Thursday, February 28, 2013

Blue Collar Necromancy: Things That Go Bump

The gods are dead. This is what the Church says. They died to save all of man from The Great Unchanged. Two thousand years ago the skies grew dark and the earth shook and The Unchanged have troubled man directly no longer. Occasionally they shift in their endless sleep and the horrors rise for a brief time. The gods have not been heard from since the time of the Shadowing. The Church Says the gods are dead.

The world,though no longer troubled by The Great Unchanged, is still troubled by forces from outside the universe. The dead, undead, and the half dead hunger for the flesh of the living. Horrors, fragments of the dreams of The Unchanged, seek bodies to inhabit. They hope to wake the sleeping Unchanged, to return the world to its proper state. This is what the necromancers face, the dark tide rising evermore each year since the end of the Final War.

The Restless Dead: When Aether becomes unbalanced with the world around it it tends to focus on points of great human emotion. Negative emotions draw it more than others, no one is sure why, though most people in the know have an opinion. This means that funerals, murders, and suicides tend to be lightning rods for Aether imbalance. When all that emotion builds up it can draw a piece of the soul off and create a ghost. The greater the emotion(the more people feeling it) the more powerful and unbalanced the ghost or spirit. Is the ghost the actual soul of the dead? The Church's position is that they are not. Though there has been quite a bit of debate on the subject.

The Hungry Dead: Sometimes a burial goes wrong. Sometimes a body is not properly destroyed in fire and salt. Sometimes the subtle humors of the body remain after the soul has passed. When this happens the hungry dead rise. Their is nothing left of the soul, only the desires of the flesh remain. The simplest of the hungry dead are the Zombi. They seek out the flesh of the living. No one really knows why, but it is always thus. Those few that survive(if that is the correct term) long enough go through a transformation. They become a Guhl. Faster, stronger, and more cunning, the Guhls hunt actively for prey. Should there be enough Aether around to draw it in, a spirit or Horror can inhabit the Guhl, granting it powers and intelligence and enhancing its appetites. These flesh eaters are often able to interact with the world and even gain access to the halls of power. Beware the Horror infested Guhl.

The Great Unchanged:  Before Man was, before the gods were, before the world was...something. Beings so old and powerful that their very nature altered the universe around them. The story is that they created the gods, who in turn created the world of man. The story goes that the gods fought an endless war with The Great Unchanged. Two thousand years ago the gods sacrificed themselves to put the Great Unchanged to eternal sleep. That is what the Church says. No one knows for sure.

The Half Dead: When a mortal Alchemist or Sorcerer tries to gain life eternal, only bad things can come of it. No one has successfully created The philosopher's stone or Ambrosia, the two suspected ways to immortality. When they try, something else happens. A change is wrought in the practitioner. An exchange must be made, A life for a life. At least at first. As time goes by the now damned person must kill more and more to continue their existence. The magics involved are so alien that they will slowly drive the users mad, shatter their soul. Shatter it enough for something else to inhabit the body. This is where Vampires, Werewolves, Mummies, and the like come from. Experiments in immortality always fail. When they fail, people die.

Necromancy
Necromancy is a skill. All you need to have access to it is study and place it in your skill pyramid. Oddly enough some of the best monster hunters, while part of a necromancer family, do not have the necromancy skill. Necromancy is, at heart, the ability to deal with horrible things from outside the normal universe. Primarily the undead and the restless dead. Dead is dead and should remain so. Other things reside outside the universe, some will trade information with the necromancers, and some are just pests to be kept out.

Overcome obstacle: Used primarily for gathering information. either through folk knowledge of the undead and the outsiders, as well as interacting with the strange contracts of spirits and demons.
Create advantage: When one needs to figure out the weakness of a monster or to set up a ritual circle or implement that will aid in dealing with a spirit, demon, undead, or tear in the universe.
Attack: Cannot be used to attack directly.
Defend: Cannot defend directly.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Fate Points Episode 2: White Picket Witches

Yesterday +Stacey Chancellor and I had our second episode of Fate Points. We interviewed +Filamena Young author of White Picket Witches. After some technical difficulties we got going, and I must say I thing this went swimmingly. Here is the recording in case you all missed it first go 'round. Also I would like to take a moment to let you all know that we are having +Jason Morningstar on the show to discuss Fire Fight, very exciting!


Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Blue Collar Necromancy

Its just a job, dealing with this stuff. The High and Mighty talk all day about High Sorcery and Holy Alchemy, but when things go wrong, the necromancers come in to fix the problem. There ain't no theory in necromancy, it is practical know-how that matters. All the book learnin' in the world won't save you from the eldritch horrors and their minions. It's a dirty job. Its our job.

I was listening to Backseat Producers the other day and they were discussing The Hobbit. During the course of conversation Adam said something about, "Blue Collar Necromancy." That phrase made me stop and focus. I really wanted to do something with it so I got to thinking about it and after discussing it a bit and writing for a while, the next bit is what came out.

A History of the Modern Problem
Necromancy, also known as Black Magic or Low Magic. Three hundred years ago it was unknown. Magic was the purview of gods, demons, and the great unchanged things that spawned them. Then came the first Sorcerer, Gretta the great. She discovered the secrets to manipulating Aether, the breath of the gods. This led directly to the first Lineage. At around the same time a man named Christophe Victorine left the Hermetic Order and wrote Une étude de l'âme de la Matière. This book set down the precepts of alchemy and how it related to mans place in the universe. The Church destroyed all copies of the book save for those they controlled. This was the beginning of Holy Alchemy, and the search for eternal life.

Necromancy had always been the magic of the common man. Anyone could learn it. Anyone could do it. At its core it is simple, sacrifice. Give something to gain something. It deals with communing with spirits, reading the future, and the transition from life to death. It is simple magic, dirty magic. It has nowhere near the versatility or power of High Sorcery or Holy Alchemy. What does have is speed and ease of use. It is passed down through families who specialized in it since before the rise of the Sorcerer Queens. Back before the discovery of Sorcery, necromancy was all their was, and the god-talkers where its masters. Holy men and confidence men they ruled in all but name over the thousand city states. They stood between man and forces far outside their ken.

The necromancers still stand in that breach. Though their is no glory in it anymore. Sorcery and Alchemy have brought forth wonders to the world. Together they created Odiceen, congealed power pulled from living things. Generally they use trees as the age of the living thing can enhance the power of the end product. Odiceen has allowed for massive ships powered by engines to cross the great oceans in days rather than weeks. Automobiles and artificial light allow for massive cities and industrialization. It was an age of wonder and riches, until the War. The Final War, as some with a poetic bent might say, changed everything. It destroyed economies, and blasted apart borders taht ha lasted for centuries. 

