Fate Accelerated Electronic Edition

8/13/2019 Fate Accelerated Electronic Edition

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CLARK

VALENTINE

LEONARD

BALSERA

FRED

HICKS

MIKE

OLSON

AMANDA

VALENTINE

ONLY

$5


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With only a few minutes of prep,

you could be exploring the universe

with your favorite sci-fi characters,

fighting the forces of evil with a

party of talking chimps, or

setting up shop as a modern

day sorceress specializing in

love potions. Maybe youre looking

for the ideal pickup roleplaying

game. Or youre a first-time gamer

looking to try something new

without investing hours of your

time. Regardless, Fate Accelerated

Editionwill bring something special

to your table.

Fate Accelerated, or FAE, is a

condensed version of the popular

Fate Core roleplaying game that

brings all the flexibility and power

of Fate in a shorter format. Inside,

youll find a method for making fast,

fun characters and simple systems

to support whatever story you can

dream up on the fly. With FAE, you

can be playing in minutes.

3 2 1 GAME ON!

YOUR STORYFULL SPEED AHEAD!

EHP0002 ISBN 978-1-61317-047-2 $5.00 US

www.evilhat.com @EvilHatOffi cial

facebook.com/EvilHatProductions


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CLARK VALENTINEWRITING REFINEMENT

LEONARD BALSERACORE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

FRED HICKSCONCEPT WRITING LAYOUT

MIKE OLSONSYSTEM EDITING

AMANDA VALENTINE

CLARITY EDITING

CLAUDIA CANGINICOVER ART INTERIOR ART

FATE WAS ORIGINALLY CREATED BY

ROB DONOGHUEANDFRED HICKS


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An Evil Hat Productions Publicationwww.evilhat.com [email protected]

@EvilHatOfficial on witterfacebook.com/EvilHatProductions

Fate Accelerated EditionCopyright 2013 Evil Hat Productions, LLC.

All rights reserved.

Te text of Fate Accelerated Edition will be available under theOpen Gaming License and a Creative Commons Attribution license.

For more details about the terms and requirements of these licenses,please visit www.evilhat.com or www.faterpg.com.

First published in 2013 by Evil Hat Productions, LLC.10125 Colesville Rd #318, Silver Spring, MD 20901.

Evil Hat Productions and the Evil Hat and Fate Acceleratedlogos are trademarks owned by Evil Hat Productions, LLC.

All rights reserved.

Softcover ISBN: 978-1-61317-047-2Kindle ISBN: 978-1-61317-055-7ePub ISBN: 978-1-61317-054-0

Printed in the USA

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording, or otherwise, without the prior express permission of the publisher.

Tat said, if youre doing it for personal use, knock yourself out.Tats not only allowed, we encourage you to do it.

For those working at a copy shop and not at all sure if this meansthe person standing at your counter can make copies of this

thing, they can. Tis is express permission. Carry on.

Tis is a game where people make up stories about wonderful, terrible, impossible,glorious things. All the characters and events portrayed in this work are fictional.

Any resemblance to real people, magical martial artists, schoolgirl witches,pulp scientists, or piratical cats is purely coincidental, but kinda hilarious.


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CONTENTS

Get Started! ...................................... 5

Telling Stories Together .................6

What Do You Mean,

Tell Stories? .................................6

So How Do We Do It? ..........................6

Telling Stories Together?

What Do You Mean? ....................7

Who Do You Want To Be? .............. 8

What Kind of CharactersCan I Play? .......................................8

How Do I Make the Character? .........8

How To Do Stuff: Outcomes,

Actions, and Approaches .......12

Dice or Cards ......................................... 13

Outcomes................................................ 13

Actions .....................................................14

Choose Your Approach ..................... 18

Roll the Dice, Add Your Bonus ........ 18

Decide Whether

to Modify the Roll .......................18

Challenges, Contests,

and Conflicts ............................19

Challenges .............................................. 19

Contests ..................................................20

Conflicts ..................................................20

Ouch! Damage, Stress,

and Consequences ................. 22

What Is Stress? .................................... 23

What Are Consequences? ............... 23

What Happens

When I Get Taken Out? ........... 23

Giving In .................................................24

Getting BetterRecovering from

Stress and Consequences ...... 24

Aspects and Fate Points ............... 25

What Kinds ofAspects Are There? ...................25

What Do You Do With Aspects? ... 27

Composing Good Aspects ..............30

Stunts ...............................................31

Getting Better at Doing Stuff:

Character Advancement ........ 33

Milestones .............................................. 33

Being the GM ..................................35

Help Build Campaigns ....................... 35

Build Scenarios and Run Game

Sessions .........................................36

Setting Difficulty Levels ................... 37

Bad Guys ................................................38

Example Characters ......................40Reth of the Andrali Resistance ......40

Voltaire .....................................................41

Abigail Zhao..........................................42

Bethesda Flushing, PhD ...................43

Quick Reference ............................44


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5GET STARTED!

GET STARTED!

Remember those books where the teenage wizards struggle against the DarkLord of Evil? Tat movie where the dwarves fight to recapture their moun-

tain home from a dragon? Tat animated V show about mystical knightsand their army of clones righting wrongs across the galaxy?

Arent those awesome?Heres your chance to put yourself in the heroes shoes in stories like

those.Fate Accelerated Edition is a tabletop roleplaying game, where you and

your friends gather around and tell stories full of danger, excitement, andadventure. You might have played games similar to this beforeDungeons& Dragonsis a very popular onebut dont worry if you havent; this book-let will guide you through it.

Heres what youll need to play:

Tree to five people.One of you will be the gamemaster, the othersplayers. Well talk about what those mean later.

Fate Dice, at least four, preferably four perperson. Tese are a special kind of six-sideddice that are marked on two sides with aplus symbol (+), two sides with a minus

symbol (-), and two sides are blank (0).You can get these dice from many hobbyand game stores, often under their originalnameFudge dice. We call them Fate Dicein this book, but you can call them whateveryou like. Evil Hat will offer Fate Dice for sale at www.evilhat.comlaterin 2013.

Te Deck of Fateis an alternative to Fate Dice. Its a deck of cards that

mimics the probability of Fate Dice, and its designed to be used in thesame way Fate Dice are. Te Deck of Fate will be available from EvilHat in 2013 or 2014.

Character sheets, one for each player. You can download these fromwww.evilhat.com.

Index cardsor sticky notesor similar slips of paper.

okens for fate points. Tese can be poker chips, beads, pennies, oranything similar. Get a handfulabout 30 or 40.

Next, lets talk about how to use Fate Accelerated to tell stories together.

If you dont want to use Fudge

dice, you dont have toany set

of regular six-sided dice will

work. If youre using regular

dice, you read 5 or 6 as , 1 or

2 as , and 3 or 4 as .
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6 FATE ACCELERATED

TELLING STORIES TOGETHER

So youve gathered your friends, your dice, and your index cards, and youreready to play Fate Accelerated Edition(well call it FAEfrom now on). imeto tell some stories!

WHAT DO YOU MEAN, TELL STORIES?FAEis all about telling stories. You create a group of characters and followthem through some imaginary adventure that you all take turns telling littleparts of.

Tink about a movie, video game, or V show you like where the char-acters go on adventuressomething like Te Legend of Korraor Star Warsor Te Avengersor theZeldagames or Doctor Whoor Te Lord of the Rings.Now imagine a similar sort of story, where you and your friends around thetable make the decisions for the characters as they move through the story,and the story changes as you make those decisions.

Sometimes someone makes a decision to try something and you dontknow for sure how it would turn out; thats when you roll dice to see whathappens next. Te higher you roll, the better the chance that things workout the way you want them to.

SO HOW DO WE DO IT?Well, first you need to figure out what kind of story youre going to tell.What genre are you interested in? Fantasy? Science fiction? Modern-dayadventure? Will you play in the world of a V show or comic book or moviethat you love, or will you create your own world? For some great adviceabout how to design the framework of your game, see Game Creationin FateCore, available for free at www.evilhat.com.

