#TTRPG

FATE, in its older iterations, is a better system than my score (for THIS book) would attest. My suggestion is to find other iterations by people other than Evil Hat, which tend to be more complete and useful games. It's great for one-shots, or conversions of games with bad systems.
The only way to be sure of getting updates is my email list: groups.google.com/forum/#!for...
Please like, subscribe and help grow the channel by recommending videos you like (or dislike) to your friends.
A lot of the time I use Teknoaxe music, so it's easier to put the attribution here all the time! teknoaxe.com/Home.php
If it's not Teknoaxe, it's probably Bass Rebels, here on KZbin.
Streaming Channel: / @grimstreams
Main Channel: / postmortemvideo
Shiny Web Store: post-mort.com/
Hardcopy Board/Card Games: www.thegamecrafter.com/design...
Hardcopy Books: www.lulu.com/spotlight/grim1031
RPGs in PDF Format: www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/p...
Paypal: www.paypal.me/JDesborough
Patreon: / grimachu
Amazon Wishlist: www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/...
Mailing List/Group: groups.google.com/forum/#!for...
Discord: / discord
Reddit: / postmortemstudios
Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B004ULUKCS
Writing/Personal Blog: talesofgrim.wordpress.com/
Twitter: / grimasaur
Twitter: / mort_post
Facebook: / james.desborough
Writing Fanpage: / jdwriter
Game Design Fanpage: / james-grim-desborough-...
Postmortem Studios Fanpage: / postmortemstudios
Tales of Gor Fanpage: / 649964505334913
"See... I can get you what you want, I can. I can get you anything, you just have to talk to me, you have to trust me. You can trust me, 'cause I'm your priest, I'm your shrink... I am your main connection to the switchboard of the soul. I'm the magic man... Santa Claus of the subconscious. You say it, you think it, you can have it."
- Lenny Nero, Strange Days

[@foxtrotelement]

My favorite part of Jim's reviews has to be that he has a unique take on the products. It's refreshing to see someone not just throwing the same regurgitated views we see so often with videos like this. Also, I keep hearing the clip of "Wolfman has nards!"

[@PrintAndPlayPodcast]

Agree on one-shots. Ran DUNE and Judge Dredd one shots using this system and it worked really well. Had the players pick skills before play and added aspects while playing. No seperate session needed.

[@makkeiura8354]

Perhaps instead of "don't give money to people who hate you" maybe "don't give money to people who would be fine with you being carted off in irons for thoughts?"

[@paulcooper6048]

Fudge is a superior system to Fate. Fate is too “gamey”, too complicated for what it claims to be, and it’s woke as hell. Evil Hat is an unethical, immoral company run by a scumbag named Fred “The Dick” Hicks. I made the mistake of KS pledging for Fate of Cthulhu, a poorly reskinned Terminator RPG they were too cheap to pay the licensing fees for. When I received the book, the first couple of pages consisted of shitting all over HPL as a “super-bigot “. That was never mentioned during the KS campaign. When I called them out on this in the KS comments, Fred Hicks cancelled my pledge, kept my money, and screwed me out of all the pdf stretch goals my pledge helped make possible. Buy nothing from Evil Hat! If you can’t live without one of their products, steal them!, buy used, or pirate the PDFs. Anything not to give one cent to Evil Ass Hat!

[@user-ty1it5gz4v]

I see Fate Core as a toolkit to make a storygame to suit your needs, like the GURPS of storygames; whereas Fate Accelerated Edition is an example of what can be made with that toolkit. The best way to explain how it works, I think, is to say that it operates on plot twists, like "I spend a Fate Point to have Darth Vader be my father". To which the GM MAY or MAY NOT agree. That's the GM's job there - to make sure the general story remains on point. Novelty dice are nice, but you don't really need them - any ol' d6s will do (1-2 is a minus, 3-4 is a blank, 5-6 is a plus). FAE is pretty damn neat, and, yes, free. It's just the right size and complexity for quick and dirty storygames. The best way to use it is to play social games and/or weird settings with it. Like, if you want to play Harry Potter, or Toy Story, or Guardians of the Galaxy, - they're way easier to convert to FAE than, say, to DnD, just because you use words and descriptions instead of numerical parameters. I also own, and very much like, Dresden Files Accelerated. The physical book is solid, it's a great encyclopedia of the setting (thus fully spoiling the first 15 books of the series, lol), and it has some nice additions to FAE rules, like conditions ("if X, then Y" triggers) and power scaling (sorely missing from the original rules).

