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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ratskinner" data-source="post: 6105507" data-attributes="member: 6688937">The topic is "<a href="http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/FateRPG/message/25022" target="_blank">Mental to Physical Combat transition</a>"At <a href="http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/FateRPG/messages" target="_blank">http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/FateRPG/messages</a>. FATE is a very different game from D&D (at least in the relevant mechanics), so if you're not familiar with the mechanics, it might not make much sense. (The group's top-posting ways won't help, either.)A Cliff Notes version....hmmm I'll give it a go.It starts with a (I think) new GM's question about stress & consequences so: <Background: can be skipped, if you are familiar with FATE> In FATE, characters have multiple tracks of stress boxes (usually Physical and Mental, sometimes a Mana, Psychic, or Social box depending on setting.) Usually these lines are only a few boxes long, but they are (for the most part) like non-injury HPs. If you cannot absorb the stress dealt by an attack, you take a consequence. Characters have only one consequence track. Consequences represent wounds, loss of mental cool, social status or other repercussions from losing which don't vanish immediately. In most FATE games, you can only take 3 consequences of increasing severity. After that, you are "taken out" which means "at the mercy of your opponent"...very bad.Unlike typical D&D injuries, these consequences matter for future conflicts....they can matter a lot. Much like an aspect in FATE, consequences can be tagged. So if you've taken a "sprained ankle" consequence, your enemies can use it to gain a bonus against you. The trick is...the type of conflict from which a consequence derived is irrelevant. So, if you have an "upset over losing the girl" or a "quaking in my boots" consequence, it can be used against you in a physical fight to represent distraction or anything else the other players might come up with. Similarly, a physical consequence can be used against you in a social conflict, provided your enemies can justify it narratively.It should also be noted that, in FATE, conflicts go to the bitter end far less often than in D&D (unless you're intentionally playing a D&Dish world, of course.) Instead, the players or GM (not the characters) may offer a concession to end the conflict.</Background>So, the thread started with a new GM not quite getting that FATE makes no real distinction between forms of combat (mental, social, psychological, etc.). There's some mechanical discussion about the above-stuff. He asked for examples of what that would look like (mixing social and physical combat). Then folks started chiming in with examples from games and movies. Including:I suppose the takeaway for D&D discussions is that this kind of thing is possible in FATE because physical, social, mental, etc. conflicts all follow the same mechanics. (Unless you modify them for a particular kind of conflict for your game.)</blockquote>

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