Free

FATE

Open Game Content collated, modified and augmented by R Grant Erswell

 Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................. 3
What is Roleplaying? .............................................. 3
Character Creation ...................................................... 4
Create a Concept ..................................................... 4
Choose Aspects ....................................................... 4
Choose Skills............................................................ 4
Choose Stunts .......................................................... 5
Finishing Things Off ............................................... 5
Rules ............................................................................. 6
Making a Test .......................................................... 6
Contests .................................................................... 7
Time Consuming Tasks.......................................... 8
Fate Points ................................................................ 8
Aspects ......................................................................... 9
Invoking Aspects .................................................... 9
Tagging Aspects ...................................................... 9
Introducing Aspects ............................................. 10
Compelling Aspects.............................................. 10
What is a Good Aspect? ....................................... 11
Skills............................................................................ 12
Skill List .................................................................. 12
Assessments ........................................................... 12
Declarations ........................................................... 12
Knowledge Tests ................................................... 13
Research ................................................................. 13
Skill Descriptions .................................................. 13
Stunts .......................................................................... 17
Stunt Templates .................................................... 17
Conflicts ..................................................................... 19
Running Conflicts ................................................. 19
Attacks .................................................................... 19
Manoeuvres ........................................................... 20
2
Other Actions ........................................................ 21
Stress and Consequences ..................................... 22
Other Sources of Injury ........................................ 25
Supporting Characters ............................................. 27
Extras ...................................................................... 27
Minions .................................................................. 27
Companions .......................................................... 28
Named Characters ................................................ 29
Aspects and Fate Points ....................................... 30
Sample Minions .................................................... 30
Sample Companions ............................................ 30
Chases ........................................................................ 31
Chase Conflicts...................................................... 31
Chase Scenes.......................................................... 31
Passengers.............................................................. 33
Chase Example ...................................................... 33
Equipment ................................................................. 34
Melee Weapons ..................................................... 34
Ranged Weapons .................................................. 34
Armour................................................................... 35
Explosives .............................................................. 35
Vehicles .................................................................. 36
Workplaces ............................................................ 37
Miscellaneous Equipment ................................... 37
Character Development ........................................... 38
End of Session ....................................................... 38
End of Story ........................................................... 38
Appendix A ............................................................... 39
Sample Benefit Stunts .......................................... 39
Legal Information ..................................................... 47
Amendment History ............................................ 47

Introduction
Free FATE is your gateway to exciting adventures,
suspenseful tales and thrilling action! This guide
helps you and your friends to tell interactive
stories, otherwise known as a roleplaying game.
The Free FATE rules are a cut down & condensed
version of the FATE System (Fantastic Adventures
in Tabletop Entertainment), and are intended to
appeal to gamers who prefer uncomplicated rules
and to act as an introduction to the full system.
The FATE system was developed by Robert
Donoghue and Fred Hicks of Evil Hat Productions,
and based upon the Fudge System of Grey Ghost
Press. The FATE system is (and will be) used in a
number of great games such as:
Spirit of the Century (Evil Hat Productions)
The Dresden Files (Evil Hat Productions)
Starblazer Adventures (Cubicle 7)
Legends of Anglerre (Cubicle 7)
Diaspora (VSCA Publishing)
To learn more about FATE visit the website:
www.faterpg.com
Free FATE requires the use of two six-sided dice
(D6s) of different colours.
What is Roleplaying?
A roleplaying game is a means by which a group
of friends can tell a story, a story in which all but
one of them take on the mantle of the protagonists.
The other player acts as Games Master, or GM; she
creates the outline of the plot, describes the
scenery, plays the supporting characters, and
arbitrates over the success or failure of the
characters’ actions. The GM has a lot to do, but it
can be a very rewarding experience!
The players declare how their characters react to
the scenes presented by the GM and the story
progresses through a verbal interaction between
players and Games Master.
Sarah is a Games Master and she has decided to run a
modern day supernatural thriller. She has constructed
a simple plot outline, below, for her two players:
David, portraying a brusque, recently widowed,
police detective called Trevor Maples.
Maria; who is playing Alison Havers, a university
lecturer in the field of parapsychology.
Maria and David previously agreed that Alison was a
close friend of Trevor’s late wife, Caroline, and that
Trevor and Alison helped each other through their grief.
Scene 1 – Alison and Trevor are visiting Caroline’s
grave when they hear a commotion within the church.
If they investigate (and Sarah expects them to!) they
find that the interior of the church is a mess yet no one
is present. Written in the wax of some spilt candles is a
message ‚Help Adam.‛
Scene 2 – The characters will likely want to investigate
who Adam is and his connection with the church. Until
recently Adam was an altar boy, he ceased attending
church after the death of his brother Mark, now buried
in the graveyard.
Scene 3 – The characters can visit Adam’s home but
will be told by his parents that he has run away. An
investigation of his room and computer will point to his
involvement with a gang.
Scene 4 – The characters are likely to want to track
Adam down, when they do they realise he has taken to
drugs to escape his grief over his brother’s death. The
characters must try to convince Adam to leave with
them and return to his parents. They must also deal
with the aggressive gang members.
Epilogue – The next time the characters visit Caroline’s
grave, they will see words being drawn in the dirt by an
unseen hand – ‚Thank you‛.
The example set up and plot above illustrate a few
storytelling techniques. Firstly the player
characters have a reason for knowing each other.
The GM has also given a motive for the player
characters wanting to help; in this case it was
Alison’s professional interest in the supernatural
and both characters’ empathy with Adam over the
loss of a loved one. Quite how obvious an
incentive needs to be will depend upon both the
players and their characters.
Despite a fairly straightforward plot, quite how
this story plays out depends upon the choices of
the players. For example, how will the player
characters find out who Adam is? They could ask
the vicar, speak with members of the congregation
or search through the church’s records.
The Games Master will need to determine how
successful the characters are in these endeavours,
using the Rules, common sense, and judgement of
the players’ roleplaying and choice of approach.
More importantly the Games Master cannot be
sure that the players will follow the plot line at all.
As such she should plan some ways to get things
back on track, or expect to improvise and let the
story evolve into something unexpected.
The important thing to remember is to have fun,
being a Games Master and playing a character are
things that improve with practice. Encourage each
other and provide constructive criticism to help
each other tell better and better stories.
3

Character Creation
Characters in Free FATE are composed of four
main aspects, Concept, Aspects, Skills and Stunts.
However, a character only becomes more than a
set of words and numbers when a player role-
plays his personality.
‚Let the young’uns do the running‛
Trained by Commander ‚Morse‛ Davidson.
Haunted by wife’s death in a hit & run accident.
‚A policeman’s notebook is his greatest weapon‛
David asks his GM, Sarah, to choose his last Aspect
once the game has begun. Sarah agrees.

Choose Skills
Create a Concept The next step in creating a character is to choose a
The first step in creating a character is to come up number of Skills and assign them a rating. Skills
with a concept, a few words or phrases that can represent both learned ability and also natural
describe the character’s personality and role. aptitudes and abilities.
Some examples of concepts could be ‚hard nosed Skills are given a descriptive and numeric rating
detective‛, ‚inquisitive, yet cowardly, con artist‛, or according to the following chart, known as the
even ‚a reclusive scientist with an alcohol problem‛. Ladder.
The concept should provide the player with an
Table – The Ladder
idea of the character’s motives, values and
behaviour. It should also help the player when Description Rating
choosing Aspects, Skills and Stunts. Legendary +8
Epic +7
Choose Aspects Fantastic +6
Aspects are an extension of the character concept Superb +5
that together paint a picture of who the character Great +4
is, what he’s connected to, and what’s important to Good +3
him (in contrast to the ‚what can he do‛ of Skills). Fair +2
Aspects are purely descriptive in nature and have
Average +1
no numerical rating. They can describe
Mediocre +0
relationships, beliefs, catchphrases, aptitudes, life
events, items or pretty much anything else. Poor -1
Some example Aspects are shown below Terrible -2
Always in the thick of it Abysmal -3
The death of his partner still haunts his dreams
Never without his trusty .45 A full list of Skills is provided in the Skills chapter
Aspects should reflect both positive and negative along with an explanation of what each does.
features of a character, as they can be used to help Skills should adhere to a pyramid type structure;
a character accomplish tasks, and also to limit a during character creation this means a player
character’s behaviour to his detriment (though the should select 1 Great, 2 Good, 3 Fair, and 4
player gets a Fate Point as compensation, see Average skills. All other Skills that a player does
Compelling Aspects on page 10). not select for his character are assumed to be at the
At character creation a player should select up to 8 default rating of Mediocre (+0).
Aspects to describe his character. If the GM agrees David now turns his attention to Skills for his detective,
the player may elect to define some of his Aspects who he has decided to call Trevor Maples.
during the game as personality quirks and David knows that he wants his character to have some
relationships get fleshed out. good investigation related Skills and a smattering of
For example, David is creating a character for a modern supporting Skills that would cover such things as
day supernatural campaign. His concept is ‚a brusque, forensic knowledge and combat abilities.
domineering, out of shape, detective who has been David chooses the following Skills and assigns the
recently widowed and has turned to drink‛. David ratings appropriately.
chooses the following Aspects: Great (+4): Investigation
Police Detective Inspector Good (+3): Contacting, Intimidation
‚I want results!‛ Fair (+2): Alertness, Leadership, Resolve
Slave to the demon drink Average (+1): Drive, Guns, Science, Stealth
4

Choose Stunts
Stunts are benefits, special abilities, specialisations
or different ways to apply skills that characters
without the Stunt are unable to do. Stunts are
described in more detail within the Stunts chapter.
During character creation a player should choose
four stunts that relate to his chosen skills. The GM
may allow a player to postpone the selection of
one or two Stunts until after the game has begun.
David looks through the list of Stunts and selects the
following to reflect his character’s status within the
police and the abilities he has built up over his career:
Concentration ‚Criminal Snitches‛: Gain a +1
bonus to Contacting when gathering information
about criminal activity in the city.
Specialisation ‚Police Interrogation‛: Gain a +2
bonus to Intimidation when interrogating a suspect
in an official police interview.
Skill Switch ‚Surroundings Read‛: Roll
Investigation instead of Empathy to get a read on
someone when speaking with them in their home,
workplace, car or favourite hangout.
Benefit ‚Police Backup‛: Can call on police officers
to provide physical backup. Backup will consist of
either 6 Fair (+2) or 12 Average (+1) Minions.
Finishing Things Off
Stress Tracks
A character has two Stress Tracks that measure
how much physical and social ‚injury‛ he can
suffer before being ‚taken out‛ in a conflict.
The Physical Stress Track reflects the amount of
physical punishment a character can suffer,
whether inflicted by punches, kicks, gun shots, a
fall or burns from a fire.
The Physical Stress Track has 5 boxes which is
increased if the character has an Endurance Skill
above Mediocre (+0).
Table - Stress Track Boxes
Skill Rating (Endurance or Resolve) Boxes
Mediocre 5
Average – Fair 6
Good – Great 7 3.
Superb – Fantastic 8 Average)
The Composure Stress Track reflects the amount of
insults, embarrassment, temptation and self-doubt
a character can suffer before they lose a social
conflict, be it a debate, a negotiation, or a seduction
attempt.
The Composure Stress Track has 5 boxes which is
increased if the character has a Resolve Skill above
Mediocre (+0).
David notes that as he did not choose the Endurance
Skill for his character his Physical Stress Track has 5
boxes. Trevor Maples does however have a Fair Resolve
skill and thus his Composure Track has 6 boxes.
Fate Points Refresh Rate
Fate points give players the ability to take a little
bit of control over the game, either by giving their
characters bonuses, or by taking over a small part
of the story. Fate points are described more fully
in the Rules and Aspects chapters.
A character begins each adventure with a number
of Fate Points equal to his Refresh Rate which is
calculated at character creation as 10 minus the
number of Stunts the character has (so if all four
stunts are selected at character creation, the
Refresh Rate would be 6).
If a character finishes a scenario with more Fate
Points than their Refresh Rate, they keep these
excess points to use in the next adventure.
Equipment
A player can choose a number of items of
equipment with a cost (the purchase Difficulty) of
Mediocre for every defined Aspect and Stunt his
character has.
In addition, a player can choose one item with a
cost equal to his Resources skill rating, two items
at a cost of one less, three items at a cost of two less
and so forth down to items with an Average cost.
Trevor Maples does not have the Resources Skill and so
David can only select 11 Mediocre cost items; for his 7
Aspects (one Aspect remains undefined) and 4 Stunts.
Maria defined all 8 Aspects and 4 Stunts for her
character Alison Havers, and also gave her a Good (+3)
Resources skill. Maria therefore can choose 12 Mediocre
cost items and an additional one item with a cost of
Good (+3), two items at a cost of Fair (+2) and three
items with a cost of Average (+1).
Character Creation Summary
1. Create a character concept
2. Choose 8 Aspects
Choose 10 skills (1 Great, 2 Good, 3 Fair, and 4
4. Choose 4 Stunts
5. Calculate Stress Tracks (5 boxes, more if
Endurance and / or Resolve Skills are chosen)
6. Calculate Fate Point Refresh Rate (10 less
number of Stunts chosen)
7. Choose Equipment based upon Resources.
5
 e.g. haggling may use the supporting character’s
Rules Resolve Skill rating as a Difficulty.
If the thug had been aware of Trevor the starting
Making a Test Difficulty would have been the thug’s Athletics skill.

Whenever a player wants his character to perform Roll the dice & modify the Skill
an action where the outcome is in doubt a Test is Once the Skill and the Difficulty have been
made pitting a character’s Skill against a Difficulty determined the player should roll two six-sided
chosen by the Games Master. dice (abbreviated as D6s) to reflect the role of
A Test is resolved in the following manner: random chance.
1. Determine the Skill to use One die should be designated as the Plus Die, the
2. Determine a Difficulty other designated as the Minus Die. When the dice
3. Roll the dice & modify the Skill Rating are rolled the player need only pay attention to the
die that rolled the lowest number.
4. Determine Success or Failure
If the lowest die result was on the Plus Die,
5. If successful, determine Effect
that number is added to the Skill Rating.
Determine the Skill to use If the lowest die result was on the Minus Die,
The GM should determine what Skill is that number is subtracted from the Skill.
appropriate to the task at hand, for example, If the two dice results are the same, there is no
Athletics to climb a wall, Rapport to charm lowest die, and the Skill goes unmodified.
someone, and Fists to swing a punch. The modified Skill rating is known as the Effort.
David is trying to shoot a thug who is assaulting his Effort = Skill +/- Lowest Die Result
friend Alison. The Games Master Sarah determines David rolls two D6s and gains a 4 on the Plus Die and
that this is a test using the Guns Skill. a 5 on the Minus Die. The lowest result is on the Plus
Determine a Difficulty Die, so that is added to his Guns Skill of Average (+1)
for a final Effort of +5; a Superb result on the Ladder.
The Games Master should gauge how difficult she
believes the task to be. Difficulties, like Skill Determine Success or Failure
ratings, are based upon the Ladder. The Effort should now be compared to the
Table – The Ladder Difficulty; if it equals or exceeds the Difficulty the
Description Rating character has succeeded, otherwise he has failed.
Legendary +8 David compares Trevor’s Effort of Superb (+5) to the
Difficulty of Fair (+2); Trevor has succeeded.
Epic +7
Fantastic +6 If successful, determine Effect
Superb +5 Sometimes it is not enough just to know that a
Great +4 character has succeeded; it can be important to
Good +3 know how well that character has succeeded.
The amount by which a character’s Effort exceeds
Fair +2
the Difficulty is known as the Effect and is
Average +1
measured in Shifts. The greater the Effect the more
Mediocre +0 successful the character has been.
Poor -1 Effect = Effort – Difficulty
Terrible -2 An Effect of zero shifts is barely a success; the
Abysmal -3 character has accomplished most of what was
hoped for, but not all. This usually means further
Sarah, judges that shooting the thug would normally be action is required to complete the task.
a Mediocre task as he is unaware of Trevor and thus Previously in the adventure, Trevor was forced to leap
unable to seek cover. However as the conflict takes place from one rooftop to another to escape a fire. David made
in a dark alley and Trevor does not want to accidentally an Athletics test and achieved a success with an Effect
shoot Alison, Sarah deems this a Fair (+2) Difficulty. of zero shifts. Sarah declared that Trevor barely jumped
For many tasks, the GM may use another the gap and is left hanging on by his fingertips. A
character’s Skill rating as the Difficulty Number, further Might Skill test was called for in order for
Trevor to pull himself up and out of danger.

6
Using Shifts
Shifts may be spent to affect the outcome of a roll.
Often, the GM will implicitly spend shifts in
accordance with the player’s description of his
character’s actions. Sometimes, players may
explicitly spend shifts as well.
Basic uses for one shift include:
Reduce time required: Move the time required
by one shift along the Time Increments table.
Increase quality of outcome: Improve the
quality of the job by one step.
Increase subtlety: Make the job harder to
detect by one.
Inflict Stress: In a conflict, each shift on a
successful attack inflicts one point of Stress.
Gain Spin (requires 3 shifts): See Spin below.
David determines the Effect of his character’s Guns test.
Trevor’s Effort was Superb (+5) and the Difficulty was
Fair (+2), therefore the Effect is 3 shifts; as this was an
attack roll a base of 3 Stress is inflicted on the thug.
Spin
Spin is a special effect that occurs when a character
achieves an Effect of 3 shifts on a Test and doesn’t
use those shifts for any other purpose (e.g.
reducing the time taken, inflicting Stress etc).
Normally Spin simply indicates that the character
performed extremely well, perhaps gaining
admiring glances or special recognition. However,
in some cases, gaining Spin can result in an actual
game effect. Specific effects are detailed elsewhere
in these rules.
Modifiers
Modifiers reflect circumstances that make a task
easier or more difficult to perform. Modifiers
impact the test by adding to, or subtracting from,
the Difficulty.
For each complicating factor increase the Difficulty
by one shift up the Ladder, so a Fair (+2) task
which is complicated by 3 factors becomes a
Superb (+5) tasks to perform.
In the example above, the darkness in the alley was one
complicating factor and Trevor’s wish to avoid hitting
Alison was another factor.
Combining Skills
Occasionally a secondary Skill will have an impact
on the task at hand, for example trying to shoot a
gun (Guns Skill) whilst maintaining balance on a
precipice (Athletics Skill).
If the second Skill is of greater value than the first,
it grants a +1 bonus to the roll; if the second Skill is
of a lesser value, it applies a -1 penalty to the roll.
Secondary Skill > Primary Skill = +1
Secondary Skill < Primary Skill = -1
When the second Skill can only help the first,
which is to say it can only provide a bonus, it
complements the Skill. A complementing Skill
never applies a -1, even if it’s lower than the
primary Skill. This usually happens when the
character has the option of using the secondary
Skill, but doesn’t have to bring it to bear.
If the secondary Skill comes into play only to hold
the primary Skill back, it restricts the Skill,
meaning it can only provide a penalty or nothing
at all. A restricting Skill never applies a +1, even if
it’s higher than the primary Skill. Often Skills like
Endurance or Resolve are restrictive Skills – as you
get more tired, you won’t get better, but if you’re
resolute, you may not get worse.
Modifies – Can provide a bonus or a penalty
Complements – Can only provide a bonus
Restricts – Can only impose a penalty
Contests
As mentioned previously, sometimes the Difficulty
of a task is based upon another character’s Skill
rating. When one skill opposes another in this
manner it is known as a Contest.
When a Contest occurs only one party should
actually roll the dice and modify his character’s
Skill rating, the opposing Skill is left unmodified
and acts as the Difficulty.
If the Skill Test result only equals the Difficulty,
then the Contest is actually a tie; the guard hears a
noise but doesn’t spot the sneaking character, the
characters come to a stalemate in negotiations, or
both characters grab the gun at the same time.
Further tests or action may be necessary to
determine ultimate success or failure, e.g. the
guard may investigate the source of the noise, new
offerings may be made in the negotiations, or a tug
of war begins over the gun.
If the Test fails the opponent has won with an
Effect equal to the number of shifts by which the
Test failed.
If a Contest is between a player character and a
supporting character, in nearly all circumstances it
should be the player who rolls the dice. This
allows the players to feel more in control of the
fate of their characters, and also frees up the GM
from having to grab dice and roll them.
Occasionally however it may be more appropriate
for the GM to make the test for the supporting
characters, using the player character’s Skill rating
as a Difficulty.
7
This may be useful when the act of asking for a Actual Time
dice roll may tip off the player that something is When the Test is made to determine the success or
up; for example asking for an Empathy test may failure of the task, the player can elect to spend
clue the player into the fact that the supporting any shifts of Effect to reduce the time. Each shift
character is deceiving him in some way. Secretly used in such a manner reduces the time taken by
rolling a Deceit test with a Difficulty of the player one increment on the table.
character’s Empathy may be a better option. Trevor Maples is conducting a police interview with a
Equally, it may be quicker to roll a single Stealth suspect. The GM, Sarah, has stated that such an
test for a supporting character and compare it to interview has a base time of an hour.
all the player characters’ Alertness Skill ratings, David rolls Trevor’s Intimidation skill to perform the
than have four or five players all rolling dice. interrogation and succeeds with an Effect of 2 shifts.
David elects to use both shifts to reduce the base time
Time Consuming Tasks from an hour to 15 minutes, but his Effect is now
effectively zero; he gets enough of a confession to follow
Certain tasks require an extended period of time to
a new lead, but not enough to charge the suspect.
perform; it can take minutes to crack open a safe
and weeks to write a computer program. Alternatively, if a character fails the test, the GM
may allow him to spend more time to complete the
Base Time task. The time taken is increased by one increment
If a Games Master feels a task requires longer than for every shift by which the character failed. This
a few instances to complete then she should assign cannot be used to increase the Effect.
the task a base time period in which it can be
accomplished. The table below lists appropriate
base times to assign to a particular task.
Fate Points
Fate Points allow a player to nudge fortune in his
Table – Time Increments
character’s favour. Spending a Fate Point can
Time Period
provide one of the following benefits:
Instant add +1 to the total of any dice roll.
A few moments to power a Stunt if it is particularly powerful.
Half a minute to make a minor narrative declaration, for
A minute example introducing an item into the scene
A few minutes that wasn’t described as previously being
15 minutes there, e.g. a fire extinguisher. The Games
Master has veto power over this.
Half an hour
Fate Points however can be used to achieve more
An hour
potent effects when used in combination with
A few hours Aspects; see the Aspects chapter, below, for more
An afternoon information.
A day
A few days
A week
A few weeks
A month
A few months
A season
Half a year
A year
A few years
A decade
A lifetime
Generations
Centuries

