Next Fate Experiment Idea: Pandemic: the RPG

I'm still deep in Eberron game creation mode, however, I'd like to post this idea for future development. In the course of planning the next session with my players, I thought about making a Fate game with Matt Leacock's outstanding board game Pandemic. In this game, players collectively try to find a cure for four deadly diseases ravaging the world before time runs out. All the players have different roles that give them special abilities in the game, such as being able to move other players to different locations (Dispatcher), and finding cures more easily (Scientist). I've only played this game three times, but I find that the game is addictive enough that you'd want to play it more and more, and with different roles each time.

The players can be patterned after the roles in the board game: Dispatcher (moves people), Operations Expert (builds... something for this RPG), Scientist (has stunt for finding cures), Medic (cures lots of people with ease), and Researcher (has info-collecting stunt). I think I need to rename these roles into something more real-life, like the Dispatcher can be a Military Operator instead, or there could be several Scientists that are experts in different fields, like Virology or Bacteriology.

Scenarios can involve a frantic search for Patient Zero, a mad scramble in the Amazons to find a rare plant for a cure, and going to a quarantined location to administer the cure with a generally hostile population while avoiding local gangs who are out to get the cure for themselves. Diseases would have to be made up, of course, as well as the cures, but the location would have to be Earth at the present time. Creating Advantages would involve getting breakthroughs in containing the diseases and finding cures, and the players can make these up as we go along.

The players could be up against rival pharmaceutical companies out to prevent the characters from discovering a cure, to local politicians out to use them for political gain, and the ever present danger from terrorists, especially bio-terrorists. So much potential for a game! Must set aside this for a while now as I finish up prepping for my Eberron game. Hope to be back soon to flesh this out some more. And hope to play more Pandemic for inspiration!

Finally! An update and actual game creation!

After more than a year I finally got to update this blog... anyway, I got a regular tabletop roleplaying gaming group now and I pitched my idea for an Eberron campaign using Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition early this year. Even though some of them love the idea of playing with minis, no one wanted to play the 4th edition! So I pitched in another idea -- playing Eberron with Fate Core rules. I got the "go" vote and voila! For two sessions we toiled with the game and character creation. I know at least two of my players (out of five) have played Spirit of the Century with me before, and yet, we struggled with character creation. Me thinks it is because of the unique way of creating characters with Fate Core. As you probably know, there is no list or tables where you get to pick out items/stats; everything, including powers (Stunts) get to be determined by the players by putting in Aspects. Certainly, at one point, I was tempted to say "Screw this, let's play the 5th edition instead" because everyone was struggling with Aspect creation!

First things first: game creation. Any Eberron campaign would inevitably touch the Last War, so one of the game Aspects I proposed was "Shadows of the Last War". This would be invoked for effect, mainly for the scenery (such as war-torn landscape) and people's reaction (general suspicion, especially of other nationalities). I let my players decide on the second Aspect, and they proposed that the problem they would face initially would be the "Refugee Problem". I agreed, and put in "New Cyre" in Breland as the location of the first scenario, since that is where most of the Cyran refugees during the Last War ended up. As per the Eberron Campaign Guide, the leader of New Cyre is the former ambassador to Breland, Prince Oargev ir'Wynarn. So now I have a location, a supporting NPC, and two issues for my Fate Eberron game! Woohoo!

Next issue, actual character creation!

Water, water, where art thou?!

One morning in Fairy Land, Rosy woke up to water her plants. However, there was no water flowing out of the tap. A passing servant says to Rosy to check the dam; when Rosy got there, there was a commotion as apparently, the key to turn on the water from the dam has been stolen by a troll! The only way to make the water flow again was to retrieve the key from the troll, but where can Rosy find him? The villagers told her to ask the all-knowing king of Fairy Land, King Peacock.

King Peacock tells the princess the way to the troll's cave is long and winding, but there is a short cut that she can take, through the dark forest. Not wanting to go through the scary forest, Rosy and her friend Flappy the Butterfly took the long route, despite the King's advice that it will take them a long time to get to the troll's cave with that route. Taking the long road might delay the princess, and the plants in the garden might die if they don't get water soon enough.

