do NPCs with negative aspects -if they get their aspects tagged - have to spend the FP they 'earn' toward their natural negative refresh - or can they spend them in that same scene as it's happening to increase their rolls? in other words - does negative refresh negate when the players tag the NPCs?
Refresh and Fate points are semi separate. While refresh does determine how many Fate points you get at any refresh event during the game, you can easily gather up Fate points in other ways (like compels). The only way to get refresh is by letting go of powers (or getting more refresh at a milestone).
One thing about the use of aspects, since I feel that there is a bit of confusion, and I remember having the same issues there.
You can generally do 2 things with aspects: invoke and compel, both of which cost fate points.
A compel is pretty straight forward, it makes the character in question act in a way according to the aspect.
Invokes are good for 3 things:
- get +2 on any roll
- reroll any roll (someone made a chart once, for when it is better to take the +2 or when to reroll)
- invoke for effect
That last one is a bit weird, because it can pretty much be anything the table agrees on. Often an invoke for effect is used to start a compel on one or multiple targets. For example, you can invoke your high concept of wizard for effect that you hex all the light in the building, and the GM now compels everyone on the new found "darkness" aspect, because nobody can see a thing.
And then there is a third thing you can do with aspects, that's the tag. If anyone creates an aspect during the game, that aspect comes with a free tag. That tag can be spend for any of the invoke options above, the only difference is, that it does not cost a fate point to do so. That's what makes creating aspects in a conflict so powerful, it's basically free bonuses on your attacks.
If you want to compel someone with a newly created aspect, that's usually when you use the "invoke for effect" option.
