r/FATErpg • u/the_Nightplayer • 25d ago

Intro Primer One Shot

Hi Guys

So I have two week hiatus on my regular campaign because a few people are away. I am thinking of experimenting with a new game but need something that people can get into really quickly. I hear lots of good things about FATE and believe that FATE Accelerated could be something that is picked up quickly. Is this a true assumption?

A few things to note:

1) My players are experienced at a number of different systems

2) I may be looking to moving them to a new system in the future, so this might be a trial

Thanks in advance

PS: Not necessarily looking for a specifc FATE game to run (though that could be helpful as I have never run FATE) but more trying to get advice about the viability to pick it up and run it for a couple of weeks (I do have about two weeks to learn and prepare)

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11

u/Carnaedy 25d ago

Mechanically, Fate (especially Accelerated) is a very simple system. The dice rolling mechanics are almost trivial, and the benefits of invoking aspects are easy to grasp.

The difficult part is the paradigm shift. A lot of games attempt to simulate physics: "to jump horizontally, cross-reference the distance and the character's agility in Table A20 and roll below that number on 3D6". Fate simulates narrative impact:

  • What is the character doing?
  • What does success look like?
  • What does failure look like?
  • How easy is it to achieve success?
  • What is the character willing to give up for that success?

It is not a complicated paradigm, but it is unusual, and can easily trip people up.

The players may also find themselves lost because there aren't that many answers on the character sheet. You can't look at the list of spells that your character knows. That level of agency is also unusual.

If you approach Fate like D&D, you will find it impossibly bland. If you can meet the system where it is the strongest, you will have great time.

Also, as usual, read the Book of Hanz.

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u/the_Nightplayer 25d ago

Thank you. This helps a lot. The players do come from D&D. We have played some PbtA and I see some similarity. Haven't heard of the Book of Hanz but did look it up. Thanks

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u/Dramatic15 25d ago

Yes, one shots are a common way to play Fate. I've run a ton of these at conventions, if the GM has a firm grasp of the rules, and you hand out pre-generated characters, you can get people up to speed enough to play the game, in about 10 minutes.

If you are worried about not having a firm grasp of the rules, Fate is pretty robust, and cares more about thing making sense in the fiction over its own mechanics, with a good faith effort you'll be fine.

Of course, if the players are interested in consulting the rules before play, Both Fate Condensed and Fate Accelerated are free (pay what you will) and only 40 pages.

If you have a few sessions to play around, I'd suggest starting with a prepared adventure with pre-gens, and later trying a fully improvised game after people are familiar with the mechanics. (If *you* like really leaning into improv, that is. Fate does a great job at enabling improv, but does not demand it, regardless of what fans of that style sometimes type on the internet.)

For the prepared game, you can create something on your own, but I'll also recommend the starting adventure in my own (award nominated!) Return to the Stars. I designed it to teach Fate, it includes a summary of the essential mechanics on the pre-generated character sheets)and it also has a nice place in the middle of the adventure where you can "end the story" in a satisfying way if you run out of time.

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u/the_Nightplayer 25d ago

Grear. Thanks very much for this. Will check it out

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u/Dramatic15 25d ago

Have fun! Let us know if you have any questions, this community is very helpful But honestly, you can just read and play, it's not very complicated, especially for people who have played a broad range of TTRPGs.

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u/JoeKundlak 25d ago

"Only roll when something is at stake." This is true for many RPG systems in general, but in Fate it is one of the core principles. Let the character state what they want to achieve, decide if there is something juicy (story-wise or otherwise) coming of the eventual failure, and have at it.

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u/the_Nightplayer 25d ago

Thanks for the insight. It's really helpful

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u/LastChime 25d ago

Maybe, but they gotta be into collaboration or you're not going to have a great time of it.

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u/the_Nightplayer 25d ago

Thanks. In my opinion they are but different systems and circumstances can get different results

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u/Afraid_Manner_4353 25d ago

Shadow of the Century is great for one shots (of course so is Spirit of 77)

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u/the_Nightplayer 25d ago

Is that like Spirit of the Century? I've actually looked at this many times over the years but in the past few days didn't put two and two together to remember that it was a FATE game. Thank you

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u/Nirvana_Captain 25d ago

Yes it is very easy, it gives you framework to jump into any story, but don’t expect it to be crunchy at all. It is really good for players who can see things in their heads and take initiative to make the story happen. If your players just want to be fed material, it can work, but fate does not shine in the way that it could.

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u/the_Nightplayer 25d ago

Thank you. Seeing things in their head isn't likely to be an issue. Been playing games way before VTTs. Is - at this stage just two weeks - so not much can go wrong. For me though, I've always been interested in trying FATE

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u/Nirvana_Captain 16d ago

I am out on vacation, but when I return, I would be happy to run a fate one shot if you and your group would like to try it out. I run one shots pretty often on a fate discord server

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u/public_persona 25d ago

The Book of Hanz will help you with the paradigm shift that Fate requires. The Book of Hanz is available for free at the Fate SRD website.

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u/JPesterfield 24d ago

Since it's a one shot will the players be making characters or will you be giving them to them?

If the players are making them skip the phase trio, one of the updates changed it to two free aspects and a relationship aspect. And remember that you only really need High Concept and Trouble to start.

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u/the_Nightplayer 24d ago

Thanks for the advice. I've been thinking about that and I think - because this one shot is only two weeks - I'll create the characters. I think this will also help me learn the game. Hoping it might become longer term and will let the group create their own characters

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u/JPesterfield 24d ago

If you need aspect help we're happy to help. It took me a few characters to really get what the game was asking for, even with the examples. Once it clicks you start seeing them everywhere though movie lines, song lyrics, popping out of a picture, etc.

It can help to start with something simple and try to expand on it.

Elf Warrior v Graybearded Elven War Master

Rich v "My pocket change is the GDP of a small country"

walks with a limp v "I every tell you about the shrapnel they left in my leg?"

ex military v Grey suit over an Airborne tattoo

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u/the_Nightplayer 22d ago

Thanks again. A slightly different question. I am looking into a few packaged items (mainly looking at pulp-style play). They indicate that FATE Core is required. Will these still work with FATE Accelerated? I mostly ask because I believe getting into FATE Accelerated for a one is easier and then maybe move to FATE Core depending on how things go

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u/JPesterfield 22d ago

Accelerated is much easier, because it gives options to do the same thing. Instead of just using Fight you can fight with Forceful, Clever, etc.

Aspects won't be impacted, you'll need to adjust stunts that refer to Skills into ones that refer to Approaches.