I'm not particularly fond with this iteration of FATE rules. I've found tons of stunts and creature stats overwhelming and not very like in the FATE style. I've always perceived this game as relatively light-rule and straightforward. Legends of Anglerre reminds me of late AD&D and 3.X+ Dungeons & Dragons editions which aren't my favorite mechanics. All these stunt trees, carefuly described monsters, numerable ways of character optimization, etc. - this is not FATE in my opinion. It pulls players concentration from character development in story terms first place and replaces it with rules thinking. And for me story - not the matters of fine builds and rules quirks - is prime priority when one's sits at the table for the FATE game.
One interesting thing I found in this massive rulebook is proposition of building kingdoms and organisations through giving them stunt-like and skill-like traits. Of course those lists are too big for my taste and end with watering down some elements too much - forcing me to limit them in some way.
I'll admit that there is an awful lot mor 'crunch' in Legends of Anglerre than there is in something like Fate Core or Bulldogs!; I am personally not likely to use the entirety of the rules (as presented in the LoA book) to run a fantasy Fate campaign, however, I view this book like I do most Fate (and other RP) books in terms of what I can take out of them. I can review books and give them a good mark even if i'm not 100% fond of the rules or some elements of it, as long as I think there are good elements in the game that can be extracted/copy and pasted into my own games or have background info that I find interesting; I have reviewed a number of books containing rules systems that I do not like (and have stated such in the reviews), however, I try and point out the positive aspects of the product rather than just keep going on about the negatives.
Ok. So to start off, I am a huge fan of Fate and Legends of Anglerre however, I'm really tried of seeing reviews and character sheets, and everyone claiming how good the game systems. Ok, it's great, I get it, but where is the supporting material? We need NPCs and pre-made adventures to to get started. We need Bestiaries and other resources...no more character sheets please! We need real ideas and ready-made scenarios for people to run. I cannot find a single resource with Monsters or NPCs ready to roll. Evil Hat recognizes this and they're running their Kickstarters, but what about fan created material? What about conversions of old, classic adventures from other games systems. What about a collection of one-shot adventures? Rules are boring and no I don't need another summary of how the game mechanics work. Another pretty character sheet is not going to make this take off. We need more content and less reviews and other BS. If you're playing the game, please post and let me know how you're developing this. I cannot afford the time to create everything from scratch, but I really want to run a Fate-based game. Thanks for listening to my rant.
Under-the-gun-DM (Pathfinder - cause there's nothing better yet)
To answer your question, I believe Legends of Anglerre already has a companion volume that goes with it, the Fate Core system has the Fate Worlds books, the Toolkit and the Fate Codex. Personally I do not lament the lack of published modules, bestiaries, etc because I don't use them and, given the simplicity of the Fate system for generating opponents, feel they are largely unnecessary however there are websites providing bestiaries and such resources - one example is below:
http://fatesf.blogspot.co.uk/p/fate-bestiary.html
There is also a thriving G+ community where fan-based content is regularly distributed/posted for perusal (my G+ 'inbox' normally has at least half a dozen posts containing fan created material each time I check it).
I do not tend to write generic adventures that would make for easy conversion into modules, since most of the adventures I run for my own groups are personalised for their individual characters involving setting elements that we all created as a group (one of the major lures of the game for me); I don't feel that Fate either needs or would benefit from the D&D/Pathfinder "bring out as many books and get as much money as possible" model, since IMO the rapid release of numerous supplements tends to result in a general downturn of quality as old ground is trod and re-trod (repetition of already used tropes certainly seeming to be something you're railing against in your post) until there is nothing left to do but re-release a new edition of the core rules and start the process over again.
