Fate Oracle - HackMD

# Fate Oracle ## An Oracle to be used with games _powered by Fate_ + (CC) 2019 _Fábio Emílio Costa_ + Using the Random Grid by John Reiher The Fate Oracle can be used as a GM Simulator for _GM Less_ or _Solo_ games using Fate as rules. Also, it is totally compatible with _Powered by Fate_ games. ### The Oracle Everytime you need a non-obvious answer by something happening in the scenario, you'll use the _Oracle Grid_. To use it, roll 4dF: for each `+` go a column to the right, for each `-` a line down. | | `0`| `+`| `++`| `+++`| `++++`| |---------------------:|:-----------------:|:-----------------:|:------------------:|:-------------------:|:--------------------:| | `0`| No, but | Yes, but | Yes | Yes, and | Yes, and | | `-`| No,but | No, but | Yes, but | Yes | | | `--`| No | No, but | No, but | | | | `---`| No, and | No | | | | | `----`| No, and | | | | | Explaining the results for this Oracle: + ___No, and:___ the event don't happen or the target doesn't get into. Besides, an additional complication happens (new enemies, some informants notices the character); + ___No:___ the event don't happen or the target doesn't get into. + ___No, but:___ the event don't happen or the target doesn't get into. However, some small nice thing happens to help the character a little (maybe you find a place to rest for some hours, or some enemy let some juicy piece of intel fall) + ___Yes, but:___ the event happens or the target get into. However something happens to complicate things (some vital detail gets without noticing, or a small group of traitors put the characters on some problem in the future) + ___Yes:___ the event happens or the target get into, no strings attached. + ___Yes, and:___ the event happens or the target get into. Also, some additional thing happens to help even the caharacters (nearby villages supports the characters, a forgotten _backdoor_ provides access for some extra juicy intel) > ___Exempla:___ Colton is playing a solo _Masters of Umdaar_ game with his character, a defected lieutenant of the Masters search for some answers about his family disappearance called _Delaware_. He goes to the _Fartime Monastery_, a "neutral ground" in the conflict between the Lands of Light and the Masters, although with a slight favor for the Lands of Light as it is itself one. He is search for an answer for the question of ___"The Fartime Monastery has any information about my family?"___ As your Approaches can't be used to solve this straight away, and normally weould be a question for a GM to answer, he rolls against the Oracle for a `0-0+`. Going a line down and a column right (thanks the non-black dice), he get the result _No, but_. This can means that the Monastery itself has no registry about his father or family or something else, but there's someone that can have this answer. He found about a sage called Nicodemus that has can have some answers and so he join him on some adventures as bodyguard for those answers. ### Fate Points and the Oracle A very important thing: the Fate Point Economy still works here. In fact, the Oracle receive at each scene 1 FP that can be used to modify rolls for the NPCs. Also, Fate Pointes can be used either by the player and the Oracle to change the results on the Oracle, ___maximizing___ or ___minimizing___ the results of the roll. However, as all Fate Point uses, this need to be done via Aspects. This includes also Hostile Invokes to put mechanic pushbacks for the character: those points are gather back in the end of the scene, as by default on Fate. > + ___Maximize___ a result implies on turn a non-positive die into a `+` > + ___Minimize___ a result implies on turn a non-negative die into a `-`{: .fate_font}. > + You can use a Fate Point to _maximize_ or _minimize_ one of the 4dFs on the way you want. You still need to obey all the normal conditions to use a Fate Point, and you can't use more the 2 Fate Points to do this, and you need to do this on the same direction. > + However, if either the Character and the Oracle uses FPs for this, they can go in opposite directions. You then Maximize or Minimize only the difference. > ___Example:___ on a certain moment of the scenario, Delaware, now Nicodemus bodyguard, fought a small ___troop of Subordinates of the Masters of Umdaar___. He then choose to see if ___those troops has clues about his father's whereabout___. Rolling the dics, he goes for a `0++0`, a _Yes_. But this is not enough: he invokes his Motivation ___I want to find my family whereabouts___ and changes one of the blank