Difference between revisions of "Fate Noosphere"

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-The fundamental aim of the Story Debate is to provide a vehicle for compelling narratives. FATE NOOSPHERE is intended to emphasize these elements by actualizing them as mechanics, free the player from minutiae, and even allow those feeling burnout or burdened by sudden time constraints to continuing to generating narratives that they can pick up upon later. In many ways the system is more a model of historiography than it is a wargame-lite, as other system-heavy SDs tend to be, and owes a heavy debt to the FATE system created by Evil Hat Games. One can take a look at how the sausage was made by looking up System Reference Documents for [http://fate-srd.com/|FATE CORE and ACCELERATED].
-FATE NOOSPHERE is highly adaptable, and should support any kind of Story Debate setting, whether a D&D-esque High Fantasy, grand space opera in the spirit of Legend of Galactic Heroes, to the hardest and grittiest Sci-Fi. It is an open system well able to accept any setting specific tweaks and concepts necessary to tailor the experience.
-==The Basics==
-===Scale===
-Scale, in FATE NOOSPHERE, refers ''specifically'' to the three different levels of play and the different mechanics involved in each: '''Grand''', '''Large''', and '''Small'''. Grand scale covers the mass mobilization of vast organizations and features the weight of the rules. Large scale covers more regional-specific events such as battles between armies or specific civil projects. Small scale is the level of play at which most Story Debates are conducted, personal stories about characters. As these are metrics judging social spaces, Scale is always relative to the nature of the setting. What might be Grand scale in one setting might not even qualify as a marginal backwater in another.
-===Polities, Movements, and Legends===
-OOBs are the social power structures that Players choose to build and play in a FATE NOOSPHERE game which fall into one of three categories.
-'''Polities''' are the typical Story Debate bread and butter, and likely the first choice for a Player. As the name implies Polities usually cover any sort of body politic, including broad confederations with loose central power. In game terms this translates to direct rule over a number of Zones and influence in others with all the resources this implies. Polities present the broadest set of options and tools to the player and wield the most direct power.
-'''Movements''' cover all your transnational non-government organizations: conspiracies, criminal syndicates, pervasive insurgencies, powerful priesthoods, megacorporations, mercenary legions, secret societies, etc etc. Unlike Polities, Movements have no ability to properly ''rule'' a zone. However, they can potentially extend influence across vast areas without restriction. More importantly, a Movement can simply pack up and move its operations to areas more relevant towards its interest. While their unorthodox nature may be daunting, under clever guidance a Movement can be just as powerful, moreso even, than some of the greatest Empires.
-'''Legends''' are relatively small bands or individuals of tremendous personal power. Whereas a Movement is not necessarily any less powerful than a Polity, Legends are sharply and distinctly limited in the resources they can marshal on the Grand scale. On the other hand what they lack in raw power they gain in maneuverability and freedom of action. While they may not possess vast armies or have loyal agents in every hall, a Legend can quite easily tip the scales in a match between two greater powers should it so choose.
-Like Scale, which of these three best describes a particular OOB is always relative. The Hammer's Slammers are certainly a Movement in their original stomping ground, but Alois Hammer and his tankers might better qualify as a Legend in a setting where native armies are much larger and capable.
-===The Narrative Economy===
-'''Aspects''' <br>
-An Aspect is a short phrase describing a detail of whatever subject it is attached to; anything from a situation, a zone, an army, or even a character. They are the primary means to both gain and spend Fate points, to influence the narrative by introducing new complications to a scenario, passive opposition that has to be overcome, and bonuses to various rolls. They are detrimental or beneficial, but a good aspect should be either depending on the situation. More importantly, they tell you what is important about a scenario and when to utilize mechanics.
-'''Fate Points''' <br>
-''“Yes, but is he lucky?”'' <br>
-- Napoleon Bonaparte
-Players have a pool of points called “Fate Points” that are the narrative currency. A well run game features an active narrative economy where Players freely manipulate circumstances to bring about victory - or even engineer their own defeats. Fate Points usually change hands in three ways: Invokes, Compels, and Declarations.
-You can '''Invoke''' an Aspect for your benefit by cashing in a Fate Point. This is called an '''Invocation'''. On the inverse, when your aspects complicate your plans in some way in exchange for a Fate Point, this is called accepting a '''compel'''.
-'''Refresh''' <br>
-Refresh is the pool of Fate points a player begins with at the start of every narrative milestone. The total always fills up to the Refresh rating on a player's OOB, no matter how low the pool is. The only exception is if a player has saved more Fate points in their pool than their Refresh rating, in which case their is no change.
-===Attributes and Actions===
-Grand scale actions with a substantial element of risk require a roll of the dice to determine success or failure. Dice always come into play when a Player is opposed by another Player or when significant obstacles stand in the way. Otherwise success is assumed as a given. Attributes are how Players go about accomplishing complicated actions on a Grand scale, deferring to the Dice. Every OOB has four Attributes and each is rated in steps from Mediocre (+0) to Great (+4). The higher the better.  There are four basic actions: '''Overcome''', '''Create Advantage''', '''Attack''', and '''Defend'''.
-Actions are framed as '''Dispatches!''', quick news headlines or other IC document, which are collated into a list referred to as a '''Bulletin''' at the end of every Turn. This is ''all'' that is required on the Grand scale to participate in a FATE NOOSPHERE Story Debate, and it's entirely possible that a Player could finish the Story Debate doing nothing but this.
