bvbvbb ONLY

$ 5

Type your text

CLARK LEONARD FRED MIKE AMANDA

VALENTINE BALSERA HICKS OLSON VALENTINE
 YOUR STORY
FULL SPEED AHEAD!
With only a few minutes of prep,
you could be exploring the universe
with your favorite sci-fi characters,
fighting the forces of evil with a
party of talking chimps, or
setting up shop as a modern
day sorceress specializing in
love potions. Maybe you’re looking
for the ideal pickup roleplaying
game. Or you’re a first-time gamer
looking to try something new
without investing hours of your
time. Regardless, Fate Accelerated
Edition will bring something special
to your table.

Fate Accelerated, or FAE, is a

condensed version of the popular
Fate Core roleplaying game that
brings all the flexibility and power
of Fate in a shorter format. Inside,
you’ll find a method for making fast,
fun characters and simple systems
to support whatever story you can
dream up on the fly. With FAE, you
can be playing in minutes.

3… 2… 1… GAME ON!

EHP0002 • ISBN 978-1-61317-047-2 • $5.00 US

www.evilhat.com • @EvilHatOfficial
facebook.com/EvilHatProductions
 CLARK VALENTINE
WRITING • REFINEMENT

LEONARD BALSERA
CORE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

FRED HICKS
CONCEPT • WRITING • LAYOUT

MIKE OLSON
SYSTEM EDITING

AMANDA VALENTINE
CLARITY • EDITING

CLAUDIA CANGINI
COVER ART • INTERIOR ART
FATE WAS ORIGINALLY CREATED BY
ROB DONOGHUE and FRED HICKS
 An Evil Hat Productions Publication
www.evilhat.com • [email protected]
@EvilHatOfficial on Twitter
facebook.com/EvilHatProductions

Fate Accelerated Edition

Copyright © 2013 Evil Hat Productions, LLC.
All rights reserved.

The text of Fate Accelerated Edition will be available under the

Open Gaming License and a Creative Commons Attribution license.
For more details about the terms and requirements of these licenses,
please visit www.evilhat.com or www.faterpg.com.

First published in 2013 by Evil Hat Productions, LLC.

10125 Colesville Rd #318, Silver Spring, MD 20901.

Evil Hat Productions and the Evil Hat and Fate Accelerated
logos are trademarks owned by Evil Hat Productions, LLC.
All rights reserved.

Softcover ISBN: 978-1-61317-047-2

Kindle ISBN: 978-1-61317-055-7
ePub ISBN: 978-1-61317-054-0

Printed in the USA

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior express permission of the publisher.

That said, if you’re doing it for personal use, knock yourself out.
That’s not only allowed, we encourage you to do it.

For those working at a copy shop and not at all sure if this means
the person standing at your counter can make copies of this
thing, they can. This is “express permission.” Carry on.

This is a game where people make up stories about wonderful, terrible, impossible,
glorious things. All the characters and events portrayed in this work are fictional.
Any resemblance to real people, magical martial artists, schoolgirl witches,
pulp scientists, or piratical cats is purely coincidental, but kinda hilarious.
Contents

Get Started!....................................... 5 Aspects and Fate Points................ 25

What Kinds of
Telling Stories Together.................. 6 Aspects Are There?.................... 25
What Do You Mean, What Do You Do With Aspects?.... 27
“Tell Stories”?..................................6 Composing Good Aspects...............30
So How Do We Do It?...........................6
Telling Stories “Together”? Stunts................................................31
What Do You Mean?.....................7
Getting Better at Doing Stuff:
Who Do You Want To Be?............... 8 Character Advancement......... 33
What Kind of Characters Milestones............................................... 33
Can I Play?........................................8
How Do I Make the Character?..........8
Being the GM................................... 35
Help Build Campaigns........................ 35
How To Do Stuff: Outcomes, Build Scenarios and Run Game
Actions, and Approaches........12 Sessions.......................................... 36
Dice or Cards.......................................... 13 Setting Difficulty Levels.................... 37
Outcomes................................................. 13 Bad Guys................................................. 38
Actions...................................................... 14
Choose Your Approach...................... 18 Example Characters.......................40
Roll the Dice, Add Your Bonus......... 18 Reth of the Andrali Resistance.......40
Decide Whether Voltaire...................................................... 41
to Modify the Roll........................ 18 Abigail Zhao........................................... 42
Bethesda Flushing, PhD.................... 43
Challenges, Contests,
and Conflicts.............................19 Quick Reference.............................44
Challenges............................................... 19
Contests...................................................20
Conflicts...................................................20

Ouch! Damage, Stress,

and Consequences.................. 22
What Is Stress?..................................... 23
What Are Consequences?................ 23
What Happens
When I Get Taken Out?............ 23
Giving In.................................................. 24
Getting Better—Recovering from
Stress and Consequences....... 24
Get Started!
Remember those books where the teenage wizards struggle against the Dark
Lord of Evil? That movie where the dwarves fight to recapture their moun-
tain home from a dragon? That animated TV show about mystical knights
and their army of clones righting wrongs across the galaxy?
Aren’t those awesome?
Here’s your chance to put yourself in the heroes’ shoes in stories like
those.
Fate Accelerated Edition is a tabletop roleplaying game, where you and
your friends gather around and tell stories full of danger, excitement, and
adventure. You might have played games similar to this before—Dungeons
& Dragons is a very popular one—but don’t worry if you haven’t; this book-
let will guide you through it.
Here’s what you’ll need to play:
• Three to five people. One of you will be the gamemaster, the others
players. We’ll talk about what those mean later.
• Fate Dice™, at least four, preferably four per
person. These are a special kind of six-sided If you don’t want to use Fudge
dice that are marked on two sides with a dice, you don’t have to—any set
plus symbol (   +), two sides with a minus of regular six-sided dice will
symbol (   -), and two sides are blank (   0). work. If you’re using regular
You can get these dice from many hobby dice, you read 5 or 6 as , 1 or
and game stores, often under their original 2 as , and 3 or 4 as .
name—Fudge dice. We call them Fate Dice
in this book, but you can call them whatever
you like. Evil Hat will offer Fate Dice for sale at www.evilhat.com later
in 2013.
• The Deck of Fate is an alternative to Fate Dice. It’s a deck of cards that
mimics the probability of Fate Dice, and it’s designed to be used in the
same way Fate Dice are. The Deck of Fate will be available from Evil
Hat in 2013 or 2014.
• Character sheets, one for each player. You can download these from
www.evilhat.com.
• Index cards or sticky notes or similar slips of paper.
• Tokens for fate points. These can be poker chips, beads, pennies, or
anything similar. Get a handful—about 30 or 40.
Next, let’s talk about how to use Fate Accelerated to tell stories together.

GET STARTED! 5
 Telling Stories Together
So you’ve gathered your friends, your dice, and your index cards, and you’re
ready to play Fate Accelerated Edition (we’ll call it FAE from now on). Time
to tell some stories!

What Do You Mean, “Tell Stories”?

FAE is all about telling stories. You create a group of characters and follow
them through some imaginary adventure that you all take turns telling little
parts of.
Think about a movie, video game, or TV show you like where the char-
acters go on adventures—something like The Legend of Korra or Star Wars
or The Avengers or the Zelda games or Doctor Who or The Lord of the Rings.
Now imagine a similar sort of story, where you and your friends around the
table make the decisions for the characters as they move through the story,
and the story changes as you make those decisions.
Sometimes someone makes a decision to try something and you don’t
know for sure how it would turn out; that’s when you roll dice to see what
happens next. The higher you roll, the better the chance that things work
out the way you want them to.

So How Do We Do It?
Well, first you need to figure out what kind of story you’re going to tell.
What genre are you interested in? Fantasy? Science fiction? Modern-day
adventure? Will you play in the world of a TV show or comic book or movie
that you love, or will you create your own world? For some great advice
about how to design the framework of your game, see Game Creation in Fate
Core, available for free at www.evilhat.com.
Next, it’s time to choose who will be the players, and who will be the
gamemaster. Of the people around the table, all but one are referred to as
players. Each player takes on the role of one player character or PC in the
story, and puts themselves in their character’s shoes to make the decisions
that their character would make. The remaining person is called the game-
More on the master or GM. The GM’s job is to present challenges to the players and to
the GM’s job: portray all the characters that aren’t controlled by the players (non-player
p. 35 characters or NPCs).
Once you decide who the GM will be, and what the genre and frame-
work of the story will be, it’s time for the players to make their characters—
Who do you that’s in the next chapter.
want to be?
p. 8

6 Fate Accelerated
Telling Stories “Together”?
What Do You Mean?
All the people at the table, GM and players alike, are responsible for telling
the story. When you make a decision for your character (or for one of the
NPCs, if you’re the GM), think about two things.
First, put yourself in your character’s shoes and think hard about what
they would do—even if it’s not the best idea. If you’re playing a character
that sometimes makes poor decisions, don’t be afraid to make a poor deci-
sion for them on purpose.
Second—and this is really important—think about the story that’s being
told. Think about the choice that would make that story even better: more
interesting, more exciting, funnier. Would a certain choice give another
player’s character a chance to be awesome? Strongly consider making that
choice.
That’s how you tell great stories together—by not being afraid for your
character to make mistakes, and by making choices that make the story
more interesting for everyone at the table—not just you.

TELLING STORIES TOGETHER 7

 Who Do You Want To Be?
Once you’ve decided what kind of story you’ll be telling in your game, you
decide who your character is—what they look like, what they’re good at,
and what they believe.

