So, I've been playing with some different options, here. Most of the cool stuff is revolving around Aspects. I feel like I have too many words up on the Wiki, so I'm going to take five stern steps away from that corpulent corpus of consonants, and try to rally my thoughts here for another charge.
I'm still grappling with some new variants on some old concepts. We're still working with the same basic character building blocks (Aspects, Skills, and Stunts), with some new options for them.
Aspects:
(For those not in the know, these are little descriptive tags that can work either for or against your character.)
I've pretty much decided to shuffle Aspects around a bit, to use a system more like the one in the Dresden Files. Aspects work the same as always, but each character has two aspects of central importance: a Concept aspect, which is the main "who I am" descriptor phrase, and a Trouble aspect, which is a long-term complication of your Concept. Everything else (other personality traits, etc) is handled by "regular" aspects. In some ways, I was doing a kludgy and less-elegant version of the Concept aspect anyway, by requiring certain types of character (like mages) to have certain types of aspects present.
Skills:
I still don't know exactly what I want to do with the skill pyramid. (What's the default size of the damned thing, whether or not it should be changing as part of advancement or whether that's a function of stunts only, etc.)
Stunts:
Two issues, here. In both cases, I have a working version, but Dresden Files RPG has shown me examples of other ways to handle the same issues that I may or may not prefer for Jade Stage games. I'm undecided, and I'm worried this might be a situation where perfect is the enemy of good. (more on both of these later)
1.) How to use stunts to differentiate between races' powers -
2.) How to use stunts to work with magic - (also, costs of using magic, and moving away from the Fate Point economy to fuel magic as much as possible, letting Fate Points be the "story currency" only, rather than also being the "magic currency")
Aspects are way the most interesting, and they're more or less figured out.
I'm going to do some li'l example sheets of FATE Characters using my system, but not necessarily Jade Stage characters. Partly to showcase how the system works a little bit, and partly to sort of practice what I'm doing with the system.
For a start, here's Gordin (from Vreeg's Steel Isle game) as he'd look if here were a FATE character instead of a Guildschool one. (Note: Some of his aspects are spoilers for Gordin's past.)
[spoiler=Gordin Edelman]Name: Gordin Edelman
Concept: Penitent of Hard Choices
Trouble: On the Run from the Sceding Tree
Other Aspects: Big as a Gartier, An Honorable Man, A Brain for Numbers, Conflict Avoidance, The Flail "Nacdilis"
Gordin's Skills:
Good: Rapport
Fair: Scholarship, Presence
Average: Mysteries, Endurance, Bureaucracy
Gordin's Stress:
Physical: 0000
Social: 0000
Mental: 000
Gordin's Stunts:
Exceptional Weapon: The Flail "Nacdilis" (Weapons)
Basic Earth and Order Magic (Mysteries)
Best Foot Forward (Rapport)
Five Minute Friends (Rapport)
Smooth Over (Rapport)
The Flail "Nacdilis":
As per the Exceptional Weapon stunt, this flail has a +1 Craftsmanship improvement. (Sort of a general way to say "this item is remarkably awesome.")
Gordin's Magic:
(If I were actually going to play Gordin as a FATE character, I'd use this space to suss out a few minor Earth/Order tricks up his sleeves, probably by converting over Guildschool ideas like the Strict Blessing.)
A Few Notes:
Some things were altered just a little bit, to make this character work in Celtricia. The "Exceptional Weapon" stunt is just "Ork Steel Weapon" renamed (as Celtricia has magic weapons from many sources, unlike the Jade Stage). "Basic Earth and Order Magic" is my five-second stand-in for some entry-level spellcasting: nothing too fancy but thematically connected, pretty much the way a single Mysteries stunt will give you a small package of minor, interrelated abilites in Jade FATE. You might replace Five Minute Friends with an Endurance stunt, if you wanted to (though I'm currently portraying Gordin's exceptional physicals with the "Big as a Gartier" aspect, instead).
A lot of Gordin's drama comes from the way his Trouble interacts with the "An Honorable Man" and "Conflict Avoidance" aspects-- if this were a FATE game, those three aspects would be pinging Gordin quite frequently![/spoiler]
Here's an update of a classic Jade Stage character, a PC from the era when I was still running the Jade Stage with a hodgepodge of modified D&D 3.5 rules. Ossiax Roccor earned immortal fame in the setting by maneuvering to become the new Councilor of Great House Roccor, introducing a complicated new strand to the tapestry of Ithyrian politics.
