ahead in providing examples, elaborating on advice, giving tips, and even suggesting when to make certain GM moves! [/QUOTE]
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