Having trouble with Aspects

[Loki5654]

Hello All,

I'm very new to the FATE system and am currently bumbling my way through the character creation process in an attempt to better understand it. I've got my Template, High-Concept Aspect, Trouble Aspect, Skills and Powers down (no problems there), but I'm having trouble coming up with the Phase Apsects (Background, Rising conflict, etc.)

I'll see if I can ape the format the PbP'ers use to identify their characters so you all can take a look. I'm hoping that by opeing up the discussion in my head to the wider forum that it might spark some creativity.

Also, in regards to "The Story", "Guest Star" and "Guess Star Redux": how much should one do prior to the game? I'm not currently in a game and was wondering how much a player should do on their own and hopw much I should leave blank to be filled in with input from the DM and the other players (should they exist)?

Thanks in advance!

Steven

[Ophidimancer]

Also, in regards to "The Story", "Guest Star" and "Guess Star Redux": how much should one do prior to the game?

The Story is pretty much back story, so this can be done before getting a group, but you might want to wait on the last two Phases.

Give us some of the answers to the questions asked in Phase 1 and 2 and maybe we can help you out with those Aspects.

[Loki5654]

OK here's what I have so far:

Adrian Huggins – Feet in the Water
High Aspect: Scion of Odin's Ravens
Invoke: To know some mundane information from books, or something specific to your supernatural nature.
Compel: You need to work. Something of your nature emerges and interferes with normal life.

Trouble: Self-Loathing Shifter
Invoke: Resist attempts to talk you into using your powers. Resist attempts to distract you with praise.
Compel: Don't use your powers when they would be convenient. Succumb to attempts to belittle you.

Phase One: Background
"Many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore..."
Adrian grew up in a small Alaskan town (Palmer) with his potato farmer parents. A shy, nerdish child, he has no idea that he is a direct descendant of Hugin, one of Odin's Ravens.

His heritage as a child of Thought and Memory gives him an insatiable curiosity for knowledge and a near-eidetic memory. He is constantly reading books, editing Wikipedia, addicted to TV-Tropes and an avid fan of all other sorts of information.

After High School, he received a scholarship to attend the University of Washington. He graduated with a degree in Library Sciences and currently works in the Archives of the University Libraries.

Phase Aspect: Odin's Memory Bank
Adrian has an encyclopedic knowledge on a vast variety of subjects and is always eager to learn more.
Invoke: To uncover or recall information.
Compel: To pique his curiosity and overcome his usual habit to "not get involved".

Phase Two: Rising Conflict
"From my books surcease of sorrow..."
Adrian has never fully embraced his were nature and has a strong desire to appear or be normal.

Ever since he discovered his shifter nature as a teen, he has done his best to suppress that part of his personality. Early on, this would lead to sessions of "sleep-shifting" where he would wake, naked, out in the Alaskan woods. Now an adult, he has learned to better control this problem, but he still wishes he didn't have to deal with it at all.

In pursuit of this he has begun secretly researching the paranormal and supernatural, attempting to find a cure for himself or a technique that will grant him better control.

Phase Aspect:Fight or Flight?
Adrian suppresses his wereraven nature, but sometimes has trouble controlling it.
Invoke: To avoid revealing his wereraven nature and conceal his abilities.
Compel: To force him to use his abilities when he would otherwise not.

Phase Three: The Story
"An Unkind Conspiracy"
Guest Starring: A Wereblank To Be Named Later

When a rare book of potential supernatural power is stolen, Wereraven Adrian Huggins must recover it before he loses his job and is exposed for what he truly is. But will Adrian succeed when he is up against a cabal of fellow were-creatures? Also, why does the Monoc Corporation seem so interested in the career of a simple college Librarian?

Phase Aspect: I Have A Destiny...But I Don't Know Why.
A mysterious conspiracy has marked Adrian as someone with potential, but he is unsure why they would think that.
Invoke:
Compel:

Human Form
Rank   Skills
+4      Scholarship
+3      Alertness, Investigation
+2      Discipline, Performance, Lore
+1      Athletics, Stealth, Survival, Weapons

Raven Form
Rank   Skills
+4      Alertness
+3      Stealth, Athletics
+2      Fists, Investigation, Survival
+1      Lore, Discipline, Performance, Scholarship

Stunts/Powers
Cost     Stunts & Powers
-1        Beast Change
-1        Echoes of the Beast
+1       Human Form
-1        Dimunitive Size*
-2        Inhuman Speed
-1        Wings*

*Beast form only

[Morgan]

Yeah the two guest star phases should really wait until you have some other characters and their stories to guest star in. But there's no reason not to make up your story and figure out the aspect you got from it.

I'll also point you to Rick Neal's blog on coming up with aspects for Dresden Files characters, really all of his DFRPG advice is well worth a read.

http://www.rickneal.ca/?p=619

[TheMouse]

I'd actually contradict the advice of the above posters with regards to making characters in advance.

