Fate Core review

Reviewing Fate Core is an interesting thing as I know the system very well. I have been a fan of this system since I ran across it in a small convention in NYC back in 2007. Then I was lucky enough to playtest the Dresden Files RPG. So, as I said, I am fairly versed in the system.

I am going to assume that most people that are reading this at least have some knowledge of the system, so I am not going to go into great detail about mechanics.

The good

First of all the book is small. I say this, because at the same time I also got Star Wars Edge of the Empire AND Numenera…and both of those books are HUGE. So, it is nice that the book can be carried easily. The artwork is also very good. A lot of different genres are in display and it looks very good indeed.

I am not going to go into EVERY change they made to the system. But, the best thing I can honestly say about Fate Core is that everything is more fluid as the system was streamlined quite a bit. The reason I say this is as much as I have always loved the system, it could get bogged down at times. Especially in combat. Now when you are trying to overcome someone, either with a skill, or in combat…you have four outcomes. Which was a much needed and simpler way to do this. Awesome.

Fail

This means what it sounds like. You can still obviously fail a roll. But now you have the option of succeeding at a serious cost. This is awesome as it allows you to succeed, but then something will be made more difficult for you. Narratively, this is gold.

Tie

Again, you can succeed, but this time at a minor cost. Or if in battle, you can get a boost (an aspect that you get to invoke once for free). This right here speeds combat up SO much.

Succeed

You get what you want with no cost.

Succeed with style

If you succeed by 3 or more shifts you do it with style. This means you get an added benefit beyond just succeeding.

The reason why I talk about this, is because of the above mentioned, it just speeds the game up in so many ways. Gone are the battles that just took forever because of really high health tracks and back and forth turns.

You also have less skills, and a smaller health and mental track (which DFRPG actually started). This makes the game much more dangerous. I remember the first time I played this and we played a Star Wars Fate game and one of the players almost died in the first fight against a rancor. Death is much, much, more a chance in this version of Fate.

Which I love.

I also like that they gave stunt suggestions for each skill. I have seen people get a bit intimated in trying to come up with them on their own. Three is better than none.

Again, they do a great job of giving people that run the game tips. They do this better than anyone I have ever seen. Plenty of examples throughout and just a tone that doesn’t feel condescending and makes the person reading really feel like they can take this system on. Even if they have not played/run it before. This is a great thing indeed.

Lastly, it is just such a versatile system. You can honestly play just about any genre you want. High fantasy, steampunk, Cthulhu, pulp, sci-fi, or anything else you really want. I love that and beyond the settings they have already published, it is the most hackable game I have ever encountered. I have personally played a Star Wars, Thundercats, GI Joe, and Transformers Fate Core game.

It doesn’t get better than that.

The bad

About the only thing bad I can say is that this game is not for everyone. Power gamers and people that just love combat can get frustrated with Fate mechanics. I have seen enough of this to know it is true, and I have even converted some of these people. But that is just a fact and that is why there are hundreds of other games out there for those gamers.

Rating 10 out of 10

Gaming over the weekend...

So, I did quite a bit of gaming this weekend. Here is what happened.

Friday night. Star Wars D6 system

So +Jacob Poss  ran a Star Wars one shot on Friday night. It has been over a decade since I have played this game. I have very fond memories as it had one of my favorite characters of all time…Janus Darklighter. A bad ass Jedi that kicked ass and took names.

So, Jacob started by asking who are favorite star wars characters were. Mine is Wedge Antilles. Survive TWO Death Star runs, leader of Rogue Squadron and in the books helped take down Coruscant!

So, I played the brash pilot template. I had an A-Wing and we also had a Jedi, a tracker, and a fighter droid. We were sent to find certain pirates and get rid of them.

I got to have a cool scene where I kicked pirate ass that were flying Z-95 headhunters (I know, right?). I flew circles around them, killed a few, and then talked the rest out of fighting me, because they would just end up dead.

Things went wrong as soon as I got OUT of my ship. Starting rolling 1’s on the D6 (which meant you are screwed basically). Got shot a bit, could not fight worth a damn and was saved by a teammate that just blew everyone to hell with bombs. The poor Jedi? Was left behind for the most part and had a very passive role in the game.

