How to play FATE Core | FATE Core basics in 10 minutes

[@TedWillingham]

You have to go by the classic "Don't be a dick" rule. If you make an aspect called "I'm great at everything," don't be expected to be invited back to game night. FATE assumes a certain level of player maturity, and doesn't try to police people into not manipulating the system, and thus leaves open awesome role play options.

[@theunreal_TOEBEANS]

hopefully of course the gm and established players would guide new players in the right direction in a good group ∩__∩

[@MrZauberelefant]

Invoke the "Bogus" rule. Table consent is a thing in FATE core.

[@thadrine]

The trick is not to look at Aspects as something that is entirely different, just abstracted and simplified. You have played with Aspects before in gaming you just didn't realize it at the time. The buildings on fire? The guy over there hates the faction you work for? You have seen this sort of thing many times in gaming the difference is a lot of games try to give many pages of rules to make it work. While Fate just tries to simplify/abstract it down to what is important.

[@Dracopol]

Playing a long while in a variety of Fate Worlds settings, we found that Create an Advantage was an under-used Action. People think if their character has got a Skill, they Overcome or Attack with it. If they're Attacked, they can make an opposing roll to Defend (Fight is defended against by Fight, Shoot is defended against by...Athletics, a rather romantic bullet-time cinematic concept but there it is!) But consider *altering the environment* to the characters' advantage. If the GM has laid out a few Aspects of the story, the terrain or the environment, you can try to exploit an existing Aspect or create a whole new Aspect with the right Skill. Then you get one or two free Invokes of it, but must spend Fate Points after that. An Aspect is always true, but Create an Advantage emphasizes it or makes it more important to the story. So in a cave-man setting, you were going to meet on the ground and fight, that's it, roll back and forth. But is the ground _littered with sticks_ ? See if you can Create an Advantage to make _Fire!_ That will sure change the picture! If you read the whole rules, there is a lot of commentary and almost philosophizing about the best approaches to take, how characters progress and how a campaign can develop.

[@1stPCFerret]

In the _Fate System Toolkit,_ beginning on pg. 101, is Magical system called "The Subtle Art" which features using magical rituals to do nothing but Create An Advantage on scenes or characters. It can lead to hilarious outcomes.

[@SolosferaRPG]

The best explanation i ever heard about Fate. Thanks for that!

[@counsellour]

You are welcome! Thanks for watching!

[@godzillang2]

@Clockwork Bard Hey thanks, i looked at FATE again and got really into it. You really have to look at FATE from a more story/drama approach. Someone needs to do a video on running a horror game in FATE...

[@TedWillingham]

This is actually intentional design in FATE, the narrow spread from Fate Dice rolls provides significance to your skills. Having critical success or failure be a 2% change instead of a 20% chance makes it all the more special.

[@HeadHunterSix]

In what game is there a 20% chance of critical success/failure? You're not thinking 1 in 20 means 20%, are you?

[@MartinBrabi]

Nice summary, exactly what I was looking for. Thx man!

[@dianinda5782]

I'm looking at the comments... and there seems to be a lot of energy given to discussions of troublesome players. Not sure how you are all missing "GTFU"? In game, if s/he is being enough of a jerk to ruin the game, out of game if you are fond of second (or third chances). Okay, got distracted from the actual video. I did go online and order the game. Decided to pay for it generously because why not? Considering that I've paid (over the years) lots of monies for lousy games. I liked this one right away. I like your explanation of success with cost - nice and clear. My favorite example of "success at a cost" was always Gandalf on the bridge "you shall not pass". Wish there was more detail of play with examples - but I'll look around at more of your vids

[@ADVSProductions]

Using FATE for supes game taking place in the 60s. We start tonight, so this was quite awesome to see. :)

[@davelanciani-dimaensionx]

a very easy method is roll 2d6 and subtract the 2nd die from the first - this gives you a bit more variety of results - from -5 to +5. Simple.

[@tychay]

Dave Lanciani Not the same distribution. The more dice you roll the closer it is to normal, so not only is the spread much wider, the standard deviation is too. Of course there'd be no reason it can't be hacked this way, even though the extreme cases (+5 in d6-d6 vs 4dF) are much more common 1:36 vs 1:81.