It is my experience that it is best to talk to your game group before making a character. Sharing a vision of the sort of game you all would like to play is important. It helps to avoid a lot of potential problems that can arise from a lack of managing expectations.

That said...

* Wereraven Librarian
Invoke -- To know some mundane information from books, or something specific to your supernatural nature.
Compel -- You need to work. Something of your nature emerges and interferes with normal life.

* Self Loathing Shifter
Invoke -- Resist attempts to talk you into using your powers. Resist attempts to distract you with praise.
Compel -- Don't use your powers when they would be convenient. Succumb to attempts to belittle you.

[Ophidimancer]

Hmm ... well for his Background, what's the thing that has the most impact on his present story?  Where he's from, how he was raised, and all the other mundane stuff?  Or is the most significant thing the fact that he discovers his powers and tries to hide them?  If the second thing, then I suggest something like I Just Want To Be Normal, which is actually an Aspect I'm using for one of my characters, but hey it fits.

Then you want to come up with your first adventure, something to test the character and his ideals.  Generally something comes up to test that first Aspect, and the second Aspect comes out of the kinds of decisions the character makes, how he deals with his Trouble intruding on his life.

[Loki5654]

The Story is pretty much back story, so this can be done before getting a group, but you might want to wait on the last two Phases.

That's what I figured, but thank you for independent verification.

Give us some of the answers to the questions asked in Phase 1 and 2 and maybe we can help you out with those Aspects.

OK, here goes:

What nation, region, culture are you from?
USA, Alaska, Palmer. Pretty darn close to 100% Scandanavian ancestry, but with enough other stuff mixed in to give me dark black hair. "Huggins" is actually a shortened form of something like "Hugenborgsturgsonsen" you know - typical Norwegian. (OOC: I'd like to imagine that he's actually a long lost decendant of one of Odin's Ravens and that his family name used to be Huginsen)

What were your family circumstances like? What's your relationship with your family?
Pretty normal. Only child. Both parents still alive and still married. We probably don't talk as much as we should. They've got that Norwegian stoic-ness you hear Garrison Keillor talk about so much. Our conversations don't range much beyond "How are you?" "Fine." "That's good, we're fine too."

How were you educated?
Public school, but I supplemented it by spending a lot of my free time at the library reading. I don't know why, but I seem to have a much better memory than most people. Once a month, my dad would drive me down to Anchorage and I'd spend pretty much a whole weekend inside the giant Loussac Library. That's what got me started on the path to becoming a Librarian. I got a small scholarship to the UW and graduated with a degree in Library Science and now I work for the University's Library Dept.

More to come.

[Loki5654]

What were your friends like?
I didn't have many friends. I preferred to read. I played with other kids when I was a kid and hung out with other nerd-types in school, so I wasn't completely socially inept, but there isn't really anyone I'd call "friend".

Did you get into trouble much?
As a kid? No. In my mid-teens I did have a bout of sleep-walking where I'd end up waking up naked in my parent's potato fields. I'd usually make it home before anyone noticed, but I did get picked up by the cops one time. I got off with a warning and my parents put me through some counciling. (OOC: He was suppressing his shifter nature and was "sleep-shifting")

If you're supernatural, how early did you learn this?
I, uh...don't know what you mean. I'm...uh...just a normal guy. (OOC: Early to mid teens)

Were there problems?
With what? I told you, I"M NORMAL. (OOC: The above mentioned sleep shifting, though he's practiced hard to keep that mostly under control and occasionally will indulge in some "raven nights" just to take the edge off.)

[Loki5654]

* Wereraven Librarian
Invoke -- To know some mundane information from books, or something specific to your supernatural nature.
Compel -- You need to work. Something of your nature emerges and interferes with normal life.

* Self Loathing Shifter
Invoke -- Resist attempts to talk you into using your powers. Resist attempts to distract you with praise.
Compel -- Don't use your powers when they would be convenient. Succumb to attempts to belittle you.

I like this! Thanks!

[Morgan]

So with those background details, and your High Concept and Trouble aspects set down for the moment, let's take a look at your Background and the Rising Conflict phases.

Some possible places to look for aspects in his background, he's from small town Alaska, he was a bit of a nerd, he learned how to shapeshift in high school, and he just wants to be normal.

The first question I have is how did the whole wereraven thing come about? In the Dresdenverse most shapeshifters actively seek out the power and learn the ability on their own or from a teacher, so who taught Ardian how to do it? Or is this a bloodline Curse, or an natural ability that just sort of sprung up on him? If he didn't go looking for the power how did it come to him? Did he at one point want to be a weresomething and then get freaked out about the whole thing once he found out what it was like to grow wings and a beak, and having to learn to fly like a bird? Does his family know about it an how might they have reacted? Does he come from a whole family/flock of wereravens?

