Dungeon
of Fate
This is the Dungeon of Fate!
I'm going to be using Fate to run a sword-and-sorcery dungeon crawl. These are my rules and notes.
Setting
The Sundered Realm
It is said that long, long ago there was just one world, floating in the eternal Aether. It was a paradise. Some force had shaped it with such perfection that it was actually a sphere, a perfect globe. It was a blue world, with large portions of its surface covered in life-giving water. Now that world lives on only in the memories of a few scattered Spirits who saw it while it existed. The Old World was shattered so long ago that no mortal creature can remember. Now the world is called the Sundered Realm.
Mortals know little or nothing about the nature of the event that tore the Old World apart and created the Realm as it is today. Those Spirits that know what happened aren't talking. Surely a powerful God or Spirit must have been involved. Whoever was responible, the world was broken forever.
Imagine islands of rock and earth of varying size floating through the Aether. These are the Fragments. Some are huge, filled with life. Others are tiny, unknown, and dark. The Fragments are the only solid ground in the Sundered Realm, and they are where all the Realm's inhabitants live and die, save those who travel by Aethership from Fragment to Fragment.
The largest of these Fragments is Segird. Segird is a huge shield of rock covered in a crust of earth. On its surface are mountains, rivers, forests, even seas. And springing from the very center of the shield is the fabled Tower of Morn. The Firmament, a shifting, multicolored sheet of unknown composition, springs out of the Tower of Morn far out into the Aether, before curving around to fall down past the sides of Segird. Because of its shape sages speculate that the Firmament is actually composed of a liquid. It is as if the Tower of Morn were a fountain which shoots the liquid into the Aether, and then the Firmament falls evenly on all sides in a sheet like a fountain may.
Beneath the surface of Segird is the Delve, unimaginably complex and deep-ranging caverns and constructed passageways that penetrate the rocky core of Sigurd to an unknown depth. Those Aetherships that go sailing past the edge of Segird and head downward in an attempt to find the bottom of the great Fragment seldom return. Strange creatures never seen on the surface abound in the Delve. Indeed, entire civilizations rise and fall in the lightless caverns deep in Segird's core.
Tennets
These tennets of the campaign may be used as Campaign Aspects.
- Points of Light in the Darkness - Taking this from Iron Heroes and D&D4. Most of Segird is unexplored wilderness, or at least the people who once explored it are all dead. The few cities and towns may burn bright, with a few still holding the torch of civilization high, but they are all surrounded by the unknown areas where danger lurks.
- Reeling from the Cataclysm - The Sundering was long ago, but there was a second world-shaking event three-hundred years ago when the great Empire that ruled all of Segird and much of the Sundered Realm collapsed in civil war and magical cataclysm. Small towns have forgotten the Empire ever existed, and even in the few cities on Segird it's only a memory.
- We Used to Travel the Aether - In the times of the Empire the aetherships were common, and exploration into the farthest reaches of the Realm was underway. But the reality-bending magics that powered the aetherships were taught in the Imperial Universities, and they fell with the Empire. There are a few aetherships still in existence, and indeed the knowledge of Weaving (bending reality to propel a ship through aether) is still alive in some areas (the Edge Inn particularly), but most folk on Segird never see such marvels and probably doubt that flying ships are anything more than a legend.
- The Delve Is Always Beneath Us - The Delve, Segird's underworld, is a place of mystery and horror, and everyone on the surface knows that the creatures that live beneath the earth could break through at any time. Of course, in most cases monsters don't just pop up out of the ground. Segird is covered in a hard shell of rock, and there are only a handful of egress points. But it makes a great tale to frighten childern: behave yourself, or the snarks might grab you and pull you into the Delve. The Delve is such a presence on the surface of Segird that an order of warriors has arisen to ward against intrusions from below. The Knights of the Rift were founded during the time of the Empire, and they alone of any military unit survived the destruction. They Knights are a formidable if at times overzealous force on Segird.
Core Rules
The Ladder
+8 - Legendary
+7 - Epic
+6 - Fantastic
+5 - Superb
+4 - Great
+3 - Good
+2 - Fair
+1 - Average
+0 - Mediocre
-1 - Poor
-2 - Terrible
Aspects
Use an Aspect
- Invoke one of your own aspects after you roll. Pay a Fate point. Add 2 or reroll.
