#Fate Core

[dungeonofthedragon]

Tipua: the wrath of Ngārara...

...has just hours to go and is around $1000 NZ/$600 USD from its funding goal!

Support indigenous TTRPG design and get access to a cool spin on the Fate system in the process. The game and its setting are steeped in tikanga and te ao Māori: Tipua is set on the distant planet of Karito—a vast, labyrinthine world where tangled rivers wind through swampy wetlands, shadowy forests, ancient pā (fortification sites), and the mysterious portals known as Ngā Pūmotomoto. For those of you who have experienced the wonders of Aotearoa and Te Wai Pounamu, you will see some obvious similarities.

It's so affordable too. $20 NZ (about 12 USD) nabs you the digital rulebook and printable custom Fate tokens, as well as a social media shout out and access to the backers discord.

If nothing else: please have a read of the Kickstarter and share this post around! Not long to go and it would amazing if this awesome Māori-led team could reach their funding goal.

[haveyouplayedthisttrpg]

Have you played FATE CORE ?

By Leonard Balsera, Brian Engard, Jeremy Keller, Ryan Macklin and Mike Olson

Our 400th poll

Grab your plasma rifles, spell components, and jetpacks! Name your game; Fate Core is the foundation that can make it happen. Fate Core is a flexible system that can support whatever worlds you dream up.

Have you always wanted to play a post-apocalyptic spaghetti western with tentacle monsters? Swords and sorcery in space? Wish there was a game based on your favorite series of books, film, or television, but it never happened? Fate Core is your answer.

Fate Core is a tabletop roleplaying game about proactive, capable people who lead dramatic lives.

[icarusmask]

Skor and his Dad

That's his dad! Evan!

Evan is a retired adventurer who worked as a tank -- so he's very proud right now that his kid is also starting to get into tanking.

[insert drama where his dad is dad is more excited and proud of Skor taking on tanking(not what he's in school for), than he is for skor's medical career]

This dad is a good dad, full of puns and camping tips.

Can't act for shit though

[abalidoth]

Weird FATE Dice

I'm a big fan of the role-playing game FATE (also known as FATE Core). There are many things I love about FATE -- I could go on about the brilliance of aspects, the flexibility of the fractal structure of the game, or its near-infinite hackability. But the aspect of the game I like least is the dice. FATE inherited its dice from an older game called Fudge, and rather than using d20s, or d6s, or even d10s like nWoD, it uses two d3s marked with (minus, blank, plus). Usually, including the sets you can buy, these are in the form of d6s with two minus sides, two plus sides, and two blank sides. You roll four of these dice for each roll you need to make in the game.

This is cool in theory, but ends up meaning you have to use a whole special set of dice, or you have to mark up some blank or pipped D6 dice to make a set of FATE dice.

What if we used approximation to change things up a little?

First off, we can't use the whole rolling table. The chance of rolling any given combination of the dice is 1/81 -- in fact, you can buy a deck of 81 "FATE Cards" that do this exact thing, one card for each possible roll. That's 3^4. There's no such thing as a fair 81-sided die, so we're out of luck there.

How about approximating two FATE dice, and doing that twice? Well, the chance of any given combination of two FATE dice is 1/9. There's not really such a thing as a fair nine-sided die either. (You can use a doublemarked d18, but that's an extremely nonstandard shape, with very elongated sides.)

But we can approximate a d9 pretty well, in one of two ways. We can use one of two standard dice, a d8 or a d10. The rolling table for our "FATE d9" is [-2,-1,-1,0,0,0,1,1,2]. We can remove a 0 from this to get a "FATE d8" or add one to get a "FATE d10". The first is slightly swingier than 2dFATE, the second is slightly more centered.

But what if we use one of each?

If we roll a "FATE d8" and a "FATE d10" together, there are 80 possible combinations, compared to the 81 of a true 4dFATE roll. The rolling tables turn out to be completely identical, except that we're missing a single 0 roll. This means that the probability of every non-0 outcome is only 1.23% different in magnitude* between the two systems, and the probability of a 0 is only 4.25% different in magnitude.

*This is magnitude percentage, not percentage points, so this is a pretty impressive result. For example, the chance of a +4 on a 4dFATE roll is ~1.235%; our modified system has a 1.25% chance.

