Fate Accompli

Note: Last update from my phone, I promise.  It's Bernard harrowing experience and I'll be going back and editing these posts when I get back home.

Narrative Based Timing

We've covered how to integrate Aspects into your Numenera game, and how Fate's character creation can improve  a Champions game.  Now let's look at how narrative based timing can enhance the experience when playing 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons.

What I mean when I say narrative based timing is Fate's system for tracking damage on character.  In Fate when a character suffers a significant injury it will be marked on their character sheet as a temporary aspect, called a consequence.  Most character can be effected by 3 consequences before they are overcome, a minor, moderate and severe wound.

These wounds don't heal like you see in most games, with hit points recovering in hours or days.  They instead remain for a given duration at the table.  A minor consequence will fade at the end of the next scene, moderate consequences last until the end of the next session and severe will be with you until the end of the next senerio.  That's no nearly all there is to the consequence system in Fate and I recommend you look at the game to learn more.

This system of tracking has a couple of interesting effects on a game.  When used for wounds it makes combat feel like a more real threat.  Characters in 4e need only wait a few hours to fully recover from anything and so quickly groups can fall into the one fight a day pattern in which so long as they don't die they are never at less than full resources.

There are ways that you can deal with this like putting time pressure on the characters but do that to much and it will begin to feel contrived.  This system however will remind the players that their characters are in real physical danger and will make them seem more badass for it.  

To use this sort of system I you game the first thing to decoded is what the would threshold will be.  With 4th Editon the easiest places would seem to be when a character reaches their bloodied value and when they drop below 0 HP.   I personally would also include when the character dies, allowing them to take a severe wound to stabilize, thus avoiding the need to resurrect. This last is sort of a olive branch to the players, you fights will have more long term consequences but you are now harder to kill.

When a character reaches one of these thresholds assign them a minor, moderate or severe injury and some penalty appropriate to the damage.  You can do this either with a table (the iCrit app has a lot of options for minor and moderate wounds) or you can just come up with them on the fly.  

For a minor wound the penalty should be mild, a -1 to movement or AC, a -2 to a single skill, or even a visible scar which could interfere with social encounters.  Moderate wounds can be more severe but still should not be crippling.  Halving movement, removing the ability to critically hit, a -2 to BaB or the inability to speak all seem like appropriate penalties.  Severe wounds of course should much more serious but shouldn't render the character unplayable.   Making the character slowed, preventing them from getting above their bloodied value or making whole sets of skills impossible all would carry the weight of their injury.

For the timing on these injuries I would keep them them similar to fate.  Sometimes defining a scene can be difficult in D&D but as a rule of thumb having it last until the end of the next encounter in which it was relevant will work.  The end of the next session of course is self explanatory, and the end of the next story should be approximately the duration of an adventure module or level if your game is more free form.  

In most 4e games magical healing is fairly common place and so of course has to come into play here.  Since the point of these injuries is to create a lasting effect you shouldn't allow them to be eliminated entirely by a Cure Light Wound or Inspiring Word.  I would allow a healer to reduce the duration of these injuries by one level of severity if they use enough powers heal the character 4 healing surges, thus reducing the penalty and duration.  The healing surges would have no other effect (although I would still allow and bonus healing the character provides to apply to HP) and I would only allow this once per injury.  Even if a Cleric can grow back your hand it's not going to be 100% right away.

Try this idea out in your game and see how it effects how your PCs approach combat, and how much more important their Leader becomes if they have one.

So that's it for breaking down Fate (for now), I hope that you found it illuminating.  Later this week I'll share with you a falafel recipe I'm trying out this weekend.  Talk to you then.

The Fate of All Mankind

Note: Sorry for the poor editing and formatting on this post friends, I seem to have overestimated my ability to update while on vacation.  Later this week we'll finish this discussion with narrative timing.

Today we return to our discussion of Fate and how to use elements of its rules for other games.  The week we'll cover the team based city and character creation rules, specifically those that appear in The Dresden Files RPG, and the narrative based timing Fate uses for wounds and healing.