But most of those questions are a little bit more about your High Concept but taking a background aspect that deals with where the werepower comes from or a relationship with a mentor can be a good aspect. "Trickster's Bloodline", "Morrigan's Stormcrow", "Odin's Memory Bank" or maybe something about who taught him to shift. Other areas that you can look to for is his formative years in Alaska. How did that shape him as an individual? Did he learn anything from it, or could he not wait to get out of there? Also he's a bit nerdy, did he spend all of his time in the town library? What did he study and what did it teach him? "Head in the Clouds, Nose in a Book", "Knowledge is Power" and the like could work as ideas for possible aspects from his nerdiness and also tie in nicely with his librarian shtick.

For his Rising Conflict phase I'd look to the reason why he doesn't want to be a shapeshifter. What happened to make him want to abandon the power? Did something attack him or his family? Was there some responsibility that came with the power that he did not want? Also think about his move to Seattle, college, and his new career. Was he going to leave all that wereraven stuff forgotten in his past and go to the big city? If so did fate, or something else conspire to make him have to embrace his powers? The old with great power comes great responsibility saw comes to mind for his aspect in this phase combined with why he is ignoring that power. With his trouble as it is worded now why does he loath himself? Something that came up during his rising conflict phase is probably responsible.

Now with all that said I am really tempted to just look up Poe's the Raven and look for some nice quotes to make aspects from, but I don't know how much you want to embrace or avoid that idea. Though the aspect "Curious Volumes of Forgotten Lore" for a Wereraven Librarian is nearly perfect.

[Loki5654]

The first question I have is how did the whole wereraven thing come about? In the Dresdenverse most shapeshifters actively seek out the power and learn the ability on their own or from a teacher, so who taught Ardian how to do it? Or is this a bloodline Curse, or an natural ability that just sort of sprung up on him? If he didn't go looking for the power how did it come to him? Did he at one point want to be a weresomething and then get freaked out about the whole thing once he found out what it was like to grow wings and a beak, and having to learn to fly like a bird? Does his family know about it an how might they have reacted? Does he come from a whole family/flock of wereravens?

He's the greatx12 grandson of Odin's Raven, Hugin. I think I need to come up with some sort of incident from his teen years that would have caused enough stress to involuntarily "flip the switch" in his brain. His family doesn't know, or at least he doesn't think they know.

Now with all that said I am really tempted to just look up Poe's the Raven and look for some nice quotes to make aspects from, but I don't know how much you want to embrace or avoid that idea. Though the aspect "Curious Volumes of Forgotten Lore" for a Wereraven Librarian is nearly perfect.

I need a little more time to digest the rest and more free time to respond but I like the "Curious Volumes of Forgotten Lore". Maybe I'll swap out Rapprt for Lore and say that he's done some research into the supernatural hoping to find a "cure" for himself, but failing that some techniques to help him control it.

[Morgan]

Damn it! I need to learn to type faster as you are answering questions before I've even posted them, and I dare not go back and change them lest those changes become obsolete by even more posts.

A "Photographic Memory" aspect might be in order but that's a bit of a lamely worded aspect, that "Odin's Memory Bank" from my previous post would probably work better given the background and supernatural origin you've described. For the sleepshifting concept maybe "Night Flights", "I Dream of Flying", or "Restless Wing Syndrome", "Nocturnal Missions", though "Embarrassing Police Record" is a possibility.

[Loki5654]

So, in general, his Background would be something about his supernatural heritage and his love of reading with the Aspect being "Photographic Memory" or "Odin's Memory Bank" (which I like the sound of) or something like that.

His Rising Conflict would be about his desire to be normal/cure himself/avoid whatever fate he may have ("From my books surcease of sorrow") and how it has given him "Restless Wing Syndrome"?

This is the mental block I keep running into. I can come up with a story, I'm just not sure how to format it for the game system.

[Deep_Flow]

Sounds like a reluctant Hero to me which is a wonderful concept.

As a gm I would compel you to use your powers rather than not using them. Since you already avoid using them.

I would also advise you to expand upon the librarian aspect. Something along the lines of: Cannot forget about what he read about what's out there. In other words, your book knowledge is haunting you...

Another good aspect might be: Tries too hard to look normal or Appears to be normal at first sight.

[CMEast]

Interesting character idea. One thought for you, if it's a bloodline thing then perhaps others in his family have the same blood. Maybe his father or grandfather shares the same secret and is equally embarrassed but far more experienced. Maybe, as others have said, there is a small and secret community (a murder) of were-ravens that he can all in.

So anyway, I'd basically suggest you have a aspect reflecting that you do have family and keeps the options open for how they can be included in to the story as either help or hindrance. Something like 'My family doesn't know' or similar. Including your secret and your family. It can be invoked when talking to the family or for keeping your secret (you're used to lying about your powers) and it can also be used as a compel; your family can be in danger, or can put burdens on you, both of which can generate fate points.