Next, its time to choose who will be the players, and who will be thegamemaster. Of the people around the table, all but one are referred to asplayers. Each player takes on the role of one player characteror PCin the

story, and puts themselves in their characters shoes to make the decisionsthat their character would make. Te remaining person is called the game-masteror GM. Te GMs job is to present challenges to the players and toportray all the characters that arent controlled by the players (non-playercharactersor NPCs).

Once you decide who the GM will be, and what the genre and frame-work of the story will be, its time for the players to make their charactersthats in the next chapter.

More on the

the GMs job:

p. 35

Who do you

want to be?

p. 8
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7TELLING STORIES TOGETHER

TELLING STORIES TOGETHER?

WHAT DO YOU MEAN?All the people at the table, GM and players alike, are responsible for telling

the story. When you make a decision for your character (or for one of theNPCs, if youre the GM), think about two things.

First, put yourself in your characters shoes and think hard about whatthey would doeven if its not the best idea. If youre playing a characterthat sometimes makes poor decisions, dont be afraid to make a poor deci-sion for them on purpose.

Secondand this is really importantthink about the story thats beingtold. Tink about the choice that would make that story even better: moreinteresting, more exciting, funnier. Would a certain choice give another

players character a chance to be awesome? Strongly consider making thatchoice.

Tats how you tell great stories togetherby not being afraid for yourcharacter to make mistakes, and by making choices that make the storymore interesting for everyone at the tablenot just you.


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8 FATE ACCELERATED

WHO DO YOU WANT TO BE?

Once youve decided what kind of story youll be telling in your game, youdecide who your character iswhat they look like, what theyre good at,

and what they believe.

WHAT KIND OF CHARACTERS CAN I PLAY?Tink about the setting that youve decided to play in and make that yourmain guide. Are you playing in a school for young sorcerers? Play a youngsorcerer! Are you playing space pilots fighting an evil empire? Play a spacepilot! Make sure your character has a reason to interact and cooperate withthe characters the other players are making.

HOW DO I MAKE THE CHARACTER?Now its time to start writing stuff down. Grab a pencil and a copy of thecharacter sheet. Some people like to use form-fillable PDFs on a laptop ortablet computer. Any of thats fine, but you definitely want something thatlets you erase and change.

ASPECTS IN A NUTSHELL

An aspectis a word, phrase, or sentence that describes something centrallyimportant to your character. It can be a motto your character lives by, a

personality quirk, a description of a relationship you have with anothercharacter, an important possession or bit of equipment your character has,or any other part of your character that is vitally important.

Aspects allow you to change the story in ways that tie in with your charac-ters tendencies, skills, or problems. You can also use them to establish factsabout the setting, such as the presence of magic or the existence of a usefulally, dangerous enemy, or secret organization.

Your character will have a handful of aspects (between three and five),including a high concept and a trouble. We discuss aspects in detail in

Aspects and Fate Pointsbut for now, this should help you get the idea.

HIGH CONCEPT

First, decide on your characters high concept. Tis is a single phrase orsentence that neatly sums up your character, saying who you are, what youdo, what your deal is. When you think about your high concept, try tothink of two things: how this aspect could help you, and how it might makethings harder for you. Good high concept aspects do both.

Examples: Feline Captain of Cirrus Skimmer; Suncaller of the

Andral Desert; Chief Field Agent of IGEMA

Establishing

setting facts:

p. 29

Aspects and

Fate Points:

p. 25


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9

TROUBLE

Next, decide on the thing that always gets you into trouble. It could be apersonal weakness, or a recurring enemy, or an important obligationany-thing that makes your life complicated.

Examples: Steel Assassins Want Me Dead; Cast Now, Ask

Questions Later; Gotta Look Out for My Little Brother

ANOTHER ASPECT

Now compose another aspect. Tink of something really important orinteresting about your character. Are they the strongest person in theirhometown? Do they carry a mighty sword known through history? Do they

talk too much? Are they filthy rich?

OPTIONAL: ONE OR TWO ADDITIONAL ASPECTS

If you wish, you may create one or two more aspects. Tese aspects mightdescribe your characters relationship with other player characters or withan NPC. Or, like the third aspect you composed above, it might describesomething especially interesting about your character.

If you prefer, you can leave one or both of these aspects blank right nowand fill them in later, after the game has started.

NAME AND APPEARANCE

Describe your characters appearance and give them a name.

CREATING CHARACTERS:

THE 30-SECOND VERSION

1. Write two aspects (page 25):

a high concept and a trouble.

2. Write another aspect.

3. Give your character a name and

describe their appearance.

4. Choose approaches (page 18).

5. Set your refresh to 3.

6. You may write up to two more

aspects and choose a stunt(page 31) if you wish, or you

may do that during play.

WHO DO YOU WANT TO BE?
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10 FATE ACCELERATED

APPROACHES

Choose your approaches.Approaches are descriptions

of how you accomplish tasks.Everyone has the same sixapproaches:

Careful Clever Flashy Forceful Quick Sneaky

Each approach is rated with abonus. Choose one at Good (+3),two at Fair (+2), two at Average (+1),and one at Mediocre (+0). You canimprove these later. We talk aboutwhat each approach means and howyou use them in How to Do Stuff:Outcomes, Approaches, and Actions.

Your approaches can say a lot

about who you are. Here are someexamples:

Te Brute:Forceful +3, Careful and Flashy +2, Sneaky and Quick +1, Clever +0

Te All-Star:Quick +3, Forceful and Flashy +2, Clever and Careful +1, Sneaky +0

Te rickster:

Clever +3, Sneaky and Flashy +2, Forceful and Quick +1, Careful +0 Te Guardian:

Careful +3, Forceful and Clever +2, Sneaky and Quick +1, Flashy +0

Te Tief:Sneaky +3, Careful and Quick +2, Clever and Flashy +1, Forceful +0

Te Swashbuckler:Flashy +3, Quick and Clever +2, Forceful and Sneaky +1, Careful +0

THE LADDER

In Fate, we use a ladder of adjec-

tives and numbers to rate a charac-

ters approaches, the result of a roll,difficulty ratings for simple checks,

etc.

Heres the ladder:

+8 Legendary

+7 Epic

+6 Fantastic

+5 Superb

+4 Great

+3 Good

+2 Fair

+1 Average

0 Mediocre

-1 Poor

-2 Terrible

What each

approach

means:

p. 18


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11WHO DO YOU WANT TO BE?

STUNTS AND REFRESH

A stuntis a special trait that changes the way an approach works for yourcharacter. Generally, stunts give you a bonus (almost always +2) to a certainapproach when used with a particular action under specific circumstances.

Well talk more about stunts in Stunts. Choose one stunt to start, or you canwait and add a stunt during the game. Later, when your character advances,you can choose more.

Your refresh is the number of fatepoints you begin each game sessionwithunless you ended the previoussession with more unspent fate pointsthan your refresh, in which case youstart with the number you had left last

time. By default, your refresh starts atthree and is reduced by one for eachstunt afterthe first three you chooseessentially, your first three stunts arefree! As your character advances, youllget opportunities to add to your refresh.Your refresh may never go below one.

HOW MANY STUNTS?

By default, FAE suggests choosing one

stunt to start with.

However, if this is your first time play-

ing a Fate game, you might find it easier

to pick your first stunt after youve had a

chance to play a bit, to give you an idea

of what a good stunt might be. Just add

your stunt during or after your first game

session.

On the other hand, if youre an ex-

perienced Fate gamer, you might look

ahead and discover that, just like in Fate

Core, your character is entitled to three

free stunts before it starts costing you

refresh. In that case, let the least expe-

rienced member of your game group

be your guide; if someone is new to the

game and only takes one to start with,

thats what everyone should do. If youre

all experienced, and you want to start

with more powerful characters, just take

all three to start and off you go.

