Category: Fate

I’d like to share with you a technique for creating an epic take out the bad person scene in the Fate RPG with what I call Tiered Opponents. (Actually, that’s a lie. I call them Blooming Onions but tiered opponents sounds so much more official.) The key with tiered opponents is that you can’t defeat… Continue reading Tiered Opponents in Fate

Even the most regular of tabletop gaming groups has absences from time-to-time and there are many ways to handle it. Personally as a GM, I generally just wave my hand and say, “Oh well, they missed out on this awesome adventure” and the players continue on as if that character hadn’t just mysteriously disappeared. And… Continue reading How to Handle Missing Players in a Fate Campaign

My Fate SRD site has been nominated for an ENnie for Best Web Site! I could not be more overjoyed! I’ve been a gamer for a long time, more than twenty years, and I’ve always wanted to be involved in the larger gamer community. I GM a lot and so I write a lot of… Continue reading Nominated for an ENnie Award

For my Fate RPG campaign Brewed Awakening the most recent story arc ended with a big fight scene in a junkyard. This is a writeup of how I ran it. The Cast Involved The heroes: James, Alcholic Alchemist Wizard Apprentice Reba, Accidental Voodoo Student Becca, Psychic Honor Roll Student Markos, Greek Geek Artificer The bad… Continue reading How I Setup a Junkyard Boss Fight in Fate

For the past eight years I’ve been running a wiki that hosts information about all the RPG games that I’ve played and run. Say what you will about being OCD, but being able to go back and reference those notes is handy and allows me to wax nostalgic from time-to-time. My players understand that part… Continue reading Recap Aspects in Fate

So this weekend I was the best man for my friend Eric’s wedding. At the rehearsal dinner, Sean Patrick Fannon was lamenting that he never gets to play (he always GMs) and that he has never played Fate. So I decided to run an ad hoc FAE game because I love improv games. During dinner… Continue reading Fate Pickup Game – Save the Ghostbusters

In tabletop RPGs the order in which the players and their opponents go is critical. This order can literally mean the difference between life and death. This is why Improved Initiative is so important for wizards in d20 games. What I’m about to share is my method on how I handle initiative in my story-based… Continue reading Cinematic Initiative

Continuing my series of posts on how I handle different types of magic in my Fate RPG campaign Brewed Awakening, I now turn my eye on Martial Magic. Not familiar with the Fate RPG? Read the full rules here. The Martial Magician The martial magician is one who expresses magic through strength, reflexes, and other… Continue reading Martial Magic in Fate

I’m writing and running a Fate RPG set on a college campus that I call Brewed Awakening. I’m working with one of my players to build a character and he has expressed an interest in Faerie-style magic. I’m working this up a bit more broadly to make it reusable, focusing on illusions and misdirection, and… Continue reading Trickery Magic in Fate

I’m writing and running a Fate RPG set on a college campus that I call Brewed Awakening. One of my players expressed interest in playing an artificer (inspired by 3.5e Eberron), which we are currently calling Arcane Mechanics. This is my first run at the rules for it. Not familiar with the Fate RPG? Read… Continue reading Arcane Mechanics, the McGuyvers of the Modern Magical World