Saturday Slot 1. The Quiet Year prep for an Apocalypse World game

So, we decided to run a session of The Quiet Year in prep for our AW game coming up at the Gasp Day in Pittsburgh. The people I have talked to about this never really gave this idea much of a chance, saying it was not the best way to setup the other game. That is fine, I went to people for their opinions and they gave them.  If you want to know a bit more about the Quiet Year, go here. As I am not going to talk much about the game itself. I already did on a previous post. http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/110152/The-Quiet-Year

But the game went well, as we created a post-apocalyptic world based in Pittsburgh.  It was a nice start to our AW game I think. The map is built out and there are a ton of NPC’s in the game. Or we can choose to play any of them ourselves of course. But needless to say there are plenty of things in the world that won’t like us. A chopper gang roaming the roads, a Hocus that is trying to get followers, the Frost Shepherds, a militant religious order. Just to name a few.

I still it to be a great start to our game.

Slot 2. Dungeon World.

So, I decided to change my character from a fighter to a thief. I am just much more comfortable with this type of character and the game finally lived up to it hype as the session was oh my god, fun! We had a ranger with a demented cat, a halfing druid, a barbarian, and my thief.

The funny thing is that between my backstory and how the session started for me; somehow my thief got caught stealing, not once, but twice. Hmmm. 

So I was inside a mountain, trying to find a talisman for the god Akatar, and started out being captured by kobolds. I know, right? I was rescued by the others and they had found the Heartstone in the previous session and were trying to escape. We then met with the Kobold King, whom turned into a really angry fire creature and tried to smite us. While the fight was going on, I found the talisman and some loot and helped in the battle (or tried I kept rolling poorly). Eventually the creature was taken out and the barbarian became their king. This was really cool and he now has two followers that give him a 3 armor and 3 extra damage in battle. Awesome! We eventually got out of the mountain; I stole the heartstone from the druid and ran. In the most awesome moment I have seen in gaming in a while, the druid changed into a bird chased me down. When he found me, he dove towards me and shifted into a bear. In MID air! Also, he made the transformer noise to go along with it, which had me laughing for about 5 minutes afterward. Needless to say, I gave the stone back and then they finished their mission. Also, we were attacked by ratmen, as I was misled as to the type of deity the amulet was actually for. We took them out with good teamwork.

This was so much fun and I cannot wait to run it again.

Slot 3. Tabletop Blockbuster

So, my friends +John Sheldon and +Brianna Sheldon are making their own game. It is a genreless game that really showcases what an action movie would be like. I have played it three times now in different levels of playtesting and we have been in ww2 setting as super soldiers, a fantasy setting fighting dinosaurs, and this time? A merc group sent into the Korean War to find an occult item of some power.

I am not going to into the system much here, mostly due to the fact that it is still being playtested. But you have power/weapons which give you d6, and then you add relevant skills to it to add more. Then you roll a crapload of dice to see what happens. 5 and 6 are successes and you compare it to what the Gm rolled for the result.

You then create your character by choosing attributes, powers, skills, weapons, and trait.

What makes this game so much is just how actiony it feels. Our three characters were a vampire, The Sarge, and my character the Tank. Nicolas the vampire was the Dracula type, not to be confused with the sparkly, pansy ass vampires of our current age.  The Sarge was the grizzled old veteran driving our awesome military vehicle aptly named the Hammerhead. I was a big dude, with even bigger guns and armor.

There is also a mechanic that allows you to define things in the world, and another to allow you to re-roll missed dice. Very Fate Point in some ways, but nicely added.

One phenomenal thing this game does it that it allows the players to support each other in a way that is amazingly effective…and kickass at the same time. First the Sarge had a power that gave us a bonus if he gave a motivational speech. When he activates this as long as we are near him, we automatically get 3 extra dice to use on our roll. Next, if the Sarge knows I am tussling with that uber werewolf (which I was), he can say he is helping me by distracting it with grenades or something. He the rolls and the amount of successes he gets are added to may roll. Think about that for a second. My character already started with 12 dice (weapon+attributes), plus the 3 dice for the speech. Now I would get however many more dice if he succeeded the roll.

Holy hell, I had so many dice in my hands.

So, he would set things like that up. My character would do things like kick doors down and say cheesy one line. Bad ones like when the Sarge was worried that we were fighting werewolves, I turned to the “camera” and say while lock and loading my gun, “It’s ok, they all bleed the same Sarge”. It was like that all game long and awesome.

I am excited about his game. One because it is fun to play. Two because John and Brie are really good at taking feedback about their game. Everyone says they want honest input, but a lot of people then get offended that you dared say something bad about their creation. Seriously? I have seen the game improve from the first playtest they did back fall/winter. They go about this the right way and actually listen to what people say. Which to me is a no-brainer, but enough people don’t do that that it is nice to see when people actually do.

One last thing, I got to play with +Stras Acimovic twice yesterday and it is always a great experience. So much freaking energy and creativity is brought to any game by Stras. Great stuff.

Fate Core Star Wars...the recap.

