Hey, Anyone out there feel like sharing what your current game is like? Maybe a little back and forth Q&A? I'd be interested to hear.

I’m new to Fate and was wondering if anyone could please help me out with answering some questions about Aspects? I’ve read the book and I get how they work when it comes to the player character sheet well enough, I think, but I have a little trouble with the changing contexts as they apply to Faces & Locations.

1.   It seems that the books indicate that the very best Aspects should easily apply in both a positive and negative way when it comes to the character. Does this also hold true for all other applications of Aspects? I mean, Troubles are specifically marked as that, so I get that those are just supposed to be negative, But this works the same for Locations also?

2.   If it does work the same for Locations, could you provide some examples and maybe a little explanation for ones that might work well and how they might be used?

3.   What if the Location is just supposed to be a good place for your character, like their apartment? I know bad things can still happen there, but when you choose an Aspect for a Location, is that just describing the Location itself, or the Face’s relationship TO that Location?

4.   Is the Face’s Concept it’s ‘High Concept Aspect’, or should it be a Concept that specifically includes its relationship to the Location it’s associated with? Can you provide some examples?

5.   The Idea is just a brief physical description of the Location? I know this overlaps with the Aspect for the Location, but I’m not quite clear on the distinction between the two?

6.   Can you please elaborate on how a Face relates to the Themes and Threats of a Location? If you had a Theme like, “This city is rotting!”, I understand you generally tie the Face to that Theme somehow, but Themes like this seem so large that it can be contributed to a whole bunch of factors rather than just the villain. Am I missing something here?

This pertains to the magical effect known as the Soul Gaze.

This effect is meant to make a strong impact on those characters involved as each one rapidly takes in the measure of the other’s essential self. Not specific information, but a summation of character, who and what the other is as a being at their essence.

I’m interested to hear how some of you handle this in your games? How do you convey to your players, the weight of something like this and how do you make certain that you’re being accurate to the character in question? How do you describe it so you’re not just restating the obvious about the other character? Do you hand the description of the vision off to the player being observed? What if they don’t feel ready to come up with something?