D&D Fate Characters: Burn Them All

Today, I feel like making D&D Fate characters. Today’s theme seems to be attacking things with fire and high charisma.

Roland Flametongue

Hero Points: 3

ABILITY SCORES

• Str +2
• Dex +0
• Con +2
• Int +1
• Wis +1
• Cha +3

ASPECTS

•  Class—World Weary Warlord
• Trouble—Too Old for this Stuff
• Race—Fire Breathing Dragonborn

FEATS

• Because I Yell a Lot I get +2 when I use Charisma to Create an Advantage when Encourage/Bark Orders at My Allies.
• Because I Breath Fire I get +2 when I use Charisma to Attack when Using My Breath Weapon.
• Because I Have Natural Weapons I get +2 when I use Strength to Defend when Using My Claws to Parry.

DAMAGE

Stress

• 1
• 2
• 3

Consequences

• Mild (2)
• Moderate (4)
• Severe (6)

Serena the Sorcerer

Hero Points: 3

ABILITY SCORES

• Str +0
• Dex +2
• Con +1
• Int +2
• Wis +1
• Cha +3

ASPECTS

• Class—Sorcerer on Her Mother’s Side
• Trouble—So Many Irons in the Fire (Tends to Overcomplicate things)
• Race—My Mother Came from an Exotic Foreign Land

FEATS

• Because I Disguise Myself I get +2 when I use Charisma to Create an Advantage or Overcome an Obstacle when Using Magical Disguises.
• Because I Fireball My Foes I get +2 when I use Charisma to Attack when Create Magical Balls of Fire.
• One Feat to Be Determined Later.

DAMAGE

Stress

• 1
• 2
• 3

Consequences

• Mild (2)
• Moderate (4)
• Severe (6)

I Ran D&D with Fate, a Post Mortem

I just got back from a weekend excursion to visit faraway friends, and I managed to get some of them down to try Fate Accelerated Edition re-skinned as Dungeons & Dragons—approaches are replaced with the standard ability scores (which is not a new idea but it works), stunts are renamed feats (as they are functionally the same thing anyway), fate points become hero points, and I suggest to make race and class as starting aspects.

We started with the party (made up of a hobbit fighter, a half-elven thief, and a dwarven demon summoner) getting contacted by a envoy with a sensitive problem, the duke’s orphaned niece Serena has gone missing on the very day before she was to be engaged to some barely pubescent second son. The investigation was kicked off with a little demon summoning which lead to the brutal beating of a bard seen with Serena, and who was also a clown (the hobbit took an aspect and stunt related to hating clowns so there was a clown...a sad, sad clown) who gave up another clue, he has been extorted into luring Serena into a trap so she could be kidnapped.

They gained access to the scene of the abduction, a creepy and ill-expanded unused area below the duke’s castle, via the thief picking a lock. I had somehow forgotten that picking locks as a thing in D&D when I wrote the scenario, and the plan was for the group to search Serena’s room and find a journal that reveals a secret exit from the castle they can use to enter the dungeon. Even though the thief rolled a little low—I had the sudden realization that the lock probably wasn’t that good as very few people have any reason to try and open the lock, I couldn’t think of any good options for succeeding with a cost, and I thought derailing my plans was really funny—the lock opened.

Once they get down below, they met up with a mouse with a crown and a sword, the Mouse Prince, beside a pit. After some conversation (we discovered that the thief could talk to animals, which is to say she had an open aspect slot and put speaks with animals into it) they decided that the Mouse Prince is not to be trusted and is probably some sort of the improbable trap monsters. So, they threw a torch down the pit and yes, the Mouse Prince was some sort of improbable trap monsters. In the pit was the Rat King, a large rat with a crown and scepter of skulls whose tail is connected to the Mouse Prince—a variation on the urban legend rat king.

The fight was about three or four rounds long. I gave the PCs the initiative as they had surprised the monsters and I don’t like initiative rules. The fight included: Setting the Rat King on fire, compelling that on fire aspect to destroy the scepter, cutting the pair’s shared tail and instantly killing the Mouse Prince. Though I did forget to mention that even after the two free uses of On Fire, the aspect could still be used with a hero point.

After that, they found the remains of the would-be kidnappers (who had been blasted with fireball), went through a maze (which was just there because mazes are a trope they marked the walls and got through with little trouble), and found Serena disguised as a hermit camped by the exit (where they were supposed the start). They had already figured out that she was a magic user (her mother was a sorcerer from a foreign land), approached her and convinced her to join them after faking her death with the remains of the kidnappers, and taking the reward money after pinning it on the clown bard.