Now, does this fix my problems with the dice in the system? Not even a little bit. We've replaced four modified d6 -- the easiest kind of blank die to find -- with two separate modified polyhedrals. I have, as is my way, used math to make the situation worse. But it's fun that you can get a nearly identical result with two dice! Maybe I'll try printing up a set of "2dFAKE" of my very own.

I'm still thinking of a way to do FATE-esque results with standard, unmodified polyhedrals. One of the FATE supplements recommends d6-d6, which is VASTLY swingier... but what about rolling 4d6, throwing out the highest and lowest, and using the difference between the remaining two? I'll have to think about this.

[gritrook]

Some silly doodles from a ghost-story-on-a-train oneshot I played with some friends using the Fate game system. Our 'train conductor' was meant to be on holiday, but instead has to get help from civilians on an impromptu job....sigh.

A regular train ride into the north of Finland turns into an indefinite ghost ride. Holiday-ing passengers - insurance broker Desmond and biker thug Silas - have a day of work ahead of them helping a supernatural hunter solve this solemn case... if they want to arrive at their intended destination.

Desmond is Inkwurm's character, Silas is mine.

[ttrpgcafe]

Heya! TTRPG trick or treat, please! 🎃����

This one's got a backstory, so stick with me.

When I first got into TTRPGs, I learned about the big 6: D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, Cyberpunk, WoD, and Shadowrun. Of those, I've still, to this day, only played 5, and Shadowrun has remained the odd man out, despite having probably my favorite setting of all of them after Pathfinder. Part of this is its reputation for being a really crunchy game, keeping me from getting players, and part of it was that it's a very crunchy game that explains its rules SO POORLY (in recent editions at least, I'm told 3rd is the best in this department) that I couldn't even really convince my friends to get over the hump because it's hard for ME to grok the rules.

For well over a decade, Shadowrun has been my white whale, always on my shelf, never my table. So I did what any other well meaning TTRPG player does when they have a setting they like but a system for that setting they hate: I looked at every hack on the planet for every other system.

So here's your treat: every Shadowrun hack I've found!

Up first, Runners in the Shadows by Mark Cleveland:

This is a Forged in the Dark hack for the Shadowrun setting that is probably one of the better ones for emulating the "crew going on heists and doing cool shit" vibes that Shadowrun tries really hard to say is its core. I'm a sucker for FitD games in general, I think the system is *so* elegant, and I struggle to find a system more suited for the setting (SR's own rules included) than Blades, so this one has to go at the top.

With that said, there are still plenty more!

I'm going to give 2 PbtA games a shout out here, the first I've played, the second I haven't, but have heard plenty about.

Up first: City of Mist!

"But that's not a shadowrun hack!" I hear you saying behind your screen, and you're almost right, it technically isn't, BUT it's asymptote certainly approaches shadowrun, for my math nerds out there. This is a game about the (literal) power of stories, about struggles against an unseen and unknowable force trying desperately to remove every semblance of magic from your life, and about the yearning to keep your mundane life despite, or maybe in spite of, your magical adventures. City of Mist proper is a fantastic gritty noir urban fantasy game that works wonderfully as the framework for an early 6th world setting with minor tweaks, but it's sequel: Metro Otherscape, leans into the Shadowrun of it all, adding a 3rd axis along which your character can struggle, being "noise". In Otherscape, you're balancing a mundane, magical, technological life, and trying not to let any of those three overwhelm your being. A lot of cyberpunk games try to say that cybernetics reduce your humanity in one way or another, but I think Otherscape does the best job at embodying that balance in a way that isn't deeply ableist in its messaging. It's ALSO the only PbtA game I actually LIKE.

Hot take: I can't stand Moves, they annoy me to no end, and needlessly complicate an otherwise brilliant system. I might make a follow up post if anyone wants to hear my deeply bad take, but for now, just know that I'm a ttrpg heretic, and we can move on.

Otherscape completely does away with moves, and instead just lets the MC and the players decide whatever is most relevant to the action being attempted! It solves almost every problem I've ever had with PbtA games, AND kicks ass as a shadowrun stand-in, so this also deserves a place at or near the top.

Second PbtA game: Shadowrun in The Sprawl. This one is a hack of The Sprawl, a PbtA cyberpunk game in its own right, SRiTS adds the setting and magic of SR to its formula, and that's all I know about either system, due to my aforementioned PbtA-phobia. I've included this one for thoroughness, not because I have any stake in it.