8

Aspects
Invoking Aspects
As described previously, Aspects are descriptive
qualities of a character; however they can have a
mechanical impact on a game as well. Whenever a
player states that his character is performing some
action that is very much in line with an Aspect, he
may ‚invoke‛ that Aspect.
The player should ask the GM whether he can
invoke the Aspect, explaining why he feels the
Aspect will have an impact on the situation. If the
GM agrees, the player spends a Fate Point and can:
add +2 to the total of the related dice roll,
...or...
re-roll the dice again, taking the new result.
David’s character Trevor Maples is speaking with a
pathologist in the hopes of getting some leads from the
corpse he and Alison discovered earlier, however the
pathologist is being far from co-operative.
David elects to have Trevor use his Good (+3)
Intimidation Skill to convince the pathologist that he
should give his corpse priority and work into the night
if needed. Sarah the GM set the Difficulty at Average
(+1), the pathologist’s Resolve Skill rating.
David rolls the dice and gets a 6 on the Plus Die, and a
4 on the Minus Die; as the Minus Die shows the lower
of the two results David reduces the Skill Rating of
Good (+3) by 4 shifts to Poor (-1). Seeing the result,
David knows he will fail, so he looks to his character’s
Aspects to see if any are applicable.
David turns to Sarah and asks whether he can invoke
his ‚I want results!‛ Aspect, explaining that Trevor
will have gained a reputation for making a person’s life
a misery if they don’t produce the goods.
Sarah is convinced and David hands over a Fate Point,
stating that he will play it safe and take the +2 bonus,
turning his Poor (-1) Effect into an Average (+1) Effect
and just scrape a success!
Invoking for Effect
A player can also invoke an Aspect for effect, using
it for a benefit that is not related to a dice roll or
Skill use at all. This costs a Fate point like any
other invocation does. For example, a player could
invoke an Aspect that describes a secret
organisation to declare that the group has a
chapter in town.
This is subject to the same sort of restrictions as
spending Fate points for minor declarations (see
page 8) but is more potent due to the focus of the
Aspect. When an Aspect is part of a declaration, it
can make the less plausible more plausible, thus
allowing the player to ‚get away with‛ more.
Trevor is following up a rumour that a local journalist
managed to take some photos of a crime in progress, but
gets the brush off when making enquiries at the
newspaper’s office; it seems someone has threatened the
journalist and she is refusing to talk to anyone.
David asks Sarah to invoke his ‚Haunted by wife’s
death in a hit & run accident‛ Aspect to state that the
journalist was the one who covered the death of his wife,
and that she had been sympathetic to him back then.
Despite this not being part of Sarah’s original notes for
the scenario, she thinks it will be a nice tie-in to the
character’s back story and allows it, asking David to
spend the Fate point. In return, Sarah role plays the
journalist as recognising the police inspector and
opening up a little because of their past relationship.
Tagging Aspects
It is not just player characters who have Aspects,
supporting characters, items, locations and even
the scene itself can have Aspects too. These
Aspects can be invoked by a player just like his
own character’s Aspects; this is known as
‚tagging‛ the Aspect.
Trevor has just interrupted a back room poker game at a
pub known to be the hangout of a suspect. Sarah
describes how the poker players, all local ne’er-do-wells
including the suspect look up worriedly, an atmosphere
of nervous tension settling over the proceedings.
David asks Sarah whether ‚atmosphere of nervous
tension‛ is an Aspect of the scene; thinking about it, she
says it is. David then asks whether he can spend a Fate
Point to tag that Aspect for a Bonus when using
Investigation to get a read on the suspect, Sarah agrees.
David plays out the use of his Skill Switch
‚Surroundings Read‛ Stunt – ‚That’s quite a sum of
money in the pot there Jimmy, and single malt Scotch,
not the blended stuff you usually drink? Come into
some money recently?‛
David rolls his Investigation Skill against a Difficulty
of Jimmy’s Deceit; with the bonus from tagging the
scene aspect, he succeeds and Sarah reveals that Jimmy
has the ‚Guilty conscience‛ Aspect.
Instead of one of the usual benefits for invoking an
Aspect the GM may allow a player to Tag an
Aspect to use a different Skill to accomplish a task
than he normally would. E.g. tagging a scene
Aspect of ‚Fear & Trepidation‛ may allow
Intimidation to be used in a negotiation rather than
Rapport; rather than a charming negotiation it
becomes a set of bullying demands and threats!
9
Tagging for Effect
Similar to the way in which a player may invoke
his character’s Aspects for effect, so may he tag
Aspects not belonging to the character for effect.
This is usually done to compel the way in which a
supporting character will act; this should be in
only general terms however, and cannot be used to
dictate specific actions. As normal, the GM has the
power to veto any suggestion. The victim of a Tag
for Effect receives the Fate Point spent by the
tagging player character, as if it were a Compel.
Having learnt that Jimmy has the ‚Guilty conscience‛
Aspect, David asks the GM to tag that Aspect and
compel Jimmy to try to get away when his character
Trevor asks him to accompany him to the station.
David knows that Trevor has already called in backup
and so Jimmy is unlikely to actually escape, but he
hopes that an attempt to flee will give him the excuse to
arrest Jimmy and help prove his guilt.
Sarah agrees to the tag, however she informs David that
it is entirely up to her just how Jimmy tries to get away
– will he charge past Trevor to the door, try to crash
through a window, or up end the table with the cash on
it hoping the confusion provides cover? The specifics are
Sarah’s call.
Introducing Aspects
Players can, through their character’s actions,
discover Aspects that were previously hidden and
even create new Aspects for a scene, location or
person via a declaration or a manoeuvre in a
conflict.
When this occurs the player should be awarded a
free tag of that Aspect, i.e. he does not have to pay
a Fate Point to tag it for the first time.
Such a free tag is subject to one key limitation; it
must occur immediately after the Aspect has been
brought into play. A minor delay is acceptable, but
not encouraged. This usually means that the free
tag must be taken within the same scene that the
Aspect was introduced.
In the example above, David discovered a previously
hidden Aspect of Jimmy; ‚Guilty Conscience‛. When
David attempted to tag it for effect Sarah allowed this to
occur without requiring David to spend a Fate Point.
The player may pass his free tag to another
character if he so wishes. This can allow for one
character to set up an ally who is better positioned
to take advantage of the newly revealed Aspect.
For further information on exactly how
Assessments & Declarations work see the Skills
chapter. Manoeuvres are explained in the
Conflicts chapter on page 20.
10
Compelling Aspects
Just as players can tag a supporting character’s
Aspects to dictate the way in which he should
behave, so the GM tag the Aspects of a player
character to compel him to act in a certain manner,
usually to the character’s detriment. This is known
as Compelling an Aspect.
Alternatively the GM may Compel a character’s
Aspects to add a complication to the task at hand,
force an automatic failure of an action, or even
introduce difficulties ‚off-screen‛ such as have a
loved one mentioned in an Aspect kidnapped!
Though this may seem like a bad thing for a
player, a Compel can lead to interesting and
exciting situations, but more importantly a player
who accepts a Compel receives a Fate Point.
Accepting a Compel is the primary way for a
player to gain Fate Points, and as such it is wise to
make sure a character has a number of Aspects
that can easily be Compelled by the GM.
Just as David requested, Sarah has the suspect Jimmy
make a break for it, pushing over the table of cash and
barging past Trevor. Knowing that he requested the
police constables cover the back of the pub, David states
that Trevor will give chase.
Sarah states she is Compelling Trevor’s ‚Let the
young’uns do the running‛ Aspect, stating that Trevor
will only have two exchanges to catch Jimmy before
having to give up wheezing and out of breath. David
accepts the Compel and receives a Fate Point.
Voluntary Compels
Sometimes it is the player, rather than the GM,
who identifies a situation where his character’s
Aspects may be compelled. In such cases the
player may bring this to the attention of the GM.
The GM can either agree and hand over a Fate
point, or defer, offering a brief explanation.
Refusing a Compel & Escalation
If a player really does not want to accept the
Compel, they can refuse it but doing so costs a Fate
Point rather than earning one.
Rarely, in moments of high tension or drama, the
Games Master can choose to escalate a Compel.
This is an optional rule, and should really only be
used when the character getting compelled is
having a defining moment in his story.
When a player refuses a Compel, the GM can elect
to offer two Fate Points instead of one. If the player
accepts he spends no Fate Points and instead
receives two. However if the player really does
not want to accept he can still refuse, but now it
will cost him two Fate Points.

What is a Good Aspect?
Thinking of Aspects that describe a character, can
be easy, however creating Aspects that lend
themselves well to the mechanics of invocation,
tagging and compels is quite a bit trickier!
Aspects serve a number of purposes in a Free
FATE game and a good Aspect is one that fulfils
most if not all of these needs.
Is it a Hook?
Aspects should say something about how the
character fits into the larger world. Such an Aspect
can provide story hooks, be they supporting
characters, organisations or past events.
David wants an Aspect that indicates that Trevor
Maples is well trained in deductive reasoning and
investigation. Rather than simply have an Aspect of
‚Investigator‛, or even ‚Trained investigator‛, he
chooses ‚Trained by Commander ‘Morse’ Davidson‛.
The commander’s nickname is a reference to the
fictional Oxford detective and suggests that Trevor was
mentored by the best and is a clever, observant and
intuitive investigator. But better still, it introduces a
supporting character that the GM can use to pull
Trevor into a story, or that David can call upon by
invoking his Aspect.
Can it be Invoked?
In order to see whether an Aspect will likely see
use in a Free FATE game, you should try to think
of at least two or three different ways it could be
invoked to provide a benefit to the character?
If you are struggling to come up with more than
one, the Aspect may be too narrowly focused.
‚Slave to the demon drink‛ would seem to be largely a
weakness, but David could invoke it to explain Trevor
having a bottle of whisky in his pocket to use as a bribe,
or to create a Molotov cocktail.
It could also be invoked to enhance a Contacting Test
stating that Trevor knows all the pubs and bars in the
area, and which miscreants frequent each one. Equally,
this Aspect could enhance a Stealth Test to remain
undetected when observing an illicit meet in a bar.
Can it be Compelled?
A good Aspect is often a double edged sword; a
benefit in some circumstances, and a hindrance in
others. This allows Fate Points to be earned as
well as providing the opportunity to spend them.
Like invocations you should be able to think of a
few different ways in which the Aspect could be
compelled in such a way that the consequences
resulting from accepting the compel would make
for a more interesting and exciting story.
Trevor’s ‚I want results!‛ Aspect could be Compelled to
encourage David to have Trevor accept a suspect’s
statement as true if it could lead to a quick arrest, even
though David knows it is likely a red herring and will
lead to trouble with a local crime boss if acted upon.
Alternatively, the GM may agree with David’s self
compel to have Trevor plant evidence to get a
conviction, on the understanding that it will come to
light at some point and Trevor will suffer because of it. .
If you’re struggling, to come up with Aspects that
can both be invoked and compelled then try to
make sure that a character has at least some
Aspects that can be invoked and some that can be
compelled; providing a balance overall.
Make it Snappy & then Discuss
Aspects should be short, catchy phrases, not
paragraphs of text. However, the brevity of an
Aspect’s name means some things are left
unspoken, so a player should discuss what they
feel an Aspect means with his GM.
As Sarah was not familiar with the Morse novels and
TV series, David needed to explain what he meant by
‚Trained by Commander ‘Morse’ Davidson‛.
Aspects are also a way that a player can explicitly
inform his GM of what he wants to see happen in
the game; if the player picks an Aspect like ‘Death-
Defying’ then he is telling the GM to put his
character into death defying situations.
The GM should pay close attention to the Aspects
of his players’ characters, as they will inform her of
the type of adventure she should be creating.
Sample Aspects
Always in a rush
‚But it works for me!‛
Curiosity killed the cat
‚Don’t I know you from somewhere?‛
First on the scene
Girl in every port
Heart of Gold
Lying comes easy
Never trusts a man who won’t look him in the eye
Odd coincidences
‚Paparazzi dog my every step‛
Quiet as a mouse
Reckless Fun Lover
Something to prove
‚We need more! Much more...and bigger!‛
11
 Assessments as Declarations
Skills If the GM is amenable, an Assessment may also
Skills reflect both natural aptitudes and learned allow a player character to ‚discover‛ an element
abilities. Skills are rated on the Ladder as that the GM hadn’t even thought of previously. In
described in the Rules chapter, above. this manner the Assessment works like a
Declaration (see below) with the player stating that
Skill List his character has identified a weakness, Aspect or
other feature. The GM sets a Difficulty for the Skill
Academics Intimidation roll to see if the character was correct in his
Alertness Investigation Assessment, or whether he was mistaken. If the
Art Leadership roll fails, the GM may wish to impose a temporary
Athletics Might Aspect on the assessing character to reflect this, for
Burglary Mysteries example ‚Mistakenly believes the security cameras
to have a blind spot‛.
Contacting Pilot
Deceit Rapport
Drive Resolve
Declarations
Empathy Resources A Declaration allows a player to use his character’s
Skills to introduce entirely new facts and Aspects
Endurance Science
into play by making a statement and testing to see
Engineering Sleight of Hand
whether it is true. Declarations are often, but not
Fists Stealth exclusively, the domain of knowledge Skills such
Gambling Survival as Academics, Art, Mysteries and Science.
Guns Weapons Unlike Assessments, a Declaration takes no in-
game time to perform as they represent a character
Assessments recalling previously learnt knowledge.
Maria’s character Alison Havers is helping Trevor
Certain Skills allow characters to observe, study
Maples investigate the death of noted psychic and artist
and interact with people and locations in order to
Ray Bremmond. When reviewing the crime scene
discover useful information about them. Using a
Trevor inspects the deceased’s latest painting and asks
Skill in this manner is known as an Assessment
Alison whether there is anything special about his work.
and usually requires anywhere from a few minutes
to a few days. Maria asks the GM to make a Declaration using her
Average (+1) Art skill stating that Ray Bremmond
Assessments can even be used to uncover
always included Veronese green somewhere in the lower
previously hidden Aspects of a character or locale.
left corner of his paintings as a secondary signature.
Trevor’s ex-con associate Mickey is helping him
The Difficulty for a declaration should be based on
investigate a factory from which a number of people
how interesting the proposed fact or Aspect is.
have disappeared. Mickey’s player Joe asks the GM to
Ideas which would disrupt the game or are just
use his Burglary Skill to ‚case‛ the factory. Sarah the
unreasonable should simply be vetoed.
GM sets a Difficulty and Joe makes the Burglary Test,
succeeding. For reasonable suggestions, these are the questions
to ask when determining Difficulty:
Sarah reveals that the factory has an Aspect of ‚Poorly
maintained fencing‛, an Aspect that could be tagged 1. Is the declaration interesting or funny?
(free of charge) in the immediately following scene to aid 2. Will the declaration have interesting
an Athletics Skill test to enter the factory grounds. consequences if it’s acted upon but is wrong?
The Difficulty for the Skill roll to determine 3. Does the declaration propose a specific and
whether an Assessment is successful is set by the interesting or heroic course of action?
GM. For locations and items, a default Good (+3) Each ‚no‛ adds 2 to a base difficulty of Mediocre.
Difficulty will allow characters to successfully Sarah the GM thinks this is a reasonable declaration
make an Assessment, though this may be and asks herself the three questions. The idea of a
increased if special efforts have been taken to secondary signature is interesting, and if the declaration
conceal the Aspects, features and flaws. is wrong but believed to be true, Alison and Trevor may
For Assessments that focus on other characters, the declare a number of Bremmond’s paintings to be
Difficulty will often be set by that character’s forgeries – potentially embarrassing and also creating
appropriate Skill rating, e.g. Deceit or Resolve. some red herrings!