What Kind of Characters Can I Play?

Think about the setting that you’ve decided to play in and make that your
main guide. Are you playing in a school for young sorcerers? Play a young
sorcerer! Are you playing space pilots fighting an evil empire? Play a space
pilot! Make sure your character has a reason to interact and cooperate with
the characters the other players are making.

How Do I Make the Character?

Now it’s time to start writing stuff down. Grab a pencil and a copy of the
character sheet. Some people like to use form-fillable PDFs on a laptop or
tablet computer. Any of that’s fine, but you definitely want something that
lets you erase and change.

Aspects in a Nutshell
An aspect is a word, phrase, or sentence that describes something centrally
important to your character. It can be a motto your character lives by, a
personality quirk, a description of a relationship you have with another
character, an important possession or bit of equipment your character has,
or any other part of your character that is vitally important.
Aspects allow you to change the story in ways that tie in with your charac-
Establishing ter’s tendencies, skills, or problems. You can also use them to establish facts
setting facts: about the setting, such as the presence of magic or the existence of a useful
p. 29 ally, dangerous enemy, or secret organization.
Your character will have a handful of aspects (between three and five),
including a high concept and a trouble. We discuss aspects in detail in
Aspects and Aspects and Fate Points—but for now, this should help you get the idea.
Fate Points:
p. 25 High Concept
First, decide on your character’s high concept. This is a single phrase or
sentence that neatly sums up your character, saying who you are, what you
do, what your “deal” is. When you think about your high concept, try to
think of two things: how this aspect could help you, and how it might make
things harder for you. Good high concept aspects do both.

Examples: Feline Captain of Cirrus Skimmer; Suncaller of the

Andral Desert; Chief Field Agent of IGEMA

8 Fate Accelerated
Trouble
Next, decide on the thing that always gets you into trouble. It could be a
personal weakness, or a recurring enemy, or an important obligation—any-
thing that makes your life complicated.

Examples: Steel Assassins Want Me Dead; Cast Now, Ask

Questions Later; Gotta Look Out for My Little Brother

Another Aspect
Now compose another aspect. Think of something really important or
interesting about your character. Are they the strongest person in their
hometown? Do they carry a mighty sword known through history? Do they
talk too much? Are they filthy rich?

Optional: One or Two Additional Aspects

If you wish, you may create one or two more aspects. These aspects might
describe your character’s relationship with other player characters or with
an NPC. Or, like the third aspect you composed above, it might describe
something especially interesting about your character.
If you prefer, you can leave one or both of these aspects blank right now
and fill them in later, after the game has started.

Name and Appearance

Describe your character’s appearance and give them a name.

Creating Characters:
The 30-Second Version
1. Write two aspects (page 25):
a high concept and a trouble.

2. Write another aspect.

3. Give your character a name and

describe their appearance.

4. Choose approaches (page 18).

5. Set your refresh to 3.

6. You may write up to two more

aspects and choose a stunt
(page 31) if you wish, or you
may do that during play.

WHO DO YOU WANT TO BE? 9

 Approaches
THE LADDER
Choose your approaches.
In Fate, we use a ladder of adjec-
Approaches are descriptions
tives and numbers to rate a charac-
of how you accomplish tasks.
ter’s approaches, the result of a roll,
Everyone has the same six
difficulty ratings for simple checks,
approaches:
etc.
• Careful Here’s the ladder:
• Clever
• Flashy +8 Legendary
• Forceful
+7 Epic
• Quick
• Sneaky +6 Fantastic
Each approach is rated with a +5 Superb
bonus. Choose one at Good  (+3),
+4 Great
two at Fair (+2), two at Average (+1),
and one at Mediocre (+0). You can +3 Good
improve these later. We talk about
What each +2 Fair
what each approach means and how
approach
you use them in How to Do Stuff: +1 Average
means:
Outcomes, Approaches, and Actions.
p. 18 0 Mediocre
Your approaches can say a lot
about who you are. Here are some -1 Poor
examples:
-2 Terrible
• The Brute:
Forceful +3, Careful and Flashy +2, Sneaky and Quick +1, Clever +0
• The All-Star:
Quick +3, Forceful and Flashy +2, Clever and Careful +1, Sneaky +0
• The Trickster:
Clever +3, Sneaky and Flashy +2, Forceful and Quick +1, Careful +0
• The Guardian:
Careful +3, Forceful and Clever +2, Sneaky and Quick +1, Flashy +0
• The Thief:
Sneaky +3, Careful and Quick +2, Clever and Flashy +1, Forceful +0
• The Swashbuckler:
Flashy +3, Quick and Clever +2, Forceful and Sneaky +1, Careful +0

10 Fate Accelerated
Stunts and Refresh
A stunt is a special trait that changes the way an approach works for your
character. Generally, stunts give you a bonus (almost always +2) to a certain
approach when used with a particular action under specific circumstances.
We’ll talk more about stunts in Stunts. Choose one stunt to start, or you can Stunts: p. 31
wait and add a stunt during the game. Later, when your character advances,
you can choose more.
Your refresh is the number of fate How Many Stunts?
points you begin each game session By default, FAE suggests choosing one
with—unless you ended the previous stunt to start with.
session with more unspent fate points However, if this is your first time play-
than your refresh, in which case you ing a Fate game, you might find it easier
start with the number you had left last to pick your first stunt after you’ve had a
time. By default, your refresh starts at chance to play a bit, to give you an idea
three and is reduced by one for each of what a good stunt might be. Just add
stunt after the first three you choose— your stunt during or after your first game
essentially, your first three stunts are session.
free! As your character advances, you’ll On the other hand, if you’re an ex-
get opportunities to add to your refresh. perienced Fate gamer, you might look
Your refresh may never go below one. ahead and discover that, just like in Fate
Core, your character is entitled to three
free stunts before it starts costing you
refresh. In that case, let the least expe-
rienced member of your game group
be your guide; if someone is new to the
game and only takes one to start with,
that’s what everyone should do. If you’re
all experienced, and you want to start
with more powerful characters, just take
all three to start and off you go.

WHO DO YOU WANT TO BE? 11

 How To Do Stuff:
Outcomes, Actions,
and Approaches
Now it’s time to start doing something. You need to leap from one moving
train car to another. You need to search the entire library for that spell you
really need. You need to distract the guard so you can sneak into the fortress.
How do you figure out what happens?
First you narrate what your character is trying to do. Your character’s
own aspects provide a good guide for what
TAKING ACTION: you can do. If you have an aspect that sug-
The 30-Second Version gests you can perform magic, then cast that
spell. If your aspects describe you as a swords-
1. Describe what you want your
man, draw that blade and have at it. These
character to do. See if some-
story details don’t have additional mechani-
one or something can stop you.
cal impact. You don’t get a bonus from your
2. Decide what action you’re magic or your sword, unless you choose to
taking: create an advantage, spend a fate point to invoke an appropriate
overcome, attack, or defend. aspect (page  27). Often, the ability to use
an aspect to make something true in the story
3. Decide on your approach.
is bonus enough!
4. Roll dice and add your How do you know if you’re successful?
approach’s bonus. Often, you just succeed, because the action
isn’t hard and nobody’s trying to stop you.
5. Decide whether to modify your
But if failure provides an interesting twist in
roll with aspects.
the story, or if something unpredictable could
6. Figure out your outcome. happen, you need to break out the dice.

12 Fate Accelerated
Dice or Cards
Part of determining your outcome is generating a random number, which is
usually done in one of two ways: rolling four Fate Dice, or drawing a card
from a Deck of Fate.
Fate Dice: Fate Dice (sometimes called Fudge dice, after the game they were
originally designed for) are one way to determine outcomes. You always roll
Fate Dice in a set of four. Each die will come up as -, 0, or +, and you
add them together to get the total of the roll. For example:

-+0+ = +1 +-00 = 0
+++- = +2 -000 = −1
Deck of Fate: The Deck of Fate is a deck of cards that copies the statistical
spread of Fate Dice. You can choose to use them instead of dice—either one
works great.

These rules are written with the assumption that

you’re rolling Fate Dice, but use whichever one your
group prefers. Anytime you’re told to roll dice, that also
means you can draw from the Deck of Fate instead.

Outcomes
Once you roll your dice, add your approach bonus (we’ll talk about that in
a moment) and any bonuses from aspects or stunts. Compare the total to a Setting
target number, which is either a fixed difficulty or the result of the GM’s roll difficulties:
for an NPC. Based on that comparison, your outcome is: p. 37

• You fail if your total is less than your opponent’s total.

• It’s a tie if your total is equal to your opponent’s total.
• You succeed if your total is greater than your opponent’s total.
• You succeed with style if your total is at least three greater than your
opponent’s total.
Now that we’ve covered outcomes, we can talk about actions and how the
outcomes work with them.

OUTCOMES, ACTIONS, AND APPROACHES 13

 Actions
So you’ve narrated what your PC is trying to do, and you’ve established that
there’s a chance you could fail. Next, figure out what action best describes
what you’re trying to do. There are four basic actions that cover anything
you do in the game.

Create an Advantage
Creating an advantage is anything you do to try to
help yourself or one of your friends. Taking a moment
to very carefully aim your proton blaster, spending
several hours doing research in the school library, or
tripping the thug who’s trying to rob you—these all
count as creating an advantage. The target of your action
may get a chance to use the defend action to stop you. The
advantage you create lets you do one of the following three things:
More on • Create a new situation aspect.
aspects:
• Discover an existing situation aspect or another character’s aspect that
p. 25
you didn’t know about.
• Take advantage of an existing aspect.