[@BanjoSick]

sounds awful, to each his own, I guess:)

[@user-ty1it5gz4v]

@@BanjoSick Indeed. That's why it's important to separate storygames from traditional RPGs.

[@toddzircher6168]

I've have a ton of fun with Fate powered games in the past and FAE is still my go-to system for quick hacks, one-shots, and even solo play (with appropriate tools such as oracles and muses.)

[@Qedhup]

I've enjoyed Fate a couple of times. Even have an actual play for Secrets of Cats on my channel. But there's not enough G in the RPG for me to stick with for any length of time. I prefer it for odd-ball one-shots or at most, a micro-campaign of like 6 sessions or less.

[@juddgoswick2024]

There is some G in the use of creating taggable aspects and such. Once you grok using those, you can do some neat tactical play. A mage throws an illusion on a target, giving them the aspect "Seeing Things". That gets a free tag once, but stays around to be used for all kinds of other combos, as needed. If the enemy does the same to your side, someone has to use an action to mitigate such aspects. That, and the Fate Point economy, makes the systen very mechanically and "game" heavy once people have its tactics mastered.

[@Qedhup]

@@juddgoswick2024 yup. Never said there wasn't. Just not enough for me sometimes. I still enjoy it though. For short games.

[@DiomedesRangue]

Ive always thought of mashing together fate and world of dungeons. I think it would fix most of my issues with the system. Additionally, i would get rid of the fate point economy, and just make people take stress to use an aspect.

[@theangrypiper]

I bought FATE Core, ironically, because I bought Agents of S.W.I.N.G. and had never played or run FATE before. I found the rules confusing because although the system is quite easy once you absorb it, the rulebook is packed with so much unnecessary bullshit the rules get obscured. I went looking for some actual plays but got annoyed because the ones I found featured players who were annoying, so I shelved it. It wasn't until I heard FATE broken down on an episode of the Grognard Files podcast that I understood it, and wondered why the hell the book wasn't written the way the hosts explained it. A while later I played in a FATE game run by a friend who played GURPS for most of his life and wanted to trade that system for something else. It was fine. I agree that one-shots are the way to go, or perhaps short, 3-4 session games. I always thought FATE would be great for a Chronicles of Amber RPG, for those who don't like (or can't obtain) the old Phage Press diceless game. Maybe someday, but I'm going to run Agents of S.W.I.N.G. first.

[@TheCartographer]

Good analysis, definitely agree on some points there, especially the dice coming up evens more often than not. When I ran it, it quickly became the case that anyone attempting anything they weren't really good at in terms of skills would fail or not succeed by enough a lot of the time, which the players honestly found discouraging, there was much less of that slim chance for a big win you might get with d20. I think it's interesting that Fate gets called a narrative system and listed alongside PbtA, because they are both narrative but approach it in very different ways. Fate's narrative agency for the players is almost frontloaded into the character creation where backstory and setting inform what aspects and stunts you can reasonably have, but mostly these will alter how the rules apply to you with bonuses and skill replacements, not how the narrative will go. There are rules for stunts that allow for more agency but the book almost recommends restricting these with either the fate point economy (spend a fate point to have an NPC be a close friend) or 'once per session' style, so it's limited in scope. PbtA by contrast tends to have broader scope for changes to the narrative but limited because what kind of changes can be made are part of the system design and not created by the players like in Fate.

[@PostmortemVideo]

In FATE at least you inhabit your character primarily, rather than play taking place at that meta-level in PbtA and similar.

[@TheCartographer]

@@PostmortemVideooh I'm not criticising Fate for how it approaches narrative, it's fine for collaborative world building and makes unique characters. That said, I found the 'create an aspect' action could break immersion harder than any PbtA mechanics with how clunky it could be for simple concepts. What in D&D would be "oh we're in a hayloft? I chuck my candle to start a fire, then kick him into it" becomes a five minute conversation on which skill we're using to create what aspect with how many free invokes of kicking someone into it and who gets to use those invokes and whether they're bonuses or re-rolls and so on. Just feels unnecessary.

