Traps or "What Was that 'Click'?"

Starting Point

One of the knock-on effects of translating spells is that, as you are thinking up how spells are going to interact with the gameworld, you also realize that there are parts of the world that still need extra definition.

The most recent situation that has come up (with Clerical spell translation) is Traps.

Though Fate Core talks about traps and the system doesn't need any new rules to handle traps, during the process of translating the "Find Traps" spell it became clear I needed to clarify a few things in my own head about Traps before getting the spell dialed in.

Granularity of Traps

So, how important are "traps" in a particular game world?

Depending upon your preferences or circumstances, a trap could just be a single-roll, Passive Opposition "Overcome" action and gameplay continues.

However in the dungeon-laden gameworld of Greyhawk, I believe dealing with traps to be a fairly important activity and worthy of some depth.

Traps are Niche Protection

The gameworld of Greyhawk is one where characters have a class (or niche). Meaning there is a degree of specialization to each class--each class is good at something.

This also provides some narrative justification for the notion of a "balanced" party of adventurers. Fighters are in the party to fight monsters and thereby keep everyone alive long enough to get to the treasure. Similarly, thieves are in the party because there's going to be traps to be defeated and thus, they also do their part to also keep everyone alive long enough to get the treasure.

So with a goal that each player's character should have their moments to shine, I think it makes sense to have traps be considered as important, or have as much game depth, as monsters?

Fortunately, Fate Core gives us a convenient method by which to define Traps as being as important as Monsters with the "fractal" approach.

In short: define Traps more like monsters.

Traps are Monstrous

A GM could use the same broad categorizations with Traps as you do with monsters:

• Mook Traps
• Supporting Traps
• Named Traps

Mook Traps

Mook Traps would probably be just a simple one-time Overcome Opposition roll using Burglary or Crafts. A tie or failure would then result in success at a minor cost or serious cost.¹

Example: A Thief attempts to disarm a Trap with a +4 difficulty, and only generates a +3 result. The trap was sprung, but at a minor cost. The GM chooses to let the player think up how that complicates matters. "You disarmed the trap on the chest but something goes wrong. What happened?"

The point is that if there is a thief in the party, Mook Traps can be little more than an annoyance. However without a thief, even a simple Mook Trap might break a fighter's hand and could present a serious risk to the party's survival.

Supporting / Named Traps

As expected, these traps would be more involved. Meaning that if Traps are defined similar to monsters, and thieves are "trap combat specialists", then...

Traps Have Skills

A trap's Attack skill (I'll call it "Deadliness")

A skill representing ability to "defend" against "attacks" by thieves' Burglary skill. I'll just call it "Difficulty to Disarm", to be more consistent with Mook Traps.

Stealth skill if the trap is hidden.

Traps Could Have Aspects

A few examples could be: Poison Gas, Magic trap, Complicated gears and cogs, That's gonna require a block and tackle!

Traps Could Have Stunts

Zone Attack (I can't think of others at the moment--feel free to suggest trap stunts in the comments)

Traps Could Have Stress Tracks

A trap might require a certain amount of damage done to it (disarming it multiple times, or a sufficient degree of bashing), before it's rendered harmless.

What Traps Don't Have

Traps only have Active Opposition² in the event that the Trap is considered as "attacking" a player. Remember that Passive Opposition, doesn't get a dice roll.

Traps probably wouldn't have Consequences. If they even have a stress track, once it is exceeded, it's Taken out.

Sandboxing a Trap

For the examples that follow, use these statistics...

The Thief

The Thief has the following statistics:

• Burglary: +2
• Athletics: +1
• Notice: +1
• Physical Track: OO

The Lock

The Lock on the Treasure Chest has the following statistics:

• Difficulty to Pick: +3
• Physical Track: OOO

The Trap

The Trap on the Lock has the following statistics:

• Deadliness: +2
  • Aspect: Poison Needle Within the Lock
• Concealment: +2
• Difficulty to Disarm: +1

The Conflict

Does the Thief Find the Trap?

This is a contest between the Trap's Concealment rating and the Thief's Notice skill.

There's a couple ways a GM might go about this...

