(1.)What are your approaches for teaching new players the various mechanics, from Aspects to Thaumaturgy?
(2.)How do you explain such things to a group that is more familiar with number crunching than writing a backstory?
(3.)How much thought do you put in a backstory, or expect your players to put into the story of their characters?
(4.)Do you have a preferred character creation approach?
(5.)As a GM, do you have suggestions for a cheat sheet, whether for the new players or even for yourself?
(6.)If you have ever made said cheat sheets, would you care to give an idea as to what is there and how it was done, what inspired it, etc?
(7.)Do you have a cap for a set number of players, so as to not go overboard, drag down play, or even keep the system intact?
How do you explain such things to a group that is more familiar with number crunching than writing a backstory?I would explain that the backstory is the story how the character got his numbers. For example if a character has good shooting skills, maybe he was in the army, maybe his father taught him how to shoot and he is talented that way.
How much thought do you put in a backstory, or expect your players to put into the story of their characters?
Do you have a preferred character creation approach?
--Crion
What are your approaches for teaching new players the various mechanics, from Aspects to Thaumaturgy?
How do you explain such things to a group that is more familiar with number crunching than writing a backstory?
How much thought do you put in a backstory, or expect your players to put into the story of their characters?
Do you have a preferred character creation approach?
As a GM, do you have suggestions for a cheat sheet, whether for the new players or even for yourself?
If you have ever made said cheat sheets, would you care to give an idea as to what is there and how it was done, what inspired it, etc?
Do you have a cap for a set number of players, so as to not go overboard, drag down play, or even keep the system intact?
(1.)What are your approaches for teaching new players the various mechanics, from Aspects to Thaumaturgy?
(2.)How do you explain such things to a group that is more familiar with number crunching than writing a backstory?
(3.)How much thought do you put in a backstory, or expect your players to put into the story of their characters?
(4.)Do you have a preferred character creation approach?
(5.)As a GM, do you have suggestions for a cheat sheet, whether for the new players or even for yourself?
(6.)If you have ever made said cheat sheets, would you care to give an idea as to what is there and how it was done, what inspired it, etc?
(7.)Do you have a cap for a set number of players, so as to not go overboard, drag down play, or even keep the system intact?
Deadmanwalking, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one using "tutorial mode" here. How did the players sync with the ideas of manuevers? Additionally, was it the whole party against one, or was there just one party member doing the talking/combat?
The later, physical, fight with a Black Court Vampire and six jacked-up Renfields, had somewhat less maneuvering, since there were more, weaker, foes. Though the Maneuvering there was was very effective thanks to the winged Changeling using an Enchanted Item to put the Aspect "Unstable Shelving" on the warehouse and then tagging or invoking it for effect repeatedly to push shelves over onto an entire zone of Renfields (usually about 3 of them). Letting an appropriate Tag make an attack zone-wide seemed appropriate enough to me.
That. . .sounds genius. Seriously. Were the shelves an already existing scene aspect, or were they just there in the background until the player came up with the idea?
And to get things straight in my head: most of the players did Maneuvers of sorts against the single target to help with creating Aspects to Tag to really get her to give in, correct? I'm assuming that otherwise her Defenses/Blocks were better than expected?
As for the example you have that I quoted: By my reading, the player used a maneuver to give a scene/location based Aspect of "Unstable Shelving" which was then tagged/invoked to place zone-wide attacks (much akin to explosions/Evocation)? Would that be a Weapons roll, or was all of the tagging done by the Enchanted Item?
Just really curious, but that does sound like a rather great idea, and I'm curious how you ruled that (especially since it is quite clear you know these mechanics better than I).
No, he came up with it, then used magic (his Deck can place Luck based Aspects on the scene) to make it so, though honestly, I might've allowed it as a Declaration of some sort.
Creating the Aspect was the result of the Item, after that it was all just him attacking. I let him use Fists, actually, since it was his combat skill of choice and pushing a shelf over on some people while flying is actually pretty simple. I probably would've allowed someone to use Weapons instead if they were better at it.
