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Is straight Fate Core any use?

Posted by engine
engine
member, 130 posts
Fri 1 Jul 2016
at 00:20
  • msg #1

Is straight Fate Core any use?

I'm interested in running Fate Core games, but what I'm hearing is that the system requires "shaping" or additional rules, or at least that such things are generally expected.

Frankly, I'd rather not make major adjustments. Sure, I could see making new Stunts or renaming a Skill, or adding or subtracting skills, but I hope (perhaps in vain) that I can rely on Aspects, the fate point economy, and the generally more free-form, collaborative nature of Fate to handle anything the system doesn't specifically mention, without drastically modifying the system.

I guess it's that ever since Spirit of the Century I've found the concept of Aspect-driven play so elegant that I hate to modify it. I see it as taking the easy way out, rather than figuring out how to work with fate points, which, frankly, I've never seen done in the way the rules discuss.

So, is Fate Core enough for any kind of fun game, or is substantial modification simply required?
This message was last updated by a moderator, as it was the wrong forum, at 02:20, Fri 01 July 2016.
Nintaku
member, 455 posts
Fri 1 Jul 2016
at 02:59
  • msg #2

Is straight Fate Core any use?

It isn't required at all. Players just like to have more fiddly bits than Aspects, Skills, and Stunts provide. You can model just about anything using Fate Core right out of the box, but you may want to adjust a few skills here and there. I'd suggest against adding or taking away too many or you may wanna also tweak how many skills people get.

Most players seem to prefer when I provide Extras to handle stuff that I would prefer to have handled by Aspects or Stunts. Or just defined as part of a Skill. You have a really big sword? Fight +3 instead of +2. Or "My Father's Blade, Arachanax" as an aspect. Or as a stunt: "+2 to Defend against Fight Overcome actions because of my huge sword." Something like that.

Heck, look up the post about the Avengers and Justice League statted up using Fate Core out of the box. There's even an explanation about how Superman and Iron Man work that way.

EDIT: Links to Ryan Danks's blog.

Avengers in Fate Core: http://ryanmdanks.com/?p=202

Iron Man: http://ryanmdanks.com/?p=165

Superman: http://ryanmdanks.com/?p=261
This message was last edited by the user at 03:01, Fri 01 July 2016.
Dirigible
member, 151 posts
Fri 1 Jul 2016
at 04:30
  • msg #3

Is straight Fate Core any use?

Fate Core is absolutely a serviceable - a very good, even - game without any house rules or modifications/hacks.
engine
member, 131 posts
Fri 1 Jul 2016
at 13:43
  • msg #4

Is straight Fate Core any use?

In reply to Nintaku (msg # 2):

I actually found the Superman one on my own a year or so ago and responded to it. I like some of the ideas in the main post, but I still felt (and still feel) like the fate point system could have been leveraged more to attain the desired effect. As I watch more Justice League, I feel that even more. Superman's invulnerability on that show seems highly variable, just as it would be in a game with fate points coming and going. Once he's built up some consequences and had them invoked, he'd have a stack of fate points to throw around, even turning some of those consequences into advantages.

Well, thanks for the encouragement. Sounds like it's about (as usual) finding the right players.
jimlafleur
member, 130 posts
playing AD&D, AFMBE,
BFRPG, Rifts
Tue 5 Jul 2016
at 10:44
  • msg #5

Is straight Fate Core any use?

The one things that has always kept me from using FATE Acc is that I don't understand the "create an aspect/Advantage, discover an aspect" action. What does is cover? Can I just say in a battle something like: "This morning the janitor has wiped the floor and it is still slippery"?
This message was last edited by the user at 10:48, Tue 05 July 2016.
Nintaku
member, 456 posts
Tue 5 Jul 2016
at 11:31
  • msg #6

Is straight Fate Core any use?

So long as no one else at the table objects, absolutely! If that isn't the kind of feel the other people around the table are aiming for, then you could instead simply declare there was a nearby drinking fountain and your action was to break it, and now the floor is slippery. :D

Also there's the whole thing about "everything is an aspect" and "aspects are always true". So you could ask the GM if the floor being slippery from janitor action is plausible and, from there, decide to roll Create an Advantage to get a free invoke on it. Or you could simply spend a Fate Point to get the bonus without using up an action, because if it's there, then it's an aspect. Or you could simply use it being there to justify doing something else, like rolling something along the floor to an ally that wouldn't have gone as far without the slippery floor, because aspects are always true. No invoke necessary on that one.

