It's very hard to work out how to play Fate if you don't see it in play in a group, to be honest, especially if coming from a heavy simulationist background (my experience).

The best thing I can say is, think of it like moderated freeform with a few extra rules; you say what you want to do, GM tells you the difficulty (if possible) and then you roll and add a relevant skill.

Then it's all about the Aspects and Fate Points. You have to "invoke" aspects that are relevant (which is a mini-negotiating game) to either gain +2 (which is a lot) or reroll, but to stop this from abuse and autospam, you need to "fuel" them with Fate Points. Unlike other games with fate points/last resort/luck points etc, you do need an actual reason to invoke them; you can't just say "I drop 3 Fate Points to get +6". You can though for example, if you are fighting a duel for your honour, tag your Aspects "Veteran Duelist, Always Spoiling for a Fight and My honour, my life".

Think of Fate Points as raw materials, and your Aspects are the engines you fuel with them to do stuff.

Which is why writing aspects is a bit of a topic on its own. Sure, you can write Strong, but I want to be the strongest person on Earth can imply many other things, like your drive, your desire, your experience in doing this etc. Similarly, the trick (at least the one I have found) is to write ambiguous ones that can both be used to "power up" and also for the GM to "compel" you to do stuff.

Thanks,

Yes, that sums up and clarifies a lot of what I've been reading, so that's very useful. I think I know it theoretically, and I'm interested in seeing how this shakes out.

We have 5 Aspects: High concept, Trouble, three Aspects? Is it possible to get more? Or do we gain and lose them, are they somewhat fluid? What about situational aspects, say it's Dark, does that affect our character aspects?

How many Fate points do we have? Is there maximum Fate? If I have say Refresh 3, does that mean starting Fate 3?

Thanks for answeing the questions...

You have 1+1+3. It's possible to change, or gain temporary ones like Supercharged with Magic or something. Like literally every modifier can be an Aspect (which admittedly is quite clunky sometimes and can create ludonarrative dissonance). But unless the GM says so, you can't get more than these. Honestly, having played Dresden files where you had 5 extra instead of 3, it can get a bit too much at times so I don't mind the narrower focus.

Refresh 3 means you start the adventure with 3. You can get above that, there's no maximum, but to get them you need to be Compelled (so here's where the negative Aspects come in handy...)

Again in Dresden Files (most of my player experience), I had a Wizard with refresh 1 (those stunts for magic are expensive...) so he literally just hoarded the Fate Points getting compelled to do the stupidest, most problematic stuff, just so he could unleash hell (The GMs actually banned the Riposte stunt because I was powergaming it like crazy and they weren't comfortable with that). So yeah... I earned every single FP in that game with blood, sweat and tears (usually mine).

Now I don't know how it works in PbP honestly, I assume we Refresh when GM says so (usually they carry-over from session to session). I can't seem to remember if you refreshed "down" to your maximum if you had hoarded a lot from the previous adventure, I think yes.

Correct. Refresh is going to work similar to other games. I run into the same issue with other games I played like 7th Sea, Savage Worlds or anything that uses tokens. The general idea is I will tell you when a refresh happens.

However unlike other games FATE gives you Fate points for using aspects as flaws.

So you have a high concept and trouble but any aspect can bring you trouble. If you have swashbuckler and you get into a fight with someone...you might say to me, I am going to invoke swashbuckler but not for a roll but because it forces me to fight like a hero so stabbing people or even hurting them is out of the picture. I am going to only throw them off balance and use the environment.

Honestly, once you get use to FATE it's very freeing.

Just so everyone knows, I have adjusted my overall concept to Quartermaster. Instead of changing how I have played so far, it will actually explain it. Even the "trouble" is a perfect fit. I am not taking this to lord it over the rest of the players, merely to help with his ability to command the the non-pc crew.

Thanks Oliseo and GM!

That sounds good Vartan!

Who said Voidcallers don't have emotions?

...frustration is an emotion...

I never said he was emotionless. I said his voice never showed any emotion. He has them, his voice just doesn't carry them.

Oooh ok!

Seems like the interest for this game has waned out a good bit. I'll give it a few more days and after that I'll call it dead.

Apologies, I've been mildly sick for a month and playing far too many computer games and haven't been on top of things in general. That has possibly affected my games on RPOL., I'm sorry if it has.

Um, I'm not sure why I haven't really gotten into this game. Partly the system? Partly it seems a bit rail roaded ? Partly I'm thinking of my character wanting to be running and jumping everywhere and I haven't seen many opportunities to do that. Then again, as I say I haven't been on top form lately so I may have just missed them.

"Sea of Dead Men" and its parent "Blades in the Dark" has an interesting take. "You're on a pirate ship, you're a crew. Here are three options for a score." Players decide which one they want, make a rough plan, and charge in. There is a preparation phase and then an engagement phase and then downtime.

There is a free demo available for download,and it's a fascinating system, but I'm not suggesting you suddenly switch games.

But that idea, "here's three options for a score", and they players choosing one and then choosing an approach also sets the tone for the game, whether it's romance or fancy swordplay and swinging from the rigging or sneaky thievery or whatever. And the players are more invested.

Please don't see this as an attack, it's not meant to be. I need to get more sleep. Besides, the Sea of Dwad Men game I'm in has players quitting as soon as they join, and I don't know why.

Because Blades in the Dark is more of a "friends/casual" game if I've ever seen one. It literally on the one hand minimizes prep and effort, but on the other the mechanics are intended to just have a bunch of friends play a fantasy Ocean's 11, and that's it. But it needs that infrastructure of friends around a table, otherwise as a game it really doesn't have much else to offer, it's a very specialized kind of game.

I ran a couple of sessions with total n00bs using Scum & Villainy (one with 4 players... the other with 10!), but I wouldn't touch it in a PbP or online with strangers, it really needs a bit of showmanship to pull off.

...The talking armor has +4 Rapport. Wow.

I now feel like a total imbecile.


...wait, my character already IS a total imbecile! WEEEEE

The talking armor has armor of fear. Rapport used to force stop enemies from attacking him in melee. Its all about intimidation with him.

Ah yes, the typical one-skill-fits-all issue XD

Honestly not shocked. This is probably the third game I've tried on Fate that people just don't seem to really draw interest from. I don't blame people, it takes a certain type of person to play FATE and like other games, it's just not for everyone.

Either way....I would change the system but if it was going to go into anything it would be back into Savage Worlds. It has a decent amount of content and offers the best material for moving forward and keeping people interested besides something like D&D. Blades in the Dark is fun but in my opinion it's not for PbP similar to the way two of the game I am in now which are driven by Dungeon World get a lack of players, it's much the same with that game.

Well SWADE's always a good choice overall. We can port it there if you'd like, I don't mind, but then again depends on what you're looking for. The FATE crowd is small, but they can be quite interesting at times.

I'm sticking with the game regardless.

I'll give it a go with Fate. Most RPOL games work better when we focus on the story rather than the system anyway...

I'll be honest. I think I am going to can this game in favor of a completely different idea I've been throwing around. More of a darker superhero game something akin to Watchmen, Spaw, Savage Dragon, etc. still working out the details but I think we can can this one.

Ok, thank you for letting us know! That's cool.

I won't be joining you on that one, never had the super-hero bug myself. Have fun and see you at the other game!

I understand.

Thanks for letting us know.

For everyone else who is interested or if only Skinner is interested. I am working on the super hero one. I have it mostly done. Working on the finer details now.

You can be thinking about your character. They will start off as street-level heroes called Delta's. More details will come in the form of the background.

In reply to GM (msg # 71):

Im interested.

New Game is up For Savage World Supers.

link to another game