Quick and Dirty Fate Rules

[Priest]

This is a Quick and Dirty guide to the Fate system.

(Bear in mind that the rules differ slightly to those we shall be using in Achtung! Cthulu – Fate). This provides a simple overview of the system, for a more detailed look refer to the Core rulebook or the SRD.

THE LADDER
Fate uses a ladder of adjectives and numbers to rate a character’s skills, the result of a roll, difficulty ratings for simple checks, etc. These are, as follows;
+8 Legendary
+7 Epic
+6 Fantastic
+5 Superb
+4 Great
+3 Good
+2 Fair
+1 Average
0 Mediocre
-1 Poor
-2 Terrible

DICE
When taking action you roll dice to see if you're successful. A special set of dice (fudge dice) are available, but for our purposes we will roll 4d6. The results of each dice are read then added together. Individual dice results of 1 or 2 = a minus (-); results of a 5 or 6 = a plus (+) 3 or 4 = nothing (Blank).
So, - - + + = 0
Blank - + + = +1
Blank + + + = +3
- - Blank Blank = -2

SKILLS
Your skills form a pyramid, with a single skill rated at Great (+4)—which we’ll usually refer to as the peak skill—and more skills at each lower rating on the ladder going down to Average (+1):
• One Great (+4)
• Two Good (+3)
• Three Fair (+2)
• Four Average (+1)
Mediocre (+0) is the default for any skill you do not take. Sometimes, a skill will state that it’s unavailable if a character didn’t take it; in those cases, it’s not even at Mediocre.


STUNTS
Stunts are tricks, manoeuvres, or techniques your character has that improve how a skill works for your character. Generally, stunts give you a bonus (almost always +2) to a certain skill when used with a particular action under specific circumstances.
Your character gets three free stunts, and may buy more at the cost of reducing his refresh by one point per stunt

REFRESH
Refresh is the number of fate points you begin each game session with. Your refresh starts at three and is reduced by one for each stunt after the first three you choose.
In case you ended the previous session with more unspent fate points than your refresh, you start with the number you had left last time.

FATE POINTS
Fate points are a measure of how much influence you have to make the story go in your character’s favour.
You can spend fate points to invoke an aspect or to declare a story detail.
You earn fate points by accepting a compel on one of your aspects.

ASPECTS
An aspect is a phrase that describes something unique or noteworthy about whatever it’s attached to. Whenever a new aspect is created during play, the player that created it gets a free invocation. Temporary one-time use aspects are called boosts and can be invoked for free.

INVOKING ASPECTS
You invoke an aspect to give yourself a bonus or make things a bit harder for your opponent. Invoking an aspects costs a fate point, and you need to describe how that aspect helps you in your current situation. When invoking an aspect you choose one of the following effects:
• Reroll the dice
• Add +2 to your total
• Add +2 to any source of opposition
• Add +2 to another character's roll
If someone invokes an aspect attached to your character, you gain a fate point at the end of the scene.

COMPELLING ASPECTS
Your aspects can be compelled to make your character's life more dramatic and complicated. In order to compel an aspect, explain why the aspect is relevant, and then offer a complication.
You receive a fate point if you accept the complication, or you pay a fate point to prevent it.

TAKING ACTION
1. Describe what you want your character to do. See if someone or something can stop you.
2. Decide what action you’re taking.
3. Decide on an appropriate skill.
4. Roll dice and add your skill bonus.
5. Decide whether to modify your roll with aspects.
6. Figure out your outcome.

ACTIONS
There are four basic actions that cover anything you do in the game. You succeed with style if your result is higher by three or more than the target number.

Create or Discover an Advantage
• Fail: Don’t create or discover, or you do but your opponent (not you) gets a free invocation.
• Tie: Get a boost if creating new, or treat as success if using an existing aspect.
• Succeed: Create or discover the aspect, get a free invocation on it.
• Succeed with Style: Create or discover the aspect, get two free invocations on it.

Overcome
• Fail: Fail, or succeed at a serious cost.
• Tie: Succeed at minor cost.
• Succeed: You accomplish your goal.
• Succeed with Style: You accomplish your goal and generate a boost.

