So far, we’ve provided ideas for standard humans, and several ideas for racial templates. In this post, we’re going to fill in some of the miscellaneous blanks in using Fate 3.0 (as implemented in Dresden Files RPG) for a medieval fantasy game.

Equipment

A large part of any fantasy RPG is the equipment.  Specifically, the weapons and armor a PC wields says a lot about the personality and intent of that character.  These particular possessions might mean life and death for the potentially violent lives these people lead.  Due to that emphasis, we’re going to expand a bit upon the more vague descriptions used in standard Fate.

Weapons

Qualities

Weapons have a special place in fantasy stories.  Characters often have unique signature armaments that are as much a part of them as their names.  To try to achieve this, we thought up the idea of Weapon Qualities. Weapon Qualities are something like Mortal Stunts, but only usable with that particular weapon.  You start by picking a base weapon above.  Next, you may add Qualities until the initial Rating + number of Qualities is no more than four.  Any Quality slots left open for weapons may only be filled through a change justified in-game, perhaps a reforging, or magic process.  Ranged weapons may leave slots open, which may be applied ad hoc to ammunition. The GM is encouraged to exercise control over the outcome of this process.  For example, Subtle great swords are probably not believable, unless the player has a really good explanation.  Players are encouraged to really make the weapon a part of their character.

Examples

• Longbow (WR 3), bodkin arrows (Armor Piercing), and broadheads (Heavy)
• Polearm (WR 3) with Reach
• Dagger (WR 1) with Fast, Quick Draw, and Subtle
• Flail (WR 2, Final WR 1) with Tripping, and Armor Piercing (spikes)
• Heavy Battle Axe (WR 3, Final WR 4)

Shields

Shields are essentially a specialized weapon (WR 1). They provide two additional benefits, however.  First, they give a bonus to Weapons rolls when used to defend against an attack.  Second, they allow the user to use Weapons to defend against ranged attacks, though at a penalty.

Armor

Almost as important to a fantasy character as her weapon, is her armor.  However, the uniqueness with armor seems to mostly come in appearance.  Therefore, while we do provide Armor Qualities, they’re not configurable like those for Weapons. Players of the Dresden Files RPG may notice that our Armor isn’t necessarily compatible with that game.  That’s because we’ve focused down into medieval weapons.  The introduction of guns essentially compresses this table.  You might resolve this by considering guns to be Armor Piercing, without the usual -1 to Weapon Rating.

Armor Qualities

Transportation

Magic

For the Fantasy Fate magic system, we’re pretty much going to steal borrow the one from the Dresden Files RPG (YS-247), because it’s probably the best magic system I’ve ever used.  It’s powerful, relatively simple, and extremely flexible.  Rather than picking a spell from a list, you essentially use its rules to build the effect you want. If you’re looking to play a pyromancer, or other specialist, see the Focused Practitioner template (YS-76).  For a full Wizard, see the eponymous template (YS-86), though we’ll make the Sight, Soulgaze, and Wizard’s Constitution optional, since they’re setting dependent.  If you want to create another combination of the spellcasting Powers, go ahead. Note that there are no restrictions on races, wearing armor, or wielding weapons while casting.  Nor do we specify the source of these powers.  The same rules can be used to create arcane Wizards, divine Clerics, and nature-based Druids.  Simply flavor them differently.

Travel

Fantasy literature is often as much about the journey as the swords and sorcery.  How long will it take to get the dangerous piece of jewelry to that special volcano?  Though you could certainly plug in the numbers yourself, given the above speeds, here we’ll put it into Fate terms. The following is how many miles characters could travel by the indicated conveyance and Fate time period.  This assumes an eight hour travel day, and relatively easy terrain.  In difficult terrain, cut the number by half.  For imprecise time periods (a few weeks) I considered it to be half the next largest time period (two weeks).

Print PDF

0saves

Save

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the RSS feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.