The War ended ten years ago. It was the Spell-plague that ended it. all sides in the war where playing with forces far outside of their ability to control. Eventually something(or things) went wrong. The Spell-Plague was the result. One in three died from it, worldwide. of the survivors many were made sterile or horribly disfigured. The world was on fire from the funeral pyres. It attacked noble and commoner alike. Through all of this the forces of nature became far more unbalanced than at any time in history. 

The hungry dead rose to torment and feed upon the living. The bodies of the slain sleep walked through the last actions of their life. Strange things from beyond the world roamed free. It was too much for the existing necromancer to handle on their own as they had before. They were forced to gather together and form a union of sorts. A group dedicating to dealing with those things no one else wished to deal with. Know this, it is the year 1937 on the Holy Calendar, and things are not as they should be. A darkness walks the land, corrupting or destroying all it touches. Few in power care about it, or even acknowledge its existence. Those that do pay us to deal with the demons, the undead, and the restless dead. We are necromancers, and we do the dirty business other refuse to.

So there you have it. The back story of the game. I would love to hear what you all think of it. I will be working on the mechanical bits and adding more setting details and NPCs to the game.

Bad day

Today, something horrible happened today. Horrible. Also today was the first night of my show. So there I am trying to hold together my crumbling inner self while smiling and glad-handing at the post show party. Containing the emotion is causing an actual physical reaction, nasuea and a headache to rival any I have ever faced. I am holding back the shacking and the crying and the gnashing of teeth. This was supposed to be a happy day, a good day. Now all is ashes and dust. I can't express...I-I don't know. That's all I can say to those few who know what happened today.

They say, "How are you doing?"

I say, "I don't know."

Over and over again this will happen in the next few weeks, maybe for the rest of my life. The rest of my life. Around it goes in my mind, over and over. Why? Why? WHY! There is an answer? If there is I don't see it. This is stream of consciousness writing I don't-I don't suppose you will understand. Be glad you do not. I just cannot express. All is just shards of pain floating in my chest. Ripping. Tearing. Shredding. I am hollow. I am sorry. I am sorry. nothing makes sense anymore. I just don't know.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Fate Core: The Sharn Codex pt 5

Our heroes begin their investigation into the Giant's laboratory, hoping to get to it and gather it's secrets before the other factions can. They seek information from an information broker named Itch. Itch investigates and brings down the might of the Red Reavers upon them. The Reavers send the Butcher Brothers, three bugbear thugs, after Itch and by association the players. After a vicous fight Sim is down and one of the brothers is murdered in the street. The two remaining brothers flee the scene and vow vengeance. The players, after a bit of recuperation, the heroes make tehre way into the deep tunnels beneath Sharn.

So this week we had a scene where the villains really harsh to the players characters. And we got to play out a recovery scene. I am not sure how well it all went, we shall see. Here is the recording of the game, should you wish to watch.


Sunday, February 24, 2013

Time Heroes: Beathoven is a Beast!

So two days ago I got to play a scenario for Time Heroes run by +Andrew Goenner the creator of the hack. The characters were all pregenerated. there were some interesting ones, a plumber from the future, and indiana jones knock off, a gunslinger, and all that kind of stuff. Looking through them I found a couple I liked and was about to pick the Janitor when I saw the last entry,
I. Am. Beethoven!

  Beethoven.That's right, how could I say no to a magic using fist fighting master composer, well I couldn't. I Talked with Andrew and made a few changes, I raised his fighting to three and lowered his will to two. I played him as a master of Capoeira. I saw him like the old Shaw brothers films style master, they had blind kung fu masters, I had a deaf Capoeira master. It works. No seriously it does. Why does no one believe me?

I kind of played him like a rage monster he was always intimidating always terrifying and always moving. The real issue was the dice were not with me during the game, I failed at damn near everything I did in that game. It was a comedy of errors, as they say.

I felt a little wierd, as I sometimes felt lik I was dominating the fiction, but the other player seemed to enjoy himself so maybe that was just me misreading the situation. There was a use of a Contest in the game and I think I may be finally starting to get them, we shall see if that turns out to be true.

Here is the recording of teh Game should you wish to watch it:

FATE Core: Important Links


I decided that I need a master list of all the Fate Core hacks I know of. Well, need is a bit strong, but I would like it. And I figured that if I would like it others may as well. I will be updating this as the weeks go by, so if you have a hack that I missed/don't have yet let me know. these are in no particular order.
Epub DOwnload of +Robert Hanz's Fate Thoughts of the Day.

Fate SRD site: Check it out!




1. Fate Core Cheat Sheet

2. Conflict Outline

3. Rob's Guide to Writing Good Aspects

4. Winner of the first Fate Core Contest

5. A discussion of Temporary Aspects that I think is useful

6. Discussion of Intent and Task

7. Fate Core Folio(iPad App)

8. Fate Core Cheat Sheet 

9. Fate Core GM Playbook

10. Fate Doesn't Have a Damage System

11. Fractal Adventure Design

12. Dresden Style Evocation

13. Fate Actions and Aspects Quick Reference

14. A discussion of consequences and how to fix them

15. Discussion of consequences and environment

16. Weapons, Armor, and Narrative Weight

17. Ideas for MHR's Doom Pool in Fate 

18. Cool thoughts on how to handle ancient lore

19. Secret Societies

20. Using Cortex+ Rules in Fate

21. Discussion of using Fate Core for Wuxia style action

22. A Spark In Fate Core

23. Fate Core Bestiary

24. Rob Discusses His GM Style

25. Discussion of Mind Control in Fate 

26. Rant on Magic in Fate

27. Modeling a dungeon as a character

28. Refresh when you don't have "sessions"

29. Discussion of scene aspects by Michael

30. Rob Talks About Create Advantage

31. Thoughts on using Stunts to alter the scale of an action

32. Discussion of "Bad Touch" Effects in Fate

33. Demystifying the Fate Fractal, and the Nature of Aspects

34. Robert's thoughts on Failure in Fate

35. Calibration: Dial without the Dial

36. David Goodwin's Social Mechanics

37. Thoughts on a Reputation Mechanic

38. Splitting Actions

39. Thoughts on Magic and Costs

40. Rules For Create Extra Action By Dan
 Create Extra Rules final

41. Goal Based Advancement

42. Setting up Sessions as Contests, a discussion

43. Discussion of Hacking Fate and what you use

44. A New Way To Handle Consequences

45. Character Creation as layered Template selection

46. D&D style Domain Management in Fate Core

47. The most impactful changes to Fate introduced in Fate Core

48. Discussion of Expertise skills in Fate

49. Using Fate and other RPGs in the classroom

50. Companions as stunts

51. Discussion of Spiffy Powers

52. The difference between Lying and Persuasion

53. Discussion on how to do research time in game

54. Interesting ideas on unwinnable fights 

55. GM Approaches

56. Robert has a discussion about Conflicts (as well as Contests and Challenges) as campaign/scenario-level pacing structures