[@m.a.packer5450]

There's a mighty bell curve with the 4dF

[@candlemothstories9597]

Nice video told me just what I need to know to play tomorrow!

[@counsellour]

So happy to be of service! Let us know how it went.

[@candlemothstories9597]

@@counsellour Went really well! Was a great primer for the game, I knew just about all I needed for Fate of Cthullu, had a blast!

[@duztdruid]

I've read most of the fate core book by now. Looks great! Really looking forward to see how you guys play it! Must say this is also shedding light on the way you were playing in S1. Many times the way the characters expressed themselves or handled situations didn't make sense with the interlock rules but would have made sense with the fate rules.

[@windmark8040]

I just watched an earlier video, with you talking about using Fate Core with CyberPunk! I am sooo stoked to see how this works out!

[@julianlegendre3200]

1.6% chance of a -4, tell that to my buddy who rolled that twice in a row.

[@amyloriley]

Tell him to play on the lottery, with that kind of luck.

[@LordSephleon]

Julian LeGendre I hear you. I have similar (bad) luck to what your friend has, and it annoys me when some people swears by averages (my roommate and longtime gamer is one of them). I don't believe in averages because I tend to roll far below it (and don't get me started on "it all averages out eventually." Yeah, okay, two or three sessions of crap rolls and one great session is not average, and it doesn't count if it has to involve the whole group's rolls, or even just one other person). Instead, I try to mitigate how often I need to roll through roleplaying or creative out-of-the-box ideas. Obviously, rolling will come up anyway, so I also just roll and, if it's not my usual badness, I'll consider doing whatever to boost my numbers (spending Hero/Fate/Whatever points for boosts, rerolls, etc.) My hat's off to your friend's luck. :)

[@dianinda5782]

Study statistics. Chance is not a guarantee. As for Lord Sephleon; I have a friend who regularly rolls annoyingly high, but only with certain dice. I've gamed with him for years and if I hadn't, I would not believe it.

[@tiaxanderson9725]

Turns out people are terrible at chances. Also 1/(3*3*3*3) = 1.2% chance

[@MyFunnyVids888]

@@tiaxanderson9725 first time I dm'd fate I rolled a negative 4 first time then paid a fate coin to reroll. Later I rolled another negative 4 in the same session, paid a coin to reroll and rolled another negative 4. King of bad rolls here

[@duztdruid]

Oh, and a follow up video for this one detailing your approach to merging CP with Fate Core would be very nice. Might be a good idea to produce a bit later on when you have more experience. It might just inspire tons of RPG players to try out their own game of Fate Cyberpunk!

[@strivionjacobs6383]

Great video summing up the basic mechanics! Just what I was looking for!

[@NathanBarnesN3rd]

My understanding from reading the book (I haven't played the system yet) is that there's no such thing as an overpowered aspect. For the most part, they make things that character can do easier. The "Awesome At Everything" character (assuming the G.M. and other players don't take the player aside and give him some aspecting help) can spend a fate point on it to get a +2 at something he already could have done. Doing otherwise-impossible things is the domain of Stunts.

[@HeadHunterSix]

Every aspect has a downside. If that guy was at my table, I'd take every opportunity to Compel that Aspect. "You should be the first one into the enemy lair, you're Awesome At Everything!" "The engine room is flooded with lethal radiation, but we know you can fix the warp core because you're Awesome At Everything!"

[@nathanielwilder5990]

I got fudge dice, just needed a video to help guide my group into the promised land

[@counsellour]

Brilliant! Knowing that our videos help guide people into new gaming experiences is all we hope for!

[@Renigade16]

@godzillang2 If you dislike that rule then change it, make it so your characters don't have to spend points to do simple actions like that. That's what makes the Fate System awesome, change it all you want.

[@Chugosh]

Thanks. Fate looks great.

