RPPR
The Unspeakable Oath

Read Shadows over Insmouth, Mountains of Madness, Call of Cthulhu, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Thing on The Doorstep, and the Dunwich Horror.

Also John Dies at The End, isn't Chtulhu per se or Boston, but it has a sort of Neo-Lovecraft feel and is really good, and probably better at describing how to integrate that idea with a modern game.

Fiasco is not about success or even survival. It's about failure. Spectacular, amazing, beautifully ironic failure. The point isn't getting your character out of trouble, it's about getting the entire table into trouble. Play it, it's amazing.

If you want to make this familiar to D&D players, my best advice is to tell them, "Forget everything you know about RPG's, cause this is nothing like that"

JK.


Kinda. Fate doesn't follow the traditional model, and I think trying to make it familiar does it a disservice. It's taken me close to 6 months to break my players out thinking of the game in the traditional model. GM has control over the world, Players have their characters. Trying to make it more D&D like I would think only hurts that process.

But see it is an option, cause you never have to take it. All it does is allow you to ask have some control when you are going out. I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose this fight, well, here's an interesting way to lose it. The vampire pushes me off the roof, grabs the little girl I was protecting and disapears into his helicopter. But I caught a flag pole on the way down and am left hanging there as the helicopter speeds away.

Again it comes back to that shared narrative control thing. Despite the title of the first book, it's not Your Story. It's OUR story, the entire table. If you don't want to share control, I agree, it's a shitty rule. But if you do, It's a great rule.

GM counts as player?

My opinion:  Every RPG is "about story" to one degree or another.  Some games use mechanics which simulate* actions and results within the game world.  Others use mechanics which allow direct manipulation of the narrative* - shares authorial power to one degree or another.  FATE does some of both but tends to lean towards the latter unless you really de-emphasize aspect creation and use. 

* I really wish GNS hadn't ruined some words for describing games.  I'm using the dictionary definition - not GNS'.  If it matters, that's my default.

I agree 100% with the bolded. Also, I don't think people will assume GNS unless you use ists on Narrative and Simulation. Not that there is really that big of a difference. Fate is very narrative leaning, but DFRPG, is also meant as a simulation of a particular narrative, hence why I put it more simulationist.

That sounds like either an insult or close-mindedness, to me.
I think the "talking" raven is cool. If you disagree, that's your problem. And your attempt to convince me to read something else is obviously foolish, because I've already stated I like this.
So why say it?
Seems to me that you either have no respect for my taste or just can't comprehend that my reading of the poem differs from yours.
(No idea how this relates to the actual poem, haven't read it in years.)

It's neither an insult or close minded. It's worth noting here, that the poem is very much not about a talking raven. The Raven probably doesn't talk at all, and may not even be real, depending on your reading of the poem. The poem is about a man driven mad by despair, and the raven is a metaphor for his internal monologue. I may also find the Raven cool, but the talking Raven is not the point of the poem, and there's thousands of essays and literary theory backing up that position. You are entitled to thinking it'a about a cool talking Raven, it the same way some one is entitled to believe the earth is flat. I can show you evidence that it isn't, but you don't have to believe my evidence.

Now if you didn't believe an obvious scientific fact, I would might begin insulting you lightheartedly, but for literature and RPG's where the right answer is much harder to determine, might not exist, and really isn't that worthwhile besides on a theoretical level. Yes there is a correct way to read and interpret the raven, but it's such a good poem, who cares if you skip over the metaphor? It works really well as a literal story too. It also works really well if you just listen to how the words flow together. Same with Fate, There is probably a more correct way to interpret the rule and play the game. But it doesn't invalidate any other way of playing it.

Also, it's always worth showing people new things that you think they'll enjoy. Especially if you think they will enjoy it more than the thing they currently enjoy. You may be wrong, but if you're right, you just did them a favor. Yay you.

GNS?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNS_Theory

*sigh*  I'm not sure how you can deny that being an achievement without redefining one or more words. For "the  rules to work properly" to still apply to an RPG, it has to apply to either killing stuff, exploring stuff, socializing, or another achievement.  If it does not, then the only possibility is that you are no longer participating in a RPG or are redefining one of more words to something wildly different from their meaning.