- Tag an aspect on (not you) after you roll. Pay a Fate point. Add 2 or reroll. Per action, one aspect per Scope:
- one Opponent aspect
- one Ally's aspect
- one Zone aspect
- one Scene aspect
- one Campaign aspect
- Compel an aspect on your opponent before you roll. You offer your opponent a deal related to the aspect. He can accept and take your Fate point or refuse and give you a Fate point. Non-combat compels are free-form, but combat compels should usually only result in loosing a turn or taking a -2.
- Compel an aspect on a scene or zone (or anything other than a character). The GM may take your deal and your Fate point or refuse and give you a Fate point.
Gaining Fate Points
You start with as many Fate points as you have Aspects.
Resolution
There are three resolution mechanics:
- Simple Actions: To accomplish a task with a set difficulty (no opponent).
- Contests: For simple contests between two opponents.
- Conflicts: For complex conflicts between two or more participants.
Simple Actions
- GM sets Difficulty and skill.
- Roll 4dF, add result to skill, and if it's equal or greater than the Difficulty, you succeed.
- You may invoke or tag Aspects after the roll to improve your result.
- The number you beat the Difficulty by is the number of Shifts.
Contests
- You and your opponent roll 4dF, add result to skill.
- High result wins.
- Either opponent may invoke or tag Aspects after the roll to improve results (winner is actually decided after all desired Fate has been spent).
- Winner gains Shifts equal to the number by which the winning result exceeded the losing result.
Shifts
- Can be used as a measure of success by comparing to the Ladder. E.g. three shifts is a Good success (success by a Good margin).
- Used in Combat to determine stress.
Skill Interactions
- Limited by: Skill A is used for the check but at a level no higher than Skill B.
- Modified by: Skill A is used for the check. If Skill B > A, result is +1. If Skill B < A, result is -1.
- Reduced by: Skill A is used for the check. If Skill B < A, result is -1.
- Amplified by: Skill A is used for the check. If Skill B > A, result is +1.
Conflict
Each conflict:
- Describe scene (aspects, zones, characters).
- Determine initiative.
Each turn:
- The GM asks for compels and compels are resolved.
- Actions are declared, including designation of attacker and defender.
- Dice are rolled and a skill value added.
- Fate points may be used to invoke or tag Aspects.
- Free aspects may be tagged.
- Spin may be used.
- Actions are resolved by type. One zone free move with Attack or Maneuver.
- Attack: Cause stress to an opponents Health or Composure.
- Maneuver: Add an aspect to a scene or character.
- Other: Move, defend, etc.
Attack
- Choose Health or Composure.
- One zone free move.
- Mark stress at the number of shifts (i.e. 2 shifts means you check the 2rd stress box)
Spin
- When an attacker fails by 3 or more, the defender gets spin.
- Spin can be used by the defender or an ally, but it must be used before the defender's next turn.
- Spin gives +1 to a single roll.
Stress
- Typical stress track is three boxes
- Stress rolls up (if the 2nd box is checked, check the 3rd box)
- Consequences reduce stress:
- Minor consequence reduces stress by 1
- Moderate consequence reduces stress by 2
- Severe consequence reduces stress by 4
Alternate Rule: Stress-less Conflict
- Attack succeeds by:
- 1-3: Minor consequence
- 4-7: Major consequence
- 8+: Severe consequence
- If you already have a consequence of a given level and receive another, it rolls up. Past Severe is Taken Out.
- Minor consequences can be tagged for a +2, Moderate for +3, and Severe for +4.
Taken Out
If you take a hit past your stress track which you cannot mitigate, you are taken out.
Consequences
- You may only have 1 of each type of consequence.
- Healing:
- Stress Box: Clears after any downtime.
- Minor: Clears as soon as combat is over.
- Moderate: Requires a roll to mitigate (Physik, or Presence, etc).
- Severe: Enters the fiction at the end of a session or story arc by transforming one of the characters regular aspects.
Maneuver
- Simple Action to add an aspect to the scene, self, ally.
- Contest to add a temporary aspect to an enemy. First tag is free.
Other Actions
- Free Actions: Don't count as your turn's action.
- Full Defense: Must be declared at the beginning of an exchange. Take no action but gain +2 to defenses.