It was a quick, silly game but an enjoyable one with only a little hurriedly rules reference on my part. One of the players prefers a game with more concrete options, and I wonder if including the four basic actions (create an advantage, overcome an obstacle, attack, and defend) on the play-sheet (I made a character sheet with all the required rules for character creation and some of the other rules baked in) would have made things easier for her. I had left them off in an attempt to present the most accessible version of fate possible; though it is possible I went too far.

The players also seem to take to the build your own stunt system better than aspects, though I only omitted stunts that let characters do something without a roll once per day and adding new stunts by reducing refresh.

The Catalogue

The Catalogue is an index of Unexplained Objects. These objects, seemingly at random, are aware of their surrounding and, given the proper motivation, able to act. What the object does is often tied to its function (such as a lighting causing spontaneous combustion) , but also its circumstances (such as the same lighter only torching lawyers because it was owned by a corrupt attorney who soured it against the profession). One might think of these objects as Karmic Rewards and Punishments.

As Procurement Agents for the Catalogue, the PCs are tasked to tracking down these objects, investigating them, and if need be, procuring them. As a privet enterprise, the Catalogue has no legal authority to claim these objects and only so many funds to deal with legal disputes, so getting the objects without entanglements is important.

To pay the bills, the catalogue also sells and trades the more benign objects to Keep the Coffers full.

In addition, some people are Born Different with features that one might find in a fantasy novel or cheep science fiction series such as pointed ears, oddly colored eyes, scaly skin, a tail, or a combination of multiple traits. This Weirdness is Normal for most people, even though it can't be traced to genetics or environment, and the traits variety enough to prevent easy classification.

Stunts

Because Violence Only Breeds More Violence, you get +2 when cleverly creating advantage or overcoming an obstacle when non-violently resisting or avoiding a violent opponent.

Because Nature Loves a Clown, you get +2 when Flashily defending when making a fool hearty risk that really isn't necessary.

Because Every Agent is a Part Time Therapist, you get +2 when Carefully creating an advantage when analyzing a unexplained object.

Generic Magic Girl

Through the beneficence of Cute Yet Mysterious Animal  Guide you have been gifted with a Transformation Trinket which allows you to shift into a Magical Alter Ego. You won't have long to learn to use your new powers, these sorts of things are only dispensed when A Crisis Looms; something that can only be fought with magic is threatening a world unaware that it is even in danger.

You may find your foes include other empowered individuals that aren't so different from you. These people are necessarily bad people, they might have reasons for doing what they are doing. Luckily, Defeat Means Friendship, though be careful because sometimes Redemption Equals Death as well.

Most of your foes will probably be minor foes that reflect some human failing in an completely inhuman way. These creatures might feed of  people's negative emotions, encourage them, or both. You'll probably encounter these creatures first wearing convincing human disguises that only drop when confronted, revealing their true forms.

In battle you should Call Your Attacks, especially when you use your Finishing Attack.

Stunts

Because No One Should Suffer, you get +2 when Quickly defending when a someone else is attacked.

Because You Never Fight Alone, once per game you can receive aid from a mysterious ally.

Because When You Have Magic Everything Looks Like a Nail, you get +2 when Cleverly creating an advantage  when using an attack in a unconventional way.

Night Town

Hello and Welcome to the Night Town Citizen Enforcement Program (NTEP). As Night Town proper is currently under a witch's Curse of Enteral Twilight and subsequently becoming a Keyhole to Hell due to the town being denied the demon-repelling properties of sunlight, the ability of our small police and fire services fall short of the town's needs. That's where NTEP comes in, you are trained to deal with crime and Unnatural Disasters that municipally employees are unable to deal with themselves, and licensed by the town to do so legally.

While for some reason some of your peers refuse to submit to town mandated six week training course and invasive background checks. Remember to keep your NTEP Card on you at all times to avoid expensive liability claims and indefinite detention, your Special Power doesn't make you above the law.

Many people have a special power (such a telekinesis, flight, herculean strength, and so forth) and only one. Asking for more than would be rude, and also futile as we don't know where the powers come from or why they only seem to appear in own city. It's best not to think about it too long.