-FATE NOOSPHERE uses four Fate (also known as Fudge) dice as the base for every roll. Results are graded according to "The Ladder", which attaches adjectives and numbers to the results of a roll. It doesn't particularly matter whether one refers to the word or the number, they are understood to have the same meaning. Results can go below and above the provided ladder, though such results tend to be extremely rare and require appropriately unique and over-the-top descriptors.
-'''The Ladder'''
-:+8 ''Legendary''
-:+7 ''Epic''
-:+6 ''Fantastic''
-:+5 ''Superb''
-:+4 ''Great''
-:+3 ''Good''
-:+2 ''Fair''
-:+1 ''Average''
-:+0 ''Mediocre''
-:-1 ''Poor''
-:-2 ''Terrible''
-The aim when rolling dice is generally to roll equal to or above your opposition, which comes in '''active''' and '''passive''' varieties. The former is when someone is rolling against you, the latter when you are merely set against a fixed difficulty. Rolling high naturally results in a successful action, and wildly successful ones come with extra benefit, but a tie less so. While some of the Player's aims are achieved it is likely nowhere near what was hoped. Failure means nothing, success at a significant cost, or a dramatic twist of the outcome.
-When rolling, the difference between the Player's roll and his opposition is referred to as '''Shifts'''. A tie results in 0 Shifts. Rolling one over the difficulty is one Shift, while two would be two Shifts, etc etc.
-'''Traits'''<br>
-Traits are special characteristics that change the way an attribute works for you. They indicate a special approach to situations unique to that polity, movement, or legend. Two OOBs might have the same rating in an attribute, but their traits provide drastically different benefits.
-===Stress and Consequences===
-Inevitably, over the course of a Story Debate, Players will face various forms of hardship that they can't quite fully overcome and end up on the losing end of conflicts. Two options exist to mitigate this.
-'''Stress''' is the first, and generally preferable, option. It is a holistic representation of minor and superficial crises such as a mild economic recession, war exhaustion, etc. Every OOB has Stress Tracks which will soak damage and reset at the end of each turn, assuming there are no greater crises.
-'''Consequences''' are another way a Player can stay on the field, but the cost is much greater. These are, essentially, new aspects that describe some lasting impact of a struggle on your OOB. Whereas Stress is cleared away each year Consequences require time to recover from, providing new avenues for complications to arise and others to take advantage of.
-==Making an OOB==
-When creating an OOB (Order of Battle), a Player is already telling their story just as an actual long form roleplaying post would. Establishing a past provides a future. Compelling OOBs are driven by the weight of history and the pressures of a living world full of neighbors around them. Oftentimes the GM also has a specific time period, aesthete, and/or set of themes he or she is trying to invoke. It doesn't hurt to adapt your ideas to match. As such this process is best as an inclusive group discussion.
-Start by considering what the High Concept for your OOB is. It could be modeled in the image of your favorite historical empire or those guys from that Japanese cartoon you really like. Maybe a particular aesthetic appeals to you like gas masked dudes in trench coats, pith helmeted redcoats, steppe nomads, etc. Take these ideas and turn them into the two central aspects for your OOB - the '''high concept''' and '''trouble'''. Your attributes and other aspects will flow quite naturally from there.
-As a warning, overly insular OOBs should be considered carefully. While some of the best Story Debate plotlines have come from insular nations, this did little for keeping a game moving. If a particular concept is unlikely to dynamically engage with wider events, one should think about significantly revising it. Good thing you've got a battery of fellow players to ask for suggestions!
-===High Concept===
-The High Concept of an OOB is a phrase or even a brief sentence that succinctly explains the meat of your OOB. What is their deal? What do they look like? Different High Concepts can have significant overlap, so long as there is a distinct difference. If the GM pitches a game where by necessity High Concepts will be outwardly similar, such as princes of a fantasy Holy Roman Empire, good use of Troubles can highlight what it is that is unique about them. Many Players already more or less do this as a matter of habit.
-It is an Aspect, the first and most important.
-Writing this aspect can be difficult. While you might have a strong image in your head, pulling it together into a single snappy phrase might elude you. Here are a few approaches you can take,
-* Start with an adjective, verb, or descriptor and then go from there
-* You can throw two (or more) concepts together into a blender and then mix
-* One method that rarely fails is adding "In Spaaace!" to a particular concept
-These are hardly the only ways to get started, of course. If you are having trouble just put whatever you have to paper for now. There are plenty of other aspects to work on in the meantime and what you have can be refined as you go.
-===Trouble===
-Every OOB has some sort of dogged issue. While the High Concept explains the what , the Trouble is often the Why.
-===Destiny===
-==Modification==
-While the mechanics of FATE NOOSPHERE may require substantial explanation for a newcomer, in practice they are fairly light. The generous headspace allows all manner of new mechanics to be added without weighing down the system. In Desert of Stars, 100thlurker added Divergence, tracking differences in technological approaches, and specific rules such as making deals with Spirits and Way travel.
-GMs can also easily remove entire levels of play from the system depending on their aims. For those wishing to abstract conflicts to directly opposed rolls, it's a simple matter to completely remove Large scale mechanics.
-===Example Games===
-====[[Desert of Stars]]====

Difference between revisions of "Fate Noosphere"

Revision as of 18:10, 13 February 2014

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