Suggestions for Running a Podrace in FAE (Fate Accelerated)

[RobShanti]

I'm going to be running a podrace scenario in my Star Wars Fate Accelerated game on Monday that will involve 2 PCs and a group of NPCs (the character sheets for which I will probably give to the other players). I was hoping folks could make some suggestions on how I might structure the race in terms of game mechanics, or story elements to add to it. I'm thinking of using the method suggested on page 20 of the Fate Accelerated rules:

1. A "Contest" with "a series of exchanges" in which each podracer makes an Overcome roll
(a) the victor gains a "point" (two points if the victory was a success with style)
(b) in the event of a tie, no one gains a point but a "twist" occurs in the form of a Situation Aspect (environmental/terrain shift, unanticipated variable, etc.)
2. The first person to win three victories wins the race

I was going to build the NPC podracers AND their pods using the Fate fractal, each pod having a full character sheet with High Concept, Trouble, a Stunt maybe, etc.) and use my usual vehicle/starship rules (in which the pilot may use the higher of his PC's Approach or his vehicle's Approach).

I would love to hear people's thoughts.

 

[Arilyn]

Guess I'm too late to help, but what you wrote sounds good. How did it go? Love to hear as I'm a big Fate fan.

 

[RobShanti]

Guess I'm too late to help, but what you wrote sounds good. How did it go? Love to hear as I'm a big Fate fan.

Sure! I ran the podrace last Monday night: seven pilots participating in 12 exchanges (rounds) took 3½ hours!

Each exchange began with the opportunity for each pilot to "Create Advantage / Discover Aspect" (at difficulty 2) before I confronted the racers with the obstacle they had to overcome for that exchange. Failure on the optional Create Advantage roll precluded the pilot from making an Overcome roll that exchange; I just assumed the pilot succeeded, but couldn't win the point for that exchange. (If I were to do it over, I think I would still let a pilot who failed a CrAdv roll make the Overcome roll -- to see if he crashed or not -- but would probably just impose a -2 on it).

I controlled Sebulba and Dud Bolt as NPCs. The players controlled the other five participants. I divided the 12 exchanges into three circuits each containing 4 terrains:

(1) the Arena (in which the players could Create an Advantage at only a 1 difficulty, for pit stops, for example),
(2) the Dune Sea (where they could Attack each other, Create Advantages against each other, and had to dodge buttes and thread arches),
(3) the Xelric Draw Canyon (where Attacks were more secret, and the Obstacles involved more finesse), and
(4) looping back through the Dune Sea toward the Arena (where the desert attacked them with things like startled flocks of sand bats and Jawas trying to disable the pods with fougasses built into the sand.

The players had LOTS of Advantage Post-Its in front of them by the last circuit. The race ran longer than I would have wanted, but the mechanics of it really allowed the race itself to be the setting for lots of action, roleplaying and participatory narration by the players, which is what I wanted. And the granular nature of the race mechanics really made that final lap exciting, as everyone started invoking those Advantages and spending those Fate Points that they had been strategically rationing throughout the earlier exchanges.

Thanks for your interest!

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