Group Character and City Creation

The Dresden Files RPG (DFRPG) focuses heavily around making the characters and their world feel deeply interconnected.  The PCs feel as though they have a shared history throwing off the clichéd trope of murder hobos meeting in a bar and becoming fast friends.  Additionally the game encourages making the city feel like another member of the ensemble, emulating stories like The Wire or (of course) the game's namesake.

The primary way it achieves this is by making character creation part of the game.  During  character creation players incorporate at least two other characters into their narrative, leaving you at the end of the process with an interweaving web of relationship on which to draw.  Before this happens though, and I think that it is very important that this happens first, the group as a whole work together to create the city the characters inhabit.

While the book calls this City Creation it's important to note that this process can be scaled up or down for the story.   The same principles apply if your describing a college campus or and multinational agency of super spies.

For our purposes though we're going to look at using this process to handle a superhero game.  My game of choice for supers is Champions but as this process doesn't have to interact with the rules it can apply to any system.  

The first session of your Champions game, sit everyone down and encourage them not to settle on a character yet.  As soon as you say superhero game ideas will have already started to form, but bring open minded at this stage is helpful. First, as a group decided which  city you want the game to take place in.  You can also at this point decide on a globe spanning game but the process remains the same.  The next step is defining important locations that the characters will be interacting with.

A useful way to think of this is like you were making a TV show, a fee key locations is all you have the budget for so you have to make them each have their own sense of character.  In our superhero game you may have the local PD, the city tabloid's office, the roof tops, the villain's corporate HQ, the here's base of operations and the city limits sign for example.  To save on effort make sure that each location you detail has a rule to play in the game and people other than the PCs associated with it.  Pepper Pots at Stark Tower, Commissioner Gordon at Gotham PD and J. Jonah Jamison at the Daily Bugle all breath life into what would otherwise just be set pieces. 

One you've established your locations and populated them you should define their expected impact on the story.  In the DFRPG this is done through aspects but even if your not using that rule module writing down a phrase or two here will help to cement the location in your mind. Going the examples I mentioned earlier you might note Stark Tower with "boundless wealth and innovation" and "everyone knows where to find you".  Gotham PD on the other could be described as having "a tense peace with heroes" and being "rife with corruption".  This descriptor will help you know the sorts of scenes to set at the location and give the players a sense of how to act there. 

Now that you've established the where of your Champions game you can get to the who of the characters, some of whom may be inspired by this process.  When you think about what really is the difference between Lexcorp and Stark Tower other than the association with a PC.  

Group character creation is an easy step to incorporate into your game that in my experience greatly enhances the experience at the table and the ultimate narrative that ultimately forms.  In the DFRPG this is tied directly to the Aspect system, but it doesn't have to be in your game.  

To bring this stage into you game all you have to do is get everyone at the table before the characters are made and have each player look to the person to their left  and the person to their right.  For a Champions game I would have the players use the classic types of superhero interactions.  The player to left's character is someone they initially fought with but then the teamed up to fave a bigger threat (let the players come up with the threat and that's one less villain you have to come up with a concept for).  The player to their right is someone who they owe their life to, either because they saved them or for some other reason.  Finally, after there's decisions are made, have the players switch seats at the table.  With the interconnected stories this will help prevent it from seeming silly, and will encourage other characters to get involved when these stories come up in the game.

To prevent me from having to type evenore on my phone for now I'm going to leave it there and we'll come back to narrative based timing later this week.  On Monday I'll share with you a falafel recipe that a great snack and vegetarian friendly.

Aspects in Play

In my recent Hack(Host) article, Unraveling Fate we started talking about Fate Core and the ways you can use it's mechanics in other games.  One of my friends pointed out to me that the mechanic in question, Aspects, can be a bit challenging to figure out how to use at the table.  Aspects are the central mechanic of Fate and one of my favorites so I wanted to give a couple of examples of them in play.  This is a bonus post and on Monday I will finish what I started in Unraveling Fate.


At their core Aspect descriptors which give what they are attached to story significance.  They can be applied to anything in the game from objects to environments, or even to the story itself.  The most common type of aspect you will interact with in the game though is Character Aspects so that is what we're going to focus on.