If you’re creating a new aspect or discovering an existing one:

• If you fail: Either you don’t create or discover the aspect at all, or
you create or discover it but an opponent gets to invoke the aspect for
free. The second option works best if the aspect you create or discover
is something that other people could take advantage of (like Rough
Terrain). You may have to reword the aspect to show that it benefits
the other character instead of you—work it out in whatever way makes
the most sense with the player who gets the free invocation. You can
still invoke the aspect if you’d like, but it’ll cost you a fate point.
Boosts: • If you tie: If you’re creating a new aspect, you get a boost. Name it and
p. 26 invoke it once for free—after that, the boost goes away. If you’re trying
to discover an existing aspect, treat this as a success (see below).
• If you succeed: You create or discover the aspect, and you or an ally
may invoke it once for free. Write the aspect on an index card or sticky
note and place it on the table.
• If you succeed with style: You create or discover the aspect, and you or
an ally may invoke it twice for free. Usually you can’t invoke the same
aspect twice on the same roll, but this is an exception; success with style
gives you a BIG advantage!

14 Fate Accelerated
If you’re trying to take advantage of an aspect you already know about:
• If you fail: You don’t get any additional benefit from the aspect. You
can still invoke it in the future if you’d like, at the cost of a fate point.
• If you tie or succeed: You get one free invocation on the aspect for you
or an ally to use later. You might want to draw a circle or a box on the
aspect’s note card, and check it off when that invocation is used.
• If you succeed with style: You get two free invocations on the aspect,
which you can let an ally use, if you wish.

Actions & Outcomes: The 30-Second Version

Create an Advantage when creating or discovering aspects:
• Fail: Don’t create or discover, or you do but your opponent (not you)
gets a free invocation.
• Tie: Get a boost if creating new, or treat as success if looking for existing.
• Succeed: Create or discover the aspect, get a free invocation on it.
• Succeed with Style: Create or discover the aspect, get two free
invocations on it.

Create an Advantage on an aspect you already know about:

• Fail: No additional benefit.
• Tie: Generate one free invocation on the aspect.
• Succeed: Generate one free invocation on the aspect.
• Succeed with Style: Generate two free invocations on the aspect.

Overcome:
• Fail: Fail, or succeed at a serious cost.
• Tie: Succeed at minor cost.
• Succeed: You accomplish your goal.
• Succeed with Style: You accomplish your goal and generate a boost.

Attack:
• Fail: No effect.
• Tie: Attack doesn’t harm the target, but you gain a boost.
• Succeed: Attack hits and causes damage.
• Succeed with Style: Attack hits and causes damage. May reduce damage
by one to generate a boost.

Defend:
• Fail: You suffer the consequences of your opponent’s success.
• Tie: Look at your opponent’s action to see what happens.
• Succeed: Your opponent doesn’t get what they want.
• Succeed with Style: Your opponent doesn’t get what they want, and you
get a boost.

OUTCOMES, ACTIONS, AND APPROACHES 15

 Overcome
Setting You use the overcome action when you have to get
difficulties: past something that’s between you and a particular
p. 37 goal—picking a lock, escaping from handcuffs, leap-
ing across a chasm, flying a spaceship through an aster-
oid field. Taking some action to eliminate or change
Removing an inconvenient situation aspect is usually an overcome
a situation action; we’ll talk more about that in Aspects and Fate Points. The target of
aspect: p. 26 your action may get a chance to use the defend action to stop you.
• If you fail: You have a tough choice to make. You can simply fail—the
door is still locked, the thug still stands between you and the exit, the
enemy spaceship is still On Your Tail. Or you can succeed, but at
a serious cost—maybe you drop something vital you were carrying,
maybe you suffer harm. The GM helps you figure out an appropriate
cost.
• If you tie: You attain your goal, but at some minor cost. The GM could
introduce a complication, or present you with a tough choice (you can
rescue one of your friends, but not the other), or some other twist. See
“Succeed at a Cost” in Running the Game in Fate Core for more ideas.
• If you succeed: You accomplish what you were trying to do. The
lock springs open, you duck around the thug blocking the door, you
manage to lose the alien spaceship on your tail.
• If you succeed with style: As success (above), but you also gain a boost.

16 Fate Accelerated
Attack
Use an attack when you try to hurt someone, whether physi-
cally or mentally—swinging a sword, shooting a blaster rifle,
or yelling a blistering insult with the intent to hurt your
target. (We’ll talk about this in Ouch! Damage, Stress, and
Consequences, but the important thing is: If someone gets hurt
too badly, they’re knocked out of the scene.) The target of your
Damage,
attack gets a chance to use the defend action to stop you.
Stress, and
• If you fail: Your attack doesn’t connect. The target parries your sword, Consequences:
your shot misses, your target laughs off your insult. p. 22

• If you tie: Your attack doesn’t connect strongly enough to cause any
harm, but you gain a boost.
• If you succeed: Your attack hits and you do damage. See Ouch!
Damage, Stress, and Consequences.
• If you succeed with style: You hit and do damage, plus you have the Doing damage:
option to reduce the damage your hit causes by one and gain a boost. p. 23

Defend
Use defend when you’re actively trying to stop someone from
doing any of the other three actions—you’re parrying a sword
strike, trying to stay on your feet, blocking a doorway, and
the like. Usually this action is performed on someone else’s
turn, reacting to their attempt to attack, overcome, or create
an advantage. You may also roll to oppose some non-attack
actions, or to defend against an attack on someone else, if you
can explain why you can. Usually it’s fine if most people at the table agree
that it’s reasonable, but you can also point to a relevant situation aspect to
justify it. When you do, you become the target for any bad results.
• If you fail: You’re on the receiving end of whatever your opponent’s
success gives them.
• If you tie or succeed: Things don’t work out too badly for you; look at
the description of your opponent’s action to see what happens.
• If you succeed with style: Your opponent doesn’t get what they want,
plus you gain a boost.

Getting Help
An ally can help you perform your action. When an ally helps you, they
give up their action for the exchange and describe how they’re providing the
help; you get a +1 to your roll for each ally that helps this way. Usually only
one or two people can help this way before they start getting in each other’s
way; the GM decides how many people can help at once.

OUTCOMES, ACTIONS, AND APPROACHES 17

 Choose Your Approach
Who Do You As we mentioned in Who Do You Want to Be?, there are six approaches that
Want to Be? describe how you perform actions.
p. 8
• Careful: A Careful action is when you pay close attention to detail and
take your time to do the job right. Lining up a long-range arrow shot.
Attentively standing watch. Disarming a bank’s alarm system.
• Clever: A Clever action requires that you think fast, solve problems,
or account for complex variables. Finding the weakness in an enemy
swordsman’s style. Finding the weak point in a fortress wall. Fixing a
computer.
• Flashy: A Flashy action draws attention to you; it’s full of style and
panache. Delivering an inspiring speech to your army. Embarrassing
your opponent in a duel. Producing a magical fireworks display.
• Forceful: A Forceful action isn’t subtle—it’s brute strength. Wrestling a
bear. Staring down a thug. Casting a big, powerful magic spell.
• Quick: A Quick action requires that you move quickly and with dex-
terity. Dodging an arrow. Getting in the first punch. Disarming a
bomb as it ticks 3… 2… 1…
• Sneaky: A Sneaky action is done with an emphasis on misdirection,
stealth, or deceit. Talking your way out of getting arrested. Picking a
pocket. Feinting in a sword fight.
Each character has each approach rated with a bonus from +0 to +3. Add
the bonus to your dice roll to determine how well your PC performs the
action you described.
So your first instinct is probably to pick the action that gives you the
greatest bonus, right? But it doesn’t work like that. You have to base your
choice of approach on the description of your action, and you can’t describe
an action that doesn’t make any sense. Would you Forcefully creep through
a dark room, hiding from the guards? No, that’s being Sneaky. Would you
Quickly push that big rock out of the way of the wagon? No, that’s being
Forceful. Circumstances constrain what approach you can use, so some-
times you have to go with an approach that might not play directly to your
strengths.

Roll the Dice, Add Your Bonus

Time to take up dice and roll. Take the bonus associated with the approach
you’ve chosen and add it to the result on the dice. If you have a stunt that
applies, add that too. That’s your total. Compare it to what your opponent
(usually the GM) has.

Invoking Decide Whether to Modify the Roll

aspects: Finally, decide whether you want to alter your roll by invoking aspects—
p. 27 we’ll talk about this a lot in Aspects and Fate Points.

18 Fate Accelerated
Challenges, Contests,
and Conflicts
We’ve talked about the four actions (create an advantage, overcome, attack,
and defend) and the four outcomes (fail, tie, succeed, and succeed with
style). But in what framework do those happen?
Usually, when you want to do something straightforward—swim across
a raging river, hack someone’s cell phone—all you need to do is make one Setting
overcome action against a difficulty level that the GM sets. You look at your difficulties:
outcome and go from there. p. 37
But sometimes things are a little more complex.

Challenges
A challenge is a series of overcome and create an advantage actions that you
use to resolve an especially complicated situation. Each overcome action
deals with one task or part of the situation, and you take the individual
results together to figure out how the situation resolves.
To set up a challenge, decide what individual tasks or goals make up the
situation, and treat each one as a separate overcome roll.
Depending on the situation, one character may be required to make sev-
eral rolls, or multiple characters may be able to participate. GMs, you aren’t
obligated to announce all the stages in the challenge ahead of time—adjust
the steps as the challenge unfolds to keep things exciting.