[@TheKlokwurkMan]

Great video, and it's a good primer. You forgot to mention that with a roll that totals less than zero the player gets to choose failure or they can decide to make it a failure at great cost. This is a huge negative that can be put on them, possibly changing the story aspects and making things really bad for the group in the near future.

[@tipigi3570]

I would just say that the GM must approve of all aspects before game play to avoid problems from overpowering aspects. Or...just make a rule that every aspect must be able to be used as a Compel fairly easily. I also think the economy of the Fate points helps against munchkinism. Ok, so the "I'm awesome at everything" guy uses his Fate points to use his Aspects to get his bonuses...how does he then Compel them to get those Fate points back? He'd fast find himself out of fate points with little or no chance at getting them back...

[@anthonyjohncalabria6106]

Great Explanation Mate, keep up the good work

[@Dracopol]

I played it extensively, and I wanted to like it more, but it has problems: 1) *The game is innumerate.* For most games there are attempts to model varying degrees of danger. For example, "falling damage", the damage from the energy of an impact, is directly related to distance fallen, up to a limit imposed by terminal velocity from air-resistance where people can't fall any faster. But there are no such numerical rules in Fate. There is a kind of damage system involving restorable physical and mental Stress Points and more serious Consequences, but how much damage a physical thing does is a dramatic construct loosely defined to suit the needs of the story -- that's all! So you don't have a sense your characters are in a physical world, with physical rules and consequences. It is more cinematic and dramatic, Planet of the Artsies in other words. 2) *There's less of an emotional stake.* Many RPGs feature adventure, risk and combat with deadly force. Your character-sheet may sometimes have DEAD written on it if things go bad. In classic D&D, one GM said his implementation of old-school D&D rules means one character in his large group of players will die every 3 sessions. Every 3 sessions! But in Fate, if you are close to the point of being Taken Out (they don't use the D-word, but it could mean you are inactive or inoperable short of death), you may Concede, and somehow the universe will keep you alive for another day, on disadvantageous terms or imprisonment or some trouble you'll have to get out of. Oh, and guess what, it will REWARD you for this failure, this submission, with extra Fate Points so you can come out swinging in the next act! 3) *The tactical advantages are not scalable.* Players can marshall their Aspects, Stunts, or Create an Advantage from the terrain or the social setting somehow, but the Aspects no matter what they are are all mechanically the same: they give a +2 or a chance to re-roll the dice. Disadvantages always give the opposition or difficulty a +2 (no re-roll). My favourite RPG had a table of various tactical modifiers, some great, and some small, which gave finely-graduated options about how to proceed, capped with a final percentile roll whose odds were immediately apparent. 4) *The settings are pretty gonzo.* Evil Hat has locked itself into a format of "World Books" of 50-60 pages in the same digest-size. They always put in a weird premise, and they always have to tinker with the rules (usually the Skills list) or introduce a rules gimmick to adapt to the setting of the world. The 3rd-party companies have written many excellent long-form game-settings for Fate, though, and I recommend 2 below. For the sake of a cinematic game that is simplified, that speaks in terms of dramatic effects rather than hard numbers, and that spares the feelings of their players, Fate Core veered away from traditional RPGs to the point where I feel a sense that a lot has been lost in the hobby, even though I have played Fate extensively and it has its dramatic and storytelling moments like any other game. Some larger setting books of 3rd-party companies can be really outstanding, such as *BAROQUE SPACE OPERA* (a far-future but corrupt setting similar to DUNE or The Metabarons) or *UNWRITTEN* (the approved tabletop RPG of the MYST computer-games). For the sake of some of these products, I really wanted to like Fate Core more.