- Move: Characters get a free 1 zone move. Or forego other action to roll Athletics and move zones equal to shifts.
Characters
Phases
We'll probably use something like these:
The possible phases, then, are Origins, Profession, Goals, People, Beliefs, Possessions, and Adventure. Pick five in any combination. It's possible to take one more than once, if you really want to emphasize some portion of your character that much more. It doesn’t have a mechanical effect, the way it would in FATE 2.0, but it helps to focus your character.
Origins: Where are you from? What's your race and/or culture? How were you raised, and with what values?
Profession: Do you (or did you) have a "day job"? What trade(s) do you know, and where did you learn it/them? Are you a mercenary? A pickpocket? A sorcerer's apprentice (or the sorcerer himself)? A Jack-of-all-trades?
Goals: What do you hope to accomplish in life? Where do you see yourself going? Do you want to rid the world of evil, or merely rule it? This can be as specific or as general as you'd like.
People: Who are the important people in your life, if any? Friends, enemies, superiors, lackeys, secret admirers, the secretly admired... who and where are they?
Beliefs: Does your character have any important beliefs that drive him as a person? Note that they don't actually have to be true.
Possessions: Does your character own something that helps define who he is? Or maybe he used to own something like this, but lost it -- and wants to get it back.
Adventure: Briefly recount an adventure you've already had. Did you ransack some ancient ruins? Escape from the city guard with a purloined loaf of bread? Conduct a magical experiment gone awry? Engage in a public debate? It doesn't have to be life-threatening, but it does have to be exciting.
from: http://spiritoftheblank.blogspot.com/2009/02/fantasy-phases-redux.html
Aspects
Choose 10 Aspects. They should draw on the phases you chose.
Boons
Choose 5 Boons. Each Boon must be tied to a specific Aspect.
Skills
Here's a list I might use for characters in Segird generally. It's a general fantasy setting skill list.
- Aethernautics - The science and craft of sailing the Aether.
- Archery - Bows and crossbows.
- Art - Creation of art in any form.
- Delve Lore - Knowledge of the Delve beneath Segird.
- Firearms - Beware firedust!
- Gnosis - Direct (mystical) knowledge of Spirit.
- Guile - Interpersonal deception.
- Knowledge - Choose a field.
- Larceny - Thievery, skullduggery, even sleight-of-hand.
- Means - Resources, includes contacts as well as physical wealth.
- Perception - Mundane senses and their training (also emotional).
- Physik - The science of healing and medicine.
- Physique - Athletics and endurance.
- Presence - Establishing rapport, intimidation, leadership.
- Resolve - Steadfastness, willpower.
- Ride - Horses, dragons, etc.
- Stealth - Hiding, creeping.
- Steel - Melee or thrown weaponry
- Thews - Lifting, breaking, unarmed combat.
- Wilderness Lore - How to survive in the wilds (any type).
On Knowledge
The Knowledge skill can be used to indicate practice and learning in a field that is not already represented in the skill list. It does not necessarily mean "book knowledge." Practical skills can be included. For instance, several of the skills on the skill list are clearly specific applications of Knowledge: Art, Delve Lore, and Larceny are easily defined as such. They include not only learning, but also practical (and practiced) skills, just as sleight-of-hand, or the physical skills of art (painting, playing musical instruments, etc). Of course, almost any skill (with the exception of Gold) could be defined as a sub-skill of Knowledge. Basically, Knowledge is a catch-all skill for those who wish to be particularly proficient in a field which doesn't seem to fit under an already listed skill.
Boons
Boon System from http://spiritoftheblank.blogspot.com/2009/02/fantasy-boons.html by Mike Olson
- Focus: +1 [skill] with [blank] -- Fill in the blank (+1 Melee with axes, +1 Art with music, +1 Athletics with climbing, etc.). No two Focus boons can modify the same skill.
- Specialty: +2 [skill] with maneuvers or +2 [skill] with assessments/declarations -- This applies to any use of the skill in question to put an aspect on someone else.
- Substitution: Use [skill] instead of [skill] when [blank] -- Fill in the blank with a verb reflecting a specific condition or circumstance (Use Melee instead of Intimidation when fighting, Use Art instead of Rapport when dealing with other musicians, Use Athletics instead of Melee when attacking from surprise, etc.).