The PCs are the crew of a ship caught in a storm. They decide to
press on and try to get to their destination despite the weather,
and the GM suggests this sounds like a challenge. Steps in resolv-
ing this challenge could be calming panicky passengers, repair-
ing damaged rigging, and keeping the ship on the right heading.

CHALLENGES, CONTESTS, AND CONFLICTS 19

 Contests
When two or more characters are competing against one another for the
same goal, but not directly trying to hurt each other, you have a contest.
Examples include a car chase, a public debate, or an archery tournament.
A contest proceeds in a series of exchanges. In an exchange, every partici-
pant takes one overcome action to determine how well they do in that leg
of the contest. Compare your result to everyone else’s.
If you got the highest result, you win the exchange—you score a victory
(which you can represent with a tally or check mark on scratch paper) and
describe how you take the lead. If you succeed with style, you mark two
victories.
If there’s a tie, no one gets a victory, and an unexpected twist occurs.
This could mean several things, depending on the situation—the terrain or
environment shifts somehow, the parameters of the contest change, or an
unanticipated variable shows up and affects all the participants. The GM
Situation creates a new situation aspect reflecting this change and puts it into play.
aspects: The first participant to achieve three victories wins the contest.
p. 26
Conflicts
Conflicts are used to resolve situations where characters are trying to harm
one another. It could be physical harm (a sword fight, a wizard’s duel, a
battle with laser blasters), but it could also be mental harm (a shouting
match, a tough interrogation, a magical psychic assault).

Setting the Scene

Establish what’s going on, where everyone is, and what the environment
is like. Who is the opposition? The GM should write a couple of situation
Situation aspects on sticky notes or index cards and place them on the table. Players
aspects: can suggest situation aspects,
p. 26 too. CONFLICTS:
The GM also establishes The 30-Second Version
zones, loosely defined areas
1. Set the scene.
that tell you where characters
are. You determine zones based 2. Determine turn order.
on the scene and the following
3. Start the first exchange.
guidelines:
Generally, you can inter- • On your turn, take an action.
act with other characters in
• On other people’s turns,
the same zone—or in nearby
defend against or respond
zones if you can justify acting
to their actions as necessary.
at a distance (for example, if
you have a ranged weapon or • At the end of everyone’s
magic spell). turn, start a new exchange
or end the conflict.

20 Fate Accelerated
 You can move one zone for free. An action is required to move if there’s
an obstacle along the way, such as someone trying to stop you, or if you
want to move two or more zones. It sometimes helps to sketch a quick map
to illustrate zones.

Thugs are attacking the characters in a house. The living room is

one zone, the kitchen another, the front porch another, and the
yard a fourth. Anyone in the same zone can easily throw punches
at each other. From the living room, you can throw things at
people in the kitchen or move into the kitchen as a free action,
unless the doorway is blocked. To get from the living room to the
front porch or yard requires an action.

Determine Turn Order

Your turn order in a conflict is based on your approaches. In a physical
conflict, compare your Quick approach to the other participants’—the
one with the fastest reflexes goes first. In a mental conflict, compare your
Careful approach—attention to detail will warn you of danger. Whoever
has the highest approach gets to go first, and then everyone else goes in
descending order. Break ties in whatever manner makes sense, with the GM
having the last word.
GMs, it’s simplest if you pick your most advantageous NPC to determine
your place in the turn order, and let all your NPCs go at that time. But if
you have a good reason to determine turn order individually for all your
NPCs, go right ahead.

Exchanges
Next, each character takes a turn in order. On their turn, a character can Four actions:
take one of the four actions. Resolve the action to determine the outcome. p. 14
The conflict is over when only one side has characters still in the fight.

CHALLENGES, CONTESTS, AND CONFLICTS 21

 Ouch! Damage, Stress,
and Consequences
When you’re hit by an attack, the severity of the hit is the difference between
the attack roll and your defense roll; we measure that in shifts. For instance,
if your opponent gets +5 on their attack and you get a +3 on your defense,
the attack deals a two shift hit (5 – 3 = 2).
Then, one of two things happens:
• You suffer stress and/or consequences, but you stay in the fight.
• You get taken out, which means you’re out of the action for a while.

Stress & Consequences:

The 30-Second Version
• Each character starts with three stress boxes.

• Severity of hit (in shifts)

= Attack Roll – Defense Roll

• When you take a hit, you need to account

for how that hit damages you. One way to
absorb the damage is to take stress; you can
check one stress box to handle some or all of
a single hit. You can absorb a number of shifts
equal to the number of the box you check:
one for Box 1, two for Box 2, three for Box 3.

• You may also take one or more consequences

to deal with the hit, by marking off one or
more consequence slots and writing a new
aspect for each one. Mild consequence = 2
shifts; moderate = 4 shifts; severe = 6 shifts.

• If you can’t (or decide not to) handle the

entire hit, you’re taken out. Your opponent
decides what happens to you.

• Giving in before your opponent’s roll allows

you to control how you exit the scene.
You also get one or more fate points for
doing this!

• Stress and mild consequences vanish at the

end of the scene, provided you get a chance
to rest. Other consequences take longer.

22 Fate Accelerated
What Is Stress?
If you get hit and don’t want to be taken out, you can choose to take stress.
Stress represents you getting tired or annoyed, taking a superficial wound,
or some other condition that goes away quickly.
Your character sheet has a stress track, a row of three boxes. When you
take a hit and check a stress box, the box absorbs a number of shifts equal to
its number: one shift for Box 1, two for Box 2, or three for Box 3.
You can only check one stress box for any single hit, but you can check
a stress box and take one or more consequences at the same time. You can’t
check a stress box that already has a check mark in it!

What Are Consequences?

Consequences are new aspects that you take to reflect being seriously hurt
in some way. Your character sheet has three slots where you can write conse-
quences. Each one is labeled with a number: 2 (mild consequence), 4 (mod-
erate consequence), or 6 (severe consequence). This represents the number
of shifts of the hit the consequence absorbs. You can mark off as many of
these as you like to handle a single hit, but only if that slot was blank to start
with. If you already have a moderate consequence written down, you can’t
take another one until you do something to make the first one go away!
A major downside of consequences is that each consequence is a new
aspect that your opponents can invoke against you. The more you take, the
more vulnerable you are. And just like situation aspects, the character that
creates it (in this case, the character that hit you) gets one free invocation
on that consequence. They can choose to let one of their allies use the free
invocation.

Let’s say that you get hit really hard and take a 4-shift hit. You
check Box 2 on your stress track, which leaves you with 2 shifts
to deal with. If you can’t, you’re taken out, so it’s time for a con-
sequence. You can choose to write a new aspect in the conse-
quence slot labeled 2—say, Sprained Ankle. Those final 2 shifts
are taken care of and you can keep fighting!

If you’re unable to absorb all of a hit’s shifts—by checking a stress box,

taking consequences, or both—you’re taken out.

What Happens When I Get Taken Out?

If you get taken out, you can no longer act in the scene. Whoever takes you
out narrates what happens to you. It should make sense based on how you
got taken out—maybe you run from the room in shame, or maybe you get
knocked unconscious.

DAMAGE, STRESS, AND CONSEQUENCES 23

 Giving In
If things look grim for you, you can give in (or concede the fight)—but
you have to say that’s what you’re going to do before your opponent rolls
their dice.
This is different than being taken out, because you get a say in what hap-
pens to you. Your opponent gets some major concession from you—talk
about what makes sense in your situation—but it beats getting taken out
and having no say at all.
Additionally, you get one fate point for conceding, and one fate point
for each consequence you took in this conflict. This is your chance to say,
“You win this round, but I’ll get you next time!” and get a tall stack of fate
points to back it up.

Getting Better—Recovering from

Stress and Consequences
At the end of each scene, clear all of your stress boxes. Recovery from a con-
sequence is a bit more complicated; you need to explain how you recover
from it—whether that’s an ER visit, taking a walk to calm down, or what-
ever makes sense with the consequence. You also need to wait an appropri-
ate length of time.
• Mild consequence: Clear it at the end of the scene, provided you get
a chance to rest.
• Moderate consequence: Clear it at the end of the next session, pro-
vided it makes sense within the story.
Scenarios: • Severe consequence: Clear it at the end of the scenario, provided it
p. 36 makes sense within the story.

Renaming Moderate
and Severe
Consequences
Moderate and severe con-
sequences stick around for
a while. Therefore, at some
point you may want to change
the name of the aspect to
better fit what’s going on
in the story. For instance,
after you get some medi-
cal help, Painful Broken Leg
might make more sense if
you change it to Hobbling on
Crutches.

24 Fate Accelerated
Aspects and Fate Points
An aspect is a word or phrase that describes something special about a
person, place, thing, situation, or group. Almost anything you can think
of can have aspects. A person might be the Greatest Swordswoman on the
Cloud Sea. A room might be On Fire after you knock over an oil lamp.
After a time-travel encounter with a dinosaur, you might be Terrified.
Aspects let you change the story in ways that go along with your character’s
tendencies, skills, or problems.
You spend fate points—which you keep track of with pennies or glass
beads or poker chips or some other tokens—to unlock the power of aspects
and make them help you. You earn fate points by letting a character aspect
be compelled against you to complicate the situation or make your life
harder. Be sure to keep track of the fate points you have left at the end of
the session—if you have more than your refresh, you start the next session Refresh:
with the fate points you ended this session with. p. 11

You earned a lot of fate points during your game session, ending
the day with five fate points. Your refresh is 2, so you’ll start with
five fate points the next time you play. But another player ends
the same session with just one fate point. His refresh is 3, so he’ll
begin the next session with 3 fate points, not just the one he had
left over.

