Help for a new Fate GM

[caden_varn]

I am starting a Fate game with a set of experienced RPGers, but all of us are new to Fate, so after character generation I have a couple of questions:

First, are there some Fate-specific forums around that woulkd be better for Fate questions?

The main question is this - we are playing in a medieval/renaissance world, and I want to keep the initial game simple - I don't want to use any extras until we are all a bit more familiar with the system. One of the players wants to use alchemical grenades (alchemists fire, poison gas etc.).

As a base we can just use the Shoot skill and flavour the results/advantage availability in line with the weapons he is using, but I would like to suggest some kind of stunt or aspect that could enhance it.

Stuntwise, I was thinking something like +2 to create advantage with alchemical grenades (setting fires, clouds of poisonous gas etc.), but I am not sure how to limit it. I don't really want to make him count ammo, so he can throw grenades all day. Not sure how to balance this properly?

Otherwise I think I can suggest he changes one of his aspects to something that includes grenades for the +2 from a Fate point. Any other suggestions?

[Anonymouswizard]

A stunt could work. You could create an extra 'alchemical grenades' that requires an Aspect related to alchemy and allows him to take stunts that represent one of his grenades, assuming you wanted him to be the only one with them.

The thing to remember about extras is that they can be as simple as you want. Say one guy wants a magic sword? It can grant an extra aspect to it's wielder. Pet? The same. Fate is primarily concerned with the story, so things can be really abstracted into as little as you want.

Are the Grenades simply a way to increase damage? if he has a relevant aspect, that's fine. Are they to solve problems? At this point it might be worth including an Alchemy skill and allow him to take it (allow it to attack). And so on. What does he want the grenades for?

[caden_varn]

I think the reason he wants them is it was a shiny idea that occurred to him. He did not seem to have a clear idea of what he wanted to do with them. I think I'll need to sit down with him and dig a bit deeper into what he wants to do with them...

[Eisenheim]

For your first question, the fate core G+ group is large and active. That's a great place to go for advice.

For the grenades, some potential stunts would be: "use Crafts as Shoot for adjacent zones while you have an aspect representing alchemical grenades."

If he doesn't want a skill replacement: "once per scene/spend a fate point to attack an entire zone with Shoot by throwing a grenade."

[caden_varn]

Thanks for the suggestions! The Fate point idea sounds good to me, I'll run that past the player.

[Sith_Happens]

Yeah, the go-to means of balancing more powerful stunts are cooldowns and making them cost a fate point to use.

[Eisenheim]

It's also entirely fine to have the alchemical grenades mostly just descriptive. If he's an alchemist with a shoot skill, you can assume his normal shoot, even when not using the stunt, is throwing something rather than using a bow or gun.

[JBPuffin]

If it's Fate Core, just saying he can use Crafts in place of Shoot when Creating Advantages with Grenades is a perfectly fine stunt. If it's older FATE...good luck, I don't remember much of it.

[Knaight]

If it's Fate Core, just saying he can use Crafts in place of Shoot when Creating Advantages with Grenades is a perfectly fine stunt. If it's older FATE...good luck, I don't remember much of it.
SoTC has skill swap stunts, so this is pretty reasonable even in that. If you track way back to FATE 2, it gets a bit messier, but FATE 2 was built to use modifiers and be full of optional subsystems (the Fudge roots show a lot more there), so writing one up for an alchemist is totally viable.

[caden_varn]

We had the first session last night. We did not get far enough in for the alchemical bombs to come into play, but it looks to me like they should work OK.

Plenty of things for us all to learn - me especially as the GM. After 30 years of playing and running games like D&D, Warhammer & Traveller, it requires a bit of a adjustment in playstyle. Still, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, so I hope we'll get a bit better grip on the game before it ends (We have a couple of months at best before 2 of my 3 players have their first child, which is going to put any gaming on hold for the foreseeable future I suspect).

Thanks to all the suggestions from everyone here.

[kyoryu]

I'd probably still have it key off of Shoot, but let the fact that he has grenades justify attacking a whole zone (via the usual rules).

He can also create/acquire some (via Create Advantage), which would then result in an aspect that could be easily invoked for extra effect.... or Compelled because he's walking around with high explosives.