You are probably a casual RPG player who wishes to embark on some more complex journeys but sees DnD as too complicated and with too many detailed rules and math involved. Your perfect game allows for more freedom and creativity and less strict boundaries.
There are a lot of games using Fate out there, and this system is getting more and more popular by the day. Some big names implementing this system are The Dresden Files RPG, Fate of Cthulhu, Diaspora, Dawning Star: Fate of Eos, etc. Fate Core allows participants to tell a story in a more cinematic manner than a standard tabletop method, so any game that needs this kind of touch benefits from using it.
The Fate Core System is a highly adaptable way to change your role-playing experience or even to introduce you to RPG if you haven’t had a chance to play it before.
Keep in mind that Fate isn’t exactly light in the rules department, but with the excellent guidance I plan to give you in this article, it will be less intimidating and more attractive.
Basics you need to know
The Fate Core System can take place in any setting you choose. It can be a fantasy world, steampunk murder mystery, a superhero adventure, etc., and it works best when used to convey stories about proactive, capable, and dramatic characters.
The perfect place to start learning about this system would be the character sheet. Once it’s filled out, it contains basics for any character that will be played in Fate:
ID – You enter the name and a short description of your character.
Skills – Each character’s ability will have a numerical value to measure how good you are at it. In Fate, every action you take is related to a skill.
Aspects – You will have five descriptive phrases that identify things that distinguish you from others and are used to provide you with various perks and challenges.
Stunts – Your exceptional abilities allow you to perform things with skills that you would not usually be able to do.
Extras – It’s an umbrella term that covers special rules, items, or systems for the game setting you and your friends have set up. It can cover gear, magic, supernatural abilities, vehicles, etc.
Stress – You will measure your character’s capacity to withstand combat damage. It splits into two: Physical and Mental stress.
Consequences – You measure the damage taken with consequences and what handicap your character will have due to them.
Refresh – This short section represents the minimum number of Fate points that you start your session with.
Another important thing that should be mentioned is Fate points. They are used to power certain elements in Fate, and I will discuss them further.
The shift is also crucial because it is the number by which you win or lose a skill roll. For example, if you rolled four on a lore check to understand a language and the Game master set the difficulty at 2, you have a shift of 2.
Skills
Skills represent the foundation of Fate. The list of Fate Core skills that can be leveled depends on the game you are running.
So for example, if you are playing in a medieval setting skills like drive and technology won’t make much sense, whereas if you play a futuristic galaxy war type of session, they certainly will.
At the start of the game, you get to choose four average skills, three fair ones, two good, and one great. Other skills that are in the game but haven’t been chosen will count as mediocre.
You will use skills as a base for all actions you take. When confronted with an enemy or an obstacle, you choose the skill needed and roll four fate dice. These dice are marked with “+”, “-“, and “blank” on two sides each.
When you roll “+” you add +1 on your skill, rolling “-” is -1 on your skill, and blank gives you no bonus or setback. If you don’t have fate dice, you can use regular d6 with the following setting: 1,2 are “-“, 3,4 are “blank”, and 5,6 are “+”.
Aspects
In short, aspects are positive and negative features about you that determine more closely your personal history and the history you have with other characters.
Every character has five aspects, two of which are “High Concept” and “Trouble.” With the first one, you will define your character more closely, and I used some like “Exiled Ronin for Hire” or “Apprentice Mage with Hidden Powers”. The latter describes a downside for your character, like “likes to drink” or “likes to pick fights”.
The other three aspects can be worked out as a group and can define personality traits, relationships between characters, and even an item of significance someone has on them (I had an inherited holy locket).
However, aspects are more than just descriptive phrases and will really influence the game. For example, the holy locket I possessed belonged to a particular in-game religion, so I was more than welcome in their sacred sites. Still, I was banned from entering rival holy sites and buildings.
Invoking and compelling aspects can happen throughout the game when it makes sense (invoking the “likes to drink” makes sense in a bar scene but not in a dungeon), and the complications or advantages that come from them make the game more fun and even offer awards for players!
Note: Aspects aren’t exclusive to characters. The game itself, a particular situation, or an NPC can have their own aspects that GM controls. In the end, your own aspects can change due to an injury or a level upgrade.
Fate points
Fate points are one of your most valuable resources in the Fate Core System – they measure how much power you have to affect the plot in your character’s favor. You can use fate points to summon an aspect, announce a narrative detail, or execute spectacular stunts.
Accepting a compel on one of your aspects earns you fate points.
Stunts
A stunt is a unique attribute your character possesses that alters how a skill works for you. Special or elite training, remarkable talents, the mark of destiny, genetic change, intrinsic coolness, and a variety of other reasons all explain why some people get more out of their skills than others.
Unlike skills, which are things that anyone in your game can do, stunts are about individual characters. For instance, if your character has a sneaking skill, you can have a sneak attack stunt that kills an enemy without making a lot of noise.
Actions
The Fate Core System has four types of actions, and each is used for a separate purpose. They are:
Overcome – get past an obstacle
Create an advantage – create an aspect that you can invoke
Attack – harm someone
Defend – block attacks coming your way
You can use limited skills for Attack and Defend actions since it doesn’t make sense to attack with the “Crafts” skill or defend yourself with the “Burglary” skill. On the other hand, Overcome and Create an advantage can be used with most skills (again, as long as it makes sense and your GM approves).
Milestones
To level up is to get to the milestone in Fate Core System. There are three types of milestones: Minor, Significant, and Major.
Minor milestones happen at the end of every play session, Significant milestones come at the end of an Act, and Major milestones come after the end of a story arc.
Without going into too much detail, you should know that milestones affect almost all elements of your character. You can advance or change your skills, alter your aspects, get or change stunts, etc.
The more significant the milestone, the larger the reward is for your character.
Conclusion
All in all, I would say that Fate Core System is something everyone should try at least once. It’s such a widespread, logical, and streamlined approach to RPG games that I am honestly amazed that more games aren’t using it.
I surely hope you will like it as I did and that you and your friends will have a fantastic time playing with this clever system!