After a long and uneventful journey, the duo finds the troll's cave. The troll Carrot, orange-colored and grumpy, tells them that he has they key, but is unwilling to return it unless they get his special dipper from the dwarf who stole it. Flappy asked where can they find the dwarf, and Carrot points them to the direction of the dwarf's tower. A howling tunnel leads the way to the tower, and Flappy and Rosy tried to go flying in to no avail since the wind blowing out was too strong. Flappy decided to sing a song to attract anyone who can help them; soon enough her outstanding voice attracted a villager named Morty, who showed them a secret rock to press to stop the wind from blowing so they can get in.

After getting in, the dwarf named Sneezy refused to give the special dipper back. Rosy tried to reason with the dwarf to return the dipper but failed. Flappy sang a song to change the mood of the dwarf; it worked and he told them that he would gladly return the troll's dipper if they give him another one. So with a wave of her magic wand and the words, "Abracadabra, dipper," Rosy made him a nice new dipper. Sneezy was delighted and gave back Carrot's dipper. Rosy and Flappy returned to Carrot's cave to give his dipper back; he in turn gave back the key. Swiftly, the two made haste to return to the dam with the key, and they made it back in time to Rosy's garden to water the plants before any of them got wilted.  

Rosy the Fairy Princess

It's been a while since I last posted in this blog, the reason being is that I've been busy. I'm also discovering that it's really difficult to blog about creating a campaign world that I can't somehow get off the ground. Anyway, my wife has recently asked me to try and play an RPG with our five year-old daughter Chichi. She's a precocious little thing - very early exposure to my primary hobby of board gaming has made her eager to try board games children her age can't normally play or understand yet. With Fate Core being one of my favorite RPGs, I decided to try the Fate Accelerated Edition (FAE) with her since I wanted something simple where she can start. Below is a transcript of what roughly transpired in our little game creation:

Me: So what kind of pretend character do you want to play?
Chichi: I want to play a fairy princess
Me: (Well, that was easy). So what does she do beside the usual princess-y stuff?
Chichi: She waters her garden!
Me: Ok...
Chichi: And she loves purple tulips and pink roses. And eats chocolate cake every day!

At this point I realized that the rule book suggests a minimum of three players for FAE: at least two players and one GM. So I included the wife.

Me: Chichi, Mommy wants to play a character, too. What kind of character do you think she can play?
Chichi: She can be a talking pink and purple butterfly.
Me: And what does the talking butterfly do, beside fly around?
Chichi: She can be the princess's friend
Me: And what else?
Chichi: The butterfly likes pretty stuff. And loves to sing all the time!

So at this stage I introduced the concept of Approaches. Chichi wants the fairy princess to be Careful, first and foremost (+3). Next, she is also Clever and Flashy (+2). Lastly, she is Quick and Sneaky (+1). As for the talking butterfly friend, Chichi determined it to be Flashy as a singer (+3). Also, Careful and Quick (+2), and Clever and Sneaky (+1). Both of them are mediocre in Forceful (+0).

Finally, I introduced that their character can have Special Powers (Stunts). Chichi wanted her fairy princess to have a Magic Wand that can create nice things. The butterfly, aside from being able to talk and fly, has a Magic Song that can make people happy.

Lastly, I asked for the names. Chichi wanted to name her character "Chichi" but I said she should think of another name, so she called her Rosy. As for the butterfly, she was named "Flappy".

So after all of these, we created two characters for the players:

Rosy the Fairy Princess
High Concept: Fairy Princess who waters her own garden
Trouble: Obsessed with pink roses and purple tulips
Other: Eats chocolate cake every day

Approaches:
+3 Careful
+2 Clever
+2 Flashy
+1 Quick
+1 Sneaky

Stunt:
Magic Wand: Once every session, can create one nice thing

Flappy the Butterfly
High Concept: Rosy's talking butterfly friend
Trouble: Attracted to pretty stuff
Other: Likes to sing a lot

Approaches:
+3 Flashy
+2 Careful
+2 Quick
+1 Clever
+1 Sneaky

Stunt:
Magic Song: +2 to Flashy to change the mood of listeners to "happy"

Tomorrow, hopefully my first FAE game :)

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?