The Dresden Files > DFRPG

Sell my group on the using the FATE system

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Damian Magecraft:
I appreciate the suggestions to DL the PDF, and visiting RPG.net.
Sadly the pdf is not an option (my comp is not the greatest) and my experiences with RPG.net are not the best (too many flame wars).
The SRD does seem to be helpful.
I may have further questions after i finish reading through it.

TheMouse:
I think that people spend a lot of time focused on what makes FATE different and that they miss the very traditional core that drives the thing.

At its most basic, FATE has you roll some dice, add a stat, then compare to a difficulty. Although the curve is a bit different, it's conceptually quite similar to a 2d6 + stat versus diff system that players pick up on in like five seconds.

Then there are Stunts and Aspects.

Stunts, again, are quite intuitive. If your players have played d20, they'll probably liken them to feats. Stunts are things that let you use Skills in a way that you normally could not, or they give you a bonus under certain situations.

Aspects are where we start to see something a bit unusual. They are player defined traits which are designed to bring some narrative fact about your character into mechanical focus. Functionally, they are like a merit and a flaw glued together, but with more narrative focus. The counterintuitive bit is that they don't do anything unless someone is using a Fate Point; yes, it really only matters that your guy is "Strong like an ox" if you spend the FP on it. Some people don't react well to this.

The other thing about the game that throws some people is that movement is both abstract and tactical. People generally don't expect that. Locations get divided into abstract Zones through which characters can move. Although it is very simple to track and doesn't correspond with exact amounts of distance, your movement through Zones is mechanically relevant and your tactical interaction with them actually matters. My players caught on in a couple of rounds, but I have heard that some people just don't. Mileage. Varies. Yours may.

Then there's Stress. Characters don't have hit points. They have Stress in a couple of categories. When a physical thing hurts them, they suffer physical stress. Get enough, and they get a Consequence (such as "winded" or "I obviously landed on my face"). Consequences are more Aspects, but they are focused toward having life suck for you. This assists people in hurting you, but it also increases the number of Fate Points you get (since they need to spend them to use a Consequence).

There are a couple of other fiddly bits, but this really covers most of it. Aspects are a bit abstract at points. How things hurt you interacts with that, so it's a bit abstract. Movement is abstract. Other than that, it's not all that unusual a system. It's also a lot of fun, hugely flexible, and really robust in terms of its ability to stand up to fiddling with it.

TheMouse:

--- Quote from: Damian Magecraft on March 13, 2010, 04:58:14 PM ---my experiences with RPG.net are not the best (too many flame wars).

--- End quote ---

Weirdly, the FATE fans over on RPG.net are a really positive, helpful crowd. The Cubicle 7 folks and the creators of Diaspora all post there and are often willing to go to great lengths to help people out with FATE. There are a number of people -- Kiero comes to mind -- who just like FATE and are happy to jam about implementations of it.

With rare exceptions, FATE threads over at RPG.net are good resources. There are very few detractors, and some of the people who post positive stuff there have wonderful ideas.

Damian Magecraft:

--- Quote from: TheMouse on March 13, 2010, 05:03:14 PM ---Weirdly, the FATE fans over on RPG.net are a really positive, helpful crowd. The Cubicle 7 folks and the creators of Diaspora all post there and are often willing to go to great lengths to help people out with FATE. There are a number of people -- Kiero comes to mind -- who just like FATE and are happy to jam about implementations of it.

With rare exceptions, FATE threads over at RPG.net are good resources. There are very few detractors, and some of the people who post positive stuff there have wonderful ideas.

--- End quote ---
Past experiences have taught me to avoid that site. The are not kind to players of the systems I use.

If what I have seen and divined of the FATE system is correct it seems to play similar to the old FASERIP system. If this is the case then I should have no troubles GMing it nor shall my players have any troubles in playing through it.

Bosh:
FASERP is pretty close overall. The Fate points try to do the same sorts of things as FASERIP karma points, but (in my humble opinion) do it much much better.

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