OR it has to apply to all of them. OR none of them. Fiasco has almost no rules involving achievement. You could say that the dice passed out at the end of each scene are kinda of achievement based, but not within the model you've put forth.
For the record, outside of D&D, what RPG's have you played? I haven't really been following the thread, but it seems like you're coming to FATE and RPG's in general with a very have D&D leaning. Perhaps even a 3.5/4e/Pathfinder leaning. Not that that's bad, but it does provide a limited perspective in what RPG's can do.

It would look like this.

I made some edits to the power as well. The extra supplemental for -2 seemed a little expensive so I pulled it out of the main write up. Changed the stacking to allow it. I think it makes narrative sense, though it may not work mechanically well. Combined each 2 gates into one single power, with two activation steps. I removed Gate intermediate. There are only 3 supplemental actions in the power as is now. Gate master should maybe allow all 3 to count as a single supplemental. That may be a better -1 power. Rewrote the way you addressed recovery powers, both in the notes and in gate of healing. Specified physical stress in both healing and death gates.

I also feel the notes could specify the gates need to be opened in order, so it doesn't have to repeat at each gate but I left that. It's about the same size with an easier to read format

EIGHT GATES RELEASED FORMATION [-2]
Description: You are able to push your life force through your muscles. This makes you faster and stronger, but damages your health rather badly.
Note: Consequences taken to fuel this Power act as the catch for all toughness powers. All physical powers stack with others. Eg, if you have inhuman strength already, the first gate will give you supernatural.
Skills Affected: Endurance, Fists, Might, Weapons, Athletics, Alertness
Effects:
Gates of Opening and Healing: First and Second Gates. As a free action, you may take a mild (or worse) physical consequence to open the Gate of Opening. For the rest of the scene this gives you Inhuman Speed and Strength. As a supplemental action, you may open the Gate of Healing. Upon opening the Gate of Healing you may clear your physical stress track as though the scene had ended. This will not trigger recovery powers to clear out other consequences. You may not use the Gate of Healing unless the Gate of Opening is open.

Gates of Life and Pain [-2]: Third and Fourth Gate. As a free action, you may take a moderate (or worse) physical consequence to open the Gate of Life. For the rest of the scene this gives you either Supernatural Speed or Supernatural Strength. You may not open the Gate of Life unless the Gate of Healing is open. As a supplemental action, you may open the Gate of Life. For the rest of the scene this gives you armour 2 against all physical stress(stacks with toughness). You may not open the Gate of Pain unless the Gate of Life is open.

Gates of Limit and View [-2]: Fifth and Sixth Gate. As a free action, you may take a severe (or worse) physical consequence to open the Gate of Limit. For the rest of the scene this gives you Supernatural Strength and Speed, You may not open the Gate of Limit unless the Gate of Life is open. As a supplemental action, you may activate the Gate of View. For the rest of the scene your hands are wreathed in weapon 4 fire, and allow you to attack entire zones with melee attacks without risk of harming yourself. You may not open the Gates of View unless the Gates of Limit is open.

Gates of Wonder and Death [-2]: Seventh and Eight Gate. As a free action, you may take an extreme physical consequence to open the Gate of Wonder. For the rest of the scene this gives you Mythic Speed, Mythic Strength, and armour 4(stacks with toughness) against all physical stress. You may not open the Gate of Wonder unless the Gate of View is open. As a free action, you may open the Gate of Death. This gives you +2 to all physical rolls and makes you immune to all physical stress, but kills you in four exchanges (or roughly one minute outside of a conflict). You may not open the Gate of View unless the Gate of Wonder is open.

Gate Master [-1]: You may take up to 3 supplemental actions associated with this Power in a single exchange as a full round action.

Splits up the costs into bursts. Removes 1 of the supplemental actions. Clarifies the issues Santca had in wording.

cost is in the middle of both of yours, keeps the power smaller, though less customizable

suggestion.
THE EIGHT INNER GATES [-2]

Opening And Healing.
Life And Pain [-2].
Limit And View [-2].
Wonder And Death [-2].

Each gate that causes a consequence is a free action, each gate that doesn't is a supplemental.

So activating a pair of gates, cost 2 refresh, a supplemental, and a consequence, besides the last pair, which would have the supplemental eaten by taking the death consequence.

specify that recovery powers can't be activated by the gate of healing, and it only applies to physical(possibly mental, but not social)