So, we played our first session of the Fate Core Star Wars game last night. It was also the first time I really played the game with the new tweaks in the system. A lot of little changes that really speeds the game up, but makes it much more dangerous for the players.

So, this was a pretty hastily put together micro version of the Star Wars universe. Taking place at the beginning of the Jedi Knight order, and taking place in Corellia. The world had some of the usual tpes. A power hungry Hutt, the beginning of what would be the Sith, an alien type empire bent do conquering the galaxy…and only the Jedi to stop them!

You know, the usual.

The game itself ran pretty smoothly via hangout. One of the biggest issues is that one of our players is not a English speaker, so it is hard to understand him sometimes. That isn’t his fault, and for all I know he may have an equally hard time understand us. Is just one of those things you don’t have much control over.

A few highlights from the night.

My character Krax Inkari, doing a force jump and attacking a dark jedi in the face, while they were riding a dark side influence rancor. Yep, rancor.

Sadly, the next thing that happened was Zaen (one of the other jedi) then got stomped on by the Rancor and took an severe consequence not even 5 minutes into the fight. Holy shit.

The dark jedi ended up being Galen’s (the other jedi in the group) sister, and my ex-lover. She was being groomed by the evil jedi Taelros , and my character got a good enough roll to bring her away from the dark side.

As we were leaving some bounty hunter types that galen owed money, ambushed our party as we were getting into our ships. That is where we quit,

Thoughts?

Fate Core will #$@$ you up. The smaller health and mental tracks make the game so much more deadly. Especially with the addition of more ways to get advantages and boosts (what used to be called tags). A player almost died in the first fight. IT was nuts.

The game goes much faster, which has always been one of the issues with Fate sometimes. They cleaned up a lot of that and the game flows much better now. That is damn cool.

I like that you can play pretty much whatever you wish. Star Wars. WWII with steampunk. Old West. Knights of the Round table. It doesn’t matter, you just have to create the setting for it. This is why so many people are so excited about this.

It was a lot of fun.

You can go watch our you tube video of this at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=h2_gJTMT5LQ

My Fate Core Star Wars character for tonight.

Krax Inkari


Race: Twi’lek
Description. Krax has a light blue skin and is about 5 foot 6 and has a lithe body. He is a Jedi, so he typically is wearing a grey robe and his lightsaber is purple..

High Concept: Twi’lek Jedi investigator
Dark side: When evil gains hold in the world
Aspect; Some wounds never completely heal
Aspect: Blindly loyal, fiercely protective
Aspect: Everything starts with a plan

Great +4 Investigation
Good+3: Athletics, Rapport
Fair +2 Fighting, Stealth, Empathy
Average +1 Physique, Will, Lore, Notice

Stunt 1. Force speed +2 to dodge attacks.
Stunt 2. The Power of Deduction. Once per scene you can spend a fate point
(and a few minutes of observation) to make a special Investigation
roll representing your potent deductive faculties. You may discover or
create an aspect for each shift you make on this roll, on either the scene
or the target of your observations, though you may only invoke one of
them for free.

My first adventure: Naive in the matters of the heart, Krax was lured to a remote jungle location by fellow apprentice Aria Orion They had had an on again and off again romance during their time together at the academy. Aria was upset that Krax had shown interest in another student and wanted to teach him a lesson. She drugged him with a bothan red and left him in the jungle to find his way back to the temple On his way back to the temple  Krax was then attacked by a Rancor and left for dead. The attack left Krxa with a knee injury.
Aspect: Some wounds never completely heal.

Crossing path-Galen Orion. Krax found out that Aria Orion was kidnapped by Kreega the Hutt.

Krax finds word of this and although things had not gone as planned for him with Aria, he knew he must save her. Krax charges blindly to her rescue, not knowing that  negotiations were almost finished, and she was about to be release. His appearance started a firefight during the negotiation, and Krax barely made it out alive. Aria vowed he would pay for nearly getting her killed.
Aspect: Blindly loyal, fiercely protective

Crossing path-Zaen Moor. Zaen was part of the crew which tried to take over a ship with Jedi’s Taelros and Sovi Duan.

Krax joins the battle against the pirates and as the battle rages on, plan after plan fails. Finally, the Krax makes his stand and defeats a group of pirates that had trapped him in a corridor.
Aspect: When a good plan falls apart, there is always my lightsaber.

Health track=3
Mental track=3
Refresh=2

So, I guess I still really don't like the D20 system.

Apparently, I still have a major dislike of anything d20.

This is not me bashing the system as much as just realizing that I don’t want to have anything to do with it.

To be fair, I got into gaming playing D&D 2^nd ed, and still have fond memories of that game. It was the game that got me into gaming in the first place. So without it, I may have never got into gaming at all. For that I am grateful.

