Aspects are one of the key mechanics of the Fate and Fate Accelerated (Fae)* systems (and other RPGs by Evil Hat Productions) and one of the best things about the system. In short, an Aspect is an important detail about your character – history, profession, personality, enemies/friends, words s/he lives by, etc. – that YOU want to affect your PC’s story and the campaign’s story, intensely. (In my Rules Lawyer – FATE System review, I go into detail there about what Aspects are and give examples.) Doran, who happens to be my GM in a Fate campaign, recently revealed how he uses Aspects as the GM. So I bring you the perspective from the other side of the GM screen. Have you ever wondered how to tell your GM “That is what’s important to my character” or “I would like to see some encounters or sessions where This happens” but aren’t sure how to go about it? As Doran pointed out in his article, PC Aspects are a great way for the GM to know what kinds of scenarios a player would like him/her to build around their PC. Which means Aspects are a great way for you to tell the GM (and other players) what your PC is about and who the PC is, as well as what you think would be fun to experience in-character. So step up and help to tell these cool stories.
I hear you asking, “Trouble? Why would I want to give the GM ammo to use against me? She can come up with enough trouble for the whole party by her lonesome. She doesn’t need us giving her ideas on how to screw things up.” But that isn’t what Troubles are intended to do. First off, Fate is a narrative RPG, and they are all about the GM and players working together to tell a story. All stories are about a hero/heroes dealing with a Big Picture Problem on top of their own Personal Issue(s), aka Trouble. So why not make it something you’re interested in rather than whatever happens to pop into the GM’s head? And the GM has enough work trying to create fun for herself and several pals as it is. Give her a little help by providing some jumping off points.
Now, if that is too altruistic, how about this? You want to Do Mega-Cool Stuff in the game, to show that deviously clever GM that you aren’t taking his BBEGs and their nefarious plots lying down, and make those BBEGs rue the day they thought up that Master Plan? You know you do. Many games – the various Star Wars incarnations, Mutants & Masterminds, etc. – have a mechanic allowing characters to do things above and beyond the various abilities on the character sheet. But you have to pay to do that, out of a limited amount of “funds” given out at the start of the game. In Fate, the currency is Fate Points (FPs), and most PCs will start a game session with 1 – 3. You spend FPs, among other times, when you want to take advantage of one of your Aspects. You want to crash a private party at Skeevy Millionaire Place, by persuading security that your invite was lost in the mail? Of course you’re on the A List because you’re a Local Celebrity (Aspect). Give the GM an FP and add +2 to your check. (Caution: the NPCs may have their own FP pool to draw on!)
To keep FPs flowing, the Fate GM awards them to players for various reasons, one of them being when the GM compels a Trouble or other Aspect. But, you don’t have to go along if you don’t want to. You can give the GM an FP to avoid the compel. There might be some very good reasons to do so, in-character or out. Maybe your PC decided that the best help he can give his kid sister is to let her help herself once in a while. Maybe you just don’t want a flirting scene tonight because you want to get to the Big Fight. Just remember that always refusing compels not only makes you look like a bad sport, it means that sooner or later (probably sooner), you will miss out on a desperately needed +2 (or re-roll) because you used all your FPs avoiding compels. If you have taken a lot of hits already, 0 FPs might also lead to you Conceding or being Taken Out, which means your PC “loses” and can do nothing more in the encounter. (And, in the case of Taken Out, you won’t have a say in your PC’s fate.)
You aren’t limited to compelling your own Aspects. Scenes have Aspects too, which anyone can use to their advantage. Just pay the FP. Same for NPCs, which have GM created Aspects as well. Don’t know any of the NPC’s Aspects? No problem. Fate, as Doran mentioned, has that little mechanic that allows player to attempt to guess NPC Aspects. You’ve got a good shot at it, since it’s perfectly fine for the GM to decide your idea is a good one, if s/he didn’t plan on that Aspect. You can also compel other PCs’ Aspects as well, or use your Aspect bonuses to help another player. Compelling a fellow PC’s Aspect works like compelling any other, except if the player accepts, they get the FP you are spending on the compel. Finally a party of PCs may each compel a different Aspect and pile several +2 bonuses (as long as they are from diffent Aspects) on a single check made by one PC. This is a great team-up when you absolutely have to take a BBEG out ASAP or succeed at some other key check.