What Kinds of Aspects Are There?

There’s an endless variety of aspects, but no matter what they’re called they
all work pretty much the same way. The main difference is how long they
stick around before going away.
Character Aspects: These aspects are on your character sheet, such as your High concept:
high concept and trouble. They describe personality traits, important details p. 8
about your past, relationships you have with others, important items or
titles you possess, problems you’re dealing with or goals you’re working Trouble:
toward, or reputations and obligations you carry. These aspects only change p. 9
under very unusual circumstances; most never will.

Examples: Captain of the Skyship Nimbus; On the Run From

the Knights of the Circle; Attention to Detail; I Must Protect My
Brother

ASPECTS AND FATE POINTS 25

 Situation Aspects: These aspects describe the surroundings that the action
is taking place in. This includes aspects you create or discover using the
create an advantage action. A situation aspect usually vanishes at the end
of the scene it was part of, or when someone takes some action that would
change or get rid of it. Essentially, they last only as long as the situational
element they represent lasts.

Examples: On Fire; Bright Sunlight; Crowd of Angry People;

Knocked to the Ground

To get rid of a situation aspect, you can attempt an overcome action to

eliminate it, provided you can think of a way your character could accom-
plish it—dump a bucket of water on the Raging Fire, use evasive maneu-
vers to escape the enemy fighter that’s On Your Tail. An opponent may use
a Defend action to try to preserve the aspect, if they can describe how they
do it.
Recovery from Consequences: These aspects represent injuries or other lasting trauma that
consequences: happen when you get hit by attacks. They go away slowly, as described in
p. 24 Ouch! Damage, Stress, and Consequences.

Examples: Sprained Ankle; Fear of Spiders; Concussion;

Debilitating Self-Doubt

Boosts: A boost is a temporary aspect that you get to use once (see “What
Do You Do With Aspects?” next), then it vanishes. Unused boosts vanish
when the scene they were created in is over or when the advantage they
represent no longer exists. These represent very brief and fleeting advantages
you get in conflicts with others.

Examples: In My Sights; Distracted; Unstable Footing; Rock in

His Boot

26 Fate Accelerated
What Do You Do With Aspects?
There are three big things you can do with aspects: invoke aspects, compel
aspects, and use aspects to establish facts.

Invoking Aspects
You invoke an aspect to give yourself a bonus or make things a bit harder for
your opponent. You can invoke any aspect that you a) know about, and b)
can explain how you use it to your advantage—including aspects on other
characters or on the situation. Normally, invoking an aspect costs you a fate
point—hand one of your fate points to the GM.
To invoke an aspect, you need to describe how that PvP
aspect helps you in your current situation. The only time that fate point
might not go to the GM is
• I attack the zombie with my sword. I when you’re in conflict with
know zombies are Sluggish, so that another player. If you are, and
should help me. you invoke one of that player’s
• I really want to scare this guy. I’ve heard character aspects to help you
he’s Scared of Mice, so I’ll release a out against them, they will get
mouse in his bedroom. the fate point instead of the
• Now that the guard’s Distracted, I should GM once the scene is over.
be able to sneak right by him.
• This spell needs to be really powerful—I’m an Archwizard of
the Ancient Order, and powerful spells are my bread and
butter.

ASPECTS AND FATE POINTS 27

 What does invoking the aspect get you? Choose one of the following effects:
• Add a +2 bonus to your total. This costs a fate point.
• Reroll the dice. This option is best if you rolled really lousy (usually a
−3 or −4 showing on the dice). This costs a fate point.
• Confront an opponent with the aspect. You use this option when your
opponent is trying something and you think an existing aspect would
make it harder for them. For instance, an alien thug wants to draw
his blaster pistol, but he’s Buried in Debris; you spend a fate point
to invoke that aspect, and now your opponent’s level of difficulty is
increased by +2.
• Help an ally with the aspect. Use this option when a friend could use
some help and you think an existing aspect would make it easier for
them. You spend a fate point to invoke the aspect, and now your friend
gets a +2 on their roll.
Important: You can only invoke any aspect once on a given dice roll; you
can’t spend a stack of fate points on one aspect and get a huge bonus from
it. However, you can invoke several different aspects on the same roll.
If you’re invoking an aspect to add a bonus or reroll your dice, wait until
after you’ve rolled to do it. No sense spending a fate point if you don’t need to!
Free invocations: Sometimes you can invoke an aspect for free, without
Succeed with paying a fate point. If you create or discover an aspect through the create
style: p. 13 an advantage action, the first invocation on it (by you or an ally) is free (if
you succeeded with style, you get two freebies). If you cause a consequence
Boosts: through an attack, you or an ally can invoke it once for free. A boost is a
p. 26 special kind of aspect that grants one free invocation, then it vanishes.

Compelling Aspects
If you’re in a situation where having or being around a certain aspect means
your character’s life is more dramatic or complicated, anyone can compel
the aspect. You can even compel it on yourself—that’s called a self-compel.
Compels are the most common way for players to earn more fate points.
There are two types of compels.
Decision compels: This sort of compel suggests the answer to a decision
your character has to make. If your character is Princess of Alaria, for
example, you may need to stay to lead the defense of the Royal Alarian
Castle rather than fleeing to safety. Or if you have a Defiant Streak a Mile
Wide, maybe you can’t help but mouth off to the Dean of Discipline when
he questions you.

28 Fate Accelerated
Event compels: Other times a compel How Many Fate Points
reflects something happening that makes Does the GM Get?
life more complicated for you. If you have As GM, you don’t need to track
Strange Luck, of course that spell you’re fate points for each NPC, but that
working on in class accidentally turns the doesn’t mean you get an unlimited
dour Potions Master’s hair orange. If you number. Start each scene with a
Owe Don Valdeon a Favor, then Don pool of one fate point per PC that’s
Valdeon shows up and demands that you in the scene. Spend fate points from
perform a service for him just when it’s least this pool to invoke aspects (and
convenient. consequences) against the PCs.
In any case, when an aspect is compelled When it’s empty, you can’t invoke
against you, the person compelling it offers aspects against them.
you a fate point and suggests that the aspect How can you increase the size
has a certain effect—that you’ll make a cer- of your pool? When a player com-
tain decision or that a particular event will pels one of an NPC’s aspects, add
occur. You can discuss it back and forth, pro- the fate point to your pool. If that
posing tweaks or changes to the suggested compel ends the scene, or when an
compel. After a moment or two, you need to NPC gives in, instead add those fate
decide whether to accept the compel. If you points to your pool at the start of
agree, you take the fate point and your char- the next scene.
acter makes the suggested decision or the Fate points you award for com-
event happens. If you refuse, you must pay pels do NOT come from this pool.
a fate point from your own supply. Yes, this You never have to worry about run-
means that if you don’t have any fate points, ning out of fate points to award for
you can’t refuse a compel! compels.

Establishing Facts
The final thing that aspects can do is establish facts in the game. You don’t
have to spend any fate points, roll dice, or anything to make this happen—
just by virtue of having the aspect Ruddy Duck’s Pilot, you’ve established
that your character is a pilot and that you fly a plane named the Ruddy Duck.
Having the aspect Mortal Enemy: The Red Ninjas establishes that the set-
ting has an organization called the Red Ninjas and that they’re after you
for some reason. If you take the aspect Sorcerer of the Mysterious Circle,
you not only establish that there’s a group of sorcerers called the Mysterious
Circle, but that magic exists in the setting and that you can perform it.
When you establish facts of the setting this way, make sure you do it in
cooperation with other players. If most people want to play in a setting
without magic, you shouldn’t unilaterally bring magic into it through an
aspect. Make sure that the facts you establish through your aspects make
the game fun for everyone.

ASPECTS AND FATE POINTS 29

 Composing Good Aspects
When you need to think of a good aspect (we’re mainly talking about char-
acter and situation aspects here), think about two things:
• How the aspect might help you—when you’d invoke it.
• How it might hurt you—when it would be compelled against you.
For example:

I’ll Get You, von Stendahl!

• Invoke this when acting against von Stendahl to improve
your chances.
• Get a fate point when your dislike for von Stendahl makes
you do something foolish to try to get him.

Hair Trigger Nerves

• Invoke this when being extra vigilant and careful would help
you.
• Get a fate point when this causes you to be jumpy and be
distracted by threats that aren’t really there.

Obviously, your trouble aspect is supposed to cause problems—and

thereby make your character’s life more interesting and get you fate points—
so it’s okay if that one’s a little more one-dimensional, but other character
and situation aspects should be double-edged.