[@KnightoftheRose98]

I agree with your sentiment on the system. I used to be a big fan of FATE. As someone who likes long term games FATE is ill suited for that. Also, they try too hard to have pretty prose in the book and it gets in the way of playability. It's even worse in The Dresden Files.

[@mercuriusaulicus]

Speaking of Fate books with large pagination, I've got Starblazer Adventures which you could club a seal with.

[@cmdreltonpoole6303]

Oi Oi. I'm an OSR guy but I can get my Fate on.

[@JackFetch-eb1gr]

Bought it, read it and put it on the shelf of games I will probably never play

[@robnecronomicon1570]

Fate is very cool... Shame about the company owner tho'. :(

[@beetlejuss]

The aspects are a brilliant mechanic, the dice not so much, no idea about the drama.

[@juddgoswick2024]

Fate Core is a great game marred by the people that make it. I ignored Fred's nonsense online until it started infiltrating their products. Now, it is inescapable in them.

[@Jaseoffire]

Now, I did give money to Evil Hat. Why? 1. There name at least they are up front about being twits. 2. Open source with no morality clauses is always welcome. What can you say to someone who gives up control so willingly. I don't care how much of an evil jerk you are, if you are willing to let your enemies work with your product, you have my respect. 3. They did write an accessibility tool kit. Now, I picked it up to see how poorly my specific disability was represented, and while there's definitely some on high preaching going on, at least as far as I recall the section on blindness, my disability, wasn't that bad. That's pretty much it. I think I can see the one shot, though I'd argue it does short campaigns okay as well. I like the system, it's just I'd like some more granularity with my magic for example, so I've been looking back at fudge to see if I can find a happy medium between GURPS/Hero System and the story games.

[@rynowatcher]

Not sure what the gripe is with Evil Hat; they are kind of jerks on the fan support side, so I generally beleive whatever gripes a creator has with them. Having played a few campaigns of FATE, and though I will agree there are better games that do what it tries to do, limited is not really what I would call it. Aspects are meant to be whatever you need for the story; they can be auto successes, a boost (+2 to a roll), an obstacle, or a penalty (-2). Ie, smoke can mean the bad guy gets away without a roll, +2 to get viewers on your live stream, impossible to escape a room till you pass a notice test (easy), or -2 remember where the door is as you start to panic. The criticism of things taking fate points that should just happen (ie, the building on fire should effect everyone regardless of fate points spent is unfair. There is a "free invoke" section for such situations; there are examples of stunts that have free invokes based on circumstance and injuries are handled in this way; ie, "Just a Flesh Wound" gives you a -2 to all tests and that has a free invoke, meaning anyone at the table can invoke it whenever. Invoking a stunt or aspect does not have to be done every time. Ie, Dirty Harry has a "big scary gun," but does not really scare the bad guys during an action scene, only when Dirty Harry has the drop on the bad guy and no one remembers how many bullets are left in the "big scary gun." It is meant to add dramatic devices to a game, and those do nor provide a constant effect for the sake of drama. It is rules light, procedure heavy. The language and game jargon makes the game hard to understand, but you can do any sort of game with the system with the rules presented. The biggest downside is that it is half a game; the session 0 is enforced because your aspects and stunts can do anything, so you have to be on the same page with what character you are making. Ie, you can make Superman and Lois Lane equally well, but the bringing Sperman to a game where everyone is playing newsies trying to write a story about the mob is a jerk move.

[@TKDB13]

I've never tried playing FATE Core on its own terms, but I did once try running a mad science-themed campaign using Spirit of the Century and my group all found it just...really underwhelming. The FATE system has a lot of ideas I like in theory, but in practice the heavy reliance on the fate point economy to drive everything makes it way too loosey-goosey for the sort of engaging tactical play I and my gaming buddies prefer. Despite being (as noted here) packed with prescriptive rules, there's not ultimately much *mechanical* distinction between options. Every conflict basically boiled down to, "spam your best skill to Create An Advantage until you have enough free-taggable temporary aspects in play for someone to cash them in for an attack; rinse and repeat until problem solved". And while you can skin those advantages any which way you please, mechanically there just wasn't any meaningful difference between jamming the rampaging mech's sensors, entangling it with genetically engineered plants, or distracting it with suppressing fire: It's all just temporary aspects you can tag for the same +2 swing on any roll you can narratively justify them applying to. And with a group that has any ounce of creativity, that's basically "any roll that matters". It all just felt very samey in the end, totally disconnected from the narrative.

