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Old May 5th, 2020, 04:15 PM
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Origin Story

For character and aspect creation.

You probably already know about it but the Fate Core engine has a free SRD at https://fate-srd.com/.

FATE characters don't have a whole lot of stats compared to other systems. Creating a character comes down to defining the following:
- Aspects, that represent true statements about your character (e.g. 'Genetically Engineered Supersoldier')
- Skills, that are move modifiers (e.g. +2 to Stealth rolls)
- Stunts, which are special moves that provide bonuses or rule exceptions (we'll cover this in detail later)
- Powers, which we're adding in based on the Venture City rules.

For reference, I'll paste here the stat block for my Fate character in another game. He's an aspect short right now but you'll get the gist.

 


ASPECTS

We'll start with aspects, which are the heart of Fate: everything can be defined as an aspect. They are important both because of their narrative truth and their mechanical utility - you can take opportunities to 'invoke' aspects to boost your move results. More general information about aspects here.

There are five aspects to define for your character. Your first two are your High Concept, which is the main single-statement breakdown of who/what you are; and your Trouble, which is some sort of complication, flaw or recurring setback.

The next three aspects are generally made in tandem with other players to create established links; for a solo game, we'll use them to establish points of your backstory and significant attachments. So at least one of them might link to your 'origin story', for example. You don't need to do all of these right away. But we do need the High Concept and Trouble as a minimum.

Feel free to start drafting your personal aspects for a character in a pseudo-modern setting. Also start thinking about what kind of power/s you'll want to have.

SKILLS

You start with 10 skills, each with a mod. The starting spread is four at +1, three at +2, two at +3 and one at +4.

Here's the default skill list. Updated - you're free to use this list.

- Athletics
- Arcane
- Burglary
- Crafts
- Deceive
- Drive
- Empathy
- Fight
- Investigate
- Knowledge
- Notice
- Physique
- Provoke
- Rapport
- Resources
- Shoot
- Stealth
- Streetwise
- Will

When you make a move, you add the relevant skill to a roll of 4 'fate' dice. These dice are effectively d3s with a chance of -1, 0 or +1. So default dice results will be between -4 and +4.

Dice Example fate roll with a skill at +2:
4df+2 (0, -1, -1, 1)+2 Total = 1


STUNTS

This can be a little trickier. You start with a default of three stunts, which act like special moves - not as flashy as the powers we're introducing, but still effective ways of being awesome. They usually work within a specific context - so a stunt for all Burglary actions wouldn't be kosher, but a stunt that triggers when trying to crack a safe would be valid.

There are common formulas for stunts that will be helpful to know:
- Where one skill would typically be used in a roll, replace it with another skill instead
- Add +2 to a skill's mod in certain circumstances
- Spending a Fate point (more on this later) for a big bonus effect

See the first couple of stunts in the examples above - they're pretty clear uses of a couple of these formulas.

I wouldn't worry about doing all your stunts right away. We can even come up with them on the fly as you confront challenges and decide, 'yeah, I'd be especially good at doing this one thing'.

POWERS

The way we're doing superpowers will add an extra few pieces to your character.

We will get into more detail on this when you decide on the kind of powers you want, but so you know in advance, the basic factors are:

- A base power (e.g. super speed) which acts as a special type of stunt (e.g. giving Athletics bonuses)
- A theme for your power (is your super speed from technology, or lightning-based, etc.?)
- Enhancements, which augment the power's effectiveness in specific ways (higher bonuses, wider application, etc.)
- A drawback aspect, which is like a superpower-specific Trouble (e.g. a speedster having a 'Dangerously High Metabolism')

You'll start with three extra 'stunt points' to be used specifically on your powers. One of those points will be your first base power. You can spend the other two on enhancements, or even adding a second power that syncs well with your first one (maybe your super metabolism also lends itself to a Wolverine-style healing factor...). It is possible to add enhancements to your theme rather than your actual power (i.e. instead of enhancing super speed, you enhance the electricity theme so you can power any technology you touch).
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Old May 6th, 2020, 05:33 AM
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Name: Jackie Reyes

Skills:
+4 Will
+3 Fight, Arcane
+2 Notice, Streetwise, Rapport
+1 Empathy, Physique, Investigate, Athletics

High Concept: Magic student chosen by destiny
Trouble: A higher purpose calls me, but I don't want it
Aspect 1: Being taught by a mysterious master
Aspect 2: I'll help others, even when it costs me
Aspect 3: My powers overheat my body, draining my stamina.

Stunts:
* Determination = Through determination, I can conquer anything! Use Will instead of Physique when performing acts of endurance
* They must go on! = When I see someone else suffer, I feel adrenaline to be a hero! +2 to Fight when a person I know has suffered by a phenomenon/entity
*

Powers:
* Energy Projection: You can use magical ritual to project spheres of light and energy to a range of three zones. This uses Arcane in place of Shoot for physical attacks at range, and can be used to illuminate dark rooms.
*
*

Stress tracks:
Physical: [1] [2] [3]
Mental: [1] [2] [3] [4]

Consequences:
(2, Mild) { }
(4, Moderate) { }
(6, Severe) { }

Fate points: 3
Refresh: 3
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Last edited by Krow Nest; May 11th, 2020 at 04:53 PM.
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Old May 8th, 2020, 03:22 AM
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Sorry, missed that there were aspects to review.