Most of the other hacks I've seen use generic systems like Fate, Savage World, Cypher system, Genesys, and a hero system hack I've heard a bit about but can't find anywhere. All of this is to say that there is a wealth of options for generic systems that try to emulate SR, and most of them are fine. The last game I'm going to talk about though uses its own system, its own setting, and manages to be completely, utterly unique while capturing the vibes of SR so well that I'm still a little in awe at how well it does all of the above. I'm also not 100% certain it's a particularly good game, but the fact that I'm unsure about it should tell you that it's definitely still better than SR proper, because I KNOW that system is bad.

Without further ado: NewEdo

NewEdo is fascinating to me in that it feels like the same jump from Shadowrun that 3rd edition D&D made from 2e, or even the same kind of jump from 3rd to 4th, where you can clearly see the spine of the game it's evolving, but almost every other part of the system has been changed and improved in new, interesting ways that can still be used to tell VERY similar stories, but has its own identity at the same time. I mentioned that City of Mist is Asymptotic to SR earlier, and I stand by that assessment, but I'd say that NewEdo is closer to a parallel line, or a tangent from SR's line, if we're using the same terminology. To get into the nitty gritty, NE uses a system the author describes as "Crunchy lite easily managed", which amounts to a priority system during character creation very similar to the one SR uses, but with each tier you can select having pretty impactful ramifications for your character going forward. The easiest example is the modifications priority, at its top tier, you basically make a mythical creature into robo cop for your character's ancestry, but at its absolute lowest tier, your body actively rejects any and all implants, such that your character will NEVER have implants. On the same note, cyberware is handled REALLY well, with your body only being able to handle so much at a time, but otherwise the only ramification is a "biofeedback" line on your fate card, which I'll get to right now!

Almost every option your character picks gets added to a little personalized random d100 table on your character sheet called the fate card. This includes your character's crit rate, the possibility of a deity intervening on your behalf, or the aforementioned biofeedback line, which briefly fucks you up as you cyberware malfunctions. You get new lines on your fate card through picking certain character options, making impactful decisions during the story, and otherwise fulfilling the express goals of your character. The entire system kind of hinges on the fate card as a mechanic, which is weird, because I don't think I super love it, as it adds additional rolling to an already pretty dice heavy system.

Which brings me to the dice! New edo uses a d10 as its primary die for dice pools when rolling your characteristics like strength, speed, etc, but the rest of the polyhedral family for your skills. (D20 excluded) The skill system is a little funky, but I like it. Basically, each skill has a rank, which indicates how many dice it has, but each rank is assigned a die, each having a different cost associated with it. So my swordsmanship could be rank 4, but what that really means is that I've got 1d6, 2d4, and a d8 that I get to add to my strength rolls every time I attack with a sword. As far as resolution, you total all of your dice together to try and hit a target number. I don't have the table handy, but it's something like 15 for a moderately challenging task, and up to 40 for a nearly impossible task. I dislike addition in this context because math at the table usually slows things down, but it looks like you're probably only rolling 2-5 dice at a time at the beginning, which isn't *that* bad.

You'll notice that the two major mechanics I've mentioned so far have received pretty luke-warm responses from me, and that sounds like I hate the system, but those aren't that makes me like (\love?) this system is the back end, the choices that happen during character creation, and the things that those choices let you do. Every skill is attached to feats that unlock at different skills, magic is a skill, and its feats unlock better relationships with the Kami in your repertoire (magic is up next, I promise) and your class (path, they call it) doubles as a way to tie your character to the world, with each being associated with an in world faction which gives your character an immediate stake in the world and their community. It's a lot, but it all comes together to make something greater than the sum of its parts.

The last thing I want to talk about is the magic system, because I found it deeply interesting, as it's one of the very few skill based magic systems I've interacted with, and one of my favorites on a narrative level. Instead of spells or spell schools, your character instead develops relationships with Kami, and each new "order" or "type" of Kami your character gets access to represents them finding out how to supplicate, make an offering, or otherwise convince a given Kami to do a certain effect. If you have a relationship with the fire Kami (that's plural, not singular), then your character has learned that their local fire Kami really like a certain type of hot bun, so they offer them that hot bun after a scene where they invoked those kami, to maintain their relationship. Mechanically, this works instantaneously, you simply make a roll on your "Shinpi" skill, invoke whatever "rote" you want to use, and the relationship building is left for the GM and player to work out at the table.