Thief is Passively using "Notice"

The DM could consider that the Thief is always using Notice skill in a passive sense (even if only to avoid hearing it repeatedly at the gaming table), and then you could just compare the Concealment of the Trap against the Notice Skill, and go from there.

A Tie would be resolved according to "The Four Outcomes" [^2] ...look under "Mook Traps" above for an idea what to say in that circumstance.

Even in the event of failure, and that if the Trap is not noticed (the difficulty being higher than the skill), the Thief's player could elect to spend a Fate point and alter the narrative.

Alternatively, the GM could also choose to roll the dice for the Thief without saying why (and increase the tension).

Thief is Actively using "Notice"

If the Thief is focused on actively looking for Traps (which could then be used against the Thief if a monster is laying in wait nearby...), then the Thief gets to use the normal 4dF roll to Overcome the difficulty.

Does the Player Know there is a Trap?

In Fate games, there's often an assumption at the table that the player knows more than what the player's character knows. This is in contrast to how most source material game sessions went in the past, where the player only knew what the player's character experienced.

So now, the GM would tell the player of a Thief that a trap is on the locked chest, and then prompt the player to roll to determine if the Thief finds it. However if the Thief fails, the player still knows there was a Trap (which can create a more cinematically-flavored tension at the table). The players are now similar to movie watchers who know there's a trap on the chest, as the Thief's hands edge closer to the poison needle...

So the Thief's Notice Skill generates...

(Skill "Notice", +1) + (Dice 4dF, +2) = +3

...against the Trap's Concealment of +2...

(Thief +3) - (Trap +2) = +1

...for a successful noticing of the Trap.

So now the Thief is aware of the Trap and the aspect. Keep in mind that the Trap has not yet been disabled, and it's still deadly! However the fact that the Thief knows it's there prevents it from being deadlier than if it was a surprise. Forewarned is forearmed!

Disarming the Trap

The Thief attempts to Disarm the poison needle for a value of...

(Skill "Burglary", +2) + (Dice 4dF, +1) = +3

The Trap's "Difficulty to Disarm" is +1 so...

(Attempt, +3) - (Difficulty to Disarm, +1) = +2 to the attempt

...and so the Thief has successfully disarmed the poison needle trap. Note here that the trap is only providing passive opposition and doesn't get a die roll.

Picking the Lock

So the Thief attempts to pick the lock with the following examples...

The Trap is Armed

If the Trap is armed, then the during the Thief's action to pick the lock, the Trap interrupts the action by attacking the Thief:

(Skill "Deadliness", +2) + (Dice 4dF, -1) + (Aspect Poison Needle Within the Lock, +2) = +5 attack

The Thief tries to snatch his hands back, defending with...

(Skill "Athletics", +1) + (Dice 4dF, -1) = +0 defense

...for a result of...

(Attack, +5) - (Defense, +0) = +5 stress to defender

The Thief (defender) takes 5 stress to his physical track, which will likely lead to a Minor Consequence of "Poisoned". Additionally, the lock has not been picked.

What about Armor?

Any defensive benefit of armor depends upon the nature of the Trap and the nature of the armor. In this example, a poison needle in the lock, the thief would be assumed to have removed any mundane armor covering his hands. Magical protection might still be of use in this circumstance, however.

The Trap is Disarmed

If the trap has already been disarmed, or has already been sprung (from the example above), it might look like this...

The Thief attempts to Pick the Lock for a value of...

(Skill "Burglary", +2) + (Dice 4dF, +3) = +5

The Trap's "Difficulty to Pick" is +3 so...

(Attempt, +5) - (Diffculty, +3) = +2 to the attempt

...and so the Thief has successfully opened the lock on the chest.

Other Thoughts on Traps

"Just Bash It!"

It's possible to try open the chest by just chopping it with an axe or attempting to break the lock with a prybar. Again, depending upon the circumstances, the Trap might injure the party in the attempt, the violence might damage the treasure held within the chest, or might alert nearby enemies to your presence and intention. Your mileage may vary.

Complications

Also remember that circumstances in a dungeon can make the thief's job a lot harder than if disarming a trap was done under "laboratory" conditions.

• Combat is going on.
• The thief is injured / hung over.
• Mental consequences.
• Did you Hear Something? Monsters are about.

