Tell me about Spirit of the Century

[Lackhand]

So he was like Atlas, only ballsier?

So? How'd it go?

Tell us about Spirit of the Century

 

[Wombat]

This Sunday my group is giving FATE a shot in a Sword & Sorcery incarnation inspired by (but not directly being) the writings of Fritz Leiber -- sort of an alternate Lankhmar. They are very excited by the prospects ... but I may need to rustle up a couple more players, given that one of our guys is remote and another may be leaving the area soon.

The one aspect of FATE/SotC that is a little troublesome is advancement; I accept the argument that most Pulp characters don't really "advance", but given that Harry Dresden is next on the line, and given that not only Harry himself but also those around him obviously grow, change, and gain, this may require that FATE actually develop some serious advancement rules.

 

[coyote6]

From what I understand (from reading blog posts & playtest reports), they have or are in the process of developing some. Also, I think Starblazer Adventures had some kind of advancement rules, but I don't remember what they might be.

 

[Rechan]

The one aspect of FATE/SotC that is a little troublesome is advancement; I accept the argument that most Pulp characters don't really "advance", but given that Harry Dresden is next on the line, and given that not only Harry himself but also those around him obviously grow, change, and gain, this may require that FATE actually develop some serious advancement rules.

Dresden Files RPG (which also uses FATE) will have a way to handle advancement.

From what I can piece together, it looks like the advancement rules mean "We raise your amount of Fate Points you get at the beginning of the session". Which means that a starting wizard may have 3, and then get upgraded to 4, then to 5. So he can now use those two new fate points to spend on stunts or something.

I'd say it'd be like advancing in GURPS, HERO or Exalted.

 

[Nameless1]

Check out these ideas on the FATE wiki on advancement. There are other ideas out there as well, but most are incarnations of some od these.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

From what I understand (from reading blog posts & playtest reports), they have or are in the process of developing some. Also, I think Starblazer Adventures had some kind of advancement rules, but I don't remember what they might be.

Starblazer has some very cool advancemen rules, allowing for campaign play.

The fantasy version of Starblazer, Legends of Anglerre, has advancement rules that will allow you to from farm boy to demi-god. Good stuff indeed.

 

[Rechan]

The fantasy version of Starblazer, Legends of Anglerre, has advancement rules that will allow you to from farm boy to demi-god. Good stuff indeed.

This is out?

 

[Mikaze]

Spirit of the Century has the most enjoyable character creation process ever. Bar none. The first night we ran it we spent approximately twice the time on creation that we did on actually playing the game, and it was a hoot. A hoot.

First game had a mad scientist, Texan ranger, the Greatest Actor In The World, Captain America, and ....Circus Paul and His Magical Umbrella....at the World's Fair circa The 30's taking in the sights and wonders of recently discovered inventions hidden by the mysterious Nikola Tesla when the place was raided by mobsters. Who had their brains implanted into the bodies of gorillas. Some of whom triple weilded tommyguns.

The next session

Spoiler

is going to introduce their plucky and somewhat awkward sidekicks: Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. And the Devil Girl From Mars is going to get involved.

And the best part is that it all makes pefect sense.

Honestly, the cover of the book tells you most of what you need to know. It is a GREAT system for getting everyone to cooperate and come out of their shells. If you've got some players that just seem to keep leaking CRAZY all over your more serious campaigns, this is a great system to let them bleed some of it out.

 

[shocklee]

The Fate PDF for the 2.0 rules are available at http://www.faterpg.com/dl/FATE2fe.pdf; I don't know if there are any plans to complete a comparable document that includes the 3.0 rules, which is the version for Spirit of the Century. The 2.0 rules do contain some magic rules. You can also do a search for additional magic rules, some of which are available on the Evil Hat Wiki or through the Fate Yahoo Groups.

 

[Psion]

The Fate PDF for the 2.0 rules are available at http://www.faterpg.com/dl/FATE2fe.pdf; I don't know if there are any plans to complete a comparable document that includes the 3.0 rules, which is the version for Spirit of the Century.

There's both an HTML and PDF version of SotC stripped of all setting info & fluff on the same site.