FATE - need some clarification on basic concepts

[Phototoxin]

I'm really digging the FATE system - the dice and the 4dF distribution ticks my number geek boxes, the aspects and descriptors are great for storytelling fuel as well as the fate points enabling story progression as well as being a resource. If it helps I'm looking at Spirit of the Century with Kriegzeppelin:Valkyrie and The Secret of Cats.


However I'm struggling to understand Stunts and consequences, as well as figure out how Characters get fate points.


As I understand the GM can use a players aspects against them to give them a fate point and make their life a bit more difficult (or interesting). EG Billy the Rogue has an 'I like shiny things' aspect which he can use via a fate point to EG get a bonus to stealing something, but equally the GM could give Billy the Rogue a fate point to say 'you see an almost too good to believe gem unattended on a plinth, and you do *like shiny things*....) to compel him to try and steal the presumably trapped/cursed/whatever gem?


And there's a refresh of how many each character tops up to at the start of a session which I get but can this be after a 'chapter' of a story? Because while session is good, sometimes they'll finish the first 'act' or 'chapter' midway through a gaming evening but might be out of resources for the next part of the story.


Stunts - are these like specific bonuses to skills or sort of trademark aspects relating to those skills that require a fate point to use? Or are they free to use if the condition is met?


Consequences, as I understand you start with consequences which I don't understand. I was under the impression that once your 'buffer' of either type of stress runs out you are forced to take a consequence which is like a negative aspect that you then have - EG Billy the Rogue is hit by a sword, has no stress left so get the consequence (decided by ??) of '*bleeding from the head*' which his opponent can then use for free later on. EG The guard tries to hit Billy, misses but the GM can use the fact that Billy is *bleeding from the head* and say that the blood in his eyes means that he can't dodge so the guard gets a bonus ?


But this seems to lead to an infinite loop of just getting more and more problems which leads me to the next question:


Concession/concede - how does this work, given consequences above? Do the consequences get worse (ok Billy is *bleeding from the head*, and is hit again, so the next consequence might be ' *fatally stabbed in the face*' - Billy doesn't want to die so instead of being *fatally stabbed in the face* he concedes by *surrendering* or *running away*' ?)
Who decides the concession? The stabber or the stabee?


I have looked at fate before and read SotC and Nova Praxis as well as the free versions of the Fate rules but part of my head just goes to mush when trying to understand this - I think its due to me being historically less linguistic and more numerical in terms of game mechanics (eg D&D, WFRP even vampire has a distinct 'numbers' and 'words' based mechanics ) etc but Fate turns it on its head!!


I **REALLY** love the concepts and idea of the FATE system so I'm trying to give it a go hence why I'm asking for help!!

 

[JonM]

Phew! Okay, that's a lot of questions, so let's try to break it down a bit.

Fate Points: I think you already have the gist of it. Fate points are, effectively, the "economy" of the game and, ideally, should flow pretty freely. They help generate the ebb and flow of drama, as you might expect in a good novel or TV show. Players spend fate points to get bonuses (+2 per point, as long as a related aspect applies), make rerolls (again, aspect required), or, occasionally, add logical scene elements. They can also be used to "fuel" stunts, for some characters. Players gain fate points by having aspects work against them - either their own aspects or other aspects tied to the environment, etc. This includes consequences, which are really just a kind of aspect that mostly works against you. As bad things happen to you, in the story, you gain fate points, which make you better suited to deal with larger bad things. In practice, this often causes players to start off in trouble but build up points to deal with a big climax, much as you would expect in, say, a movie.

Refresh: That's just the number of fate points you start with, at the beginning of the story, before all that ebb and flow stuff, I mentioned above, kicks in. It's your starting "budget" but has no effect on points gained later (that is, it doesn't act as a cap or anything like that). Again, most groups assume it applies at the start of a new story, but I suppose some groups might apply it at the start of a new session, whether or not it marks the beginning of a new story (although, in this case, I would let the players keep their accumulated points from the last session, if that total was higher - otherwise, you lose the whole "build to climax" thing, within the story). Refresh usually doesn't have anything specifically to do with acts or scenes, though, at least not in any modern version of Fate that I have read.

Stunts: These are not aspects at all and seldom use fate points (although an especially potent one might, as a balancing factor). If you've played D&D, think feats. Stunts often just provide a flat bonus that applies in a specific circumstance - no cost, beyond the initial cost of buying the stunt, itself. For example, you might get a +2 bonus whenever you try to create an advantage during a car race, because you are just that awesome a driver. The key, here, is that the circumstance has to be pretty specific - in this case, one type of action, in one specific context. You're specializing. Some stunts don't give a bonus but, instead, let you use a skill in an odd way, e.g. because I'm so wealthy, once per session I can intimidate someone with my Business skill. Then there are a few oddball stunts that do one specific weird thing, e.g. my mutant metabolism lets me get rid of one minor physical consequence per session. Some of these require a fate point, if they are potent, but that varies a lot. Actually, stunts, in general, vary a lot: depends on which Fate version you are playing.

