Game Creation Part 2

On my last post, I have ended with two aspects for my Eberron game: The Next War and the Doom that is to Come. I had a bit of a think about these aspects and I think The Next War, although evocative in the setting, would be a bit challenging for me to invoke and compel. Warmongers and general evil doers would invoke it when they are going to make moves that would break the tenuous peace in Khorvaire, but are the PCs, heroic as they are, going to be comfortable in invoking such as aspect? I suppose given the noir characteristic of Eberron, it is not entirely against the grain.

I want to replace it with another aspect, I suppose, and would put Lingering Shadows of the Last War in its place. Given the current level of distrust among the populace, I think this would be more evocative, and easier to invoke and compel. So now I've decided to have my game aspects to be Lingering Shadows of the Last War and The Doom that is to Come.

Moving on: Fate Core suggests drilling down and writing down aspects of the environment, as well as determine some NPCs. For my first game, I would like to focus on a nation among the Five Nations of Khorvaire. There's Aundair, home of the the Royal Eyes, noted mages and archers; Breland, the default home base of adventurers and the location of Sharn, the greatest city in the continent, if not the world; Thrane, and its clerics and witch hunters; and Karrnath, with its military tradition and undead armies. Cyre and the Mournland is not exactly "playable" now since the default setting has it destroyed four years ago, so will deal with fleshing it out in the future should the players want to explore it. Breland (and Sharn) would be an obvious choice, but I find that it does not encompass the adventures I have in mind yet. So I settled with Aundair: the presence of the Royal Eyes makes for a great espionage-focused game.

The Fate Core game creation sheet has spaces for 6 places and/or people, so I'll limit it to those for my first Fate game. Looking at the Eberron Campaign Guide for DnD 4E, there are a lot of faces, places, and organizations to choose from:

Arcanix (city) - floating castle and home of the Arcane Congress
> Gate of Xabra (artifact) - magical teleportation device to different planes of existence
Arcane Congress (organization) - premier magic institution in Khorvaire
> Starspeaks Observatory (place) - newly acquired observatory to study the stars
Knights Arcane (organization) - military knightly order of Aundair
> Lord Darro ir'Lien (person) - its leader; wants to mount a military campaign against the Eldeen Reaches
Queen Aurala ir'Wynarn (person) - ruler of Aundair
> Sasik d'Vadalis, her consort, and was a member of House Vadalis
> Adal ir'Wynarn, her brother and the current Minister of Magic
Thaliost (city) - Thrane-held former holding; every Aundarian wants it back!
Fairhaven (city) - capital of Aundair
> University of Wynarn (school) - premier institution of learning; school of diverse students
> Fairhold (place) - location of the royal residences and other nation's embassies
Passage (city) - trade city to the West
> House Orien (organization) - dragonmark of passage (courier and travel)
Stormhome (city) - island playground for the rich
Towers of Aundair (places) - magical border fortifications
Whisper Rock (artifact) - monolith that corrupts everything around it in the Whisper Woods
Royal Eyes (organization) - one of two intelligence and espionage organizations in Khorvaire
> "The Royal Eyes are watching" - popular saying
> Thuel Racannoch (person) - Spy Master
> Tower of the Eyes (place) - headquarters in Fairhaven
Eldeen Reaches (place) - former holding; now independent; Aundarians think the Reachers are traitors

So I have Lingering Shadows of the Last War and the Doom that is to Come as game aspects; which of the setting materials above would be appropriate for my first 6 places / faces? Lord Darro would fit the Lingering Shadows, as is the Royal Eyes. I would also put in the Eldeen Reaches as another Lingering Shadow. I put two setting elements under the Doom, for completion sake: Whisper Rock, and cultists of unknown cult (for lack of a better, mysterious term). Last, I put in Fairhaven as a hotbed of intrigue and as a base of the PCs' operations. So the six setting aspects / issues I have are:

1. Lord Darro of the Knights Arcane - wants to reclaim the Eldeen Reaches
2. The Royal Eyes of Aundair - for Queen and Country
3. Fairhaven - hotbed of intrigue
4. Eldeen Reaches - former territory now independent
5. Whisper Rock - corrupting influence has to be dealt with, soon
6. Cultists - doing unimaginable rituals

Next post, I discuss my overall concept for a campaign in Eberron.

Backtracking... Game Creation 1

I think I got too excited in making this blog that I missed the game creation step in Fate core altogether. So before I continue with my DnD classes adaptation, I will backtrack and start the right way as recommended in the books. That way, the critical questions such as on what certain aspects of play to focus on will be revealed and answered early, giving us a sort of constitution or superstructure for the tweaks we have to make for Eberron to fit in Fate core's rules set.

One of the more intriguing characteristics of Fate games is that game creation is not just the GMs job, but is shared equally with the players. I know this has been done before in other games such as in Vampire: the Masquerade and other White Wolf storyteller / storytelling RPGs, but the extent of how Fate does it is unbelievable. It's tied mechanically to the system itself, so no one can just forget it during play, unlike some random Background characteristics in character record sheets that have no bearing in the game whatsoever if one chose to ignore it. It also cuts down on a lot of work for the GM and makes for more character-driven story lines because of the players' input, making the game very much more personal and enjoyable for everyone.