30 Fate Accelerated
Stunts
Stunts are tricks, maneuvers, or techniques your character has that change
how an approach works for your character. Generally this means you get a Approaches:
bonus in certain situations, but sometimes it gives you some other ability p. 18
or characteristic. A stunt can also reflect specialized, high-quality, or exotic
equipment that your character has access to that gives them a frequent edge
over other characters.
There’s no definitive list of stunts that you pick from; much like aspects,
everyone composes their own stunts. There are two basic templates to guide
you in composing your stunts, so you do have something to work from.
The first type of stunt gives you a +2 bonus when you use a certain
approach in a certain situation. Use this template:
Because I [describe some way that you are exceptional, have a cool bit
of gear, or are otherwise awesome], I get a +2 when I [pick one: Carefully,
Cleverly, Flashily, Forcefully, Quickly, Sneakily] [pick one: attack,
defend, create advantages, overcome] when [describe a circumstance].
For example:

• Because I am a Smooth Talker, I get a +2 when I Sneakily

create advantages when I’m in conversation with someone.
• Because I am a Lover of Puzzles, I get a +2 when I Cleverly
overcome obstacles when I am presented with a puzzle,
riddle, or similar conundrum.
• Because I am a World-Class Duelist, I get a +2 when I
Flashily attack when engaged in a one-on-one swordfight.
• Because I have a Big Kite Shield, I get a +2 when I Forcefully
defend when I use my shield in close combat.

Sometimes, if the circumstance is especially restrictive, you can apply the

stunt to both the create an advantage action and the overcome action.

STUNTS 31
 The second type of stunt lets you make something true, do something
cool, or otherwise ignore the usual rules in some way. Use this template:
Because I [describe some way that you are exceptional, have a cool bit
of gear, or are otherwise awesome], once per game session I can [describe
something cool you can do].
For example:

• Because I am Well Connected, once per game session I can

find a helpful ally in just the right place.
• Because I am Quick on the Draw, once per game session I
can choose to go first in a physical conflict.
• Because I can Run Circles Around a Leopard, once per
game session I can show up anywhere I want to, provided I
could run there, no matter where I started.

These templates exist to give you an idea of how stunts should be con-
structed, but don’t feel constrained to follow them exactly if you have a
good idea. If you’d like to read more about the construction of stunts, see
Skills and Stunts in Fate Core.

32 Fate Accelerated
Getting Better at Doing Stuff:
Character Advancement
People change. Your skills sharpen as you practice them. Your life expe-
riences accumulate and shape your personality. Fate Accelerated Edition
reflects that with character advancement, which allows you to change your
aspects, add or change stunts, and raise your approach bonuses. You do this
when your character reaches a milestone.

Milestones
Stories in TV shows, comic books, movies, and even video games usually
continue from episode to episode, season to season. It took Frodo three big
books to take the Ring to the fiery mountain. It took Aang three seasons to
defeat the Fire Lord. You get the idea. FAE can tell those kinds of stories;
you play many game sessions in a row using the same characters—this is
often called a campaign—and the story builds on itself. But within these
long stories, there are shorter story arcs, like single episodes of a TV show or
single issues of a comic, where shorter stories are told and wrapped up. FAE
can do that too, even within a longer campaign.
In FAE, we call those wrap-ups milestones—whether they’re small ones
for short stories, or really big ones at the end of many sessions of play. FAE
recognizes three types of milestones, and each one allows you to change
your character in certain ways.

Minor Milestones
A minor milestone usually occurs at the end of a session of play, or when
one piece of a story has been resolved. Rather than making your character
more powerful, this kind of milestone is more about changing your char-
acter, about adjusting in response to whatever’s going on in the story if you
need to. Sometimes it won’t really make sense to take advantage of a minor
milestone, but you always have the opportunity in case you need to.
After a minor milestone, you can choose to do one (and only one) of the
following:
• Switch the ratings of any two approaches.
• Rename one aspect that isn’t your high concept.
• Exchange one stunt for a different stunt.
• Choose a new stunt (and adjust your refresh, if you already have three
stunts).
Also, if you have a moderate consequence, check to see if it’s been around
for two sessions. If so, you can clear it.

CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT 33
 Significant Milestones
Scenarios: A significant milestone usually occurs at the end of a scenario or the con-
p. 36 clusion of a big plot event (or, when in doubt, at the end of every two or
three sessions). Unlike minor milestones, which are primarily about change,
significant milestones are about learning new things—dealing with prob-
lems and challenges has made your character generally more capable at what
they do.
In addition to the benefit of a minor milestone, you also gain both of the
following:
• If you have a severe consequence that’s been around for at least two
sessions, you can clear it.
• Raise the bonus of one approach by one.

Major Milestones
Raising Major milestones should only occur when something
Approach happens in the campaign that shakes it up a lot—the
Bonuses end of a big story arc, the final defeat of a main NPC
When you raise the bonus villain, or any other large-scale change that reverberates
of an approach, there’s around your game world.
only one rule you need These milestones are about gaining more power.
to remember: you can’t The challenges of yesterday simply aren’t sufficient to
raise an approach bonus threaten these characters anymore, and the threats of
above Superb (+5). tomorrow will need to be more adept, organized, and
determined to stand against them.
Achieving a major milestone confers the benefits of a significant mile-
stone and a minor milestone. In addition, you may do all of the following:
• Take an additional point of refresh, which you may immediately use to
purchase a stunt if you wish.
• Rename your character’s high concept (optional).

34 Fate Accelerated
Being the GM
The GM has many responsibilities, such as presenting the conflict to the
players, controlling NPCs, and helping everyone apply the rules to the situ-
ation in the game.
Let’s talk about the GM’s jobs.

Help Build Campaigns

A campaign is a series of games you play with the same characters, where
the story builds on what happened in earlier sessions. All the players should
collaborate with the GM to plan how the campaign will work. Usually this
is a conversation among all of you to decide what sort of heroes you want to
play, what sort of world you live in, and what sorts of bad guys you’ll have.
Talk about how serious you want the game to be and how long you want
it to last.

• Cat-people sky pirates in Learning How

flying ships, always on the run to Be a GM
from the Royal Navy trying to Being a GM and running games
catch them. can seem intimidating and dif-
• Magic-wielding desert towns- ficult at first. It’s a skill that takes
folk stand against the invad- some practice to master, so don’t
ing soldiers of the evil Steel worry—you’ll get better the more
Empire. you do it. If you’d like to read more
• Students at a boarding school about the art of GMing Fate, there
for magical youth solve mys- are several chapters in the Fate
teries and uncover secrets of Core rules that you should check
their ancient school. out: Running the Game, Scenes,
Sessions, and Scenarios, and The
Long Game are particularly help-
ful. Fate Core is available for free
at www.evilhat.com.

BEING THE GM 35
 Build Scenarios and Run Game Sessions
A scenario is one short story arc, the sort of thing you might see wrapped
up in one or two episodes of an adventure television show, even if it’s a
smaller part of a bigger story. Usually you can wrap up a scenario in one to
three game sessions, assuming you play for three or four hours at a time. But
what is a scenario, and how do you build one?

Scenarios
A scenario needs two things: A bad guy with a goal, and a reason the PCs
can’t ignore it.
Bad guy with a goal: You’ve probably figured this out already. The cam-
paign’s main opposition, or one of his allies, is probably your bad guy.
Something the PCs can’t ignore: Now you have to give the PCs a reason to
care. Make sure the bad guy’s goal is up in the PCs’ faces, where they need
to do something about it or bad things will happen to them, or to people
or things they value.

Running Game Sessions

Now that your bad guy is doing something the PCs will pay attention to,
it’s time to start them off. Sometimes the best way to do that, especially for
the first session of a new story arc, is to put them right in the action. Once
the PCs know why they should care about what’s going on, you just get out
of the way and let them take care of it.
That said, there are a bunch of tasks the GM needs to perform to run
the session:
• Run scenes: A session is made up of individual scenes. Decide where
the scene begins, who’s there, and what’s going on. Decide when all the
interesting things have played out and the scene’s over.
• Adjudicate the rules: When some question comes up about how to
apply the rules, you get final say.
Difficulties: • Set difficulties: You decide how difficult tasks should be.
p. 37
• Play the NPCs: Each player controls their own character, but you con-
trol all the rest, including the bad guys.
• Keep things moving: If the players don’t know what to do next, it’s
your job to give them a nudge. Never let things get too bogged down in
indecision or because they don’t have enough information—do some-
thing to shake things up.
• Make sure everyone has a chance to be awesome: Your goal isn’t to
defeat the players, but to challenge them. Make sure every PC gets a
chance to be the star once in a while, from the big bad warrior to the
little sneaky thief.

36 Fate Accelerated
Setting Difficulty Levels
When another character is opposing a PC, their rolls provide the opposition
in a conflict, contest, or challenge. But if there’s no active opposition, you
have to decide how hard the task is.
Low difficulties are best when you want to give the PCs a chance to
show off and be awesome. Difficulties near their approach ratings are
best when you want to provide tension but not overwhelm them. High
difficulties are best when you want to emphasize how dire or unusual the
circumstances are and make them pull out all the stops.

Rules of Thumb:
Optional Rule:
• If the task isn’t very tough at all, give it a Approach-Related
Mediocre (+0)—or just tell the player they Target Numbers
succeed without a roll. Sometimes being Careful makes
things a lot easier; sometimes it
• If you can think of at least one reason why
just takes too long. The GM may
the task is tough, pick Fair (+2).
wish to adjust the target number
• If the task is extremely difficult, pick up or down by 1 or 2 depending
Great (+4). on whether you choose a fitting
or a problematic approach. This
• If the task is impossibly difficult, go as
makes things a bit more complex,
high as you think makes sense. The PC will
but for some groups it’s worth it.
need to drop some fate points and get lots
of help to succeed, but that’s fine.