• Do You Mind?? Other PCs are looking over his shoulder because they don't trust the thief with a treasure chest (even a trapped one).

---

1. Fate Core, p. 189. ↩

2. Fate Core, p. 131. ↩

Cleric Spell "Know Alignment"

Know Alignment (Divination) Reversible

Properties

Difficulty: 2
Range: 10' or within the same zone as the cleric.
Duration: The rest of the scene
Components: V, S
Area of Effect: One Creature per action (at a time)
Casting Time: 1 action
Opposed By: n/a (but can be countered, see "Reversible")

Description

A Know Alignment spell enables the cleric to exactly read the aura of a person - human, semi-human, or non-human. This will reveal the exact alignment of the person. Up to 10 persons can be examined with this spell.

Mechanics

Any Alignment aspects which are present on the creature touched, are now known to the cleric. The exact nature of the aspect is revealed to the cleric.

There is no variability in this spell, so no die roll is needed under normal circumstances.

"Declaring a Story Detail"

If the player expends a Fate point during the casting, the player can declare a story detail about the cleric character detecting a target's Alignment. The nature of the aspect would be up to the GM and player to justify any details about that aspect. (Fate Core, p. 13).

Reversible (Obscure Alignment)

The effect of this is to MODIFY an existing "Alignment" aspect that already upon the target to make that aspect "hidden". Unlike the normal version of this spell, this can only be used on a single charmed creature.

Note that in the case of Alignment in Spirit of Greyhawk, not all creatures have an Alignment. So this reversed effect will give the cleric a (false) result of having no Alignment or Unaligned. Fans of the source material should bear in mind that an Alignment of True Neutral is normally not the considered the same as having no Alignment.

Cleric Spell "Find Traps"

Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.

Find Traps (Divination)

Properties

Difficulty: 2
Range: 30' or Up to 1 zone away
Duration: The rest of the scene and the next scene (if there is no break between scenes)
Components: V, S
Area of Effect: The cleric
Casting Time: 1 action
Opposed By: n/a

Description

For the duration of the spell, the cleric receives divine awareness of any traps (i.e., they don't glow or anything, the cleric just "knows" they are there) within a 1 zone radius of the cleric for the spell's duration.

Mechanics

There are no specific mechanics here--no casting die roll is required. The cleric becomes aware of any Traps and their aspects, within the spell's range. The trap is just as deadly as it would be otherwise, but the cleric is now aware of the trap and its nature.

"Declaring a Story Detail"

If the player expends a Fate point during the casting, the player can declare a story detail about the cleric character detecting a Trap's aspect. The nature of the aspect would be up to the GM and player to justify any details about that aspect. (Fate Core, p. 13).

Cleric Spell "Detect Charm"

Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.

Detect Charm (Divination) Reversible

Properties

Difficulty: 2
Range: 30' or Up to 1 zone away
Duration: The rest of the scene
Components: V, S
Area of Effect: One Creature (at a time)
Casting Time: 1 action
Opposed By: n/a (but can be countered, see "Reversible")

Description

When used by a cleric, this spell will detect whether or not a person or monster is under the influence of a Charm spell. This can be used upon 10 creatures before the spell wanes.

Mechanics

Any Charm-related aspects which are present on the creature touched, are now known to the cleric. The exact nature, of the aspect may not be specifically revealed to the cleric, only that a Charm-related aspect exists on the creature.

There is no variability in the spell, based on its Power.

"Declaring a Story Detail"

If the player expends a Fate point during the casting, the player can declare a story detail about the cleric character detecting a Charm spell upon the target(s). The nature of the aspect would be up to the GM and player to justify any details about that aspect. (Fate Core, p. 13).

Reversible (Obscure Charm)

The effect of this is to modify or obscure an existing "Charm" aspect that already upon the target to make that aspect "hidden". Unlike the normal version of this spell, this can only be used on a single charmed creature.

Cleric Spell "Augury"

Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.

