Questions on Aspects & Locations

[Wendell_Burke]

I’m new to Fate and was wondering if anyone could please help me out with answering some questions about Aspects? I’ve read the book and I get how they work when it comes to the player character sheet well enough, I think, but I have a little trouble with the changing contexts as they apply to Faces & Locations.

1.   It seems that the books indicate that the very best Aspects should easily apply in both a positive and negative way when it comes to the character. Does this also hold true for all other applications of Aspects? I mean, Troubles are specifically marked as that, so I get that those are just supposed to be negative, But this works the same for Locations also?

2.   If it does work the same for Locations, could you provide some examples and maybe a little explanation for ones that might work well and how they might be used?

3.   What if the Location is just supposed to be a good place for your character, like their apartment? I know bad things can still happen there, but when you choose an Aspect for a Location, is that just describing the Location itself, or the Face’s relationship TO that Location?

4.   Is the Face’s Concept it’s ‘High Concept Aspect’, or should it be a Concept that specifically includes its relationship to the Location it’s associated with? Can you provide some examples?

5.   The Idea is just a brief physical description of the Location? I know this overlaps with the Aspect for the Location, but I’m not quite clear on the distinction between the two?

6.   Can you please elaborate on how a Face relates to the Themes and Threats of a Location? If you had a Theme like, “This city is rotting!”, I understand you generally tie the Face to that Theme somehow, but Themes like this seem so large that it can be contributed to a whole bunch of factors rather than just the villain. Am I missing something here?

[Sanctaphrax]

In general, there aren't hard rules for this sort of thing. You can play without even making Locations and Faces; the guidelines in the book are just one reliable way to build a solid foundation for a game.

1. It's generally a good thing if an Aspect has many and varied possibilities. Not actually a problem if some Aspects are pretty much all good or all bad, though.

2. A classic example is ACCORDED NEUTRAL GROUND. Sometimes it's convenient for you that a place is neutral; other times it's a problem. Good if you want to arrange a nonviolent meeting or get the Unseelie Accords involved; bad if you want to attack someone there, or want to avoid the Unseelie Accords at all costs.

3. It's describing whatever you think is important about the location, whatever you're likely to invoke and compel.

4. It's fine if a Face's HC has nothing to do with their Location. If you look in the back of YS, many of the Baltimore Faces have unrelated HCs.

5. The Idea is usually a longer, clearer, and less evocative version of the Aspect. The Aspect boils down the Idea, basically.

6. A single Face isn't gonna express everything about a Theme and doesn't need to. They just need to bring that theme to the forefront whenever they're a major presence in a scene. For example, a corrupt mayor could serve as the Face of THE CITY IS ROTTING if interacting with him makes the city's rot clear.

[Wendell_Burke]

Ah, ok. This helps. Thanks!

[gog]

Also some location aspects might only be there for the short term such as:

• Pitch Dark
• Blasing Inferno

These aspects describe a feature of the location, and can be used by any one present

Some more permanent ones might be

• Really bad smell of decay
• Crumbling structure
• Quiet and out of the way

Again may be good or bad for everyone.

[Wendell_Burke]

Excellent! Thanks!