Character Aspects can be used to describe just about anything  the player wants to be important to the story.  A well written aspect will be both an advantage or a disadvantage dependent on the situation and will give anyone who reads them a sense of the character.  The number of aspects your character will have will very from game to game, as will the importance of those aspects, but the core mechanic remains the same.

There are two broad ways aspects come into play, Invoking and Compelling.  Invoking is when a player or the GM uses an aspect to modify an action they or someone else is taking.  In Fate this is represented with a +2 to the roll or effect, if your porting it to another game that will change but it always should be a significant bonus.  Compelling is using an aspect to limit a character or NPC's options or abilities.  Invoking costs a Fate Chip for the player doing so and in the case of a compel the player or GM who suggests the compel pays a Fate Chip and the character effected by it receives that Chip.

Let's look at a scene between three characters to see how aspects work in play;

James is player 1's character, a star ship captain with; Encouageable Lady's Man, Always Ready for a Fight and Loyal to a Fault.

Pavel is player 2's character, Kirk's subordinate who as the aspects; Talented but Inexperienced, Charmingly Meek, and Funny Accent.

Kado is an NPC who runs the bar the characters are currently patronizing.  Since he's just an NPC the game master only gave him one aspect No Fan of Trouble.

In this scene James and Pavel want to learn from Kado where some stolen goods that passed through the bar ended up.

GM: You enter the bar and you can see it's not a place that takes well to military types.  Loud and dark this is the sort of place that shady deals can happy right out in the open.

Player 1: James looks around the bar for someone in charge.

GM: Well, all you look around the room you see a number of women dancing and sweet talking patrons.  As an Inveterate Lady's Man you think that getting close to one of them is a pretty good idea.  Pavel needs more experience anyway right?

(The GM offers a Fate Chip to the player.  Here James' player has the option of accepting the Fate Chip, there by letting Pavel be the player who first approaches Kado.  James is far better equipped for interrogating the bar's owner, but to refuse the compel he must give the GM one of his own chips.)

Player 1: Yeah, Pavel should learn to take the lead more often, and that green dancer looks particularly appealing.  James tells Pavel to ask that the bar while he goes to interrogate her.

Player 2: Great.  Pavel goes to the bar and asks to speak with the owner.

GM: A very tall man from Bathar 6 by the looks of him eyes you suspiciously.  He introduces himself as Kado and asks what you want.

Player 2: Pavel says "We are looking for a case of Veridian igniters that were seen here in the past couple of days."

Player 1: Don't you mean Weridian?

GM: Kado chuckles at your accent and says "Don't know what you're talking about."

(Player 2 looks at their sheet and realizes that they aren't well equipped to talk this guy into giving up the info.)

Player 2: Can I invoke Charmingly Meek to give me a +2 on my roll?

GM: Kado isn't really impressed by meek people.

Player 2: He laughed at my accent though, can I invoke Funny Aspect, everyone likes to laugh.

GM: Yeah, that will work, roll your Rapport with a +2.

Player 2: So Pavel keeps pestering him "Look, we know the Weridian came through here.  This is wery important we need the Weridian to restart our wessel. "

(Player 2 rolls, but still fails.  The GM decides that Kado likes Pavel but that telling him would cause more trouble than it's worth)

GM: Kado says, "Look, I don't want no trouble in my place.  You military types bring all manner of problems with you."

Player 2: I want to see if I can discern one of his aspects.

(Player 2 rolls his Empathy skill, succeeding)

GM: Kado is No Fan of Trouble, right now you don't seem like trouble though.

Player 2: Pavel will keep pressing him, indicating back to James to emphasize that they are together.  I want to compel James' Always Ready for a Fight to get him to start an argument with another patron.

(Player 1 offers one of his Fate Chips to James)

Player 1: Not very Captainly of me, but I might need the chips later.  Sure, me and another patron get into over the green skinned woman.

Player 2: Good, can I now compel Kado's aspect, since getting me out of there will get James out too?

GM: Makes perfect sense to me.

(Player 2 hands the game one of his Fate Chips, Kado spills the beans and the story continues).