57. Discussion About Healing

58. A pretty great discussion on consequences

59. Discussion of how to do low powered Urban Fantasy

60. Discussion of Fate Core Elder Scrolls

61. Fate Core Matrix Discussion

62. Discussion of Weapon Extras

63. Revisiting Power Tiers In Fate

64. NPCs can Concede

65. Poison and Disease

66. Contests with more than two sides

67. Active vs Passive opposition

68. Big Honking Discussion on Taken Out

69. Dan's thoughts on doing Horror in Fate

70. Another discussion on horror

71. Alternate Dice rolling Conversation

72. Ideas on implementing Wraith

73. Attacking with situation aspects

74. big discussion of specializations

75. Discussion of Rewards in Fate

76. Rob Wielands discussion on the beginings of a Shadowrun FAE hack

77. Rob asks a pertanent question

Character Sheets

1. Star Trek Fate Quick Play Sheet

2. Scenario Design Work Sheet

3. PDF and Source File For the Fate Core Character Worksheet

4. Form Fillable FAE Sheet 

5. FAE Sheet(French)

6. Steampunk Sheet

7. Fate Character Folio

8. Noir Style Sheet

9. Apocalyptic FAE  Fate Core

10. Pirate FAE  Fate Core

11. Fate Freeport Character sheet

12. Another Freeport Sheet

13. With corruption

14. Another Freeport

15. Scifi Sheet

16. A slightly different scifi Sheet

17. Post Apocalypse

18. No Exit Character Sheets

19. Vampire the Requiem character sheet

20. Cartoon Character Sheet

FATE Core Hacks
1. Time Heroes

2. The Island

3. Tekumel

4. TrekCore

5. Urban Fantasy

6. Steam Punk

7. Fate, Blood, & 7 Sins

8. Club Babylon

9. FATE of Earthdawn

10. Dirty Street Magic

11. Fate of the Five Rings

12. Tournament Magi Crash Orb-Scenario

13. Two Worlds

14. Mechwarrior

15. Apocolithic

16. Star Wars

17. Phaser Chase

18. Ravenloft: Masque of the Red Death

19. Fate Core NPCiary

20. Exalted

21. Farscape

22. Fate of the City of Doors

23. Grimm Tales

24. Star Trek Fate

25. Fate Core Fading Suns

26. Star Trek FATE

27. Robotech
FAE Version

28. In Nomine

29. Alpha Quadrant

30. Mythos Madness

31. Rainbow D6

32. Fate Amber

33. 500 Kingdoms

34. Dishonored

35. Ghost Busters Part 1 Part 2
A discussion of how to do ghost busters started by Rob
Ghostbusters Final

36. Transformers  Optimus Prime Bumblebee Arcee,   Wheeljack  Ironhide
Mostly Secret of Nihm Conversion to Fate

37. Into the Woods: Post apocalyptic fairy tale

38. Fate: Orchids and Steel

39. Some Thoughts on How to do Exalted

40. Gaslight

41. FATE: Black Amazon of Mars

42. Interesting Supers Hack 
Also V1.1
Also V1.2

43. Conan Red Nails

44. Fate: NCIS

45. Fate of Virmary(Tribe 8)

46. Fate: Apotheosis Drive X - Neon Genesis Cybertron

47. Basic Fate Fantasy

48. Fate: Blake's 7

49. FAE Moon Moon the Werewolf

50. Little Science Lab of Botanical Horror

51. Xeno: An FAE One-Shot

52. Fate Accelerated - PPV (Pro Wrestling Hack)  

53. Shining On The Battlefield 

54. Star Frontiers

55. Roozerball

56. Modesty Blase(my second favorite spy thriller)

57. Dresden Files Hack

58. ZOMBIES!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!

59. Allomancy...the basics

60. Discussion on how to do the Matrix in Fate

61. The Infinite Lighthouse(bioshock Infinite)

62. Magic Of Krynn

63. Legends of Hyrule

64. Justice League(pregens)

65. Avengers(pregens)

66. Fate Core Secret of NIHM

67. In the Untouched Land of Gloriana

68. Mythos Skill for Fate Core

69. War of Souls(In Nomine Conversion)

70. Fate of the Galaxy:Starship Rules

71. ARIA Armor

72. Dinosaur Companion Extra

73. Care Bears FAE

74. Hijinx FAE

75. Magic:The Gathering

76. Dragonlance Fate Skills Dragonlance Fate Racial Stunts

77. Rogue Trader Fate Hack
The New version/link

78. FAE Tyranids

79. Classic AD&D Character Creation in Fate

80. Superhuman Adjective Ladder

81. Marvel Heroes Statted up in Fate and FAE

82. Dinosaurs

83. Shin Megami Tensei

84. Rules for Lost Civilazations

85. Schism

86. Rob Wieland's thoughts on Shadowrun

87. Fate of Amber

88. Werewolf Extra

89. Emporer's Nightengale an adventure for FAE

90. Adventure: Mountains of GUILT

91. Shadowrun Ten Archetypes for Fate Core

92. Street Part 1 Part 2

93. FAE Convention Sci Fi Pregen Characters

94. Fate LARP

95. Fate Core Glorantha

96. Fate Bestiary

97. Fate Exalted Conversion Rules

98. The Big Red Couch has some Fae and other Fate conversions check 'em out!

99. Fate of the Dragon Throne(Game of Thrones)

100. Accelerated Guard Mice Burning(FAE Mouseguard)

101. Extra: the Force

103. Psionics From Yesteryear

104. Fate Accelerated Doctor Who

105. The Crash Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

106. Magic The Gathering Fate

 107. Fate of Budayeen: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3,

108. Fate of the Flat Track(Rollerderby! WOOOOO!): Part 1, Part 2 

109. Fate Xpanded(Work In Progress)

110. A discussion on doing Runelords in Fate

111. Bruce Baugh Discusses doing D&D 4th in Fate Core Part 1, Part 2

112. Yet another Magic System

113. Pathfinder Magic System

114. Star Wars Rise of Cthulu

114. Amazo

115. Fate of Kingdoms, Eave

116. Futurama Characters

117. Amazo...again!

118. Atlantians and Lemurians

119. Rogue...you know from the X-men...the comic!

120. Lost Magic

121. Star Wars...This time its personal

122. Another Rogue...stil from the X-men

123. FATERIP

124. Rob Wieland's FAE 7th Sea hack

125. Fate of the Fadeing Suns

126. Fate Star Wars

127. Serpents Fall 
 Part 2

128. Fate Accelerated Dungeon Delve

139. Biomes, and a FAE version

140. Fate 40K

141. Cybernetics


Friday, February 22, 2013

Writing Problems

The last couple of days I have not been posting much. I have been writing, I just don't have anything even close to finished. I have started a couple of projects, and I just can't seem to get into them. I still would like to do three more adventures for Space Opera, bringing in something like the Lens from Lensman and some weird political stuff, as well as adding a few more planets and some more alien races. I also have half a discussion on Star Trek Tansporters and the weird implications that brings to the world. There is a DBZ hack for FATE Core I started, and I have a good bit done. I also have a half completed full D&D hack for FATE Core. I would also like to sit down and do up a couple of first draft finished products(pdf) of some of my earlier projects.

