One of my intentions with this blog is to poke at Fate--easily my favorite tabletop RPG system--in hopes of making certain elements of the game more clear than the current rulebook makes it. However, we run up almost immediately against a problem: even the sample characters in the Fate Core book have some truly terrible aspects and stunts. So before I take them out for some trial runs (in order to explore invisibility, backstabbing, and other fantasy-game classics), we need to fix the characters first.
One major thing I should add, by the way, is that I take the idea of “High Concept” very traditionally: it’s not a poetic scrap or a third-level motivation in my games. It’s a straight-up high concept that answers the questions, “Who is this person and what do they do?” It’s a way of explaining what kind of hero this is,and in what kind of genre they appear. I am fully aware that the Fate Core book says that High Concepts are allowed to be personal or abstract, and that Aspects are not supposed to be only partially invoked, but I can’t play that way. Before we get to a character’s specifics, we need to know their general overall concept, and for me, THAT is what the High Concept is for: to explain to others what sort of visuals and conflicts we’re about to see, even if it’s a little wordy. Batman is not Spirit of Vengeance From the Shadows. Batman is Spooky Vigilante Detective With Bat-Themed Tech. What makes a high concept different from other aspects (in my games) is that is has three adjectives/descriptors and tries to be quite specifc. Who else could this be?
With that in mind, let’s turn to the sample characters from the Fate Core Book and see what we can improve. I have put brackets around things I’m especially keen to improve or replace.
LANDON (Original Version)
(HC) [Disciple of the Ivory Shroud]
(T) The Manners of a Goat
[I Owe Old Finn Everything]
Smashing is Always an Option
An Eye for an Eye
+4 Fight
+3 Athletics Physique
+2 Stealth Provoke Rapport
+1 Crafts Shoot Deceive Will
Physical Stress: (1)(2)(3)(4) [-2][-4][-6]
Mental Stress: (1)(2)(3)
Another Round: +2 to Rapport when drinking in a tavern
[Backup Weapon: Immediately recover from Disarmed by giving opponent a boost.]
[Tough as Nails: once per session can reduce a min or med consequence one step for a Fate point.]
COMMENTS/CRITIQUE
The original High Concept is Disciple of the Ivory Shroud, which is an extremely unhelpful high concept. So I've combined it with the description to make Battle-Scarred Disciple of the Ivory Shroud Swordsmen. So we know he's old, experienced, and a swordsman. That seems key to a high concept.
Of course, we still need to establish what the Ivory Shroud is and why it matters. Its name seems to suggest it relates to a clean death—perhaps they're committed to noble, fair combat and to the proper treatment of your enemy's corpse. But “disciple” suggests an unusual level of devotion, so let's say they're a group committed to saving human beings from turning into undead creatures. This would explain the name, and why Landon keeps traveling from place to place.
The aspect I Owe Old Finn Everything is useless if the character is constantly traveling and Old Finn, whoever that is, is not with him. So to hell with this aspect. (Especially since the aspect doesn't explain itself in the way that Old Finn Saved My Life or Old Finn Introduced Me to the Sword would.) It's also very hard to see how it could be invoked for an advantage.
As for stunts, “Backup Weapon” is exceedingly lame, since you could simply establish, narratively, that Landon carries a backup weapon—or give him two extras: a sword and a dagger. (In fantasy worlds, this would be far from uncommon.) This is a stunt that only comes in handy when the player is disarmed, it isn't THAT useful (thanks to the cost of a boost, which is hardly necessary given how weak the stunt is to begin with), and—this is key—would be almost impossible to use. Because how often could a referee disarm a player before it started to feel like a repetitive move? This is a wasted stunt.
Tough as Nails I'd disallow because I don't like anything that removes consequences. That makes consequences less consequential. There are dozens of better ways to represent “tough as nails.”
HOW TO IMPROVE LANDON
Change I Owe Old Finn Anything to some aspect that's likely to come in handy. We already know he's good at fighting, maybe hates the undead, and is bad at social skills. So what if he's a Master of Tying Knots? He already has crafting, and knotwork could come in handy when climbing a rope, sailing on a ship, or tying up a bad guy. It’s different, and has all sorts of potential applications.
(Or he could have an Aspect related to his Physique or Provoke skills if you want something more traditional. But for the purposes of this blog, he’s now a knot expert.)
