I need some tips on how to run this game.
Don't.
>>43834247
/ thread
>>43834247
Why's that?
Ask a more specific question, OP.
Remember to throw lots of aspects out there and compel often. Remind players they can do the same, and prompt them to spend their fate points early and often.
>>43834296
It's the only game that's shittier then apocalypse world
>>43834346
What are some potential system traps I need to be aware of before running?
>>43834522
Traps like common mistakes?
If you make custom stunts make sure they're either very specific or powered by the use of a fate point. Having a +2 to Fight stunt without any condition for it to kick in is probably the only way to game the system.
Don't forget about Conceding. If your NPCs concede the fight the PCs get whatever they were fighting for, but the NPCs live to come back another day. Same goes for PCs, so bringing up 'unbalanced' conflicts is fine. This makes it important to establish what you're fighting about before you start throwing dice, try to keep battle to the death to a minimum. Only for dramatic plot arc finales, for example.
>>43834464
>>43834464
Go to bed craig.
>>43834182
If both you and the players are new to it, be open to the idea that it's going to take some time to get a feel for things, even more than with other systems. It might take a while for everyone to get used to the compel-invoke fate point economy, but as long as everyone's having fun, it's fine. Gently nudge the players into it and they'll start picking it up on their own. Balancing things can be tricky at first, but generally speaking you can balance swingy rolls with clever storytelling.
>>43834182
Aspects don't need to "created" preemptively.
If a player brings up a past event or item that would help them out, let it happen. You didn't need to make the looted crossbow an Aspect when they first picked it up, but it can be invoked later, provided, of course, someone has it.
Aspects are the freaky part of the game (statistically speaking, the most confusing). BE Gaming created a list of myths from some G+ responses. They have a sweet article covering some myths concerning Aspects.
In time, you'll see a lot of the stressing over the game comes from the role of simply being a GM, which can be typically remedied with more GMing.
>>43834464
Apocalypse world is my favorite system so that sounds like I'll love it!
>>43834714
>>43834790
>>43836060
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>>43834677
> try to keep battle to the death to a minimum
I am sick of people pushing this idea. If PCs can only when some arbitrary "drama quotient" is reached, it makes any challenge that is not a boss fight or similar completely pointless. The players can keep fucking up without consequences, and still triumph in the end because the story demands it.
>>43834182
Do the Game Creation and Character Creation with your group. It will also help you remember the different aspects of the characters, thus allowing to compel easier.
>>43838565
>The players can keep fucking up without consequences.
If they concede to often they come out without deaths, yes, but their enemies could gather a lot of crucial ressources for the arc finale. Enough to make that triumph a bloody mess with more losses then just one in they stayed or even a TPK.
Imagine for example your classic relic hunter story, with say 6 McGuffins around.
Getting each one involves finding it, getting there and clashing with the antagonists on the way.
The party fucks up once and concedes, everyone lives but the loose one McGuffin. Sometime later they have a chance to even the score, but one of them would have to sacrifice himself because said McGuffin tipped the odds so much. Nope, they concede.
Later the bad guys want to use said artifacts to, for example, destroy a city. Again, it's already much harder for them because the conceded. They might do it with losses. Or the concede again, get their own skins out and see a whole city die on them.
In the end, they only have one McGuffin while the other guys have 5, all spewing out free aspects and stunts. Crunch it out from there, without really clever play the party shouldn't have a chance to make a comeback.
>Consequences
>>43834182
You might well as be asking "how do I D&D" with general question like that. Specify your problems.
>>43838565
It seems you think only death and nothing else is a consequence.
>>43838565
>death is the only consequence possible
>in a thread for a system that literally has a 'consequences' section on the character sheet
Finally a thread I can get behind.
Okay the newbie tips I always give out for Fate GMs are these:
1) Compel your players often, but try to make them interesting. Remember that scene aspects can be compelled as well.
2) Encourage your players to come up with new aspects. You can either set a target number (I typically go with default 3 and +2 for each obstacle to it) or have an NPC roll to defend if they're in position to do so.
3) Come up with some
Homebrew chase rules because the standard ones are boring.
4) Aspects are not just there to be invoked/compelled.They're guides for his each character should react to a given situation. A 'Coward' aspect on an NPC will mean they're likely to concede far more often than not.
5) The way to scale opposition in this game is through effective skill ratings, not Fate points. If your players are rolling at +6 for their main combat rolls, have the opposition roll at +4/+6/+8 depending on how threatening you want them to be. Any more than that and you're likely to wipe the party, especially if the enemy is equally tough/dodgy.
>>43838829
I'm guessing this is the reason why people don't like the game - lots of games seem to work on a fairly binary "you win or you die" system for conflicts, which encourages disposable characters that aren't particularly tied to the story. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but that's really not the sort of game that Fate is designed to run and, well, it's a bit of a niche.
If you can get players that are on board with what Fate is trying to do, and are happy with the slightly fuzzier lines between player and GM in terms of narrative control, it's all good.
>>43834182
Start with FAE until every player securely uses invokes and create-an-advantage as an action.
Uses the rules for everything, the main plot, equipment gathering, comic relief, everything. If a scene has no stakes to gamble with, skip it. Fail to do this and the players run out of Fate points quickly while carrying around mechanics they never use. The game is made for rolling dice for everything.
Talk to your players. You have no real secrets as GM in Fate. The core rules have simple ways of letting the players define everything, including setting and genre. You can use navigation rolls to ask where they want to go, what place to invent next. You can use social rolls to make players define NPC backgrounds. The GM isn't the gatekeeper, but the complications introducer.
Pay attention to level of detail. Use it to set a pace and regulate tension. You can resolve asking around town, a break-in, or a kidnapping in one roll, in a few, or in an elaborate scene, even short prep scenes and a main action scene. And depending on this it can be resolved in a few seconds, or several sessions. Don't get bogged down, and down blaze through the important parts.
Visualize aspects. I use index cards with large marker writing that remain in the middle of the table as long as the aspect is in play. Make the players display their aspects, and in a way that the others can read.
Never allow secrets. If a PC or NPC has a secret, he has an aspect "acts suspiciously" or "has a secret". There are no secret aspects, only ones the players haven't invented yet. But if it isn't in the open then it's still up for grabs and can be defined at any moment by any player who creates an advantage.
>>43834182
What are the themes your going to be playing with?
A dark steam punk setting with poison gas in the air and demons on every street corner selling souls should feel different from a casual romp threw the woods.
Set up your setting aspects to maximize your themes and get the feel you want.
-Everyone dies eventually- for example, enforce the idea that you are struggling to survive in this world, and people are going to die.
-Under the surface- was an aspect I used in a mystery game, everyone had something to hide, and no one was who they were on the surface. real fun.
Also keep an eye on stunts, they can be broken if not reigned in.