Allowing the use of a Tag for a zone attack isn't technically stated anywhere, but it's a 2 shift effect with magic...which, for me, makes it seem like exactly the scale of effect you should get from tagging or invoking for effect.
And correct me if I'm wrong, but a Declaration in this sense would have been Investigation or Alertness roll (if any roll, for that matter) to state that the shelves were there in the first place (and potentially be loose without using magic), correct?
Just getting a better understanding of these things.
The ruling overall sounds pretty fair to me, and spending a Fate Point to blast everyone in a zone sounds like a pretty fair price to pay. I assume you set up a Weapons rating for the shelves, or was it just the flat out attack? Again, just getting a feel for these things.
This stuff isn't Dresden specific, but from prior FATE experience.
(1.)What are your approaches for teaching new players the various mechanics, from Aspects to Thaumaturgy?
Give a quick intro on the basics, then get to the rest in play. The basics are skill rolls and how to invoke Aspects, mostly.
Then, once play begins, ask people to tell you the type of actions they'd like to do without using game terms. So someone might want to prevent someone from running out of the room with the magical tome of stuff. At that point, I quickly explain the block action. Someone with high knowledge skills wants to help in a fight, I quickly tell them about how they can use that to slap Aspects on the target of the group's tank. Etc.
(2.)How do you explain such things to a group that is more familiar with number crunching than writing a backstory?
I just get to playing. Back story is fine if it is emergent during play. It's also fine if someone's not interested in that but would rather get to playing their guy. As long as everyone's having fun, it completely doesn't matter if one dude has an extensive background and the other has, "My dude was a thug in Chicago. Can we play now?"
(3.)How much thought do you put in a backstory, or expect your players to put into the story of their characters?
I find a concept to be more important. Know who your dude is now and what he'd like to do. Answer the whys of things as they come up or as inspiration hits.
I'm very improvisational, both as a player and a GM, so this approach might not be great for people who don't think that way. It's just what works for me.
(4.)Do you have a preferred character creation approach?
Spot something cool that gives me a concept. Make a dude out of that concept. Think of something cool for that dude to do. Reword that something into a goal. Make the guy. Play.
This means that I hit the ground with a character I think is cool who wants to do something in which I'm interested. This motivates me to invest in the character.
(5.)As a GM, do you have suggestions for a cheat sheet, whether for the new players or even for yourself?
The one GoldenH posted looks very cool. It's got most of the important rules stuff, at a quick glance.
I make sure to record all PC Aspects. An index card works the best for me. When in doubt, I can glance down and see if something leaps out at me.
(6.)If you have ever made said cheat sheets, would you care to give an idea as to what is there and how it was done, what inspired it, etc?
I don't tend to make cheat sheets. Instead, I get neurotic about memorizing everything. This is, a. not for everyone, and b. not necessarily healthy for the brain.
(7.)Do you have a cap for a set number of players, so as to not go overboard, drag down play, or even keep the system intact?
I prefer three to five. This is a good, "Enough, but not too much," range for me. Two is okay if the players are really motivated. Six isn't too much if the players play well with others. I'm not generally good with one on one, and I often get distracted with big crowds.
This will vary from group to group and GM to GM. Go with what feels comfortable for you. Be willing to experiment a little. The more comfortable you are with the group and with the rules, the more likely you'll be comfortable with larger crowds. The more you and your players are willing to grab things and go, the more likely you'll be good with smaller groups.
Yep. Or Resources if you own the building (which a PC actually did, though he was busy casting Thaumaturgy in the basement), or Craftsmanship used as a Knowledge skill to recognize them as loose...
Any way you did it, you could definitely make them Unbalanced as well as there fairly easily as a Declaration. But his Magic Item is a 4 shift effect, and thus automatically successful in putting a Sticky Aspect on the scene...and hence somewhat better.
It never came up, he used them purely to Maneuver, pinning people under them. Though i likely would've gone with Weapon: 2 or so. They were metal shelves, and heavy, but nothing spectacularly deadly.