That said, until my group finally decides to let me run a game for them, or I find another group online, I will have to do this project by myself for a while. So, on to the question and answer portion, then:

1. Decide what the world that surrounds the protagonists is like.
   I've already decided to set the game in Eberron, so this is a no brainer :)
2. Decide on how epic or personal your story will be.
   
   I want the game to be epic, since being a Fate game, the personal will always come out to the forefront anyway because of aspects and such.
3. Decide what threats and pressures inherent to the setting will spur the protagonists to action.
   
   Eberron's Campaign Guide has a lot of suggestions on what games to run, from the typical dungeon delve, to the more esoteric (for DnD at least) urban intrigue. But what I like to run would be under the Last War theme. For the uninitiated, this campaign theme focuses on the tenuous peace in Khorvaire. The Last War, a century-long war that has divided the main continent of the planet, has ended formally two years ago, but there is still bitterness in the hearts of many in Khorvaire because of the experience. Countries that have lost lands during the war want their property back; the cause of the destruction of a whole nation, Cyre, is still unknown; there is lingering paranoia that each neighboring country is arming itself to make new war; etc. The whole continent is a power keg waiting to explode -- what will be the incident that will spark the Next War? Life there is like the experience of people during the years after World War I -- there is a sense of palpable bitterness and lost, along with desire to regain glory and extract revenge.
   
   There are other issues at hand that can be explored in Eberron, mind you. There are the mysterious Draconic Prophecies, which the dragons of Argonessen seek to uncover. There are the Dragonmarked, who like the multinational companies of today, rule everyday commerce across the borders, insidiously some would say. Aside from these, there are also dungeons to delve and urban intrigues to uncover!
   
   Obviously, the main issue to be dealt with by the PCs should be the Next War, the real all encompassing threat on everyone's heads right now. The PCs should try to stop any border skirmish, any military action, that could spark the next big war. But there should be another issue to deal with, a impending issue, that would be the focus in future adventures. For that I think I will go with The Return of the Demons, which ruled in Eberron before its written history and are now trying to go back.
   
   So, current issue would be the Next War, and the impending issue would be the Return of the Demons.
4. Making the Issues in Aspects
   
   So now I have the Next War and Return of the Demons as issues, I have to turn them into aspects. I think The Next War is okay as an aspect, but I have to copy Fate core's sample The Doom that is to Come as the aspect for the Return of the Demons to make it less obvious to the players :)

That's it for now. Will have to work on the rest of the game creation for my next post. Til then.

My take on classic DnD classes for Fate: Skills

I started this blog to document my experiment on adapting Fate to DnD's Eberron. What's not to like in Eberron? It's pulpy, noir, swashbuckly, steampunkish, metro kind of adventure setting. I guess the only thing I don't like about it is that its current system (fourth edition DnD) needs grid maps and minis. Call me old school, but I like my RPGs without grid maps and minis. They are too much of a distraction, and one can never get the right minis and maps to match every situation conceivable. Well, one could, if one has enough time and money. Also, DnD 4e focuses too much on combat and very little of everything else. A single fight or two can take up most of a typical 4 hour RPG session. But I digress. Then came Fate Core, an RPG system that can be adapted to use in any RPG setting. I've used Fate before, running a Spirit of the Century game for my friends, and found it amazingly easy to use. With the new streamlined Fate Core, I will try to adapt my favorite setting into my favorite system. I would not have done this if I had found something exhaustive about this topic in the web. So thank you, lazy Fate Eberron game creators! You have spurred me into writing again!

Ok, first step into adapting the Eberron into Fate is incorporating classes ("professions") and races into Fate. What Fate system toolkit has suggested is that to put skills in predetermined positions in the pyramid, add a class specific aspect or two, and add stunts that are only available to whoever are in that profession. For this post, I will tackle the first four classic DnD classes: fighter, thief, mage, and cleric. I have determined that each should have the following predetermined skills in their pyramids:

Fighter

+4 Fight

+3 Athletics or Physique, 1 other skill

+2 Shoot or Provoke, 2 other skills

+1 any 4 skills

This is a no-brainer. I lifted this from the Fate system toolkit, and it makes sense. The only thing that bothers me is that what if the player wants an archer instead of normal, sword and board, fighter? Perhaps I should try to "stat-up" a ranger next post.

Thief

+4 Burglary or Stealth

+3 Athletics or Deceive, 1 other skill

+2 Fight or Provoke, 2 other skills

+1 any 4 skills

Something from the system toolkit, with some modifications. Did the writers miss the Burglary skill or something?! So I opted to add Burglary on the pyramid top, move Deceive and Provoke down the ladder, and rid Shoot out.

Mage

+4 Lore

+3 Will or Investigate, 1 other skill

+2 Resources or Deceive, 2 other skills

+1 any 4 skills

A bit of a tough mind exercise for me. I can't seem to find enough skills to fill this class pyramid out. I settled for Resources and Deceive at +2 -- wizards should earn a lot, and they would know how to be good deceivers to pull off their craft, neh?

Cleric

+4 Empathy or Rapport

+3 Lore or Investigate, 1 other skill

+2 Contacts or Will, 2 other skills

+1 any 4 skills

Lastly, the ever useful cleric. More literally "priestly" rather than "combat medic-like". Seems odd that there is no Medicine skill; perhaps I should add this skill to my Fate game?