Since being granted the same rights as our human residents, Night Town's resident demons, vampires, and lycanthropes have become model citizens...for the most part. There is for profit blood bank to service the town's growing vampire population, and a concrete-lined hunting resort for lycanthropes that can not control their transformations. Also, demons are allowed to claim Dual-Citizenship with the Underworld. Though the reverse maybe not be true for the other side, so best not to going through the mysterious key-shaped hole in the center of town that leads to the demon's home plane. You may even be one of these groups, using your natural talents for the greater good. It goes without saying that Witches Are Not Welcome and these accommodations for differently talented citizens do not extend to them.

Crime is on the rise in Night Town. The Night Town Municipal Bank in particular is robbed at gunpoint at least once a week, along with the Museum of Cursed Artifacts, which was the town council's way of leaning into the twilight curse, getting broken into on a monthly basis. In many cases, criminals that steal from the museum end up dying in ironic ways, but it take time to track them down and clean up the mess. Be sure to bring your collars in alive, five successful convictions on your license and you get a $25 give certificate for the Night Town Municipal Gift Shop.

Stunts

Because Guns are Useless, you get +2 when Quickly defending when being fired on with firearms.

Because Offense is the Best Defense, you get +2 when Forcefully attacking when a foe that has already attacked an ally or bystander this scene.

Because There is Always Another Way, you get +2 when Sneakily overcoming an obstacle when a foe monologues about the futility of the attempt.

FAE Game Sheets

I've been playing around with ideas for Fate Accelerated Edition (FAE) settings, and using the bronze rule to build a little "character sheet" for the setting, aspects and stunts that any character can use to establish the basics of the setting and reinforce its theme.

I've currently have six of these mini settings in various stages of doneness in my notebook: the catalogue, a generic magic girl game, modern magica, the silent castle, greys in black, and night town.

For each setting, I'm trying to do the following:

• Define the core conceits of the setting and the specific tropes I want to encourage. The former being a good source of aspects and the later stunts.
• Give the PCs things to do and tools to do those things. This includes thing like weird powers and technology, but also possible allies.
• Generate interesting antagonists and challenges for the PCs to face.

For each setting will have a short description with aspects highlighted with bolded italic text, followed by a short list of stunts.

Here's an example based on one of my old blog posts:

Onyx, City of Mysteries

It is a seven day trek across a desert black as midnight to the Lost City, Onyx, once stood at the center of a continent spanning empire but now is only A Shadow of its Former Glory. Only an unmarked trail from an anonymous village serviced by Unsavory Merchants leads through the rocky peaks that seal Onyx off from the outside world.

The city has only One Taboo, It is forbidden to venerate of any god within the city, but this is only a pretense. Such worship was common during the city's heyday, but when the territories rebelled the city turned against their imported gods. Despite the ban, the city is controlled by Mystery Cults devoted to Strange Foreign Gods.

The city is the home to many Sorcerers, with inborn magical powers that grow with use. Sorcerers built Onxy's empire and Sorcerers control its mystery cults, but sorcerers are also drawn to the city to learn to control their powers.

Stunts

• Because Sorcery Knows No Master, you get +2 when you Forcefully attack when ignoring the consequences of unleashing sorcery.
• Because Onyx Eats Secrets, you get +2 when Cleverly overcome obstacles when revealing a secret as leverage.
• Because Mysteries Breed, you get +2 when Carefully creating an advantage when fighting an unknown foe.

Fate Accelerated Edition is Magic

I’ve been playing around with ideas for Fate Accelerated Edition(FAE), an offshoot of Fate that came out as part of the Fate Core kickstarter, and I discovered something delightful about it. The game supports character to use magic, psychic powers, or any other extra-normal abilities out of the box without any additional rules.

FAE trades in the discrete skills Fate Core uses for generalized approaches. Rather than being good at specific things FAE characters are good at ways of doing things such as being forceful or clever or deceptive.

Due to the way approaches work, a character can use magic or psychic powers or what have you without needing any special rules. The only thing the character might need is an Aspect (1) to establish the character is capable of using the power if that is something that most people can’t do (2).

On the other hand, I also find this trait a little annoying as I like the activity of cobbling together subsystems and the Fate base makes doing so fairly straight forwards due to the bronze rule(3). Just a few hours ago, I was working on a bolt-on magic system but I think that I in writing this post, I’ve talked myself out of using the idea.

1 A piece of freeform character definition where sentence fragments such as outlaw psychic are given mechanical teeth including establishing that the character is a psychic as well as an outlaw.

2 Though if the rest of the group isn’t interested in a game with that sort of character, then that is a horse of a different color.

3 You can use the basic building blocks for characters to build other things.