- Ease: Ignore penalty to [skill] for [blank] -- Fill in the blank with a specific, static penalty in the SotC SRD (Ignore penalty to Melee for using improvised weapons, Ignore penalty to Art for a distracted audience, Ignore penalty to Athletics for climbing a slippery surface, etc.).
- Item: The character has some sort of special possession, along the lines of Weapon of Destiny, Personal Gadget, Prototype Car, etc. The item has three improvements that only apply when using or wearing the item in its intended manner. If two bonuses are applied to the same skill, or to the same use of one skill (if applicable -- e.g., +2 to attacks with Melee), then instead of a third improvement, the GM picks an aspect, preferably something detrimental (e.g., Slow, Unwieldy, Two-Handed, Dark Oaths, Glows Brightly When Activated, etc.), as the third "improvement." The improvements allowed are as follows:
- +1 to a noncombat skill
- +1 to attacks with a combat skill
- +1 to defense with a combat skill
- Use one noncombat skill instead of another noncombat skill in specific circumstances
- Use one combat or noncombat skill in place of a combat skill (This is the improvement that lets you use a melee weapon at range or a missile weapon in melee, such a throwing a dagger or fighting hand-to-hand with a bow.)
- An aspect
- Heritage: A collection of three very specialized benefits derived from your racial or cultural descent, and are most appropriate for characters who exemplify their race or culture. These are things like +1 Craft to stonemasonry for a dwarf, +1 Rapport when haggling for a city-dwelling sort, and so on. For balance purposes, they should not give bonuses to anything combat-related.
- Companion: Companions start with four advances. Taking this boon more than once can add more advances to the same companion, though at diminishing returns. Taking it twice for the same companion nets you another three advances, taking it three times another two, and taking it a fourth time yields but one additional advance.
- Quality: Every tier of skill quality costs an advance. Basically, you get one skill in each tier you pay for, up to Good. For example, if you spent three advances on your companion's Quality, you'd have an Average skill, a Fair skill, and a Good skill. Your companion can take a number of consequences equal to its Quality, as well, one per degree of severity: one Minor at Average, one Minor and one Moderate at Fair, and one Minor, one Moderate, and one Severe at Good. As long as your your companion is attached to you, its skills complement your own. Another example: If you had Average Melee and Good Athletics and your companion were a Fair-quality wolf with Average Athletics and Fair Melee, when your wolf's attached to you you get a +1 bonus to Melee from your wolf (because its Melee is superior to your own) but no bonus to Athletics (because its Athletics isn't).
- Quantity: By default, you have one companion. With this advance, you have more than that: another one or two if you take this advance once, and up to three more if you take it a second time. However, your companions' maximum Quality is reduced by one each time you take this (Fair if you take it once, Average if you take it twice).
- Independent: Normally, your companion can't act on its own without the expenditure of a Fate Point. With this advance, you don't have to pay the Fate Point.
- Breadth: Expand the companion's skill pyramid by one degree, up to a max of two skills at its apex. For example, if your wolf companion's Quality is Fair, taking Breadth once gets it another Average skill, and taking it twice gives it a third Average skill and a second Fair skill. It can't get a Good skill, though, without another advance spent on Quality.
- Communication: You can communicate with your companion. Only useful if you would otherwise be unable to.
- Unusual: Spend a Fate Point to do something special not otherwise covered by the above options (e.g., Enemies denied gang-up bonus when you're armed, Use Art in place of any social skill when dealing with other musicians, Ignore all penalties when climbing, etc.), as long as it's cool with the GM.
Magic
Mechanics
To be able to use magic to effect the world, simply select a magic-related Aspect (why you have it, how you learned it, what type it is) and then select an appropriate boon. Substitution is probably the most popular (using Gnosis for Archery/Firearms, or Physik, or Perception, etc).
You can also use a Dramatic Invocation (see the SotC stuntless rules) and spend a Fate point to use Gnosis in place of any other skill in any circumstances that you can justify.
More formal or developed rules for magic may follow (take a look at Mike Olson's Spirit of the Sword).
Notes on Flavor
The skill used for magical effects is Gnosis. It represents fundamental, conscious or unconscious knowledge of the "un-reality" of the physical world, and therefore an ability to manipulate said world. Some wizards are aware of the reality of what they are doing. Others explain their powers in different ways.