20130313 Random Fate Core Thought of the Day’T...

Robert Hanz - 2013-03-13T15:55:26-0400 - Updated: 2013-03-13T17:40:08-0400

Random Fate Core Thought of the Day:

This one starts with a little story about my ex. One day, she decided to make Chicken Tikka Masala. Which is fine, except she had never cookied it, or eaten it, or really eaten any Indian food.

Still, she knew the ingredients on it, and had the sauce made up, so why not? We got some chicken, and a thing of sauce from Costco, and we were on our way.

She decided to "improve" the recipe. I don't remember what all she added, but I remember for sure there was a crapload of paprika in there, in addition to the normal amounts of paprika in Tikka Masala. When she was done cooking, the result was an inedible mess. The sauce wasn't a sauce any more, but caked on gunk.

One of the things that I see when people start up with Fate, especially Core, is that they think they need "more" stuff in it. This is especially true of players coming from more traditional games, which often do have rules for anything.

I remember one discussion here a while ago, where someone wanted rules for Splinter Cell-like takedowns. My initial thought there was "why?" The existing rules do a perfectly good job of that - a few Create Advantage rolls to get stealth and positioning, and you'll probably one-hit any minion with ease.

+Jack Gulick compared Fate Core to a 3d printer, as opposed to a Lego set, and I totally agree. It's a functional game out of the box for a broad set of scenarios and settings.

If you hack Fate, that's awesome. Seriously, it is. But play the game first. Understand what it's supposed to do, and feel like. Try to figure out how you'd get the effect you want with just the core rules. Want to do starships? Try it with just Piloting rolls. See how it feels. If people aren't having fun, or the story isn't what you want it to be, try the minimal hack you can to adjust it.

Hack when you truly get the system.

Hack when you know why the system, as-is, is insufficient.

Hack when you know what results you want.

He who hacks least, hacks best.

Don't ruin the Chicken Tikka Masala.

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Wil Hutton - 2013-03-13T16:01:34-0400

To be fair, the takedowns boiled down to opponents being no stress box minions as long as you're not seen, and turning into a real threat when you are. It was a genre emulation thing. :)

Robert Hanz - 2013-03-13T16:03:42-0400

Good clarification, and maybe that was a less-than-awesome example :)

Adam Schwaninger - 2013-03-13T16:10:17-0400

That's a good rule for hacking of any sort. :)

Wil Hutton - 2013-03-13T16:10:58-0400

I have thrown a lot of crap at the wall to see what sticks, so to speak, but most of it was aimed at getting down to what works best within the existing Fate Core rules with the intention of changing as little as possible.

Robert Hanz - 2013-03-13T16:11:58-0400

No offense was intended by using that as an example, +Wil Hutton , and I truly apologize if any was taken. I'm open to editing the post if you'd like.

Wil Hutton - 2013-03-13T16:36:12-0400

Nope, none at all. I think it's always good to examine the need behind a proposed rules change or addition and your point is a very good one.

Jacob Possin - 2013-03-13T16:36:35-0400

now I want chicken

Devon Apple - 2013-03-13T16:49:53-0400

Not just any chicken. Fire paste chicken.

Ian Melville - 2013-03-13T16:59:01-0400

I like your thinking. I was starting to tie my brain in knots trying to stick a bunch of extra stuff into my first FATE game (is this what is known as front-loading?). Now I think I'll stick with what I've got and see how it goes.

Jack Gulick - 2013-03-13T17:14:37-0400

I think I made that analogy...

What I meant was that Fate self-tunes to the level of accurate description the players want at every single table (that's just how it works) rather than being built out of pre-imagined, pre-shaped pieces (as most games with long lists of powers and associated costs tend to be).

And as such, I agree with your "don't hack until you have to" observation.

David Thomas - 2013-03-13T17:31:37-0400

Great post. I think the fact that FAE does away with extras, skills, a stress track, etc., and can still do Harry Potter, Transformers, or Last Airbender right out of the box shows you don't usually have to hack more parts onto the system.

Robert Hanz - 2013-03-13T17:41:09-0400

Credited :) For some reason, I couldn't link to you when I made the post. And that's more or less what I intended, though I didn't get hugely into detail on that.

+David Thomas : Totally agreed.