Matters of Fate - Creating Advantages for Beginners

Alice Vidrine requested a Matters of Fate video discussing how to encourage new Fate players to make use of the Create Advantage action.
You can also find the audio version of this episode here:
traffic.libsyn....

[@zonegamma8197]

I appreciate you Fate videos because I'm trying to get familiar with it and show the system to my group...to break the never ending D&D games

[@shainedge6651]

I like the ideas of strongly hinting, by use of the Index card that is boldly written on, as well as, explanation on how NPCs are doing far better then they would have normally be thought of as doing.

[@RedDiceDiaries]

shain edge: Thanks, glad you found the video useful :)

[@shainedge6651]

So, last week I started a Fate game with an Eclipse Phase style of setting. Short version of it, I had more players then I thought I would be comfortable with, and we still had a great game. (7 Players/PCs + me. I was shooting for 4.) Interesting is we had a sort of 'Star Trek: Wrath of Khan' style play, in that the characters got to a 'abandoned' station for spare parts to fix their ship up, and never actually encountered the 'murder bots' (one player's coin of them) face to face. They kept putting blockades up, setting traps and finally shutting them down through the core computer. We will see if they take the clues left and go to one of Saturn's moons to continue their investigation for one of the player-character's contact's ego that was transmitted there.

[@ME-nf8jv]

This was a fantastic video! I'm sure it'll be really useful for my players. Although I think the audio levels were a bit too low (it sounds like you were making this video while trying to not wake up someone sleeping in the same room), I think your voice is incredibly calming and your explanation clear and succinct.

[@RedDiceDiaries]

Glad you enjoyed the video, IIRC I had a different audio setup when recording this video than the one I use now - so I hope I've improved the audio since :)

[@nyvar]

Another excellent video covering something that players struggle with a lot. I generally find it easy to create an advantage when I am intentionally trying to create one, but coming up for advantage when I happen to succeed with style on a roll is a lot less automatic and puts me on the spot more. It's still fun but it takes me out of character and into the narrative more than I want to be sometimes. Thanks for the video and please keep them coming.

[@RedDiceDiaries]

Thanks very much :)

[@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.

[@RedDiceDiaries]

I would suggest you roll to create an advantage, if you are successful you create a temporary aspect on the target (such as "placed in a vulnerable spot", "prone" or something similar) then use the invokes on that temporary aspect to gain bonuses on your next turn when you make their attack. Unfortunately--since Fate has a highly abstracted combat system--it doesn't support a highly tactical level of play out of the box.

[@FellVoice]

Could you do a video on Boosts as the concept of getting a boost (pg 58 Fate Core, You get a boost when you're trying to create an advantage but don't succeed well enough) is a bit confusing to me. Thanks.

[@RedDiceDiaries]

Sure - i'll add it to my list :)

[@bobandalot]

Brilliant stuff, I was one of the people discussing this with Alice and I think helped prompt this video, I really appreciate it!

[@RedDiceDiaries]

bobandalot: Not a problem, glad you've found it useful :)

[@alicevidrine4308]

Thanks so much for making this! Definitely includes a lot I'll include in any future "Session 0," and some stuff I can pass on to my players now. Touching on the versatility of create advantage stunts, I'm also trying to experiment with introducing artifacts (in the style of Masters of Umdaar) that are geared towards creating advantages, in the hope that the combined lack of Refresh commitment, narrative coolness, and high probability of payoff will create a space to play with creating advantages. We'll see, though; this could be one of those things where I'm trying to be too subtle again :P

[@RedDiceDiaries]

Alice Vidrine: No problems, hope it's useful :)

[@dragonheels]

Hello, thanks for the good video and the clear explanation. I wonder however the following : If one player created some advantages, can he use them on a defensive roll instead of an attack roll?

[@RedDiceDiaries]

Yes, you certainly can, as long as it makes sense to do so.

[@dragonheels]

@@RedDiceDiaries Thanks for the quick reply! Starting a Mindjammer campaign soon, and I will DM for the first time using Fate.

[@RedDiceDiaries]

No problems - hope the campaign goes well, let me know how you get on :)

[@dragonheels]

@@RedDiceDiaries I will!

[@FellVoice]

If I want to take cover in a gunfight for instance how do I go about it? Do I have to Create an advantage or is it just a solid modifier based on a scene aspect etc? A little help here please. Thanks

[@RedDiceDiaries]

Personally I'd suggest creating an advantage to represent taking cover.

[@FellVoice]

Alright, cool. Let's say I succeed in creating the advantage, Cover, and for argument sake I succeed with style giving me 2 free invokes. Do I just get to claim the cover bonus twice until I Create the Advantage again or because pg170, ADVANTAGES IN CONFLICT - "Remember that aspects that you create as advantages follow all the rules for situational aspects" And my understanding of Situational Aspects pg 58 would seem to mean that the Cover would stick around for the Scene as it makes sense situationally or until someone succeeded in an overcome roll. So in short which is it. the 2 free invokes or is it just Situation Aspect I get to use for free until I either move or until someone overcomes it? Thanks.

[@RedDiceDiaries]

You would be able to use the aspect representing the cover twice for free, however after that the cover would still be there but you'd need to either roll top create another advantage or invoke the aspect with Fate points to get a bonus from it.

[@alicevidrine4308]

A belated reply, but in addition to RDD's answer, I think it's also worth mentioning that since aspects are also just true things in the narrative, if your characters can introduce some kind of cover that can outright block attacks, you don't even need free invokes to avoid attacks. If your characters can put such an obstacle in their way, though, then the bad guys can probably make overcome rolls to get around it; but you at least have the invokes from the initial roll to emphasize the difficulty of removing it. The way I've played it is if the PCs have flipped a heavy table for cover in a gun fight (for example), then it just inconveniences people shooting at them (attacks can be made, then mitigated by the invokes); if they've collapsed part of a mine tunnel, the bad guys probably can't make a meaningful attack until they've dug through first.