Author Topic: A spark of FATE  (Read 10456 times)

Fax

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on: June 27, 2013, 08:22:31 PM
Ok, so I'm planning on running a RPG using a neat system called FATE ( http://www.faterpg.com/ ) Its a storytelling focused game. The core element of the game is a element called aspects, essentially short phrases or even just single descriptive words. The system itself is pay what you want, which includes free so you can grab the PDF off the site.

As far as setting goes, I'm open to suggestions but do have some ideas. Mainly, an anachronistic post-post-apocalyptic fantasy setting.

Also, I'm going to cap the game at 5 players.



For character creation, here's a quick summary of the character creation system from the PDF:

-Come up with your characters High Concept and Trouble aspects
-Name your character
-Describe your character's first adventure
-Describe how your character has crossed paths with two other characters
-Write down one aspect for each of these three experiences
-Pick and rate your skills ( see below )
-Pick or invent three to five stunts (see the PDF for examples)
-Determine your refresh (how many fate points you start play with)


Skills

At character creation each character gets one skill at great (+4), two at Good (+3), Three at Fair (+2) and four at Average (+1). All other skills are assumed to be at Mediocre (+0) unless otherwise stated.
Note that characters may not have more skills at a level higher than the level below it (ie. characters cannot have three at good and only two at fair, however two at good and two at fair is allowed)

The skills are as listed, with suggestions for additions taken under consideration.

Athletics, Burglary, Contacts, Crafts, Deceive, Drive, Empathy, Fight, Investigate, Lore, Notice, Physique, Provoke, Rapport, Resources, Shoot, Stealth and Will.


Stunts

Stunts are best described in the system PDF, however the following is a quick summary of things stunts can typically do.

The three major things stunts can do:

-add a new action to a skill (ie. use stealth to make a physical attack, use burglary to make mental attacks against a target, etc.) These have limitations in what situations they can be used.

-give a +2 bonus to a skill in particular situations.

-Create a rules exception. Note that these must be approved by the GM.


Refresh
Characters start with a refresh of 3, reduced by 1 for each stunt past the 3rd. Note that characters may not have less than 1 refresh as they immediately become NPCs. At the beginning of each session players get fate points equal to their refresh or the number of fate points they had at the end of the previous session.

FATE points can be used at most any time to either invoke an aspect to add +2 to any side in a roll, to declare a story detail or activate some stunts.


Stress
Stress is the system's equivalent of hit points, in conjunction with consequences. There are typically two main kinds of stress: Physical and Mental, however sometimes social stress is also included (in this case I probably won't use it)

Players start with two Mental and Physical stress boxes plus one extra box at +1 and +3 for the associated skills (Will for Mental and Physique for Physical)

Players also have three 'consequence' slots, a mild (-2), moderate(-4) and severe consequence(-6). Essentially consequences can be used to reduce damage to allow a player to remain in a scene in exchange for adding a negative aspect to the character.
« Last Edit: June 27, 2013, 08:53:07 PM by Fax »



Fax

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Reply #1 on: June 27, 2013, 08:46:41 PM
One potential magic system is the one used in the Dresden Files RPG system

Essentially magic falls into two groups, Evocation which is the on the fly brute force flashy magic and Thaumaturgy (complex, subtle ritual magic)

Evocation is determined by two skills, dicipline (essentially finesse) and conviction (raw power)

Thaumaturgy is a bit more complex but involves the lore skill

If there's interest in using this system I can include the details later.



Draykin

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Reply #2 on: June 27, 2013, 08:59:07 PM
I would certainly be up to try a game of this. Posting this here until I have a character set up, I guess.

Lantri Haviel

High Concept: Human Sonomancer (Sound Mage)
Trouble: Beacon of Unwanted Attention

On his first adventure, Lantri discovered a ruin deep within a forest on the outskirts of his home town. It was deep within this ruin that he discovered a book that hovered in the air and glowed with a power of its own. Of course, it was the curiosity that led to him actually opening the book, and he regretted it immediately. It was both a curse and a blessing, as it ripped from him the ability to see, blinding him and scarring his eyes with arcane markings that spread out to cover most of his face. However, it also awoke within him a power, and this power developed into magic, which bent itself to allow Lantri to escape the ruin and find his way home. Later, he would discover he had gained control over sound itself, and had become a Sonomancer.

Aspect: Blind Sonomancer

During Lantri's second outing, he was called by Aldous to help with investigating another mysterious ruin, a waterfall ruin, from which mysterious sounds were coming from. After much investigating, the duo discovered that the sounds were echoes from a song long forgotten, which was magical in nature, and turned out to be the 'Song of Building'.