So ask you can see, Fate Chips allow characters to really make a scene about who the character's are and can give them some influence over the story that other games don't allow.  For a fuller explaination on the use of Aspects I highly recommend looking through Fate Core, it's a great game and is pay what you want on Drive Through RPG.

Unraveling Fate

Now that we've broken down a nice “crunchy” system like D&D 4th Edition, I thought we could take a look at a system that is more free-form.  Fate Core is an RPG system from Evil Hat and has a relatively small number of rules focusing on more narrative play. Players get to take an active part in creating the story and environment, which is not generally seen in more traditional RPGs.  That doesn't mean, though, that it lacks elements that can be useful in any game you play.  As we did with 4th Edition, I want to look at 3 pieces of Fate to use in other systems.  We'll take an in depth look at the first one today and handle the other two in two weeks.  The 3 pieces are:

• Character/Scene Aspects
• Group Character and City Creation
• Narrative Based Timing

Aspects is the obvious place to start when discussing Fate. Aspects are an element as front and center in Fate as the d20 is in Dungeons and Dragons.  In their simplest form Aspects are phrases which describe something interesting and unique about what they are applied to.  On a character they can be a simple as Mighty Barbarian or as specific as The Only Wizard Detective in the Phone Book.  Scenes similarly may be Dark and Stormy or in A Rat Infested Warehouse.  

When Aspects are Invoked they can provide a bonus to a die roll or a penalty to an action against a character.  When Compelled, they will limit a character’s choices or prevent the character from succeeding in the action which triggered the Aspect. Whenever an Invoke or Compel occurs Fate Chips are exchanged, keeping a dynamic economy of narrative control shifting between the players and the game master.

Aspects as a rules module are beautiful in their simplicity and the effect they can have on play is dramatic.  Any game that uses dice can incorporate them to give players a chance to further distinguish their characters from the flock.  As an example, I wanted to look at a newer game by Monte Cook.  Numenera, as a game, focuses on exploration and oddity making it a perfect fit for open-ended descriptions.  

In Numenara, I would recommend keeping the number of Aspects low. Too many will begin to bog down players with options.  Three Aspects gives the player options, without getting in the way of creativity.  A character's first two Aspects are easy - simply use the adjective and verb taken during character creation.  For example, a Graceful Glaive who Fights with Panache would treat Graceful and Fights with Panache as Aspects.  The final should be chosen by the character and should describe something truly unique to them.  This could be the description of a unique item they favor, their homeland, or the goal that drives them through the 9th World.  

To use the Aspects, Numenera already has a guide through the rule of GM Intrusions.  GM Intrusions are opportunities to make the story more difficult or exciting for the players.  The reward the players receive is experience, so they work very similarly to Aspects already.  Aspects, in this case, primarily provide the GM with more information about how the player wants their character to be challenged.  If your character Fights with Panache then the GM knows that it may be in their nature to toy with an opponent rather than go in for the kill.  Using this information, the GM can Compel that Aspect to force the character to fail an attack, choosing instead to embarrass their opponent.

There are a few options for Invoking Aspects in Numenera, but I personally prefer the simple ones.  Allowing a character to spend an XP to treat an Aspect as an asset in Numenera will keep the option in their mind when they have a difficult task.  While this effect is similar to the option players already have (re-rolling a dice for 1 XP), this option can allow a character to in difficulty 4+ tasks to truly shine. It gives them some certainty when their other abilities bring a difficulty to 1. 

Next week I'll share with you a recipe for some Asian lettuce wraps my wife and I love, and that I will be serving at my next game.  Talk to you then.

Nose to Tail Gaming

Two weeks ago we talked about how to use the timer based powers in 4th Ed in a game of Pathfinder.  Today we'll tackle the other two pieces of 4e that I think are particularly interesting: role protection and skill challenges.

Role Protection

Role protection is the division of characters between Striker, Leader, Defender, and Controller.  D&D 4e doesn't just talk about the rules, but includes rules to help solidify them.  Almost all Strikers have the ability to add extra dice of damage to their attacks. Nearly every defender uses the Marking mechanic which makes them more 'sticky' (able to draw attacks to themselves).