Augury (Divination)

Properties

Difficulty: 2
Range: N/A
Duration: Special (See below)
Components: V, S, M (Very Rare: See below)
Area of Effect: N/A
Casting Time: 1 action
Opposed By: N/A

Description

The cleric casting an Augury spell seeks to divine whether a single action in the immediate future (within the current or next scene) will be to the benefit of, or harmful to, the party. The material component for Augury is a set of gem-inlaid sticks, dragon bones, or similar tokens, or the wet leaves of an infusion which remain in the container after the infused brew is consumed. If the last method is used, a crushed pearl of at least 100 g.p. value must be added to the concoction before it is consumed.

Mechanics

The cleric requests the augury, then asks the question, and the GM rolls 4dF where the players cannot see the dice. Consult the following to determine if the augury is correct...

Cleric's Apex Skill	4dF Result	Augury Result
+4 or less	-3 or -4	Augury will be inaccurate
+5 or greater	-4	Augury will be inaccurate

...otherwise the cleric's augury will be accurate.

Mechanics Alternative

This might also be a good application of the Deck of Fate (cards or app).

Additional Note on Mechanics

The source material often makes the assumption that the GM will keep the result a secret from the player (as well as the character). However in Fate Core games, this may not always be the case. The GM may share the result with the Player in order to perhaps better roleplay the PC (player's character) faith in the Augury. This is up to the GM to determine.

Cleric Spell "Resist Cold"

Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.

Resist Cold (Alteration)

Properties

Difficulty: 1
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 scene + 1 extra contiguous scene for each + 1 of Spell Power
Components: V, S, M (Rare: (?) Pinch of sulfur)
Area of Effect: Creature touched
Casting Time: 1 action
Opposed By: n/a

Description

When this spell is placed on a creature by a cleric, the creature's body is inured to cold. The recipient can stand zero degrees Fahrenheit without discomfort, even totally nude.

The material component is a pinch of sulfur.

Mechanics

Cleric creates the aspect Protected from Cold on the target, giving the target a single free invocation. If the spell's Power is +4 or better, the target gets 2 invocations instead of 1.

Example: Cleric with a Will of +1 casts Remove Cold (Difficulty: 1) rolls 2dF+2 and gets a +1. Assuming no other modifiers, this means the spell has a Power of...

(Skill "Will", +1) + (Dice 2dF+2, +1) - (Difficulty, 1) = +1 Spell Power

...which means the target gets the aspect Protected from Cold, with 1 free invocation. The aspect lasts the rest of the scene and the next scene as long as there is no narrative "break" or interruption between scenes. In other words, unless the following scene begins immediately, one right after the other, the effect has expired.

Normal Operation

The aspect means that the target is impervious to "normal" cold down to 0 degrees Farenheit.

Attacks from Cold

The aspect can be tagged for +2 on the target's defense rolls versus cold-based attacks.

Cleric Spell "Remove Fear"

Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.

Remove Fear (Abjuration) Reversible

Properties

Difficulty: 1
Range: Touch
Duration: Remainder of Scene
Components: V, S
Area of Effect: Creature Touched
Casting Time: 3 Combat Exchanges
Opposed By: n/a

Description

By touch, the cleric instills courage in the spell recipient, either to remove that target's fear or to help them resist fear for the duration of the spell.

Mechanics

The variability in the spell is the amount of benefit the target receives, based upon the Power. There are two mechanical effects on the Target.

Increased Resistance (Armor) for Fear Attacks

The target will be considered to have "armor" against Mental attacks that use fear. The Power of the spell determines the amount of armor.

Determine the Power of the spell, and divide by Power by two (rounding up), which would result in the following benefit:

Spell Power	Armor against Fear Attacks
1	+1df, counting only the "+"
2	+1df, counting only the "+"
3	+2df, counting only the "+"
4	+2df, counting only the "+"
5	+3df, counting only the "+"
6	+3df, counting only the "+"
7	+4df, counting only the "+"
8	+4df, counting only the "+"

This benefit lasts the duration of the spell.

"Heal" an Fear-based Consequence

If the target is suffering from a fear-based Consequence, the successful use of this spell will let the target attempt to Overcome/Recover from a Fear-based Consequence, using the "armor" provided by the spell.

