Any FATE platers?, As in the RPG system Options

[ludomastro]

I am a huge fan of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. (Oddly enough the TV show on SciFi was what got me started reading them.) They are planning a new RPG based on the FATE system. In looking for information on this system I came across the forums for the game on jim-butcher.com. A helpful person posted the link for the SRD for Spirit of the Century which uses FATE 3.0. A similar version of that system will be used for the game.

I am wondering if anyone has experience with the FATE system in any incarnation.

For the curious, here is the link to the SRD for Spirit of the Century.

[Synner667]

Hmmm...
...I though there was already some RPG stuff for the Dresden Files.

[Aaron]

For a moment I thought you were talking about FATAL. Different game.

[Caine Hazen]

Hmmm...
...I though there was already some RPG stuff for the Dresden Files.

Its been going on in "dev" for a few years now and not been put out. I really really want to see it myself, as I'm a huge fan of the The Dresden Files. The Fate system looks like it'll be a pretty interesting system though, I'd love to run it sometime.

[ludomastro]

OK, so it looks like no one here has much (if any) experience with the game. For those of you who don't want to pour through Spirit of the Century's SRD, I'll pull out my two bit, non-experienced based explanation.

There are no attributes, as such. There are Aspects. "Lucky" is a good example of a bad Aspect. "Strange Luck" is much better - I'll explain why in a moment.

There are skills. Skills are measure in the bonus it gives to your roll. "Average" might be +1, while "Good" might be +2, etc.

You roll four fate dice that have the following values: -1, 0 & +1. (The d6 equivalent would be -1: 1,2; 0:3,4 & +1:5,6.) The skill plus the fate roll determines if you succeed or fail. The difficulty is based on whether it is an "Average" or "Good" or "Expert" challenge - using the same scale as skills.

Aspects, in conjunction with Fate points, can be used to activate interesting things.

e.g. Bob, the thief is running through a 1930's era office building and wants to jump through the little window at the top of the door to escape the security guard. The GM decides the difficulty is a +4. Bob has "Acrobatics" at +3 and rolls a +1, 0, +1, -1 for his fate roll. The net result is +1 for a total of +4 - he's in.

Alternate 1: Bob's player could decide that his "Strange Luck" Aspect applies and decides to use a Fate point to add +2 to his roll. This gives him a total of +6 with two points of "Shift" (the excess past the difficulty). He uses one point of "Shift" to make the jump without leaving a trace and the other to do so quietly.

Alternate 2: The GM could decide that Bob's "Strange Luck" Aspect applies and offer Bob's player a Fate point. Bob's Player has two choices: a) accept the Fate point and let the GM do weird things to his character or b) PAY a Fate point to avoid the weirdness. Let's assume that Bob's player decides to take the Fate point. The GM then allows the action to proceed. Bob makes the jump but the GM adds that the "Strange Luck" kicks in and Bob's satchel got caught on the window suspending him above the floor. Now he has to hang there and risk being discovered by the security guard or cut the shoulder strap and loose the goods.

The system is a little more complicated than that but those are the basics.

My first read is that the system was designed more for storytelling groups who wanted a way to resolve action with more complexity than paper, rock, scissors. Leaning toward the storytelling end of the roleplaying stick, I think that I would like the system; however, YMMV.