dice as an third `+`, for a _Yes, and_. He discover that his father for some reason deserted the Master their family worked for and now is a _Persona Non Grata_ to be killed on sight. And he also discovered the last place anyone has saw his fater was the region where he and Nicodemus are going around, ___Greendale, home of the Usato Rabbit-people___ > ___Another Example:___ on Greendale, Colton choose to look if ___The Usato are straight away hostile against Delaware___. Rolling the Oracle, he get a `00-0`, a _No, but_ result, but he thinks that life is so easy for Delaware and he Hostile Invokes Delaware's Personal Aspect of ___Former part of a Master of Umdaar Troop___, maximizing the `-` die for a `+`, turning the Oracle result into a _Yes, But_. This way he says that the rabbit-men focus all the time on his clothes, parts of the armor and uniform from his past as part of the troops of the Masters, and got worried, some of them ready to kick his butt with their big feet. However, Nicodemus is the alibi for Delawere not being kicked out the Inn they will be at night in Greendale's entrance. However some messengers were sent with news about him to the Sages in the Dale. ### Overcoming the Oracle with Narrative Details At any time a call for the Oracle sounds at large, the player can pay a Fate Point to Invoke an Aspect to use a Narrative Detail to Overcome the Oracle, as by default on Fate Points usage. > ___Exempla:___ Delaware is annoyed of being looked with suspect by the Usato, and he get into another situation where ___The Usato suspects on Delaware___. Instead of going for the Oracle, he pays a Fate Point to use his Motivation ___I want to find my family whereabouts___ to explain he had deserted the Masters to find his family. When he says about his father, many of the Usato let their ears flops over their eyes into a sad stance and one of their Sage, Shuto-Hay, shows Delaware a armor bodypiece similar the one he uses himself, blackened on _laser_ shots. He recognized some of the symbols and Glyphs, showing his father's name. Shuto-Hay goes with him to a small garden with a small mount of earth and a sword craved in the ground. Delaware then discovers his father died protecting the Usato, after getting against an order about destroying Greendale. _"Your father always said he wanted you to live your own life..."_, says Shuto-Hay, and Delawere choose to go for live his pown life... As soon he blasts the Master's head with his Energy Rifle. ### Compelling Aspects De same way, a character can Comple one of his Aspects to add a complication on a history without need to go for an Oracle roll, as by default Fate rules. Remember: a Compel changes what the scene is all about. > ___Example:___ after a series of events, Delaware got, with lots of toil, to get in the summit of the Four Moons Observatory, a big structury from the time of the Demiurges that, if the legends were right, had cut the ground, splitting Greendale from the Necrotic Marsh and forming the Amber Wall. While they are trying to uncover the way to use this power to protect Greendale against the Masters' invasion, he notice that one of the leaders of the troops of the Masters' are, surprise surprise, his own brother, Dakota. This is because he Compelled his Motivation ___I want to find my family whereabouts___, and this make him goes Mad as a Turbo-Hare. He got the ___Laconian Wings___ that he recovered into the Observatory some time before, and looking eithe Nicodemus and the Usato that helped them, Tessa Lin, said: _"You can go for the Troops, but his leader is MINE AND MINE ONLY!"_ mad as rabid badger, jumping and engaging the ___Laconian Wings___ to make a small pair of wings to feather fall against the troops... Giving a nice target for Dakota hit and try to kill his own brother. ### Evolution Milestones The _Fate Oracle_ don't change how a character Milestones works. As a "house rule", you can consider a Milestone happens every time a _No, and_ or _Yes, and_ occurs. The Milestone level should be decided according the events that happened until them in the scenario > ___Example:___ after a very dear fight, Delaware ends killing his own brother Dakota... Feeling sad and lost, Delawate think ___if this is the end?