Looking for advice on how to Self-Compel aspects

[ironpoet]

I've been playing in a Dresden game for a few sessions now, but I've been having trouble finding ways to Self-Compel aspects for Fate points.  Invoking aspects has been easy, but, even though I have ideas about when my aspects would be compelled, they don't seem to come up in play at all.  I was wondering if anyone had general or specific advice about how to compel aspects more often in play.  (Or how to modify Aspects to make them easier to compel.)

In my specific case, my aspects are:

• New Warden In Town
• Somebody Has To Do It
• Knowledge Is Power
• Been Around A Long Time
• Stubborn Old Mule
• Needs Of The Many Outweigh The Few
• (plus one more I plan to replace anyway)

In theory, I expected to compel local magical practicioners to be scared and/or suspicious of me.  I expected local faces to tell me to stay out of their business, which would compel me to dig in my heels and mess with their business.  I expected to compel unexpected backstories and possibly owed favors to local Fae Courts.  And I expected to compel myself to make difficult choices, sacrificing a few innocent souls for the Greater Good.

In practice, our sessions have been more "investigate-y".  Something bad has happened, and we have to fix it.  Most of the people we talk to are not in a position of power (so they can't tell me to back off), and by the time we actually meet anyone of power, it's usually time to start slinging spells rather than discuss our backstories.

In short, I seem to have built a character for a supernatural "Leverage" or "Burn Notice" ("defeat the villain with clever moves and countermoves"), but I seem to be playing a game of supernatural "CSI" ("follow the leads to discover the villain").

Any advice on how to modify my playstyle or aspects to earn Fate points easier?  Has anyone else had similar problems, where their choice of Aspects didn't match up with the style of the game they were in?

Quick update for clarity
As mentioned later in the thread, I'm not looking for ways to compel these specific Aspects.  I'm just mentioning them as a specific example to demonstrate the problem.

What I'm looking for is generic advice for how a Player can modify either their character or their playstyle in order to accomodate the story that the GM wants to tell.  There is already tons of advice for how the GM can modify their story to suit the players, but I'm interested in the opposite.  What can I do to make the game run more smoothly?

[devonapple]

New Warden In Town - Self-Compel to go out and be a jerk to people, shake them up, to hell with Diplomacy. Make some enemies. Basically, troll for punks.

Somebody Has To Do It - You could Self-Compel by getting involved in supernatural conflicts which aren't part of the main adventure, because you are the best one for the job. Especially when doing so will end up providing support that *will* loop back into the main plot.

Knowledge Is Power - Self-Compel to be lured astray by the promise of power or knowledge. Maybe it w*will* help in the long run, or maybe it was a false lead. And if someone offers you information to spare them, well, guess what? They came to the right Warden.

Been Around A Long Time - Resist the urge to move fast, opting to take the long road. Also, lord it over younger people in ways that aren't necessarily endearing.

Stubborn Old Mule - Don't be too eager to embrace new ideas. Choose to distrust people at first. Be stubborn.

Needs Of The Many Outweigh The Few - Put the needs of others (many others) ahead of your own. Suffer. Take damage. When large amounts of innocents are being held hostage, give them what they want.  Besides, you've Been Around a Long Time, and you know an opportunity will present itself to get the bad guy.

[MrobFire]

Somebody Has To Do It - You could Self-Compel by getting involved in supernatural conflicts which aren't part of the main adventure, because you are the best one for the job. Especially when doing so will end up providing support that *will* loop back into the main plot.

Knowledge Is Power - Self-Compel to be lured astray by the promise of power or knowledge. Maybe it w*will* help in the long run, or maybe it was a false lead. And if someone offers you information to spare them, well, guess what? They came to the right Warden.

In particular, it sounds like, with some buy in from the GM and other players, that these two would let you introduce some hooks for the less CSI style stories you seem to be jonesing to play.

[UmbraLux]

New Warden In Town - As the new 'cop' you'll have to prove yourself.  You can't "let things slide" not even minor things by allies...

Somebody Has To Do It - Yes you do...have fun cleaning up all those messes supernatural creatures will leave. 

Knowledge Is Power - You have to use your knowledge when it will gain you power.  Even if it was supposed to be a secret or may have been better off saved...

Been Around A Long Time - You've been around a long time and you're a Stubborn Old Mule...you luddite.  Facebook is a picture book of faces, right?

Stubborn Old Mule - You don't change easily...anytime changing might give you an easier path to your goal, you stubbornly push through with your plans instead of changing.

Needs Of The Many Outweigh The Few - You need to help / protect / save the largest number of people...even if the bad guy gets away or, worse, a friend is taken down.

[AlexFallad]

In a very basic way, self-compelling is rewarding yourself for good rping of your PC.

My char is an Ancient Order Sworn Protector (Pure Mortal) for another PC.  Was he going to do his bare-fisted level best to fight mercs w/ assault rifles?

Yep.  Without being compelled by that High Concept, any sane person would be running in the other direction.

