Fate: Core System

310 Pages·2013·13.07 MB·English

by  Evil Hat Productions

CHARACTERS LIVE AT THE
E
H
P
CORE OF FATE
0
0
0
1
A High Priestess of the barbarian hordes,
an undead Wild West gunslinger, and a
F
Second Lieutenant of the Intergalactic
Security Forces are about as diff erent
A
as they come, but they’ve got one thing
in common: they need a strong engine
T
to drive their stories.
Fate Core is that engine. E
Fate Core is the latest evolution of the

award-winning Fate roleplaying game (cid:127)
system from Evil Hat Productions.

We’ve streamlined and clarifi ed the
C
rules while maintaining the system’s
trademark fl exibility. Name your game;
O
Fate Core can make it happen.
Inside, you’ll discover:
R
➤ Easy-to-follow rules for character
and world creation. E
➤ Rock-solid storytelling advice for

players and GMs to produce the best
S
play experience.
➤ Clearly-defi ned systems to guide Y
players both new and old.
S
➤ New and improved approaches to
character actions, aspects, compels… T
and more!
E
TELL YOUR TALE. ROLL THE DICE.
EMBRACE YOUR FATE!
M
LEONARD BRIAN JEREMY RYAN MIKE
BALSERA ENGARD KELLER MACKLIN OLSON
EHP0001 (cid:127) ISBN 978-1-61317-029-8 (cid:127) $25.00 US
www.evilhat.com (cid:127) @EvilHatOffi cial
facebook.com/EvilHatProductions
CHARACTERS LIVE AT THE
E
H
P
CORE OF FATE
0
0
0
1
A High Priestess of the barbarian hordes,
an undead Wild West gunslinger, and a
F
Second Lieutenant of the Intergalactic
Security Forces are about as diff erent
A
as they come, but they’ve got one thing
in common: they need a strong engine
T
to drive their stories.
Fate Core is that engine. E
Fate Core is the latest evolution of the

award-winning Fate roleplaying game (cid:127)
system from Evil Hat Productions.

We’ve streamlined and clarifi ed the
C
rules while maintaining the system’s
trademark fl exibility. Name your game;
O
Fate Core can make it happen.
Inside, you’ll discover:
R
➤ Easy-to-follow rules for character
and world creation. E
➤ Rock-solid storytelling advice for

