Out of Character

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Feb 22, 2022 9:48 pm
This is where you can talk about stuff related to the game out of character.
Feb 23, 2022 1:09 am
What does your username mean, @ireneofunyes?
Feb 23, 2022 5:03 am
Hiro should be all set to start. Will add his final stunt and two free aspects in play.
Feb 23, 2022 7:22 am
Qralloq says:
What does your username mean, @ireneofunyes?
It is a character from a story of Argentinian writer Jorge Louis Borges. In the story Ireneo Funes (yes, I added the y letter) is a man who has an incredible memory. It is said that it takes 24 hours for him to explain his day, meaning he remembers everything. However, as far as I remember the point of the story was that the value of memory lies in its absence, the fact that we forget lots of stuff, because Ireneo was a boring person in the end :D

If you ask why I chose it, not a definite answer. I like Borges but I’m not a fan, I liked the story but also not a fan so it kind of sounded cool I guess :D
Feb 23, 2022 8:51 am
Borges was kind of a tool, but his story Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote is one of my all time faves.
Feb 23, 2022 9:00 am
Yeah, I like his self-reflecting stories where his younger self and older self meet and talk.

Sooo, has anybody figured out what does the first line of my first post is a reference to? :D
Feb 23, 2022 9:18 pm
@FluxCapacitor, that stunt works for me. Though fight is usually limited to hand to hand combat, this seems like an appropriate switch. You can use Fight for first aid.
Feb 23, 2022 9:39 pm
Great, thanks.
Feb 24, 2022 5:25 am
Herrigan brought up a good point in the game 1 thread
Herrigan says:

o With Fate, follow the fiction. Don't lead with your skill rolls. Core and Condensed make this hard to remember at times because they, of course, have skills. But really, for any roll, our GM should be setting a difficulty -- which directly impacts whether you succeed, succeed at cost, fail, etc. It should be clear which of the four actions is being rolled, and even what the potential outcomes are. Fate is not a game where rolls should be spammed all the time.
For my part, I agree with this principle in Fate games in general, but in PBP games we pay a significant penalty in the pace of the game if we discuss at length the exact difficulty, action, success, and failures of every potential roll. But at the same time, some of the magic of fate is lost that way, so I think we should discuss the tradeoff here.

One of the good things about fate is that the dice are always the same no matter what skill you roll. So, if for example, I roll an athletics skill when the GM expected physique, it's simple to retroactively correct, by taking the dice roll and adding the correct skill. And, of course, the GM is free to ignore a roll if they don't think it's necessary. So I don't think that there's a lot of harm, for expediency, to attach a roll to a post you expect will require one, so that the GM can resolve the roll and move the story forward. But, what I think you give up when you do this, is the right to know the potential outcomes ahead of time. Normally in Fate you'd be pretty explicit about what success, success with cost, and failure look like for any given roll. If you pre-roll, you forfeit the right to negotiate the terms and put it in the GM's hands.

I think I neither want to play the game where rolls are frequent, but every roll requires a 3 post negotiation, nor do I want to play the game where the GM resolves every roll without any input, so here are my suggestions (which aren't exhaustive, and this is by no means an ultimatum, I'm happy to play however people like):

Option 1: We are free to add a roll to the post, which the GM may interpret however they like, understanding that we're forfeiting any negotiation for the roll. The GM is still free to propose other rolls and state the consequences, and of course no one is obliged to roll a skill to do anything (with the GM calling for a roll if necessary). In this scenario the rolls are mixed more fluidly with the plot, but at the risk of having some useless rolls

Option 2: the GM proposes all rolls, and we try to make rolls especially meaningful, with strong story altering consequences, so that it's worth taking the time to discuss it. In this scenario, we'd necessarily interrupt the plot a bit any time there's a roll, but that's ok because rolls are rare and consequential.

These are only my suggestions, feel free to make other suggestions.