12
However the declaration would not prompt a particular
course of action and so Sarah sets the Difficulty at Fair
(+2) for a ‚no‛ to question three.
Maria succeeds at the test and her Declaration is now a
fact within the game; something that can be used to help
authenticate Bremmond’s paintings.
Often a Declaration can be used to assign a new
Aspect to an item or scene, when this occurs the
declaring character gets one free tag of the Aspect.
Maria asks Sarah whether ‚Signed with Veronese
green‛ can be an Aspect of all of Bremmond’s paintings
and Sarah agrees.
Knowledge Tests
When a player wants to see if his character knows
about a certain topic or area of study then a test
can be made using an appropriate skill e.g.
Academics to recall details of an historical battle,
whilst Guns might be used to identify a particular
firearm and who manufactures it.
The Knowledge Difficulty table can be used as a
guide to assign a Difficulty to the task. The greater
the Effect, the more detailed the knowledge the
character has about the subject.
Table - Knowledge Difficult
Obscurity Difficulty
Common knowledge Average (+1) to
Good (+3)
Expert knowledge Great (+4)
Leading expert knowledge Superb (+5)
Known only to one or two Fantastic (+6)
people in the world
Lost knowledge Epic (+7)
Research
If a character fails a Knowledge Test, he can spend
time researching or experimenting to find the
answer as long as he has access to a good library or
laboratory in some form. The amount by which the
knowledge Skill Test failed is the length of time in
time periods (page 8) required to find the answer,
beginning at ‚15 minutes‛.
The Quality of the library or laboratory determines
the hardest possible question that can be answered
within it; so if the Knowledge Skill Test had a
Difficulty of Good (+3) then a Good library or
better is required.
Alison Havers is attempting to identify an occult
symbol left on the body of a murder victim. Sarah the
GM asks Maria to make a Mysteries Skill Test for her
character, setting the Difficulty at Superb (+5).
Alison has the Mysteries Skill at Great (+4), but
unfortunately Maria rolls a 5 on the Plus Die and a 2
on the Minus Die, meaning her Effort is only Fair (+2).
Sarah tells Maria that Alison is unable to identify the
symbol. Maria therefore elects to return to her
university Arcane Library (which luckily is of a Superb
quality) to search for the answer.
As Maria failed the Test by 3 shifts – Superb (+5)
Difficulty less the Fair (+2) Effort – it will take Alison
an hour to find the answer.
Skill Descriptions
Academics
Academics measures a character’s ‚book
learning‛; any knowledge that would not explicitly
fall under Science, Mysteries, or Art.
Academics is often used to make Assessments
(page 12) and perform Declarations (see page 12).
In addition, Academics covers knowledge of other
languages; each step above Mediocre gives the
character knowledge of one extra language.
Alertness
Alertness is a measure of the character’s passive
awareness, his ability to stay on his toes and react
to sudden changes in his environment. Alertness
is also the basis for initiative in a physical conflict.
Active searching falls under Investigation Skill.
Art
Art measures the character’s overall artistic ability,
covering the gamut of endeavours, from painting
to dance to music. This includes knowledge,
composition, and performance. Art can also be
used to perform Declarations (see page 12).
Athletics
Athletics measures the character’s general physical
capability, excepting raw power, (which is Might)
and long term endurance (which is Endurance).
Athletics covers running, jumping, climbing and
swimming. It determines movement and acts as a
defensive Skill in physical conflicts.
Burglary
Burglary represents the ability to overcome
security systems, from alarms to locks. Burglary
also includes knowledge of those systems and the
ability to assess them (see Assessments, above).
Contacting
Contacting is the ability to find things out from
people. A character may know a guy, who knows
a guy, or maybe he just knows the right questions
to ask. Whatever his methods, he can gather
information by asking around.
13
Deceit
Deceit is the ability to hide the truth and convey
falsehoods convincingly. Deceit can be used to fast
talk a security guard, carry out elaborate
confidence schemes or create simple disguises that
can withstand casual inspection (but not close
scrutiny, i.e. any use of the Investigation Skill).
Deceit is often opposed by Empathy, Alertness or
Investigation. Deceit (modified by Rapport) can
itself be used to oppose the use of Empathy to get
a read on a character (in place of straight Rapport).
Drive
Drive is the ability to operate a ground or water
based vehicle, be it a car, hovercraft, boat or
submersible. It is often used in chases (page 31).
Empathy
This is the ability to understand what other people
are thinking and feeling. It can be used to spot a
liar or help tell someone what they want to hear.
Empathy is usable as a defense against Deceit, and
is the basis for initiative in a social conflict.
Finally, Empathy can be used to get a ‚read‛ on
someone by performing an Assessment (see above)
using a target character’s Rapport as the Difficulty.
Endurance
Endurance is the ability to keep performing
physical activity despite fatigue or injury. It’s a
measure of the body’s resistance to shock and
effort. In addition to fatigue, Endurance measures
how well a character shrugs off poisons and
disease. Finally, Endurance determines the
number of boxes on a character’s Physical Stress
track (see Stress Tracks, in Character Creation).
Engineering
Engineering is the understanding of how
machinery works, for purposes of building,
repairing and even sabotaging it. Engineering is
often complemented by the Science Skill (see
Combining Skills, page 7).
Table – Repair Times
Repair Undertaken Time Period
Remove all Stress A few hours
Remove a Minor Consequence A few hours
Remove a Major Consequence A day
Remove a Severe Consequence A week
Engineering can be used to repair devices, given
the right tools and enough time (see the table
above). The GM should set the Difficulty for the
Engineering roll, if in doubt use the highest value
of the device, or its Resources cost. Repairs also
14
require a Workshop (see page 37) with a Quality
Rating equal to the Difficulty of the repair minus 2.
Rules for creating items can be found on page 37.
Fists
Fists represents a character’s ability to fight and
defend himself whilst unarmed. Despite the name,
this Skill can be used for kicks, headbutts and bites
as well as the use of bare hands. Fists is used in
Physical Conflicts.
Gambling
Gambling is the knowledge of how to gamble and
moreover, how to win when gambling. It also
includes knowledge of secondary things like
bookmaking and risk taking.
Finding a game to sit in on can simply be a matter
of going to a casino; private games require a
Contacting Test to find. The stakes of a game are
assigned a rating on the Ladder, this is the
Difficulty for the Gambling Test.
If the Gambling Test is successful, and the stake is
cash or easily liquidated assets, the gambler gets to
make a single Resources Test using the rating of
the stake rather than his own Resources Skill.
If the Gambling Test fails, the gambler must make
a Resources Test with a Difficulty of the stakes. If
this succeeds, the gambler can pay his dues,
otherwise he is in debt preventing him from
gambling any more until he can make payment.
Guns
Guns is used to shoot any type of personal weapon
that fires at range from bows to pistols to
automatic rifles. Guns is used in Physical
Conflicts.
Intimidation
Intimidation is the Skill of unsettling and
sometimes outright scaring another person
through physical threats of violence or more subtle
psychological means. This is also the Skill to use
for interrogation. Using Intimidation is often a
blatant social attack, which someone can defend
against with their Resolve.
Investigation
Investigation is the ability to look for things and,
hopefully, find them. This is the Skill used when
the character is actively looking for something,
such as searching a crime scene or trying to spot a
hidden enemy.
It is also useful for eavesdropping or any other
activity where someone is trying to observe
something over a period of time. When looking for
deep patterns and hidden flaws, Investigation may
be used to make Assessments.
Leadership example in combat, Might may complement Fists
Leadership is a multi-faceted Skill. A good leader and Weapons if force is a very significant element.
knows how to direct and inspire people, but he Furthermore, a successful manoeuvre may allow a
also understands how to run an organization. As character to begin grappling with his foe, allowing
such, the Leadership Skill covers acts of both Might to be used instead of Fists.
types, from inspiring comrades to make one last
Mysteries
push on a battlefield, to navigating the maze of
Mysteries is knowledge of the supernatural, the
bureaucracy of a corporation.
occult and psychic phenomena. It covers
Might everything from experience with hypnosis
This is a measure of pure physical power, be it raw techniques to a sense that there is something else
strength or simply the knowledge of how to use beyond the material world.
the strength one has. Mysteries is often used to perform Declarations
Table – Breaking Things (see page 12). In certain circumstances the GM may
Difficulty Description allow Mysteries to be used to make Assessments
(page 12) to discover hidden Aspects of a locale or
Mediocre (+0) Paper or glass.
person (by reading an ‚aura‛ for example).
Average (+1) Flimsy wood.
A GM may allow a Mysteries Test as she would an
Fair (+2) Cheap wood, bamboo, some Alertness Test, to notice strange and mysterious
light plastics. things, in effect it is a sixth sense.
Good (+3) Non-reinforced wooden board, A Mysteries Test with a Difficulty of a willing
an interior door. participant’s Resolve Skill will allow the character
Great (+4) Strong wood, hardwood to put the participant into a hypnotic trance. This
boards, exterior door. can be used to help the participant recall
Superb (+5) Reinforced wood, heavy door memories, calm them down, or help them
Fantastic (+6) Security door remember information.
Epic (+7) Bending prison bars If appropriate, Mysteries may be used like the
Engineering Skill to create and repair arcane and
Legendary (+8) Safe of bank vault door
magical items. Rules for creating items can be
found on page 37.
A character can carry a default amount of weight
as shown on the table below. If carrying more
Pilot
than this, for each step heavier the character takes Pilot is the ability to fly aircraft, whether they be
a -1 penalty on all other physical action up to a propeller fighter planes, helicopters, or commercial
maximum of a -4 penalty (up to four steps higher). jet airliners. It is most often used in chases (see
Chases on page 31).
A Might Skill Test with a Difficulty of his own
Might will allow a character to push himself into a Rapport
category five steps higher for a total -5 penalty. Rapport is the ability to talk with people in a
Table – Lifting friendly fashion and make a good impression, and
perhaps convince them to see one’s side of things.
Might Carry (lbs)
Any time a character wants to communicate
Mediocre (+0) 5
without an implicit threat, this is the Skill to use,
Average (+1) 10 which makes it appropriate for interviewing.
Fair (+2) 50 Rapport is the fallback social Skill. While Empathy,
Good (+3) 100 Deceit, and Intimidation are fairly specific in their
Great (+4) 150 applications, Rapport is the catchall that covers
Superb (+5) 200 everything else.

Fantastic (+6) 250 Resolve

Epic (+7) 300 Resolve is a measure of a character’s self-mastery,
his courage and willpower. It’s an indicator of
Legendary (+8) 350
coolness under fire and also represents the drive
not to quit. It can play a key part in efforts to resist
Might may be used indirectly as well, to modify, torture or strange powers.
complement, or restrict some Skill uses, for

15
Resolve is almost always rolled in response to
something, rather than on its own. Its primary role
is as defence against most kinds of social
manipulation or distraction.
Finally, Resolve determines the number of boxes
on a character’s Composure Stress track (see Stress
Tracks, in Character Creation).
Resources
Resources is a measure of available wealth, the
specific form this takes, from a family trust fund to
a well invested portfolio, can vary from character
to character (and may be indicated and enhanced
by their Aspects).
Resources is used to determine starting equipment
(page 5) and can be used to purchase items. The
cost of items is measured as a purchase Difficulty
on the ladder and many items are detailed in the
Equipment chapter.
A character can buy reasonable quantities of
anything of a value less than his Resources without
worrying about it. For items greater than or equal
to his Resources, the player needs to roll against
the cost of the item. If successful, the character can
afford the item; if not, he can’t. Characters can only
make one Resources roll per scene.
When a character is in a place where he can’t draw
upon his usual resources, the GM may increase the
Difficulty of making a purchase – anywhere from
+1 for a modest amount of red tape, to a +4 if the
character is limited solely to the already-converted
local currency he happens to have in his pockets.
Science
Science holds the promise of revealing all of
nature’s secrets. This Skill represents a broad
knowledge of scientific method, and includes the
field of computers (including hacking) and
medicine.
Science is often used to make Declarations (see
page 12). In certain circumstances the GM may
allow Science to be used to make Assessments
(page 12).
Sleight of Hand
This Skill covers fine, dexterous activities like stage
magic, pick pocketing, and replacing an idol with a
bag of sand without tripping a trap. While
Athletics is appropriate for gross physical
activities, most things requiring manual speed and
precision falls under this Skill (that said, if you’re
picking a lock, use Burglary).
Using Sleight of Hand is usually a contest against a
target’s Alertness Skill, if the target is on guard
they gain a +2 bonus, however a distraction can
negate this.
16
Stealth
This is the ability to remain unseen and unheard.
Directly opposed by Alertness or Investigation,
this ability covers everything from skulking in the
shadows to hiding behind a door.
Environmental conditions can greatly affect the
ability to use Stealth, the table below suggests
some modifiers to apply to the Stealth Skill roll.
Table – Stealth Skill Modifiers
Modifier Environment
+4 Pitch black, no visibility
+2 Dark, smoke, thick fog, no clear line of
sight, greatly diminished visibility
0 Dim lighting, cluttered line of sight.
-2 Good Lighting, clear line of sight
-4 Bright lighting, clear area
Survival
Survival is a very broad Skill covering virtually
every sort of outdoor activity from wilderness
survival to animal handling and riding.
For determining whether a character is able to
survive in an environment, the GM should set a
Difficulty appropriate to the harshness of the
environment; success allows the character to
survive. If required the character can also help a
number of other characters equal to the Effect to
survive as well.
When handling animals Survival is often used in a
Contest against the animal’s Resolve.
A successful Survival Test against a Mediocre (+0)
Difficulty allows for a hide to be built that allows
Survival to complement Stealth whilst in it. The
hide lasts for one day, plus a number of extra days
equal to the Effect.
Weapons
This is the Skill for fighting with weapons,
including swords, knives, axes, clubs and whips.
The Weapons Skill also covers the ability to throw
small handheld weapons up to one zone away, or
to use weapons (like a whip) with unusually long
reach to attack adjacent zones, so a character
would use this Skill to be a good knife fighter and
knife thrower.
As a combat Skill, Weapons inherently carries the
ability to defend oneself in a fight and as such,
may be rolled for defence.

Stunts
Stunts exist to provide guaranteed situational
benefits, special abilities and even minor powers,
under particular circumstances.
A Stunt may grant a character the ability to use a
Skill under unusual circumstances, such as using it
in a broader array of situations, substituting it for
another Skill, or using it in a complementary
fashion to another Skill. A Stunt might allow a
character to gain an effect roughly equal to two
shifts, when used in a specific way, or otherwise
grant other small effects. Put more simply, Stunts
allow the usual rules about Skills to be broken – or
at least bent.
Games Masters, and players under GM
supervision, are encouraged to create their own
Stunts to fit their game. To help with this process
Free Fate suggests four templates for Stunts. These
templates provide guidelines on how to create
distinct and balanced Stunts. Players and GMs are
encouraged to give a name to a particular
implementation of a template for ease of reference.
By doing this, it is possible to build up an
extensive list of different Stunts.
Stunt Templates
Concentration
A concentration stunt provides a character with a
+1 bonus to a particular Skill when using that Skill
in a particular manner. The scope of this use is
quite broad (but does not cover all uses of the
skill).
For example, a concentration stunt for the
Weapons skill could be when wielding bladed
weapons – be they swords, knives or axes. A
character would gain a +1 bonus to Weapons Skill
Tests when using such a weapon, but not when
using clubs, staffs or whips.
When David was creating his character Trevor Maples
he and Sarah his GM created a Concentration Stunt
that they called ‚Criminal Snitches‛. Trevor gains a +1
bonus to the Contacting Skill when gathering
information about criminal activity in the city. This
bonus is not gained when using Contacting to learn
about any other subjects (e.g. political funding sources,
which actor is secretly seeing that new pop star etc).
Specialisation
A specialisation stunt provides a character with a
+2 bonus when using a Skill in a very specific way.
For example, a specialisation stunt for the
Weapons skill could apply when a character is
wielding a particular type of sword, for example a
katana.
If the character also has a concentration stunt that
overlaps with this specialisation, only apply the +2
bonus from the specialisation.
David also created a specialisation stunt for his
character called ‚Police Interrogation‛. Trevor gains a
+2 bonus to the Intimidation Skill when interrogating a
suspect in an official police interview.
David and Sarah agree that this means an interview in
a police station interview room, with another police
officer present and the interview being recorded.
Skill Switch
A skill switch stunt allows a character to use one
Skill in place of another when performing a
particular task. The scope of such use is similar to
that of a concentration stunt.
For example, a skill switch stunt may allow the
Athletics Skill to be used instead of Survival to ride
horses and other mounts.
David and Sarah devised the skill switch stunt
‚Surroundings Read‛, which allows the Investigation
Skill to be used instead of Empathy to get a read on
someone when speaking with them in their home,
workplace, car or favourite hangout. If trying to assess
someone away from those environments David will need
to use Trevor’s Empathy Skill; which defaults to
Mediocre (+0).
Benefit
A benefit stunt is the catchall category for any
other stunt that doesn’t conform to the previous
three templates. Benefit stunts can provide a
character with access to resources, equipment,
special abilities and other qualities.
When creating benefit stunts some will appear
more powerful than others, if the GM and players
are happy to have such stunts available, then they
should feel free to incorporate them into their
game.
However, if such imbalance is not desired, there
are a few methods to limit the power such benefit
stunts may have, so that they are in line with other
benefit stunts.
Fate Point Expenditure
One simple manner to limit any possible abuse of a
powerful stunt is to require the player spend a Fate
Point in order to gain access to the stunt’s benefit.
Joe wants to create a Stunt that lets his ex-con character
Mickey act first in every exchange of a conflict. Sarah
finds this too overpowering, however requiring a Fate
Point to be spent each exchange provides a more
balanced stunt, one which Joe calls ‚I’m on Top of it!‛
17
Pre-requisites Uses per Session
Some Stunts may have prerequisites in the form of A third way of limiting the power of a benefit
other Stunts that have to be gained before the stunt is to impose a restriction on the number of
benefit stunt can be used. This makes the more times it can be used per game session.
powerful stunt more difficult to obtain, and any
Joe’s character Mickey is also a gambler, and Joe
character who does meet the pre-requisites has
suggests a stunt that will allow him to use Mickey’s
shown a particular degree of focus on one concept
Gambling Skill instead of Resources to make purchases.
that may leave weaknesses in other areas. Thus,
Joe argues that this represents the winnings his
the powerful stunt is more balanced against stunts
character accumulates in games of chance ‚off screen‛.
that any character can take.
This initially sounds like a Skill Switch stunt to Sarah,
Joe is really focused on making his character Mickey
except for the fact that Joe hasn’t suggested a reduced
able to act first in a conflict and suggests another stunt
scope in which the switch can occur; Joe wants to be able
that provides a +1 bonus to his Alertness Skill Rating
to use Gambling all the time instead of Resources.
when determining initiative in a physical conflict.
Knowing Joe has already assigned Mickey a Great (+4)
Sarah thinks this is reasonable as it is effectively just a
Gambling Skill and has a number of gambling related
Concentration stunt.
Aspects he could invoke to gain further bonuses, Sarah
However, Joe wants to be able to take the stunt multiple
is reluctant to allow this stunt without a severe
times with the bonuses stacking with one another.
restriction. She states Joe can have the stunt but it can
Sarah thinks that this may be too powerful, but not
only be used once per game session, explaining that
wanting to say no, she allows it but enforces a pre-
even with this limit Mickey will likely be able to buy
requisite. In order to take this new stunt (which Joe
something with a cost of Great every session. Joe
calls ‚Ready for Anything‛) a character will need the
accepts and names the stunt simply ‚Winnings‛.
‚I’m on Top of it!‛ stunt. Sarah reasons that at least
this means a character will have one less stunt available Combined Limits
to use to take ‚Ready for Anything‛. Some especially powerful stunts may still seem too
Joe happily agrees and uses up three of his character’s imbalanced even with one of the above
stunts to take ‚I’m on Top of it!‛ and two instances of restrictions. In these instances more than one type
‚Ready for Anything‛. of restriction may be needed in order to balance
It is also possible to have pre-requisites in the form the stunt.
of Aspects rather than other stunts. This ensures In a previous FATE game Maria played a burly soldier,
there is always a particular aspect to compel in able to suffer a lot of punishment. In addition to having
exchange for taking the stunt. a high Endurance Skill, Maria created the ‚One Hit to
David suggests to Sarah a stunt that will allow his the Body‛ stunt that allowed her character to pay a Fate
character to call upon a number of police officer point and ignore the effects of one attack per game
Minions (see page 27) to act as backup. session. Maria found this stunt extremely useful
despite the two restrictions and saved it to avoid attacks
Sarah has previously used a stunt called Minions that
where an enemy got an especially lucky shot in with a
provides either 6 Fair or 12 Average Minions (see
powerful weapon.
Appendix A) however she feels David’s suggestion is
different in that these Minions will have official Sample Benefit Stunts
authority to enforce the law. A number of sample Benefit Stunts are provided in
Sarah states that such a stunt requires the character to Appendix A; these can be used by players and
have an Aspect that identifies him as an active member GMs when creating characters.
of the police (or other security service). This will allow
her as GM to compel the Aspect to sometimes make the
backup unavailable, and also to ensure the character has
some motivation to use the backup responsibly.
David agrees to the pre-requisite and names the benefit
stunt ‚Police Backup‛.