The difficulty the target must overcome is based on the severity of the existing Consequence:

• +2 difficulty for a Mild Consequence
• +4 difficulty for a Moderate Consequence
• +6 difficulty for a Severe Consequence

Note that if the Consequence is such where the target cannot be easily touched (eg., Fleeing in Panic where the target has already "fled") the GM may require the cleric to perform some additional physical test in order to touch the target.

This specific "healing" benefit only occurs at the time of casting--not for the duration of the spell.

Example: Cleric with a Will of +3 casts Remove Fear (Difficulty: 1) rolls 2dF+2 and gets a +3. Assuming no other modifiers, this means the spell has a Power of...

(Skill "Will", +3) + (Dice 2dF+2, +3) - (Difficulty, 1) = +5 Spell Power

...which means the target of the spell will be protected from Evil creatures for the duration of that scene. If the target is attacked in any fashion (Physical, Mental, Magical) by an Evil creature, an additional +3dF "armor" will be used for defense by the target (just like physical armor).

Additionally, if the target already had a Fear-based Consequence the target may roll 4dF against their Will skill (using the +3dF, counting only "+" results) to instantly remove that Consequence at the difficulty determined above.

Reversible (Cause Fear)

The caster may reverse the spell, and at a touch make an attack against the Target's Mental Stress. The power of the spell is compared against the target's defense, and if the attack succeeds, (i.e., causes any Stress) any extra shifts are discarded and the target is immediately struck with a Mild consequence to be determined by the caster (with GM approval), but is to be a variation on Fleeing in Panic.

(cross reference FC p.164 "Recovering from a Consequence")

Cleric Spell "Protection from Evil"

Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.

Protection From Evil (Abjuration) Reversible

Properties

Difficulty: 1
Range: Touch
Duration: Remainder of Scene, plus addt'l contiguous Scene per + of Power
Components: V, S, M (Common, see below)
Area of Effect: Creature Touched
Casting Time: 3 Combat Exchanges
Opposed By: n/a

Description

The spell provides an aura that surrounds the target at a distance of one foot and acts as magical armor for the recipient, with the following benefits:

Protection from Any Attacks by Evil Creatures

Any Defense action taken by the recipient in response to an Attack action (physical or magical) from a creature with an evil aspect, may invoke this aspect. The recipient receives 1 free invocation--any further invocations cost the recipient a Fate point, as per normal.

The recipient of the spell gets a stackable armor benefit of +1dF (using the "+" only) for the duration of the spell, but only when attacked by a creature with an "evil" aspect.

Example: A fighter wearing Leather armor is the target of the Protection from Evil spell. The armor is worth +2dF, the spell is worth +1dF, and so the fighter has a total "armor" protection of +3dF when physically attacked by evil creatures.

Example: In the event that the same fighter was attacked by a mental attack by an evil creature, the fighter would also receive the +1dF benefit of the spell when determining his defense against the mental attack as well.

Cannot Be Touched by Enchanted or Conjured Creatures

For the duration of the spell, the recipient of the spell cannot be touched bodily by enchanted creatures such as: aerial servants, demons, devils, djinn, efreet, elementals, imps, invisible stalkers, night hags, quasits, salamanders, water weirds, wind walkers, and xorn.

Similarly any summoned creatures are also prevented from actually touching the recipient.

There is no cost to the recipient for this benefit.

Mechanics

The recipient has an aspect of Protected from Evil upon them for the duration of the spell. To complete this spell, the cleric must trace a 3' diameter circle upon the floor (or ground) with holy water for Protection From Evil, or with blood for Protection From Good - or in the air using burning incense or smoldering dung with respect to evil/good.

The variable of the spell is the duration of the effect.

Example: Cleric with a Will of +3 Casts Detect Evil (Difficulty: 1) rolls 2dF+2 and gets a +0. Assuming no other modifiers, this means the spell has a Power of...

(Skill "Will", +3) + (Dice 2dF+2, +0) - (Difficulty, 1) = +2 Spell Power

...which means that the target of the spell will be protected from Evil creatures for the duration of that scene, and the next 2 scenes as long as there is no narrative "break" or interruption between scenes. In other words, unless the following scenes begin immediately, one right after the other, the effect has expired.

Reversible

This spell can be reversed to become Protection From Good, although it still keeps out enchanted evil creatures as well.