One thing I agree with unreservedly is we should be clear about which of the 4 actions we're using
Last edited February 24, 2022 5:29 am
Feb 24, 2022 6:28 am
Great points. Normally in play by post games I tend to favor the faster option. In a D&D game I'm running right now, for example, I roll initiatives for my players or I roll some skill checks if they want to do something but are not sure which skill would be appropriate. However, for this game I'm closer to option 2. As naelick and Harrigan have pointed out, skill checks are not done frequently in Fate unless we are in combat and even that requires one roll per turn, usually. I would like you to discuss your options in a scene, figuring out what do to next. Also, even though there will be some instances where I'll decide on if its a partial success, success at a minor/major cost or simple failure, I think it's better to present the choice to the player (like "would you prefer a sucess at a major cost here?"). If you're absolutely sure what you would like to do (if you're roleplaying that you'll punch someone, roll Fight without thinking), go for it. I also don't mind if you spend a fate point to change the result of the dice in such cases. However, don't be too quick on defining the results of a roll because depending on context I might describe it in detail or I might say "okay, you've suceeded, now tell us how you succeed exactly". Lastly, our posting frequency has been faster than the usual and I hope it'll continue like that, so this may compensate for some of the slowness that may come up from discussing a roll or a scene.
Quote:
*Strongly* recommend we have a thread or little tracker somewhere that identifies the aspects in play. The campaign aspects, the scene aspects, the created advantages... and any free invokes... and boosts. Otherwise it will rapidly become hard to manage and remember.
I thought about the same thing when naelick used Create an Advantage. I'll open a thread about that to keep track of aspects. I'll write down character aspects also. You can keep track of your own character but in case you don't edit your sheet, I'll look at it from my own list.
Feb 24, 2022 7:15 am
I'm not married to one approach or the other, but I don't really dig either extreme. (Being 'proactive' to the Nth degree, spamming skill rolls, especially when it comes to Creating Advantages... or breaking every test down into a big negotiation.) Pace helps a ton with transaction-heavy systems, and to be fair to Fate, it's not that laden with them unless there's a Fate Point bidding war in a crucial moment.

There are just a few things that I think are genuinely problematic:

-If the GM doesn't set the difficulty first and someone rolls, now it's on them (the GM), if they spied the result, to basically 'decide' whether the roll was a success or not. Sometimes this isn't a big deal at all, but I've seen some games nose-dive because of it. As long as ireneofunyes is ready to make the call it should be fine, but I know from experience it can be ginchy when you're trying to decide is this a 2, a 3, or a 4, and then the player rolls a 3 proactively.

-In a narrative first / heavy system like Fate, where the players generally have so much agency, people can get carried away with what they believe is possible in a scene. The GM being involved on the front end of rolls is generally a really good thing, tempering expectations, course correcting and such. We just have to keep an eye on this one.

-I think we need clear definition in OCC comments around what action was attempted and what the initial outcome was... because this is where you get into invoking aspects, deciding to succeed at cost instead of failing, etc. I know it's slow, but it's what Fate is.

Two more farthings!
Last edited February 24, 2022 7:17 am
Feb 24, 2022 7:29 am
Quote:
If the GM doesn't set the difficulty first and someone rolls, now it's on them (the GM), if they spied the result, to basically 'decide' whether the roll was a success or not.
Yes, that can be tricky. I agree with you and I'll give the target difficulty for an action after the player declares what are they attempting to do. As you pointed out, the quality of success or failure of a roll can depend highly on what you try to do and what your character is capable of (whether it be their skills or tools they have access to). So, an Academics roll in a hospital for treatment will have different consequences from an Academics roll on a deserted place with nothing to use at hand.

Fate can be a bit too "allowing", I agree but these kind of extermities are usually only possible if a player or a whole group is eager to abuse them. A D&D 5e druid can change into a wild bear and tear down a town, for example, that would be permissible in terms of rules. Players usually don't do that, though. Dealing with these kind of extremities are either up to OOC gaming where we discuss like adults what can and can't be permissible or it can be dealt with in-game (I think about Assassin's Creed Odyssey here, in the game when you enter a new territory and just jump into melee combat without considering stealth, bounty hunters start hunting you wherever you go in that territory, making your life harder). In the end, I think we can discuss such things here. If that would make our game a bit slower in the beginning, let it be. We'll gain pace once we go along or it can even help with your future PbP Fate games.
Feb 24, 2022 5:06 pm
I can commit to one post a day but I would ask that players wait for everyone to post before posting again in situations that advance the plot. If it's just RP between a few PC's, it's harmless and I say post away in that case.

Please remember that I have never played Fate before and it's definitely a new way of approaching a game for me. Having said that I veer toward option 2 and it's ok if anyone wants to spell something out for me as I won't be offended. 🙂
Feb 24, 2022 5:23 pm
I'll usually wait two days if one player was not able to post regarding the previous events before advancing the story. Even if we get carried away, we can always retcon the story and include the last person :D So don't worry about that.

Don't worry about being new to the system also. If you do something that doesn't exactly match with Fate me or any other player can explain the situation to you and you would edit your post, there is nothing wrong with that.
Feb 25, 2022 1:14 am
As an idea for a second stunt for TBD: Always Armed - based on "Allowing a character to declare a minor fact is always true. For instance, a survivalist always has survival items like matches on their person, even under unlikely circumstances" from Condensed p. 11.