[Sanctaphrax]

Why not fill your last aspect with one that rewards unwise combat tactics? Like EVOCATION IS TOO EASY, which would compel you to fight opponents that you could magically one-shot with your sword.

[ironpoet]

I guess I wasn't being clear (which is understandable, because it's a pretty open-ended question that I'm asking).

I know how I, personally, would want to compel these aspects.  I designed them to be compelled similar to the ways devonapple and Umbralux suggested.  The problem is that those situations don't really seem to be coming up in actual play.

Take "Stubborn Old Mule", for example.  I thought this would be paying off Fate Points all the time.  But so far most of our scenes tend to be crime scenes or interviewing victims.  It's tough to be stubborn in the face of, say, a ransacked room.  "Darn it, room!  Your disorganization won't stop me from finding out the TRUTH!"

So I guess I'm interested in learning:

• How do players manuever the story so that their Aspects can be compelled more?
• How do players modify their Aspects to fit the GM's current style of story?

[ironpoet]

Why not fill your last aspect with one that rewards unwise combat tactics? Like EVOCATION IS TOO EASY, which would compel you to fight opponents that you could magically one-shot with your sword.

That's a good suggestion, and I will see if I can think of something along those lines.  On the other hand, what's the point of playing a Wizard if you can't cut loose with Evocation?

[ironpoet]

In particular, it sounds like, with some buy in from the GM and other players, that these two would let you introduce some hooks for the less CSI style stories you seem to be jonesing to play.

Yes, that's certainly what I'm hoping for.  But at the same time, there's nothing wrong with investigation-style games, so I also wanted to see if there was a good way to tweak my character to fit his stories, rather than vice-versa.

[Sanctaphrax]

Well, if you want to cut loose with evocation, you could try:

EVOCATION IS THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING
NO IDEA HOW TO USE MY SWORD
OVERKILL MUCH?
OVERCONFIDENCE
NOT A TEAM PLAYER
A BIT TOO CAUTIOUS.

[noclue]

I'm curious, how has the GM compelled your Aspects in the game so far?

Edit: Actually, let me add what I'm really thinking, subtlety not my strong suit. Self compels are not the bread and butter of this game, Compels are. Self compels are nice, but they're no substitute for a GM hitting your character with Compels. So, have you asked the GM why he hasn't been Compelling the shit out of your Aspects? Because there's nothing wrong or hard to hit about them. They look juicy to me.

[sinker]

Firstly let me say that I am not suggesting that you try to irritate the actual players, or in any way damage the atmosphere of your gaming group (in other words don't piss everyone else off). However with a set of aspects like that I would assume it could very much effect your relationship with other player characters, making the situation more difficult and giving you more fate points.

Stubborn+Been around a long time = Your opinions and beliefs are always right/better. It takes a lot of convincing to get you to come around to someone else's idea. New warden in town = mistrust of others. You haven't known anyone for very long so you might not be forthcoming with the group about everything. In addition you might over-do your part of any plan, as you don't trust others to do theirs.

Finally you might want to see some of your aspects in a different light. Knowledge is power could also mean that you tend to try to over-do the information gathering part or that you over-complicate and over-think some situations. Been around a long time could mean that you tend to dismiss or overlook new things (like the newfangled internets). It could also lead to situations with NPCs much like I mentioned above (I.E. you're always right).

[ironpoet]

Well, if you want to cut loose with evocation, you could try:

EVOCATION IS THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING
NO IDEA HOW TO USE MY SWORD
OVERKILL MUCH?
OVERCONFIDENCE
NOT A TEAM PLAYER
A BIT TOO CAUTIOUS.

Heh.  Yes... that would certainly make for a crazy evocator, but it wouldn't be that useful for an investigation-style game, which is really what I'm looking for.

[Ophidimancer]

How do players manuever the story so that their Aspects can be compelled more?

Use the Aspect to directly maneuver the story, that's what Declarations are for.

New Warden In Town - Spend a Fate point and make up a long standing rivalry between two people that you accidentally bring up, or invent an old sore spot in a major character that you poke because you don't know better.

Somebody Has To Do It - Spend a Fate point and say that everyone else who could have done it is busy or out of town.

That's the great thing about the FATE system, the players are GM's too!

[ironpoet]

I'm curious, how has the GM compelled your Aspects in the game so far?

He's still learning the FATE system, and we've only run a few sessions so far, so there haven't been too many compels.  I think it's likely that there will be more compels as he gets the hang of the game.

By far, the Aspect that gets compelled the most in our group is "God's Cop" (which belongs to another PC).  For myself, the "Warden" trapping of "New Warden In Town" gets compelled occasionally, whenever I get called on to perform White Council business.

So, have you asked the GM why he hasn't been Compelling the shit out of your Aspects? Because there's nothing wrong or hard to hit about them. They look juicy to me.

Thanks.  I like them, too!  But I do wonder if they're actually "getting in the way" of an investigation style game.  For example, like sinker suggested, I could use stubborness or "being old" as an excuse to slow down an investigation, but I'm not sure how I would do it in a way that made the investigation more interesting.