Ah. Thanks for the extra elaboration on that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the idea of putting a Sticky Aspect on a person/scene requires you to beat their defense with leftover shifts when you perform an maneuver (for a person) or by making a declaration and beating a set difficulty (in the case of a location)?
When it comes to pinning as a sticky aspect, you use it like a grapple, or did it just give the characters that edge to bring harm to them when invoking?
And now this gets me to thinking. . .how much detail to you put into your locations? I don't mean description detail, but in the way of Aspects. Do you make a list of one or two, followed by a slew of potential declarations/assessments?
Sorry if I seem really dense/out of it with this. Sleep deprivation is finally catching up to me >_>
Thanks for bearing with me everyone!
digital3lf, you have a good point with the idea of ignorance when it comes to a new setting, especially in the supernatural genre. It is a nice way of slowly introducing people into things, but I don't think the method would work at the moment with my current cast. I'm currently looking at putting the bar just high enough to allow Wizards at the table; it keeps me from feeling guilty about throwing the really strange things at the party while giving them the options of power to keep them interested in playing.
(Last game I tried to have a Vanilla Mortal approach in a supernatural game, everyone was eying up what they were gunning to become and we never even got through character creation).
But I do have to ask. . .with that approach of yours, do you just ignore the milestones and just bring them to the next point of power, or do you just offer more Major Milestones instead?
Correct in regards to maneuvering against people. And he had to do precisely that when pinning people. Putting Aspects on a scene sans Magic with a Maneuver has no set difficulty, but is usually really hard to justify. With Magic, any Maneuver requires 3 shifts (or 4 to make it Sticky*) minimum, but doing it to a scene is actually easily justifiable. Declarations are whatever duration Aspect they would be logically, and Assessments figure out existing Aspects, obviously.
*There's a bit of debate on this point, between Duration and making something sticky. My interpretation is that while an Aspect has Duration it can't be removed, but each exchange of that costs a shift of power, making it Sticky is just one shift, but it can be removed with an appropriate skill roll (though you'd need time and a Craftsmanship roll to remove "Unstable Shelving").
Nah, they just get the Aspect: Pinned, which they can remove with a Might roll if they like, and is easily Taggable on attacks against them. No other effects, though for reasons of logic, they'd likely face a Barrier raing to movement (not that that mattered, since they all had guns).
Not really. I'm honestly new at this and didn't have any on that Scene beyond those the players put there (though I probably should've), but the second just sounds like a bad idea generally. Having one to three Aspects the scene just has is good, but players should be free to be inventive and imaginitive with Declarations at the least.
Glad to see I wasn't/am not entirely off my rocker.
I can see how that is a point of debate between the two. I can see how some sticky Aspects can be considered as part of the duration, but something as described seems to me as an effect that causes the sticky (i.e. Luck to say "Hey, the shelves are unstable!"). It's like using Evocation to set something on fire; the fire doesn't go away from the duration as long as you weren't fueling the fire solely by your thoughts, which I can see that "Aspect" vanishing when the fire does at the end of the duration.
Did that make sense at all, or am I being a little more out of it than expected?
So, the "Pinned" Aspect would have counted as a barrier to move over, which would have been Athletics to get "over," as per moving, correct? And if a player chose to, could they have invoked the "Pinned" Aspect to aid in their defense rolls from being shot at, claiming line of sight/leverage, correct?
And the Might roll you mentioned is to break free is the concept of performing a maneuver or just overall doing something to counter the effects?
Sounds like a similar approach to what I do. Just wasn't sure if there are people out there that need to be paranoid enough to consider every Aspect possibility (and yes, I had a GM do something akin to that in a different game). Again, just seeing what others do and how they view things.