I would caution you in bringing this rule module into another game because it's going to have a lot of effects on how characters are created and how the story is told.  Once these roles (or whatever roles you feel are appropriate for your game) are laid out, they will make your combat much more tactical. This will make some of your players feel they have to fill certain holes that exist in the party’s abilities.

Generally role protection is best for games which emulate the heroic fantasy, superhero, or heist genres, as those genres tend to include this idea anyway.  The roles won't always be the same; the four D&D covers are common in fantasy, while in superheroes you will often see the tank, the blaster, the psychic, the tactician, and the brawler.  Heist stories similarly will often see the fighter, the con, the thief, and the tech (see Leverage for a very clear example).

In Fate Core there are no rules for role protection, but the genres it emulates often fit well with the sort of crafted team that defined roles encourage.  If you want to introduce role protection into Fate Core you can try adding it to the aspect system.

Aspects are phrases and ideas that describe your character and affect how they spend resources.  Simply inform your players of the traditional roles in a superhero team.  Tell them that one of their aspects has to include reference to the role they've chosen.  During the game allow the players one free Invoke of that aspect each session.  Your players will quickly tailor their strategy to their place in the team.

Another more complicated, but more flavorful, option would be to create a special Invoke for each of the roles you define.  Each Invoke providing an extra action but one that has to fulfill their role in the team.  Allowing your blaster to perform an attack, your bruiser to block for an ally, and your psychic to read an opponent's mind at the cost of a fate chip will add a more dynamic exchange to your fights.  This will encourage your players to pay attention even when it's not their turn.  This does come with a cost though.  You'll have to put in a little more work to balance the encounters but it will add a more super heroic feel.

Skill Challenges

In 4e, skill challenges represent a way of playing non-combat encounters while still providing a real mechanical challenge to the characters.  There are a lot of situations these can be used to represent, from a debate with nobility to tracking across an open desert.  Where I've found the most success in the skill challenge is in emulating the film montage.  When your players have some task to complete and you don't want to just roll the dice, a skill challenge is a good way to keep it tense.  The basic idea of a skill challenge is creating a variety of tasks the players must complete.  They can choose how to complete their tasks with the skills they have available.  If they get a set number of success before they get a certain number of fails, they succeed.

This is an especially easy piece to use in other games, as it will work with anything that already has a skill system.  Let's look at an example situation in Shadowrun.  In your game a group of runners need to infiltrate a swank shindig at Mitsuhama.  You've decided that you don't want to make this a simple request from a contact.  Instead you can make getting access to the party a section of the game itself.

The first thing to do is decide what needs to be done to complete the task.   They need to find out where and when the party is.  To get in, they need their names on the guest list or for the bouncer to let them pass.  Finally because it's Shadowrun, they need to stash their weapons somewhere they can access at the party.  For this situation we're going to say that the runners need to get 6 successes on these tasks, with at least one each, before they get 3 total failures.  Dependent on how challenging you want this to be you can play around with the numbers. 

Each attempt will be a simple skill check, and here I will generally adjust the threshold based on how interesting or creative the character's attempt is.  A good level for a group of runners that will make a check risky is threshold 4, so I would start there and then adjust as needed.  By using this method rather than the standard, you can get your players more involved in the process.   It will take longer but will  make even the generally boring parts of the game more interesting.

Like the Native Americans, you should use every piece of the game

Hacking D&D4e Part I

In my years as a gamer and GM, it seems that games I’ve been in almost always end up having house rules.  Most that I've seen are slapped together to solved a problem mid-game and ended up sticking.  If you're looking for how to solve a problem in your game though, I would suggest you listen to the experts.  Guys like Monte Cook, Kenneth Hite and Rob Heinsoo know game design inside and out and have playtesters to back them up.What I mean is, if you find some hole in your game, patch it with a piece of a different game.  If there's a rule that improves your experience, bring it with you and see where it fits in other games you play.  Today I want to talk about Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition.  I chose this first because I suspect that most of you have played it, and whether you like it or not there are some great pieces to work with.