Stunt: Always Armed - Whether a holdout weapon stashed in some concealed location or an item at hand in his immediate vicinty, TBD is always considered armed, even under unlikely circumstances.

Thoughts?
Last edited February 25, 2022 1:15 am
Feb 25, 2022 10:20 am
It's good. I like your way of thinking, good job converting those standard stunt ideas for your character's features. But, unfortunately we have started the game already and progressed a bit so you can add this stunt after the first session ends. For what's on your characters when you found yourselves in the room, any reasonoble object you carry while you were on the ship is okay by me. So, for example, I would be okay with it if TBD was practicing his shooting skills when the incident happened, thus carrying a gun. It's not logical for him to be using an AK-47 (or its futuristic equivalent) for a standard shooting practice, but it would make sense if he uses a simple pistol.

So, I want you to do something while you have the time. I want all of you to create a loved one for your characters and sketch out a brief backstory regarding your PCs' relationship with them. It can be a dead person, somebody your character have parted ways long ago, a lover, a sibling, a dear friend, a parent, anybody. Just make it so that this person is very dear and valuable to your PC. Also this will be a rather personal, the other PCs won't probably know about your loved ones (if you want to make it a secret you can even DM me the character idea). Don't ask why you're doing it, the time will come :D
Feb 25, 2022 12:07 pm
Also, for the sake of the Session 1, forgive me if I seem a bit too limiting somtimes instead of letting you freely alter the story. As you might've already guessed, this is a special occasion instead of the usual open world game, so there will be some unusual stuff happening.
Feb 25, 2022 11:43 pm
@Ireneofunyes: Gotcha. I was assuming that since we were leaving our starting allotment of free stunts to be developed in play, we could add them accordingly. I'll keep a mental list for after the first session.
Feb 26, 2022 2:11 am
ireneofunyes says:
So, I want you to do something while you have the time. I want all of you to create a loved one for your characters and sketch out a brief backstory regarding your PCs' relationship with them. It can be a dead person, somebody your character have parted ways long ago, a lover, a sibling, a dear friend, a parent, anybody. Just make it so that this person is very dear and valuable to your PC. Also this will be a rather personal, the other PCs won't probably know about your loved ones (if you want to make it a secret you can even DM me the character idea). Don't ask why you're doing it, the time will come :D
So Hiro has this:

Trouble
Inia Klovis

That's his on-again off-again girlfriend, partner, nemesis, sparring partner and bedmate. He can't avoid getting tangled up with her, and his running from the underworld is partly trying to escape how bad they are for one another. Do you want another loved one, or will nutso psycho hot chick he can't so no to work? Happy either way, here.
Feb 26, 2022 3:33 am
Ivan the Terrible
Ivan is an abusive ex that got deep into space dust and then ran off with a Martian girl named Burta Burp. Sure, it sounds terribly corny, but CC had fallen hard for Ivan, her own considerable will consumed by his robust magnetism.

Sure, she's better off in every way being apart from him. Somehow, that isn't much comfort.
Feb 26, 2022 3:38 am
It was sophomore year of college. Leda was walking to class. Those eyes across the quad drew her in. Sparks flew. Then a whirlwind romance ensued. Holding hands, racing into each other's eyes, slow dancing in the moonlight. It was fast and furious. Then they were called away to serve in the space marines. Battle changed them, time changed Leda, and two years later, they had nothing in common. Nothing but the memory of enduring love, and in her heart of hearts, it had never ended.

Will this suffice?
Feb 26, 2022 4:17 am
Though she'd never bring it up, Hariette had a sister who died of a rare alien fungus, while they were both little. It really affected her and her choices in life. Curing the fungus later helped stem the grief a bit, but she's never really gotten over it
Last edited February 26, 2022 4:35 am
Feb 26, 2022 7:25 am
Great work everybody. Thos will be sufficient. Just remember to name them also. And Harrigan, that's okay you don't need to create another one.
Feb 26, 2022 8:18 am
Not sure if this will work, but I'm imagining that TBD is somewhat haunted by all the fallen comrades he has had to leave behind. Maybe there's one in particular that sticks out. Just a kid, never knew his name, but he barely looked old enough to serve. Found him lying on the battlefield, mortally wounded, TBD could tell, but it was going to be a long slow painful death from that kind of an abdominal wound. Kid kept asking if he'd be ok, because he was the only one who was taking care of his mom, sending his pay home to pay for medications and the caregiver and... But the unit was bugging out, the position was lost, and was about to be overrun by Chikchichi drones that would have dragged him back to the hive to feed their queen and extract whatever intel they could by whatever they call their psychic brainrape. He told the kid he'd be ok, to think of home and his mom, and then when he closed his eyes, put a round through his head. It was mercy, but it still haunts him.

