Originally published on Sidekickcast.com April 19, 2016
The d20 System is the 800-pound gorilla in the RPG industry, powering the top-selling games like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. It’s a very good, very flexible system that is most ideal for games where combat is the cause of and solution to most of life’s problems. Today, we’re going to look at another robust system that powers multiple RPGs – one I consider to be the opposite of the d20 System in many ways. That system is called Fate.
Fate: What is it Good For?
Okay, I might be overstating things a bit when I call Fate the opposite of the d20 System. The two games actually have a lot of common ground, although devoted fans of either game might want to punch me for saying so. A true opposite of the d20 System would probably be a very rules-light game that has almost no focus on exploration or combat. Fate can be rules-light, but most of the games that use it have plenty of bulky systems of their own (which, I would argue, is not a bad thing). The majority of its best games also focus on action, exploration, and fantastic situations. And like the d20 System, it has many abstractions that create acceptable breaks from reality.
There are two areas where I think Fate is very different from the d20 System, and one of those is right there in the name.
First, while a lot of Fate games do focus on action, combat tends to be more cinematic and less tactical. You don’t have to worry about your character’s placement on a combat grid or devise a strategy that maximizes the number of times you can roll with advantage. While not all d20 games have a focus on tactical combat (see Mutants & Masterminds for an example), it’s still a system that provides lots of tools in that direction. Fate is a different kind of toolbox.
The biggest different can be seen in the names of the system – Fate and d20. A d20 game has a lot of focus on chance, and sometimes that can be downright merciless. Everybody knows the agony of rolling a natural 1 when they really needed to make a saving throw, and most long-time players have seen at least one low-level character perish due to a series of poor rolls. Even when they have hero points or something similar to increase chances of survival, d20 games tend to reflect a world where you not only need to be skilled, but also lucky to survive for a long time.
Fate has plenty of luck as well. However, as the name suggests, it puts the fate of the adventure in the players’ hands. Characters have aspects, ranging from things like “Claustrophobic” to something more outlandish like “Ambassador to the Moon People.” Those aspects, more than the actual die rolls, drive the action. If a roll goes against my tough as nails brawler, for example, I can tag my “Made of Iron” aspect and get a second chance at success.
The aspect system extends to the environment as well. Battling villains down at the old dock? There might be a “Slippery Footing” aspect that can allow you to knock them off their feet. Trying to seduce a diplomat at a ball? Check to see if you can tag the “Romantic Music” aspect.
The existence of these aspects and the fact that players can access them in pretty much every scene give much more control over the game. Combine that with a system that uses a “fail forward” default where failing a check doesn’t mean you didn’t do the job but rather than you experienced some unforeseen complication, and Fate tends to more evenly distribute the control between the GM and the players.
The Many Faces of Fate
Like the d20 System, Fate has a wide variety of different games that uses it as a skeleton. In fact, it’s even got different kinds of skeletons available for game designers. Among other options, there’s Fate Core, Fate Accelerated Edition, and Strands of Fate, each which provides its own feel while keeping the core relatively the same.
I’ll leave it to somebody who has more experience in Fate to explain the differences there; I’ve only read or played a few different versions of the game, so instead I’ll focus on specific titles that I’m familiar with.
Atomic Robo: Created by Evil Hat Productions, publishers of the Fate Core System, Atomic Robo allows players to delve into the world behind the titular comic book. If a talking dinosaur suing a robot in court doesn’t appeal to you, I don’t know what to say.
Atomic Robo introduces one of my favorite systems, in which the PCs are explicitly assumed to be experts in their fields. Therefore, whenever these super-scientists brainstorm an answer to a mystery, whatever they come up with is always the correct answer. That means the GM has to fly by the seat of the pants a bit more in adjusting the story, but it also makes the adventure as a whole more collaborative.
Spirit of the Century: If you’re a fan of serials like The Rocketeer, the Spirit of the Century is for you. It’s a game of two-fisted action, biplanes, and maybe the occasional talking monkey. Each PC is a special individual born on the first day of the 20th century and given access to extraordinary abilities because of it. This game is billed as a pick-up game, with rules designed to be as flexible as possible so you can go with very little prep and still finish the adventure in the span of a single session.
Starblazer Adventures: Designed by Cubicle 7 Entertainment, this game focuses on pulp space opera. Think more along the lines of Flash Gordon than Star Trek, although both could be emulated with this system. Sadly, the license for the game expired in 2014, so it remains out of print. Still, if you’re willing to scour eBay and plunk down about $70, it’s a potentially fun game.
Starblazer Adventures is the home system of a campaign I’ve thought about but never yet run, in which light speed travel is accessed through various forms of music. You might have a rock and roll-powered fighter ship and an opera-powered diplomatic cruiser. In terms of systems that can emulate that idea well, Starblazer Adventures remains my top choice.
The Big Missing Piece
The one thing I’m still waiting on from the Fate system is a good superhero RPG.
My ideal superhero RPG has an easy character creation system that still allows for a lot of variety of powers, a fast resolution mechanic, and a combat system that allows and encourages people to use the environment around them to smash cars or knock people through walls without also requiring me to break out a grid every time heroes and villains tussle.
Let’s see…easy character creation? Check. Fast resolution mechanic? Check. Combat system that uses the environment? Check.
And yet I haven’t yet discovered a Fate superhero game that really scratches my itch. Sure, there’s solid stuff out there, like Venture City, which provides a decent superhero framework, but nothing that really makes me feel like I’m part of a comic book story yet. That’s a shame, because the aspect system of Fate makes it pretty easy to emulate a lot of classic superheroes. For example, Spider-Man could just have a “Creative Webbing” aspect, rather than needing to define the various tricks he can go with his webs. Similarly, Batman could have a “Utility Belt” aspect that avoids the need to have an exhaustive equipment list.
Despite the fact that it has yet to fulfill all my wishes, Fate is a fun RPG for folks who want to put more control over the story in their players’ hands. While the d20 is great for simulating a world where even the mighty need a healthy dose of luck in order to survive, Fate assumes that success is likely and gives the players the tools to determine what happens next.
Featured Image: Fate RPG.de, CC BY 2.0, cropped and resized