Using Aspects Against Players

[Aubri]

New-ish DM, still getting the system under my feet here.
I'm still a little shaky on dealing with NPCs and aspects, particularly when the scene aspects should act as a penalty against the players. For example, suppose the PCs are trying to sneak past security into a BRIGHTLY LIT hallway. If the security guard had fate points, I'd certainly invoke that aspect on his Awareness roll. However, as a nameless NPC, the guard has no fate points to use.

Conversely, in a parking lot FULL OF CARS, the PCs should clearly have their Awareness penalized relative to an approaching ghoul's Stealth.

It seems like the aspect might as well not be there if the PCs don't choose to interact with it. How do I handle this? Should I hand out a fate point to the PCs as if I were compelling an aspect on one of them?

[Tedronai]

It seems like the aspect might as well not be there if the PCs don't choose to interact with it. How do I handle this? Should I hand out a fate point to the PCs as if I were compelling an aspect on one of them?

Pretty much, yes.

[EdgeOfDreams]

Circumstances can impose bonus/penalties completely separate from aspects, or even make a roll just impossible to win.  In the case of the Brightly Lit hallway with an awake, alert guard who can see down the whole hall and nothing to hide behind, I would tell the player straight up "No, you can't stealth up to the guard", no tag or compel required.  For less obvious situations, the GM can easily impose a +1 or -1 on any roll due to general circumstances giving someone an advantage/disadvantage.  Or if there's no opposed roll, just a set difficulty, the difficulty should be scaled up or down depending on the details.

[wyvern]

Short answer: maybe, depending on the situation and what you feel is currently appropriate.

Long answer: I deal with this using the same mechanics as PC-made declarations and assessments.  I.E. for each such scene aspect, NPCs get one free tag on it.  This may or may not give the PCs fate points though.

Example: A PC is trying to sneak past security into a "Brightly Lit" hallway.  There are two options:
1 - The guards can invoke that aspect on their alertness skill for a +2.  No fate point is handed to the PC.  If that extra +2 still isn't enough to see the PC, then the guards get to keep their free tag and try to use it again later.
2 - The guards can invoke the aspect for effect, saying that sneaking simply isn't possible here.  This triggers a compel; the player can buy off the compel (paying a fate point), or they can accept the compel (gaining a fate point); depending on negotiation, an accepted compel could generate results anywhere from "You just can't sneak in that way", to "You try to sneak in and are spotted".
Note that this use should generally be done *before* anyone rolls any skills; the mechanics of the compel trump the mechanics of the skill check.  If the compel is bought off, then sneaking past those guards is automatically successful with no further rolls.  If you don't feel that such an automatic success would be appropriate - don't use a compel in the first place.
Note also that in this case the free tag is expended regardless of whether the player accepts or buys off the compel.

[devonapple]

One of the ways which other GMs get players to use Aspects to their fullest (Declaring, Assessing, Maneuvering) is to showcase the NPCs doing so: mention it out loud, explain what each bonus is for, narrate when they try to create these Aspects, etc. I certainly need to improve on this, myself, but it makes sense: players are going to have an easier time grasping the tactical advantages that they see being used against them.

[sinker]

I know not everyone does this kind of thing, but I usually keep a pile of GM Fate points explicitly for that kind of thing. Points that are specifically for making things more interesting and can be used by any NPC that I think needs a boost at a particular moment.

Of note you only hand the player a fate point if an NPC invokes one of the PC's aspects to their detriment. Kinda like a soft compel. If you invoke a scene aspect or one of the NPC's aspects then the fate point goes away. Same goes for a PC invoking an NPC's aspects.

[Drachasor]

A Pile of Fate Points can be useful here as Sinker says (e.g. you either have one pile for all NPCs or one just for Mooks, and when mooks are compelled or whatever you add a coin to their pile).  Another option is to let NPCs Tag things, in which case the Brightly Lit Hallway is something those guards could tag for +2 without need a Fate Point since you just introduced that hall.  A Compel is the third way to go.

Wyvern, I'd note there's no reason to have the guards invoke for effect.  The GM can Compel players anytime he bloody well pleases.  He doesn't need an NPC to start it up for him.  A junkyard at night might be a sufficient reason to have a PC trip over some junk and mess up some ritual even if no NPC is on the scene.