Attack
• Fail: No effect.
• Tie: Attack doesn’t harm the target, but you gain a boost.
• Succeed: Attack hits and causes damage.
• Succeed with Style: Attack hits and causes damage. May reduce damage by one to generate a boost.

Defend
• Fail: You suffer the consequences of your opponent’s success.
• Tie: Look at your opponent’s action to see what happens.
• Succeed: Your opponent doesn’t get what they want.
• Succeed with Style: Your opponent doesn’t get what they want, and you get a boost.

CHALLENGES
A challenge is a series of actions that you use to resolve an especially complicated situation.

CONTESTS
When two or more characters are competing against one another for the same goal, but not directly trying to hurt each other, you have a contest.
In a series of exchanges, every participant takes one action to determine how well they do in each part of the contest. Compare your result to everyone else’s. The first participant to achieve three victories wins the contest.

CONFLICTS
Conflicts are used to resolve situations where characters are trying to harm one another. Establish loosely defined areas called zones, that tell you where characters are. Generally, you can interact with other characters in the same zone, or in nearby zones if you can justify acting at a distance.
You can move one zone for free. An action is required to move if there’s an obstacle along the way, such as someone trying to stop you, or if you want to move two or more zones.
Determine turn order by comparing your
Survival (notice) for physical conflict or your Will skill for mental conflict.
On their turn, a character can take one actions. The conflict is over when only one side has characters still in the fight.

TEAMWORK
When an ally helps you, they give up their action for the exchange and describe how they’re providing the help; you get a +1 to your roll for each ally that helps this way.

DAMAGE
When you’re hit by an attack, the severity of the hit is the difference between the attack roll and your defence roll; this is measured in shifts
You absorb the damage by taking stress. You may also take one or more consequences to deal with the hit.
If you can’t handle the entire hit, you’re taken out and your opponent decides what happens to you.

STRESS
Each character starts with three stress boxes. When you take a hit you check a stress box, the box absorbs a number of shifts equal to its number (1, 2 or 3).
You can only check one stress box forany single hit.

CONSEQUENCES
Consequences are new aspects that you take to reflect being seriously hurt in some way. A major downside of consequences is that each consequence is a new aspect that your opponents can invoke against you. The more you take, the more vulnerable you are.
Mild consequence absorbs 2 shifts of damage and it is cleared at the end of the scene.
Moderate consequence absorbs 4 shifts and it is cleared at the end of the next session.
Severe consequence absorbs 6 shifts and it is cleared at the end of the scenario.

CONCEDING
Giving in before your opponent’s roll allows you to control how you exit the scene. You get one fate point for conceding, and one fate point for each consequence you took in this conflict.

ADVANCEMENT
There are three types of milestones, and each one allows you to change your character in certain ways.

MINOR MILESTONE
A minor milestone usually occurs at the end of a session of play, or when one piece of a story has been resolved. After a minor milestone, you can choose to do one (and only one) of the following:
• Switch two approaches.
• Rename one aspect (not high concept)
• Change one stunt
• Replace a stunt

SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE
A significant milestone usually occurs at the end of a scenario or the conclusion of a big plot event.
In addition to the benefit of a minor milestone, you can raise the bonus of one skills.

MAJOR MILESTONE
Major milestones should only occur when something happens in the campaign that shakes it up a lot.
In addition to the benefits of significant and minor milestone, you can rename your high concept aspect and take an additional point of refresh, which you can immediately spend to purchase a new stunt.

[Priest]

Extra:
Courtesy of Mr Handy, it seems IC and Orokos are capable of replicating Fudge dice rolls.
For IC simply roll 4 1d3-2. This gives you 4 dice results of -1, 0, 1
For Orokos the formula is 4#1d3-2, again this gives you results -1,0,1

[Priest]

Metallic Rules
==============

The Golden Rule: Decide what you want to do, then consult the rules to
help you do it.

The Silver Rule: Never let the rules get in the way of what makes
narrative sense.

The Bronze Rule: You can treat everything like a character.

Making Checks
=============

- Skill + 4dF vs. Skill (passive opposition)
- Skill + 4dF vs. Skill + 4dF (active opposition - "defend" action)

Then you can invoke aspects on the roll: spend a FP and get +2 or a
reroll.

