Greetings gamers, and welcome to the latest installment of Beyond the d20 System. In this week’s article, I’m going to take a look at Fate, the last game in our series of TTRPG systems. Fate is a generic roleplaying system designed to minimize dice rolling while leaning heavily into the narrative elements of gameplay. As a consequence, Fate is an exemplary rules-lite TTRPG. The Fate core system is descended from the Fudge gaming system, an earlier attempt at creating a freeform generic roleplaying system. Fate takes its core dice rolling mechanic from the Fudge system, while defining the characters in terms of story elements rather than with attributes and traits that have a numerical value, as in the Fudge system. By utilizing character concept to serve as the mechanical basis of the system, Fate is perhaps the most rules-lite a TTRPG can be without being a LARP system. For those looking for a freeform, cinematic TTRPG experience, Fate will be your go-to TTRPG.  

System Overview

Character creation in the Fate system is a streamlined process compared to character creation in most other TTRPGs, beginning by defining a ‘character concept’, an idea of what kind of character you want to play. From the character concept, two ‘aspects’ of the character are derived. Aspects are core elements of a character concept stated as a phrase, such as, “tempted by shiny things” or “inherits the family curse.” The first two aspects, ‘high concept’ and ‘trouble,’ are tied to the character concept. The high concept is a phrase that captures an important element of the character concept and is usually stated as the character’s vocation or role in life. Examples include: “world-weary private eye”, “hard-boiled detective”, or cold-blooded murderer.” In addition to the high concept aspect, each character has a trouble aspect as well. Trouble aspects represent a character flaw or some complication in the character’s life that crops up semi-regularly. Examples include: “short-tempered,” “drinks to forget,” or “owes money to the city’s crime boss.” Mechanically, aspects are invoked in situations where the aspect is relevant and beneficial to the character, allowing for the PC to use ‘fate points’ (more on that later) in order to modify a dice roll in some way or to propose some story detail that is relevant to the aspect invoked. Another use for aspect is to invoke another character’s aspect in a scenario where the aspect would lead to complications. Accepting the complication yields a character a fate point, while declining the complication costs a fate point. This use of fate points by and against the PCs affords them the opportunity to earn fate points, and with them, greater control over how the story unfolds. Characters can have up to five aspects, two of which are determined during character creation, the rest are gained during the first adventure. In addition to character aspects, there are setting aspects and situation aspects as well which may be invoked in the same way as character aspects.

While characters in Fate are not defined in terms of typical game stats, they do have skills that serve as the basis for dice rolls in the game. The Fate core system provides a list of 18 skills which can be used to attempt an action. Each of the character’s skills is rated on the following scale, called the Ladder: Terrible (-2), Poor (-1), Mediocre (+0), Average (+1), Fair (+2), Good (+3), Great (+4), Superb (+5), Fantastic (+6), Epic (+7), and Legendary (+8). Starting characters begin with one Great, two Good, three Fair, and four Average skills. These skills are added to the results of a dice roll set against an opposition rating (that follow the steps of the Ladder) by the GM or against an opposing roll by another character. Most other skills default to Mediocre, allowing for characters to make unskilled rolls at a +0 modifier. The Fate system employs the use fate dice; 4d6 that, rather than having faces with pips or numbers, have two plus (+) faces, two minus (-) faces, and two blank ( ) faces. The dice are read in the following way: each plus is a +1, each blank is a +0, and each minus is a -1. The results of the dice roll are added together to determine the level of success (if any) the roll garnered. For example, a roll of {-, -, +, +} = +0, whereas a roll of {blank, +, +, +} = +3. Each player will need four of these dice. Success at an action occurs when these dice are rolled and the number of pluses, in addition to any pluses provided by using a skill, meet or exceed the opposition rating for the action. For example, if a character is attempting to climb a steep embankment, opposition rating Superb (+5), and has a Great (+4) athletics skill, the character will have to roll at least one success (+1) on a dice roll of 4d6 fate dice to succeed using the athletics skill. In addition to skills, starting characters also begin with three stunts. Stunts represent a character’s ability to use a skill in an improved or unique way. For example, a ‘backstab’ stunt may allow a character to use the stealth skill to make physical attacks for increased damage, provided the target is unaware of the character. Active opposition rolls in Fate follow this same task resolution format, with contests between characters decided with a series of exchanges represented by dice rolls to see which character garners the most successes at their action. Conflict (combat) is also resolved using this same method, with additional rules regarding turn order, situational aspects, and movement through combat zones. While there is a bit more to the Fate system than the brief summary I’ve articulated here, these are the core mechanics that serve as the heart of the system.     

Suggested Uses for the Fate System

Fate is designed to provide a rules-lite, cinematic gameplay experience with a focus on collective narrative development. In this, it succeeds very well. Fate reminds me of a storytelling exercise that improv comedy or theater groups might make use of to sharpen their skills. This freeform quality allows for some highly creative gameplay and lends itself to the cinematic; pulp fiction or action-adventure stories in particular. I can appreciate that the freeform nature of Fate may not be to every group’s taste, and for some more realistic settings or campaigns wherein it may prove insufficient. I’m thinking here of detailed settings or genres, such as hard sci-fi, where salient setting details are best represented with a bit of mechanical complexity. That being said, I certainly plan on running a Fate one-shot at my table in the near future.

Stay tuned for next week’s article where we celebrate a very special birthday. Until then, happy gaming!