Stunts: p. 31
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12 FATE ACCELERATED

HOW TO DO STUFF:

OUTCOMES, ACTIONS,

AND APPROACHES

Now its time to start doing something. You need to leap from one movingtrain car to another. You need to search the entire library for that spell youreally need. You need to distract the guard so you can sneak into the fortress.How do you figure out what happens?

First you narrate what your character is trying to do. Your charactersown aspects provide a good guide for whatyou cando. If you have an aspect that sug-gests you can perform magic, then cast that

spell. If your aspects describe you as a swords-man, draw that blade and have at it. Tesestory details dont have additional mechani-cal impact. You dont get a bonus from yourmagic or your sword, unless you choose tospend a fate point to invokean appropriateaspect (page 27). Often, the ability to usean aspect to make something true in the storyis bonus enough!

How do you know if youre successful?Often, you just succeed, because the actionisnt hard and nobodys trying to stop you.But if failure provides an interesting twist inthe story, or if something unpredictable couldhappen, you need to break out the dice.

TAKING ACTION:


1. Describe what you want your

character to do. See if some-

one or something can stop you.

2. Decide what action youre

taking: create an advantage,

overcome, attack, or defend.

3. Decide on your approach.

4. Roll dice and add your

approachs bonus.

5. Decide whether to modify your

roll with aspects.

6. Figure out your outcome.
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13OUTCOMES, ACTIONS, AND APPROACHES

DICE OR CARDSPart of determining your outcome is generating a random number, which isusually done in one of two ways: rolling four Fate Dice, or drawing a cardfrom a Deck of Fate.

Fate Dice:Fate Dice (sometimes called Fudge dice, after the game they wereoriginally designed for) are one way to determine outcomes. You always rollFate Dice in a set of four. Each die will come up as-,0, or+, and youadd them together to get the total of the roll. For example:

-+0+= +1 +-00= 0

+++-= +2 -000= 1

Deck of Fate:Te Deck of Fate is a deck of cards that copies the statisticalspread of Fate Dice. You can choose to use them instead of diceeither oneworks great.

OUTCOMESOnce you roll your dice, add your approach bonus (well talk about that ina moment) and any bonuses from aspects or stunts. Compare the total to atarget number, which is either a fixed difficulty or the result of the GMs rollfor an NPC. Based on that comparison, your outcome is:

You failif your total is less thanyour opponents total.

Its a tieif your total is equal toyour opponents total.

You succeedif your total isgreater thanyour opponents total.

You succeed with styleif your total is at least three greater thanyouropponents total.

Now that weve covered outcomes, we can talk about actions and how theoutcomes work with them.

These rules are written with the assumption that

youre rolling Fate Dice, but use whichever one your

group prefers. Anytime youre told to roll dice, that also

means you can draw from the Deck of Fate instead.

Setting

difficulties:

p. 37
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14 FATE ACCELERATED

ACTIONSSo youve narrated what your PC is trying to do, and youve established thattheres a chance you could fail. Next, figure out what actionbest describeswhat youre trying to do. Tere are four basic actions that cover anything

you do in the game.

CREATE AN ADVANTAGE

Creating an advantage is anything you do to try tohelp yourself or one of your friends. aking a momentto very carefully aim your proton blaster, spendingseveral hours doing research in the school library, ortripping the thug whos trying to rob youthese allcount as creating an advantage. Te target of your action

may get a chance to use the defend action to stop you. Teadvantage you create lets you do one of the following three things:

Create a new situation aspect.

Discover an existing situation aspect or another characters aspect thatyou didnt know about.

ake advantage of an existing aspect.

If youre creating a new aspect or discovering an existing one: If you fail: Either you dont create or discover the aspect at all, or

you create or discover it but an opponentgets to invoke the aspect forfree. Te second option works best if the aspect you create or discoveris something that other people could take advantage of (like Rougherrain). You may have to reword the aspect to show that it benefitsthe other character instead of youwork it out in whatever way makesthe most sense with the player who gets the free invocation. You canstill invoke the aspect if youd like, but itll cost you a fate point.

If you tie:If youre creating a new aspect, you get a boost. Name it andinvoke it once for freeafter that, the boost goes away. If youre tryingto discover an existing aspect, treat this as a success (see below).

If you succeed:You create or discover the aspect, and you or an allymay invoke it once for free. Write the aspect on an index card or stickynote and place it on the table.

If you succeed with style:You create or discover the aspect, and you or

an ally may invoke it twicefor free. Usually you cant invoke the sameaspect twice on the same roll, but this is an exception; success with stylegives you a BIG advantage!

More on

aspects:

p. 25

Boosts:

p. 26
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If youre trying to take advantage of an aspect you already know about:

If you fail:You dont get any additional benefit from the aspect. Youcan still invoke it in the future if youd like, at the cost of a fate point.

If you tie or succeed:You get one free invocation on the aspect for youor an ally to use later. You might want to draw a circle or a box on theaspects note card, and check it off when that invocation is used.

If you succeed with style:You get twofree invocations on the aspect,which you can let an ally use, if you wish.

ACTIONS & OUTCOMES: THE 30-SECOND VERSION

Create an Advantage when creating or discovering aspects: Fail:Dont create or discover, or you do but your opponent (not you)

gets a free invocation.

Tie: Get a boostif creating new, or treat as success if looking for existing.

Succeed:Create or discover the aspect, get a free invocation on it.

Succeed with Style: Create or discover the aspect, get two free

invocations on it.

Create an Advantage on an aspect you already know about:

Fail:No additional benefit.

Tie:Generate one free invocation on the aspect.

Succeed:Generate one free invocation on the aspect.

Succeed with Style:Generate two free invocations on the aspect.

Overcome:

Fail:Fail, or succeed at a serious cost.

Tie: Succeed at minor cost.

Succeed: You accomplish your goal.

Succeed with Style:You accomplish your goal and generate a boost.

Attack:

Fail: No effect.

Tie: Attack doesnt harm the target, but you gain a boost.

Succeed: Attack hits and causes damage.

Succeed with Style: Attack hits and causes damage. May reduce damage

by one to generate a boost.

Defend:

Fail:You suffer the consequences of your opponents success.

Tie: Look at your opponents action to see what happens. Succeed:Your opponent doesnt get what they want.

Succeed with Style:Your opponent doesnt get what they want, and you

get a boost.


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16 FATE ACCELERATED

OVERCOME

You use the overcome action when you have to getpast something thats between you and a particulargoalpicking a lock, escaping from handcuffs, leap-

ing across a chasm, flying a spaceship through an aster-oid field. aking some action to eliminate or changean inconvenient situation aspect is usually an overcomeaction; well talk more about that inAspects and Fate Points. Te target ofyour action may get a chance to use the defend action to stop you.

If you fail:You have a tough choice to make. You can simply failthedoor is still locked, the thug still stands between you and the exit, theenemy spaceship is still On Your ail. Or you can succeed, but at

a serious costmaybe you drop something vital you were carrying,maybe you suffer harm. Te GM helps you figure out an appropriatecost.

If you tie:You attain your goal, but at some minor cost. Te GM couldintroduce a complication, or present you with a tough choice (you canrescue one of your friends, but not the other), or some other twist. SeeSucceed at a Costin Running the Gamein Fate Corefor more ideas.

If you succeed: You accomplish what you were trying to do. Te

lock springs open, you duck around the thug blocking the door, youmanage to lose the alien spaceship on your tail.

If you succeed with style:As success (above), but you also gain a boost.

Removing

a situation

aspect: p. 26

Setting

difficulties:

p. 37
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ATTACK

Use an attackwhen you try to hurt someone, whether physi-cally or mentallyswinging a sword, shooting a blaster rifle,or yelling a blistering insult with the intent to hurt your

target. (Well talk about this in Ouch! Damage, Stress, andConsequences, but the important thing is: If someone gets hurttoo badly, theyre knocked out of the scene.) Te target of yourattack gets a chance to use the defend action to stop you.

If you fail:Your attack doesnt connect. Te target parries your sword,your shot misses, your target laughs off your insult.