It's all about what everyone around the table wants, with expectations being clarified anytime there's confusion. Fate's a toolkit to tell stories more like they're handled in books and movies and such, not a hard set of laws of physics. Genre emulation. Gotta decide what genre you're in and how you're representing that, which is mostly about such things as whether or not people are okay with deciding the janitor made the floor slippery mid-combat.
jimlafleur
member, 131 posts
playing AD&D, AFMBE,
BFRPG, Rifts
Tue 5 Jul 2016
at 12:44
  • msg #7

Is straight Fate Core any use?

Thank you very much for this explanation. It was very helpful! It it definitely confirms my opinion on this game system.

But I guess I have to play FATE at the table first before using it for a PBP game.
Utsukushi
member, 1371 posts
I should really stay out
of this, I know...but...
Wed 6 Jul 2016
at 16:37
  • msg #8

Is straight Fate Core any use?

It occurs to me that I think I said something recently about FATE `always requiring shaping', so maybe I can clarify that a little bit, too.

Core FATE is very.. I would say generic?  The Skills and Stunts are meant to work across genres, at least more or less, while Aspects are just so totally open.

So when I say it needs a lot of shaping, I'm not talking about house rules or even rebuilding the Skill list.  I just mean the way you use everything in it, has to be.. angled, towards the game you want to play.  The way that many Skills are going to apply might be different -- like, does Burglary include disabling electronic locks, or just picking mechanical ones?  The Shoot skill can apply to bows and crossbows, six-guns, or laser pistols... or all of them, depending on what's available and logical in your game.  Contacts in one game might hook you up with the head of the Thieves' Guild; in another, you can call the head of a local go-gang `chummer'.

Characters have to - but also should naturally - pick Aspects that make sense.  "My Laser Gun, Bessy" isn't going to fit in most medieval-fantasy games, but, duh.  Like Skills, something like "Obsessed with the Occult" might be totally reasonable in any game, but is going to mean very different things in a Fantasy, Horror, or Science Fiction game.

You can use FATE Core straight out to play quite a number of genres without any changes to the system.  Because the system always needs, as I say, shaping, that shaping is built right in to the system.
engine
member, 135 posts
Thu 7 Jul 2016
at 14:05
  • msg #9

Re: Is straight Fate Core any use?

Utsukushi:
It occurs to me that I think I said something recently about FATE `always requiring shaping', so maybe I can clarify that a little bit, too.
Thanks for clarifying. I should have asked directly when I read your original comment. It was nearby advice that I should obtain some additional rules and so I assumed that's the kind of thing you meant.
burlingk
member, 1364 posts
Meep
Tue 20 Sep 2016
at 23:00
  • msg #10

Is straight Fate Core any use?

In reply to Utsukushi (msg # 8):

To a very strong degree, this is true of any system, unless you are playing the exact setting and theme that the game designer was focused on during design.

And yes, FATE Core is super generic, but it's designed to be a tool to run any game, and it is basically a refined version of the default FUDGE rule set. :)

I have a copy of both somewhere.


:p The only reason my current games aren't using it is that I'm working on my own system. :)
JxJxA
member, 168 posts
Wed 21 Sep 2016
at 05:56
  • msg #11

Re: Is straight Fate Core any use?

jimlafleur:
The one things that has always kept me from using FATE Acc is that I don't understand the "create an aspect/Advantage, discover an aspect" action. What does is cover? Can I just say in a battle something like: "This morning the janitor has wiped the floor and it is still slippery"?


Absolutely. Create an Aspect just means the players are trying to find an edge that will help them in the current situation. The way I do it is just to ask the players to tell me how they're approaching the action, and then tell them the target number to roll against. That usually gives me an idea on what the aspect should be. Are they carefully looking for an edge in the environment? Maybe the janitor did leave a "Slippery Spot" on the floor after mopping. Are they trying to cleverly create an advantage in the middle of a fire fight? Maybe they manage to shoot out a sprinkler head to start spraying water in the opposition with "Distracting Droplets."
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