Re: Placing maneuvers/Declarations on the scene

[Baron Hazard]

Been a while since I posted, so I'll say Hi ^^

So been playing Dresden Files and Strands of Fate setting games for a while now, and one thing my players always have trouble with is dropping aspects, using that narrative sandbox-y style system that makes me love Fate so much. And when I'm put on the spot GMing and managing a bunch of things I blank on it myself mostly when im trying to offer them suggestions, so with this thread, anyone care to weigh in on some aspects theyve added to a scene... and maybe what they have then used that aspect for:

Some ideas from me/Canon sources:

Alertness to place the aspect PIPES FULL OF RUNNING WATER on the scene. This can be used to be cracked open and create a barrier vs. Black Court Vampires or invoked compelled to make magic more difficult. Your Story

Alertness to place the aspect CHOPPY WAVES on the scene. The main plan for this is for my group of Hexensharks to use it to make the water more easilly conceal them and make it harder for their prey to swim. Baron Hazard

Conviction maneuver to add THIS IS NOW SACRED GROUND! to satisfy the catches and make certain beasties vulnerable. Also may allow invoke's to benefit certain holy powers. Thanks Chrono

Crafting maneuver to add TERRIBLY LOUD NOISE to the scene, using local machinery. Possible compels to hurt social interaction, Invoke to increase stealth or Distract enemies. Thanks Chrono

Lore declaration to add THIS WAS ONCE SACRED GROUND to the scene to satisfy the catches and make certain beasties vulnerable. Also may allow invoke's to benefit certain holy powers. Scholarship could also be used. Thanks Chrono

Might maneuver to add ICKY FISHY FLOOR to the scene, by knocking over crates of fish. Anything slippery would work. Possible bonuses apply to using the slick environment and fishslime on you to squirm out of grapples. Compels to cause people to slip or fall. Thanks Chrono

Weaponry maneuver to add DARK AS THE PIT to the scene, by taking out the light. Possible uses involve bonuses to stealth, compels to cause attacks to miss or even hit the attacker's allies. Baron Hazard

I'm compiling some more, so I wanted to post this and let other people begin to weigh in.

Note: I figure I may consolidate this in the resources thread, when people begin to weigh in, much like the powers/stunt threads, I'm not sure if it should begin their originally or not, if it should I apologize. Also I tried searching for a similar thread and either it doesnt exist or my search-fu is weak.

[Chrono]

My favorite so far is Icky Fishy Floor. Basically one of the group members decided to us Might to knock over the crates in a warehouse and let them be full of fish. The boxes can be filled with anything slippery in your campaign, even marbles. Compels are used to impose penalties to movement and accuracy of attacks. You can also tap it to squirm your way out of a grapple.

[Baron Hazard]

Thanks Chrono thats exactly the kind of out of the box thinking my players need to think about. ^^ I would throw some more up here but I need to wait until I get my books back as its been a while and the pdfs are too time consuming to flip through and I dont wanna make stupid mistakes xP

[Taran]

I like a "Cluttered Room/Hall/Allyway."

You can use it to take cover, slow people down, knock things on people, create new aspects like "Icky Fishy Floor". 

It's also great for giving players chances to make declarations - It's like a bugs bunny cartoon!  Need an anvil?  There happens to be one here behind this pile of junk!

On the same note, "Crowded" areas keep those trigger-happy wizards from going too crazy.  Bad guys can tag it for cover and it offers compels that risk Lawbreaker stuff or compels for anyone who's worried about hurting innocent bystanders.

[Chrono]

A good CRAFTING maneuver, if you have any sort of machine on the scene, is to create a TERRIBLY LOUD NOISE aspect from the character tinkering. This can be commpelled to hurt any verbal social attacks or spells that require verbal commands. A player could also do this with DRIVING if the machine is a car of some sort. Although removing a muffler might not be considered DRIVING...

[Baron Hazard]

In the book we have:

an Alertness maneuver Declaration to place the aspect PIPES FULL OF RUNNING WATER on the scene. This can be used to be cracked open and create a barrier vs. Black Court Vampires or invoked compelled to make magic more difficult.

an Alertness maneuver Declaration used to place the aspect CHOPPY WAVES on the scene. The main plan for this is for my group of Hexensharks to use it to make the water more easilly conceal them and make it harder for their prey to swim.

[Chrono]

A religious player could probably use CONVICTION to throw a This Was Sacred Ground Once aspect to make demons and such more vulnerable.

[Baron Hazard]

Ooh Chrono. Awesome idea, Thank you

[Tedronai]

A religious player could probably use CONVICTION to throw a This Was Sacred Ground Once aspect to make demons and such more vulnerable.

That'd be better represented as a Declaration.

Many of the Aspects mentioned in this thread would likely be Declarations.

[Chrono]

Fair enough. So perhaps a better aspect would be This Is NOW Sacred Ground and the roll would be the religious character doing his thing with some salt and holy water and prayers.

[Baron Hazard]

I think that comes from a disconnect in my head when making the thread, I know maneuvers and declarations are different but declarations are welcome here. I just would like my players to get a better idea on the "sand box" elements of the Fate system.

[THE_ANGRY_GAMER]

Narratively, they're different, but mechanically, they're pretty much the same, only Declarations don't take an action.

A maneuver is doing something to change a scene.

A declaration is pointing something out which has always been true about a scene, but hasn't been relevant up 'til now.

[Chrono]

Crates of dead fish are ALWAYS relevant.

[Baron Hazard]

Yah thats the disconnect in my head I was meaning is while I know they are narratively different, the two were just the same thing ("Adding an aspect to a scene") in my head.

And Crates of dead fish are indeed always relevent Chrono. ::pats him on the head as he slowly begins to back away::

[Chrono]

No one understands me. Does that make me a misunderstood genius? 

How about using an EMPATHY check to make an appropriate NPC Chrushing On Me? Of course this particular aspect can also backfire if you make an ogre like you and he decides to grapple you in a crushing hug.

I am surprised more people aren't posting ideas.