If we need something he loves - that's a tougher call. He's a hard guy and doesn't let anybody in (rough childhood). The only thing he ever really loved was his dog, Lady, when he was a kid. She was a little floppy eared poodle mix mutt that followed him home one day. They became inseparable. She went to stay with a relative when he entered the service, but died shortly thereafter. They said she just wasted away, sitting on the porch, waiting for him to come home.
Last edited February 26, 2022 9:16 am
Feb 26, 2022 3:55 pm
ireneofunyes says:
And Harrigan, that's okay you don't need to create another one.
Okee!
Feb 26, 2022 4:46 pm
FluxCapacitor says:
Not sure if this will work, but I'm imagining that TBD is somewhat haunted by all the fallen comrades he has had to leave behind. Maybe there's one in particular that sticks out. Just a kid, never knew his name, but he barely looked old enough to serve. Found him lying on the battlefield, mortally wounded, TBD could tell, but it was going to be a long slow painful death from that kind of an abdominal wound. Kid kept asking if he'd be ok, because he was the only one who was taking care of his mom, sending his pay home to pay for medications and the caregiver and... But the unit was bugging out, the position was lost, and was about to be overrun by Chikchichi drones that would have dragged him back to the hive to feed their queen and extract whatever intel they could by whatever they call their psychic brainrape. He told the kid he'd be ok, to think of home and his mom, and then when he closed his eyes, put a round through his head. It was mercy, but it still haunts him.

If we need something he loves - that's a tougher call. He's a hard guy and doesn't let anybody in (rough childhood). The only thing he ever really loved was his dog, Lady, when he was a kid. She was a little floppy eared poodle mix mutt that followed him home one day. They became inseparable. She went to stay with a relative when he entered the service, but died shortly thereafter. They said she just wasted away, sitting on the porch, waiting for him to come home.
*swipes his tears away* Yeah, yeah, it should be okay. Good work.

When we finish Session 1 I want to hear everybody's opinion on what the heck is going on in this campaign :D
Feb 27, 2022 7:42 am
I want to apologize you as I’ve made a mistake on my last post. Those info Hariette got from the mask wearing alien were supposed be understood by Cass as she is the anthropologist and Hariette is the biologist. I’ll edit my post as soon as I find the time but you don’t need to change anything. Sorry for that.
Feb 27, 2022 1:33 pm
Edited my last post to reflect the new information made available to Cass.
Mar 1, 2022 4:55 pm
Hello everyone. I wanted to emphasize one thing again because it has been bothering me in the last few days. As the Session 1 progresses, I've realized that it is more like I'm presenting you a definite story instead of you exploring the world at your wish. I, maybe more than most people, know how disturbing that can be, especially in a table top rpg where everything is kind of about how players can freely lead the way, do the things they want, and especially in a game like Fate where that element of freedom is even more highlighted than other systems. I also like open worlds or sandboxes and my intention is to present that to you as well. I promise you after the Session 1 ends you'll get to explore and create the world as much as you like. Just bear with me until you figure out this mysterious events :)
Mar 4, 2022 6:13 pm
So -- I'm reluctant to say anything here because I hate back-seat GMing, but I've got some thoughts on the current scene / action that may or may not be helpful.

So at the risk of being a jerk, I'll offer those thoughts. Ignore me if I'm off-base.
Quote:
One of you make a notice roll, difficulty 4. Let’s if you’ll be able to notice something.
Just a question here about whether this needs to be a roll. In Fate, you're normally going to the dice to accomplish something when the stakes are high, the outcome is uncertain, and failure is as interesting as success. Keep that in mind when asking for things like Notice rolls, which are a trad construct that can gum up a Fate game. Here, maybe failure would be meaningful and interesting -- and if that's the case, cool, but it stood out as something to mention.

Then when Windy posts...
Quote:
My computer is chugging away at this mystery. What does it notice?
Here we can highlight another thing that's different, and cool, about Fate. Namely, we don't know if this computer is the real deal. If it works. We can wait for ireneofunyes to state whether it is or not, or Windy could spent a Fate Point to make it a working PC -- provided that jives with the overall reality of the scene, which our GM has the final say on. Once that decision is made, we can get into what kind of action Leda is trying to perform. Subtext here being don't lead with the skill -- describe in the narrative what you are trying to do, then see which of the skills and four actions fit.

