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Old 12-13-2006, 06:21 PM   #10
Stormcaller
 
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Puffing contentedly in my smoke-filled library...
Default Re: Starting campaigns for newbie GMs

The CP for successes option is a viable route to take as well. The way I implement fate points makes them a little more powerful than CP for success, for example:

A PC gets involved in a one-on-one duel with an NPC who is far superior in combat skills. The player's inexperience with the new system prevents him or her from realizing this fact in time to retreat from the encounter and save the character's life. The combat monster NPC strikes the PC down and deals a killing blow. At this point the player asks to use a fate point to save his or her new, yet beloved character. Sneering at the young upstart's precociousness, the NPC villain wipes his bloodied weapon on the clothing of his defeated foe. Then, stepping carefully so as not to foul his boots with the PC's freshly-spilled blood, he sheathes his sword and strides away to find another victim. The battle sweeps away from the area where the PC fell and the character is left for dead. A few hours later, friendly peasants combing the battlefield for survivors recognize that a spark of life still smolders in the PC and take the character back to a remote village where they nurse the fallen warrior back to health...

In effect, fate-points act as a kind of player-initiated Deus Ex Machina. Admitedly, this tends to make the campaign feel very cinematic but since these points are a limited commodity and I never replenish them after a campaign has started, there is plenty of time to move the stories towards a more realistic tone over the course of a long campaign. In many campaigns where both myself and my players are familiar with the setting and ruleset I avoid using fate points, especially if the new setting is a realistic rather than cinematic one. They can, however, be an excellent way to provide a safety margin to players just begining a game under an unfamiliar ruleset.
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