Consequences: These are just a kind of temporary aspect that work mostly against you. As you said, you have a stress buffer, which can soak up some harm, for you. If that runs out - or if, for some reason, you don't want to burn it all up - you can take an appropriate consequence, instead. Or, if you're taking a big hit, you might do a bit of both, e.g. a 4 point hit could be 2 points of stress and a minor (2 point) consequence. The GM usually decides on an appropriate wording, for the consequence, but the players are free to throw in suggestions. After that, for as long as the consequence hangs around, it acts just like any other aspect that a foe can use against you to get +2 bonuses or rerolls. The foe who caused it gets one free use of it; after that, it costs fate points, as usual. And keep in mind that one of the neat things about this system is its versatility. "Harm" can be physical, but it can also be emotional, social, or whatever, with appropriate consequences. You went off the beam with your "infinite loop" comment, since you have only a limited number of consequence slots (usually, three). Once those are all gone and you're out of stress, the next damage you suffer takes you out. Which brings us to...

Being Taken Out/Conceding: If things are looking hopeless, you can avoid being taken out by conceding. Your foe wins. He gets whatever he was after: he captures the ambassador you were guarding or steals the polarizing disinto-ray or wins the debate or whatever. But, because you conceded, you get to add conditions to the result. The most obvious example would be to set up a circumstance in which you end up not dead but captured or hospitalized or whatever. This is what you see happening in movies and TV shows all the time. Think Aragorn tumbling off the cliff or Wolverine ending up in the sewers beneath the Hellfire Club.

Anyway, hope this helps!

 

[JonM]

BTW, the list of books you mentioned warrants comment. Spirit of the Century is great, but keep in mind that it represents an older version of the rules. Combining it with something newish, like Secret Lives of Cats, may cause some confusion, if you are new to the game. The other two are world books, not rulesbooks, so not an ideal way to learn, either (although excellent resources, once you do understand the game - we had a TON of fun with Cats).

You really should read the Fate Core book to absorb the current version of the rules. It's "pay what you want" for the pdf, so very easy to check out. Or, if you prefer to absorb on line, check out the srd:

https://fate-srd.com/fate-core/basics

There is a useful resource for stunts:

http://evilhat.wikidot.com/fate-core-stunts

And a useful resource for... well, everything else:

http://evilhat.wikidot.com/community-fate-core-extensions

The last one is particularly handy for seeing what other people are doing with Fate and a great way to learn how to adapt it to virtually any genre or setting.

Oh, and setting aside false modesty, this is also worth checking out:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5yzvWlUdTfqTVlEanVEVTgzbTg/view?usp=drivesdk

I created a sort of master list of Fate skills that can be used for virtually any time period or setting, since the default skill list is a bit flimsy for modern and post-modern campaigns.

And, as you seem to have noticed, there are now a bunch of nifty world books, out there. Secret Lives of Cats (plus its two extension books) is one of my favorites, but there are many more, e.g. Gods and Monsters, Nest, Red Planet, Sail Full of Stars, Slip, Three Rocketeers, Venture City, Young Centurions, etc., etc. Atomic Robo is great, but it has a slightly different take on the skill rules, so you might want to get used to the "stock" rules first. The newest version of Mindjammer is also very cool but a bit pricier and pretty dense reading, so you might want to wait, a little, before you dive in that deeply. Really, if there is a setting or tone or genre you are interested in, the odds are you can find a related Fate resource. Personally, I'm toying with the idea of running something like Netflix's Bright. It's nice to know that I can rely on Fate to handle it, no problem.

I have played a LOT of different rpgs, in my 40+ years of gaming, and doubtless will continue to do so, but I always end up going back to Fate, for its versatility and elegance. Hope you find it just as enjoyable!

 

[Phototoxin]

Thank you very much. I've started to read the basic/core Fate book and it's making more sense.

Where it said that you have 3 consequences it really means you have slots to take up to 3 consequences, not that you start with them which confused me no end !

Also I'm loving the lives of cats, (I'm a crazy cat man) - I will have to find the expansion books. It seems kooky enough but could be played more horror/mystery/suspense or just silly lampoon a la 'Cat: the Meowing'!

 

[JonM]

Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with cats. At least that's the way we played it. I have to admit I was a bit unsure about it, at first, but I had a blast once we got going. It can be very intriguing trying to think like an intelligent cat - and deal with foes who are mostly much larger (Create Advantage is really useful, there). It really shows off what Fate can handle, too. Anyway, have fun!