18

Conflicts
The stories often include moments of intense
action and social interaction, times when the
insults and lead starts flying or swords start
swinging whilst wits are challenged.
Running Conflicts
Once a conflict begins, the GM should regulate the
flow of the action using the following pattern.
1. Frame the scene
2. Establish initiative
3. Begin exchange
a. Take actions
b. Resolve actions
c. Begin a new exchange
Framing the Scene
The GM briefly describes the location in which the
conflict occurs, declaring any obvious Aspects of
the scene. If the scene takes place in a broad area,
the GM declares the zones the scene will cover,
and in which zone each character begins.
The GM should also determine whether any
participants begin the conflict surprised (e.g.
failing an Alertness Test to spot an ambusher). A
surprised character’s first Defence is considered to
be only Mediocre (+0).
Zones
Zones are loosely defined areas that help
adjudicate which characters may interact with each
other. Generally, people in the same zone can
touch each other; people one zone apart can throw
things at each other, and people two (and
sometimes three) zones apart can shoot each other.
Moving from one zone to another may be
relatively simple; however sometimes there are
barriers to moving between zones – walls,
staircases, chasms, doorways etc – that require a
character use a bit more effort to move zones.
Establish Initiative
The order of characters’ actions is determined at
the beginning of the conflict, with characters acting
from highest to lowest Alertness Skill (for physical
conflicts) or Empathy (for social conflicts).
Ties in initiative are resolved in favour of
characters with a higher Resolve. Any remaining
ties are in favour of the player characters (if a tie is
between a player character and a supporting
character), or the player closest to the GM’s right
(if the tie is between player characters).
The initiative order is used for the entire conflict.
Begin Exchanges
An exchange is a variable period of time during
which all characters involved in the conflict get to
act. Actions occur in order of initiative as
determined in the previous step.
In turn, each player (or the GM for supporting
characters) announces the action his character is
going to take. This action is usually either an:
Attack – an attempt to directly inflict Stress
and / or Consequence onto an opponent, or
Manoeuvre – an attempt to change the
situation in some way, affecting the
environment or other people, but not in a way
that directly harms them
Once the action is declared, the GM and player
resolve the action according to the rules described
previously and guidance given below.
Once the action has been resolved the next
character gets to act. Once all actions have been
taken a new exchange is started.
Attacks
An attack is an attempt to force the attacker’s
agenda on a target, by attempting to injure them,
by bullying them, or by some other means.
An attack is resolved as a contest, with the player
rolling his character’s attack Skill against a
Difficulty equal to the supporting character’s Skill
used in defence, or the player rolling his
character’s defence Skill against a Difficulty equal
to the opponent’s attack Skill, depending upon
whether the player character is attacking or being
attacked. If for some reason a player character is
attacking a player character, only the attacking
character’s Skill is rolled.
Not all attacks are necessarily violent. An attempt
to persuade or distract someone is also a sort of
attack. When determining whether or not the
attack rules apply, simply look for two characters
in conflict, an agenda (or ‚want‛) pushed by the
acting character, and the target or obstacle to that
agenda, the defending (or ‚responding‛) character.
The Skills used to attack and defend depend on the
nature of the attacker’s agenda.
Table – Attack and Defence Skills
Purpose Attack Skill Defence Skill
Wound Fists, Guns, or Fists, Athletics, or
or kill Weapons Weapons
Deceive Deceit Resolve or Empathy
Scare Intimidation Resolve
Charm Rapport Resolve or Deceit
19
A successful attack inflicts an amount of Stress on
its target equal to the number of Shifts on the
attack (the amount by which the attack skill
exceeded the Difficulty, or the amount by which
the Defense skill failed by) plus any weapon Stress
bonus and less any Stress reduction due to armour.
As described on page 7, David’s character Trevor shot a
thug and achieved 3 shifts on the attack roll. The thug
suffers a base of 3 points of Stress plus the bonus from
the weapon (+2 for a handgun) for a total of 5 Stress
points. As this was a physical attack this Stress is
marked off against the thug’s Physical Stress Track.
Defence and Spin
If a character who is defending against an attack
achieves an Effect of 3 or more shifts he gains
‚Spin‛. Spin provides a +1 bonus or -1 penalty to
the very next test made by anyone in the conflict.
The only qualifier for using Spin is that the player
must explain how his character was able to help or
hinder, even if it’s just as simple as shouting some
encouragement or providing a distraction. A
player might not always be able to justify using
Spin. Spin that isn’t used on the next action simply
goes away.
Carrying on from the example above, Sarah the GM has
the thug try to grab Maria’s character Alison to use as a
shield against any further attacks by Trevor.
Sarah states that this will be an attack using the thug’s
Fair (+2) Fists Skill. Maria elects to have Alison try to
duck out of the reach of the thug by using her Average
(+1) Athletics Skill. Maria rolls the dice, resulting in a
4 on the Plus Die and a 5 on the Minus Die.
Maria applies the Plus Die result to increase her
Average (+1) Skill Rating for a Superb (+5) Effort. This
exceeds the thugs Fists Skill by 3 shifts and so Alison
dodges the thug’s grasp and gains Spin. As it is
Alison’s action next Maria elects to take the +1 bonus to
Alison’s action.
Manoeuvres
When a character tries to jump to grab a rope,
throw dust in an enemy’s eyes, draw eyes upon
himself in a ballroom, or take a debate down a
tangential path – that’s a manoeuvre.
A manoeuvre is either a simple action or a contest,
with the Difficulty determined by the nature of the
manoeuvre. A manoeuvre that doesn’t target an
opponent is resolved as a simple action.
Most simple manoeuvres like this result in a
character rolling against a GM set Difficulty and
doing something with the resulting shifts,
potentially adding a temporary Aspect to the scene
(such as ‚Barn on Fire!‛).
20
A manoeuvre can also target an opponent, and, if
successful, place a temporary Aspect on him. The
opponent can either accept the temporary Aspect,
or spend a Fate point to avoid accepting it.
Introducing an Aspect by performing a manoeuvre
provides one free tag of that Aspect as described in
Introducing Aspects, page 10.
Maria asks Sarah the GM whether there is anything
within reach that Alison can throw into the thugs eyes,
Sarah’s reply is ‚You tell me!‛
Taking the hint, Maria spends a Fate Point to make a
minor narrative declaration (see Fate Points, page 8)
and states that a half empty pot of paint sits on the wall
directly behind where Alison is standing.
Maria states that Alison grabs the pot and throws the
contents at the thug. Sarah believes that this is a
manoeuvre rather than a direct attack even though
Maria will be rolling her Mediocre (+0) Weapons Skill
against the Thug’s Average (+1) Athletics Skill.
Sarah further states that grabbing the paint pot is a
supplemental action (see below) and therefore Maria’s
Test suffers a -1 penalty, however this is cancelled out
by the Spin bonus gained previously.
Maria rolls well for an Effort of Fair (+2), a success!
Maria declares that the thug now has the temporary
Aspect of ‚Blinded‛.
Temporary Aspects
Temporary Aspects that result from manoeuvres
are usually ‚fragile‛. A fragile Aspect exists for
only a single tag and / or may be cleared away by a
simple change of circumstances. Consider
someone who uses a manoeuvre to take aim at a
target, placing an ‚In My Sights‛ Aspect on the
target. Once the shot’s taken, the aim goes away –
this is clearly fragile. But it could get lost even
before the first shot, if the character who (likely
unwittingly) has the Aspect on him manages to
break line of sight or move significantly.
Some Aspects that result from manoeuvres can be
‚sticky‛. Sticky Aspects don’t go away after they
are first tagged, allowing people to spend Fate
points to continue to tag them. The GM is
encouraged to be much more picky about whether
or not to allow a sticky Aspect to result from a
manoeuvre.
In many cases, the GM may require that the
manoeuvring character gain Spin (see page 7) in
order to succeed at placing a sticky Aspect.
Sarah states that the ‚Blinded‛ Aspect will exist until
the thug spends a supplemental action (see below)
wiping the paint from his eyes.
Luckily, Trevor is the next character to act and Maria
passes the free tag to him to use. Even if Trevor fails to
subdue the thug in that exchange, the thug will suffer a
penalty on his action for taking the time to wipe away
the paint.
Sample Manoeuvres
Blinding
Whether it’s throwing sand in someone’s eyes,
spraying someone with a harsh chemical or tossing
a can of paint in his face, the goal is the same: keep
him from being able to see. This likely involves the
attacker rolling Weapons and the defender rolling
Athletics, with the manoeuvre succeeding if the
attacker gets at least one shift.
A successful manoeuvre puts the Aspect ‚Blinded‛
on the target, which may be tagged to add to the
defence of his target, or compelled to cause him to
change the subject or direction of an action. It can’t
force a character to take an action he doesn’t want
to (so a blinded character can’t be compelled to
walk off a cliff if the character refuses to move).
Disarming
A successful disarm manoeuvre forces the target to
drop his weapon or otherwise renders the weapon
temporarily useless. The target must either spend
an action to become re-armed, or pick up the
weapon as a supplemental action.
A supplemental action is normally a -1 penalty to
the main action, but when a disarm manoeuvre is
used, the shifts on the manoeuvre increase the
penalty. For example, if the disarm attempt
succeeds with three shifts, when the target tries to
recover his weapon, he will suffer a -4 penalty (-1
for the usual penalty, plus an additional -3) to his
action that exchange.
His defensive rolls are not directly affected by this
penalty, but they are indirectly affected; without a
weapon in hand, he can’t use the Weapons Skill to
defend (Athletics and Fists are still options).
Pushing
Pushing a target requires a successful attack
(usually Fists or Might) and must generate a
number of shifts equal to 1 per 100 lbs or part
thereof (2 shifts for most people) +1 for each zone
the target will be pushed (the +1 is basically the
usual cost for moving one zone). So pushing a
target one zone would require 3 shifts, two zones
would require 4 shifts etc.
A push moves both the target and the acting
character into the destination zone. Any
applicable border conditions affect the roll to push.
Throw or Knockback
It’s possible for a character to knock something or
someone away from himself, without moving.
Knockback covers any manoeuvre that can
accomplish this, including throws.
To knock something back one zone requires the
manoeuvre succeed with 1 shift plus 1 per 100 lbs
or part thereof (so an average person would
require 3 shifts to knockback one zone, the same as
a Push).
However, each additional zone costs as much as
the previous zone did, plus one, so that the cost
increases dramatically over distance (so an average
person would require 7 shifts to knockback two
zones, 3 for the first zone and 4 for the second).
Other Actions
Free Actions
Some kinds of actions are ‚free‛; they don’t count
as the character’s action during an exchange,
whether or not a roll of the dice is involved.
Rolling for defence against an attack is a free
action, so are minor actions like casting a quick
glance at a doorway, flipping a switch right next to
the character, or shouting a short warning.
There is no hard limit on the number of free
actions a character may take during an exchange;
however the GM should impose a limit if a player
is taking excessive advantage of this rule.
Full Defence
A character can opt to do nothing but protect
himself for an exchange. By foregoing his normal
action, he gains a +2 on all reactions and defences
for that exchange. Characters who are defending
may declare it at the beginning of the exchange
rather than waiting for their turn to come around.
Similarly, if they have not acted in the exchange at
the time when they are first attacked, they may
declare a full defence at that point, again foregoing
their normal action for the exchange.
Hold Your Action
A character can opt not to act when his turn comes
around. When a character takes a hold action, he
has the option of taking his turn any time later in
the exchange. He must explicitly take his turn after
someone else has finished their turn and before the
next person begins. He cannot wait until someone
declares what they’re trying to do, then interrupt
them by taking his turn (although as an optional
rule, the GM may allow this if the player spends a
Fate point).
21
Block Actions
When the character’s action is preventative –
trying to keep something from happening, rather
than taking direct action to make something
happen – he is performing a block action.
He declares what he’s trying to prevent and what
Skill he’s using to do it. Players may declare a
block against any sort of action or actions and may
theoretically use any Skill, but unless the block is
simple and clear, the GM may assess penalties
based upon how hard it would be, or how much of
a stretch it would be. Players should never be able
to ‚cover all bases‛ with a single block.
A blocking character can declare that he is
protecting another character. He makes this
declaration on his turn, and rolls the Skill he’s
using to block; the result is the block strength.
When, later that exchange, any enemy tries to
attack the protected character, the protected
character gets the benefit of either the blocker’s
defence or his own, whichever is better.
For other types of blocks, the blocking character
declares the block on his turn, and rolls the Skill
he’s using to block, subject to any penalties
imposed by the GM. The result is the block
strength. Later that exchange, every time another
character tries to perform the blocked action, he
enters into a contest with the blocker. The
character trying to get past the block rolls the Skill
he’s using for the action (not a Skill specifically
appropriate to the block), and compares it to the
block strength. If the attacker gets at least one shift,
he successfully overcomes the block.
Trying to get past a block always takes an action,
though the GM may grant similar latitude in
deciding what Skill is being used to get past it.
Even if the action is normally ‚free‛, getting past
the block takes additional effort, and thus the GM
can declare that it takes up the player’s action for
the exchange.
Supplemental Actions
Sometimes a player wants his character to perform
a simple action in addition to his main action.
Examples range from drawing a weapon and
attacking, to firing off a signal flare whilst
intimidating the wolves at the edge of the firelight.
Such supplemental actions impose a -1 penalty on
the character’s primary action roll (effectively
spending one shift of Effect in advance). When in
doubt about which is the primary action and
which is the supplemental one, the supplemental
action is the one which would normally require no
dice roll.
22
Sometimes the GM may decide a supplemental
action is particularly complicated or difficult, and
may increase the penalty appropriately.
Movement
Movement is one of the most common
supplemental actions. When it is reasonably easy
to move from one zone to the next, a character may
move one zone as a supplemental action.
If a player wants his character to move further
than that, he must perform a primary (not
supplemental) sprint action, which entails rolling
Athletics and allowing the character to move a
number of zones equal to the shifts generated.
Sometimes, it is more difficult to move from one
zone to the next, such as when there is some sort of
barrier (like a fence or some debris) or there is
some other difficulty (like getting from a rooftop to
the street below and vice versa). This movement
complication is called a border. The numeric value
of that border increases the penalty for a
supplemental move action and subtracts shifts
from a sprint action.
Stress and Consequences
Stress
Stress represents non-specific difficulties a
character can encounter in a conflict.
Stress received from a physical attack is marked off
against the Physical Stress Track (mark off a
number of boxes equal to the Stress inflicted). This
represents bruising, minor cuts, and fatigue.
Stress suffered from a social attack is marked off
against the Composure Stress Track and represents
getting flustered, embarrassed or losing control of
the situation.
When a characters suffers Stress that equals or
exceeds his Stress track he is ‚Taken Out‛, losing
the conflict, unless the Stress can be absorbed by
taking Consequences (see below).
At the end of a scene, unless the GM says
otherwise, a character’s Stress tracks clear out;
minor scrapes and bruises, trivial gaffes and
embarrassments, and momentary fears pass away.
Consequences
Stress is transitory, but sometimes conflicts have
lasting consequences, injuries, embarrassments,
phobias, and the like. These are collectively called
Consequences and are a special kind of Aspect.
Consequences reduce the amount of Stress taken
from a particular blow but in turn can be tagged,
compelled (and even invoked) like any other
Aspect and can have lasting effects.
Just like any other Aspect that a player introduces
to a scene, the player of the attacking character
who inflicted the Consequence gets the first tag of
that Consequence for free.
Consequences fall into four levels of severity,
Minor, Major, Severe and Extreme. A character can
only carry three Consequences at a time (barring
Stunts which may allow more) and only one
Consequence of each severity level (i.e. a character
cannot carry three Minor Consequences, but could
have a Minor, Severe and an Extreme
Consequence.
Whenever the character is hit for Stress, he may
use up one or more of these Consequence ‚slots‛
to reduce the hit, describing each Consequence as a
particular kind of wound or setback that is not
easy to shake off.
Minor Consequences negate 2 Stress points
Major Consequences negate 4 Stress points
Severe Consequences negate 6 Stress points
Extreme Consequences negate 8 Stress points
The exact nature of the Consequence should
depend upon the conflict – an injury might be
appropriate for a physical struggle, an emotional
state might be apt for a social one. Unlike the
temporary Aspects resulting from manoeuvres,
Consequences tend to hang around for a while and
take time to fade.
Following a short scuffle, during which Trevor suffers 1
point of Stress, Trevor finally handcuffs the blinded
thug. However, in all the excitement Trevor fails to
notice the thug’s friend sneaking up behind with a knife.
A failed defence test results in Trevor taking another 4
Stress! Added to the 1 point of Stress he has already
suffered this would equal his Physical Stress Track of 5
boxes. This means Trevor will be ‚Taken Out‛ unless
he takes a Consequence.
David elects for Trevor to take a Minor Consequence
which he describes as a ‚Nasty cut on his leg‛. This
negates 2 Stress meaning the attack only deals 2 Stress
points. David marks off the 2 Stress on Trevor’s
Physical Stress Track taking the total to 3; he also
writes down the Minor Consequence.
Despite help from Alison, Trevor is unable to subdue
this second attacker and again is struck, this time for 3
Stress points. Trevor needs to suffer another
Consequence or be Taken Out. As he has already taken
a Minor Consequence David elects for Trevor to suffer a
Major Consequence ‚Stabbed in the hand‛.
A Major Consequence can negate up to 4 points of
Stress, however the attack would only have inflicted 3
points. No Stress is suffered and David writes down
the new Consequence.
Normally, the person taking the Consequence gets
to describe what it is, so long as it’s compatible
with the nature of the attack that inflicted the
harm; as always the GM is the final arbiter on what
is reasonable for the circumstances and severity.
Taken Out
If a character suffers Stress that equals or exceeds
his Stress track and has already taken three
Consequences then the character is Taken Out.
The character has decisively lost the conflict, and
unlike the other levels of Consequence, his fate is
in the hands of his opponent, who may decide
how the character loses. The outcome must remain
within the realm of reason – very few people truly
die from shame, so having someone die as a result
of a duel of wits is unlikely, but having them
embarrass themselves and flee in disgrace is not
unreasonable.
Being able to determine how a character loses is a
very powerful ability, but there are a few limits:
First, the effect is limited to the character who has
been Taken Out. The victor may declare that the
loser has made a fool of himself in front of the
admiral, but he cannot decide how the admiral
will respond (or even if the admiral was
particularly bothered).
Second, the manner of the Taken Out result must
be limited to the scope of the conflict. After the
victor wins a debate with someone, he cannot
decide that the loser concedes his point and the
loser gives him all the money in his pockets –
money was never part of the conflict, so it’s not an
appropriate part of the resolution.
Third, the effect must be reasonable for the target.
People do not (normally) explode when killed, so
that cannot be a part of taking someone out.
Similarly, a diplomat at the negotiating table is not
going to give the victor the ‘keys’ to the empire –
that’s probably beyond the scope of his authority,
and even if it’s not, it’s unlikely something he
would give these away under any circumstances.
What he will do is make a deal that is very much
in the victor’s favour and possibly even thank him
for it.
Lastly, players are not always comfortable with
being on the receiving end of this and may, if they
wish, spend all the Fate points they have left
(minimum of one) and demand a different
outcome, and the GM (or winning character)
should then make every effort to allow them to
lose in a fashion more to their liking. That said, if
this is a real concern, the loser may want to
concede somewhere before things reach this point
(see Concessions, below).
23
Concessions
Any time a character takes a Consequence, he also
has the option of offering a Concession. A
Concession is essentially equivalent to
surrendering, and is the best way to end a fight
before someone is Taken Out (short of moving
away and ending the conflict).
The character inflicting the damage can always opt
to not take the Concession, but doing so is a clear
indication that the fight will be a bloody one
(literally or metaphorically). If the GM declares
that the Concession was a reasonable offer, then
the character who offered it gains one Fate point,
and the character who refused it loses one.
The Concession is an offer of the terms under
which the character is Taken Out. If the
Concession is accepted, the conceding character is
immediately Taken Out, but rather than letting the
victor determine the manner of his defeat, he is
defeated according to the terms of his Concession.
Many conflicts end with a Concession when one
party or the other simply does not want to risk
taking Major or Severe Consequences as a result of
the conflict, or when neither party wants to risk a
Taken Out result that might come at too high a
price.
David, realising that Trevor is only another couple of
Stress points away from suffering a third Consequence
(which must be either Severe or Extreme) decides to
offer a Concession to the second thug.
He suggests to Sarah, the GM, that Trevor painfully
retrieves the keys to the handcuffs from his pocket and
throws them to the thug shouting ‚Take your damn
friend!‛ before collapsing against a dumpster holding
his bloody hand.
Sarah considers the suggestion – losing their handcuffed
suspect is a significant setback to Trevor and Alison.
Sarah clarifies that Trevor won’t be able to try to stop
the thugs escaping if he accepts the Concession as,
although not unconscious or dead, Trevor will still be
considered Taken Out. David agrees.
Of course, Maria’s character Alison has not been Taken
Out, and she may still attempt to confront the thugs –
but any such attempt will be without Trevor’s help.
Recovery
As stated previously, unless the GM says
otherwise, a character’s Stress tracks clear out after
the scene has resolved. Consequences however
can take longer to recover from.
Minor Consequence – A few minutes
Major Consequence – A few hours to A few days
Severe Consequence – A week to A few weeks
Extreme Consequence – A few months
24
Recovering from Minor Consequences
Minor Consequences are removed any time the
character has the opportunity to sit down and take
a breather for a few minutes. These Consequences
will last until the end of the current scene, and will
usually be removed after that. The only exception
is if there is no break between scenes – if the
character doesn’t get a chance to take five, the
Consequence will remain in place.
Recovering from Major Consequences
Major Consequences require the character get a
little more time and distance. Depending on the
type of Major Consequence they remain in place
until the character has had the opportunity to take
anything from a few hours of ‚downtime‛ up to a
few days.
This may mean getting treatment for an injury,
sleeping in a comfortable bed, spending time with
a charming member of the opposite sex, or sitting
on a beach to ‘forget about it all’ or anything else
so long as it’s appropriate to the Consequence. An
afternoon of hiking might be a great way to get
past a ‚Heartbreak‛ Consequence, but it’s not a
great choice for a ‚Bad Ankle‛.
Recovering from Severe Consequences
Severe Consequences require substantial
downtime, measured in a week to a few weeks.
Generally this means that such a Consequence will
linger for the duration of a session, but could be
cleared up before the next adventure begins or at
least reduced one level.
Recovering from Extreme Consequences
Extreme Consequences generally put characters in
accident and emergency, in jail, in the nearest
rehab, perhaps on their deathbed or fried within
an inch of his life. It’s likely that the character will
be left with lasting effects in the form of an Aspect
(such as ‘Prosthetic Leg’ or ‘Branded a traitor’).
These could require sophisticated medical
treatment usually only found in major cities, or
trained counsellors on hand 24 hours a day to stop
you going over the edge. Healing or recovery will
take a few months. Needless to say the experience
should have a profound effect on the character and
result in the change of some of their Skills and
Aspects.
No Time to Recover
If the character is in back-to-back sessions with no
in-game time between them, such as in a multi-
part adventure, he gets a break; any Consequences
he begins the session with are treated as one level
lower for how quickly they’re removed.
Medical Attention Other Sources of Injury
A character trained in the Science Skill can attempt
to provide first aid to an injured ally during a
Falling
conflict and also provide long term care If a character jumps or falls from a height he may
afterwards. suffer damage in the form of Consequences (see
above). The severity of the Consequence is
First Aid determined by the height of the fall per the table
When using the Science Skill to perform first aid in below.
the middle of a conflict, the character must take a When a character falls, an Athletics test should be
full action with a target who’s not trying to do made. If the Effort is less than Mediocre (+0), the
anything else (i.e., forfeiting his next action). fall is treated as one category worse than it is. If
Make a Science Skill test against a Difficulty of the Effort equals or beats a Difficulty based on the
Mediocre (+0); if it succeeds with at least one shift, height of the fall, treat the fall as one step shorter
the subject may remove one point of Stress from
Table - Falling
his physical Stress track. Every two shifts beyond
Fall Height Difficulty Consequence
the first improves this effect by one; for example,
with five shifts, a character can remove three Short 20 feet Fair (+2) Minor
Stress. Medium 40 feet Great (+4) Major
Success can also be used to ‚stabilise‛ someone Long 100 feet Fantastic (+6) Severe
who has taken a Severe or lesser Consequence that Extreme 100+ ft. Not possible Taken Out
would appear to be life-threatening (e.g., a
‚Bleeding to Death Aspect‛) – in game terms, this
has the effect of limiting the extent to which the Fire
Aspect can be compelled. A given person can’t be Fire is rated by its intensity. At the beginning of an
the target of more than one first aid action in an exchange, a fire inflicts its intensity in physical
exchange. Stress on every person in the scene. Intensity
Long Term Care works as follows.
When using Science to address someone’s long- Table – Fire Intensity
term injuries, the character will need some kind of Intensity Description
medical kit or equipment and must spend a scene 0 The building is on fire, but the fire can
providing proper medical attention. be avoided.
This is a use of Science to directly address
1 Almost everything is on fire, and the
someone’s physical, long-term Consequences. If
heat is pressing in on you in waves.
the roll is successful, then the time it takes the
2 Everything is on fire, and the flames
subject to recover from the Consequence is
lick up near you.
reduced by one step on the time table.
3 Inferno! There may well be nowhere
At the GM’s discretion, when the doctor in
to run; you have only moments to live.
question gains Spin on the test, the time to recover
may be reduced by two steps instead of one.
Multiple such attempts may not be made. The Explosions
Difficulty of the roll depends on the severity of the
Explosions and other area attacks have the
Consequence per the table below.
potential to do damage against everyone within
Table – Medical Care Difficulties their radius. They are deadly and can end a fight
Consequence Difficulty to Reduce Time or alter a scenario significantly once used.
Minor Mediocre (+0) Explosives have three ratings: Complexity, Area,
Major Fair (+2) and Force.