Aspect: Notes of the Song of Building

It was during another trip in which Lantri came across an old ally by the name of Micheal, during one of the cheetah's training sessions. Lantri stopped to observe with his hearing, and doing so, he could hear the movements of Micheal, and slowly, he gained a grasp upon which he could even gauge speed by sound alone.

Aspect: Sound of Speed

Skills:
Great (+4): Notice
Good (+3): Athletics, Will
Fair (+2): Investigate, Shoot, Provoke
Average (+1): Physique, Lore, Resources, Fight
Mediocre (+0): Burglary, Contacts, Crafts, Deceive, Drive, Empathy, Rapport, Stealth

Stunts:
Sonic Blast: Lantri gets a +2 to Shoot whenever he can make an audible echo.

Echolocation: Lantri gets a +2 to Notice whenever he can detect something through sound/hear it. (This also accounts for how he can 'see' his surroundings.)

Amplify Voice: Lantri gets a +2 to Provoke when shouting/speaking loudly can affect his target(s) he is provoking.



« Last Edit: July 06, 2013, 12:19:19 AM by Draykin »

It gets so lonely being evil
What I'd do to see a smile
Even for a little while
And no one loves you when you're evil
I'm lying through my teeth!
Your tears are all the company I need


Snow

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Reply #3 on: June 27, 2013, 09:07:05 PM
I'd like to play, but have only the vaguest notion of a character so far. Here's a start that others might be able to play off of, subject to lots of revision:

Maurer, the Builder
Maurer lived a sheltered life. That is, once it became known that he had some talent for magic, he was taken from his family and raised in a monastery for training. He ended up more or less accepting the Order's beliefs. Any heterodoxy was tolerated, because he proved himself useful at a specific type of sorcery. He could create shelters, barriers, fortifications, walls. The Order sent him into the world to earn money for itself by creating military defenses for a local ruler. However, something happened to make him turn away from the people who'd raised him...

High Concept: Barrier Mage (See tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BarrierWarrior )
Trouble: "Can't Stand Idly By" (too generic a heroic attribute?), or "Hates the Order", or "Hates the Order's rival"

First Adventure: ?

Skills: Crafts 3 (architecture), Fight 1, Lore 4, Notice, Resources, Will 2...

Stunts:
-Because I am a barrier mage, I get +2 to Crafts when creating defensive structures with at least an hour's notice.
-Because I am experienced with magic, I get +2 to Notice when trying to detect and study magical effects.


Not too satisfied with that version, so let me pull out a somewhat silly character designed for "Mythic":
ALDOUS
High Concept: Skunktaur Artificer
Trouble: Curse Magnet
Skunktaur!
Aldous began his adventuring career in the Fractured Lands by leaping into an ill-advised exploration mission, during which he found a cursed belt that turned him from a human man into a centauroid skunk! He's now working at Port Dawn, a colony on the Fractured Lands' edge, trying to make himself useful and improve his skills. But the call to adventure is hard to resist, and dangerous artifacts seem to have a way of turning up around him...

His magic focuses on fixing and strengthening things, which involves working with artifacts but also a bit of healing. He has extensive magical knowledge, some medical Lore, staff-Fighting skill, and various magic Resources, along with some local Contacts he's helped. His bulk makes him somewhat clumsy but able to pounce and tackle foes. His mentor is the famous adventurer-mage Lermontov, who worries that some of the artifacts people are finding are more dangerous than they know.

"Because I am a Taur, I get +2 to Fighting when I can use my bulk to overpower people and there's plenty of room to maneuver."
"Because I am Mephitic, I can... uh, get ranged nonlethal unarmed attacks."
"Because I am an artificer specialist, I get +2 to Crafts involving the creation, repair and study of magical artifacts."
« Last Edit: June 28, 2013, 01:01:33 AM by Snow »

New fantasy book series: "Wavebound". The story of the novice Goddess of Water! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08D3SW5WP


Fax

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Reply #4 on: June 27, 2013, 09:30:07 PM
So there's a couple other potential magic systems that could be used that are easily added.

The first is an order based system that determines the areas of influence for the mage but is otherwise fairly generic in its associated skills.