One stunt he might consider—if you want him to be something like Conan—would be to allow him to use Physique instead of Rapport when attempting to appeal to people who are attracted to men. (Rough But Hard-Bodied) [He could also just get a +2 on such rolls, but changing it from Rapport to Physique means that his +3 Physique ignores social niceties, so he could be considered attractive despite his Manners Like a Goat, instead of having the +2 fight the -2 compel directly.]
As for Tough as Nails, let's represent that with a different stunt effect: when Landon suffers a minor consequence, his opponents do NOT get a free invoke on it! This definitely makes him harder to take out for a bit longer than normal.
And since we have the Ivory Shroud as an organization dedicated to protecting human bodies from becoming undead after death, we have a way to invoke it as a compel—word of zombies to the South would compel his immediate attention!—and it could be used to gain him an advantage when fighting undead foes—something certainly common enough to be worth using up an Aspect on. As for narrative permissions associated with this Aspect, let's let him use his Will to attempt to turn zombies and skeletons, too. He only has a +1, but it would be fitting for it to happen now and then. Finally, let's say that the Ivory Shroud has a vow of poverty: own no more than you can carry on your horse. Otherwise the Ivory Shroud is just a colorless membership badge. [This assumes the player is okay with all of these ideas, of course.]
CYNERE
(HC) [Infamous Girl With a Sword]
(T) Tempted by Shiny Things
I've Got Zird's Back
A Sucker for a Sob Story
[Secret Sister of Barathar]
+4 Athletics
+3 Notice Fight [Burglary]
+2 Deceive Investigate Physique
+1 Resources Lore Burglary [Notice] Empathy
Physical Stress: (1)(2)(3) [-2][-4][-6]
Mental Stress: (1)(2)
Warmaster: +2 on Fight rolls to Create an Advantage vs. opponents w/ exploitable fighting styles
[Second-Story Girl: May use Athletics instead of Burglary for all Overcome Actions]
Danger Sense: Notice rolls are unaffected by limiting aspects (darkness, concealment, silence, etc) when being attacked from hiding or by surprise
COMMENTS AND CRITIQUE
Infamous Girl With a Sword is jaw-droppingly generic and unimaginative. And Infamous for what? It’s as dull as saying “Fantasy Adventurer” and just about as helpful. Quite possibly the worst high concept I’ve ever seen, and I would return it and demand the player come up with something more specific. (Infamous Thief With a Rapier Tongue, perhaps)
Secret Sister of Barathar is also a fairly useless aspect, since we don't know who Barathar is, but it's pretty clear Barathar is not part of this traveling party, so her sisterhood to Barathar can't possibly impinge on a present situation. (Even in cases where Barathar shows up, it wouldn't be that useful to invoke.) This feels much more like a narrative descriptor, no different from being Steve's Older Sister and just as useless as an aspect. (Now if Barathar were KING Barathar, that would be a potentially great story-generating aspect…)
A Sucker for a Sob Story sounds like a second trouble aspect, not an invokable advantage.
Are we really going to declare Cynere an “Infamous Thief” (the stories in the Fate book make her thief status clear) and yet give her burglary of only +1? That's ridiculous. Burglary goes to +3, Notice down to +1.
Warmaster feels like a warrior's stunt (and not especially powerful, in the cagy way it's worded).
Second-story Girl is especially weird. Why would you ever use Burglary in an overcome that wasn't related to traps or locks? Is this just saying, “May use Athletics instead of Stealth”?
HOW TO IMPROVE CYNERE
Let her use Burglary instead of Notice when casing a person or building, pre-theft. That’s a stunt that a thief might actually use.
Let's change Cynere's High Concept to the more specific one I suggested above, and add a new aspect, My Sword Is Swifter Than Yours, to replace the secret sister thing.
Second Story Specialist gives her a potential boost to climbing and leaping without using up a stunt slot. But wait! Let's make her Comfortable in High Society instead. This possibly increases her effectiveness in social situations, which is going to be useful as we explore the system.
The honorable thief is a little more interestingly conflicted than the merely greedy one, so let's add I'm a Thief for Good! as an Aspect. It can be used as a compel to justify stealing a shiny object or for falling for a sob story. Win-win!
