Using Aspects and Fate Points

You use tokens to represent how many fate points you have at any given time during play. Fate points are one of your most important resources in Fate — they’re a measure of how much influence you have to make the story go in your character’s favor.

• You can spend fate points to invoke an aspect, to declare a story detail, or to activate certain powerful stunts.
• You earn fate points by accepting a compel on one of your aspects.

A word of warning: don’t use edible things as tokens, especially if the food hasn’t arrived yet.

Invoking an Aspect

Whenever you’re making a skill roll, and you’re in a situation where an aspect might be able to help you, you can spend a fate point to invoke it in order to change the dice result. This allows you to either reroll the dice or add +2 to your roll, whichever is more helpful. (Typically, +2 is a good choice if you rolled –2 or higher, but sometimes you want to risk a reroll to get that +4.) You do this after you’ve rolled the dice — if you aren’t happy with your total.

You also have to explain or justify how the aspect is helpful in order to get the bonus — sometimes it’ll be self-evident, and sometimes it might require some creative narrating.

You can spend more than one fate point on a single roll, gaining another reroll or an additional +2, as long as each point you spend invokes a different aspect.

Having escaped the house – Brousseau still refuses to call it haunted – a little shaken but otherwise unharmed, the investigators decide they need more information before they return. Brousseau decides to see what he can find out from a local deputy, but she is surprisingly tight-lipped. The deputy is giving him passive opposition at Good (+3), and his Rapport skill is Fair (+2).

Paul rolls. He breaks even, getting a 0. That leaves his result at Fair, not enough to get the information he wants.

He looks at his character sheet, then to Steve, and says, “You know, as a Former Enforcer for the Miami Mob, I spent my share of time sitting in police stations, and I know the kinds of stress police officers have to deal with on a daily basis. I’m going to talk about ‘a cop friend who used to be drinking buddy of mine’ to get her to open up.”

Steve grins and nods. Paul hands over a fate point to invoke the aspect, and gets to add +2 to his standing roll. This brings his result to a Great (+4), which exceeds the opposition. The deputy begins to think Brousseau might not be such a bad guy and starts talking about some of the strange incidents that have been reported recently. Brousseau listens intently….

Declaring a Story Detail

Sometimes, you want to add a detail that works to your character’s advantage in a scene. For example, you might use this to narrate a convenient coincidence, like retroactively having the right supplies for a certain job (“Of course I brought that along!”), showing up at a dramatically appropriate moment, or suggesting that you and the NPC you just met have mutual clients in common.

To do this, you’ll spend a fate point. You should try to justify your story details by relating them to your aspects. Keepers, you have the right to veto any suggestions that seem out of scope or ask the player to revise them, especially if the rest of the group isn’t buying into it.

While Brousseau tries to work the cops for information, Samantha decides to try the historical archives in the local library. Unfortunately, many of the older documents are not accessible by the public.

Alex looks at her sheet and says, “Hey, I have Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at Miskatonic University on my sheet. Can I declare that the library has an agreement with universities to allow scholars access, so I can access the rest of the archives?”

Steve thinks that’s perfectly reasonable to assume. Alex tosses over a fate point and describes Samantha showing the library staff her university credentials and assuring them she will be careful with the documents.

Steve describes the head librarian leading Samantha to the restricted section and saying, “Right this way professor.”

Compels

Sometimes (in fact, probably often), you’ll find yourself in a situation where an aspect complicates your character’s life and creates unexpected drama. When that happens, the Keeper will suggest a potential complication that might arise. This is called a compel.
Sometimes, a compel means your character automatically fails at some goal, or your character’s choices are restricted, or simply that unintended consequences cloud whatever your character does. You might negotiate back and forth on the details a little, to arrive at what would be most appropriate and dramatic in the moment.

Once you’ve agreed to accept the complication, you get a fate point for your troubles. If you want, you can pay a fate point to prevent the complication from happening, but it is not recommended that you do that very often — you’ll probably need that fate point later, and getting compelled brings drama (and hence, fun) into your game’s story.

Players, you’re going to call for a compel when you want there to be a complication in a decision you’ve just made, if it’s related to one of your aspects. Keepers, you’re going to call for a compel when you make the world respond to the characters in a complicated or dramatic way.

Anyone at the table is free to suggest when a compel might be appropriate for any character (including their own). Keepers, you have the final word on whether or not a compel is valid. And speak up if you see that a compel happened naturally as a result of play, but no fate points were awarded.

Tom’s character, Jackson, has the aspect Problems with Authority. Figuring he wasn’t suited to helping his friends talk to the locals, he volunteered to stay behind and keep an eye on the house.

Steve tells the players, “Evidently sitting parked in a van for several hours has gotten the attention of someone in the neighborhood, because a patrol car has just pulled up behind you.” She turns to Tom. “What do you do?”

Tom says, “Uh… well, I’ll stick around and try not to look suspicious. If the deputy talks to me, maybe I can at least find out who called the cops.”

Steve holds up a fate point and says, “And is that going to go wrong, given how well Jackson is likely to get along with a police officer in uniform?”

Tom grins and replies, “Yeah, I suppose Jackson will lose his cool pretty quickly, and that’ll get complicated. I’ll take the fate point.”

Steve and Tom play a bit to figure out just how Jackson puts his foot in his mouth, and then Steve describes the deputy ordering Jackson to step out of the van. “Sir, I’m going to need you to open the back of the vehicle so I can take a look inside.”

Tom shakes his head, remembering that some of the equipment they have in the back might be a little difficult to explain.