Grade the Fate/Fate Core System

[Vael]

My first FATE game was Strands of Fate, which didn't work well for me.

But I do love Fate Core. I've run both full Core and Accelerated. I've debated running Atomic Robo as a Star Trek game, the brainstorming session is kinda like Star Trek technobabble.

 

[overgeeked]

My first FATE game was Strands of Fate, which didn't work well for me.

But I do love Fate Core. I've run both full Core and Accelerated. I've debated running Atomic Robo as a Star Trek game, the brainstorming session is kinda like Star Trek technobabble.

In theory it works great and a lot of people love it. I found it disappointing. It reduced the solution to any mystery to “whatever random string of words the players throw together when they roll high.” While it works as a game mechanic, it was unsatisfying in play, for me. But, I think that’s mostly down to having run a lot of Call of Cthulhu and wanting the mysteries to have set clues and a solution.

 

[Vael]

In theory it works great and a lot of people love it. I found it disappointing. It reduced the solution to any mystery to “whatever random string of words the players throw together when they roll high.” While it works as a game mechanic, it was unsatisfying in play, for me. But, I think that’s mostly down to having run a lot of Call of Cthulhu and wanting the mysteries to have set clues and a solution.

Ah, disappointing. I assume the "just make stuff up" element of treknobabble would go well with that.

But that is the thing about Fate. As much as the system makes sense to me, I worry that it needs the right vibe and players.

 

[overgeeked]

Ah, disappointing. I assume the "just make stuff up" element of treknobabble would go well with that.

But that is the thing about Fate. As much as the system makes sense to me, I worry that it needs the right vibe and players.

It absolutely fits hand in glove. It's just not satisfying to me because I've run a lot of set mysteries before. It might absolutely sing for you and yours.

 

[Aldarc]

I love Fate. It was an eye-opening game for me. I couldn't grok Fate at first. It required a paradigm shift to how I thought about roleplaying games, namely to move out of the sphere of more familiar approaches found in D&D and its sphere of influence. But after putting Fate on the shelf for about half a year, I heard/read someone talk about Fate, then I went back and it all "clicked." It has been absolutely great for running a fair number of various games in a variety of genres.

Fate can handle tactical play, but that tactical play in Fate is more about fictional positioning with Create an Advantage rather than mechanical one, as invoking that aspect amounts to just a +2 bonus. I remember seeing a lightbulb go off in a player who asked how they would do things like blind, trip, or distract an opponent without a feat when I told them that they could roll their Fighter role* to Create an Advantage to do the same thing.

* We were playing Jadepunk, which uses roles instead of skills: i.e., Aristocrat, Engineer, Explorer, Fighter, Scholar, and Scoundrel.

In some ways, I also am a little more interested in Cortex Prime nowadays due to its overlapping but distinct ways of handling similar ideas. But Fate remains a favorite and a go-to game I use to get people to see how roleplaying games can be different from D&D.

In theory it works great and a lot of people love it. I found it disappointing. It reduced the solution to any mystery to “whatever random string of words the players throw together when they roll high.” While it works as a game mechanic, it was unsatisfying in play, for me. But, I think that’s mostly down to having run a lot of Call of Cthulhu and wanting the mysteries to have set clues and a solution.

You could set a mystery up as a fractal. I recall an example of how to make a super boss, like a mecha, work in Fate. The solution as to provide Stress related per part (e.g., arm, leg, torso, etc.) as a fractal. I would potentially set up a mystery this way. So players uncover a part of the mystery after "defeating" or "solving" a piece of the mystery, which may be tied to a particular area.

 

[PencilBoy99]

In theory it works great and a lot of people love it. I found it disappointing. It reduced the solution to any mystery to “whatever random string of words the players throw together when they roll high.” While it works as a game mechanic, it was unsatisfying in play, for me. But, I think that’s mostly down to having run a lot of Call of Cthulhu and wanting the mysteries to have set clues and a solution.

That's just one way to play. Tate supports a normal style just fine. You're not required to let players control everything. I know because I asked Fred Hicks. Also ran a long Fate of Cthulhu game

 

[aramis erak]

In theory it works great and a lot of people love it. I found it disappointing. It reduced the solution to any mystery to “whatever random string of words the players throw together when they roll high.” While it works as a game mechanic, it was unsatisfying in play, for me. But, I think that’s mostly down to having run a lot of Call of Cthulhu and wanting the mysteries to have set clues and a solution.

You might find older versions of fate more suitable, as they almost universally have more mechanical teeth to them than the absolute blandness which is Fat Core.

 

[Kannik]

There's a lot I dig in FATE. A Margin of Success/Failure based system! With a bell curve distribution! The FATE fractal! Approaches (from Accelerated)! Aspects! Stunts and their wonderful flexibility! Character richness! FP spends!

There are some aspects (heh) of the game that do fall a bit short -- such as how Aspects get a bit short shrift without spending a FATE point, and the way free invokes might be stacked a bit too easily. Also it can be useful for certain genres/settings to have two-axis abilities (not only two-column FATE, but mixing two separate measurement sets).

Nowadays, for any game I might have considered running in FATE I would choose Cortex Prime instead. (And if you do a Grade thread for that one, I'll chime in over there! )

 

[Kobold Stew]

One of the best parts about aspects is that not only do they indicate how your character will "win" (succeed at a task), but also how they will lose. You need to have problems that the GM can compel to make you not act, or hesitate. Without them, you run out of FATE points. Choosing how and why you are not going to succeed, and letting that drive choices is great -- players can metagame all they want (ok, not quite), and the character can remain consistent to itself.

I'll have to look at Cortex.

 

[CleverNickName]

A dubious milestone: this is the first system to get a "Hate" vote.

Granted, I've only done four of them so far, but still--nobody has actually gone on record as hating any of them until now.