I am working on all of that, all while trying to finish my Lighting Design for a show that will open in less than a week(plus side is that  the looks are really starting to come together, people will be impressed). I think I may be overreaching, so my posts will slow down for a bit. I will continue to try and write everyday, but there may not necessarily be a post every day.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Space Opera: Things I may have missed

So in discussing my adventure design and world I realized there are a few things I have not added to the world that I need to. So in this post I will hopefully fix some of those issues, as well as add some more content to the universe of Space Opera. I also would like to add a few more planets and races as well as some notes on technology and some new stunts.

Space Ships
I have posted previously that I think ships in my game should not have a stress track. I still enjoy that concept the best. However I have been thinking on it and I will put an optional rule for stress tracks here. I will be calling the stress track Shields. This will be variable  amount depending on the quality and size of the ship. You average civilian ship has one Shield box. Military Vessels have between two and four Shield boxes. The primary skills used for interacting with ships are Pilot(piloting obviously), Technology(for sensors and ECM), and Firefight(for firing the big guns).

Hyperspace Gates
Faster than light travel is accomplished by using hyperspace gates. These are massive constructed circles in space. They create wormholes between them. the only other way to create a stable wormhole is to use a massive hyperspace engine. Hyperspace engines take up so much space that it leaves little room for a crew or cargo. they are generally used to arrive at an ungated system and begin construction of a new Gate. This takes a while as they have to manufacture much of the equipment in system. They will build a small gate that will allow a few work ships through. Those ship will then construct a proper Hyperspace Gate. Often those old smaller gates are decommissioned, but not always. some times they are forgotten like old subway stations. they become a secret way into and out of the system.

Espers
Esp is called many things by many species: psi, magic, wyrd, or many other things. Espers have formed a few philosophies and movements throughout the galaxies. The two most known and influential being the Deija Empire and the Pou'ah Priesthood. The Deija used to be a fringe cult in the Nonaligned Worlds. Thirty years ago they instigated a coup on a planet and turned that into the beginnings of empire. within the Empire only Espers can hold office, they believe that knowledge is power and Esp give them the most knowledge, therefore they should have the power. The Pou'ah Priesthood is the single largest organization of Espers outside of the Deija Empire. They are ostensibly a peaceful group of Espers seeking union with the greater universe. They will teach anyone willing to learn, so many people seeking power will join the priesthood just long enough to learn the secrets of Esp. Think of it like Shaolin Monks, where the nobles would send there kids to the monastery to learn the martial arts.

Stunts and Weapons
There are two weapons that are the icons of the Deija. The Nano-whip and the Slick Sword. Both of these require the Close Combat stunt, Deija Weapon Training.

(Close Combat)Deija Weapon Training: You are able to use both the Nano-whip and the Slick Sword without danger of harming yourself. This stunt also requires the Esp skill at +1 or greater to use.
(Esp)Predictive Combat: You can use Esp in place of fighting when using a Nano-whip or a Slick Sword.

Nano-whip: It is a line of ultra dense cable only a molecule thick with a small weight at the end. It is normally stored in the handle on a spool. with the flick of a switch the line extends and you can attack with it. When swung it tends to crack like a whip and it will cut through just about anything.
Weapon: 4
Slick Sword: This is a sword with a blade only only one atom wide. It has a core of iron or steel to give it mass. these swords can cut through damn near anything. they are not sheathed in a normal sheath. There are two varieties of sheath for this weapon. The first uses a magnet to hold the blade steady so that it does not cut right through. the other is a special hilt that locks into the sheath and keeps the blade away from the edges of the sheath.
Weapon: 4
Each of these weapons is very difficult to use. If you fail the attack roll you take one stress. If you fail the attack roll by three or more you do weapon damage in stress to you. Taking the training stunt


Sukar
There were a couple of suggestions about the Sukar in my adventure. The first was if the Sukar were to capture the PCs what would they do? The Sukar are a vicious and xenophobic race that hates all  life not them. they are mixture of the Reapers, the Daleks, and the Mechanoids. They are hate and destruction wrapped in a metal shell and layered with more weaponry than a tank battalion.

The other question had to do with the stats and description of the Sukar. I would prefer to leave the stats of the Sukar up to the individual GMs running them. What I will do instead is give a few notes on ideas for special abilities for the various body forms of the Sukar.

Screamers
Aspect: Flying Terror Machine
Aspect: Death Scream
They come in swarms of between five and ten. They use repulsor jets to hover and fly, it gives them a great deal of speed and maneuverability in the air. the normal high-pitched whine there is the roar of the jets, making for a terrifying sound right before the attack. They have the normal Sukar hexapod body type, each of the limbs is tipped with a weapon(ranged or close combat, up to the GM)

They have a flight ability which lets them use Momentum to fly. this allows them to create advantages relating to flight and ignore obstacles that flight would negate.

Ghosts
Aspect: Nearly Invisible to the Naked Eye
Aspect:  Lonely Assassin
They are the solo stealth specialists. they have a specialized skin treatment that allows for an active camouflage effect. they do not emit a high pitched whine as the other Sukar do. They also tend to be solo hunters with a great deal of autonomy. their best trait is stealth and they have the Back stab stunt, allowing them to use Stealth to attack when no one is aware of their presence. These should be serious threat to the player characters.

Fury
Aspect: Reanimated Horror
Aspect: Fast Attack Shock Troops
When the Sukar kill a non-Sukar they remove the head and replace it with a robotic "brain-box" that will cause the corpse to animate and they can control them remotely. They use them to soak up damage from the more dangerous threats(armies and such). It is also a terror weapon, as it is demoralizing to see the horrible leftovers of your fellow beings rushing down the field of battle toward you. They do not have much in the way of defenses, and their hands have been replaced with weapons(usually claws, though guns are possible). Furies do not have shields.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Space Opera: Silence Falls Addendum

After getting some feedback on my first adventure I realized there were a few things I could have done differently. I also had a few thoughts on the previous adventure I would like to add to it. So here goes.