If you tie:Your attack doesnt connect strongly enough to cause anyharm, but you gain a boost.

If you succeed: Your attack hits and you do damage. See Ouch!Damage, Stress, and Consequences.

If you succeed with style:You hit and do damage, plus you have theoption to reduce the damage your hit causes by one and gain a boost.

DEFEND

Use defendwhen youre actively trying to stop someone fromdoing any of the other three actionsyoure parrying a

sword strike, trying to stay on your feet, blocking a doorway,and the like. Usually this action is performed on someoneelses turn, reacting to their attempt to attack, overcome, orcreate an advantage. You may also roll to oppose some non-attack actions, or to defend against an attack on someone else,if you can explain why you can. Usually its fine if most people at the tableagree that its reasonable, but you can also point to an relevant situationaspect to justify it. When you do, you become the target for any bad results.

If you fail:Youre on the receiving end of whatever your opponentssuccess gives them.

If you tie or succeed:Tings dont work out too badly for you; look atthe description of your opponents action to see what happens.

If you succeed with style:Your opponent doesnt get what they want,plus you gain a boost.

GETTING HELP

An ally can help you perform your action. When an ally helps you, theygive up their action for the exchange and describe how theyre providing thehelp; you get a +1 to your roll for each ally that helps this way. Usually onlyone or two people can help this way before they start getting in each othersway; the GM decides how many people can help at once.

Doing damage:

p. 23

Damage,

Stress, and

Consequences:

p. 22


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18 FATE ACCELERATED

CHOOSE YOUR APPROACHAs we mentioned in Who Do You Want to Be?,there are six approachesthatdescribe how you perform actions.

Careful:A Careful action is when you pay close attention to detail andtake your time to do the job right. Lining up a long-range arrow shot.Attentively standing watch. Disarming a banks alarm system.

Clever:A Clever action requires that you think fast, solve problems,or account for complex variables. Finding the weakness in an enemyswordsmans style. Finding the weak point in a fortress wall. Fixing acomputer.

Flashy:A Flashy action draws attention to you; its full of style andpanache. Delivering an inspiring speech to your army. Embarrassing

your opponent in a duel. Producing a magical fireworks display. Forceful:A Forceful action isnt subtleits brute strength. Wrestling a

bear. Staring down a thug. Casting a big, powerful magic spell. Quick:A Quick action requires that you move quickly and with dex-

terity. Dodging an arrow. Getting in the first punch. Disarming abomb as it ticks 3 2 1

Sneaky:A Sneaky action is done with an emphasis on misdirection,stealth, or deceit. alking your way out of getting arrested. Picking apocket. Feinting in a sword fight.

Each character has each approach rated with a bonus from +0 to +3. Addthe bonus to your dice roll to determine how well your PC performs theaction you described.

So your first instinct is probably to pick the action that gives you thegreatest bonus, right? But it doesnt work like that. You have to base yourchoice of approach on the description of your action, and you cant describean action that doesnt make any sense. Would you Forcefully creep througha dark room, hiding from the guards? No, thats being Sneaky. Would youQuickly push that big rock out of the way of the wagon? No, thats being

Forceful. Circumstances constrain what approach you can use, so some-times you have to go with an approach that might not play directly to yourstrengths.

ROLL THE DICE, ADD YOUR BONUSime to take up dice and roll. ake the bonus associated with the approachyouve chosen and add it to the result on the dice. If you have a stunt thatapplies, add that too. Tats your total. Compare it to what your opponent(usually the GM) has.

DECIDE WHETHER TO MODIFY THE ROLLFinally, decide whether you want to alter your roll by invoking aspectswell talk about this a lot inAspects and Fate Points.

Who Do You

Want to Be?

p. 8

Invoking

aspects:

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19CHALLENGES, CONTESTS, AND CONFLICTS

CHALLENGES, CONTESTS,

AND CONFLICTS

Weve talked about the four actions (create an advantage, overcome, attack,and defend) and the four outcomes (fail, tie, succeed, and succeed withstyle). But in what framework do those happen?

Usually, when you want to do something straightforwardswim acrossa raging river, hack someones cell phoneall you need to do is make oneovercome action against a difficulty level that the GM sets. You look at youroutcome and go from there.

But sometimes things are a little more complex.

CHALLENGESA challengeis a series of overcome and create an advantage actions that youuse to resolve an especially complicated situation. Each overcome actiondeals with one task or part of the situation, and you take the individual

results together to figure out how the situation resolves.o set up a challenge, decide what individual tasks or goals make up the

situation, and treat each one as a separate overcome roll.Depending on the situation, one character may be required to make sev-

eral rolls, or multiple characters may be able to participate. GMs, you arentobligated to announce all the stages in the challenge ahead of timeadjustthe steps as the challenge unfolds to keep things exciting.

The PCs are the crew of a ship caught in a storm. They decide to

press on and try to get to their destination despite the weather,and the GM suggests this sounds like a challenge. Steps in resolv-

ing this challenge could be calming panicky passengers, repair-

ing damaged rigging, and keeping the ship on the right heading.

Setting

difficulties:

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20 FATE ACCELERATED

CONTESTSWhen two or more characters are competing against one another for thesame goal, but not directly trying to hurt each other, you have a contest.Examples include a car chase, a public debate, or an archery tournament.

A contest proceeds in a series of exchanges. In an exchange, every partici-pant takes one overcome action to determine how well they do in that legof the contest. Compare your result to everyone elses.

If you got the highest result, you win the exchangeyou score a victory(which you can represent with a tally or check mark on scratch paper) anddescribe how you take the lead. If you succeed with style, you mark twovictories.

If theres a tie, no one gets a victory, and an unexpected twist occurs.Tis could mean several things, depending on the situationthe terrain or

environment shifts somehow, the parameters of the contest change, or anunanticipated variable shows up and affects all the participants. Te GMcreates a new situation aspect reflecting this change and puts it into play.

Te first participant to achieve three victories wins the contest.

CONFLICTSConflictsare used to resolve situations where characters are trying to harmone another. It could be physical harm (a sword fight, a wizards duel, abattle with laser blasters), but it could also be mental harm (a shouting

match, a tough interrogation, a magical psychic assault).

SETTING THE SCENE

Establish whats going on, where everyone is, and what the environmentis like. Who is the opposition? Te GM should write a couple of situationaspects on sticky notes or index cards and place them on the table. Playerscan suggest situation aspects,too.

Te GM also establishes

zones, loosely defined areasthat tell you where charactersare. You determine zones basedon the scene and the followingguidelines:

Generally, you can inter-act with other characters inthe same zoneor in nearbyzones if you can justify acting

at a distance (for example, ifyou have a ranged weapon ormagic spell).

Situation

aspects:

p. 26

Situation

aspects:

p. 26 CONFLICTS:


1. Set the scene.

2. Determine turn order.

3. Start the first exchange.

On your turn, take an action.

On other peoples turns,

defend against or respond

to their actions as necessary.

At the end of everyones

turn, start a new exchange

or end the conflict.


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21CHALLENGES, CONTESTS, AND CONFLICTS

You can move one zone for free. An action is required to move if theresan obstacle along the way, such as someone trying to stop you, or if youwant to move two or more zones. It sometimes helps to sketch a quick mapto illustrate zones.

Thugs are attacking the characters in a house. The living room is

one zone, the kitchen another, the front porch another, and the

yard a fourth. Anyone in the same zone can easily throw punches

at each other. From the living room, you can throw things at

people in the kitchen or move into the kitchen as a free action,

unless the doorway is blocked. To get from the living room to the

front porch or yard requires an action.

DETERMINE TURN ORDER

Your turn order in a conflict is based on your approaches. In a physicalconflict, compare your Quick approach to the other participantstheone with the fastest reflexes goes first. In a mental conflict, compare yourCareful approachattention to detail will warn you of danger. Whoeverhas the highest approach gets to go first, and then everyone else goes indescending order. Break ties in whatever manner makes sense, with the GMhaving the last word.