Just idle thoughts!
Mar 4, 2022 7:57 pm
Yes, you’re absolutely right. I’m too accustomed to D&D nowadays, a Notice roll like that would make sense in a D&D game but in Fate rolls are almost always need to be started by a player. GM’s job can be at most to suggest what skill can/should the player choose. I’ll stick with it this time but I’ll try to make sure not mix different systems’ working styles.
Mar 5, 2022 4:01 am
To be fair, it's a far, far harder adjustment to make than most folks realize. I mean -- there were videos back in the day people were recording where they were saying Fate wasn't even an RPG. :)

I don't know that I would say that the player 'almost always' started by the player -- at least compared to more recent narrative and story-based games, such as PbtA and the like.

Anyway -- just let me know if the peanut gallery comments become annoying.
Mar 7, 2022 5:07 am
Just out of curiosity, what did Leda do with that level of harm? Just to make sure you understand the system, @WindyRidge, Leda could take that harm as a single point of Stress, or she could take a Minor Consequence. The former (Stress) is the smarter play generally unless you have some things on your sheet that change when you've got consequences marked. Stress recovers faster, can't be used against you as an aspect that can be invoked in a hostile way, and is generally pretty good at modeling the absorption of little nickel and dime stuff that doesn't bother a hero too much unless it all piles up.
Mar 7, 2022 1:20 pm
I took it as a single point of stress. But being new and not having the rules memorized I didn't know I had the option of taking a minor consequence instead. Thanks for pointing that out.
Mar 7, 2022 4:47 pm
Yes you have that option but it only makes sense if you have taken 2 or more shifts of damage. Mild consequence absorbs 2 shifts, moderate 4 shifts and severe 6 shifts. Since you have 3 boxes of stress, let's say you have taken a 4 shifts of damage. Instead of filling all your stress boxes and taking an extra shift as your mild consequence, you can take a moderate consequence and absorb all those shifts just like that. There is a downside of course: as Harrigan said, consequences are aspects that can be invoked by everyone and they are always true, thus if you have a consequence called "poisoned", then you are poisoned and you will undergo everything a poisoned person undergoes until you recover from that consequence. Mild consequences are easy enough, you get rid of them after one scene if you treated them in-game. Unlike stress boxes, which are automatically cleared when a scene ends, mild consequences need treatment to recover from. If you take a moderate consequence, then a whole session needs to be passed after your treatment and if you take a severe consequence, then only way to cure it is to reach a major milestone in the story, after treatment again. These are Fate Condensed's rules for stress and consequences. You can use them anyway you see fit. Just because some option is more optimal doesn't mean you have to choose it.
Mar 7, 2022 4:55 pm
Thanks for the explanation.
Mar 8, 2022 6:49 am
Just to rfresh everybody's memories, here is an excerpt from the Fate Condensed rulebook, explaining Create and Advantage action:
Quote:
You can use the create an advantage action to change the course of the story. By using your skills to introduce new aspects or add invokes to existing aspects, you can stack the deck for yourself and your teammates. You might change the circumstances (barring a door or creating a plan), discover new information (learning the weakness of a vile horror through research), or take advantage of something already known (such as a CEO’s taste for single malt scotch).

An aspect created (or discovered) by creating an advantage works like any other: It defines the narrative circumstances and can allow, prevent, or impede actions—for instance, you cannot read a spell if the room has been made Pitch Black. It can also be invoked (page 24) or compelled (page 25). In addition, creating an advantage gives you one or more free invokes of the created aspect. A free invoke, as the name suggests, lets you invoke an aspect without spending a fate point. You can even let your allies use free
invokes you have created.

When you roll to create an advantage, specify whether you’re creating a new aspect or taking advantage of an existing one. If the former, are you attaching the aspect to an ally, opponent, or the environment? If you’re attaching it to an opponent, they can take the defend action to oppose you. Otherwise you’ll usually face a difficulty, but the GM can decide if something or someone opposes your efforts with a defend roll instead.
So a few things to bear in mind:

You must state that you are trying to create an advantage, you must state wheter you are creating a new aspect or making use of an existing aspect and if you're creating a new one, say where are you attaching the aspect: to an opponent, ally or environment? I'll try to clarify these things as they go along but remember: in Fate, every time you perform an action, you have to decide which one of the four actions you try and state other specifics required by that action. Then you pass it out to me and I say what should you roll and what is the target difficulty.
Mar 11, 2022 3:48 pm
Updated sheet for the Mild consequences
Mar 12, 2022 7:09 pm
Congratulations everyone! We have finished our first session. I get that it might be a bit sudden, but that was it. Hope you have enjoyed out time together. With that, we have reached a minor milestone. According to rulebook, before we start Session 2, you have some options.
Quote:
During a minor milestone, you can do one of the following:

˨ Switch the ranks of any two skills, or replace one Average (+1) skill with one that isn’t on your sheet.