So in the previous post the adventure follows the path of the heroes landing on the planet of Silence and dealing with the problems from that end. In this installment we will look at what might happen should the players decide to try and take out/board the attacking alien ship.

The mission itself will be quite a bit more difficult than the ground mission. That does not mean it cannot be done, just way harder.

The attack run
The players will have to come up with a plan to either board or destroy(or board and destroy) the Sukar Destroyer. Getting in will be difficult. Unless they can figure a way to approach with stealth or subterfuge the Sukar will see them coming. They can use stealth, Technology, or Deceit(make this a pretty high difficulty) to create an advantage. Reconnoiter and Investigation could also aid in this plan. Then you must actually get in close enough to dock with or attack the Destroyer.

Many of the rolls for this will be Pilot and Technology. This will start as a contest between the Sukar and the PCs. If the Players win without the Sukar gaining a single success, then they make it without a hitch. For Every Success the Sukar get in the contest that is either a chase(separate contest) or a combat that occurs.

Finding the Weakness
Provided the Players make it to the ship they have a couple of options they can attempt to destroy it directly. The ship has six stress boxes and the standard consequences. It also will disgorge fifteen fighters a round to attack the player characters.This is not an optimal situation. The players can discover an obvious weakness, the armor plate does not cover certain parts of the ship. It defends with its armor skill, this skill is two higher than the highest pilot roll of the player characters.

Docking
Docking with the ship will require a very difficult Technology overcome roll, as this ship is a complete unknown and the technology in it is ancient. If the players succeed with style, no problems. If they succeed normally, the ship takes a minor consequence. If you tie the ship takes a minor consequence and the ship gains a free use of a new advantage(Alert to Intrusion) that will stay on the Destroyer for the rest of the conflict. If the roll is failed the character's ship takes a moderate consequence. Once docked the players must find a vital location and take advantage of it and get free of the station.

Making it to a vital location
there are a couple of key locations on the ship. The Control Room is in the center of the ship. If the players gain control of it they can do as they like with the ship. It is the best guarded and hardest to gain control of. The ships engines are also well guarded, but it will be easier than the Control Room. If you could set a cascade explosion within the hangar bays the combined explosives of all the fighters would cripple the ship. This is probably the easiest of the locations to get to, and the hardest to set up.

there are many ways to go about getting to the locations and attaining your goals, so I will not try to calculate all the different things that can be done. I will be just hitting the basics of this. Sneaking in will be a series of overcome rolls involving Stealth, or any other skill that makes sense. there is always teh direct approach, getting into larger and larger fights until you get to the location you wish. Also if your players have some kind of leverage on the Sukar they could try and negotiate.

Getting free alive
Escaping the ship will be difficult. If they have succeeded in sabotaging the ship then they must outrun the damage they have done to the ship. if they have failed in sabotaging the ship, or if they did not sabotage the ship then it becomes a contest to get free of the ship unnoticed. Again they could fight their way out of the ship, but this will get more and more difficult with each battle as more Sukar become aware of the problem on board.

OK, so that was a bit more on the previous adventure as well as some more rules and some clarifications. I hope this makes the game easier to play. I would appreciate any thoughts on how this could be improved, or any ideas on things I should add or rules you would like to see in the future.





Saturday, February 16, 2013

Space Opera: Silence Falls

Introduction
Silence was Humanity's greatest accomplishment, a peaceful and prosperous colony world as beautiful as any in the whole of the known space. Something has gone wrong in paradise.

Overview
This is the first adventure in a campaign dealing with an ancient alien threat. This adventure is a bit linear, so be prepared for that. The adventure starts with the character's receiving a distress call from the colony world of Silence. Upon investigating they find that the colony is under attack by an unknown menace, apparently robots. They are systematically searching the colony world for something, killing all in their way. These beings are being led by an ex-task force member who has gone rogue in a big way. Can you discover what these hostiles want? Will you be able to stop them? Can you convince the rogue agent to turn back to the side of angels?

Scenes
The Terran Majority has received word of a discovery on Silence. They found something buried deep during a mine expansion. It is a piece of technology, ancient and of unknown design. The Majority, seeking to gain favor, has brought this news to the Charter of Allied Worlds(Space UN, thanks +Storm Bringer  for that). The Charter has sent you, members of Shadow Legion(Special task force dealing with information and threat prevention), to investigate this piece of technology.

As you drop through the space gate warning klaxons blare, and the crew begins rushing about to battle stations. Upon investigation, the sensors show a massive ship in orbit of the planet and many small landing craft raining down upon the planet. There is a communications block upon the planet and the surrounding area. You are the only ship in range and the massive ship is of unknown origin. It is far larger than any ship in the Charter's fleet.

At this point there are several reasons for the players to want to go in and help/investigate. There is an unknown enemy attacking a Charter world. They could try and protect people. Try and shut down the jamming device to get word out to the rest of the Charter. They could try to gain information of many kinds about this new threat. Also the technology found in the mine could be in danger.

This is also a good time to create advantages and gain information to help in the coming scenes. A sensor check of Good(+3) or better will find the location on the planet they are attacking. they are attacking the capitol city, Serenity a mining town built at the base of a vast mountain range.

If there is a character of a piloting bent, they can make a piloting roll vs a difficulty of Great(+4). Succeed with style and the ship can drop you on the planet with no damage. Success means the ship has a mild consequence, if you tie you take a major and a mild consequence, if you fail the ship crashes but you are alright. If no one wishes to pilot the ship then the landing is made with as much or as little difficulty as deemed appropriate for the method of entry the players have chosen.

Beyond theGates
Upon making landing the players are now in a battle for life and death to seek out what this threat is and why they are attacking. depending on how well hidden the landing was, the characters could be attacked within moments of their arrival. the scenes of the city are all of fire and burning and bloody massacre. These aliens have, for some barbarous reason placed heads on tall spikes all around the city. When the players first find the aliens they are robotic looking hexapods, running on six legs for speed two legs for attack. When they are in groups there is a constant high pitched keening sound that comes from them, this is how they communicate. These are the Sukar an ancient and malevolent race. they are seeking the artifact and they are methodically killing everyone in the city.

Discovering what they are after is fairly easy. An Average(+1) Investigation roll will reveal that the Sukar are moving toward the mines steadily. A Good(+3) technology check on aSukar corpse will also reveal this. Also an Education roll versus a difficulty of Fair(+2) will show that these are not robots at all, but a cybernetic alien race.