BEING THE GM 37
 Bad Guys
When you make a bad guy, you can stat them out exactly like the PCs, with
approaches, aspects, stress, and consequences. You should do this for impor-
tant or recurring bad guys who are intended to give the PCs some real dif-
ficulties, but you shouldn’t need more than one or two of these in a scenario.
Mooks: Other bad guys are mooks—unnamed thugs or monsters or
goons that are there to make the PCs’ day a little more difficult, but they’re
designed to be more or less easily swept aside, especially by powerful PCs.
Here’s how you create their stats:
1. Make a list of what this mook is skilled at. They get a +2 to all rolls
dealing with these things.
2. Make a list of what this mook is bad at. They get a −2 to all rolls dealing
with these things.
3. Everything else gets a +0 when rolled.
4. Give the mook an aspect or two to reinforce what they’re good and bad
at, or if they have a particular strength or vulnerability. It’s okay if a
mook’s aspects are really simple.
5. Mooks have zero, one, or two boxes in their stress track, depending on
how tough you imagine them to be.
6. Mooks can’t take consequences. If they run out of stress boxes (or don’t
have any), the next hit takes them down.

Cyclops House Bully

Cyclops House Bully, Cowardly Without Backup
Skilled (+2) at: Frightening other students, weaseling out of
trouble, breaking things
Bad (-2) at: Planning, studying
Stress: None (first hit takes them out)

Steel Assassin
Steel Assassin, The Night Is Ours
Skilled (+2) at: Sneaking, ambushing
Bad (-2) at: Standing up to determined opposition
Stress: 1

Sky Shark
I’m a Shark, Vulnerable Belly
Skilled (+2) at: Flying, biting
Bad (-2) at: Anything that isn’t flying or biting
Stress: 2

38 Fate Accelerated
Groups of Mooks: If you have a lot of low-level bad guys facing the PCs,
you can make your job easier by treating them as a group—or maybe a few
groups. Instead of tracking a dozen bad guys, you track three groups of four
bad guys each. Each of these groups acts like a single character and has a set
of stats just like a single mook would: 
1. Choose a couple of things they’re skilled at. You might designate “gang-
ing up” as one of the things the group is good at.
2. Choose a couple of things they’re not so good at.
3. Give them an aspect. 
4. Give them one stress box for every two individuals in the group. 

Gang of Thugs
Axe Handles & Crowbars
Skilled (+2) at: Ganging up, scaring innocent people
Bad (-2) at: Thinking ahead, fighting when outnumbered
Stress: 2 (4 thugs)

Fate Core has a way of handling this, called mobs (see the “Creating the
Opposition” section of the Running the Game chapter in Fate Core). Feel free
to use that option if you prefer. Note that it may lead to very strong mobs,
unless you start with extremely weak mooks—if you want to give your PCs
a serious challenge, that could be one way to do it.

BEING THE GM 39
 Example Characters
Here are four sample characters that you can use as-is or use as inspiration
for your own characters.

Reth of the Andrali Resistance

Reth is 14 years of age. He has dark brown skin and dark hair that he wears
in thick dreadlocks. He wears light, loose-fitting clothing and sandals, and
he’s a skilled martial artist. He’s the most powerful Suncaller to be born in
generations; he can magically call forth the power of fire. Originally from
a town in the vast Andral Desert, he and his friends took a stand against
the invading Steel Empire and have
been living on the run since.
Reth
High Concept:
Suncaller of the Andral Desert
Trouble: Steel Assassins Want Me Dead
Other Aspects: My Kung Fu Is The Strongest;
Crush On Avasa; I Can Learn from Serio’s
Experience

Approaches
Careful: Fair (+2)
Clever: Average (+1)
Flashy: Mediocre (+0)
Forceful: Good (+3)
Quick: Fair (+2)
Sneaky: Average (+1)

Stunts
Stance of the Defiant Sun: Because I have
perfected the Stance of the Defiant Sun, I
gain a +2 to Forcefully defend in hand-to-
hand combat.
(May take two more stunts
without reducing refresh!)

Stress 3

Consequences
Mild (2):
Moderate (4):
Severe (6):

Refresh: 3

40 Fate Accelerated
Voltaire
Voltaire is captain of the Cirrus Skimmer, a skyship that roams a vast sea
of clouds. She’s a cat person, her body a blend of human and feline fea-
tures. She wears an ostentatious assortment of piratey clothes including a
long brown jacket, knee-high boots, a feathered cap, and a basket-hilted
cutlass. Being a cat person, she does have the tendency to nod off at odd
moments…

Voltaire
High Concept:
Feline Captain of Cirrus Skimmer
Trouble: *Yawn*
Other Aspects: That? Oh, That’s a Decoy;
Martin Is a Big Cheat; Sanchez Is the Best
First Mate a Ship Could Have

Approaches:
Careful: Average (+1)
Clever: Average (+1)
Flashy: Good (+3)
Forceful: Mediocre (+0)
Quick: Fair (+2)
Sneaky: Fair (+2)

Stunts
Swashbuckling Swordswoman: Because I am
a Swashbuckling Swordswoman, I gain a +2
to Flashy attacks when crossing blades with a
single opponent.
(May take two more stunts
without reducing refresh!)

Stress 3

Consequences
Mild (2):
Moderate (4):
Severe (6):

Refresh: 3

EXAMPLE CHARACTERS 41
 Abigail Zhao
Abigail is a student at the School of Sorcery, and a member of Hippogriff
House. She has light skin and long black hair with a pink streak. She pushes
her luck with her school uniform, adding jewelry, studded belts, and dyed
designs to the regulation blouse, trousers, and tie. She’s especially adept at
enchantments. While she loves showing up those goons in Cyclops House,
she does have a tendency to act before thinking.

Abigail Zhao
High Concept: Enchantment Specialist of
Hippogriff House
Trouble: Cast Now, Ask Questions Later
Other Aspects: I Hate Those Guys in
Cyclops House; Sarah Has My Back;
Dexter Fitzwilliam Is Going Down

Approaches
Careful: Mediocre (+0)
Clever: Fair (+2)
Flashy: Average (+1)
Forceful: Fair (+2)
Quick: Average (+1)
Sneaky: Good (+3)

Stunts
Teacher’s Favorite: Because I am a Teacher’s
Favorite, once per session I may declare that
a helpful teacher arrives in the scene.
(May take two more stunts
without reducing refresh!)

Stress 3

Consequences
Mild (2):
Moderate (4):
Severe (6):

Refresh: 3

42 Fate Accelerated
Bethesda Flushing, PhD
Dr. Flushing is a fellow at the Institute for Gravitical and Electro-Mechanical
Advancement (IGEMA), and is one of IGEMA’s lead test engineers and
field agents. IGEMA is frequently in conflict with agents of various interna-
tional organizations who seek to steal their technology, take over the world,
or both. Gustaf von Stendahl, leader of a shadowy spy agency of uncertain
affiliation, is frequently a thorn in her side. Dr. Flushing has bright red hair
and is never without several gadgets, including her helicopter pack.

Bethesda Flushing
High Concept: Chief Field Agent of IGEMA
Trouble: I’ll Get You, von Stendahl!
Other Aspects: My Inventions Almost Always Work.
Almost.; My Grad Students Come Through, Just Not
How I Expect Them To; I Trust Dr. Alemieda’s Genius

Approaches
Careful: Fair (+2)
Clever: Good (+3)
Flashy: Average (+1)
Forceful: Fair (+2)
Quick: Average (+1)
Sneaky: Mediocre (+0)

Stunts
Experimental Helo Pack: When I use my
Experimental Helo Pack, I gain a +2
bonus to Quickly create an advantage or
overcome an obstacle if flying would be
both possible and helpful.
Gadgeteer: Because I am a Gadgeteer, once
per session I may declare that I have an
especially useful device that lets me eliminate
one situation aspect.
(May take one more stunt
without reducing refresh!)

Stress 3

Consequences
Mild (2):
Moderate (4):
Severe (6):

Refresh: 3

EXAMPLE CHARACTERS 43
FATE ACCELERATED: Quick Reference 1
Dice Results (page 18) The Ladder
Result = Dice Roll + Approach Bonus
+ Bonuses from Stunts
+8 Legendary
+ Bonuses from Invoked Aspects +7 Epic
+6 Fantastic
Outcomes (page 13)
Versus Opponent’s Result or Target Number: +5 Superb
• Fail: Your Result is lower
• Tie: Your Result is equal +4 Great
• Success: Your Result is higher by 1 or 2 +3 Good
• Success with Style: Your result is higher by 3 or more
+2 Fair
Setting Target Numbers (page 37)
+1 Average
• Easy Task: Mediocre (+0)—or success without a roll.
• Moderately Difficult: Fair (+2). 0 Mediocre
• Extremely Difficult: Great (+4).
• Impossibly Difficult: Go as high as you think makes sense. -1 Poor
The PC will need to drop some fate points and get lots of
-2 Terrible
help to succeed, but that’s fine.