GMs, its simplest if you pick your most advantageous NPC to determineyour place in the turn order, and let all your NPCs go at that time. But ifyou have a good reason to determine turn order individually for all yourNPCs, go right ahead.

EXCHANGES

Next, each character takes a turn in order. On their turn, a character cantake one of the four actions. Resolve the action to determine the outcome.Te conflict is over when only one side has characters still in the fight.

Four actions:

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22 FATE ACCELERATED

OUCH! DAMAGE, STRESS,

AND CONSEQUENCES

When youre hit by an attack, the severity of the hit is the difference betweenthe attack roll and your defense roll; we measure that in shifts. For instance,if your opponent gets +5 on their attack and you get a +3 on your defense,the attack deals a two shift hit (5 3 = 2).

Ten, one of two things happens:

You suffer stressand/or consequences, but you stay in the fight.

You get taken out, which means youre out of the action for a while.

STRESS & CONSEQUENCES:THE 30-SECOND VERSION

Each character starts with three stress boxes.

Severity of hit (in shifts)

= Attack Roll Defense Roll

When you take a hit, you need to account

for how that hit damages you. One way to

absorb the damage is to take stress; you cancheck one stress box to handle some or all of

a single hit. You can absorb a number of shifts

equal to the number of the box you check:

one for Box 1, two for Box 2, three for Box 3.

You may also take one or more consequences

to deal with the hit, by marking off one or

more consequence slots and writing a new

aspect for each one. Mild consequence = 2

shifts; moderate = 4 shifts; severe = 6 shifts.

If you cant (or decide not to) handle the

entire hit, youre taken out. Your opponent

decides what happens to you.

Giving in before your opponents roll allows

you to control how you exit the scene.

You also get one or more fate points for

doing this!

Stress and mild consequences vanish at the

end of the scene, provided you get a chance

to rest. Other consequences take longer.


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23DAMAGE, STRESS, AND CONSEQUENCES

WHAT IS STRESS?If you get hit and dont want to be taken out, you can choose to take stress.

Stress represents you getting tired or annoyed, taking a superficial wound,or some other condition that goes away quickly.

Your character sheet has a stress track, a row of three boxes. When youtake a hit and check a stress box, the box absorbs a number of shifts equal toits number: one shift for Box 1, two for Box 2, or three for Box 3.

You can only check one stress box for any single hit, but you canchecka stress box and take one or more consequences at the same time. You cantcheck a stress box that already has a check mark in it!

WHAT ARE CONSEQUENCES?Consequences are new aspects that you take to reflect being seriously hurt

in some way. Your character sheet has three slots where you can write conse-quences. Each one is labeled with a number: 2 (mild consequence), 4 (mod-erate consequence), or 6 (severe consequence). Tis represents the numberof shifts of the hit the consequence absorbs. You can mark off as many ofthese as you like to handle a single hit, but only if that slot was blank to startwith. If you already have a moderate consequence written down, you canttake another one until you do something to make the first one go away!

A major downside of consequences is that each consequence is a newaspect that your opponents can invoke against you. Te more you take, the

more vulnerable you are. And just like situation aspects, the character thatcreates it (in this case, the character that hit you) gets one free invocationon that consequence. Tey can choose to let one of their allies use the freeinvocation.

Lets say that you get hit really hard and take a 4-shift hit. You

check Box 2 on your stress track, which leaves you with 2 shifts

to deal with. If you cant, youre taken out, so its time for a con-

sequence. You can choose to write a new aspect in the conse-

quence slot labeled 2say, Sprained Ankle. Those final 2 shifts

are taken care of and you can keep fighting!

If youre unable to absorb all of a hits shiftsby checking a stress box,taking consequences, or bothyoure taken out.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I GET TAKEN OUT?If you get taken out, you can no longer act in the scene. Whoever takes youout narrates what happens to you. It should make sense based on how you

got taken outmaybe you run from the room in shame, or maybe you getknocked unconscious.


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25ASPECTS AND FATE POINTS

ASPECTS AND FATE POINTS

An aspect is a word or phrase that describes something special about aperson, place, thing, situation, or group. Almost anything you can think

of can have aspects. A person might be the Greatest Swordswoman on theCloud Sea. A room might be On Fireafter you knock over an oil lamp.After a time-travel encounter with a dinosaur, you might be errified.Aspects let you change the story in ways that go along with your characterstendencies, skills, or problems.

You spendfate pointswhich you keep track of with pennies or glassbeads or poker chips or some other tokensto unlock the power of aspectsand make them help you. You earnfate points by letting a character aspectbe compelled against you to complicate the situation or make your life

harder. Be sure to keep track of the fate points you have left at the end ofthe sessionif you have more than your refresh, you start the next sessionwith the fate points you ended this session with.

You earned a lot of fate points during your game session, ending

the day with five fate points. Your refresh is 2, so youll start with

five fate points the next time you play. But another player ends

the same session with just one fate point. His refresh is 3, so hell

begin the next session with 3 fate points, not just the one he had

left over.

WHAT KINDS OF ASPECTS ARE THERE?Teres an endless variety of aspects, but no matter what theyre called theyall work pretty much the same way. Te main difference is how long theystick around before going away.

Character Aspects:Tese aspects are on your character sheet, such as your

high concept and trouble. Tey describe personality traits, important detailsabout your past, relationships you have with others, important items ortitles you possess, problems youre dealing with or goals youre workingtoward, or reputations and obligations you carry. Tese aspects only changeunder very unusual circumstances; most never will.

Examples: Captain of the Skyship Nimbus; On the Run From

the Knights of the Circle;Attention to Detail; I Must Protect My

Brother

Refresh:

p. 11

High concept:

p. 8

Trouble:

p. 9
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26 FATE ACCELERATED

Situation Aspects:Tese aspects describe the surroundings that the actionis taking place in. Tis includes aspects you create or discover using thecreate an advantageaction. A situation aspect usually vanishes at the endof the scene it was part of, or when someone takes some action that wouldchange or get rid of it. Essentially, they last only as long as the situationalelement they represent lasts.

Examples: On Fire; Bright Sunlight; Crowd of Angry People;

Knocked to the Ground

o get rid of a situation aspect, you can attempt an overcome action toeliminate it, provided you can think of a way your character could accom-plish itdump a bucket of water on the Raging Fire, use evasive maneu-vers to escape the enemy fighter thats On Your ail. An opponent may usea Defend action to try to preserve the aspect, if they can describe how theydo it.

Consequences:Tese aspects represent injuries or other lasting trauma thathappen when you get hit by attacks. Tey go away slowly, as described in

Ouch! Damage, Stress, and Consequences.

Examples: Sprained Ankle; Fear of Spiders; Concussion;

Debilitating Self-Doubt

Boosts:A boost is a temporary aspect that you get to use once (see WhatDo You Do With Aspects? next), then it vanishes. Unused boosts vanishwhen the scene they were created in is over or when the advantage they

represent no longer exists. Tese represent very brief and fleeting advantagesyou get in conflicts with others.

Examples: In My Sights; Distracted; Unstable Footing; Rock in

His Boot

Recovery from

consequences:

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28 FATE ACCELERATED

What does invoking the aspect get you? Choose one of the following effects:

Add a +2 bonus to your total. Tis costs a fate point.

Reroll the dice. Tis option is best if you rolled really lousy (usually a

3 or 4 showing on the dice). Tis costs a fate point.

Confront an opponent with the aspect. You use this option when youropponent is trying something and you think an existing aspect wouldmake it harder for them. For instance, an alien thug wants to drawhis blaster pistol, but hes Buried in Debris; you spend a fate pointto invoke that aspect, and now your opponents level of difficulty isincreased by +2.

Help an ally with the aspect. Use this option when a friend could use

some help and you think an existing aspect would make it easier forthem. You spend a fate point to invoke the aspect, and now your friendgets a +2 on their roll.