It started in 1991, and I played that game (along with others such as Call of Cthulhu, cyberpunk, champions, etc.) for a good decade. Then I had a few years where I did not play anything, mostly due to not being able to find people to play with.

Then I moved to NYC in 2003 and started my own sci-fi/fantasy book club. From that I found people wanting to game, and we started playing 2^nd ed again. It was fun, especially getting to introduce new people to gaming. I had a blast.

Then it changed.

I started to get bored with the game, and a few other things happened at the same time.  The first thing was an introduction to the indie game scene by playing Spirit of the Century. This changed how I viewed gaming and I started to go into a different direction. The second thing that happened is that we started to make a game and I realized our game was just a clone of D&D.

I don’t think we meant for that to happen, but it did.

Not to mention at this time it seemed like every game was becoming a d20 game.  Or it could be that I was so burned out of D&D that it ruined other d20 games as well.

So, anyone that knows me already knows this.

But last weekend we were at half-price books, and I came across and old star wars box set for 7 bucks. Part of me remembered that Wizards made a D20 star wars game, but I blocked that part of my mind and could not wait to get back home. See, I had played star wars years before it was a D20 game and it was AWESOME.

So, when I got home, I started reading the book and realized it was the Wizards version which was D20. It was so disappointing to me, and once I got a few chapters into the game, I was already done with it. It just annoyed the hell out of me. lol.

So, apparently, even though I have not played a d20 game in probably 4 years or so, I am still annoyed with the system enough that I don’t even want to read the book in a setting I love. This may never change, and if that is the case, that is ok.

I have enough indie games I love to make up for it.

Star Wars Blu-Ray. Or why people hate George Lucas so much.

Over on Google+, there have been a lot people bashing George Lucas lately.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not going to be the one defending his honor.  I would like to kick him in the nuts for being such a greedy, arrogant, and short-minded douchebag.  

I am discussing the up and coming Star Wars blu-ray that is coming out.  For the purpose of this discussion, I will mostly be talking about the ORIGINAL trilogy, since I refuse to even the discuss the suckhole that the prequels were.   But the movies are coming out on blu-ray soon.  Yes, I know.  Star Wars on blu-ray, that is going to be awesome, right?  Or is it?  I guess it depends on your personal level of nerd rage you are going to have with changes Lucas is making to the movies.

First of all, understand, I am a huge Star Wars fan.  I watched the A New Hope when I was si.  Yes, I am that old…get over it.  I recall going to Empire when I was 9 and dressing up as Han Solo.  Then off to JedI, dressed as Luke.  I was rocking the outfits I must say.  But that love increased as I became and adult and met others that also loved Star Wars. I remember playing trivial SW trivial pursuit.  Oh, toughest question in that game?  If I can remember it quickly.

How many rats were in the cellar window in Return of the Jedi?  3.  I got that damn question, and was stunned.

I have read most (all but the one’s after the New JedI Order) books, some of the comics, played the rpg, been to a Star Wars themed wedding, and played most of the video games. Still pissed off that the Old Republic is not going to be on the PS3.  So, I am a fan.  Even though I did walk out of Revenge of the Sith, cuz it made me so mad.  I don’t own any light sabers anymore, since the last one I had was stolen by a girl back in Oklahoma.  Beware a woman scorned and all that.

Back to the point.  As mentioned, there were two articles.  Article 1 discusses a hands on look by the people from Ign.  Article 2 talks about changes Lucas is making to the movies for the release.

Take a few minutes to go check them out.  I will wait here.  Especially check out the videos concerning changes made.

Ok, done?  Let’s get back to the rant.

Article 1.  Ign got a first look at the blu-ray.  After reading the article, the biggest thing that I saw that proves to me why people hate George Lucas so much is this.  “Lucas has altered the film to be what he originally intended, so he's not about to go back to the previous version (even if fans remember it more fondly).”  To me, that pretty much sums up Lucas in a nutshell.  He doesn’t give a rat’s ass at what the fans want in this.  He only wants to tweak it so he can continue putting his mark on it.  Yes, Greedo still shoot first.  I am not even going into that, since that is one of the things that really pisses people off.

Now on the plus side, it sounds like they look phenomenal.  So, regardless of everything else, getting to see the Star Wars movies in HD, it something that I truly am looking forward too.

Article 2.  Ign talks about some of the changes Lucas is making to the movies.  A list of the changes are as follows.

