[SotC] Hidden core mechanic

[Alan]

After going through SoTC several times, I noticed that the wording of the text, and the sheer amount of text spent on skills and stunts, obscures the true elegance of the core system. So far, every rule I've looked at is really a simple variation on a handfull of core rules.

While it might be tempting to read Aspects as a player-empowerment gimmick, in fact, they are the very core of the game. The most fundimental act of roleplaying is creating a fact and offering it to the other players as a shared resource for play. In SoTC, we can look at every roll as creating an aspect that the winner gets to define. This ties dice rolls directly into the very basis of roleplaying. Bravo!

The rules for SoTC could be distilled into one page. Rolls create aspects. FATE points activate aspects. Stunts are special aspects that are always active. An active aspect allows compelling a fact into play, a +2, a reroll, or the substitution of one skill for another. That's it. The core of the SoTC system.

I want to encourage Rob, Fred, and Leonard to bring this to the fore in future editions of FATE (FATE 4.0). The underlying unity of the system will 1) clarify and centralize all the truly key rules, 2) give players and GMs what they need to create their own stunts quickly, and 3) make it easier to pick up and play.

Now to find some players for this game...

[iago]

After going through SoTC several times, I noticed that the wording of the text, and the sheer amount of text spent on skills and stunts, obscures the true elegance of the core system. So far, every rule I've looked at is really a simple variation on a handfull of core rules.

This is exactly true.

The rules for SoTC could be distilled into one page. Rolls create aspects. FATE points activate aspects. Stunts are special aspects that are always active.

Oh, I don't believe that stunts are aspects.  They're more a way to bring a flavored "specialization" ethic to skills.  And it's the interaction of Aspects *with* Skills that's where it all comes together.

[Alan]

Hi Fred,

It took me a while to see it, but I really think stunts can be considered a special kind of aspect -- those that that must be used in conjunction with a skill and in a narrow specialization of that skills use.

After looking over the stunt list, I see that most give a bonus equivalent either to +2, or a compell, or putting a declaration into play -- which is the same as always having a FATE point to spend on it.

So, mechanically, a Stunt works the same as having a free tag on an aspect that can only be used on a pre-chosen specialization of a skill.

This way of looking at stunts gives SoTC a strong internal simplicity.

[iago]

You're entirely on-track as far as SOTC goes.  It's just that I have a more complicated, broader, "more dials to twist" vision of stunts that goes beyond their presentation in SOTC and as such I reply from that footing.

You're totally fine looking at them that way, though the fact that stunts can't be compelled is enough to take them off the aspect block as far as I'm concerned. :)

[forlorn1]

The rules for SoTC could be distilled into one page. Rolls create aspects. FATE points activate aspects. Stunts are special aspects that are always active. An active aspect allows compelling a fact into play, a +2, a reroll, or the substitution of one skill for another. That's it. The core of the SoTC system.

I've played a bit of SotC, and I agree that it is elegant.  I agree with everything you said above, except that I'm failing to understand "Rolls create aspects".    Most of the aspects in our play are either player/gm pregenerated or tags on scenes.  Am I missing something fundamental/playing it different than most folks?

Jeff

[iago]

Rolls create aspects during maneuvers, assessments, and declarations.

Do you get those terms, or should I explain?

[forlorn1]

I'm rereading things now, and I'm seeing we did things wrong.  I thought a free tag was just that, a freebie to the player to tag an aspect of the scene they wanted to boost.  So we played it as a no-roll, just throw it out there and go kinda thing.

I'm seeing from rereading things, that the declaration/assessments need to be set up by skill rolls, which  seems a better solution to me.

Maneuvers and tags I think we had pretty much from the get go.  off balance, blinded, etc.  And I knew they needed a skill roll to bring off.

Sorry, just my lack of playtime/reading time rearing its ugly head.

(As Lewis Black said, the older I get the more my mind becomes a blender )