Actions (page 14)
CCreate an advantage when
creating or discovering aspects AAttack
(page 17):
 (page 14): • Fail: No effect.
• Fail: Don’t create or discover, or you • Tie: Attack doesn’t harm the target,
do but your opponent (not you) gets but you gain a boost.
a free invocation. • Succeed: Attack hits and causes
• Tie: Get a boost if creating new, or damage.
treat as success if looking for existing. • Succeed with Style: Attack hits and
• Succeed: Create or discover the causes damage. May reduce damage
aspect, get a free invocation on it. by one to generate a boost.
• Succeed with Style: Create or dis-
cover the aspect, get two free invoca-
tions on it. DDefend
(page 17):
• Fail: You suffer the consequences of
Create an advantage on an your opponent’s success.
C aspect you already know about • Tie: Look at your opponent’s action to
 (page 15): see what happens.
• Fail: No additional benefit. • Succeed: Your opponent doesn’t get
• Tie: Generate one free invocation on what they want.
the aspect. • Succeed with Style: Your opponent
• Succeed: Generate one free invoca- doesn’t get what they want, and you
tion on the aspect. get a boost.
• Succeed with Style: Generate two
free invocations on the aspect. Getting Help (page 17):
• An ally can help you perform your

OOvercome
(page 16):
action.
• When an ally helps you, they give
• Fail: Fail, or succeed at a serious cost. up their action for the exchange and
• Tie: Succeed at minor cost. describe how they help.
• Succeed: You accomplish your goal. • You get a +1 for each ally that helps in
• Succeed with Style: You accomplish this way.
your goal and generate a boost. • GM may place limits on how many
may help.
Fate Accelerated: Quick Reference 2
Turn Order (page 21) Approaches (page 18)
• Physical Conflict: Compare Quick • Careful: When you pay close attention
approaches—the one with the fastest to detail and take your time to do the
reflexes goes first. job right.
• Mental Conflict: Compare Careful • Clever: When you think fast, solve
approaches—the one with the most problems, or account for complex
attention to detail senses danger. variables.
• Everyone else goes in descending • Flashy: When you act with style and
order. Break ties in whatever manner panache.
makes sense, with the GM having the • Forceful: When you use brute
last word. strength.
• The GM may choose to have all • Quick: When you move quickly and
NPCs go on the turn of the most with dexterity.
advantageous NPC. • Sneaky: When you use misdirection,
stealth, or deceit.
Stress
& Consequences Aspects (page 25)
• Invoke (page 27):
(page 22)
Spend a fate point to get a +2 or
• Severity of hit (in shifts)
a reroll for yourself, or to increase
= Attack Roll – Defense Roll
difficulty for a foe by 2.
• Stress Boxes: You can check one
• Compel (page 28):
stress box to handle some or all of the
Receive a fate point when an aspect
shifts of a single hit. You can absorb a
complicates your life.
number of shifts equal to the number
• Establish facts (page 29):
of the box you check: one for Box 1,
Aspects are true. Use them to affirm
two for Box 2, three for Box 3.
details about you and the world.
• Consequences: You many take one or
more consequences to deal with the
Types of Aspects
hit, by marking off one or more avail-
Character Aspects (page 25)
able consequence slots and writing a
• Written when you create your
new aspect for each one marked.
character.
• Mild = 2 shifts
• May be changed when you reach a
• Moderate = 4 shifts
milestone (page 33).
• Severe = 6 shifts
Situation Aspects (page 26)
• Recovering from Consequences:
• Established at the beginning of a
• Mild consequence: Clear it at end
scene.
of the scene.
• May be created by using the create
• Moderate consequence: Clear it at
an advantage action.
the end of the next session.
• May be eliminated by using the
• Severe consequence: Clear it at the
overcome action.
end of the scenario.
• Vanish when the situation ends.
• Taken Out: If you can’t (or decide not
Boosts (page 26)
to) handle the entire hit, you’re taken
• May be invoked once (for free), then
out and your opponent decides what
they vanish.
happens to you.
• May be eliminated by an opponent
• Giving In: Give in before your oppo-
using an overcome action.
nent’s roll and you can control how
• Unused boosts vanish at the end of
you exit the scene. You earn one
the scene.
or more fate points for giving in
Consequences (page 23)
(page 24).
• Used to absorb shifts from successful
attacks.
• May be invoked by your opponents as
if they were situation aspects.
INDEX
Action(s), 14, 21, 44 Deck of Fate, 5, 13
approaches to, 18 Defend, 15, 17, 44
creating advantage by, 14, 15 Dice, 5, 13
taking, 12 results, 18, 44
Advantage, 14, 15, 44 roll, 18
creating, 26, 28, 31 roll, modifying, 18
All-Star (approach), 10 Difficulty(ies), 19
Ally, 17 levels of, 36, 37
Approach(es), 10, 18, 31, 45 near approach rating, 37
bonus, 13 setting, 13, 16, 37
raising bonus for, 34
Approach-related target numbers, 37 Establish facts, 8, 27, 45
Aspect(s), 8, 9, 25, 45 setting and, 29
compelling, 27, 28-29 Event compel, 29
creating new, 14 Exchange, 20, 21
discovering existing, 14
invoking, 12, 18, 27 Fact(s) establishment, 8, 27, 29, 45
kinds of, 25-26 Fail, 13
renaming, 24 aspect, 14, 15, 44
using, 27 attack, 15, 17, 44
writing, 9, 23, 30 defend, 15, 17, 44
Attack, 15, 17, 44 overcome, 15, 16, 44
Fate Core, 35, 39
Bad guy(s), 38 Fate Dice, 5, 13
with goal, 36 Fate point(s), 23, 24
Bonus(es), 13 gamemaster and, 29
raising, 34 invoking aspect, 12
Boost(s), 14, 15, 16, 17, 45 protection, 27
unused, 26, 28 spending, 25
Brute (approach), 10 Flashy action, 18
Flushing, Dr. Bethesda (example character), 43
Campaign, 33, 35 Forceful action, 18
Cards, deck of, 5, 13 Fudge dice, 5, 13
Careful action, 18
Challenge, 19 Game framework, 6
Challenging players, 36 Gamemaster (GM), 5
Character(s), 40-4 allies and, 17
advancement, 33 bad guys and, 38-39
aspects, 25, 45 campaign building by, 35
creating, 8, 9 difficulty levels, setting of, 19, 36, 37
name, appearance of, 9 fate points and, 29
sheets, 5 introducing complications, 16
type to play, 8 job of, 6
Characters, 40-43 learning how to be, 35
Clever action, 18 roll for non-player character, 13
Compel(s), 28, 44 running game sessions, 36
aspect, 27, 28-29 scenarios and, 36
on yourself, 28 situation aspects and, 20
Concede, 24 turn order determination by, 21
Conflict, 20 Gang of thugs, 39
Consequence(s), 22, 23, 45 Give in, 22, 24
recovery from 24, 26 Guardian (approach), 10
Contest, 20
Cyclops House Bully, 38 Help, 17, 44
Damage, 17, 22 High concept, 8, 25
Decision compel, 28 High difficulties, 37
Hit Self-compels, 28
severity of, 23 Severe consequence, 24
shifts and, 23 Shifts, 22, 23
Index cards, 5 Significant milestone, 34
Invocation(s), 15, 23 Situation
free, 28 aspect(s), 20, 26, 45
Invocations, 15 removal of, 16, 26
Invoke, 27, 45 Sky Shark, 38
against another player, 27 Sneaky action, 18
aspect, 27-28 Steel Assassin, 38
Sticky notes, 5
Ladder of adjectives and numbers, 10, 44 Story genre, 6
Low difficulties, 37 Storytelling, 6, 7
Stress, 22, 45
Major milestone, 34 recovery from, 24
Mild consequence, 24 track, 23
Milestones, 33-34 Stunts, 11, 31-32
Minor milestone, 33 Succeed, 13
Mobs, 39 aspect, 14, 15, 44
Moderate consequence, 24 attack, 15, 17, 44
Mooks, 38 defend, 15, 17, 44
groups of, 39 overcome, 15, 16, 44
Succeed with style, 13
Non-player characters (NPCs), 6, 13 aspect, 14, 15, 44
playing, 36 attack, 15, 17, 44
turn order and, 21 defend, 15, 17, 44
Nudging, 36 overcome, 15, 16, 44
Succeed, 13
Outcomes, 13, 44 Swashbuckler (approach), 10
Overcome, 15, 16, 44
stunts, 31 Taken out, 22, 23
Target numbers, 37, 43
Player character (PC), 5, 6, 7 Thief (approach), 10
selection of, 6 Tie, 13
PvP, 27 aspect, 14, 15, 44
attack, 15, 17, 44
Quick action, 18 defend, 15, 17, 44
overcome, 15, 16, 44
Refresh, 11, 25 Tokens, 5
Reth (example character), 40 Trickster (approach), 10
Rough terrain, 14 Trouble, 8, 9, 25
Rules, final say and, 36 Turn order, 21, 45
Running the Game in Fate Core, 16
Voltaire (example character), 41
Scenario(s), 24, 34, 36
Scene(s) Zhao, Abigail (example character), 42
setting, 20 Zones, 20
running, 36 moving from, 21

Thanks to our feedback heroes, Fate Accelerated Edition is the best it can possibly be:
Andrew Shore, Brian Hoffmann, Carrie Ulrich, Christopher Allen -- RPGnet, Christopher
Ruthenbeck, Craig Hargraves, Daniel Paarmann, Dataweaver, David Hoberman, Devon Apple,
Fenikso, Jack Gulick, Jan Stals, Jared Nuzzolillo, Javier Gaspoz, Jay Elmore, John Donoghue,
Jonathon Hodges, Lisa Padol, Lucian, Mark Gizmo, Mark Watson, Marko Wenzel, Markus Wagner,
Martín Van Houtte, Mitch A. Williams, Ron Blessing, Wojciech Gebczyk
 ID
Name

Description
Refresh Current
Fate Points

aspects Approaches
High Concept
Careful

Trouble Clever

Flashy

Forceful

Quick

Sneaky

STUNTS

STRESS CONSEQUENCES

2
Mild

4
Moderate

1 2 3
6
Severe
FAE Character Sheet ©2013 Evil Hat Productions, LLC.
May be printed and photocopied for personal use.