A few scenes you can add in here:

A family on the run from a pack of Sukar. Make this as desperate and crazy as you can. This could be a combat scene, but then the Sukar will cut the family down. If the players would rather save the people rather than kill Sukar, it becomes a contest. Success means that the family gets clear, for every Sukar success in the contest one of the family members dies.

There are some people trapped in a collapsed building. Should the players wish to help them it is a Challenge scene. Some of the rolls that may be used to defeat this challenge are presented. A Fair(+2) Physique roll will clear some rubble. A Good(+3) Technology roll will free the stuck door. A Great(+4) Rapport roll will calm the people inside so they do not injure themselves in their hurry to leave. A Good(+3) Security roll will allow you to get into tight spots and find the best path out. there may be others as well, who knows how a player's mind may work.

A pack of Sukar set upon the characters. that is all there is to this scene. Just a fight. Use interesting zones and such.

The Tower
The Jamming device. It is a well guarded Tower setup on the outskirts of town. It is heavily guarded(at least triple the characters number in Sukar). There are many ways to try and take it out, as it is a fixed position. Should the players destroy it, there will be many distress calls going out, and the players will have access to their communication with the ship. Taking out the jamming Tower is the only way to let the ship know to come pick up the player characters. basically the adventure can't end until this tower is taken out.

The leader of the attack party is here as well. D'shavi Tu'rao, a former member of the Shadow Legion seems to be leading the Sukar into combat. If the characters have already seen the artifact then they will know that the Sukar hate all other sentient life in the galaxy, so this is a bit odd. If they get a chance to talk with him alone, they may find out much. He found them a while ago and they captured and interrogated him. He told them everything he knows of galactic civilization, he wants to live. they were about to kill him when they heard of the Artifact found on Silence. the technology resonated with certain scanners they have set up throughout the galaxy. he managed to convince them he would serve better as the leader of the attack party on Silence. He would do whatever they say so long as they didn't kill him. Somehow he convinced them.

The Artifact
At the heart of the city lies in the entrance to the mines. These are the most advanced mines in all of human space. it is a maze of giant tunnels seventy feet around. Great boring machines and haulers are parked near the entrance. the Sukar have taken complete control of the mines. the players will have to sneak by or fight there way in. Once inside it is a maze of tunnels, but it is orderly so if they have a map or are willing to roll Reconnoiter vs a difficulty of fair(+2) the characters can make there way to the new areas of the mine in short order. If they have any advantages relating to the mine system or the Technological artifact they can use them here. Have as many combat scenes or stealth scenes as you think appropriate down here. Awesome consequences for battle here is tunnel collapse, methane buildup and other underground dangers. eventually the characters will find themselves in the Artifact chamber.

That Noise in My Mind
the artifact is a large dome with dim lights glowing in moving patterns accross its surface. When the players get near to it it reacts. Any of the players with Esp can roll defense against it, otherwise the players are each given a mild consequence(Terrible foreboding) as they are forced to witness the death of a whole species.

The Artifact was known to its builders as the Archive. It was the collected knowledge of the entire race, known as the Nesseme. They were fighting a great enemy known as the Sukar. In th final days of the conflict they hid the Archive away, so that future races would not face the same fate as they did. Knowledge of the war and how it ended floods the characters minds. this is what causes the damage. Minds were not meant to process data this quickly.

Once that is over the Archive melts down. It is very old and fragile. the players got too close and it tried to transmit its data. It overloaded itself.

NPCs
D'shavi Tu'rao: A Gura of great renown as a galactic peacekeeper. He is one of the best fighters in the galaxy. He is self serving and logical. He tries to remove all emotion from his decisions. he believes in nothing but survival. It has given him the reputation of a bully.
Stats: Make him big enough to be challenging to your party, he will also have a high Deciet, he was able to convince the Sukar to believe him.
Aspect: Cowardly Genius Mercenary
Aspect: Love of self
Aspect: True Gura in heart and in mind
Aspect: Dead Men tell no tales
Aspect: Logical Brutality


The Sukar: a race that genetically engineered itself to near perfection(in its own view) they removed all emotions save for hate and a sense of racial superiority. They reached the limits of biology and began to augment them selves mechanically. Now they are as much as machine as a living thing. Powerful and enigmatic they destroy all suficiently advanced technological civilzations, as they might become a threat to the Sukar. Now the upon Silence an artifact was found, and archive of one of the Sukar's first enemies. They fear the information that might be discovered and have started the purge early.
Aspect: You are not one of us
Aspect: Control, Channel, Eliminate

Friday, February 15, 2013

Dungeons and Dragons vs Alignment

I was going to write an adventure for Space Opera today. then I read this blog post by +Cody Connelly and I decided to write about a subject that has interested me for quite some time. The implications of alignment within the D&D cosmology. So tomorrow will be the adventure, today alignment.

Alignment, it's a simple concept really. Two axes, four directions the combinations of which give a simple description of your morality and worldview. It is far different from most ethical thought, though. For those who live within the D&D universe alignment is a testable observable law or force. It acts upon the world external to all agents within the laws of the D&D universe. Everyone in that universe must follow the tenets of one of the alignments.

There are actions that cause you to move from one alignment to another. In older games this change actually had serious physical repercussions. You would lose levels and the like. It was bad news. Also there are spells, devices, skills, and abilities that interact with alignment of beings in interesting ways. It can be detected, it can be blocked(wards and such), it is a tangible thing.

Even the gods must bow to alignment. You would think that a god would not view itself as evil. Yet within the cosmology they inhabit they can do nothing but admit the alignment that they inhabit. Alignment is about choice,but not in the normal sense of moral choice. This is closer to locational choice than to any internal struggle. Good is no better than Evil, which is no better than Chaos or Order. these are merely places to stand on a plain of existence. Like height, breadth, length and time, alignment is merely a way f locating an object on a specified plain. To me that is strange.

It gets stranger when you start to dig into the planar cosmology. You step outside the normal universe and the alignments system exists. No, not merely exists, it thrives. There are whole plains(universes really) devoted to specific alignments or groupings of alignments. The higher up you go the more locked into the alignment law/plain/force.

Now what could this mean? It seems to imply that the gods of D&D are not in control the universe, not even their little corner of it really. They are bound by forces larger than, and outside of, themselves. This itself has odd implications. If the gods do not dictate morality then it is inflicted on them by some outside force or law, or it is inflicted upon them by some outside intelligence. I could see this developing into an interesting campaign, provided all the players were into it. A sort of D&D ID debate, if you will;p.

