Starter Edition?
May 11, 2012 5:41:47 GMT -8
Post by willh on May 11, 2012 5:41:47 GMT -8
May 10, 2012 15:50:13 GMT -8 @cedyeus said:
Will, You can't "make" anyone do anything in FATE. However, it is entirely a collaborative endeavor, and when your player says "I want my high concept to be BAD ASS AT EVERYTHING!" you quirk your eyebrow and say "That really doesn't fit into the disempowering horror genre, perhaps you should select something else."
Well bad ass at everything is a bad aspect in general, but there are a lot of horror characters that Bad Ass would be an appropriate aspect for. If you have to limit characters that should fit the genre it is not a good tool to play the genre.
Being less competent than the threat you are facing is in fact a component of horror.
No it isn't. That is something that is present a lot, but that is correlation not causation. Plenty of horror stories involve competent professionals. Investigative style horror will require a fairly high degree of competence in certain areas. And, don't forget zombie style horror that involve week opposition in overwhelming numbers. If you make all difficulties harder than the characters can reasonably make you will produce frustrated players, not a horror game.
Do not forget that one of the hallmarks of FATE is that failure on the die roll does not mean that you fail at the task, just that you failed to accomplish it as you intended.
Not really relevant, except that this is a good thing for any genre.
Lastly, the players ability to make thematically appropriate declarations and maneuvers increases player buy in. As is stated right there in the rulebook, GM has veto power over declarations/compels.
Yes the GM has veto power. That's to keep people from introducing inappropriate stuff, it should never be used to block appropriate input. Players empowered with that control over the game make horror really difficult. If you take that control away from the players you are no longer playing FATE.
It all comes down to buy in. There is nothing a GM can do to get a group to "play horror". Horror almost transcends genre and becomes a style of engagement with the fiction. Characters created with thematically appropriate aspects, facing skill challenges you are unlikely to succeed at without additional complications, as well as the players abilities to make thematically appropriate declarations will all come together to form a multiplicative effect in creating the horrific story.
Sure you can work around all these issues with FATE. You can play an in depth political game with D&D 4E. You can use a pair of pliers to loosen a nut. You can use a house key to open a bottle of beer. But, these are all terrible tools for the task described.