Severe Great (+4) – requires Great level
medical equipment or facility
Extreme Fantastic (+6) – requires Fantastic
level Medical facility
Complexity is the Difficulty to disarm the bomb
once the fuse or timer has been triggered.
The Area of an explosion determines how many
zones the explosion will cover. An area of 1 means
the explosion affects only one zone. An area of 2
means it affects one zone and every zone adjacent

25
to it, and an Area of 3 expands it out to all zones
adjacent to that.
The Force of an explosion is a measure of how
dangerous it is once it finally detonates. When an
explosive detonates in a zone that a character is in,
the Force value is the Difficulty of the free action
Athletics test to take cover behind something solid
enough to take some of the brunt of the blast.
People unaware that a detonation is impending
automatically fail this roll. If successful, the
character takes a Major Consequence (unless he
generates Spin, in which case he makes a
miraculous escape). If he fails, he is Taken Out
immediately and suffers an Extreme Consequence.
The Force of an explosion drops by one for each
zone it crosses, so characters in an adjacent zone
have to deal with a Force level that’s one lower. If
there is a border between the zones that would
provide some cover (like a wall) it also reduces the
Force by the value of the border. The Force of an
explosion drops to zero once it reaches its
maximum radius indicated by the area.
Throwing Explosives
Throwing an explosive as an attack works in two
stages. When a character throws an explosive, it’s
an attack using Weapons against a Difficulty of
Mediocre.
If successful, the explosive lands in an appropriate
zone (thrown weapons have a range of one zone),
and if not, it lands in the thrower’s zone.
When the explosive lands, everyone within a zone
covered by its Area rolls Athletics against the
attacker’s Weapons result (from above). If they
gain Spin on this defense roll, they may move one
zone away from the zone the explosive is in by
‚diving clear‛ as a free action.
The thrower has the option to reduce everyone’s
Difficulty to dive clear (he may not want to make it
too difficult for his allies to dive away), as long as
that Difficulty is not reduced below Mediocre.
Anything short of Spin has no effect – they’ll have
to hope that they get a turn before it goes off to
move away, otherwise they will have to deal with
a detonation scenario as described above.
If the thrower makes a bad throw – missing the
Mediocre target entirely – then as noted, the
explosive lands in the thrower’s zone, with the
Difficulty for the thrower to dive free increased by
one for each step he missed the target. The thrower
does not have the option to reduce it, though in
such a circumstance everyone else merely faces a
Mediocre Difficulty to dive clear.
26
Poisons
Poisons have a Potency and a Subtlety Rating.
Potency determines how hard it is to resist and
treat, whilst Subtlety is the Difficulty to detect or
analyze it (using Alertness, Investigation or
Science) – either to prevent exposure or determine
the cause of someone’s ailment. Poisons also need
a means of application, e.g. ingestion, inhaled or
injected.
Fast Acting Poisons
Fast Acting poisons inflict Stress on a target, which
may reflect lethal damage, or knockout drugs.
Such poisons are often found on the blades of
enemies and tips of blowgun darts.
When such a poison is introduced into the system,
the victim must make an Endurance Skill Test with
a Difficulty of the poison’s Potency. If the Test
fails the victim suffers a point of Stress for each
shift by which the Test failed.
The poison continues to act, with the victim
making further Endurance Tests before the first
initiative of each exchange. This repeats every
exchange until the end of the scene (at which point
the poison has run its course) or until the character
somehow stops the poison, such as with medical
treatment (or even inducing vomiting).
Many such poisons may stop if the player acquires
Spin on his Endurance Test (beating the Potency
by 3 shifts or more).
Slow Acting Poisons
Slow Acting Poisons inflict Consequences on the
victim over a prolonged period of time.
Once per scene the victim makes an Endurance
Skill Test with a Difficulty of the poison’s Potency.
If the Test fails by 3 shifts or more (the Poison
effectively gains Spin) the victim suffers a
Consequence (beginning with a Minor
Consequence if one is not already being suffered).
Regardless of severity, these Consequences do not
disappear until after the poison is cured.
This process repeats until the poison is cured or, if
the GM allows, the Victim gains Spin on an
Endurance Test.
Exotic Poisons
Rather than damaging their target, exotic poisons
put one or more additional Aspects directly on
them (as with a manoeuvre rather than an attack).
A victim must make an Endurance Test Skill Test
with a Difficulty of the poison’s Potency. If
successful the symptoms are passing, but if the
Test fails the victim immediately gains the Aspects
as described in the poison. The duration of these
effects depends upon the poison.

Supporting
Characters
Supporting characters are all the people portrayed
in the game by the Games Master, rather than the
characters of the other players, it is for this reason
that they are sometimes referred to as Non-Player
Characters (NPCs).
Supporting characters include both the friends and
foes of the players’ characters, ranging from the
cheerful bartender at the characters’ local pub, to
the corporate CEO who is behind the villainous
acts the player characters are investigating.
There are four different types of supporting
characters that are used in a game of Free FATE.
Extras Companions
Minions Named Characters
Extras
Extras are those supporting characters who don’t
often take up much ‚screen time‛ in the
adventure; they are the cast of people on the fringe
of the story, people met along the way.
Examples of Extras include the storekeeper who
sells you that roll of duct tape and happens to
mention the ‚rough looking characters‛ who were
in his store earlier, the border guard who reviews
your forged papers for a tension filled moment
before waving you through, and the politician’s
aide who stymies your attempts to get an
interview with his boss.
Often, an encounter with an extra is purely social
in nature and no Skill Tests are involved.
However, if the story may require an Extra to
make a Skill Test then the GM should refrain from
creating them as fully blown characters, but rather
define their three highest rated Skills (rarely rated
above Good) and maybe an Aspect or two.
Minions
The term ‚Minions‛ is used to refer to the large
number of faceless followers of important, named
characters, often the villains of the piece. Minions
are the bodies of the faithful that the heroes must
climb over to take on that villain.
The GM may build a villains’ mob using the
Minion Stunt (see Appendix A) but should feel
free to assign minions on an as needed basis.
Minions have two important statistics, Quality and
Quantity.
Quality
Minions may be either Average (+1), Fair (+2) or
Good (+3) quality. This quality denotes their base
effectiveness in one sort of conflict (physical, social
or mental), as well as their capacity for Stress.
Minions only have a single Stress Track against
which both Physical and Composure Stress is
marked. Average Minions can take one box of
Stress, Fair can take two, and Good can take three.
Quantity
The quantity of Minions is simply the number of
Minions present. Together, Minions act in one or
more groups, each of which is treated as a single
character in the conflict. This allows the GM to
minimize the number of dice rolls being made,
even when the player characters are facing off
against a group of twenty frothing cultists.
Minions who act together as a group are much
more effective than individual Minions, gaining a
bonus to their effective Quality for purposes of
Tests in conflicts.
Table – Minion Quantity Bonuses
Number of Minions Bonus
2 to 3 +1
4 to 6 +2
7 to 9 +3
10+ +4
As a rule of thumb, when a GM has a large
number of Minions, she should split them up into
several smaller groups – preferably one group for
each player character they face. These groups don’t
necessarily need to be equal in number; sometimes
it makes sense to pit the largest group of Minions
against the most capable opponent.
Also, grouping Minions together makes it a little
easier for the characters to eliminate several
Minions in a single action.
When Minions take Stress damage, any overflow
of damage is applied to the next Minion. This
means a solid enough effort can take out an entire
swath of Minions. The attacking character’s Stress
bonus from a weapon is only counted once, but
then any Stress reduction from armour the
Minions are wearing is equally only applied once.
Trevor Maples is continuing his investigation when he
is ambushed by a group of three ‚hoodies‛ wielding
knives. They attack as a single group.
Sarah the GM asks David to make a defence roll using
his default Mediocre (+0) Fists Skill against a Difficulty
of Fair (+2). This Difficulty is based on the hoodies
27
being Average (+1) Quality with a Quantity bonus of
+1.
David succeeds in his defence roll and actually manages
to gain spin! David elects to have Trevor attempt to
intimidate the hoodies into running off (a social attack).
David uses his Good (+3) Intimidation skill with a +1
bonus for Spin against the Difficulty of Fair (+2) –
although this is a social attack Sarah believes the
Minions’ Quality should still apply as it is in the midst
of a physical conflict.
David rolls the dice and gets a 5 on both dice, meaning
his Skill goes unmodified; this results in a final Effort of
Great (+4); an Effect of 2 shifts, and 2 Stress applied.
As the minions are only Average Quality the first
Stress point takes out one Minion, and the overflow
(another Stress point) takes out a second Minion. Sarah
describes two of the hoodies shouting ‚Run! He’s a cop‛
and then fleeing. She notes that now that only a single
Minion remains no Quantity bonus applies.
Mixed Groups
One of the main uses for Minions, be they ninjas or
yes-men, is to improve the effectiveness of their
leader. Whenever a named character and a group
of Minions are attacking the same target, they are
considered to be attached.
This has two benefits for the leader: he receives a
bonus based on the group size (including him so
even a single minion will result in a +1 bonus), and
Stress suffered is applied to Minions before it’s
applied to him. It has no benefits for the Minions,
who give up their ability to act independently, but
that’s more or less their job.
Leaving or attaching to a group is a free action,
and a character may detach from a group
automatically by moving away from it.
David reminds Sarah that he had called upon his
‚Police Backup‛ Stunt a few minutes before
encountering the hoodies and offers up a Fate Point to
have them appear now rather than later.
Sarah accepts the Fate Point (this is effectively a minor
narrative declaration) and allows David to narrate how
three uniformed police officers round the corner to join
Trevor as he stares at the last remaining hoodie. Trevor
now gains a +2 Quantity bonus for having a group of
four (himself and three Minions).
‚Give it up son, you’re nicked!‛ growls Trevor.
Alternatively, a character with the Leadership Skill
attached to a group of Minions may use his
Leadership Skill to Complement the Minions’ Skill
in Tests (see Combining Skills on page 7).
This allows for villains who don’t have much
combat Skill themselves, but who can still help out
their minions in a fight.
28
Companions
Companions are characters who are a little more
important than Minions but are not quite fully
fledged named characters in their own right.
Companions are either granted as a short-term
story element by the GM, or are established
through the purchase and use of the Contact and
Close Contacts Stunts (see page 40).
They are attached to named characters in the same
way Minion groups are, and thus grant a +1 bonus
in appropriate conflicts due to group size (a
Quantity of two including the named character).
By default, a Companion can assist in one type of
conflict (though the Scope Advance can expand
this). The type of conflict that the Companion can
assist with determines her type.
Table – Companion Types
Type Conflict
Sidekick Physical
Aide Social
Assistant Mental / Knowledge
Like Minions, Companions have a Quality rating
which by default starts at Average (+1); this can be
increased with the Quality Advance (see below).
This Quality Rating is used for all tests during a
conflict of the appropriate type.
Companions also get a single Skill column (instead
of a pyramid) with a number of Skills equal to
their Quality. For example a Good quality
Companion has one Good, one Fair and one
Average Skill. These Skills allow the Companion
to be of use outside of conflicts (unlike Minions),
and also to have some measure of ability in tasks
outside of their normal scope.
If desired the named character to whom the
Companion is attached may substitute the
Companion’s Skill level in place of his own if it’s
higher. The Quantity bonus still applies if the
named character has at least an Average rating in
the Skill in question; in effect he is providing the
Quantity bonus to his Companion.
Like Minions, Companions only have a single
Stress Track (though see the Scope Advance for
exceptions). Companions have one Stress box per
level of Quality plus one, for example a Good (+3)
quality Companion has 4 Stress boxes.
Sidekicks with the Endurance Skill and Aides &
Assistants with the Resolve Skill get extra Stress
boxes just as a character would.
In addition Companions give the named character
the ability to withstand an additional Consequence
– specifically, the Consequence that the
Companion is knocked out, kidnapped, or
otherwise removed from the conflict (the severity
of the Consequence would indicate how long the
Companion is Taken Out for).
Unless she has the Independent Advance a
Companion requires a Fate point to be spent by the
named character in order to act alone.
A Companion can have a number of Advances,
with each advance making her more capable.
Advances
Communication
The Companion has some means of
communicating with her patron in even the
strangest of circumstances (a psychic link, a
dedicated radio transceiver in a wrist watch etc).
Independent
The Companion can act independently without the
named character needing to spend a Fate Point, in
addition the Companion can access the named
character’s Fate Points and up to 2 of his Aspects
that would also apply to the Companion.
Keeping up
If the Companion’s patron has a means of
locomotion or stealth that makes it hard for the
Companion to keep up with him, then the
Companion with this advance has a similar ability.
This ability is useful only for keeping up with her
patron when attached, and for no other purpose.
Quality
Improve the Quality of a Companion by one step
(from Average to Fair, Fair to Good, and so on).
This Advance may be taken several times up to a
maximum Quality of Great.
Scope
Improve the scope of a Companion, allowing them
to assist in an additional type of conflict. This may
be taken twice, allowing the Companion to be
effective in all three scopes.
A Companion able to assist in Physical & Mental,
Physical & Social, or all three scopes of conflict has
both a Physical and Composure Stress Track and
may gain extra Stress Boxes from both the
Endurance and Resolve Skills.
Skilled
Each time this advance is taken the Companion
gets an additional column of Skills. However each
new column is one rank lower than the last
column.
For example a Good quality Companion with the
Skilled advance would have 1 Good, 2 Fair, 2
Average Skills. Another Skilled advance would
add only 1 Average Skill.
Stunt
This advance allows the Companion to take a
single Stunt and may be taken a maximum of two
times. This does not allow the Companion to take
Companions or Minions themselves.
Summonable
No matter where you are you can summon your
Companion to you. This normally takes at least
one minute but you may spend a Fate point to
accomplish it in a single round. A summoned
Companion vanishes or leaves if the summoning
character is Taken Out, and will not last more than
one scene either way. They may be summoned
again in a later scene if needed again. This advance
may only be taken once.
Maria has selected the Contact Stunt for her character
Alison Havers. Interestingly Maria asks Sarah the GM
whether this Companion can be a spirit who advises her.
Sarah sees no issue with this, though suggests that
Maria makes one of Alison’s Aspects relate to the
spiritual nature of the companion so that it can be
Invoked and Compelled in ways that will represent the
incorporeal nature of the Companion.
The Contact Stunt provides a Companion with three
Advances. Maria defines her Companion as an Expert,
able to assist in Mental and Knowledge based tasks.
One Advance is spent on Quality increasing the
Companion to be Fair (+2) Quality.
Stunt is chosen as a second Advance and is used to give
the spirit the Concentration ‚Psychic Phenomena‛
Stunt, providing a +1 bonus to the Spirit’s Mysteries
Skill when related to psychic phenomena.
The third Advance is Summonable, quite fitting for a
spirit.
The Spirit is thus a Fair (+2) Aide, with 3 Stress boxes
and two Skills; Maria choose Fair (+2) Mysteries and
Average (+1) Empathy.
Named Characters
Named characters are the other major characters in
the story who have a name, as opposed to Guard
#3. They might be major players such as the player
character’s boss, a major ally or enemy. It could be
the main henchmen or the player’s arch nemesis,
the evil alien or mad scientist.
Named characters are defined just like player
characters, with a pyramid of Skills, a set of
Aspects and Fate Points.
If desired a GM can set the apex of the Skill
pyramid (i.e. the top rated Skill) at a higher or
29
lower rating than Great (+4) – the apex Skill rating celebrity, or even another member of the
for a starting player character. entourage. Luckily they can be Taken Out with a
For example, Sarah the GM is creating a nemesis for witty put down, or a menacing glare. In an
David and Maria’s characters for the next scenario. historical game, the same sort of Minions could
Sarah wants the nemesis to be able to outclass the two represent a King’s courtiers (minus the cameras!)
characters and so sets the Skill pyramid apex as Superb
(+5). Sample Companions
This means the villain has one Skill at Superb, two at
Bodyguard (Sidekick)
Great, three at Good, four at Fair and five at Average.
Scope: Physical
Quality: Good (+3)
Aspects and Fate Points Skills: Good (+3) Endurance, Fair (+2)
Extras, Minions and Companions may have one or Intimidation, Average (+1) Drive
two Aspects if the GM desires (e.g. Obedient to a
Stunts: Brawler
fault, Skittish), however they do not gain Fate
Stress: 
Points; their Aspects exist solely to be tagged and
(two extra boxes for Endurance Skill)
compelled by others.
Advances Quality x2, Stunt
Gear: Hand gun, Kevlar Vest
Sample Minions
This companions is a surly bodyguard, who can
Security Guards fight off multiple attackers, take a bullet, glare
Scope: Physical menacingly at the shooter and still drive his charge
Quality: Average (+1) away from danger.
Quantity: Groups of 3 (+1 bonus) Helicopter Pilot (Sidekick)
Stress:    (1 box per Minion) Scope: Physical
Gear: Club, Hand gun Quality: Average (+1)
These are the stereotypical low level guards Skills: Average (+1) Pilot
providing security to a bank, science facility or Stunts: Skill Concentration ‚Helicopters‛
casino. The hand gun may not be appropriate in
Personal Aircraft
some countries (e.g. the United Kingdom).
Stress: 
Faceless Scientists Advances Stunt x2, Summonable
Scope: Mental Gear: Hand gun
Quality: Fair (+2) A personal helicopter pilot for the villain; who can
Quantity: Groups of 6 (+2 bonus) arrive in a minute and whisk his patron away even
Stress:       faster. Pilot Skill Tests are made with a +3 bonus
(2 boxes per Minion) (+1 for Pilot Skill, +1 for Skill Concentration, and +1
Gear: PDA, clip board, white lab coat when using his Personal Aircraft).
These Minions represent the lab coat wearing Personal Advisor (Aide / Assistant)
scientists who the villain can coerce into brute Scope: Mental and Social
force hacking nuclear missile launch codes and
Quality: Average (+1)
military satellites, or who a hero can call on for aid
Skills: Average (+1) Empathy
in thwarting such attempts.
Stunts: None
Celebrity Hanger-ons 
Stress:
Scope: Social
Advances Independent, Keeping up, Scope
Quality: Average (+1)
Gear: Mobile Phone, PDA, Laptop
Quantity: Groups of 6 (+2 bonus)
This is a smart and socially savvy advisor who can
Stress:      
assess his patron’s verbal sparring partners and
(1 box per Minion)
provide general assistance. He is always at his
Gear: Cameras patron’s side, unless instructed to undertake tasks
These are the entourage who follow in the wake of independently.
a media celebrity; they can be a potent force in
thwarting attempts to engage socially with the