Also the ability to know for certain if someone is good/evil with certain spells/abilities is very interesting. What kind of world would occur if D&D paladins exist? They are all lawful good(in non 4th ed games that is) and can detect evil. that means if you can prove you are a paladin in good standing with your god(say by healing someone) you are known to have to tell the truth, and you can detect evil. How the hell do evil people exist? I mean, think about it for a second, it would not do to simply act good, you would need to BE good. Be good or face the mighty smite. And it would be a lawful good thing to do. No one would question you. You may not be able to read minds, but you can smell evil.

And I think  that is where I will leave it. I would like to leave more questions than answers in this post. I would love to hear that you all played this to with your groups and you all got different answers to these questions.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Space Opera: The Basics

Working on fleshing out my Sharn Hack made me realize that there were a few ideas in that I would love to use in a slightly different way. Two different ways to be precise. The first would be to make a straight up DnD style hack. A hack that uses FATE to emulate the best bits of DnD in my mind. I will get to that HAck tomorrow. Today I will be focusing on the other thought I had. I want to do a game that is reminiscent of Star Wars, but is NOT Star Wars. What do I mean by this? Simply put I would like to use some of the themes that I see in Star Wars and put them into FATE. However this will not really be a hack, as I plan on doing actual world building. This will be a bit reminiscent of Traveller as well, in that the setting will be revealed in a series of adventure and through use of the rules(I hope). So this is going to be my own thing, but based on several other things. Other influences will be: Mass Effect(primarily the first one), Simon R. Green's Death Stalker, Saga of the Seven Suns, Guardians of the Galaxy, and just a touch of Buck Rogers and Farscape.

The game is High Space Fantasy. There is space magic(the force, biotics, psi, whatever) that can be learned by anyone. There are massive space fleets standing over single environment planets(ice planet, swamp, world, etc), habitable planets and sentient aliens abound, and everyone speaks english. The player will be playing members of a Space UN Task force that operates slightly outside the law to deal with threats to the galaxy.

Now, the Space UN only carries weight in a small percentage of the galaxy, there are two other general areas of space that are spoken of, the non-aligned worlds and Farspace. The Non-Aligned Worlds are the areas of space that refused to join Space UN when they were first met by explorers. this is usually a bunch of xenophobes, pirate clans, and petty warlords. Farspace is unexplored areas of space, the dark places in the galaxy. Here, they say, be dragons.

Rules
Aspect Generation
High Concept: You are the best of the best, a representative of your government and people to the galaxy at large. Keep this in mind when you are making this aspect.
Trouble: What is your greatest weakness? What causes you the most trouble in life? Are you aware of your flaw or is it a constant surprise?
Origin: Were you born planet side? What kind of planet was it? How did this affect your life and ambitions. A few sample planets will be added at the end of this, but feel free to make up your own.
Trial by fire: what was your great moment of recognition? what caused the powers that be to put your name forward as a possible candidate for the special task force? Are you proud of this act or moment? Or was it a terrible tragedy that you managed to survive? Perhaps it was stranger still than that.
Shakedown: once you were first assigned to the Task Force you were sent on a trial mission with an experienced agent overseeing your actions. Generally you are teamed up with other new recruits, these are the other player characters. THis is how you met and what you did. Talk it over with the other players and discuss what kind of mission it was, and how you went about dealing with that mission.

Skills
The basic skill list will remain largely the same, only the names have been changed(to protect the innocent).
Momentum(athletics)
Security(Burglary)
Contacts
Technology(Crafts)
Deceit(Renegade/dark side...well ok probably not)
Pilot(drive)
Insight(empathy)
Close Combat(fighting)
Intimidate(WAY Renegade/Dark side)
Investigate
Education(Lore)
Reconnoiter(Notice)
Physique
Rapport
Resources
Firefight(Shooting)
Stealth
Grit(Will)

Stunts: I think that space magic(whatever I decide to call it) will work a lot like my innate magic stunt from my Sharn Hack. So that is that. I will do more stunts as I go along in this design, should people want them.

Equipment
Weapons: each weapon has a rating, from one to four. if you would do less than your weapon rating then you do weapon rating in stress. If you roll higher then nothing changes. there are no lasers or blasters, most weapons are electrochemically driven or magnetically driven projectiles. Basically you fire a small shard of metal at incredible velocity toward your enemy. There are variants on this theme and not all cultures have the same level of weapons tech. There is also a preponderance of hand to hand weapons as Shields have made them viable on the battlefield once again.

Armor: Weapon technology has negated all traditional armors. The invention of The Shield has made many weapons untenable. If you have a shield it prevents stress over a certain amount from a given attack. basically it is the maximum stress you can take from an attack under normal circumstances. The Shield works by preventing objects moving at a certain speed or higher from passing it by. The shield can be bypassed by massed fire(shooting it till it collapses) or by slowing your attack(the slow blade cuts deep). Both of these are handled by creating advantages. If you use an advantage that negates the shield(overwhelming fire, slow blade, and the like) you can ignore the shield rating that round.

Weapons and ratings
Knife: 1
Sword/spear: 2
Axe/pick: 3
All ranged weapons: 4

Shields and ratings:
Civilian Shield: 2
Military' Grade Shield: 1

I think I may use some of the rules from my Aeon Trinity hack for space fighters and equipment(mostly for strange alien equipment(I like my Biotech rules and will probably use them for some alien tech)

Alien Races
Here are the primary Alien Races of Space UN(definitely need a better name for that) and a brief description of them. More information will be given as the adventures proceed.

Gura'oh: A militant meritocracy, the Gura'oh(Gura singular) are the living embodiment of survival of the fittest. They have several client races(read conquered races) they see Space UN as the best way to keep track of the rest of the galaxy and keep their space unmolested. They have the largest fleet, but most of it is spread out o each of its colony worlds. THey are large and fast semi-reptilians.

Taurai: Every member of this ancient and long lived race has access to space magic. they have a low birth rate but live for at least a thousand years. They are unified as a species only when dealing with outsiders, outside of that each is seen a a law unto themselves. They are relatively pacifistic, using ritual combat when dealing with serious areas of disagreement(generally over territory). They are a plant like species, tall and thin, there coloration blends into the background normally, shifting slightly from moment to moment to better match.

Tesh: Tesh are a short lived(forty years max) species. Matriarchal and masters of long term planning they have access to a racial memory of some kind, no one is quite sure how it works, but a Tesh has access to the memories of all those in its direct line. The further back the memory, the more difficult and hazy the memory. They are master manipulators, seeing the universe as one long game. Lineage is very important, as is mating. They are a short hairless race, delicate looking and wiry. They tend to react as though they new whatever was going to happen was in their plans all along, they have a very monotone voice.

