Week Two - February 20th 2013 (Part Two)

If you're looking at this before Part One, I don't understand you. So, on the assumption that chronology is a feature of your blog reading experience, I'm going to just pick up exactly where I left of in Part One... Scale:

In this game, the player character party will make up one cell of an activist organisation set up by a messianic Salt, known only as Max. When Max's blood is transfused into another Salt, their brain function returns and their pain ceases. However, the Salt retains the bizarre beliefs that characterised the early stages of their illness. The reason being that they arise, not from psychosis, but from the fact that Salts do indeed have strange, magical talents. Max's super-powered gang move around the country, breaking into EMFs, abducting Salts, curing them with Max's blood, and setting them up nearby to establish themselves as the local branch of their fast-growing organisation. Players who do not want special abilities are permitted to play as individuals who have never suffered from the illness, but have become part of Max's organisation for other reasons. Either way, the Scale of the game is likely to be small and local, at least in the short-term. Many of the protagonists will be super-powered, but they are unlikely to run into many others like themselves. Their primary concerns will be remaining at liberty, establishing a secure (and possibly comfortable) base of operations, and eventually asserting some influence over the community around them.

Next, from this setting that I had invented, I would need to distil a couple of Issues that both effectively describe the world and have a functional impact on the game. After discussion with the players, I settled on two (slightly wordy) Current Issues:

1. His Majesty's Government has everything under control.
2. Smoke your cigarette, and pray you don't end up a Salt in an EMF.

Max's Gang are likely to have a fair amount of influence on how the game develops, so I give them the Issue - "Sowing the Seeds of Rebellion". The Player Characters (PCs) will need to have contacts within the organisation, so I flesh out two of them. Simone Kekaletytar (a Main NPC) and her driver, Chris, (a Supporting NPC) both of whom match the PCs in terms of Skill Levels.

The character party will be based in Wythenshawe; a district in South Manchester. I've decided to give it the Issue - "Left to the Gangs". I make some notes about the names of the gangs, their respective territories and areas of expertise, but the players don't need to hear all of that right away. Suffice it to say, they begin the game occupying a small distribution warehouse somewhere in the territory of the Benchill Mad Dogs.

Another important way to establish the Setting and tone of the campaign, is through tailoring the Skills and Stunts available during Character Creation. I do my best to rename the Skills in line with the modern, urban setting, but clearly there are some changes required that are more than cosmetic.

The first thing that stands out to me is that the PCs really start this game with nothing, and they exist in a world where, whatever you want, things are hard to get hold of. So, I remove Resources from the Skills List and come up with a different way of handling it which I'll talk about in a later post. The second thing is that my players are looking for a game that is gritty, threatening and weighted against them. FATE Core, as it stands, has a rather pulpy, hack'n'slash cheerfulness about it. So, in order to chip off the rounded edges, I trade Fighting and Shooting for named Weapon Skills, and I split Lore into three Occupations; Worked, Played and Studied, each of which must also be narrowed to a named field of experience, but come with a free Stunt. With all of the Occupations, Players may use them for related activities at a -2 penalty.

e.g. If you have Sword 3, it also counts as Club 1 or Knife 1
       If you have Worked (Neurology) 4, it also counts as Studied (Anatomy) 2

A great use of the free Stunt, therefore, is as a generaliser.

e.g. Rifle Stunt: F.P.S. - Use your full Rifle Skill when attacking with any firearm.               Basketball Stunt: Dude Perfect - Use your full Basketball Skill when Creating                  an Advantage by throwing something.

Players will be required to take at least one Occupation, and I expect that most will take two.  Each comes with free Stunt, so I reduce the number of starting Stunts to 1. This way, everybody will have at least two Stunts, but the numbers shouldn't get unmanageably high.
Finally, I need an Extra to cover the sickness/superpower element to the campaign. For this reason, every character must have one of the following Skills:

• Salt - You had the illness. This shows how sick you got before Max cured you.
• Tar - This Skill represents how well smoking protects you from the illness.
• Hygiene - You don't smoke, but you haven't got sick (yet) because of this Skill.

For some of the PCs, their ability will be fuelled by their Salt Skill. If it also requires them to take a Stunt, I will allow that player to swap out one of their Occupational Stunts, in order that their options don't become too limited. The value Players give to these Skills will have other effects in game, but for now I refuse to elaborate. #evillaugh

THE SKILLS LIST
[Square brackets indicate that you should give a named specialisation]
Take one or more from [Worked], [Played], & [Studied] + one free Stunt with each
Take one (and only one) of Salt, Tar, or Hygiene.
Choose the rest of your pyramid from
[Weapon] - Your ability to use and knowledge of a certain weapon
Unarmed - Your knowledge of, and effectiveness at, fighting unarmed
Quick - Your ability to notice, process and quickly react to things
Sharp - Your ability to ascertain, reason and discern, given time to do so
Spry - Your ability to move quickly and gracefully, and to evade attacks
Built - How physically large and powerful you are + Physical Stress Boxes
Sneaky - Your ability to conceal yourself, move unseen or act unnoticed
Respected - Your ability to intimidate, inspire, or command others
Savvy - Your ability to sense and comprehend the emotional state of others
True - Your ability to charm, convince, calm or befriend others honestly
Dodgy - Your ability to seduce, persuade, confuse or distract others dishonestly
Spirited - Your defence against psychological/social assault + Mental Stress Boxes
Connected - How broad and accessible your networks of contacts are
Informed - Your grasp of news, culture, current affairs and general knowledge

All that remains now is to Make Protagonists; the fun and frolics of Aspects and the Phase Trio. All of that definitely warrants its own post and, although it was mostly written up by hand on the night, it's hard to find the time to type these posts in the obsessive detail that is my only idiom. So, apologies if this blog fizzles out for a while.