(That's the last I have to say on the game itself, but I would ask anyone who has read the game and is more intimately familiar with Japanese culture to tell me if the game feels respectful to that culture, because I truly don't know, and the book doesn't list any sensitivity consultants. The author is Canadian, but spent many years sailing to and from Japan as a professional sailor, so idk. )

I guess the moral to this post, if there is one, is to acknowledge when a system or setting has faults, but learn from them, and don't ignore the good or cool stuff that's there! It might inspire you to make some amazing shit like City of Mist, Metro Otherscape, or New Edo, all of which, their relationship to Shadowrun aside, are fantastic games in their own right! (NewEdo is still up in the air, but it has its teeth in me, and that has to count for something)

That ends my trick or treat, thanks for asking!

[healthhitsxp]

We thought you were a tight ass prick. Aren't you grateful now for me and not them.

Bonus:

[oooocleo]

ok im feeling brave. im listening to a random guy on yt explain blades in the dark rules so if he can do it i can too... here are my FATE rules explanation vids!

i think they're most helpful as a kind of lecture to listen to while also going through the rulebook, but i do give a bunch of examples for the subjects im talking about in the vids themselves🫡 and FATE is pretty simple imo!

patreon

[just---orange]

Gübl Gullible, Incognito Postie Witch on the Run from the Witch Mafia

Soooo, a friend of mine is running a FATE game! I'm real excited about it because it's a system I'm largely unfamiliar with. This is my character and I'm buzzed by the prospects that I get to play her.

Gübl is a total goof and barely knows where she is or what's going on. She is scatterbrained and remembers she is on the run... but why or by whom, she isn't super sure. She knows one thing for sure though - the Mail always finds its way to her.

In the setting, witches have their minds fused with ancient mushrooms that give them their powers. Gübl has painted hers and put a visor around it and put a sticker on, just to make it look more like a hat and she's so sure that she's got away with it.

I initially had a completely different character prepared but I wasn't sure if I wanted to play her or not. Her name is Umber-Ella, Duchess of Blood and is definitely not a vampire. Vampires are not real??? Do not be dumb, grow up. She's just goth, you're stereotyping.

I like her but she wasn't quite the vibe with the high whimsy of the setting. Really happy with how all of these turned out though!

[critsuccesscollective]

'why so many cat ttrpgs' its a long story; anyway note that 'cat' and the cattthulhu books are both first edition (those two have more recent editions out-- cat revised & catthulhu 10th anni)

[phantom-nisnow]

expression studies but make it your skrunkly old man OC

--

references taken off of pinterest

[dungeonofthedragon]

Non-Violent Adventurous TTRPGS

Today is ANZAC day in Aotearoa New Zealand. It seems a very appropriate time to share some games about helping and healing.

Monster Care Squad by Sandy Pug Games

A game about nurturing monsters and healing them of their pain. In the creator's own words, you play a squad of elite veterinarians. I love games that make you feel you're making a positive difference. I hope to play this one some time.

Ngen Mapu by Helena Real and Evil Hat Productions

This game's gorgeous art is what first caught my eye, but what really drew me in was the premise. Playing as manifested spirits from the dawn of time, you must stop people who are causing serious harm to the natural world without hurting them. What happens if you hurt them? Well, you risk becoming a corrupted ngen called a wekufe.

Wanderhome by Jay Dragon of Possum Creek Games

A game of wandering animal folk. Wanderhome has been on my 'to buy' list since its release. This review sums up a lot of why I love it. The grief and hope of a game that takes place in a world recovering from war appeals to me far more than a game about fighting a war. Plus, my favourite part of roleplaying is exploring a character's internal world, and there are so many chances for that here.

Lunar Echoes is a hack of Wanderhome set in a solarpunk future!

[ballistic-barn-cat]

Got new dice today at my favorite local comics and game store! They give me 80s pulp horror vibes, especially for Nightbreed.

Black-Starlight™️ w/ Red from Chessex!