30

Chases
Chases are the staple of many thrillers, be they on
foot, riding an animal, car chases or dogfights in
the sky. The key to enjoyable chases is that they
aren’t all about speed. In a straight race the faster
person, animal or vehicle will win but that sort of
situation should almost never happen.
Chase Conflicts
Chases play out like any other conflict, with one or
two small differences.
Declare Difficulty for Exchange
At the beginning of each exchange in a chase
(regardless of initiative) the chased character’s
player declares a Difficulty of his choice, and
describes what complicated and dangerous
manoeuvre he’s performing that this Difficulty
matches.
Chased Character Makes Test
The player of the character being chased then
makes an appropriate Skill roll against the
declared Difficulty. The Skill used is dependent
upon the means of locomotion:
Athletics for a chase on foot
Drive for a car chase or in watercraft
Pilot for a chase in aircraft
Survival for chases on horses or similar
mounts.
This Skill is modified by the Speed of the vehicle or
mount if appropriate (see page 7).
If the Skill Test succeeds, the character pulls it off,
but if he fails, it goes less well than planned – the
character, vehicle or animal gets injured or slips
out of control and suffers Stress equal to the
number of shifts the player rolled below the
Difficulty (as if the character had failed a Defence
roll in a physical conflict).
Pursuer Makes Test to “Attack”
Next, the player of the pursuing character (see
below if there is more than one pursuer) rolls
against the same Difficulty. If successful, he takes
no Stress and inflicts Stress to the fleeing
character’s person, vehicle or animal according to
the shifts on the roll, just as if making an attack.
This represents getting close and grabbing at the
fleeing character, slamming bumpers, firing some
shots, forcing the prey into difficult terrain or
otherwise making trouble.
If the pursuer fails the test, he suffers Stress just
like the chased character would.
Pursuer Performs a Manoeuvre
Alternately, if the pursuer is not looking to
damage the fleeing character or his ride / mount,
he may roll for a Manoeuvre (see Manoeuvres on
page 20). If successful the Manoeuvre succeeds.
If he fails, the character, his vehicle or his mount
takes Stress as if failing a Defense roll;
overzealousness or poor driving has had him
collide with a nurse’s trolley, sideswipe a
vegetable stand, or rip up his tires on a tight turn.
Ending the Chase
The above sequence of events repeats for each
exchange until eventually one party or the other
will be Taken Out, and at that point the chase
concludes. If the pursuer is Taken Out, the fleeing
character escapes, if the pursuer is the one left
standing he has captured his prey.
Multiple Vehicle Chases
The above chase conflict rules work well when one
character is chasing another, however often chases
are a lot more crazy than that – it’s a lucky hero
who is only pursued by only one vehicle!
Multiple vehicle chases usually use the Minion
rules (see page 27), with each car equating to a
minion, and all of the pursuers acting as a single
unit making a single roll. If there’s a named
pursuer with a handful of unnamed companions,
the minion vehicles attach to the named leader
normally.
However, if there are a lot of cars – say you have a
named pursuer who has 10 minions – it’s a little
hard (and anticlimactic) to have all of the vehicles
on the field at once. When you look at movies and
the like, the usual pattern is that a few cars show
up in pursuit, they crash, and new cars come in to
take their place, and this process repeats until
there are no more reinforcements.
With that in mind, when you want to play out a
more extended chase that has this kind of pacing,
the Chase Scenes rules become appropriate.
Chase Scenes
Chase scenes occur when the players are being
pursued by a large enemy force that appears in
waves. A chase scene is made up of a number of
Chase Conflicts, with the main villain or
henchman (a named character) staying out of the
chase usually until the last conflict.
Over the course of the chase, the pursuing minions
come at the player sequentially, with a new minion
coming in as a prior one is Taken Out. This
continues for the duration of the chase until the
31
named pursuer is out of minions, at which point,
she enters the fray and the chase is then resolved
as a final Chase Conflict.
Because for much of the chase scene the named
pursuer is not on the field, the minions never
attach, so they use their own Skill, which is often to
the fleeing character’s benefit. In return for this,
the pursuing villain is given a few tricks to balance
the scales. Players, being heroes, don’t usually use
these rules, since they are potent individuals of
action, however if any PC has the Minions Stunt it
might be suitable to have him be the named
pursuer.
Assign Pursuer’s Chase Points
At the beginning of a scene, the GM controlled
named pursuer is given a certain number of points,
which represent the total value of the pursuit.
Table – Chase Points
Points Type of Chase Scene
5 A short chase
10 A major feature of the adventure
20 A climactic marathon of a chase
The baseline use of this value is to determine how
many minions the pursuing character has. Each
minion costs a number of points based on its value.
Purchase Minions
At the start of the chase, the GM can spend as
many points as she wants (up to the total value of
the pursuit) in order to buy Minions for the named
pursuer. Higher Quality Minions cost more points.
Table – Minion Chase Point Cost
Points per Minion Minion Quality
1 Average (+1)
2 Fair (+2)
3 Good (+3)
She can choose to have all of these minions go after
the characters from the start or she can hold some
of them in reserve (in which case the reserve
vehicles enter the chase one by one, replacing
individual minions that have been Taken Out).
Also, at any time there are no pursuing vehicles
(i.e. all the minions on the field of play have been
Taken Out), the GM can spend points to add a
single additional pursuing vehicle, which
immediately enters the chase.
The GM may not wish to spend all these points on
Minions though, some may be kept back to pay for
Tricks (see below).
32
Tricks
The GM may spend 1 point per exchange for any
of the following effects:
Reinforcements
This trick allows the pursuing character to add
multiple Minions at once. By spending one point,
the GM is allowed to spend additional points (up
to half the remaining total) on purchasing
additional Minions, which are immediately added
to the field. These vehicles must all be of the same
Quality.
Road Hazard
The pursuers have managed to get someone ahead
of the fleeing character who launches an attack!
The attack uses the named character’s Leadership
Skill as the attack value; reflecting how well
planned and co-ordinated the effort is.
Other pursuing vehicles do not need to defend
against this attack, since in theory, at least, they’re
aware that the hazard is forthcoming. This is one
of main tools the villain may use to offset the loss
of not involving herself directly.
Shotgun!
One of the pursuing Minions is able to make a
ranged attack at the fleeing character in addition to
simply pursuing. For example a vehicle has
someone with a gun in the passenger seat.
Any time the fleeing character takes Stress, it is
increased by one as long as this Minion is still on
the field and able to shoot.
The Last Pursuer
If the pursuing villain is not going to join the fight
herself, she can try to end the chase with one last,
tougher-than-usual Minion. This is the last ability
the pursuer can use, and costs all remaining chase
points (minimum of 1). If the Last Pursuer trick is
used, the villain herself cannot subsequently join
the chase.
The last pursuer is always more impressive than
the previous minions. Perhaps the car is big and
armoured, sleek and black, or maybe it’s
something completely unexpected, like a biplane.
The Last Pursuer is treated as a Good Minion, but
with one extra box of Stress capacity for each point
spent beyond the minimum.
It also has one other benefit from this list:
+3 Stress Boxes
+1 to Athletics, Drive, Pilot or Survival Rolls
Armed (the Last Pursuer is always treated as
having the Shotgun! Effect).
1 point of armour (reducing Stress taken by 1)
 Alternate Movement – the pursuer can move
in a way the fleeing character cannot (such as
flying) enabling him to avoid most hazards.
The pursuer may elect to automatically
succeed at a chase Skill roll, at the expense of
inflicting no Stress on the fleeing character.
The pursuer must only roll if a hazard is
described that forces him to respond.
Dramatic Entrance
This is the moment when the named pursuer
reveals herself, and begins the end of the chase. If
the GM has used The Last Pursuer trick already,
this option is off the table.
This costs all the pursuer’s remaining points
(minimum 1) and triggers a Road Hazard trick for
the fleeing vehicle, as the pursuer appears in a
colourful and hopefully hazardous way.
The stats of the pursuer’s vehicle or mount (if
appropriate) depend on the pursuer, and if she
does not have a signature vehicle or mount, she
may use the same rules as The Last Pursuer, above,
replacing the minion Quality with her own Skill.
Once the pursuer is out of points and there are no
pursuers left, the fleeing vehicle finally escapes.
Passengers
Whether in a simple Chase Conflict or in a fully
fleshed out Chase Scene, player characters not
directly involved in the chase (e.g. who are
passengers in a car) may still be able to help out.
Each exchange, one passenger may assist the
driver, provided he has the means to do so. This
allows him to contribute to the chase, as long as he
finds a way to describe it, be it shooting at the
pursuers (Guns), pushing a crate out the back
(Might), or just shouting ‚look out!‛ when
dramatically appropriate (Alertness).
The passenger rolls his Skill while the driver rolls
his Drive as usual, and the driver may use the
higher of the two results. There is a limit though!
The same passenger may not help
two exchanges in a row.
Note that the Skill Test only aids the driver, it does
not have any other effect – for instance, a
passenger who is shooting does not get normal
attack results, just the ability to let the driver
choose between the two Test results.
This said, by dint of being passengers in the same
vehicle, all characters – even those not able to roll
in that exchange – may offer to spend Fate points
out of their own pool on behalf of the driver, so
long as they supply a bit of colour dialogue, e.g.,
‚Alleyway ahead!‛
Furthermore, there’s nothing saying that
characters along for the ride can’t be doing other
things that don’t contribute directly to the chase.
While they can only act against the pursuers by
partnering with the driver as described above,
there’s nothing to say that your car chase can’t
feature the Academics guy in the back seat
furiously trying to read through the book the
heroes just stole from the villain’s lair< just in case
the guy’s minions catch up with them and the
book returns to its owner.
These rules allow chases to be resolved quickly
and also focus the chase experience around the
person in the driver’s seat, the character’s shtick of
being good at driving gets backed up.
Chase Example
Back on page 10 we saw the suspect Jimmy make a break
for it when confronted by Trevor Maples in a pub’s
backroom. Due to a Compel Trevor only has two
exchanges to finish the chase.
Jimmy is a named character with Fair (+2) Athletics
and a Physical Stress Track of 5 boxes.
Sarah (playing the fleeing Jimmy) declares the
Difficulty for the first exchange at Fair (+2) describing
how Jimmy bursts into the bar and attempts to push his
way through the crowd of drinkers. Sarah makes an
Athletics Skill Test and succeeds with a Good result.
David then gets to roll for Trevor; defaulting to a
Medicore (+0) Athletics Rating. Unfortunately even
with a roll of +1 he fails with only an Average result.
Trevor suffers a point of Stress for failing the Test by 1
shift; David describes how he stumbles over a stool and
crashes into a customer carrying a tray of drinks.
Sarah declares a Difficulty of Good (+3) for the next
exchange as she describes Jimmy trying to shake off
pursuit by dodging between traffic and cross the busy
road outside. She rolls badly; a Poor (-1) result meaning
Jimmy suffers 4 Stress Points, one short of being Taken
Out! A taxi screeches to a halt too late, hitting Jimmy
hard and sending him reeling into the gutter.
David sees his chance and invokes his ‚Haunted by
wife’s death in a hit & run accident‛ Aspect to have had
the foresight to station traffic officers outside with
orders to stop traffic if the suspect fled, fearful of
innocents being hurt. Confident his men will have done
this, Trevor pursues Jimmy into the road. David rolls a
+2, increased to a Great (+4) result from the Aspect
Invocation, succeeding with 1 shift, inflicting 1 Stress
on Jimmy leaving him Taken Out.
Trevor trots across the street and drops his weight onto
the bloodied Jimmy as he struggles to his feet. Between
gasps and wheezes Trevor announces ‚You’re nicked!‛
33
 Table - Ranged Weapons
Equipment Weapon Stress Range Cost
Bonus (Zones) Difficulty
Melee Weapons Bow +1 2 Average
The table below specifies the Stress Bonus and Crossbow +1 1 Fair
Cost Difficulty for several melee weapons. The Musket +1 1 Good
Stress Bonus adds to the shifts of a successful Hand gun +2 1 Good
attack to determine the amount of Stress inflicted
SMG* +3 2 Great
upon the target.
Sniper Rifle +4 4 Superb
Table - Melee Weapons
Assault +3 3 Great
Weapon Stress Bonus Cost Difficulty Rifle*
Fists +0 Not Applicable Shotgun** +2 2 Good
Knife* +1 Mediocre Taser*** +0 1 Good
Sword +2 Fair Energy +4 1 Superb
Hand Axe +1 Average Pistol
Great Axe +3 Fair Energy Rifle +5 4 Fantastic
Club or staff +1 Mediocre Shuriken +0 1 Average
Whip or flail +1 Fair *These weapons are capable of automatic fire, see above.
Stun Baton** +0 Good **A shotgun firing shot has a +3 Stress Bonus if used
*A knife may also be thrown at a target 1 Zone away. against a target in the same zone, a +2 Stress Bonus if
**If a foe is struck by a Stun Baton any Stress inflicted used against a foe 1 Zone away, and +1 if 2 Zones away.
applies to both his Physical & Composure Stress Tracks. ***If a foe is struck by a Taser any Stress inflicted
applies to both his Physical & Composure Stress Tracks.
Ranged Weapons
A number of ranged weapons are summarised in Ranged Weapon Accessories
the Ranged Weapons table, the Stress Bonus, Accessories are represented by Aspects of the
Range in Zones and Cost Difficulty are shown. weapon that can be invoked, compelled and
Ammunition tagged just like any other Aspect. Some sample
Generally, ammunition limits are not given much ways to use these Aspects are provided.
concern in a Free FATE game, it is assumed Laser Sight
characters carry extra ammunition and reload Cost Difficulty: Good
appropriately. Invoke to gain a +2 bonus on a Guns Test.
However, running out of ammunition can Tag to roll your Alertness instead of Athletics
occasionally add drama to a scene. Running out of for a Defence roll (you see the red dot on you
ammunition is a legitimate Compel for a character and dive for cover).
with gun-related Aspects, but even more, it’s an
Compel to cause a hidden sniper be spotted.
excellent first Consequence (or even a Concession
if the Conflict is primarily being fought with guns). Silencer
Having a foe run out of ammunition could also be Cost Difficulty: Fair
a result of a manoeuvre; for example using Invoke to be able to use a gun whilst using
Athletics to run all over the place, drawing fire and Stealth.
getting the bad guys to expend their ammunition. Tag to gain a +2 bonus on a Fists Test to
Automatic Fire perform the Disarm Manoeuvre on the
Ranged weapons capable of automatic fire are silenced-gun toting foe (you’ve got something
particularly useful for performing suppression and to grab).
covering fire. Such weapons gain a +1 bonus to Compel to cause the weapon to get caught in
perform Block Actions (see page 21) using the clothing when being drawn.
Guns Skill.