Now, a rule of thumb here is that Compels should make things more interesting.  So when you decide to do a compel it shouldn't just be "that doesn't work, you suck, here's a fate point" but the PCs should have their lives complicated in some way and the resulting situation should be more fun.  If you don't think that's really going to be the case, then going with a pile of fate points for NPCs and using one for a +2 bonus is probably the way to go.

[sinker]

Ah, I forgot to add. As for the "Brightly lit" hallway I would compel. "The hallway is "brightly lit," and "Narrow." I say sliding a fate point to the player. "There's only one place for the guard to look and he's looking at it. You can abandon stealth and charge him, or find another way around." In this particular case if they buy it off I would ask for them to at least come up with a decent excuse as to how they are doing this, preferably with an aspect, skill or power (though not entirely necessary).

[TheMouse]

Not everything is an Aspect. Halls that are brightly lit are just harder to sneak down than dim ones. Adjust the difficulty accordingly.

And if anyone at the end wants to do something with fate points, that's cool too.

[sinker]

In this particular case though one isn't rolling against a set difficulty that can go up or down based on factors like that. This is a contest, with the player's stealth roll opposed by the guard's alertness roll. The appropriate way to increase the difficulty of opposition is by increasing their abilities (which makes no sense after a point. Why would a regular guard have a legendary awareness?) or by giving them advantages ala aspects.

[Drachasor]

I suppose an alternative would be to use "Well-lit Room" as a Fractal of some sort and giving it a stunt that would let it aid anyone in seeing anything in the area.  Hmm, give it a skill level 2 and let it add its skill to anyone looking around.  One could have fractals handle any such static thing one wanted, I suppose.

Hmm, in some ways that's an overly complicated way to handle it.  On the other hand, it has advantages over just using compels (better granularity of difficulty without doing a raising the stakes).  It also has an bit of an advantage over using fate points for +2 bonuses for something that is constant like a light or cover.

[sinker]

You could do that, but it's just adding the whole concept of modifiers that the aspect system is trying to replace. Of course the issue of constantly on aspects is something that trips a lot of people up. Fred once explained it though. FATE is a very story based game. When no one spends a fate point to use an aspect it's just not important to the story at that moment. It's still there, it just doesn't effect the outcome. So in the "brightly lit" hallway, if no one spends a Fate point the hallway isn't dark, it just doesn't matter that it's "brightly lit." The player was clever enough to distract the guard, or the guard was briefly (or not so briefly) inattentive. If someone does spend a fate point then it becomes important. The guard is paying attention. The player is trying something that is less then effective under those specific circumstances (I.E. in a "brightly lit" space), etc.

[devonapple]

So in the "brightly lit" hallway, if no one spends a Fate point the hallway isn't dark, it just doesn't matter that it's "brightly lit." The player was clever enough to distract the guard, or the guard was briefly (or not so briefly) inattentive.

Exactly. Aspects are there to provide narrative importance. Theoretically, there are a legion of Aspects one could have in any given Scene, limited only by the imagination and creative rationalization. It doesn't mean that one needs to pay FP into the Aspect "Solid Floors" in order to walk between Zones.

[TheMouse]

In this particular case though one isn't rolling against a set difficulty that can go up or down based on factors like that. This is a contest, with the player's stealth roll opposed by the guard's alertness roll. The appropriate way to increase the difficulty of opposition is by increasing their abilities (which makes no sense after a point. Why would a regular guard have a legendary awareness?) or by giving them advantages ala aspects.

Nothing stops you from altering difficulties on opposed rolls. Each roll acts as a difficulty to the other person.

[sinker]

I suppose, however I don't see the point of supplanting the system that's already there and works perfectly fine with something else. In this case we have one person rolling against another, and true they could be rolling against an arbitrary number instead, but it's removing the potential for interesting developments and struggle. Consider if a player rolls against your set difficulty what do you do if he invokes an aspect or two to simply bypass it? What if he does that every time? A guard that he is rolling against can do the same, can get creative and actively work against them. A wall cannot.