Sorry this is long, and a little presumptuous. If this comes off as a ramble, please disregard. ;)
I think you can get away with 8 or even 10 refresh characters and still maintain "newness" about the setting. Although you may find you're handing out more information to successful Lore or other knowledge checks (since the PC's might know more about the setting than the players actually do). It sounds like your players are looking at the supernatural powers as more of a shopping list than a list of character options with pros/cons. You know your group best, but I would try to impress the idea that supernatural power in this game causes a loss of fate points, and, in story terms, their free will. Maintaining humanity (weaknesses included) is a major theme of the setting. As soon as they "succeed" in becoming an uber powerful supernatural, the character is in negative refresh. It can be a difficult task to get in to the mindset that PCs are not the superpowered beings that they are in many other RPGs. It may help if everyone approach it as though they are intended to be the underdogs, and that is what makes them better than the monsters they face. If you or they have any experience with Hunter or Call of Cthulhu, think that style of underdog.
As far as milestones go, I am again blessed with a group that is tolerant of ad hoc experience rewards. I expect that Minor and Significant Milestones will be about as frequent as the books suggest, but Major Milestones will be given at times that are appropriate to support the dramatic flow of the game. I'm envisioning awarding a Major milestone just before the "final showdown" with a bad guy, or perhaps just after they defeat a significant Lieutenant or "right hand" of the big Bad. This way, it's both appropriate for them to advance their supernatural power slightly, and they can immediately bring it to bear against an enemy that used to be too "big" for them (and, with any luck, thoroughly deserves the PCs wrath)!
Starting at a low refresh has the additional benefit of seeing characters grow quite a bit without becoming so powerful as to sunder the planet. If players are digging the game, you can continue giving them boosts at a decent pace without having to scale up the opposition to ridiculous levels. Mind you, those types of godlike enemies can be great, but this is the case, IMO, because of what I was saying about being the underdog!
I was planning to introduce the game with the players quite young, around high school age. Buffy style. A lot of us liked that sort of show. Refresh would be as low as is reasonable to play, 6. They're welcome to have any supernatural in mind (or make their own up). I'm sure someone will want to play a wizard, and that is still completely available, but their power has just started to show, so they would choose what part of the wizard powers they want to have (or replace evoc/thaum with channeling/ritual if they so choose). Pure mortal is of course always an option if that suits someone. I'm also going to give them the option to play a pure mortal but let me secretly plant some supernatural in their past/future that can haunt (and change) them as the story progresses; but it's dealer's choice! They won't know what they are becoming until it starts to happen, but I'll try to match up the nastiness they take on with their character concept.
As it is, the characters would be stepping away from most/all full-blown templates, and instead "grow in to" their powers with a slightly accelerated (and perhaps a bit more sporadic) refresh boost, correct? Again, just trying to get a feel for your approach.
I may have to use a similar idea with most of my players. While those that gripe about "Farmer's Stats" are options, they aren't the actual primary candidates (as they aren't even showing a real interest in the game). Currently, I have one guy sizing up a White Court Vampire and another looking at being a wizard/practitioner of sorts. The others are still on the fence until I get the chance to meet with them, so let's see what happens. . .
That's exactly the plan. The low powered "high school age" is the opening of what could be a larger campaign, depending on interest/enjoyment. I don't suspect they'll go up against anything more powerful than a ghoul, if that. I'm going for a horror theme, both from facing unknown monsters, and the PCs themselves transforming (even if it's just in the psychological sense and they remain mortal). After the characters come into their own I'd likely do a time jump into the next big chapter where the tone would change.
"Farmer stats" in this game just don't strike me as all that boring. Less powerful, for sure, but not boring. I'm sure a good RP'er can stat out a very entertaining, worthwhile, and 3 dimensional "farmer". :P
Undecided WCV's and Wizards are easily done. I explained how a wizard can come into their power, probably being contacted/apprenticed by a White Council member along the way. The potential vamp would need to have one parent (the vamp) be unknown to them, or at least be keeping secrets from them. This way even if they change their mind about being a WC virgin, it was never implicitly stated that they were one. They could do a twist and end up a changeling instead without ever needing to retcon any of your story.
So now I have to ask: what sort of prep work do you do for your cities? (Or do you think I should shift this question to a new thread?)