___ The Oracle rolls for a `-0--`, a _No, and_ result. Looking around, he saw that Dakota isn't the only of the Henchmen the Masters sent against Greendale: in fact, they are getting inside easily, the powerful Cannons of the Observatory being not enough to bleed the vast troops of the Masters. He looks to his own arm and noticed the tattoo that branded him as part of the Master's servants was burnt by one of Dakota's attacks (Stress he suffered). He tooks his brother's Energy Blade and looks for the dead bloodshot eyes from his brother: now he needs to ___avenge the lost of his family___. This is part of a Minor Milestone where he changes his Motivation. Also, if you want, when you get a _Yes, and_ or _No, and_, you can start a Final Scene for the scenario, resulting on a Major Milestone, if it is conquered. > ___Example:___ while opening his way through the troops to get back to the Observatory, he asked himself ifg ___the Master he and his family served where there___. E goses for the Oracle and gets a `0+0+` (Yes) but he wants blood and is seeing red! He pays a Fate Point to use his recently-changed Motivation of ___avenge the lost of his family___ for Maximize one of the blank dice for a `+`, turning the result into a _Yes, and_. Delaware ses there's not only _Rhangtor, The Eldest_, the Master they served, is there, but is fighting openly in the frontline. So he choose it's time to finish the _Living Mystery_, and for so, he runs trying to get to the summit of the Observatory. Everything right, he'll be there in time to alert Nicodemus and Tessa Lin about Rhangtor, and they'll have a rare chance to finish one of the Mastes of Umdaar once and for all... Into a Major Milestone for all of them! ## Options - Getting new _grids_ The Oracle is based on the Fate Random Grid [created by John Reiher](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CER_TdVckXgf1ajDu6MBnkmpxc-fh02VNYuY5m1s7rk/edit). You can use this to simulate situations like thoses from _Hexcrawl_ like games or other random tables. Below you can see a "blank" grtid with the chances of a result. | | `0`| `+`| `++`| `+++`| `++++`| |---------------------:|:-----------------:|:-----------------:|:------------------:|:-------------------:|:--------------------:| | `0`| A | C | B | C | A | | `-`| C | D | D | C | | | `--`| B | D | B | | | | `---`| C | C | | | | | `----`| A | | | | | | ___Result___ | ___Chances___ | ___Percent___ | |:---------------:|:--------------:|:----------------:| | A | 1 in 81 | 1.2 | | B | 4 in 81 | 4.9 | | C | 6 in 81 | 7.4 | | D | 12 in 81 | 14.8 | When creating a random grid, the most "inside" the result is, the biggest is the chance of the result, and the most "outside" the result is, the smallest is the chance of that result. Take this into account when setting the chances of an enemy or something else happens. If you want to fill only some slots, fill the remaining ones with _Nothing_ or _Roll again_. > ___Example:___ Ralph is playing a small, fluffy family friendly setting based on _The Get Along Gang_ where he thinks its interesting that the character (and his gang) find some ___Magical Costumes___ that provides powers and quirks based on the costume theme, as its a Halloween game. So, he creates a Random Costume Grid to be used when he and the Gang find some old chests. The result is the Grid below. > >| | `0`| `+`| `++`| `+++`| `++++`| >|---------------------:|:-----------------:|:-----------------:|:------------------:|:-------------------:|:--------------------:| >| `0`| Fairy Godmoder | Little Red Hood | Ballerina | Big Bad Wolf | Merlin | >| `-`| Cinderella | Clown | Pirate | Animal (rolar em outra tabela) | | >| `--`| Peter Pan | Hunter | Nutcracker | | | >| `---`| Snow White | The Beast | | | | >| `----`| Alice in Wonderland | | | | | > > Look that there's a biggest chance to find a Clown, Pirate or Hunter costume, than to get an Alice, Merlin or Fairy Godmodther one. The last one probabler are rarer because can provide some special powers the other can't for the those who don them. A very special thing is, you can ___Chain Grids___ like it's done on ___Master of Umdaar___ to randomly create some bioforms like the Mutabeasts, Centaurs and Beast-men, by setting the Pieces, like a Gryphon (Mutabeast = Eagle + Lion) or a Scorpotaur (Centaur with Scorpion body instead one of horse) > ___Example:___ In the _grid_ shown before, a result `+++-` becomes an _animal_ costume, that asks to roll on another _grid_ for the kind of, like this one: > >| | `0`| `+`| `++`| `+++`| `++++`| >|---------------------:|:-----------------:|:-----------------:|:------------------:|:-------------------:|:--------------------:| > | `0`| Elephant | Beaver | Donkey | Sheep | Lion | > | `-`| Rabbit | Mouse | Cat | Monkey | | > | `--`| Hamster | Dog | Horse | | | > | `---`| Lamb | Hare | | | | > | `----`| Wolf | | | | |