The Fate Core/FAE Megathread: We do our own stunts and fractals

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > The Fate Core/FAE Megathread: We do our own stunts and fractals

e X: Feb 23, 2013; cool but crude

A lot of earlier additions had the problem of having WAY to many personal aspects.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2014 20:44

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# ¿ May 6, 2024 00:55

e X: Feb 23, 2013; cool but crude

For one thing, if combat really is his area of competence, I wouldn't take it away from him. One of the great things about FATE is that even non combat skills can easily be really useful in a fight, so maybe the other characters could take a support role without feeling left out?

The other thing is, how exactly do his stunts look? If they are just a bunch of '+2 to skill under condition X', I can see the problem, since those are really the worst stunts, but otherwise, if he just managed to come up with a lot of cool stunts that compliment each other, don't just knock him down for that.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2014 22:20

e X: Feb 23, 2013; cool but crude

The GM having a copy of his player's character sheets is generally a good idea, not just for FATE.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2014 20:42

e X: Feb 23, 2013; cool but crude

I don't know how your GM handles it, but if he is new to FATE, often times, the problem is the same on players have, i.e. not using aspects and fate points enough.

e X fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Dec 4, 2014

# ¿ Dec 3, 2014 19:56

e X: Feb 23, 2013; cool but crude

Caros posted:

Another alternative is what I like to call 'the new normal'.

Every so often at the end of an arc you reset your player's characters to their starting positions. Let them remake their characters to reflect how they've changed and grown throughout the course of the campaign, maybe give them a small starting bonus each time you refresh their characters. This represents the new normal in shonen, where after a full arc what was the top tier of power gets outclassed.

Dragonball is the best example of this. Goku and Piccolo fight Radditz and barely kill him. A year later, everyone is at the level where they could pretty effortlessly chump Radditz, but there are new enemies who are even scarier. After those enemies get beaten a new set show up and so on and so forth. Once Goku gets Super Saiyan that becomes the baseline of power for the series, he doesn't fight outside that form so you can more or less assume that anyone that is actually a challenge (who you'd actually have a combat against in fate) would be fighting at that level.

In my experience it is the best way to handle shonen power level scaling in any RPG. Trying to keep things scaled normally tends to throw poo poo out of whack really quickly.

This is a loving brilliant idea! Especially since Fate scales rather badly. Though I do think you really need to give the players something as reward, since improving your characters is generally a pretty important point. Still the concept is great in its simplicity.

Maybe as a general follow-up question, has anybody ever done a system that actually gets rid of skill ranks all together? Something like a +/0/- system for dice, also allied to skills. Like, you have one skill were you add one, one were you reduce by one and the rest stays the same? Not a fully thought out idea, it's just that high skill ranks can seriously be one of the biggest problems in FATE as it stands.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2015 01:40

e X: Feb 23, 2013; cool but crude

ProfessorProf posted:

Continuing in my theme of trying to wrap my head around how to mechanically express specific things in Fate:

I'm a big burly tanky guy. Behind me, in another zone, is my zappy wizard friend. A monster is in my face, but giving the wizard the evil eye.

Being the meatshield, I want to try and physically block the monster from walking past me and eating the wizard. How do I accomplish this?

Aspects are always true, even when they don't give free invokes any more. So, in your case, I would go and create some kind of aspect that binds the guy to you, either physically, i.e. "Got you cornered" or "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" or psychologically, i.e. "You got business with me first!" or "Only a coward wound run away".

edit: GimpInBlack explained it a bit better. Essentially, you create an aspect that the monster has to overcome before it can attack the wizard.

e X fucked around with this message at 21:39 on Apr 17, 2015

# ¿ Apr 17, 2015 21:36

e X: Feb 23, 2013; cool but crude

oriongates posted:

So long as you are currently driving a vehicle you can use your Drive skill to Create an Advantage or Overcome an Obstacle by driving into close parallel realities where desired Aspect does or does not exist.

I think that is insanely awesome, simply from the concept! It's a great way to use the narrative power of stunts instead of just giving flat boni to dice rolls.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2015 09:39

e X: Feb 23, 2013; cool but crude

LordZoric posted:

Fate Thread, I have a question about how to best represent a character I'm making. It's for a pulpy, treasure hunting adventure game along the lines of a Skies of Arcadia, where the world is mostly in the sky and it's all about airships. The character is an old pirate commander who's a clever strategist type, winning fights through wits and tactics rather than actually fighting anyone. I was thinking a high Lore and Will to show he knows a lot and can think quickly, and maybe some stunts to represent his ability to mentally outmaneuver his opponents. I'm not terribly experienced with Fate Core, so I was wondering how you'd recommend representing this kind of character in the game?

I've been command ships since before you were born: Due to your long combat experience, it is easy to see through your opponents tactics. Aspects you create in battle with lore have two free invokes.

Matey, I invented that maneuver: You can use Will to defend in combat.

How appropriate, you fight like a cow!: When you inflict stress in combat, you can chose to inflict, mental stress instead.

e X fucked around with this message at 14:09 on Apr 7, 2016

# ¿ Apr 7, 2016 14:06

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# ¿ May 6, 2024 00:55

e X: Feb 23, 2013; cool but crude

Electric Hobo posted:

I like it for quick games, but I think the GM really need to limit when certain approaches can be used. I've seen player use a single skill for everything, and that's not very fun.

The way I always approched it is that your core aspect defines what the different approaches are able to do. A "Brilliant Safecracker" can use the clever approach to open a lock, while a "Professor Emeritus" couldn't.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2023 23:05

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