I Make Guards Look Like Fools: +2 when using Athletics to Create an Advantage against someone guarding a valuable object...but the advantage must have a humiliating or embarrassing effect. [A successful use of this stunt would be why she's infamous. Guards talk.] This is a stunt that is 100% in the genre tradition, and it can express itself differently every time. I can’t wait for her to use it.
ZIRD THE ARCANE (Original Version)
[Wizard for Hire]
[Pissed Off His Rivals in the Collegia Arcana]
If I Haven't Been There, I've Read About It
Not in the Face!
Doesn't Suffer Fools Gladly
+4 Lore
+3 Rapport Crafts
+2 Athletics Will Investigate
+1 Fight Resources Contacts Notice
Scholar-Healer: Can make recovery attempts with Lore
Friendly Liar: Can use Rapport instead of Deceive when creating advantages based on deception
[The Power of Deduction: Can spend a Fate point and roll a Deduction roll that allows you to Create or Reveal one Advantage per shift of success. (Though only one has a free invoke)]
I've Read About That!: Spend a Fate point to use Lore instead of some other skill, as long as you can justify having read about it
COMMENTS
Zird is clearly the most broken character of the examples. His “Collegia Arcana” Extra allows him to do literally every action with his peak skill: attack, defense, create an advantage, and overcome. There also seems to be almost no limitations on what energies he can bring to bear: fire, electricity, mystical tentacles, teleportation...there isn't anything resembling a theme. This isn't just unbalanced; it's also bad fiction. The character is simply too vague to get a handle on. As if that weren't bad enough, he can also use Lore to recover from injuries, AND, with a single Fate Point, he can use Lore instead of literally any other skill there is! This is ridiculously overpowered.
Not the Face! is clearly a second Trouble Aspect. It's hard to see how it could be invoked to advantage. It's also way more fun than Rivals in the College Arcania.
Wizard for Hire is too vague to be helpful: what kind of magic does he perform? For whom? And if he can create money (e.g.) why would he need to be for hire? (Wizard for Profit is more interesting.)
Pissed off His Rivals in the College Arcania is weird, because it seems as though—given the example in the Fate Core book—these so-called rivals are actually trying to murder Zird...and are doing so when he's at the public baths (where he doesn't have robes or books around), even though there's currently no indication, either on his sheet or in his in-world description, that being without robes or books would impair Zird in any way. (And if they want to kill him, it seems odd that they would also embarrass him in the middle of his thesis defense, which is another example used in the book.) Which raises another question: if Zird is an itinerant figure—along with his two adventuring friends—then the College Arcania is likely to have chapters all across the land, and might be better represented as a rival college. Assuming we still want to keep that element of his character's story.
Doesn't Suffer Fools Gladly—a perfectly fine aspect that seems unlikely to come in handy, and which doesn't offer a particularly distinctive character.
HOW TO IMPROVE ZIRD
Basically, we need to know what Zird's magic is like, and if we don't want it to be overpowered, his magical Lore skill has to have a pretty narrow application. Offhand, the four most obvious examples that come to mind (reflecting classic wizardry) would be pyromancy, telekinesis, telepathy, and illusion. Let's go with telepathy/mind control, since that allows Zird to attack his targets' mental track, and that might come in handy as we explore the system. Mind-Affecting Wizard For Profit is now his core high concept.
Not in the Face! is a great Trouble aspect, since it suggests that he's comically conflict-averse. So that means we really don't need him to have Rivals in the College of Arcania.
It seems to me that a lot of his earlier-version aspects could be folded into The Most Book-Smart Guy in the Room—And Knows It. This can be compelled for all kinds of advantages (without the overpowered all-skills stunt he had before), as well as some truly annoying compels.
As for stunts, let's get rid of the Lore-only focus he had before, and give some of his other skills a chance.
Counterspell: May use Lore instead of Athletics when defending against magic attacks. (This includes spells and enchantments, but not swords that happen to be enchanted.)
Invisibility: Once per session, may turn invisible. This invisibility lasts an entire scene or until Zird is successfully struck, or strikes someone. For a Fate point, may do this again in a later scene, but never twice in the same scene.
History is My Specialty: +2 on Investigate rolls involving history.
And now, with the characters making more sense (at least to me), we’re ready to take them on some Fate-based explorations.