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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Titan in the Playground
     
    DrowGuy

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    Dec 2015

    Default I'm Thinking Of Playing Fate

    Hey everybody. It's been a while since I've been playing D&D 3.5. So anyway I'm thinking of playing Fate. I heard a little bit about Fate and it has the same magic systems and schools just like D&D. I want to learn more information about Fate. Can somebody tell me about Fate, please?

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    Ettin in the Playground
     
    OldWizardGuy

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    Default Re: I'm Thinking Of Playing Fate

    It really doesn't have magic systems like D&D at all. To shoehorn in a Vancian type system would be, I think, quite a bit of work.

    Do you have specific questions?

    I've written a bunch of posts that are now often referred to for beginners learning the system (https://fate-srd.com/odds-ends/book-hanz and also here: https://www.evilhat.com/home/fate-core-downloads/ ). I somehow got a credit on the latest version. I'd be happy to help you out in any way I can.

    Oh, I'm also working on an Actual Play designed to help people learn the system, too.
    "Gosh 2D8HP, you are so very correct (and also good looking)"

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    DrowGuy

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    Default Re: I'm Thinking Of Playing Fate

    Quote Originally Posted by kyoryu View Post
    It really doesn't have magic systems like D&D at all. To shoehorn in a Vancian type system would be, I think, quite a bit of work.

    Do you have specific questions?

    I've written a bunch of posts that are now often referred to for beginners learning the system (https://fate-srd.com/odds-ends/book-hanz and also here: https://www.evilhat.com/home/fate-core-downloads/ ). I somehow got a credit on the latest version. I'd be happy to help you out in any way I can.

    Oh, I'm also working on an Actual Play designed to help people learn the system, too.
    Yes I do have a question, What's the difficulty level of Fate?

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    DeTess's Avatar

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    Default Re: I'm Thinking Of Playing Fate

    Quote Originally Posted by Bartmanhomer View Post
    Yes I do have a question, What's the difficulty level of Fate?
    It should be fairly simple. FATE is generally regarded a low-crunch system, but its lack of a built-in setting does mean the DM needs to put in some more work to prepare the game.

    However, FATE does require more from its players wrt to creativity than DnD. In DnD, you could make a character by focusing completely on mechanics, and ignoring most of the 'whys' and 'whats' of the character's background and personality. In FATE, those things are integral to designing your character though. Determining your characters personality and background are a critical part of character creation as they determine the character's 'aspects', which is a core mechanic of FATE. This shouldn't be a problem for most people, but if your group is really mechanics focused, rather than focusing on playing a character, it could cause some initial startup issues.

    edit:

    Okay, based on your OP, it seems you have some misconceptions about what FATE is. Unlike DnD, which is a high fantasy game, FATE is a 'generic' system. That is, you can use the system to run a sci-fi game, or a superheroes game, or a fantasy game, or a real-world ancient Rome political game, or anything else you can think of. However, the game does not have any setting build in itself (though I do think you can buy some pre-made settings). It does not have extensive rules for magic or other setting-specific things, though it does provide rules for how you can go about making a magic system.

    All this is to say that, if you want to play DnD 3.5 but in a different system, FATE is probably not your best choice. If you want to try out something entirely different though, like a noir 1920's supernatural detective game, FATE is very suitable, because it can be easily adapted, and it's fairly easy to play.
    Last edited by DeTess; 2020-05-13 at 04:33 AM.
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  5. - Top - End - #5
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    OldWizardGuy

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    Default Re: I'm Thinking Of Playing Fate

    Quote Originally Posted by Bartmanhomer View Post
    Yes I do have a question, What's the difficulty level of Fate?
    To learn? Fairly easy, although there are a number of "gotchas" that can trip up veterans of other games.

    To be successful? That's entirely in the hands of the GM. It can be a cakewalk, or an uphill fight.

    It's not a good "replacement" for D&D - it's aimed at a pretty different play style than the typical "encounter to encounter" style of D&D. But if you find some things about D&D lacking, it could be useful.
    "Gosh 2D8HP, you are so very correct (and also good looking)"

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    DrowGuy

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    Default Re: I'm Thinking Of Playing Fate

    Well, I check the rules of Fate and it's very simple and solid.

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    BardGirl

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    Default Re: I'm Thinking Of Playing Fate

    Quote Originally Posted by kyoryu View Post
    To learn? Fairly easy, although there are a number of "gotchas" that can trip up veterans of other games.
    Can you give some examples? Anything to look out for before starting a game, or introducing friends?
    Quote Originally Posted by Incorrect View Post
    If you consider the RP aspect, you might want to consider alternatives to Tortle Str Ranger.
    I mean, why would the rest of the party trust this Tortal StRanger...