And you don’t have to wait for your GM to offer a compel. Just like using an Aspect to help your PC at the cost of a Fate Point, you can suggest that Aspect/Trouble might be a problem in this scene, and if the GM agrees, you get an FP and the two of you decide just how it makes things worse. Trouble has another use, besides replenishing your FPs. It isn’t there just for the GM to compel. Even if it won’t happen often, you can use your Trouble to help you, just like any other Aspect. If your Trouble is Lord Jeremy’s Son & Heir, yes Lord Jeremy will set you inconvenient tasks when you just want to go slumming with the other lordlings and ladylings, and a count will refuse to let you court his comely daughter just because he and Dear Old Dad have been feuding for 40 years. But, what if you need some troops and the local Magistrate might be able to loan you a few Town Guards? Being Lord Jeremy’s son might sway the Magistrate, so go ahead and ask the GM if you may spend an FP.
It can seem like there is a lot of pressure to fill in all five of your Aspects right now, which can be really daunting, especially for new players. This is mostly true of some older Fate setttings. Their versions of Session Zero (a collaborative GM/Players planning session to start off a Fate campaign), unlike Fate Core, practically insist you do fill in all of them. Right Then. Be that as it may, you don’t have to do them all in one fell swoop. The minimum required to have before play is your High Concept, Trouble and a third Aspect. Leaving a couple open to be filled in during play when something clicks is a whole lot better than just writing something down. What if you decide it is not interesting to you? Or it doesn’t come up much in the campaign, perhaps because neither you nor the GM can figure out how to use it for or against you? In most cases, you’ll be much happier if you follow the Fae character creation guidelines to come up with your High Concept, Trouble and one more Aspect, with an additional Aspect or 2 being optional.
Even when playing in the older Fate settings, I wouldn’t hesitate to ask the GM and your fellow players about leaving one or 2 Aspect slots open if you cannot think of something you really care about or that works. In fact, I did just that. I had a couple Aspects I put in at character creation (because it was my first PC and I bought into “Do them all now!”). We all quickly realized they wouldn’t get used even though they described key things about my PC, so they were dropped, to be replaced later on when I found something both cool and workable. Sure I got tired of seeing that blank space on my sheet. Then came the moment where the PC used her High Concept of Deputized by an Angel to get us out of a locked room in a way that led the others to say, “Wow! That is one scary, scary lady!” Hello, new Aspect!
Speaking of a new Aspect, you can change Aspects as part of campaign milestones (covered in detail in Fate Core, pp. 255 – 261). At a Minor or Significant Milestone you can change the name of any Aspect but High Concept. This should represent what has happened in game. If you have Magnus my Unfriendly Rival as an Aspect (Trouble, possibly) but circumstances force you and Magnus to work together, this Aspect might become Magnus’ Unwilling Ally. In other words, justify is best. To change your High Concept, you must wait until a Major Milestone. This should mark a big change in your PC.
But the most important thing is that using Aspects is a lot of fun, once you get the hang of them. Confession/disclosure: In his article, Doran (gleefully, as he told me!) described how he used a PC’s Aspect of Daimyo’s Illegit Sister to get her betrothed to a dishonorable noble after she tried having her Daimyo outlaw him for capturing and selling slaves. That is my PC and the Trouble I came up with. Guess what? I loved it! It will remain one of my favorite RP stories – whether or not the marriage happens or how many other cool campaigns I play in – because Fate gave me a way to clearly tell the GM something I was really interested in playing out. I trusted the GM, and he worked hard to make it better (more dramatic) than I expected. Now if only my PC can find an honorable way out of that betrothal…hmm, the Guess the Aspect mechanic sounds like a good place to start…Dishonorable Jerk is just too obvious for my GM to hand me a free compel…
*For convenience, I will be using Fate to refer to both Fate and Fate Accelerated
Linda Whitson
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