The next is a system which involves invoking spirits to perform the effects using the 'commune' skill

After that there's the mark system as described here: http://www.evilhat.com/home/fate-core-sneak-peak-magic-system-toolkit/

finally, there is the much looser system involving a specialized aspect ( http://evilhat.wikidot.com/aspect-based-naration )

The first two systems can be found in the fate core book/ pdf
« Last Edit: June 27, 2013, 09:37:24 PM by Fax »



William Swiftfoot

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Reply #5 on: June 27, 2013, 10:30:53 PM
Put me down as in for this. Here's my general idea

Micheal Beanton, Changed Cheetah Swordsman.
Micheal's life was ordinary and lackluster until one day, his world was turned on his head. On the way home from a job, he was abducted by a group of theives. It seems being "nobody" meant to them that you made it have you "dissapear" unnoticed, and thus had become the unlucky winner of being the guinea pig in an experiment. The experiment was to see what happens if a human was fused with a spirit of the animal world. Taking to a closed off room of runes, the spirit was released and pulled into him, causing his body to be shaped much like his form, yet still human in look. The mages deemed it a success, and were about to conduct tests, when there was a sudden explosion that blew out a wall of the room. Seeing an oppertunity, Micheal stumbled to his feet and fled, and was able to escape whoever had done this to him. Since then, he has slowly learned to work with his new form(anthromorphic cheetah) and has used his skills in speed to better his other skills and becoming quick of the blade.

High Aspect: Changed Cheetah Swordsman
Trouble: Price for his head

Phase 1: A few months after his escape, Micheal was traveling between cities, when he came upon some bandits attacking a carraige. In quick work, he was able to dispatch them, and saved the woman inside. It turned out the woman was the daughter of a nearby thieves guild, whos Guildmaster saw favor in him.

Aspect: Gaurdian of Thieves.

Phase 2(By Draykin): Lantri heard of a apothecary in a large city who had a cure for any condition and, figuring it would be a chance to regain his sight, we ventured out to meet said apothecary. On arriving at the city, Lantri meets Micheal briefly, and he hires him on as a temporary bodyguard, just in case. It turns out to be a good idea, when the apothecary is revealed to be a band of con men who sell random crap as the 'mystical cure-all', but they don't fool Micheal. They then proceed to rid the city of the conmen.

Aspect: Know a snake oil when I see one.

Phase 3(By Snow): Hired as muscle by Aldous, out of prudence, the two traveled to a border town near an ongoing war. Aldous was hoping to visit the nice library said to belong to the nobleman who lived there, but when they arrived, something had gone terribly wrong and nearly all of the books were destroyed by someone who didn't want them to be read.

Aspect: Hates Book-Burners

Skills:
Great: Athletics
Good: Physique, Fight
Fair: Contacts, Notice, Will
Average: Rapport, Decieve, Investigate, Resources

Stunts:
Sprint of the Cheetah! +2 to Athletics rolls when attempting to sprint short distances
Lighting Reflexes +2 to fight rolls when defending a blow agianst himself or an ally
Speed is in my favor!(Requires Sprint of the Cheetah and Lighting Reflexes) +2 to fight rolls when attacking with or defending agianst a moving target.
« Last Edit: July 05, 2013, 11:17:30 PM by Kenku »



MisterBackground

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Reply #6 on: June 28, 2013, 08:53:34 PM
I'm interested as well. However I'm having a hard time coming up with a character concept for the moment, perhaps a battlemage or a technomancer of ancient tech.

Edit I:
Sorry for the delay on my character, here's what I have so far.

Mark [somelastname] <Species Unknown*> Combat Illusionist

Trouble: Everyone is Out to Get Me
- Power from Blood, Sweat, and Tears
- So Long as it's Sharp or Pointy
- Curse These Riddles! They Drive me to Think!

*Unknown Species intentional. He uses his illusions to change his identity frequently.

Adventure 1: A group he doesn't recognize is chasing Mark for reasons he does not remember. He runs through a forest to aid his escape, using his talents to throw off his pursuers. His footsteps seem to vanish the further he runs, trees sprout where his blood spilled, and nearby wolves spread as much fear into his foes as he feels himself, before he himself collapses after his pursuers withdraw. Only the forest, footprints, and blood remain when he awakens.
Power from Blood, Sweat, and Tears.

[Will add other adventures later.]

Skills:
  Great: Illusion
  Good: Deceive, Stealth
  Fair: Fight, Physique, Athletics
  Average: Will, Notice, Investigate, Lore

Stunts:
  • Ninja Vanish
  • Danger Sense
  • Mind Games
« Last Edit: July 21, 2013, 10:19:03 PM by MisterBackground »



Fax

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Reply #7 on: July 05, 2013, 03:43:00 PM
Ok, so for anyone who is still interested we should get together on the chat and actually do up character creation. Ideally this could be done up this evening at something like 10PM EST, though if that doesn't work then I'd say some time this weekend.



Fax

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Reply #8 on: July 20, 2013, 09:52:24 PM
Ok, so in the interests of actually making this thing happen how does tomorrow evening at 8:00 pm EST sound?



William Swiftfoot

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Reply #9 on: July 20, 2013, 11:11:59 PM
Sure, that sounds cool.