Important:You can only invoke any aspect once on a given dice roll; youcant spend a stack of fate points on one aspect and get a huge bonus fromit. However, you caninvoke several different aspects on the same roll.

If youre invoking an aspect to add a bonus or reroll your dice, wait untilafteryouve rolled to do it. No sense spending a fate point if you dont need to!

Free invocations:Sometimes you can invoke an aspect for free, withoutpaying a fate point. If you create or discover an aspect through the createan advantageaction, the first invocation on it (by you or an ally) is free (ifyou succeeded with style, you get twofreebies). If you cause a consequencethrough an attack, you or an ally can invoke it once for free. A boostis aspecial kind of aspect that grants one free invocation, then it vanishes.

COMPELLING ASPECTS

If youre in a situation where having or being around a certain aspect means

your characters life is more dramatic or complicated, anyone can compelthe aspect. You can even compel it on yourselfthats called a self-compel.Compels are the most common way for players to earn more fate points.

Tere are two types of compels.

Decision compels:Tis sort of compel suggests the answer to a decisionyour character has to make. If your character is Princess of Alaria, forexample, you may need to stay to lead the defense of the Royal AlarianCastle rather than fleeing to safety. Or if you have a Defiant Streak a Mile

Wide, maybe you cant help but mouth off to the Dean of Discipline whenhe questions you.

Succeed with

style: p. 13

Boosts:

p. 26


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29ASPECTS AND FATE POINTS

Event compels: Other times a compelreflects something happening that makeslife more complicated for you. If you haveStrange Luck, of course that spell youre

working on in class accidentally turns thedour Potions Masters hair orange. If youOwe Don Valdeon a Favor, then DonValdeon shows up and demands that youperform a service for him just when its leastconvenient.

In any case, when an aspect is compelledagainst you, the person compelling it offersyou a fate point and suggests that the aspect

has a certain effectthat youll make a cer-tain decision or that a particular event willoccur. You can discuss it back and forth, pro-posing tweaks or changes to the suggestedcompel. After a moment or two, you needto decide whether to accept the compel. Ifyou agree, you take the fate point and yourcharacter makes the suggested decision orthe event happens. If you refuse, you must

paya fate point from your own supply. Yes,this means that if you dont have any fate points, you cant refuse a compel!

ESTABLISHING FACTS

Te final thing that aspects can do is establish factsin the game. You donthave to spend any fate points, roll dice, or anything to make this happenjust by virtue of having the aspect Ruddy Ducks Pilot, youve establishedthat your character is a pilot and that you fly a plane named the Ruddy Duck.Having the aspectMortal Enemy: Te Red Ninjasestablishes that the set-ting has an organization called the Red Ninjas and that theyre after youfor some reason. If you take the aspect Sorcerer of the Mysterious Circle,you not only establish that theres a group of sorcerers called the MysteriousCircle, but that magic exists in the setting and that you can perform it.

When you establish facts of the setting this way, make sure you do it incooperation with other players. If most people want to play in a settingwithout magic, you shouldnt unilaterally bring magic into it through anaspect. Make sure that the facts you establish through your aspects makethe game fun for everyone.

HOW MANY FATE POINTS

DOES THE GM GET?

As GM, you dont need to track fate

points for each individual NPC, but

that doesnt mean you get an unlim-

ited number. NPCs start each scene

with a pool of one fate point per

PC thats in the scene. You spend

fate points from that pool to invoke

situation (or consequence) aspects

against the PCs. If that pool is

empty, you cant invoke a situation

aspect. When a PC invokes a situ-

ation aspect against an NPC, that

fate point goes into your pool.

When a PC accepts a compel of

a character aspect, the fate point

they earn does NOT come from this

pool. That fate point comes from

an unlimited pool you have for this

purpose.


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30 FATE ACCELERATED

COMPOSING GOOD ASPECTS

When you need to think of a good aspect (were mainly talking about char-acter and situation aspects here), think about two things:

How the aspect might help youwhen youd invoke it.

How it might hurt youwhen it would be compelled against you.

For example:

Ill Get You, von Stendahl!

Invoke this when acting against von Stendahl to improve

your chances.

Get a fate point when your dislike for von Stendahl makes

you do something foolish to try to get him.

Hair Trigger Nerves

Invoke this when being extra vigilant and careful would help

you.

Get a fate point when this causes you to be jumpy and be

distracted by threats that arent really there.

Obviously, your trouble aspect is supposed to cause problemsandthereby make your characters life more interesting and get you fate pointsso its okay if that ones a little more one-dimensional, but other characterand situation aspects should be double-edged.


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31STUNTS

STUNTS

Stuntsare tricks, maneuvers, or techniques your character has that changehow an approach works for your character. Generally this means you get a

bonus in certain situations, but sometimes it gives you some other abilityor characteristic. A stunt can also reflect specialized, high-quality, or exoticequipment that your character has access to that gives them a frequent edgeover other characters.

Teres no definitive list of stunts that you pick from; much like aspects,everyone composes their own stunts. Tere are two basic templates to guideyou in composing your stunts, so you do have something to work from.

Te first type of stunt gives you a +2 bonus when you use a certainapproach in a certain situation. Use this template:

Because I [describe some way that you are exceptional, have a cool bitof gear, or are otherwise awesome], I get a +2 when I [pick one: Carefully,Cleverly, Flashily, Forcefully, Quickly, Sneakily] [pick one: attack,defend, create advantages, overcome]when [describe a circumstance].

For example:

Because I am a Smooth Talker, I get a +2 when I Sneakily

create advantageswhen Im in conversation with someone.

Because I am a Lover of Puzzles, I get a +2 when I Cleverly

overcome obstacleswhen I am presented with a puzzle,

riddle, or similar conundrum.

Because I am a World-Class Duelist, I get a +2 when I

Flashily attackwhen engaged in a one-on-one swordfight.

Because I have a Big Kite Shield, I get a +2 when I Forcefully

defendwhen I use my shield in close combat.

Sometimes, if the circumstance is especially restrictive, you can apply thestunt to both the create an advantage action andthe overcome action.

Approaches:

p. 18


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32 FATE ACCELERATED

Te second type of stunt lets you make something true, do somethingcool, or otherwise ignore the usual rules in some way. Use this template:

Because I [describe some way that you are exceptional, have a cool bitof gear, or are otherwise awesome], once per game session I can [describe

something cool you can do].For example:

Because I am Well Connected, once per game session I can

find a helpful ally in just the right place.

Because I am Quick on the Draw, once per game session I

can choose to go first in a physical conflict.

Because I can Run Circles Around a Leopard, once per

game session I can show up anywhere I want to, provided I

could run there, no matter where I started.

Tese templates exist to give you an idea of how stunts should be con-structed, but dont feel constrained to follow them exactly if you have agood idea. If youd like to read more about the construction of stunts, seeSkills and Stuntsin Fate Core.


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33CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT

GETTING BETTER AT DOING STUFF:

CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT

People change. Your skills sharpen as you practice them. Your life expe-riences accumulate and shape your personality. Fate Accelerated Editionreflects that with character advancement, which allows you to change youraspects, add or change stunts, and raise your approach bonuses. You do thiswhen your character reaches a milestone.

MILESTONESStories in V shows, comic books, movies, and even video games usuallycontinue from episode to episode, season to season. It took Frodo three big

books to take the Ring to the fiery mountain. It took Aang three seasons todefeat the Fire Lord. You get the idea. FAEcan tell those kinds of stories;you play many game sessions in a row using the same charactersthis isoften called a campaignand the story builds on itself. But within theselong stories, there are shorter story arcs, like single episodes of a V show orsingle issues of a comic, where shorter stories are told and wrapped up. FAEcan do that too, even within a longer campaign.

In FAE, we call those wrap-ups milestoneswhether theyre small onesfor short stories, or really big ones at the end of many sessions of play. FAE

recognizes three types of milestones, and each one allows you to changeyour character in certain ways.

