Some time next month, I should be starting a Dresden Files campaign. The plan is use the city I created for an old Mage campaign and hence I’ll probably be using some of the same NPC’s just translated to FATE and the Dresden-verse. This is the also a way for me to play around with the power level that I’m thinking of using for the campaign (8 Refresh, Skill Cap: Great (+4), Skill Points: 20). I want the option for the players to get pretty much any of the templates but still want to keep them at the lower end of the food chain.
So without further ado, Jennifer the Sound Girl.
Originally, she was an unnamed NPC from the very first adventure. Just a simple film student who was working the sound for an independent documentary that ended going horribly wrong. Through some miracle of fate and luck, she managed so survive. As the campaign developed, she managed to show up and keep surviving until the end when the vampires got her and then things got hairy. I’m pretty sure that somewhere in my notes she has a last name, but to the player’s she’ll always be Jennifer the Sound Girl.
Jennifer The Sound Girl
High Aspect: Red Court Infected Film Student
Trouble: Curiosity Killed The Cat
Other Aspects: Monsters are real!
I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself.
I’m still normal.
Friends are always there for each other.
Let’s Party!
Looks like I’m going to be running a Dresden Files game in the near future and that means lots of stuff about FATE. So I was thinking of really good example of Aspects that really aren’t RPG related. Then it hit me. The Most Interesting Man in the World.
The little catch phrases from this ad campaign are perfect Aspects. They’re descriptive, can easily be compelled or invoked. And they’re just down right entertaining. But here’s some of favorites: He can make orange juice, out of apples.
He once asked a woman to say ‘NO’ to him, so he could understand rejection.
He speaks fluent French, in Russian.
Even the deaf can hear him speak.
His charm is so contagious, vaccines we’re created for it.
These just scream this is an Aspect! I don’t always play FATE but when I do it’s Dresden Files.
It’s that time again in our little gaming group when start discussing “What next?” You see we have to opposite problem that many groups have. When asked who wants to run a game, a few hands go up.
Of course, one of the games that I’ve been itching to run is the Dresden Files RPG. I love the books. I love the genre. But it’s been a while since I cracked them open so I decided to scan through them again and think a little bit about the FATE system. So here’s a few bits wisdom.
Player creativity and imagination will go farther than rules knowledge. Creating Aspects makes the game move. Good Aspects and their use are what makes the game fun.
It ain’t D&D. I know I said this way back when in a long rant about Savage Worlds and it pretty much holds true here. If you approach combat with the idea that it’s some piles of hit points grinding away at each other until somebody drops then not only will it boring but there’s a good chance that you will lose those combats regularly. The consensus for FATE combat is maneuver, set up your opponents and then just unload on them in one awesome strike.
Sometimes the best way to win the war is to lose the battle. This is going to be one thing that so many players will just to get pounded into their heads. So many games end up with combat being an all or nothing proposition. A fight will continue until one side has been eliminate. Concessions in FATE are a way for characters to survive a losing fight. Yeah, sure you may lose the fight but you get to say how you lose it. But it lets you live to fight another day. Like I mentioned, every fight need not to death and if you want to win the war, you just may have to lose a few battles a long the way.
The story is king. Nobody likes losing. That’s one reason folks may be a little resistant to conceding. But it’s just as important in the rest of game. To do the really neat stuff or to pull off that miraculous stunt that saves the day, chances are you are going to need a few Fate Points. The best way to get those is to screw yourself. Compelling your Aspects to make your character’s life more interesting. That means causing problems and making things more difficult. Everybody wants to be the hero and the winner. No problem. But to be the hero you need adversity. And that can come from lots of different sources. One of the best is being your own worst enemy. It just makes for a better story. Hell, if the hero always wins without having to really overcome any opposition (whether from internal or external sources), it’s just damned boring.
So there you do a few thoughts on FATE. Enjoy!
I just had to pick this up. I’ve stopped by here enough, you know that I like FATE. One thing I haven’t really mentioned is that I’m big fan of spy genre for RPG’s.
The longest campaign that I have ever ran was my I.S.I.S. (International Secret Intelligence Service) campaign. It started out with the original Top Secret (Not Top Secret/SI). We played it a little bit with Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes then a short stint with the James Bond RPG. We finally settled on the very ancient Hero Games’ Espionage and then stepped up to Danger International. So when I heard about this from little game from Postmortem Studios, I just had to get it.