Aspect Types
============

- Game Aspects
- Character Aspects
- Scene Aspects
- Consequences
- Boosts (single-use)

What else can you do with FP?
=============================

- Power certain Stunts
- Create and Invoke a Scene Aspect
- Declare a story detail (related to one of your aspects)
- Pay off an offered compel
- Force someone to spend an action overcoming (at +2) a scene aspect

How do you get FP?
==================

- PCs start the session with FP equal to their Refresh.

- Accept a compel from the GM
- Accept a compel from another player (who pays 1 FP)
- Propose a compel on yourself
- Point out a retroactive compel

- Have your aspects invoked against you (including created advantages
and consequences). Gain these at the end of the scene.

- Conceding a conflict: 1 for conceding + 1 per received consequence.

- At the start of a scene, the GM gets 1 FP per PC in the scene.
- Only FP from a scene-ending concession get carried over into the
next scene.

Compel Types
============

- Event: You are in ____ situation and have ____ aspect, so it makes
sense that, unfortunately, ____ would happen to you. Damn your luck.
- Decision: You have ____ aspect in ____ situation, so it makes sense
that you’d decide to ____. This goes wrong when ____ happens.
- Don't forget: Scene aspects can power compels.

Outcomes
========

- (F) Fail: outright failure or success & major cost.
- (T) Tie: success & minor cost or lesser success.
- (S) Success (by 1-2 shifts): success at no cost.
- (S+) Success with style (by >= 3 shifts): success & extra benefit.

Actions
=======

- Overcome (the catch-all)
Can remove scene aspects.
F: Fail or success & major cost.
T: Lesser success or success & minor cost.
S: Success at no cost.
S+: Success & boost.

- Create Advantage
Create a new Scene Aspect or Character Aspect on a target, or place
free invocations on an existing one.

New Aspects:
F: Don't create the aspect, or create it with no invocations.
T: Create a boost.
S: Create the aspect, one free invocation.
S+: Create the aspect, two free invocations.

Existing Aspects:
F: No benefit.
T/S: One free invocation.
S+: Two free invocations.

- Attack
F: No effect (but their successful defence might affect you!)
T: No harm, but create a boost.
S: Inflict hit equal to the number of shifts.
S+: As above, but optionally reduce shifts by 1 to also create a boost.

- Defend
Avoid an Attack or a Create Advantage action.
F: They succeed.
T: They get a boost.
S: They fail.
S+: They fail and you get a boost.

Consequences
============

- Negative aspects you take to absorb shifts from a hit.

- Recover by succeeding an overcome action against the number of
shifts the consequence could absorb (+2, +4, +6). +2 if you're
fixing yourself. Rename the aspect to show it's in recovery and add
a *.

- Minor consequences take an entire scene to recover from. Moderate
consequences take an entire session. Severe consequences take an
entire scenario.

- Extreme consequence absorbs an 8-shift hit, but replaces an
aspect. Use once between major milestones and rename it at the next
major milestone.

Teamwork
========

- Combining skills
Highest skill rolls, at +1 for each helper with at least +1.

- Stacking advantages
Each helper does a "Create Advantage" action but gives the invocations away.

NPCs
====

- Nameless NPCs
Average: skills: one +1, stress: none
Fair: skills: one +2, one or two +1, stress: one 1-shift
Good: skills: one +3, one +2, one or two +1, stress: two 1-shift

- Mobs
Multiple nameless NPCs that work together. Excess shifts from a hit
overflow onto others in the mob.

- Supporting NPCs
Aspects: high concept, trouble, one or more others
Stunts: zero or one
Stress: two 2-box tracks
Skills: four or five
Consequences: one mild, maybe one moderate

- Main NPCs
Use a full character sheet

Milestones
==========

- Minor
- End of session.
One of:
- Switch the rank of two skills.
- Replace an Average (+1) skill with a new skill.
- Replace one Stunt.
- Purchase a new stunt, if you have enough refresh.
- Rename one Aspect (not high concept).
And:
- Rename any moderate consequences, starting recovery.

- Significant
- End of scenario.
- As per minor milestone.
And:
- One skill point.
- Start recovery on any severe consequences.

- Major
- End of campaign arc.
- As per significant milesonte.
And optionally:
- Rename an extreme consequence.
- One refresh point.
- Advance a skill beyond the skill cap.
- Rename your high concept.