Porting aspects to Exalted

[wordman]

I've been interested in porting Exalted to the FATE 3.0 system for a while (even more so when Dresden Files comes out) and there are a number of choices for doing so, but my current game is going to go on a while, and such a change would be way too radical.


Instead, I'm contemplating pulling in a watered down version of FATE's aspects, and mixing them into the stunt system. The goals here are two-fold, aimed at encouraging my players to do things they have a history of not being that good at:

1. I want my players to stunt a lot more than the currently do.
   
2. I want my players to inject more of their characters into the game. They all have great character concepts, but they don't actually play them that strongly.

In the change that I'm contemplating, aspects will be a lot weaker than they are in FATE (where they are the central mechanic), but should have a similar dynamic in the story. I will also avoid using Fate Points (the main dramatic currency in FATE) as well.


For those that don't know, aspects in FATE are sort of "tags" that characters (and even other things, like sets or scenes) have that can be used in various ways. These are usually short phrases the describe some aspect of the character. Aspects are not intrinsically good or bad, but are chosen because they are interesting. For example, in one game, a character played a sort of archetypal foreign character and one of his aspects was "Bad Engrish". During the game, this was used both for and against the character, allowing him to, say, resist seduction better (by virtue of not understanding the seductress) but causing misunderstandings and so on. (Aspects are described way better by the link above.)


What I'm contemplating doing to my 1E game is the following:

• The rules for Nature are eliminated entirely.
  
• For each dot of Essence they possess, the PC gains an aspect of the player's choosing.
  
• At the start of each scene, the Storyteller will notify the players of any aspects that apply to either the set or scene itself. For example, a scene on a ship might have "Complex Rigging" or "Rotting Deck" as aspects. The scene might be "Dripping With Lust" or "Quiet as the Grave" or "Tensions on a Hair Trigger".
  
• The stunt system is changed slightly. Every roll has a "stunt level", which starts at zero. Every stunt level provides +1 die to a roll. If the roll succeeds, for each stunt level, the actor regains two motes. At the player's option four regained motes can be exchanged to regain a point of willpower.
  
• Providing a cool description of the action (or defense) increases the stunt level by one.
  
• If the description collectively makes the table say "holy crap!" or something similarly awe inspiring, it further increases the stunt level by one.
  
• A player can invoke one of their character's own aspects to help explain the action's motivation and importance. When this is done, it adds one to the action's stunt level. Only one aspect may be invoked per roll.
  
• A player can tag an aspect of the scene or set to gain an advantage an action or roll. Doing so adds one to the roll's stunt level. Only one aspect can be tagged per roll.
  
• A player can exploit any known aspects of other characters to give themselves an advantage in an attack or defense, if they can find some rationale for the aspect helping them out. For this to work, both the rolling character and the character whose aspect is being exploited must agree to the exploit. If agreed to, the exploit increases the roll's stunt level by one; however only half of the motes awarded by a successful stunt are given to the exploiter, with the other half going to the exploited. A only one aspect can be exploited per roll. Players may volunteer to have their character's own aspects exploited.
  
• Aspects may be rewarded: when a significant event occurs that reinforces, justifies or was largely due to a character's aspect, the character regains a point of willpower. (This is somewhat similar to the way Nature worked.)
  
• A character's aspects may be compelled to essentially force the character to follow the aspect. The character must agree to the compel for it to work, and if they do the character regains a point of willpower, but must act according to the aspect. This works largely as a negotiation, with someone indicating how they are trying to manipulate the character using an aspect. This can be an active manipulation attempt by one character against another, or might be the Storyteller suggesting that the character might act a particular way, offering a point of Willpower to do so. Characters can also compel themselves, offering to act counter to their interests due to an aspect, provided the Storyteller agrees. While a compel cannot force a specific behavior, someone accepting a compel must "be true" to the aspect for the duration of the scene. Compels always result in some sort of complication for the character. Compels are intended to be dramatic and meaningful and, therefore, somewhat rare.

Opinions?


Something about the way compelling works isn't quite right. It works basically the opposite of "acting counter to Virtues", but I don't like how that works either.


What would you do if your Storyteller introduced this in your game?

 

[Gtroc]

you may want to take a look at "Adventure!", more specifically the dramatic editing rules. I am not saying that you should use them, but they might help you refine your process a bit. I too have been working on porting Aspects into my game, the real trick is doing so without drastically altering the focus of the game. though what you have looks good, so far.

 

[wordman]

I suppose I should mention that my continuing thoughts on this idea are being tracked on my campaign wiki.