When looking at games I tend to see them in component modules, each part of the game a separate system that can be modified, moved or discarded as necessary.  Here are a few of the more interesting pieces that make up the current edition of D&D (although 5th Edition is now just over the horizon).

• At-Will/Encounter/Daily Powers
• Strong Role Protection
• Skill Challenges

Obviously the game is made up of more components than this.  Some, like the Yes/No skill system don't move between games well.  Others, such as Action Points or Feats are already used to one extent or another in games you'll come across.  However, these three components can find a place in pretty much any game you play.  This week let's talk about the At-Will/Encounter/Daily Power, or timer based powers, and we'll cover the other two next week.

The timer based powers in D&D often draw a lot of hate from the game's detractors. Their argument is that that it makes the game feel like World of Warcraft or similar games.  I'm not interested in addressing that argument and would prefer to point out the places where it can be a benefit instead.  The first is that this system allows for an additional balancing mechanic when creating abilities.  You can safely make a Daily Power several times more powerful than an At-Will without worrying about it unbalancing your game.  Second, it promotes variety on the encounter level by ensuring that no one spends the whole fight only saying “I attack" until it's done.  Lastly, it adds a tactical element of resource management, forcing the players to consider if they should use their big guns right away, or hold them until a more challenging fight.

There are, of course, drawbacks.  Players thinking tactically may not be thinking narratively and it is more details to keep track of which can get cumbersome.  That being said, if you're looking to play a game where the fights play out more like action movies, then this type of set up will help you on your way.

This ability is one of the tougher ones to move to other games, because doing so always requires building new rules around it, specifically creating powers that take advantage of its opportunities.  An example of this is Pathfinder, currently the best selling RPG in the US.  In Pathfinder this structure works best when slotted into the Feats system.   By designating a feat as Encounter or Daily you can improve their power substantially while maintaining game balance.  Another option would be to apply it to existing feats thereby reducing their level and prerequisite requirements (the Whirlwind Attack feat, for example- see below).  There are a lot of requirements to the Feat. Some of them may not make sense to every character, so you can use the timed powers system to balance it instead.  

Here is the original Whirlwind Attack feat.

Whirlwind Attack (Combat

You can strike out at every for within reach.

Prerequisites: Dex 13+, Int 13+, Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Base attack bonus +4

Benefits: When you use the full-attack action, you can give up your regular attacks and instead make one melee attack at your highest base attack bonus against each opponent within reach. You must make a separate attack roll against each opponent.

 

When you use the Whirlwind Attack feat, you also forfeit any bonus or extra attacks granted by other feats, spells, or abilities.

With attribute, bab and feat requirements this is one of the more difficult feats to take in the game, and its prerequisites point to a specific fighting style.  Someone who takes this feat is a mobile, agile fighter focused on defense and who fights with wit rather than brawn.  It seems to me though, that the barbarian spinning with his axe would fit well with the effects of this feat.  By putting the balance onto timing you can allow it to be a character's central tactic at the out set.  Here is my proposed alternate version.

 

Whirlwind Attack (Combat)

You can strike out at every foe within reach.

 Prerequisites: Base attack bonus +1

Benefits: Once a day, when you use the full-attack action, you can give up your regular attacks and instead make one melee attack at your highest base attack bonus against each opponent within reach.  You must make a separate attack roll against each opponent.  These attacks cannot receive bonuses from other feats, spells or abilities and you may not take any additional attacks grated by feats, spells or special abilities this round.

Special: You may take this feat multiple times, no more than once a level.  If you take this feat twice, you may use it once per Encounter.  If you take this feat three times you may use it at-will.

This version of the feat allows a fighter, or similar class, to use Whirlwind attack straight from the beginning of the game. This gives them full access to the feat one level sooner than they would have otherwise, but it also denies them the benefits of two of their feats.  In this way it balances itself out.  This design also has a narrative advantage, allowing warriors who aren't interested in defensive fighting styles (like the classic raging barbarian) access at a cost.

This will continue two weeks from now when we'll go over how to use D&D4e's rules for role protection and skill challenges in other games.  Next week though I’ll share with you my experience running a Shadowrun game set at a medieval themed restaurant and my recipe for delicious if anachronistic turkey legs.