Humans are newcomers to the galactic civilization. Their first interstellar colony was discovered by a galactic scout a mere hundred and twenty years ago. Humans are the most militant and expansionistic of the races of the Space UN. in the short time they have been a member they have colonized twenty new worlds. This has alienated some of the other Space UN races. The Humans get along the best with the Gra'oh, though that may just be a ploy by that species to keep ones enemies close, so to speak. Humans have been trying to unify for all those years but there are still many factions of humans who do not wish to be ruled by anyone, not even in the face of multitudes of alien species.

Planets
Thoth: planet of learning. this is the great library planet of the galaxy, all are welcome but no violence in word or action is allowed. The Librarians will brook no violation of that one law. the Librarians are Bio-androids designed to be the ultimate being, programmed  to care for the library and its residents. the citizens of Thoth are those how maintain the Librarians and those who are descended from such people.

Bagdao: A dismal swamp planet on the edge of civilized space. few live there and it only has a token membership in Space UN. There are rumors that Bagdao holds many secrets of ancient star faring peoples, so it tends to attract a certain kind of attention. Archeologists, treasure hunters, and the disenfranchised are the majority of inhabitants of this small planet. there are many dangers in the swamp, creatures, disease, and worse.

Silence: the pride of the Terran Majority( the largest government of humans), Silence is a paradise. Green hills, purple mountains, waves of grain, all that stuff. Its primary resources are tourism and farming. People are happy, bored but happy. There are no large predators on the planet and the few viruses and bacteria have been eradicated for nearly a century.

Next post will be the first adventure: Silence Falls.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Fate Core Eberron Hack

So there has been a request for me to share my Eberron hack with the community. Doing so will be tricky as there is no unified set of rules for it. Also I will probably be making changes to the existing rules in response to playing through this game.I would like to thank +Evan Sayre , +Ryan Singer+Jordan Dennis , and +Robert Hanz  for helping me get the specifics of this sorted out. Also I would like to thank +Rob Wieland for tweaking my rules a bit, this allowed me to see my hack from a different perspective. So here goes, my Eberron Hack.

The first issue I had was weaponry and items. Within the setting of Eberron there are a lot of weapons and items that are very narratively important. There is also a big difference between a magic item and a mundane item. Normally for Fate I like to go with a minimalist approach to items, but for this I felt a bit more granularity would be needed. I originally just went with weapon and armor ratings as described in the extras chapter. As I have played through the game I think I would do this differently had I to do it again. So for this public hack  I think I will go with a new rule. If your weapon/armor rating is higher than your current shifts on the roll it sets the minimum for the attack/defense. I am on the fence as to whether this will work better, but I think it will. I am also a bit wary of the armor rules. I am wary of creating a zero sum game. I am unsure how to fix this though, any thoughts would be appreciated. These are just mundane items, a magic item has one or more aspects attached to it. The more aspects the more powerful the magic item. So far this system seems to have worked out OK, though there has been some abuse. Here is a listing of the weapons and armor and their ratings:

Weapons
Damage 4 Greatsword, Great axe, Maul
Damage 3 Longsword, Long bow
Damage 2 Short Sword. Staff, Wand
Damage 1 Knife, light weapons


Armor
Armor 4 Full plate(heavy armor)
Armor 3 Half plate, Breastplate(heavier medium)
Armor 2 Chain(lighter medium)
Armor 1 leather/padded(light)

Character creation also provided a bit of a rethink when I started this. I went back and forth on replacing trouble with alignment and how to deal with race and class. In the end I decided to have a race aspect and a class aspect and leave the trouble as trouble. If I had been running any other DnD based game I would have swapped out trouble for Alignment, but in Eberron the focus was very much moving away from the traditional DnD cosmology/worldview. Here are the character creation Phases I set out for my players:

Class aspect: You must have an aspect relating to your class. This could be a simple as fighter/wizard/thief, but you could make up your own, or use one of the stranger ones from the DnD universe of games.
Racial Aspect: You should have one aspect relating to your race, this aspect will be used for any racial abilities you might have(low-light vision, tunnel sense), as well as any racial debility you will run into(elven arrogance, dwarven bluntness)

Then next three remain unchanged from the standard Fate core. there is only one crossing paths section though, so be aware of that.

Trouble aspect
First Adventure
Crossing paths

Magic was the next big thing in the setting. Originally I envisioned only two types Learned magic(wizardry) and gifted magic(Clerical). Having played for a bit I have added a third type of magic, Innate magic(this is sorcerous magic and the like). each is represented by a stunt, and each has its own set of rules, though they are similar.

Spells are treated as aspects, the controlling skill of the spell is used to charge up/create/change out the spells and the spells themselves will generally be used as an enhancement on other skills. The spells cannot be used to allow the controlling skill to do more than is normal for that skill(no using arcana to attack and the like).

Learned Magic: When you take this stunt yo must choose a skill to represent your control and knowledge of these magics. Wizards will take Arcana, Artificers would take crafts. You gain a number of spells(or infusions/augments if an artificer) equal to your rank in your controlling skill. You can swap these out if you are given enough time and a chance to roll Arcana. After the requisite game time you make an Arcana roll with the difficulty equal to the number of spells you wish to change out time two. If you succeed you have the new spells, if you fail you keep the old spells. After each rest period(about eight hours of rest/meditation) you gain one free use of each of your spell aspects. any use after that will cost Fate Points.

Gifted Magic: You have been granted power by some external force, be it gods, demons, or the forces of nature. You must choose your controlling skill much like learned magic(Will for clerics/paladins, nature for druids/rangers, and so on). each day your power(god/nature/demon) grants you a number of spells equal to your controlling skill. You must spend time in prayer/devotion to your chosen power. At the end of this time you must make a controlling skill roll versus your controlling skill's rating. If you succeed with style you gain the exact spells you wish to have and one use of each for free. If you succeed you gain one spell you wanted and the rest(if there are any) are chosen by the GM, you also get one free use each. If you tie you can choose between getting the same as a regular success or getting all the spell choices you wanted but only one free use of one spell. If you fail you choose between gaining a fate point and the GM chooses what spells you get(and you get only one free use of one spell), or you can choose the spells you want and get no free uses of them but still gain a fate point. this is one of the more complex ones, and as we have no gifted magic users, I am uncertain how this will work.

Innate Magic: You have magic in your blood. It just comes naturally to you, this could be psi or sorcery. You choose a controlling skill, probably something like will, sense, or lore, though it could be nearly anything if you can convince the table that it fits. you gain a number of spells equal to your rating in the controlling skill. These spells do not change, so choose carefully. You also get no free uses of the spells. What you must do, when you want to cast a spell, is spend at least one round rolling your controlling skill, success give you one free use of a specific spell you have. If you succeed with style you gain two uses of the spell. You can keep building up charges on a spell, but they must be used by the end of the scene or else they go away. Basically these are the focused and powerful magic users, but it takes time.