[@shoonvii]

Couldn’t get into this and I played it in a few different campaigns. I hated the dice.

[@BanjoSick]

Why except Varg? He is a human, too. Always wanted check out MyFaRog since it's based on MERP and Runequest, two of my all-time faves. Havn't done it, yet. As an old Black Metal fan I feel less and less resistance as the years go by, even though I'm not politically with Varg.

[@PostmortemVideo]

Genuinely fashy convicted murderer with a genuinely racist game

[@BanjoSick]

@@PostmortemVideo He is a murderer, but after like 30 years he is not that person anymore. If the game is racist, I can't say, have not read it. If there are good ideas you can use those in non-racist settings. I still buy Chaosium stuff, even though they are identitarian left, since the products are mostly quality and can use them in my non-political games. But yeah, I get it. He did what he did. He is not a fascist though, just a racist. He does not believe in totalitarian dictatorship. He is more like a racist neo-pagan dude.

[@Scibelius]

Until I was 3/4 through your review my thoughts were. Ok here is someone with solid critique on a system. You made me think on it and thats good. I don't agree with some but hell there is something as personal preference right? It's not science. The three dice made me suspicious though.. Here you are making a review on a system and you only have three of the appropriate dice lying around? But oke the d6 system works as well. Here comes the real but. You fully undermine your review by sharing personal grievances with the Evil Hatters?

[@PostmortemVideo]

It's important to share personal grievances and issues as they may colour my perception and hence my review. Full disclosure is important, same as when I get free copies or am friends with the makers or have worked on a project.

[@Eron_the_Relentless]

Fate actually had a pre-Fudge version, I believe it was using 2d6. This was still after Fudge's creation, in the late 90s. Fate really seems to have started as a hack of Over the Edge, though I can't prove that. Fudge was later mixed in (in 98 or so). Even later the storygaming aspect (pun intended) was applied to it (Spirit of the Century) then sort of pushed harder and harder until the entire system became narrative gobbledy guk (the book in the video!) that means virtually nothing concrete in the world of the setting (whatever setting) it is used for. It's IMHO the ultimate mediocre generic storygame system, it's all shuffling around metacurrency and never inhabiting a character you're supposedly playing. It doesn't even really need a GM because every player is effectively a GM. Also, Fate uses Fudge dice. There's no such thing as Fate dice. I will not change terminology to suit the game in question. The creators of Fudge invented those dice, the game deserves to be recognized for its contribution, even if it gave us Fate. I personally recommend Over the Edge or Fudge over Fate every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Fate steps so far away from what a roleplaying game is that it's neither about roleplaying nor a game anymore. It's a collaborative storytelling activity. And I can see that as somebody's jam somewhere. But it ain't mine.

[@juddgoswick2024]

Fate started as a way to play Amber with dice, as I recall. The first published PDF of it had a cover with the Trump cards of their campaign on the cover. I am sure OtE had some inspiration in it all, because the first edition of that game was so ground-breaking. (Which makes the 3rd Edition so heartbreaking, but that is a wail for another time...)

[@Plxlinixy]

Fate, sometimes known as the AMERICAN Visual Novel that clogs up your steam store sales. But it sounds like from your history told about it, there was a time when it was more like Snoot Game and less Volcano High.

[@paulcooper6048]

Fudge is a superior system to Fate. Fate is too “gamey”, too complicated for what it claims to be, and it’s woke as hell. Evil Hat is an unethical, immoral company run by a scumbag named Fred “The Dick” Hicks. I made the mistake of KS pledging for Fate of Cthulhu, a poorly reskinned Terminator RPG they were too cheap to pay the licensing fees for. When I received the book, the first couple of pages consisted of shitting all over HPL as a “super-bigot “. That was never mentioned during the KS campaign. When I called them out on this in the KS comments, Fred Hicks cancelled my pledge, kept my money, and screwed me out of all the pdf stretch goals my pledge helped make possible. Buy nothing from Evil Hat! If you can’t live without one of their products, steal them!, buy used, or pirate the PDFs. Anything not to give one cent to Evil Ass Hat!