˨ Rewrite one stunt.

˨ Purchase a new stunt by spending 1 refresh. (Remember, you can’t go below 1 refresh.)

˨ Rewrite any one of your aspects, except your high concept.
In addition to these, as I've said earlier, you can write your stunts or free aspects as well. You can think of our progress until now as a prologue. It'll probably a week before we start the next session. Besides, you need to choose your ship type. At Session 0 I've prepared a few options for you here. You don't need to choose between these of course, you can create it together but we should design a balanced ship.

Lastly, I want to hear your opinions on Session 1. How did it go, what were you expecting, did you enjoy it, do you have any complaints etc?
Mar 13, 2022 3:53 pm
Good call on asking for feedback. I should do that more in my games.

I haven't played a lot of Fate, very little in fact. I'm cognizant that you have indicated at least twice that the opening bit was going to be different, and a bit outside of the normal for Fate.

The opening felt like none of our choices really mattered. Maybe they had immediate effects but the end result was identical for each of us, and seems like any choice we made, it still would have ended up where we did without having really learned anything. I don't think this is a great way to introduce someone to Fate -- I was kind of expecting a more freeform collaborative style, especially after the free reign we took in character creation.

However, we got to explore how to roleplay our characters, which for me is mainly the point of playing, so that was good. I kind of like where CC's personality is fitting in my head, and I think she's going to be fun.

As such, I'm conflicted. I don't know that what we've seen seems like a fun game style to continue to play in, but you're said that your style going forward will be different -- we just haven't seen that yet.
Mar 13, 2022 4:21 pm
Those were some (expectedly) harsh yet very accurate comments. I recently realized that saying the players "okay this is not much fun now but it will be" is meaningless at its core because every scene in a play is meaningful and should be orchestrated so that all of the players can enjoy it. I hope you can take my excuse as a newbie GM for not handling that bit as good as I should.

I don’t want to comment on the effects of your choices here, just that they were not as "effectless" as it seems to you. But still, I’m very happy with your contributions and the characters you have developed throughout. I really respect you for keeping up with the game, as well as some great roleplaying. I’m grateful I get to play with you.
Mar 13, 2022 5:40 pm
First of all, thanks for running this for us, ireneofunyes, and for asking for feedback -- it's by far the fastest way to improve as a GM, and to make adjustments to a game to improve the experience for everyone.

Take my comments as you will -- just my opinion, and they are intended to be constructive rather than bitchy. :)

Qralloq nails it -- at least at the moment, this seems to be a scenario that's kind of at-odds with the traditional style of play that Fate is known for. Some Fate games actually aren't all that open-ended -- there are specific settings and conceits... but one constant is for the PCs to *matter*, for their decisions to really impact how the plot and game unfold, and even for them to be able to affect the fiction itself in small ways. The classic example is a character in a warehouse using Create an Advantage to state that not only are crates present, but they are big and tough enough to provide cover. Someone else might build on that and decide what's in those crates. You can see how this is kind of at odds with the little railroad at the start of this adventure.

I've been suspecting that some of the choices early on will affect things later, and that's fine, but just be aware of something as a GM: some players, when either their full agency is taken away, or it becomes clear that their agency is a mirage, that nothing they do matters in the moment, nothing affects the fiction -- that might be a big enough turn-off that they will just up and quit. Many Fate players are in this camp, as they are playing specifically to collaborate and have that agency and effect on the world.

System-wise, just remember: only ask for rolls when failure is just as interesting an outcome as success...

Hope this helps!
Mar 13, 2022 6:02 pm
Yeah, railroading is the right word for it. I as a player highly dislike railroad gaming, even in video games but I think they are even more frustrating in table top RPGs. I planned the campaign to be this kind of an experience from the beginning but I guess an experienced and clever GM would turn it into a fruitful and more Fate-like game. I’m not that GM (hopefully, yet) but I will try to make you experience that agency as much as possible throughout the rest of the game.
Mar 13, 2022 6:42 pm
ireneofunyes says:
I will try to make you experience that agency as much as possible throughout the rest of the game.
That is the best thing you could have said. I've found you to be a kind and active member of GP. Thanks for giving this a shot and I look forward to what comes next in this game. The mystery you've set up is definitely interesting.
Mar 13, 2022 7:11 pm
Yeah, don't be hard on yourself. Just learn from it!