34
 Table - Armour
Armour Armour Stress Consequences Cost
Armour can absorb a certain amount of Stress Absorbed Difficulty
inflicted as part of an attack, sparing the wearer Leather 1 None Fair
from having to suffer that Stress. If an attacker Chain 1* 1 x Minor Great
gets a successful hit then the shield or armour Mail
value is deducted from the total Stress inflicted
Plate 2* 1 x Minor Superb
(including any weapon Stress Bonus).
1 x Major
To absorb additional Stress, armour and shields
Plate 3* 1 x Minor Fantastic
can take one or more Consequences reflecting
Mail 1 x Major
damage to the actual worn armour. Consequences
taken on armour can, of course, be tagged for 1 x Severe
effects by attackers. Stab 1 1 x Minor Great
For example a Major Consequence for Plate Vest
Armour may be ‚Badly dented‛, which could be Kevlar 2 1 x Minor Superb
tagged to help land a blow against the armoured Vest 1 x Major
opponent (the dent funnelling the blow, rather
Assault 3 1 x Minor Fantastic
than deflecting it) or compelled to impede the
Vest 1 x Major
armoured person from sprinting.
1 x Severe
Once a piece of armour has suffered its maximum
number of Consequences it is also considered Assault 3 1 x Minor Epic
Taken Out, and no longer absorbs Stress. Suit 1 x Major
Consequences can be repaired by qualified 1 x Severe
Engineers. 1 x Extreme
Trevor Maples is taking part in a police raid on an
illegal drugs factory and is wearing a Stab Vest.
Unexpectedly he gets attacked by a worker wielding a
Explosives
syringe (+1 Stress Bonus). David’s defence roll for The table below lists a few example explosives
Trevor fails by 2 shifts meaning Trevor would suffer 3 along with ratings for Complexity, Area, Force, the
Physical Stress (2 shifts + 1 Stress Bonus). type of Fuse and Cost Difficulty. Rules for using
explosives are provided on page 25.
However the Stab Vest will absorb 1 point of Stress
leaving Trevor to only suffer 2 points. However, Fuses
knowing that Trevor is being attacked with a syringe
The fuse determines when an explosive goes off.
(which contains goodness knows what) David elects to
Timer – The explosive detonates after a
take a Minor Consequence to the Stab Vest, meaning it
predefined time. A crude timer (e.g. fuse wire)
absorbs all of the Stress (1 for its inherent armour bonus
may not be 100% accurate; the number of
and 2 for the Minor Consequence).
exchanges is modified by a dice roll (i.e. it may
This leaves the stab vest Taken Out and indeed a
detonate up to 5 exchanges early or late).
hindrance with David selecting the Consequence of
Grenades detonate after 1 exchange.
‚Hanging Clumsily from the Shoulder Strap‛. David
On Demand – The explosive detonates on
still thinks it is worth it though!
demand, either by use of a remote switch or
If desired the GM may decide that the Stress
radio trigger.
Absorbed value imposes a penalty to all
manoeuvres, Athletics & Stealth Tests.
Table - Explosives
Type Force Complexity Area Fuse Cost
Difficulty
Military Grade Legendary Epic 2 Timer or On Demand Epic
Home Made Superb Superb 1 Timer (crude) Great
Mining Explosive Fantastic Fantastic 1 Timer or On Demand Superb
Plastic Explosive Epic Fantastic 2 Timer or On Demand Fantastic
Grenade Fantastic Superb 1 Timer (1 exchange) Good

35
 When this is the case, the normal rules for
Vehicles resolving chases apply however the party using
the slower mode of transport suffers a penalty.
Vehicles are vital tools for numerous people and
may be important to a story. Vehicles have three A character suffers a -2 penalty against a vehicle of
attributes, their Type (Pedestrian, Mount, Car or the next Type up, and a -4 penalty against an
Aircraft), Speed (the top speed of the vehicle) and opponent in a vehicle Type two steps up from him.
Stress Capacity (the amount of damage the vehicle A Pedestrian automatically loses to an Aircraft.
can sustain before being Taken Out). In summary:
The Type of a vehicle is mostly relevant to A Pedestrian suffers a -2 penalty against a
understand the value of its Speed. The Speed Mount and a -4 penalty against a Car. A
value is not absolute, but rather indicative of how Pedestrian automatically loses to an Aircraft.
fast the vehicle is for the Type of vehicle it is. A Mount suffers a -2 penalty against a Car and
An Average Speed of a Car is much faster than an a -4 penalty against an Aircraft.
Average Speed for a Pedestrian, but slower than A Car suffers a -2 penalty against an Aircraft.
an Average Speed of an Aircraft. These modifiers allow chases to be performed with
Speed comes into play for simple contests of which mixed Types of vehicles, however the GM is free to
vehicle is faster (roll Speed vs. Speed, modified by limit such chases even further, perhaps only
respective Drive or Pilot skills as appropriate) but allowing mixed chases to occur for a limited
for anything more complex, the chase rules (see number of exchanges, for example five exchanges
page 31) may be more appropriate in which case if the difference in Type is only one step, and three
the Drive or Pilot Skill is modified by the Speed of exchanges if the difference is two steps. If the
the vehicle. See Combining Skills on page 7 for chase is not resolved within this time frame the
what it means to modify Skills. faster Type of vehicle simply out paces the slower
Type.
Mixed Types When taking off, an Aircraft is effectively
Occasionally you may find that a chase involves considered a Car Type, allowing Pedestrians a
parties in different Types of vehicles, or where one chance to catch up to a fleeing plane.
participant is on foot or riding a horse.
Table - Vehicles
Vehicle Type Speed Stress Cost
Capacity Difficulty
On Foot Pedestrian Athletics Skill Rating As character NA
Bicycle Pedestrian Athletics Skill Rating +1 1 Average
Camel Mount Average 2 Fair
Elephant Mount Mediocre 4 Fair
Horse Mount Good 2 Fair
Motorcycle, Off road Car Good 1 Good
Motorcycle, Racing Car Great 1 Great
Car, Saloon Car Good 4 Good
Car, Sports Car Great 2 Great
Car, Limousine Car Fair 5 Superb
Van Car Fair 4 Good
Truck Car Average 6 Superb
Speedboat ‚Car‛ Great 4 Great
Yacht ‚Car‛ Fair 6 Fantastic
Cruise Ship ‚Car‛ Average 10 Epic
Helicopter Aircraft Fair 2 Fantastic
Propeller Plane Aircraft Good 2 Fantastic
Fighter Jet Aircraft Great 4 Epic
Passenger Aircraft Aircraft Good 6 Epic

36
 Creating an item takes a Base Time determined by
Workplaces the Cost Difficulty of the item as shown on the
table below. As per page 8, extra shifts on the
In order to conduct research, experiments or to
Engineering or Mysteries Skill Test can reduce this
repair something, people need workplaces and the
time.
tools that go along with them. There are a number
of different types of workplace, depending upon Table - Workplaces
the Skill being used, as shown in the table below. Cost Difficulty Base Time
Table - Workplaces Mediocre A week
Skill Work Workplace Average A few weeks
Academics Academic Library Fair A month
Research Good A few months
Science Lab Work Lab Great A season
Science Medical Aid Med Facility Superb Half a year
Engineering Repairing Workshop Fantastic A year
Mysteries Arcane Research Arcane Library Epic A few years
Mysteries Artificing Arcane
Workshop
Miscellaneous Equipment
Mysteries Alien Research Alien Archive
Table – Miscellaneous Equipment
Item Cost Difficulty
Each workplace has a Quality Rating that
Camera Average
determines its usefulness and also how much it
costs. The Cost Difficulty of a workplace is two Mobile Phone Average
steps higher than its Quality Rating, e.g. a Good Desktop Computer Fair
Quality Laboratory has a Cost Difficulty of Superb. Laptop Fair
Cost Difficulty = Quality +2 PDA Fair
The rules for conducting Research, and the Audio Recorder Fair
required Quality Rating of a Library or Laboratory,
Video Camera Fair
are detailed on page 13.
Caltrops* Average
For repairs the Quality Rating of the workplace
must equal the Difficulty of the repair minus two, Handcuffs Average
so repairing a Saloon Car requires an Average (+1) Lock Pick Gun** Good
Workshop; the Difficulty for repairs being Good Binoculars Average
(+3); based upon the higher of its Speed and Cost Concealable Microphone Fair
Difficulty.
Mini-Tracer Fair
Creating Items Night Vision Goggles*** Fair
For creating items using the Engineering Skill (or Parabolic Microphone Fair
the Mysteries Skill for arcane and magical items) Camouflage Clothing**** Average
an appropriate workshop is needed. Flashlight Mediocre
Creating an item requires four things:
Gas Mask Fair
1. A workshop with a Quality Rating equal to the
GPS Receiver Fair
item’s Cost Difficulty.
SCUBA Gear Fair
2. A successful Resources Skill Test with a
Difficulty of the item’s Cost Difficulty -2 in
order to purchase materials and pay for any *Caltrops provide a +1 bonus to Block Actions
extra labour required. related to preventing movement through an area.
3. A successful Engineering or Mysteries Skill **A Lock Pick Gun provides a +2 bonus to
Test with a Difficulty of the item’s Cost Burglary Tests to pick mechanical locks.
Difficulty. ***Night Vision Goggles negate darkness related
4. Time (see below) penalties to Alertness and Investigation Skill Tests.
****Camouflage Clothing provides a +1 bonus to
Stealth Skill Tests in appropriate environments.
37

Character
Development
Characters in a Free FATE game can change and
improve over time. The rules below indicate how
this development is reflected in game mechanics.
Some development occurs at the end of each
gaming session, whilst other more significant
improvements occur only at the end of a particular
story; which may involve several gaming sessions.
End of Session
At the end of each session each player character is
awarded one Skill Point to add a new Skill or
improve an existing one. If everyone agrees, the
GM can award two Skill points to a player who did
something spectacular in the session.
Adding a New Skill
1 Skill Point allows a player to add a new Skill to
his character at a Rating of Average (+1).
Improving a Skill
1 Skill Point allows an existing Skill to be
improved by one step, for example a Fair (+2)
Alertness Skill can become Good (+3).
However, there is one stipulation; the player must
maintain the pyramid Skill structure; each Rating
tier must have at least one more Skill than the tier
above. E.g. to have 3 Good Skills, a character must
have at least 4 Fair Skills & 5 Average Skills.
Trevor Maples has the following skills:
Great (+4): Investigation
Good (+3): Contacting, Intimidation
Fair (+2): Alertness, Leadership, Resolve
Average (+1): Drive, Guns, Science, Stealth
Before he can increase Trevor’s Alertness from Fair (+2)
to Good (+3) David first needs to gain an extra two
Skills at Fair (+2) which in turn requires an extra two
Skills at Average (+1). Thus his Skill pyramid can
change as shown below when he improves Alertness.
 
Great (+4):
Good (+3):  
Fair (+2):  
 
Average (+1):
Other Session Development
In addition to being awarded and spending Skill
Points, at the end of each session each player can
do one of the following as long as it does not result
in any Stunt prerequisites no longer being met.
38
Replace an Aspect
Players may change an Aspect, either because it is
not working out as envisioned, or because it makes
sense based upon the character’s experience in the
previous adventure.
David elects to change Trevor’s Aspect of ‚A
policeman’s notebook is his greatest weapon‛ because it
isn’t seeing much use and Sarah is finding it a difficult
Aspect to Compel. David chooses ‚Alison is always
there for me‛ as a replacement Aspect.
A few sessions later David has been playing through
Trevor’s fight against the demon drink, and thus
changes his ‚Slave to the demon drink‛ Aspect to
‚Determined to stay on the wagon‛.
Swap adjacent Skills in the Skill Pyramid
A player can swap the Rating of a Skill with that of
a Skill with a Rating one tier higher or lower.
Trevor has been sneaking around a lot more than he has
leading a team of police investigators, so David elects to
swap his Fair (+2) Leadership Skill with his Average
(+1) Stealth Skill. Leadership thus gets downgraded to
Average (+1) and Stealth gets upgraded to Fair (+2).
A Skill with a Rating of Average (+1) can also be
dropped completely and replaced with a new Skill
at Average (+1). In this instance An Average Skill
is effectively being swapped with a Mediocre Skill.
Change one Stunt
A player can remove one Stunt and replace it with
another. The Stunt being added must have its
prerequisites met as normal.
Trevor has relocated to another city as part of the
ongoing story, so David decides to remove the
Concentration ‚Criminal Snitches‛ Stunt and choose
the Contact Stunt instead.
End of Story
Add a Stunt
A character can gain a Stunt (prerequisites must be
met) at the expense of reducing his Fate Point
Refresh Rate by one; if this would reduce the
Refresh Rate to zero, a Stunt cannot be added.
Add an Aspect
A new Aspect can be added. The maximum
number of Aspects a character may have equals his
Fate Point Refresh Rate plus the number of Stunts
he has.
Increase Fate Point Refresh Rate
A character’s Fate Point Refresh Rate can be
increased by one. This provides more Fate Points
at the beginning of an adventure and increases the
limit on the number of Aspects and Stunts.
 Skill Stunts
Appendix A Gambling Gambling Man
Winnings
Sample Benefit Stunts Guns Long Shot
Below are listed a number of sample Benefit Stunts One Shot Left
that players may choose for their characters. These Intimidation Nobody Moves!
Stunts usually relate to one particular Skill and Subtle Menace
players should be encouraged to choose Stunts
Investigation Lip Reading
that relate to their characters’ peak Skill to
Scene of the Crime
emphasise the niches their characters fill.
Leadership Funding
Of course this isn’t obligatory and a player may
choose a Stunt relating to a Skill which his Minions
character does not even have Might Body Toss
The table below summarises the sample Stunts by Wrestler
associated Skill. Mysteries Psychic
Table – Sample Stunts by Skill Voices from Beyond
Skill Stunts Words on the Wind
Academics Linguist Pilot Flawless Navigation
Photographic Memory Flying Jock
Walking Library Personal Aircraft
Alertness Danger Sense Rapport Five Minute Friends
I’m On Top Of It International
Ready for Anything Resolve Smooth Recovery
Art Commissions Steel Determination
Do You Know Who I Am? Resources Headquarters
Virtuoso Home Away From Home
Athletics Contortionist Lair
Human Spider Science Medic
Slippery Sleight of Hand Bump and Grab
Burglary Lock Master Cool Hand
Contacting Close Contacts Stealth Hush
Contact Quick Exit
Walk the Walk Survival Creature Companion
Deceit Clever Disguise Tracker
Master of Disguise Weapons Catch
Mimicry Good Arm
Drive Custom Ride
Defensive Driving Body Toss
One Hand on the Wheel Requires Wrestler.
Empathy Cold Read You know how to apply your strength in a fight to
Ebb and Flow take people off their feet. Whenever making a
Endurance Feel the Burn Throw or a Push manoeuvre (page 21), you require
One Hit to the Body one less shift per zone than normal. Thus, to
Throw an average person one zone only 2 shifts
Engineering Mister Fix-It
would be required (rather than 3) and only 5 shifts
Thump of Restoration
would be required to throw them two zones (2
Fists Brawler plus 3, rather than 3 plus 4)
Dirty Fighter