MINOR MILESTONES

A minor milestoneusually occurs at the end of a session of play, or whenone piece of a story has been resolved. Rather than making your charactermore powerful, this kind of milestone is more about changing your char-acter, about adjusting in response to whatevers going on in the story if youneed to. Sometimes it wont really make sense to take advantage of a minor

milestone, but you always have the opportunity in case you need to.After a minor milestone, you can choose to do one (and only one) of the

following:

Switch the ratings of any two approaches.

Rename one aspect that isnt your high concept.

Exchange one stunt for a different stunt.

Choose a new stunt (and adjust your refresh, if you already have three

stunts).Also, if you have a moderate consequence, check to see if its been around

for two sessions. If so, you can clear it.


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34 FATE ACCELERATED

SIGNIFICANT MILESTONES

A significant milestoneusually occurs at the end of a scenario or the con-clusion of a big plot event (or, when in doubt, at the end of every two orthree sessions). Unlike minor milestones, which are primarily about change,significant milestones are about learning new thingsdealing with prob-lems and challenges has made your character generally more capable at whatthey do.

In addition to the benefit of a minor milestone, you also gain bothof the

following: If you have a severe consequence thats been around for at least two

sessions, you can clear it.

Raise the bonus of one approach by one.

MAJOR MILESTONES

Major milestonesshould only occur when somethinghappens in the campaign that shakes it up a lotthe

end of a big story arc, the final defeat of a main NPCvillain, or any other large-scale change that reverberatesaround your game world.

Tese milestones are about gaining more power.Te challenges of yesterday simply arent sufficient tothreaten these characters anymore, and the threats oftomorrow will need to be more adept, organized, anddetermined to stand against them.

Achieving a major milestone confers the benefits of a significant mile-

stone anda minor milestone. In addition, you may do allof the following: ake an additional point of refresh, which you may immediately use to

purchase a stunt if you wish.

Rename your characters high concept (optional).

Scenarios:

p. 36

RAISING

APPROACH

BONUSESWhen you raise the bonus

of an approach, theres

only one rule you need

to remember: you cant

raise an approach bonus

above Superb (+5).
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35BEING THE GM

BEING THE GM

Te GM has many responsibilities, such as presenting the conflict to theplayers, controlling NPCs, and helping everyone apply the rules to the situ-

ation in the game.Lets talk about the GMs jobs.

HELP BUILD CAMPAIGNSA campaignis a series of games you play with the same characters, wherethe story builds on what happened in earlier sessions. All the players shouldcollaborate with the GM to plan how the campaign will work. Usually thisis a conversation among all of you to decide what sort of heroes you want toplay, what sort of world you live in, and what sorts of bad guys youll have.

alk about how serious you want the game to be and how long you wantit to last.

Cat-people sky pirates in

flying ships, always on the run

from the Royal Navy trying to

catch them.

Magic-wielding desert towns-

folk stand against the invad-

ing soldiers of the evil Steel

Empire.

Students at a boarding school

for magical youth solve mys-

teries and uncover secrets of

their ancient school.

LEARNING HOW

TO BE A GM

Being a GM and running games

can seem intimidating and dif-

ficult at first. Its a skill that takes

some practice to master, so dont

worryyoull get better the more

you do it. If youd like to read more

about the art of GMing Fate, there

are several chapters in the Fate

Core rules that you should check

out: Running the Game, Scenes,

Sessions, and Scenarios, and The

Long Game are particularly help-

ful. Fate Core is available for free

at www.evilhat.com.


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36 FATE ACCELERATED

BUILD SCENARIOS AND RUN GAME SESSIONSA scenariois one short story arc, the sort of thing you might see wrappedup in one or two episodes of an adventure television show, even if its asmaller part of a bigger story. Usually you can wrap up a scenario in one to

three game sessions, assuming you play for three or four hours at a time. Butwhat is a scenario, and how do you build one?

SCENARIOS

A scenario needs two things: A bad guy with a goal, and a reason the PCscant ignore it.

Bad guy with a goal:Youve probably figured this out already. Te cam-paigns main opposition, or one of his allies, is probably your bad guy.

Something the PCs cant ignore:Now you have to give the PCs a reason tocare. Make sure the bad guys goal is up in the PCs faces, where they needto do something about it or bad things will happen to them, or to peopleor things they value.

RUNNING GAME SESSIONS

Now that your bad guy is doing something the PCs will pay attention to,its time to start them off. Sometimes the best way to do that, especially forthe first session of a new story arc, is to put them right in the action. Once

the PCs know why they should care about whats going on, you just get outof the way and let them take care of it.

Tat said, there are a bunch of tasks the GM needs to perform to runthe session:

Run scenes:A session is made up of individual scenes. Decide wherethe scene begins, whos there, and whats going on. Decide when all theinteresting things have played out and the scenes over.

Adjudicate the rules:When some question comes up about how to

apply the rules, you get final say.

Set difficulties:You decide how difficult tasks should be.

Play the NPCs:Each player controls their own character, but you con-trol all the rest, including the bad guys.

Keep things moving:If the players dont know what to do next, itsyour job to give them a nudge. Never let things get too bogged down inindecision or because they dont have enough informationdo some-

thing to shake things up. Make sure everyone has a chance to be awesome:Your goal isnt to

defeat the players, but to challenge them. Make sure every PC gets achance to be the star once in a while, from the big bad warrior to thelittle sneaky thief.

Difficulties:

p. 37
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37BEING THE GM

SETTING DIFFICULTY LEVELS

When another character is opposing a PC, their rolls provide the oppositionin a conflict, contest, or challenge. But if theres no active opposition, youhave to decide how hard the task is.

Low difficulties are best when you want to give the PCs a chance toshow off and be awesome. Difficulties near their approach ratings arebest when you want to provide tension but not overwhelm them. Highdifficultiesare best when you want to emphasize how dire or unusual thecircumstances are and make them pull out all the stops.

RULES OF THUMB: If the task isnt very tough at all, give it a

Mediocre (+0)or just tell the player theysucceed without a roll.

If you can think of at least one reason whythe task is tough, pick Fair (+2).

If the task is extremely difficult, pickGreat (+4).

If the task is impossibly difficult, go ashigh as you think makes sense. Te PC willneed to drop some fate points and get lotsof help to succeed, but thats fine.

OPTIONAL RULE:APPROACH-RELATED

TARGET NUMBERS

Sometimes being Careful makes

things a lot easier; sometimes it

just takes too long. The GM may

wish to adjust the target number

up or down by 1 or 2 depending

on whether you choose a fitting

or a problematic approach. This

makes things a bit more complex,

but for some groups its worth it.


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38 FATE ACCELERATED

BAD GUYSWhen you make a bad guy, you can stat them out exactly like the PCs, withapproaches, aspects, stress, and consequences. You should do this for impor-tant or recurring bad guys who are intended to give the PCs some real dif-

ficulties, but you shouldnt need more than one or two of these in a scenario.

Mooks: Other bad guys are mooksunnamed thugs or monsters orgoons that are there to make the PCs day a little more difficult, but theyredesigned to be more or less easily swept aside, especially by powerful PCs.Heres how you create their stats:

1. Make a list of what this mook is skilled at. Tey get a +2 to all rollsdealing with these things.

2. Make a list of what this mook is bad at. Tey get a 2 to all rolls dealingwith these things.

3. Everything else gets a +0 when rolled.

4. Give the mook an aspect or two to reinforce what theyre good and badat, or if they have a particular strength or vulnerability. Its okay if amooks aspects are really simple.