[@kayosiiii]

1) Kind of. I would point out that the HP system in most popular RPGs is pretty abstract, You are either at full capacity or unconscious/dying this is not a very good model of the real world. Fate Core at least tries to model injury - I think their system of letting the player choose whether to take injury or be taken out and choose a injury that they are comfortable with their character having (but fitting in with a general level of severity) is a pretty good compromise between realism and what many players will accept. 2) I think you have this half backwards, killing off characters too often discourages players from emotionally investing in their characters. Emotional stakes can thing other than character deaths. The rules allow for combat situations where concession isn't an option (this would make sense say in an encounter with say wild animals) but you should warn your players ahead of time if you do this. Also concession means that the enemy succeeds at their primary goal, but you get to dictate the terms of failure. For Example The players are trying to protect a friends fiancée from a vampire who wants to kill her and turn her undead. The combat goes badly and the players concede, the fiancée is killed (and presumably now undead) but the players do live to fight another day. This means that you want to be creating world where antagonists have other goals and ambitions than simply eliminating the players (which in a lot of ways are is realistic and interesting). 3) This is by design. The game here is not using the powers on your adventure sheet to come up with the most optimal strategy, it's to use the characters aspects abilities in a way that best serves the story being told. If done well this can lead to conflicts where the narrative flow is never broken up by people rolling dice (as long as your players are willing to spend FATE points) it puts the current scene and narrative front and center. I don't see these points as problems for fate unless you are trying to use it as a drop in replacement for say an OSR style game and system.

[@etherealworrier]

Thanks for the video, it should make it much easier to follow the game. The system also sounds interesting, I shall have to investigate.

[@godzillang2]

My biggest problem with the game, which is pretty big in my opinion, is as a GM lets say I say that the room is *dimly lit*, why does my character have to spend a fate point? I thought fate points are for making plot points and compelling other character aspects, or using their own aspects. Same goes for cover. What if my character wants to use the *Cement Roadblock* for cover? Why should he spend a fate point even though its already defined by the gm?

[@ClockworkBard]

I think it has a lot to do with how FATE chooses to emphasize things. A lot of it is really focused around the idea of narrative focus, as opposed to simulating. It runs on the kind of design philosophy that things matter because the story -- the narration -- is taking time to say they matter. To use the Cement Roadblock as an example. It's initially a piece of the set dressing. For the moment, you're taking cover behind it, because that's the setting and that's what you're doing. But it's not immediately important to the narrative that you're taking cover. Heck, a lot of tabletop games give rather mediocre cover bonuses; a +2 rarely really matters except that maybe 10% chance they roll that exact amount that it actually saved you. FATE chooses to focus on that moment when the cement roadblock mattered. For a brief moment, it is the star, as the bullet aimed for your head narrowly grazes off the block, accompanied by a plume of cement dust. Then the scene carries on, the camera moves back to the characters, and the block sinks back into the background. Like many things, cover isn't a mechanic in the game. But it is one of an infinite number of factors that could play in the story you're cooperatively writing. The same goes for darkness, bright lights, concealment, high ground, injuries, sand in the face, poison, diseases, fear, altered gravity, or any number of things a game may or may not choose to apply meaning to. FATE chooses to let the writers (aka, players) invest in making these important and explaining why, as opposed to prepackaging them with established mechanics. It's definitely not a design choice everyone is going to like. The almost complete lack of simulation mechanics turns plenty of people off, so this definitely isn't a "you should like it" post. I just wanted to point out the sort of overarching design goal that makes it the way it is, and why inclusion of such mechanics would have muddied that vision. *Edit:* And I should add a note that a fate point isn't strictly required. There's also a mechanic in the game called creating an advantage. When used successfully, you create a situational aspect that you can later invoke once (twice if you succeed with style) without paying a fate point. An example might be to do an Athletics roll to take cover, where by if you succeed, you add an aspect to yourself called "In Cover". In essence, you spend an action and risk failure rather than spending a fate point. The end result is the same. You're doing something to bring narrative focus onto the cover, rather than it just innately doing something by virtue of existing.

[@Dracopol]

If the room is dark, it's dark. But if you want to turn that fact to your character's advantage, explain how, and expend a FATE point to get the +2 bonus (you Invoke it). If you want to do the OPPOSITE, explain how the darkness works AGAINST your character (say his race doesn't see well in low-light, or he's got a psychological fear of the dark), it's a -2 to him or a +2 to someone else, and the player GETS a FATE point (you accept a Compel). Aspects are no use until it can be explained how they are advantageous or disadvantageous. It's fun even to give yourself a disadvantage, like the limitations in CHAMPIONS, for example, that made flawed superheroes. But characters, locations, items and situations can all have interesting aspects (not too many).