I would argue that Fate has already "taken off" as you put it, given the level of support for the product; however i'm not entirely sure what you are asking for, since you seem to be complaining about the amount of rules based stuff out there on one hand and on the other asking people to post more about how they're developing the system. However, perhaps you are right and there is a niche for Fate based 'modules' of some kind (although I don't believe such a thing would be in the familiar D&D module format, since IMO Fate doesn't suit that type of game); I shall have a think about it try to cobble some stuff together for you :)
I'm not particularly fond with this iteration of FATE rules. I've found tons of stunts and creature stats overwhelming and not very like in the FATE style. I've always perceived this game as relatively light-rule and straightforward. Legends of Anglerre reminds me of late AD&D and 3.X+ Dungeons & Dragons editions which aren't my favorite mechanics. All these stunt trees, carefuly described monsters, numerable ways of character optimization, etc. - this is not FATE in my opinion. It pulls players concentration from character development in story terms first place and replaces it with rules thinking. And for me story - not the matters of fine builds and rules quirks - is prime priority when one's sits at the table for the FATE game.
ReplyDeleteOne interesting thing I found in this massive rulebook is proposition of building kingdoms and organisations through giving them stunt-like and skill-like traits. Of course those lists are too big for my taste and end with watering down some elements too much - forcing me to limit them in some way.
I'll admit that there is an awful lot mor 'crunch' in Legends of Anglerre than there is in something like Fate Core or Bulldogs!; I am personally not likely to use the entirety of the rules (as presented in the LoA book) to run a fantasy Fate campaign, however, I view this book like I do most Fate (and other RP) books in terms of what I can take out of them. I can review books and give them a good mark even if i'm not 100% fond of the rules or some elements of it, as long as I think there are good elements in the game that can be extracted/copy and pasted into my own games or have background info that I find interesting; I have reviewed a number of books containing rules systems that I do not like (and have stated such in the reviews), however, I try and point out the positive aspects of the product rather than just keep going on about the negatives.
DeleteOk. So to start off, I am a huge fan of Fate and Legends of Anglerre however, I'm really tried of seeing reviews and character sheets, and everyone claiming how good the game systems. Ok, it's great, I get it, but where is the supporting material? We need NPCs and pre-made adventures to to get started. We need Bestiaries and other resources...no more character sheets please! We need real ideas and ready-made scenarios for people to run. I cannot find a single resource with Monsters or NPCs ready to roll. Evil Hat recognizes this and they're running their Kickstarters, but what about fan created material? What about conversions of old, classic adventures from other games systems. What about a collection of one-shot adventures? Rules are boring and no I don't need another summary of how the game mechanics work. Another pretty character sheet is not going to make this take off. We need more content and less reviews and other BS. If you're playing the game, please post and let me know how you're developing this. I cannot afford the time to create everything from scratch, but I really want to run a Fate-based game. Thanks for listening to my rant.
ReplyDeleteUnder-the-gun-DM (Pathfinder - cause there's nothing better yet)
To answer your question, I believe Legends of Anglerre already has a companion volume that goes with it, the Fate Core system has the Fate Worlds books, the Toolkit and the Fate Codex. Personally I do not lament the lack of published modules, bestiaries, etc because I don't use them and, given the simplicity of the Fate system for generating opponents, feel they are largely unnecessary however there are websites providing bestiaries and such resources - one example is below:
Deletehttp://fatesf.blogspot.co.uk/p/fate-bestiary.html
There is also a thriving G+ community where fan-based content is regularly distributed/posted for perusal (my G+ 'inbox' normally has at least half a dozen posts containing fan created material each time I check it).
I do not tend to write generic adventures that would make for easy conversion into modules, since most of the adventures I run for my own groups are personalised for their individual characters involving setting elements that we all created as a group (one of the major lures of the game for me); I don't feel that Fate either needs or would benefit from the D&D/Pathfinder "bring out as many books and get as much money as possible" model, since IMO the rapid release of numerous supplements tends to result in a general downturn of quality as old ground is trod and re-trod (repetition of already used tropes certainly seeming to be something you're railing against in your post) until there is nothing left to do but re-release a new edition of the core rules and start the process over again.
I would argue that Fate has already "taken off" as you put it, given the level of support for the product; however i'm not entirely sure what you are asking for, since you seem to be complaining about the amount of rules based stuff out there on one hand and on the other asking people to post more about how they're developing the system. However, perhaps you are right and there is a niche for Fate based 'modules' of some kind (although I don't believe such a thing would be in the familiar D&D module format, since IMO Fate doesn't suit that type of game); I shall have a think about it try to cobble some stuff together for you :)