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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JonM" data-source="post: 7306435" data-attributes="member: 6796515">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!</blockquote>

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