5. Mooks have zero, one, or two boxes in their stress track, depending onhow tough you imagine them to be.

6. Mooks cant take consequences. If they run out of stress boxes (or donthave any), the next hit takes them down.

CYCLOPS HOUSE BULLY

Cyclops House Bully, Cowardly Without BackupSkilled (+2) at:Frightening other students, weaseling out of

trouble, breaking thingsBad (-2) at:Planning, studying

Stress:None (first hit takes them out)

STEEL ASSASSIN

Steel Assassin, Te Night Is OursSkilled (+2) at:Sneaking, ambushingBad (-2) at:Standing up to determined oppositionStress:1

SKY SHARK

Im a Shark, Vulnerable BellySkilled (+2) at:Flying, bitingBad (-2) at:Anything that isnt flying or bitingStress:2


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41EXAMPLE CHARACTERS

VOLTAIREVoltaire is captain of the Cirrus Skimmer, a skyship that roams a vast seaof clouds. Shes a cat person, her body a blend of human and feline fea-tures. She wears an ostentatious assortment of piratey clothes including a

long brown jacket, knee-high boots, a feathered cap, and a basket-hiltedcutlass. Being a cat person, she does have the tendency to nod off at oddmoments

VOLTAIRE

High Concept:Feline Captain of Cirrus Skimmer

rouble:*Yawn*Other Aspects:Tat? Oh, Tats a Decoy;

Martin Is a Big Cheat; Sanchez Is the BestFirst Mate a Ship Could Have

APPROACHES:

Careful:Average (+1)Clever:Average (+1)Flashy:Good (+3)Forceful:Mediocre (+0)Quick:Fair (+2)

Sneaky:Fair (+2)

STUNTS

Swashbuckling Swordswoman:Because I ama Swashbuckling Swordswoman, I gain a +2to Flashy attacks when crossing blades with asingle opponent.

(May take two more stuntswithout reducing refresh!)

STRESS3

CONSEQUENCES

Mild (2):Moderate (4):Severe (6):

REFRESH: 3


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42 FATE ACCELERATED

ABIGAIL ZHAOAbigail is a student at the School of Sorcery, and a member of HippogriffHouse. She has light skin and long black hair with a pink streak. She pushesher luck with her school uniform, adding jewelry, studded belts, and dyed

designs to the regulation blouse, trousers, and tie. Shes especially adept atenchantments. While she loves showing up those goons in Cyclops House,she does have a tendency to act before thinking.

ABIGAIL ZHAO

High Concept:Enchantment Specialist ofHippogriff House

rouble:Cast Now, Ask Questions LaterOther Aspects:I Hate Tose Guys in

Cyclops House; Sarah Has My Back;Dexter Fitzwilliam Is Going Down

APPROACHES

Careful:Mediocre (+0)Clever:Fair (+2)Flashy:Average (+1)Forceful:Fair (+2)

Quick:Average (+1)Sneaky:Good (+3)

STUNTS

eachers Favorite:Because I am a eachersFavorite, once per session I may declare thata helpful teacher arrives in the scene.

(May take two more stuntswithout reducing refresh!)

STRESS3

CONSEQUENCES

Mild (2):Moderate (4):Severe (6):

REFRESH: 3


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INDEX

Action(s), 14, 21, 44approaches to, 18creating advantage by, 14, 15taking, 12

Advantage, 14, 15, 44creating, 26, 28, 31

All-Star (approach), 10Ally, 17Approach(es), 10, 18, 31, 45

bonus, 13raising bonus for, 34

Approach-related target numbers, 37Aspect(s), 8, 9, 25, 45 compelling, 27, 28-29

creating new, 14

discovering existing, 14invoking, 12, 18, 27kinds of, 25-26renaming, 24using, 27

writing, 9, 23, 30Attack, 15, 17, 44

Bad guy(s), 38with goal, 36

Bonus(es), 13

raising, 34Boost(s), 14, 15, 16, 17, 45

unused, 26, 28Brute (approach), 10

Campaign, 33, 35Cards, deck of, 5, 13Careful action, 18Challenge, 19Challenging players, 36Character(s), 40-4

advancement, 33aspects, 25, 45creating, 8, 9name, appearance of, 9sheets, 5type to play, 8

Characters, 40-43Clever action, 18Compel(s), 28, 44

aspect, 27, 28-29on yourself, 28

Concede, 24Conflict, 20Consequence(s), 22, 23, 45

recovery from 24, 26Contest, 20Cyclops House Bully, 38Damage, 17, 22Decision compel, 28

Deck of Fate, 5, 13Defend, 15, 17, 44Dice, 5, 13

results, 18, 44

roll, 18roll, modifying, 18

Difficulty(ies), 19levels of, 36, 37near approach rating, 37setting, 13, 16, 37

Establish facts, 8, 27, 45setting and, 29

Event compel, 29Exchange, 20, 21

Fact(s) establishment, 8, 27, 29, 45Fail, 13

aspect, 14, 15, 44attack, 15, 17, 44defend, 15, 17, 44overcome, 15, 16, 44

Fate Core, 35, 39Fate Dice, 5, 13Fate point(s), 23, 24

gamemaster and, 29

invoking aspect, 12protection, 27spending, 25

Flashy action, 18Flushing, Dr. Bethesda (example character), 43Forceful action, 18Fudge dice, 5, 13

Game framework, 6Gamemaster (GM), 5

allies and, 17

bad guys and, 38-39campaign building by, 35difficulty levels, setting of, 19, 36, 37fate points and, 29introducing complications, 16

job of, 6learning how to be, 35roll for non-player character, 13running game sessions, 36scenarios and, 36situation aspects and, 20

turn order determination by, 21Gang of thugs, 39Give in, 22, 24Guardian (approach), 10

Help, 17, 44High concept, 8, 25High difficulties, 37


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Hitseverity of, 23shifts and, 23

Index cards, 5Invocation(s), 15, 23

free, 28Invocations, 15Invoke, 27, 45 against another player, 27

aspect, 27-28

Ladder of adjectives and numbers, 10, 44Low difficulties, 37

Major milestone, 34Mild consequence, 24Milestones, 33-34Minor milestone, 33

Mobs, 39Moderate consequence, 24Mooks, 38

groups of, 39

Non-player characters (NPCs), 6, 13playing, 36turn order and, 21

Nudging, 36

Outcomes, 13, 44

Overcome, 15, 16, 44stunts, 31

Player character (PC), 5, 6, 7selection of, 6

PvP, 27

Quick action, 18

Refresh, 11, 25Reth (example character), 40

Rough terrain, 14Rules, final say and, 36Running the Game in Fate Core, 16

Scenario(s), 24, 34, 36Scene(s)

setting, 20running, 36

Self-compels, 28Severe consequence, 24Shifts, 22, 23Significant milestone, 34Situation

aspect(s), 20, 26, 45removal of, 16, 26

Sky Shark, 38Sneaky action, 18Steel Assassin, 38Sticky notes, 5Story genre, 6Storytelling, 6, 7Stress, 22, 45

recovery from, 24track, 23

Stunts, 11, 31-32Succeed, 13


Succeed with style, 13aspect, 14, 15, 44attack, 15, 17, 44defend, 15, 17, 44overcome, 15, 16, 44

Succeed, 13Swashbuckler (approach), 10

aken out, 22, 23arget numbers, 37, 43Tief (approach), 10ie, 13


okens, 5rickster (approach), 10

rouble, 8, 9, 25urn order, 21, 45

Voltaire (example character), 41

Zhao, Abigail (example character), 42Zones, 20

moving from, 21

Tanks to our feedback heroes, Fate Accelerated Editionis the best it can possibly be:Andrew Shore, Brian Hoffmann, Carrie Ulrich, Christopher Allen -- RPGnet, Christopher

Ruthenbeck, Craig Hargraves, Daniel Paarmann, Dataweaver, David Hoberman, Devon Apple,

Fenikso, Jack Gulick, Jan Stals, Jared Nuzzolillo, Javier Gaspoz, Jay Elmore, John Donoghue,

Jonathon Hodges, Lisa Padol, Lucian, Mark Gizmo, Mark Watson, Marko Wenzel, Markus Wagner,

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ID

ASPECTS

CONSEQUENCES

STUNTS

APPROACHES

STRESS

Name

High Concept CAREFUL

Trouble CLEVER

FLASHY

FORCEFUL

QUICK

SNEAKY

Description

Refresh CurrentFate Points

2Mild

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Fate Accelerated Electronic Edition