[@FellVoice]

How do you simulate knocking someone down via a legsweep etc and then attacking them while they are still down in the same turn? This is eluding me since you can only make one attack/action per turn and on their turn the opponent can simply stand up negating any advantage you might be trying to set up or even move away from you. To set it up, I want to kick someone's feet out from under them and then attack them before they can get back up and all this on my turn. Please help, thanks.

[@counsellour]

FATE doesn't really allow this per se. You only get one action per turn and then you have to let something else happen. So, knocking someone down and attacking are two things. One way this can be simulated within FATE is that you can use Fight to Create An Advantage in order to gain a free invocation of prone or knocked-down. And, then, when you are able to Attack, then you would invoke that advantage.

[@Dracopol]

Very good of you to explain FATE. It's a very "different," almost non-numerical RPG system. Is that a MATTRESS on the floor? You poor guy!

[@dvklaveren]

I've found an alternative to Fudge dice or Fate dice which is not cheap, but it might enhance the experience for some players, depending. Because they are effectively 4*(d3-2) rolls, I figured that you can condense the possible results of two d3s into a d9. d9s are hard to make, so don't try to make one on your own without a 3D-printer. You can buy them custom on ShapeWays. Buy two d9s and replace the numbers running from 1 to 9 with one times -2, two times -1, three times 0, two times 1 and one times 2. This reduces the amount of dice that you have to roll at a given time. If you want to place more emphasis on the dice and make it feel a lot more like a gamble, however, you can do something different; modify a d20 to have one face of 4, two faces of 3, five faces of 2, seven faces of 1 and five faces of 0. Now tell them, every time they roll above 0, they have to flip a coin of either Positive or Negative. So if they roll a 4, you have to roll for either negative 4 or positive 4, which makes each time it happens feel all the more tense. In storytelling terms, every roll then becomes it's own story, building tension and then releasing it on the flip of a coin. To players, this makes it seem like your system is even more punishing than d20 systems because it's decided on the flip of a coin. However, in 22,5% of the cases, you don't even have to flip a coin, because positive or negative zero makes no difference. The latter method is likelier to roll you 0s, but it might give the rolling a bit more depth and make it more exciting.

[@hamiltondouglas7954]

or you can use your phone...or app for fate dice..thats cheap lol

[@windmark8040]

Thanks for this explanation! My first exposure to Fate-like gameplay was with Marvel Heroic and more recently the ICONS rpg. Are you guys playing a Fate Core campaign now? If so, what's it about?

[@hamyncheese]

It's 2020 and I have to know! Did Luke ever get fully moved out of that house or is he still sleeping on a bed roll in a cold empty loft?

[@counsellour]

Hehe, he's definitely moved on - so much more than one might have imagined from the time of this video (or, perhaps, exactly as one might have expected.)

[@ShubertReads]

I loved Spirit of the Century and so far I really like FATE core. My only problem with the system, and my only complaint from my players, is that the dice rolls tend not to matter as much, as they usually wind up being -1, 0 or +1. Personally, I love d10s which as you said give you a higher chance of something crazy happening. Do you think I could swap out fudge dice for d10s and still use the rest of the FATE system effectively?

[@kayosiiii]

This is very much by design (the fudge dice are designed to give a bell curve shaped distribution of skill checks centered around zero) and this gives the feel of a higher value in a skill being more important. If you want a more swingy distribution then an alternative is to roll two different 6 sided dice and subtract the result of the second from the first. This will give you a distribution from -5 to 5 but with less steep bell curve. If you wanted to move to d10s then you would also alter the numerical scaling for skills and the numerical amount that invoking an aspect provides

[@HeadHunterSix]

Don't forget you Invoke an Aspect to either reroll or take +2 to the roll. If you've got the Skill to back up the attempt, that can let you succeed with style. And if you don't... aren't you really relying on Fate to succeed anyhow?

[@crankules]

if everyone other person decides thats ok then you can have it (unlikely), otherwise the GM will make you change it.