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    OldWizardGuy

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    Default Re: I'm Thinking Of Playing Fate

    Quote Originally Posted by Incorrect View Post
    Can you give some examples? Anything to look out for before starting a game, or introducing friends?
    This is a bunch of G+ posts that I made while learning Fate that were collected because a bunch of people found them useful, going over exactly that.

    https://fate-srd.com/odds-ends/book-hanz
    "Gosh 2D8HP, you are so very correct (and also good looking)"

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    Halfling in the Playground
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    Default Re: I'm Thinking Of Playing Fate

    Fate gives players a lot more narrative power than most other systems. If your players won't act creatively, or use the setting to their advantage, use a different system (as much as we'd all like to think our players will, be honest with yourself about this).

    Mechanically, Fate is pretty simple: roll 4d6, add mods, bam. The system is interesting only in context to the aspect system--which makes the system freaking awesome. Basically, everything has aspects, little phrases that describe them and their nature. Characters have aspects, buildings have aspects, and even objects have aspects. Players can change the course of a scene by activating aspects of themselves, or other objects/NPCs/whatever, as they describe their actions. For example, I played a one shot of Fate at a convention where we were chasing someone down an alley, and I activated the aspect of the alley "collects all kinds of trash" to say there was an abandoned dog, whom I convinced to chase down our suspect. Was that dog there? No. Did that alley have aspects written out behind the DM screen? No. But the system design allows for players to have some creativity, flexibility, and narrative input baked into the rules.

    But it's only as good as your players.

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    OldWizardGuy

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    Default Re: I'm Thinking Of Playing Fate

    I pretty much agree with what you wrote there, malloc, but you should really free yourself from your preconceptions, otherwise your understandling could remain just... dangling.
    "Gosh 2D8HP, you are so very correct (and also good looking)"

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    Ogre in the Playground
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    Default Re: I'm Thinking Of Playing Fate

    Quote Originally Posted by kyoryu View Post
    I pretty much agree with what you wrote there, malloc, but you should really free yourself from your preconceptions, otherwise your understandling could remain just... dangling.
    I'm working on this too. I'm moving away from 5e and DnD in general, and working on branching my group out into different systems. The narrative abilities in Fate are great, so I'm looking into GMing it soon. Thinking of doing an Avatar game - I think a touch of adjustment to the stormcaller magic system could work really well.
    Anu suggestions on how to apply stunts in a creative manner? Rather than things like "you gain a +2 under specific circumstance"
    The moon sees nothing of this. She is bald and wild.
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  12. - Top - End - #12
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    OldWizardGuy

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    Default Re: I'm Thinking Of Playing Fate

    Quote Originally Posted by Hypersmith View Post
    I'm working on this too. I'm moving away from 5e and DnD in general, and working on branching my group out into different systems. The narrative abilities in Fate are great, so I'm looking into GMing it soon. Thinking of doing an Avatar game - I think a touch of adjustment to the stormcaller magic system could work really well.
    Anu suggestions on how to apply stunts in a creative manner? Rather than things like "you gain a +2 under specific circumstance"
    I'm pretty sure Stormcallers is deliberately A:tLA with the serial numbers filed off. Oh, and we'll use "storms" instead of "elements", that'll fool 'em!

    The common stunt categories are:

    +2 to ability under circumstance. These are most interesting when they say something about the character, and the player has some control over the circumstances but not total control, and when the circumstances may have a downside. Bad +2 stunt: "When I use my longsword". Good +2 stunt: "Face in the Crowd: +2 to Stealth when trying to hide by disappearing in a crowd".

    Ability swap stunts: You can use <Skill> instead of <Skill> under <x> circumstances. These are best when there's plausible real-world connections, as well as the normal +2 list. This is really just a "+x to skill under circumstances" stunt, just with a different coat of paint.

    "Thing just happens" stunts: These are usually considered the most interesting, and basically act as overrides. They're usually scoped to once per session, and (depending on tone of game) don't overrule narrative plausibility. "Always has a weapon", "always has the right tool", etc. Note that in most games "always has a weapon" doesn't include times when the player has deliberately disarmed, or there's something else in the narrative that precludes it (if you just went through a metal detector in a semi-realistic setting, then NO, you don't have a metal weapon on you).

    In most cases, I find coming up with stunts at the beginning of the game to be one of hte hardest things for most people. I recommend letting stunts be "on the fly"... just play, and when it seems there's something that would be a good stunt for the character, just scribble it down and go from there. Really, any time you reach for a Fate Point (declaration or invoke) is a fair time to say "so, is this something you feel like your character would really be doing a lot? Kind of a signature shtick? If so, let's use one of your unused stunts instead of the Fate Point".

    Oh, and the post you quoted was a nerdy joke on malloc's name ;)
    Last edited by kyoryu; 2020-06-08 at 08:55 AM.
    "Gosh 2D8HP, you are so very correct (and also good looking)"

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