39
Brawler
You’re at home in any big old burly brawl, with
multiple opponents and ideally some beer in you.
Whenever you are personally outnumbered in a
fight (i.e., when someone gets to attack you at a
bonus due to a numerical advantage) your defence
rolls with Fists are at +1.
When fighting two or more minions, you deal one
additional Stress on a successful hit.
Bump and Grab
Your character is exceptionally skilled at taking
advantage of distractions in order to make a quick
grab. You may spend a Fate point to make a simple
Sleight of Hand attempt to do something – pick a
pocket, palm an object, etc. – as a Free action.
Catch
When defending against a thrown object, if you are
successful enough to generate Spin on your
defence, you may declare that you are catching the
item that was thrown at you, provided you have a
free hand and it’s something you could, practically
speaking, catch (so no catching, say, refrigerators,
unless you have something truly crazy going on in
the Might department).
Clever Disguise
Normally, a character cannot create a disguise that
will stand up to intense scrutiny, i.e. use of the
Investigation Skill (see page 14). With this Stunt,
he may defend against Investigation (anything
short of physically trying to remove the disguise)
with his full Deceit Skill.
Furthermore, he may assemble disguises of this
quality in a matter of minutes, provided he has a
well-equipped disguise kit on hand.
Close Contacts
Requires at least one Contact.
When you select this Stunt, you may spread three
additional advances out amongst your existing
contacts, creating unusually talented Companions.
You may take this Stunt multiple times, but can’t
ever apply more than six additional advances (for
a total of nine) to any one contact.
Cold Read
Normally, to use Empathy to get a read on
someone (an Assessment) it requires at least a few
minutes of conversation, if not more. Characters
with this Stunt may do so after much less time –
two or three steps faster on the Time Increments
table (see page 8).
40
Commissions
Requires Virtuoso.
Your works and performances are heavily sought
out, and there are those who will pay handsomely
for it. Once per session, you may use your Art Skill
instead of Resources, representing a successful
past commission.
Contact
At the time your character takes this Stunt, you
must define a specific contact, with a name, a brief
sentence about the contact’s personality, and her
relationship to your character.
This contact is a Companion as described on page
28, willing and able to accompany you on your
adventures, with three advances for you to spend
as you wish. For maximum effect, you may wish to
allocate one of your Aspects to this contact as well.
This Stunt may be taken multiple times, defining a
different contact each time.
Contortionist
You can fit into and through spaces and shapes
that no normal human readily can. Normally,
contorting tasks are impossible to attempt, or at
best default to a (non-existent) Contortion Skill
rated at Mediocre.
With this Stunt, you can use your full Athletics
score instead, and have rationale to attempt feats
of contortion that are simply unavailable to others.
Cool Hand
A steady hand can be critical when things get
hairy. This character’s hands never shake and
never waver. Your character may ignore any
Difficulty increases from the environment when
performing any fine manual work (even if that fine
manual work doesn’t involve the Sleight of Hand
Skill, such as Burglary for lock picking, or Science
for surgical work).
Further, his steadiness minimizes other
distractions and cuts down on mistakes. Once per
scene he may eliminate one single non-
environmental penalty that affects his Sleight of
Hand.
Creature Companion
Your character has cultivated a close companion
from the animal kingdom. This companion is
designed using the Companion rules (see page 28),
with a few changes and limitations.
Creature companions are designed using four
advances and can come from any country. This
companion operates only with a ‚physical‛ scope,
and must spend at least two of its advances on
‚Skilled‛ and / or ‚Quality‛.
Any ‚Skilled‛ advances must be taken from a
short list: Athletics, Fists, Might, Stealth, and
Survival. You may take only one Skill outside of
that list, within reason, as based on the animal
type. A raccoon might have Sleight of Hand,
representing its ability to perform fine
manipulation; a lion might have Intimidation (this
is unsubtle, and not considered a violation of the
physical scope).
If the animal is of an appropriate size, this creature
may be ridden as a mount, at +1 to Survival. If the
companion is a mount, such as a horse, or a more
exotic beast that has been persuaded to allow you
to ride it, you may use that mount’s Athletics Skill
instead of Survival in order to ride it. Athletics
would also be used to pour on the speed when the
rider is too busy to ‚steer‛ the animal himself.
Custom Ride
You own a land vehicle (no Resources Test
necessary) that is special and handles particularly
well; providing a +1 bonus to any Drive Tests.
Additionally, your vehicle has a little something
extra, and you may, once per session, spend a Fate
Point and declare that the vehicle has some extra
device (such as an oil slick or caltrop dispenser)
that will allow you to perform manoeuvres to
impose appropriate Aspects on any pursuers, e.g.
‚Skidding Wildly‛ or ‚Shredded Tyres‛.
Danger Sense
The character maintains a quick and easy
awareness of ambushes and other nasty surprises –
perhaps preternaturally, perhaps simply due to
finely tuned mundane senses. Whenever
ambushed, the character is able to take a full
defensive action, gaining a +2 on his Defence roll,
regardless of whether or not he’s surprised (if he is
surprised, dropping his base Defence to Mediocre,
this Stunt takes his base Defence up to Fair).
Defensive Driving
You’re good at keeping your vehicle in one piece.
Whenever attempting a driving manoeuvre in a
chase (see page 31), you may treat the Difficulty as
if it were one lower. The Difficulty of the
manoeuvre itself is not affected, however, for any
vehicles that might be chasing you.
Dirty Fighter
Requires Brawler.
Your character has a talent for fighting dirty and is
experienced in pulling all manner of tricks in order
to get the upper hand on his opponents. By
exploiting an opponent’s weakness, you are able to
strike deep and true. Any time you tag an
opponent’s Aspect in a fight, or tag an Aspect of
the scene that affects your foe, you get an
additional +1 on the roll.
Do You Know Who I Am?
Requires Virtuoso.
Your widespread name and your art are
interlinked as one. When identifying yourself in
order to get your way in a social or other
applicable situation, you may complement
Rapport, Intimidation, Deceit and Contacting rolls
with your Art Skill.
Ebb and Flow
The character is so aware of the social currents in a
situation that he is able to see something of what’s
coming before it arrives.
At the beginning of any social exchange, before
proceeding with the usual initiative order, the
character may spend a Fate point and attempt a
quick read – looking for surface moods and other
social cues – on any one target of his choosing, as a
free action. He may then act normally on his turn
as usual.
Feel the Burn
The character can push through incredible pain in
order to reach his goal. The character can take one
extra Major Consequence (see page 22) to negate
Stress to his Physical Stress Track allowing him to
take a total of four Consequences in a physical
conflict.
Five Minute Friends
For a Fate point, you can make a steadfast friend in
a place you’ve never been, given a chance for five
minutes of conversation. This Stunt makes nearly
impossible opportunities to make friends merely
improbable, improbable opportunities probable,
and probable opportunities outright certain.
Flawless Navigation
The skies are an open map in the character’s mind.
Unless bizarre circumstances are afoot, he can
never get lost in flight. If something strange is
happening the Difficulties for his Pilot rolls are
never increased by more than 2.
Flying Jock
This pilot can squeeze his plane through places
where it has no business fitting. Normally, a pilot
can spend a Fate point for a coincidence or
declaration to assure that the plane has enough
clearance space to fly through.
Characters with this Stunt never need to spend a
Fate point: if it could fit, it can. What’s more, if
your character does spend a Fate point, he can fit
the plane in places it absolutely should not be able
41
to. This Stunt is also useful for landing planes in
improbably tight quarters.
Funding
You head an organization that is profitable. Pay a
Fate point and your organization may temporarily
increase a Resources Skill up to the value of your
Leadership, regardless of whether or not you’re
present. When you personally make use of these
resources it may take some time to filter through
the power structure to reach you; the GM may
increase the time it takes to acquire something by
one step.
Gambling Man
Requires one or more compellable Aspects related to
gambling.
As a gambling man, the character is rarely able to
turn down a bet or an opportunity to take a risk.
Compels involving your gambling Aspects
automatically start out at a point of escalation –
you must either spend two Fate points to avoid
them, or gain two Fate points if you accept them,
right at the outset.
Good Arm
The character has an amazing throwing arm, and
can throw weapons with great force, allowing
them still to be effective at a much longer range
than usual. The character may make an attack
using a thrown weapon up to two zones away
instead of the usual one; if he does so, the attack is
made at a -1.
Headquarters
If a character has purchased a Workplace (see page
37) then with this Stunt it qualifies as a full blown
private headquarters, such as a mansion or a secret
cave.
In addition to the Workplace, the headquarters
may include one of the following extra elements:
Expert Staff: Your headquarters has a small
staff of competent individuals who are each
treated as a Companion (see page 28); two are
of Average Quality and one is of Fair Quality
(they have no other Advances).
Expert Staff are bound to the location of your
headquarters, and can’t ever leave it without
losing their Companion qualities (they
effectively drop to Mediocre outside of their
home environs).
Secondary Facility: Your base facility
normally serves one primary function –
Library, Lab, Workshop, Arcane Library,
Arcane Workshop or Alien Archive. This extra
allows you to define a second function that
42
operates at a Quality Rating one less than the
main Workspace.
Extensive Security: Security measures make
your headquarters difficult to compromise. All
Difficulties for bypassing your headquarters’
security are increased by one.
Utmost Secrecy: The location of your
headquarters is tantamount to a state secret.
Few know of it, and even those located nearby
may be unaware. The Difficulty of any
Investigation or Contacting roll to find the
location of your lair is equal to your Resources
Skill.
Communications Centre: Your headquarters
is the nerve centre of a number of vital
channels of communication. Any
communications routed to, from, or through
your base take one time increment less to get
to where they’re going, due to the efficiencies
offered.
Home Away From Home
If a character has purchased a Workplace (see page
37) this Stunt allows the character to have a second
such property in a different location (at the same
Quality rating). The player may specify the
location during play (at which point it becomes
locked in), or in advance.
Human Spider
The character can climb surfaces he should not be
able to. He receives a +2 bonus on any climb, and
by spending a Fate point, he may eliminate the
effects of all Difficulty modifiers resulting from the
environment or the characteristics of the thing he’s
climbing (so he can climb a slick, mostly flat
surface in a rainstorm at much less difficulty).
Hush
Your talent with stealth may be extended to others
who are with you close by, provided that you
travel as a group. As long as the whole group stays
with you and follows your hushed orders, you
may make a single Stealth roll for the whole group,
using your Skill alone. If someone breaks from the
group, they immediately lose this benefit, and may
risk revealing the rest of you if they don’t manage
to pull off a little stealth of their own.
You cannot apply the benefits of other Stunts
(besides Hush) to this roll, though you may bring
in your own Aspects (and possibly tag the Aspects
of those you are concealing) in order to improve
the result. The maximum number of additional
people in the group is equal to the numeric value
of the character’s Stealth score (so someone with
Fair Stealth and this Stunt would be able to use his
Skill for himself and two others).
I’m On Top Of It
You may spend a Fate point to go first in an
exchange, regardless of your initiative. If multiple
people with this Stunt exercise this ability, they go
in turn of their normal initiative, before those who
don’t have the Stunt get a chance to act. If the
exchange has already started, and you have not yet
acted, you may instead spend a Fate point to act
next, out of the usual turn order.
This may only be done between character’s
actions, and cannot be done as an interruption of
any kind (so if you spend the Fate point to do this
while someone else is acting, you must wait until
they’re done). Your character must not have acted
yet in the exchange in order to use the ability in
this way.
International
The character’s mastery of etiquette leaves him
comfortable, and even glib, in any situation. The
character never suffers any penalties or increased
Difficulty from unfamiliarity with his setting,
making it easy to manoeuvre through local
customs he hasn’t encountered before, and to
cover up any gaffes with a laugh and a sparkle in
his eye.
Lair
Requires Headquarters.
The character’s headquarters has three elements
(rather than one).
Linguist
Normally, someone may only speak a number of
additional languages equal to the value of his
Academics Skill. With this Stunt, your character
may speak five additional languages.
Lip Reading
The character may use Investigation to eavesdrop
on conversations he can only see. If the GM would
normally allow someone to attempt to read lips,
the Difficulty is reduced by 2; otherwise, you may
simply roll Investigation when others may not.
Lock Master
The character’s skill with improvisation when
bypassing a lock or similar contrivance is
improved, so long as he has something that could
pass as a tool, such as a piece of wire. Characters
with this Stunt never suffer an increased Difficulty
for lacking proper tools on a Burglary roll, and
when given proper tools, can defeat locks at one
time increment faster than usual.
Long Shot
For whatever reason, you’re always able to take
shots at a greater distance than you should be able
to. In your hands pistols, rifles and other such
weaponry reach an additional zone (or two, if the
GM feels generous).
Master of Disguise
Requires Clever Disguise and Mimicry.
The character can convincingly pass himself off as
nearly anyone with a little time and preparation.
To use this ability, the player pays a Fate point and
temporarily stops playing. His character is
presumed to have donned a disguise and gone ‚off
camera‛.
At any subsequent point during play the player
may choose any nameless, filler character (a
villain’s minion, a steward on the cruiseship, a
police patrolman, etc.) in a scene and reveal that
that character is actually the Player Character in
disguise!
The character may remain in this state for as long
as the player chooses, but if anyone is tipped off
that he might be nearby, an investigator may
spend a Fate point and roll Investigate against the
disguised character’s Deceit. If the investigator
wins, the investigator’s player (which may be the
GM) gets to decide which filler character is
actually the disguised Player Character.
Medic
Requires a ‚Medicine‛ Specialisation Stunt for the
Science Skill
The character is talented at delivering medical care
in the field. Normally, someone providing first aid
can remove a checkmark for every two shifts
gained on the roll (see page 25). With this Stunt,
every shift removes a point of Stress. If the
character rolls well enough to remove more
physical Stress than the victim is suffering, he may
even remove a Minor, physical Consequence.
Mimicry
Requires Clever Disguise.
Deceit can be used to convince people you are
someone you aren’t – but usually only in a general
sense. You can seem to be a cop, an author, et
cetera, but you can’t seem to be a specific person
without a lot of work (and an elevated Difficulty).
With this Stunt, you can easily imitate the
mannerisms and voice of anyone you’ve had a
chance to study – removing another potential
cause to have a disguise examined, or perhaps
convincing someone who can’t see you that you’re
someone else even though you’re undisguised.
43
Studying someone usually requires only an
investment of time and not a roll of the dice – at
least half an hour of constant exposure. This
timeframe can be reduced, but will require an
Empathy, Investigation, or Deceit roll against a
target of Mediocre, increased by one for each step
faster on the Time Increments table (page 8).
Minions
You have minions – lots of them. As a default, in a
scene, you may have the bare minimum of minions
easily on hand – three of Average quality (see
Minions on page 27).
You may make three upgrades to improve your
Minions, spent at the point you bring them into the
scene. Each upgrade either adds three more to
their number, or boosts the Quality of three of
them by one step (no Minion can be more than
Good quality). This stunt can therefore provide
any of the combinations listed below.
3 Good (+3) plus 3 Average (+1)
6 Fair (+2)
3 Fair (+2) plus 6 Average (+1)
12 Average (+1)
This Stunt may be taken multiple times to increase
the starting number of Minions (taking it twice
means you start out with six of Average Quality)
and the number of upgrades (taking it twice also
means you have six upgrades). You must spend all
of your upgrades at the start of the scene when
you bring in your Minions, but you needn’t bring
them all in right away.
Mister Fix-It
The character’s talented at getting things repaired
under time-critical circumstances. The time it takes
to get something fixed by the character is reduced
by two steps. If the situation is already operating
on the fastest possible amount of time the
Difficulty of the repair effort is reduced by one.
Nobody Moves!
Any character can use Intimidation to perform a
Block action (see page 21) to prevent foes in their
current zone from moving to another zone.
Normally the GM would impose penalties if the
character was attempting to block off more than
one route out of the zone, however a character
with this stunt reduces any such penalties by the
numerical rating of his Intimidation Skill (to a
minimum penalty of zero).
One Hand on the Wheel
Driving while doing some other action normally
results in a -1 penalty. With this Stunt, you don’t
suffer that penalty, regardless of whether you are
44
rolling Drive (driving is your primary action, and
the supplemental action is something minor), or
rolling some other Skill (you’re taking some other
primary action, but keeping the vehicle on the road
isn’t all that challenging, allowing driving to be the
supplemental action).
Your Drive Skill can never be used to restrict
another Skill, only complement it.
One Hit to the Body
The character can pay a Fate point and ignore the
effects of one attack per game session.
One Shot Left
That last bullet has a kind of magic to it. A
character with this Stunt may declare that he is on
his last shot, and may make any single Guns attack
at +3.
This is the character’s last shot – its use means that
there’s no more ammo, no holdout guns or the
like. The only way the character is going to be able
to use his Guns Skill in the scene is if he takes an
action acquiring a new weapon or ammunition,
which may not always be possible.
Personal Aircraft
You have a personal aircraft that you own or have
the exclusive right to fly. In all respects, this Stunt
functions like the Custom Ride Stunt (page 40).
Refer to that Stunt for details.
Photographic Memory
Requires Walking Library.
If you’ve read it, you remember it. If the answer
lies in something you’ve read before (this must be
reasonable), then any research effort takes an
additional two units less time – stacked on top of
the benefit of Walking Library, this means that a
half hour’s worth of research in books you’ve
already encountered can be resolved in a minute,
and a day’s worth covered in a mere hour.
Psychic
You are open to the strange and paranormal –
though sometimes that means letting in the
Unpleasant Things from the Darkness and other
such nuisances.
Normally, a character may be called upon by the
GM to roll Mysteries as a kind of paranormal
Alertness Skill, to pick up on the surface
strangeness in a place. With this Stunt, you may
deliberately use your Mysteries Skill to gain some
mystic or terrible insight into the occult ‚climate‛
of an area, as if it were Investigation – using a
similar time-frame and gaining a similar level of
(paranormal) detail.
This also means that you may use Mysteries
instead of Alertness when surprised, if the origin
of the surprise is in some way supernatural, and
can even use Mysteries as your initiative Skill
when locked in a conflict with otherworldly forces.
Used with this Stunt, Mysteries can give you
access to information that would normally be
impossible to get – though the GM is under no
obligation to give you that information in any clear
fashion. Muddled riddles and vague intimations
are the mode of the day.
There is an additional catch: Using this ability may
open you up to an unpleasant psychic attack by
the presence or residue of Unnatural Creatures
that have touched the area < but at least you’ve
learned something.
Quick Exit
A momentary distraction is all you need to vanish
from the scene. Provided you are not in the midst
of a Conflict, you may make a Stealth Test with a
Difficulty of the highest Alertness in the room. If
you succeed, the next time someone turns to look
at or talk to you, you’re not there.
Ready for Anything
Requires I’m On Top Of It.
The character’s senses are so keyed into minute
changes that he is able to respond more quickly to
new details. The character’s Alertness Skill is
considered to be one higher for purposes of
determining initiative (allowing someone with
Superb Alertness to have Fantastic initiative). This
Stunt breaks ties whenever facing opponents with
the same initiative. This Stunt may be taken
multiple times, each time increasing the character’s
initiative one step.
Scene of the Crime
The character has a strong visual memory, and
whenever he revisits a place where he has used
Investigation before, he may make an immediate
use of Investigation in a matter of seconds in order
to determine what has changed since he was last
there, as if it were an unusually detailed Alertness
check.
Slippery
Requires at least one other Athletics Stunt.
You gain a +2 to all attempts to defend against
Pushing, Throw or Knockback manoeuvres, as
well as any attempts to escape from bonds.
Smooth Recovery
While most characters with Resolve can keep
things together under stress, for your character it is
second nature, allowing him to regain his footing
in the face of even the direst of outcomes outside
of physical conflict. This Stunt allows the character
to take one additional Major, social or mental
Consequence (see page 22) to negate Stress to his
Composure Stress Track allowing him to take a
total of four Consequences in a social or mental
conflict.
Steel Determination
It is apparent to all around you exactly how far
you are willing to go in order to get what you
want. You may, when you bluntly speak your true
intentions in a social interaction, trigger the effects
of this Stunt, immediately gaining a +1 bonus
which applies to all subsequent Intimidation or
Resolve rolls, as well as any social defence, in that
scene. However, if you do this, you may no longer
use Rapport with the same audience, as you have
peeled away the façade of civility.
Subtle Menace
The character exudes menace far in excess of his
capability to act. Even bound and behind prison
bars, the character is so ripe with the promise of
the awful things he could do that he’s still scary.
This character may use Intimidation no matter
what the power imbalance in the situation is, and
reduces any bonus his target may have been
awarded by the GM for acting from a superior
position by 2 (to a minimum of +0).
Thump of Restoration
Requires Mister Fix-It.
Sometimes a bunch of repairs can get short-handed
with a good swift thump. A character must spend
a Fate point to activate this ability, and roll
Engineering (with a Difficulty of Mediocre).
He then hits a device or other contraption that isn’t
working, and it starts working immediately,
regardless of the Difficulty rating to repair it under
time pressure.
It will continue work for a number of exchanges
equal to the shifts gained on the Engineering roll.
Once the time is up, the device stops working
again, and any efforts to repair it are at a one step
higher Difficulty (since, after all, you hit the thing).
If the character wishes to thump again, he may do
so for another Fate point, but the Difficulty for the
Engineering roll increases by one on each
subsequent attempt.
Tracker
Your character is Skilled at tracking, and can infer
a great deal of information from a trail. When
studying tracks, the character may roll Survival.
45
Each shift from this roll spent thereafter gives the
character one piece of information about the
person or creature being tracked (such as weight,
how they were moving, and so on). Normally,
Survival can’t be used to track something, leaving
such attempts at a Mediocre default.
Virtuoso
The character is a master of some specific form of
art – painting, composition, singing, conducting or
playing music, or the like. The character is a
virtuoso in his field and recognized worldwide for
his Skill. Even if his actual Skill level is not high, he
is still on the list of the finest artists in the world,
just not necessarily at the top of it. The character
receives a +1 knowledge bonus when performing
his art form. He may also pick a specialty (such as
a specific instrument or a specific school of
painting) for which he receives a +1 specialty
bonus (stacking with the +1 knowledge bonus).
When applicable, the virtuoso may produce works
of art one time increment faster than would
normally take.
This stunt combines Concentration and
Specialisation stunts with a Benefit (reduction of
time to create works). This is a particular
concession that is made in response to how
infrequent Art performances are integral to the
plot of a scenario.
Voices from Beyond
Requires Psychic.
Given time to prepare and perform the ritual, the
character may perform a real, functioning séance
to try to call out to spirits dead or never living. A
Mysteries roll must be made against a Difficulty
set by the GM, in order to cause a particular spirit
to manifest.
Summoned spirits are not under any sort of
compulsion to be cooperative, and may have their
own agendas, but once summoned, they may
speak through the character with others in
attendance. At the GM’s option, especially if the
summoner gains Spin on her Mysteries roll, the
spirit may even manifest visibly.
Should the spirit be malicious in any fashion, or
wish to escape the summons, the character may
use Mysteries or Resolve as his Skill of choice
when struggling with the spirit.
Walk the Walk
The character’s travels have taken him to every
corner of the world. His familiarity with the streets
and peoples of the world allow him to function
easily, at home and abroad. The character never
46
suffers any additional Difficulty from unfamiliar
circumstances when using the Contacting Skill.
Walking Library
The character’s prodigious reading has paid off in
spades, and he is able to recall minute details from
even the most obscure literary works. The
character is always considered to have a library on
hand of a quality equal to his Academics skill,
enabling him to answer questions with a base
Difficulty less than or equal to his Academics skill,
using nothing other than his brain and some time
for contemplation. Additionally, any research
performed by this character in a real library
automatically takes one unit less time (see Time
Consuming Tasks on page 8), and any libraries
with a quality less than his Academics skill do not
limit the Difficulty of the question asked, as they
normally would.
Winnings
The character wins more than he loses, and is often
flush with cash. Once per session, he may use
Gambling instead of Resources to represent these
winnings, so long as he hasn’t recently experienced
a loss. The player must provide a quick one-
sentence explanation of what the resource is and
how he won it, when using this Stunt.
Words on the Wind
Requires Psychic.
There are patterns to things that are not always
obvious, even to the wise.
This character looks in the right places, and hears
the right things. Once per session, when he is not
otherwise occupied, he may request an omen from
the GM, and roll Mysteries against a target of
Mediocre. The GM will use the results to guide her
decision about how obscure the information
gained is. It may be as arcane as a snippet of a
riddle, or as mundane as news that a strange
shipment is coming into the docks at midnight.
Wrestler
Requires a ‚Lifting & Carrying‛ Specialisation Stunt
for the Might Skill
The character is a trained wrestler. The character
may use his Might Skill instead of Fists in combat.
This is effectively a Skill Switch Stunt but with no
reduced scope of effectiveness, instead a pre-
requisite is imposed in the form of another Stunt.

Legal Information
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15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Fudge System 1995 version © 1992-1995 by Steffan O’Sullivan, ©
2005 by Grey Ghost Press, Inc.; Author Steffan O’Sullivan.
FATE (Fantastic Adventures in Tabletop Entertainment) © 2003 by
Evil Hat Productions LLC; Authors Robert Donoghue and Fred Hicks.
Spirit of the Century © 2006, Evil Hat Productions LLC. Authors
Robert Donoghue, Fred Hicks, and Leonard Balsera.
Starblazer Adventures © 2008, Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd.
Free FATE © 2009 R Grant Erswell.
END OF LICENSE
Open Content
The text of the Legal Information section of this document and the
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Product Identity
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Amendment History
The table below details the amendment history of
Free FATE.
Version Change
0.1 Initial Draft
0.2 Minor changes & corrections throughout.
Replaced remaining references to Mild and Moderate
Consequences with Minor and Major.
Character Sheet updated with clearer image.
Replaced Guns with Athletics in Defence Skill column of
the Attack and Defence Skills table.
Issue for public feedback.
0.3 Several clarifications and restructuring changes.
Addition of What is a Good Aspect?, Sample Minions &
Sample Companions sections.
47