High Concept: perhaps still a little abstract; it doesn't really say anything about your actual character, aside from being a student. I get the angle you're going for - an ordinary type reluctantly thrust into a key role - but the aspect needs to step away from that meta-statement and tell me a little more about who this student is, and what it is more precisely that makes them a spiritual protagonist.

Trouble: closer to the mark, but there is room to refine the phrasing to make it more individually evocative, although we'll come back to this as it may depend on the reason they were chosen (see below).

Aspect 1: I think it would be good to get a little more detailed here. What chose you? What kind of powers were you chosen for?

Aspect 2: good angle for an aspect. It's something you can leverage in actions, and has the possibility of being double-edged (i.e. it's a quality that may be used against you in the right circumstances). That's good for aspects; they work best if they can say more than one thing without being crowded. Maybe touch up the phrasing a little; would something like 'I'll help others, even when it costs me' still fit what you wanted?
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Old May 8th, 2020, 03:24 AM
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Any idea how to change the wording of what I put for the others then?
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Old May 8th, 2020, 03:26 AM
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Well, tell me more about the character you have in mind. So far it tells me 'student, selfless, given powers for a purpose'.
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Old May 8th, 2020, 03:28 AM
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Well I dont know entirely what this world is like so... I can only be vague

Most I got in mind is what I've said...
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Old May 8th, 2020, 03:41 AM
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Fair enough. Archon City is a modern metropolis with a long history and a lot of old-school architecture - think Gotham, but not quite as grim. Things are still getting bad though, with criminal superpowered beings becoming more prevalent and uncontrollable. Few-to-none superheroes fighting for justice - people are getting desperate.

For superpowers, we're probably talking X-Men levels of power. So you could have individual supervillains who can control weather, regenerate or duplicate themselves, control elemental forces, etc.
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Old May 8th, 2020, 03:46 AM
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Well, I sort of thought like... Constantine. With a 'magic' like power system for my bruh. Even if its just 'energy manipulation' (ie. blasts, projections, armors, etc). Again, not magic exactly, but, god i suck at explaining...
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Old May 8th, 2020, 03:58 AM
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That definitely works. Magic/ritual theme, with one or more ways it can be utilised. If we want to go full Constantine we can introduce the angels/demons element as well.

Also, don't be afraid to declare your own details in the setting if there's something you really want to set in stone now to make your character pop. The cool thing about Fate is that players have, by design, more agency to add their own flair to worldbuilding than other systems such as D&D.
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Old May 8th, 2020, 04:13 AM
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Oooooh ok. Yeah, I'm not 100% familiar with Constantine, just his powers and mannerism (I had to go look up Constantine stuff for a voice role xD)

I guess I was just thinking of a sort of versatile power. But I can always just be specifc with what
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Old May 8th, 2020, 05:00 AM
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That's okay, it doesn't have to be 100% Constantine. So I take it they're still in the process of learning or teaching themselves magic. Is there a teacher or supernatural patron involved?
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Old May 8th, 2020, 02:58 PM
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I would absolutely say in process of learning and if it makes sense, maybe a teacher who IS a patron, if you get me :3
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Old May 8th, 2020, 07:32 PM
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Okay, so this is how I'd revise your aspects, based on the new information we have.

The High Concept can now focus in on the key elements of your character: something like 'Magic student chosen by destiny'. In this way we fill in the blanks we had before by using elements of your first regular aspect here.

The Trouble we can make a little stronger, to really reinforce the issue it creates for your character. It has to be no small thing. Could be big and dramatic like 'A slave to the fates'. Or more personal like 'A higher purpose calls me, but I don't want it'.

The first aspect, if we fit it into the High Concept, can be updated to instead reflect something of your teacher/patron. Something like 'Being taught by a mysterious master', although adjust your flavour accordingly.

The second aspect is fine as is.

You don't have to do a third aspect now, but you can if you have something in mind.




I've updated the skill list too. Because it's your first character, some recommendations and notes:

- There's now an arcane skill for magic rituals and knowledge, so you'll want that.
- Streetwise has replaced the generic Contacts skill, to act as a more urbane 'know the city and its social dynamics' skill. Whether you want that or not is up to you.
- You'll definitely want Will, as it acts as a defence skill against non-physical attacks and extends your mental stress track (stress tracks are a replacement for HP - more on this later)
- A +1 in Physique is also a useful drop-in to be a little more resilient against physical assaults.
- Athletics can be useful as a catch-all dodge skill.




If you had any ideas for stunts, we can start going through them now as well. You can read more about stunt creation here. But we can also start talking about your powers in the same breath.

So far we've established that the theme of your powers will be magic. You get to define how that looks; a Constantine-inspired character would probably lean more into magic circles and items of power, if you wanted that occult flavour. But you could also opt for a more traditional D&D spellcaster or any other flavour you like. Fate doesn't really place any restriction on this.

You've mentioned that you had a variety of possible effects in mind - shielding, energy manipulation, illusions, etc. We've got three points to spend. You could use all three of them to create a base-level trio of main 'disciplines', or you could choose to save one or two of those points to enhance a particular power instead. Whatever your character chooses to specialise in is up to you - I'll adjust the game's challenges accordingly.
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Old May 8th, 2020, 10:23 PM
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I thought Powers and Stunts were gonna be separate?

Also the idea of 'magic circles' and 'magic items' works too!
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Old May 8th, 2020, 11:18 PM
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That's right, you'll have both stunts and powers. I'm more or less skipping over stunts right this second so we can work out how your powers will work.

Did you work our your preferences on what kind of magic you'll mostly be casting?
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