[icarusmask]

OC Art - Skor

More Skor! We had an episode where he was reverted to his younger self -- Spawned a sketch session of "how would your oc hold baby skor?" and I made these. One of them is canon! the rest are fiction haha Other oc's belong to the gaming group

[theultrablog]

Pulp Storytime #95: "They Kill By Proxy..." by Daniel R. Robichaud II

New readers may ask: Who are you people?! Or Where did this start? ---

Washington State, Dec '35. The heroes were summoned to a creepy mansion under mysterious of circumstances. The quartet this time: detective Diamond, Trudy Truman (her face still bandaged from last week!), Professor Callahan and Afghan photog/gunman Javid Kulfi. The whole event was designed by a twisted creep named Mormo Cutter. He tried to sabotage the cars, separate everyone, and lure them into deathtraps, but the players were far too canny. They saved a fellow partygoer from a paralytic toxin, and set an oil spray surprise for anyone who might try and tamper with Callahan’s Renault Nervasport. Mormo Cutter:

Before dinner, Mormo pontificated on the relationship between life and death. Trudy, gifted with an incredible nose, interrupted. The dinner had been poisoned, probably with a rare curare, and since it was winter, the herb came from the greenhouse behind the mansion. This sent the other guests into an uproar. Our foursome could’ve calmed the situation down… Except for the screaming Groundskeeper, being sprayed in the face with hot oil! Trudy and Callahan checked on the problem, calling the man out on his chicanery. He responded by trying to bite the bandaged Australian! After a desperate struggle, Trudy opened the hood and Callahan slipped one of the cretin’s arms inside. SLAM! Back at the dinner table, JP was ready to dispense justice… Until the 80-year-old cook started crying. Everyone was in such a bad mood, making horrible accusations, and she couldn’t handle it! The Southern Gentleman detective was obligated to comfort her. The other guests, already on edge, started to beat the smirk off their host’s face. By the time JP got back, gangster Meyer Polo was feeding poisoned mashed potatoes to the last of the Cutters. The British professor arrived and, shortly after agreeing to carefully search the house for evidence, started unwittingly flirting with Polo. And accidentally invited him on a date. Going through Mormo’s mail revealed the existence of a “Murder Club!” Someone named EB had sent false claims to all the attendees, hoping that Cutter might get rid of his rivals. The players did some digging, and found out that EB was short for Eddie Boyd, a local Brahmin with friends in City Hall and the local Cosa Nostra. Eddie wasn’t the brightest bulb. He counted on his fingers, but didn’t count on Ziegler Security Services. With a little wiretapping, deception and the help of snitch Francis Mattz, ZSS built a case. Local cop David Ringo initially offered to help, until his daughter got nabbed by the mob. The group found her and, after clearing out the thugs, massively delayed the coroner’s Christmas vacation. Ten-year-old Darla was safe and sound, having developed a nasty swearing habit. Trudy Truman tried to tell her father.

Darla objected. “Trudy, thanks for saving me, but in America we don’t like goddamn rats.”

The trial was tough, but Eddie was convicted, with snitch Francis Mattz only getting time served. Almost as if Eddie was the fall guy for Mattz’s plans! Trudy and Josiah were celebrating Xmas Eve when the last domino dropped. They were decorating the penthouse of Seattle’s nicest hotel, with millionaire Devika and the Ringos. Everything was pleasant, until they turned on the radio. Francis's voice looped on the airwaves.

“I’ve an army of murderers, cannibals and savages across the country, and they might live as close as next door. Unless the United States government pays me $100,000 dollars per month for the rest of my life, I will unleash my army upon the populace.”

There was a collective sigh. JP reached for his coat.

“Room service!” Everyone looked at Devi. “I mean, I ordered every dessert they had a few times.”

A weaselly teenager struggled to bring in the carts. And then was thrown through them by seven feet of pure lunatic.

Punching the brute wasn’t effective. The fireplace poker didn’t do much either. The man had no neck and fists the size of irons. Trudy struggled to open one of the giant windows. Josiah taunted the man into a charge, and chop-blocked himself full force into the man’s legs. The seven-footer fell five stories, his head landing on the dumpster and the rest of him not. Trudy had a queer smile as she closed the window.

“This Mattz is threatening all of America… I think we should try and fight him via telephone.”

Yes, the players called in the cavalry, hard. Mad scientists located the man via radio signal; he was on a steamer in international waters. Trudy called Century Club members to storm the boat, with the Coast Guard and “Typhoon” Mike McGinnitty to distracting it on the waves. JP even called in a favor to get a “super telescope” so they could watch the action while eating Christmas dinner. It was at this point that we all remembered the name of the module. And started laughing uncontrollably.

[gritrook]

Who'd have thought that an insurance broker and a thug could make a great team? One knows all the law loopholes, the other isn't afraid to break them. 😂

A non-canon doodle inspired from a ghost-story-on-a-train oneshot I played with some friends using the Fate game system.

Desmond is Inkwurm's character, Silas is mine.