[Bad news, many years in, I'm still learning. :) ]
Mar 13, 2022 10:45 pm
I won't beat a dead horse repeating what everyone else has already said. I'll just add that I was having fun with that last scene before you ended it, and I'd have liked to play it out more. I'm enjoying playing Hariette, and the interactions with the other players, and I'm looking forward to the story continuing.
Mar 13, 2022 11:45 pm
I'm not qualified to say much since Fate is new to me but I am enjoying my character too.
Mar 14, 2022 9:47 am
naelick says:
I won't beat a dead horse repeating what everyone else has already said. I'll just add that I was having fun with that last scene before you ended it, and I'd have liked to play it out more. I'm enjoying playing Hariette, and the interactions with the other players, and I'm looking forward to the story continuing.
Glad to hear that! I have plans coming up.
Windyridge says:
I'm not qualified to say much since Fate is new to me but I am enjoying my character too.
Please don’t feel that way. You don’t have to comment on how accurate this game is for a Fate game, I’d like to hear your opinions on your experience throughout.

@FluxCapacitor, how about you?

Lastly, let’s set a deadline before we start the next session. I’m proposing Thursday night. I’ll start the next session sometimes during Friday (we’re probably on different time zones so it’ll depend on where you are). Until Thursday night (17 March) I’d like for you to finish:

-Details of your characters after minor milestone like stunts, aspects, or any other option rules allow you. You can continue as it is, of course, if that’s what you prefer but remember that if you don’t make any changes to stunts and aspects, you can only change them after another minor/major milestone after that, so you will kind of miss your chance.

-Ideas for your ship. I kind of went with "ships as characters" concept where I designed the ship as a character, gave it some skills and stunts etc but as I said before you are free to do whatever you want. I remember a suggestion about an AI planted to the ship, for example. I’d like to hear your opinions on how you’d like to proceed this.

-Lastly, this is not something you must do but you can both give some suggestions for the larger setting and worldbuilding or for your characters as well. These things will sort themselves out during the game probably but if you have any ideas or concepts you’d like to explore I’m open for it. You can also ask me to clarify some things I set on the beginning.
Mar 14, 2022 2:08 pm
I'll see what I can do by Thursday, but here's an advanced heads-up: I'm going to be on vacation and likely not reading / posting much from March 19-27th...
Mar 14, 2022 2:26 pm
Oh, hope you’ll have fun on your vacation. If you’ll be completely unavailable, then we can postpone our starting date to 27th or 28th. If you can post (although seldom) during that time then we’ll start when you’ll be able to finish your character. A hiatus that long may not be so good for the general game but we can if we must. Or, alternatively, we (you and I) can make something up why your character is unable at the moment (like you passing out or something).
Mar 14, 2022 4:25 pm
I think you should proceed -- don't wait that long. Chances are decent I'll be able to post a couple of times, and if not, just put Hiro in a situation where you're not waiting on him...
Mar 14, 2022 6:12 pm
My two cents - I liked the intro scene, and felt it was a bit like the teaser at the beginning of a show episode. It gives a bit of flavor and piques your interest. Maybe because I was anticipating that, I didn't have expectations that we were going to have a whole lot of agency in this scene. More that it was going to be chance for the players to get to know each others characters a bit and establish a little bit of their relationships before we dive in to the meat of it.

As for timing, I'm up for staying on pace. I'm really liking everybody's characters and their distinct personalities. I think everybody did a great job and I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.
Mar 14, 2022 6:21 pm
Great. I'm really happy that you engaged with the story and liked it. For the timing, we're back withh the original deadline. You finish those character details until Thursday night (or Friday morning for some) then during Friday I'll post the next step.
Mar 14, 2022 11:13 pm
I think I'm looking to add one more aspect, and likely not adding any stunts or changing skills. I feel like Hariette ought to have had an aspect that applied to that mental attack, but she didn't, so I will think of something
Mar 24, 2022 12:59 pm
Unfortunately I won’t be posting until tomorrow due to some personal issues. I’ll get the story going as soon as I find the time. Sorry for delay.
Mar 24, 2022 9:17 pm
No worries, RL comes first. We'll be here.
Mar 25, 2022 2:31 am
Three more days before I'm back from vaca and on a more regular schedule...
Apr 3, 2022 6:36 am
Still looking for comments on the ship stunt? It doesn't follow normal Fate conventions, though plenty of Fate games use stunts in more flexible ways...
Apr 3, 2022 8:20 am
Yeah, we can discuss it. As I mentioned you can modify it as you like. It was merely a placeholder.
Apr 8, 2022 5:01 am
Is everything alright? You seem reluctant to post since we started Session 2.
Apr 8, 2022 6:38 am
Sorry. Lots of things going on here. I'm hoping April eventually settles and becomes a little more manageable than March was...
Apr 8, 2022 11:07 am
I hope so :) But it wasn't just you, almost every player hasn't responded for quite some time or has been responding rather scarcely. Let me know if something's wrong, whether about the game or in general.
Apr 8, 2022 1:58 pm
Sorry for the delay. I have had no good ideas on how to proceed.
Apr 8, 2022 2:19 pm
I'm going to withdraw from the game. It just didn't click for me.
Apr 8, 2022 3:09 pm
Windyridge says:
I'm going to withdraw from the game. It just didn't click for me.
I’m very sorry to hear that, Windyridge. I hope we get to play together in another game.