[spoiler=Ossiax Roccor]Name: Ossiax Roccor
Concept: Black Sheep of Great House Roccor
Trouble: Locksmith Sympathizer
Other Aspects: Family Man, Veteran Commander, Political Outsider, Good-Hearted Person, My Trusted Gnomish Slave Callad Enn
Ossiax's Skills:
Good: Resolve
Fair: Weapons, Rapport
Average: Endurance, Bureaucracy, Resources
Ossiax's Stress:
Physical: 0000
Social: 000
Mental: 00000
Ossiax's Stunts:
Contact: Callad Enn (Contacting)
Precision Strike (Weapons)
Red Sign of Defeat (Weapons)
Inner Strength (Resolve)
Still Standing (Resolve)
Callad Enn:
Callad Enn is Ossiax's contact with the Locksmiths, and poses as a humble gnomish slave. This cover allows Callad to come and go at will, bringing Ossiax news of the anti-slavery movement, and staying close by but unnoticed in case his secret skills as a bodyguard are needed.
Callad Enn is a Fair (+2) companion who can participate in physical and social conflicts. He is also Independent. (His three advances are Quality, Scope, and Independence.)
A Few Notes:
Ossiax was the one Good-Hearted Person in an otherwise venal and cutthroat Ithyrian politics game. In an environment of selfish nobles, he was the guy with moral fiber. In a nation notorious for practicing slavery (nonhumans in Ithyria are property), he was a Guild of Locksmiths (international anti-slavery guerilla organization) operative within a Great House.
These stats approximate Ossiax at the start of the game, before he became the Councilor of Great House Roccor (a position of arguably unsurpassed power in Ithyria). As Councilor Roccor, Ossiax would definitely get some serious extra social stunts (probably Bureaucracy, Contacting, and/or Presence stunts), and he might even boost his skill pyramid up to a height of four, rather than three. (He'll need the help to contend with both the King and the Council of Five, and to hold off the assassins sent by his rivals.)
[/spoiler]
Well, that was certainly fascinating, the way you took Gordin over to JADEFATE. I gain a better insight to your gaming style as well...
Aspects are magnets for PCs, aren't they...like all fatal flaws.
Quote from: LordVreegAspects are magnets for PCs, aren't they...like all fatal flaws.
Well, Aspects don't
have to be flaws. They're just traits. While any Aspect can potentially be both used positively and used negatively with sufficient creativity, both these sample characters have some Aspects that are probably going to be mostly good things.
The really interesting thing about FATE is that because of the way aspects and fate points work together, problematic aspects are
desirable. You gain a fate point every time one of your aspects causes trouble for you, and that's the
only way to regain them. So players are incentivized to create characters with
interesting aspects (read:
flaws), because that's what gets them into the fate point economy. While it'd be possible to set up a character so that every single one of their aspects is some variation on "I'm Awesome Forever, No Takebacks", that character's going to have a hard time generating enough of an inflow of fate points to actually
use those "I'm So Awesome" aspects.
Fate points are pretty unique in that unlike the way a lot of systems use mana (or whatever), they're a
story-based currency, not a currency based on a character's stats. They're not earned and spent based on your character's abilities, they're (for the most part) earned and spent based on the narrative. Which really says a lot about the system's priorities.
Story based currency. Not based 'within the game' but based on the rules. Not first person immersive, but an omniscient viewpoint.
Wishing and accepting bad to happen to gain the ability to work the game.
I am looking forward to see how Gordin deals with the Sceding Tree.
Would it be possible to give the different races a free skill or two instead of doing race-based stunts?? This would be akin to the skill bonuses in D&D... so maybe Dwarves automatically have at least Average Engineering, while Simocs might have Fists or Might, Goblins might have Sail, Boru might have Survival. Or perhaps they might get a free student from a small selection of skills? Just throwing out ideas!
You have more than halved the (admittely pulp) skill list of SotC, so maybe giving characters another racially dependent skill would be good. I wouldn't make it a singular racial skill, but instead do as Steerpike suggested and give them a small selection so there is room for some variation.