Aspects & Fate Points
How aspects work and the fate-point economy.
Defining Aspects
An aspect is a phrase that describes something unique or noteworthy about whatever it’s attached to. They’re the primary way you spend and gain fate points, and they influence the story by providing an opportunity for a character to get a bonus, complicating a character’s life, or adding to another character’s roll or passive opposition.
Defining Fate Points
GMs and players, you both have a pool of points called fate points you can use to influence the game. You represent these with tokens, as we mentioned in The Basics. Players, you start with a certain number of points every scenario, equal to your character’s refresh. You’ll also reset to your refresh rate if you ended a mid-scenario session with fewer fate points than your rate. GMs, you get a budget of fate points to spend in every scene.
When your aspects come into play, you will usually spend or gain a fate point.
*[GM]: Game Master
- Types of AspectsEvery game of Fate has a few different kinds of aspects: game aspects, character aspects, situation aspects, consequences, and boosts.
- What Aspects DoIn Fate, aspects do two major things: they tell you what’s important about the game, and they help you decide when to use the mechanics.
- Making A Good AspectBecause aspects are so important to the game, it’s important to make the best aspects you can.
- Invoking & Compelling AspectsThe primary way you’re going to use aspects in a game of Fate is to invoke them.
- Using Aspects For RoleplayingFinally, aspects have a passive use that you can draw on in almost every instance of play.
- Fate Point EconomyFor the most part, the use of aspects revolves around fate points.
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