Now I’m curious on what the others think about this, especially @FluxCapacitor and @naelick since they haven’t responded still. Does anyone fee the same way?
Apr 8, 2022 3:15 pm
For sure, me too.
Apr 8, 2022 4:00 pm
Given that, I'm leaning strongly toward exiting, too. I'm not sure that I'm cut out for this style of Fate.
Apr 8, 2022 4:22 pm
Well, that's a bummer... That's two out of five people neither engaging nor enjoying the game, that's a bad sign. Unless the remaining three are super down to continue, I'm now thinking of retiring this game.
Apr 8, 2022 8:25 pm
I'd do that at this stage, ireneofunyes. I had a hard time getting engaged with this due to the opener, and honestly I've been looking at reducing my overall game load recently. I'll step back too -- thanks for running!
Apr 8, 2022 8:42 pm
Well, it’s settled then. I’ll wait for the remaining players’ answers before closing the game. Thank you all for joining me through this adventure. I’ll try to not make this bother me, instead learn from my mistakes so that I won’t make my possible future players uncomfortable like I did to you. I hope you at least had some joy in this and I also hope I can get to play with you again some day.
Apr 9, 2022 9:24 am
Oh wow, I'm sorry to see the exodus here. I enjoyed myself thoroughly in the game. It seems like people have some very definite opinions on how Fate games should operate (not a criticism, just an observation) and it would make me feel a little intimidated about trying to GM one. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into the game and the setting, and I hope we can game together again in the future.
Apr 9, 2022 1:44 pm
I'd like to clarify they I like ireneofunyes as a GM, a deft storyteller and fairly astute at knowing when to be poking people to keep going.

I think the opening bit left me with no agency or sense of purpose and instead of growing attached to my character I became ambivalent, that whatever choices I'd made were somewhat erased.

I'd be happy to play with you again ireneofunyes. Maybe not in a game that begins with a dream, haha.
Apr 9, 2022 2:15 pm
Yeah, please don't take it the wrong way. I can't tell you how many games I've run over the years that haven't gotten off the ground!
Apr 9, 2022 3:18 pm
I've been enjoying the game and would be happy to continue or start another game, but I also confess to be at a loss at how to proceed. I had a busy week at work and even though I opened the game several times to check it, I couldn't think of what I wanted to do or have happen, so I was waiting on someone else. Hariette is a pretty active character but I didn't want to be the one dominating every situation.

Also I'll second Qralloqs continuing feeling of lack of agency, though it might have just been miscommunication. Talking with those aliens, I felt like I would have liked to roll it as a social combat. But I think that might be on me for not stating what I wanted clearly enough. And one of my favorite aspects of fate is compels, and the tension generated from spending fate points to succeed in one situation knowing it might cost you later. But again, I could have communicated that I wanted that, rather than wait and see if it would happen.

Anyways, seconding that I'd be happy to try again when you want to
Apr 9, 2022 6:56 pm
First of all, thank you all for taking the time to both play the game and express your opinions. As I said I'll try to learn lessons from this experience. Still I hope I didn't make some of you think that Fate is not a game for them. Most of the problems arising from this game happened because of my GM'ing and handling the story, not because of the system. Especially for Windyridge and Qralloq who seem to think Fate is not for them. I'd suggest you to try it at least one more time.
Quote:
Anyways, seconding that I'd be happy to try again when you want to
Sure. I'll definitely try another Fate game, although probably not soon. When that happens, if you're still around and interested, you will have special seats for recruitment :)

I wish you all fun games. I'll leave the game open for a few more days before retiring it in case any of you have anything to add.

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