• In the Phantom Menace they are replacing puppet Yoda, with a cgi Yoda.
• Blinking Ewoks.  I can only assume they didn’t before, and now they do.  Not sure about that one, but it is an odd thing to look at.
• Obi-Wan’s Krayt dragon call in A New Hope.  Not sure why this needed to be changed.  It sounds just odd now.
• Last and the lamest in my opinion.  When the Emperor was chain-lightening Luke, as if he was his bitch, Lucas decided to add some dialogue.  Cuz that is what that scene needed.  The dialogue you say?  Vader going “No. Nooooooooooo”, just before tossing the Emperor to his death.  Ok, really?  Do we really need to hear Vader do something that obviously lame?  Or worse, cliché?  I think him tossing the Emperor over the side pretty much shows how he felt about it.  

They spoke with Skywalker’s Sound’s, Matthew Wood.  This is what he said about the changes.  “Every time we watch the movies, he’s got something he wants to change, Wood said.  And so there’s obviously changes done to the films, visually as well as audio-wise.  So there are some changes in the Blu-Ray version you will find.  (laughs) That’s always fun.  It’s funny, because we meticulously put it all together like ‘here’s what it was’, and he’ll update it”.

Does it not sound like he is trying to convince himself it is a horrible things Lucas is doing?  I love the use of meticulous.

Overall, will the changes do much to how we watch the movies?  That is hard to say, it depends on how much more he is planning on changing.  Or if he does another “greedo” like change.  The Vader thing just looked dumb, who knows how it will turn out.

What do you think?

Damn you, Jim Butcher!

Damn you, Jim Butcher.  I blame you for how addicted I am to your stupid books.  I am such a fan-boy (fan-man…wow that just sounds wrong) and this Tuesday, Ghost Story comes out, and my addiction to this series continues ever stronger. 

It is a little sad just how excited I am to read this book.  Now, I have always been a bit of a nerd, but I like to think I have always handled myself with appropriate aplomb. 

Ok, maybe not…but it sounds good in my head when I say that. 

It started when I was six and I saw Star Wars: A New Hope.  Part of me thinks that my nerd fate was sealed at that point.  Hell, up until about 10 years ago, I still had the ticket stub for that movie.  Somehow it got lost, but those things happen. 

Then I hurt my ankle one summer and could run around like a maniac (cuz that is what nine year old kids do), and I went into the library.  Do you ever just have a moment of clarity and realize that something in your life just clicked.  I had no idea what it meant, but that day changed my life.  I asked the library what would be fun to read and she gave me the Hobbit…which I devoured in about ten minutes.  From there I read the Lord of the Rings. 

Now keep in mind I was nine.  I did not really understand what was going on in the story sometimes.  But damn it, there were elves, and dwarves, and a ring! 

As I got older, my love for the fantasy genre got stronger.  I discovered authors that I still cherish.  David Eddings, Terry Brooks, and C.S. Lewis to name a few. 

 But now I am 40 years old and in my life, four things have taken my nerd and sent it into a frenzy.  Star Wars (obviously), The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter (which is an entire different discussion), and the Dresden Files.

I remember when Chris and Amy (not sure if it was both of them…or just one) said I should read them.  There was not a lot of urban fantasy written at that time, and I laughed at the idea behind the story.  The television show was about to start.  So, I did not read the books at first because of that.  Eventually they convinced me to try them. 

I was hooked.  I would like to say cuz they were superbly written, but that would be a lie. The first two books in the series are not written that well.  Which is funny, cuz I have read them so many times now that I love them regardless of that.  To me the story starts getting better at the end of the third book (grave peril), and the story really takes off in book seven (dead beat).  That could be the necromantic dinosaur talking, but who knows.

Now I am full on addicted.  I got to playtest the rpg that Evil Hat made about the game.  That experience was awesome, and the game is great. 

Let’s see all of the ways that Jim Butcher has affected my life.  The books, graphic novels, the TV show, t-shirts, the rpg, most of my online profile pics are Dresden Files related, and random quotes I love.

Look, I know this series isn’t for everyone.  I get that.  I listen to people all the time say how awful they are.  That is fine, everyone has the right to their opinion….just as I do.  But for some reason the wise cracking wizard, with an oversized view of self-righteousness….just hits home for me.  I feel like this character and I have a lot in common (minus the ability to smite people that annoy me with magic).  Although it has been said that it is a good thing I cannot do that, cuz I may not be the best person to have that kind of power. 

So yeah, I love the books.  I get all excited when they come out.  I get all teary-eyed and emotional when things happen to characters I love.  That is what literature is about, right?  Having something pull us in and care about?  That is what makes novels and movie so powerful. 

So, damn you Jim Butcher.  Damn you and your books that have taken such a foot hold of my life.

Still, I wouldn’t have it any other way.