[@jacawandersmok9043]

4:03 i dont like when mechanic fores to have flaws or negative aspects

[@thadrine]

Nova Praxis is awesome, and highly recommended. Also free.

[@thadrine]

What? There are almost as many published setting for Fate out there as there were for d20.

[@jacawandersmok9043]

7:26 i dont like succes with cost with tat explaes i feal that it can nothink happen with that cost will be beter to not succesd

[@ADVSProductions]

Core. And we are doing troupe play with a rotating GM

[@lordshell]

LOL! Yeah, when you find a system that disallows Munchkinism, let the rest of us know what it is. Munchkins will ALWAYS find a way.

[@AndresSalazararthub]

Is FATE open-sourced to add various genres to it? For example, I make a supernatural western: www.pariahmissouri.com and I want to make a sourcebook with FATE-designed character sheets in it. Is that kosher?

[@AndySolemn]

handsome =)

[@remigagnon8889]

~1.2%...(1/3)^4

[@crankules]

Or you could get together with a bunch of friends that you know wont be munchkins

[@lordshell]

Believe me, I've TRIED to find a 'Munchkin-proof system'. I've played dozens of different ones. Munchkins are in all of them, usually before you play. And I used to think like you did, that all I needed was the 'right' system. Time and ruined games have taught me the folly of that approach. Which is why I wished you luck. If you ever find such a 'foolproof' system, let me know.

[@powerbronyjr.424]

What dice system is it? D20 or d6?

[@JustinAnthonyHamilton]

It uses Fudge dice: www.fudgerpg.com/products/fudge-dice.html

[@Skiamakhos]

Justin Hamilton Prince Nightsky You *can* use normal dice too - 1-2 = -, 3-4 = blank, 5-6 = +. Fudge dice are seriously expensive for what they are.

[@NikolajLepka]

+Prince Nightsky 4dF

[@lordshell]

I've been running games for over 30 years. Trust me, game systems don't matter. Twinks will ALWAYS find a way. All you do with trying to find a 'foolproof' system is waste money, turn yourself into an obsessive control freak and make everyone miserable. I've seen it happen time and time again. But feel free to try. We all have our illusions. Far be it from me to take yours from you.

[@thelastmotel]

For 20 or so of the 36 years I have been roleplaying and GMing, I haven't used systems. We roleplay through the majority of situations, and then as we feel is needed, we grab some random items that are to hand to generate a random result ... dice, cards, coins, rock paper scissors, jelly beans, whatever.

[@nephatrine]

The system sounds interesting, but I'd hate to play a system like that. I prefer more heavily-codified, less freeform systems and aspects sound just awful in that regard.

[@ИльяГончаров-я4е]

лучше б на русско рассказал! не так уж и сложно

[@ZaffireWolf]

Is this game playable by people too POOR to be moving in and out of HOUSES, young man?

[@viffaria]

+GreenBanana Fate is pay what you want.

[@HaroudoXavier]

I died of boredom in under 2 minutes.

[@HeadHunterSix]

We'll be sure to hold a memorial, it's what you would have wanted. "Here lies Marlon Rando, maybe now he can have the attention he was denied in life". Then we will dance. ;)

[@lordshell]

Sounds good in theory. Communism sounds good in theory. Try this: say you have six player. One is a munchkin. You can keep constant tabs on him to prevent him from abusing the rules and cheating. While you do that, everyone else loses face time and pleasure. Or you don't ride herd on him so everyone else gets face time and he runs wild. Either way, you're screwed. The only way to approach it is out of game. Talk him down (good luck) or ban him from the game.

[@HeadHunterSix]

All true, but I also find it fun (either as a GM or a fellow player) to take every opportunity to hoist power gamers on their own petard. "Losing face time" isn't an issue when _schadenfreude_ comes into play.

[@john-lenin]

Don't like Fudge Dice.

[@HeadHunterSix]

They're truly no different than any other dice, just easier to read and provide a better distribution. They're beneficial to folks who don't want to bother with the math; and those who are at ease with the math don't have an issue.