First of the very basics. It’s a FATE game. Plain and simple, and goes with the normal FATE engine. Agents of S.W.I.N.G. uses the +1d6-1d6 system for rolling. And is leads to the only major divergence from the core FATE mechanics. If make a roll by +3 or more, you get a Swing Die. You can only ever have one Swing Die at time. And what do you do with it? Well, when things go bad, you can roll your Swing Die and take that roll and replace it with either one of the dice you rolled. Characters are generated in the usual FATE manner. Choose your Aspects, buy your skills and stunts then figure out your Refresh. The game has all the good bits to run a spy-fi game; gadgets, goons, chases, organizations and the all the nifty bits you need. There’s a nice little setting organization for the PC’s to work for S.W.I.N.G. and a good array of NPC’s. I personally made a little mini-game of reading the rule book and figuring out which NPC was based loosely on which fictional spy.
Here’s what Agents of S.W.I.N.G. Is NOT. It is not a gritty realistic Bourne Identity type game. This game is based on the classic quirky spy stories of the 60′s and early 70′s. Great series like the Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Avengers, Our Man Flint or I Spy just to name my favorites. For you youngsters out there, think of Austin Powers just not as corny. This is a great genre for RPG’s. It was time of political, cultural and scientific change. I really view as the last bastion of the great stories of the pulps. These are cinematic stories of larger than life heroes facing off against equally larger than life villains. Throw into that mix just a little bit of over the top gadgetry and a just a wee bit of quirky weirdness. It’s a great place to adventure.
If you like FATE. Pick it up. If you like the fun loving Spy Genre. Pick it up. If you just don’t aren’t sure then screw it. Pick it up any way. It’s available at Drive Thru RPG.
We’ll be starting Paizo’s Kingmaker adventure path after the New Year and the GM has decided to add Aspects from FATE to see what happens.
As you’ve probably already noticed I’m just like so many people and have grown to really love FATE since the Dresden Files RPG has hit the shelves and personally I can’t to run it for a campaign. But heck Aspects are neat a decent little add on to most systems. So we’re going to give this option a go.
The good news that I’ve already had some discussion about this with Mike over at Wrath Of Zombies and we’ve had some decent ideas to bring this over to Pathfinder. Now our GM hasn’t decided on the extra rules yet but I figured I’d throw some thoughts any way. Not so much for him but for anybody else who happens to be thinking of doing something like this.
One of the first questions you might ask is, “Why the hell are we even doing this?” Well, we’ve grown really used to the system and being a bunch of grumpy old gamers we decided wanted something to add a little more storytelling to the game. And since we already used Action Points, Aspects seemed like a perfect fit. So here we go, the beta version:
Aspects: For Kingmaker, we’ll be using seven Aspects just like the DFRPG. We’re going ahead and also using the nifty Character creation worksheet from Evil Hat for it. Aspects are just going to be for characters as a storytelling tool.
Refresh: 3. There’s no real reason for this other than it seems like a decent number. Mainly, there’s also that little influence from Savage Worlds. That’s how many Bennies you get per session.
Using Fate Points: The core rules of FATE let you get a +2 for invoking an Aspect. That’s fine but the scale is way different. Since we use Action Points which gives you +1d6, a flat +4 seems like the sweet number. The bonus can be only applied to d20 rolls.
Compels and Aspect minutia should stay the same.
These are only the first thoughts and more will follow as the campaign gets closer.
So here’s some notes for any future DFRPG GM’s and players.
The game is a sand box let the players go off on their stories. They may not follow the exact adventure you have outlined but they will get there eventually. Don’t be afraid to improvise the adventure based on the player characters are doing.
Compel! We really learned the importance of the Fate Point economy. Sitting with a Refresh of 1, I had lots of Aspects that I wanted to Invoke but just couldn’t. The Fate Points need to be flying around the table. The more the better.
Use something big to represent Fate points so its easy for the GM to see how many everyone has. We were using glass beads. These were nice but I think poker chips would have been better.
Low Refresh characters will have more influence over the story. They will be looking for ways to Compel to get Fate Points.
Teamwork and collaboration is very important. More outgoing players are going to garner more time in the spot light than the quieter players. GM’s need pull the quiet players in especially if that player has a character with low Refresh. Also, the group dynamic will play a much bigger role than more crunchy games. It’s lots talking and throwing around ideas. Play well with others.
Hey I know this a really quick post. What do you expect I’m doing Nanowrimo.
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