players and GMs to produce the best
S
play experience.
➤ Clearly-defi ned systems to guide Y
players both new and old.
S
➤ New and improved approaches to
character actions, aspects, compels… T
and more!
E
TELL YOUR TALE. ROLL THE DICE.
EMBRACE YOUR FATE!
M
LEONARD BRIAN JEREMY RYAN MIKE
BALSERA ENGARD KELLER MACKLIN OLSON
EHP0001 (cid:127) ISBN 978-1-61317-029-8 (cid:127) $25.00 US
www.evilhat.com (cid:127) @EvilHatOffi cial
facebook.com/EvilHatProductions
C O R E S Y S T E M
Leonard BaLsera
Lead SyStem deveLopment
Brian engard
aSSiStant deveLopment
Mike oLson
aSSiStant deveLopment
ryan MackLin
aSSiStant deveLopment • editing
JereMy keLLer
editing • Layout • inteRioR gRaphic deSign
Fred Hicks
aRt diRection • coveR deSign • pRint pRoduction
kurt koModa
coveR aRt • inteRioR aRt
sean nittner
pRoject management
cHris HanraHan
BRand maRketing
Fate WaS oRiginaLLy cReated By
roB donogHue Fred Hicks
and
An Evil Hat Productions Publication
www.evilhat.com • [email protected]
@EvilHatOfficial on Twitter
facebook.com/EvilHatProductions
Fate Core System
Copyright © 2013 Evil Hat Productions, LLC.
All rights reserved.
The text of Fate Core System will be available under the Open Gaming License
and a Creative Commons Attribution license. For more details about the terms and
requirements of these licenses, please visit www.evilhat.com or www.faterpg.com.
First published in 2013 by Evil Hat Productions, LLC.
10125 Colesville Rd #318, Silver Spring, MD 20901.
Evil Hat Productions and the Evil Hat and Fate logos are
trademarks owned by Evil Hat Productions, LLC. All rights reserved.
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-61317-029-8
Kindle ISBN: 978-1-61317-058-8
ePub ISBN: 978-1-61317-057-1
Printed in the USA.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior express permission of the publisher.
That said, if you’re doing it for personal use, knock yourself out.
That’s not only allowed, we encourage you to do it.
For those working at a copy shop and not at all sure if this means
the person standing at your counter can make copies of this thing, they can.
This is “express permission.” Carry on.
This is a game where people make up stories about wonderful, terrible, impossible,
glorious things. All the characters and events portrayed in this work are fictional.
Any resemblance to real people, fantasy adventurers, wizards of the arcane,
supernatural cops in a China-colonized Hong Kong/America that never was,
cybernetic super-intelligent apes, or squirrel mechanics is purely coincidental,
but kinda hilarious.
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contents
The Basics ...........................................................................................1
Welcome to Fate! ....................................................................................2
What You Need to Play ........................................................................3
Players and Gamemasters ..................................................................4
The Character Sheet ..............................................................................6
Taking Action ............................................................................................8
Fate Points ...............................................................................................12
Start Playing! ..........................................................................................15
Game Creation .................................................................................17
What Makes a Good Fate Game? ...................................................18
Setting Up Your Game .......................................................................20
Making the Setting Work in Fate ...................................................20
A Game’s Scale ......................................................................................21
The Setting’s Big Issues .....................................................................22
Faces and Places ..................................................................................26
Make Characters ...................................................................................27
Character Creation .........................................................................29
Character Creation Is Play ................................................................30
Your Character Idea .............................................................................31
The Phase Trio .......................................................................................38
Skills ..........................................................................................................46
Stunts and Refresh ..............................................................................48
Stress and Consequences .................................................................50
You’re All Set! ........................................................................................52
Quick Character Creation .................................................................52
Aspects and Fate Points ................................................................55
Defining Aspects ..................................................................................56
Defining Fate Points ...........................................................................56
Types of Aspects..................................................................................57
What Aspects Do .................................................................................59
Making a Good Aspect .......................................................................61
If You Get Stuck ....................................................................................64
Invoking Aspects ..................................................................................68
Compelling Aspects .............................................................................71
Using Aspects for Roleplaying .......................................................76
Removing or Changing an Aspect ................................................78
Creating and Discovering New Aspects in Play .......................78
The Fate Point Economy ...................................................................80
Skills and Stunts .............................................................................85
Defining Skills ........................................................................................86
Defining Stunts .....................................................................................87
Building Stunts ......................................................................................88
The Default Skill List ...........................................................................96
Actions and Outcomes ................................................................129
It’s Time for Action! ...........................................................................130
The Four Outcomes ...........................................................................132
The Four Actions ................................................................................134
Challenges, Contests, and Conflicts ..........................................145
Zooming In on the Action...............................................................146
Challenges .............................................................................................147
Contests ...............................................................................................150
Conflicts .................................................................................................154
Teamwork ...............................................................................................174
Running the Game .........................................................................177
What You Do ........................................................................................178
What to Do During Game Creation .............................................182
What to Do During Play ...................................................................185
Creating the Opposition ...................................................................213
Playing the Opposition ....................................................................222
Scenes, Sessions, and Scenarios ................................................225
So, Now What? ...................................................................................226
Defining Scenarios .............................................................................226
Find Problems .....................................................................................227
Ask Story Questions .........................................................................232
Establish the Opposition .................................................................236
Set Up the First Scene .....................................................................238
Defining Scenes .................................................................................240
The Scenario in Play .........................................................................246
Resolving the Scenario ....................................................................248
The Long Game ..............................................................................251
Defining Arcs .......................................................................................252
Defining Campaigns..........................................................................252
Building an Arc ...................................................................................253
Building a Campaign .......................................................................254
Advancement and Change .............................................................255
Defining Milestones ...........................................................................256
World Advancement .........................................................................263
Extras..............................................................................................269
Defining Extras ..................................................................................270
The Bronze Rule, aka The Fate Fractal .....................................270
Creating an Extra ................................................................................271
Extras and Advancement................................................................276
More Examples of Extras ................................................................277
Cheat Sheet ...................................................................................292
Veterans’ Guide .............................................................................294
Character Creation Worksheet ...................................................296
Game Creation Worksheet ..........................................................297
Landon’s Character Sheet ...........................................................298
Cynere’s Character Sheet ............................................................299
Zird the Arcane’s Character Sheet ............................................300
Character Sheet ............................................................................301
Index ...............................................................................................302

1
The Basics
T
h
e WeLcoMe to Fate!

B
a
s If you’ve never played a roleplaying game before, here’s the basic idea: you
i
c and a bunch of friends get together to tell an interactive story about a group
s
of characters you make up. You get to say what challenges and obstacles
those characters face, how they
respond, what they say and do, you might be reading this be-
and what happens to them. S cause you’re familiar with Fate
n
It’s not all just conversation, a from our other games, Spirit of
though—sometimes you’ll use R the Century and The Dresden
e
dice and the rules in this book to t Files Roleplaying Game. Several
e
bring uncertainty into the story v other popular Rpgs, like galileo
and make things more exciting. R games’ Bulldogs! and cubicle
o
What makes Fate doesn’t come with a default F 7’s Legends of Anglerre, also
a good Fate setting, but it works best with any use the Fate system.
game? premise where the characters are this is a new version of Fate,
p. 18 proactive, capable people lead- which we developed to update
ing dramatic lives. We give more and streamline the system.
advice on how to bring that flavor to you’ll recognize some of what’s
your games in the next chapter. in here, but we’ve also changed
some rules and some terminol-
veterans’ guide ogy. you can find a guide to all
p. 294 the changes we’ve made near
the end of the book.
if you’re a new player, all you
really need to know is in this
e
t chapter and on your character
a
F sheet—the gm will help you
o
figure out the rest. you may
t
W want to check out the cheat
e sheet on page 292 just to
n
save your gm some effort, but
otherwise, you should be good
to go.
if you’re a new gm, this is
just the tip of the iceberg for
you. you should read and get
familiar with the whole book.
2 Fate Core