Cleric Spell "Detect Magic"

Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.

Detect Magic (Divination)

Properties

Difficulty: 1
Range: 1 zone away (30')
Duration: The rest of the scene
Components: V, S, M (Common: Cleric's Symbol)
Area of Effect: In front of the cleric, up to 1 zone away. (A path 10' wide, 30' feet long)
Casting Time: 1 Exchange
Opposed By: n/a

Description

The cleric will detect any aspects of magical origin in front of the cleric, up to 30' away (in an adjacent zone). This detection is blocked by:

• Stone walls of 1' thick or greater
• Solid metal of only 1/12"
• 3' or more of solid wood.

Mechanics

Any aspects which are present in the range of the spell (environment, items or characters) that are "magic" in nature, are now known to the cleric. The exact nature, and location of the aspect are NOT known--only that a magic aspect is present.

There is no variability in the spell--determining a Power is not needed. Just the success (or failure) of the casting.

"Declaring a Story Detail"

If the player expends a Fate point during the casting, the player can declare a story detail about the cleric character detecting magic. The specific nature of the aspect would be up to the GM and player to justify any details about that aspect. (Fate Core, p. 13).

Cleric Spell "Detect Evil"

Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.

Detect Evil (Divination)

Properties

Difficulty: 1
Range: 4 zones away (120')
Duration: The rest of the scene + 1 extra contiguous scene for each + 1 of Spell Power
Components: V, S, M (Common: Cleric's Symbol held in front of cleric for the duration of the spell)
Area of Effect: A straight line in front of cleric, out to Range.
Casting Time: 1 minute or 10 exchanges
Opposed By: n/a

Description

This spell discovers emanations of evil, (or emanations of good in the case of the reverse spell), from any creature or object. For example, evil alignment or an evilly-cursed object will radiate evil, but a hidden trap or an unintelligent viper will not. The spell has a path of detection 10' wide in the direction in which the cleric is facing. It requires the use of the cleric's holy (or unholy) symbol as its material component, with the cleric holding it before him or her, for the duration of the spell.

Mechanics

Any aspects which are present within the range of the spell (environment, items or characters) that are "evil" in nature, are now known to the cleric. The exact nature, and location of the aspect are NOT known--only that an evil aspect is present in front of the cleric's current facing, out to the area of effect.

The variable in the spell is the duration of the spell's effect.

Example: Cleric with a Will of +3 Casts Detect Evil (Difficulty: 1) rolls 2dF+2 and gets a +0. Assuming no other modifiers, this means the spell has a Power of...

(Skill "Will", +3) + (Dice 2dF+2, +0) - (Difficulty, 1) = +2 Spell Power

...which means the cleric is able to detect Evil aspects within 4 zones in front of her for the duration of that scene, and the next 2 scenes as long as there is no narrative "break" or interruption between scenes. In other words, unless the following scenes begin immediately, one right after the other, the effect has expired.

"Declaring a Story Detail"

If the player expends a Fate point during the casting, the player can declare a story detail about the cleric character detecting evil (or good). Then the nature of the aspect would be up to the GM and player to justify any details about that aspect. (Fate Core, p. 13).

Reversible "Detect Good"

The cleric may also elect to use the spell to detect a "good" aligned aspect in a similar fashion. The only difference here is that it requires an Unholy (Profane) Symbol to be used.

Cleric Spell "Bless"

This is the first in a series of the Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.

Bless (Conjuration / Summoning) Reversible

Properties

Difficulty: 1
Range: Up to 2 zones away from the caster's zone (60')
Duration: 6 minutes or the full conflict
Components: V, S, M (Rare: Sprinkling of Holy Water)
Area of Effect: 50’ x 50’ or an area of two adjacent zones
Casting Time: 3 exchanges
Opposed By: n/a

Description

A successful casting will Create an Advantage of Blessed on all characters within the Area of Effect at the time the Casting is completed. This advantage lasts 6 minutes of game time or the full conflict.

The advantage is only available to those within the Area of Effect who are not already in combat (i.e., is not attacking or defending). The effect is sticky--so if that Blessed character then enters combat, the advantage is still available.

Invocations

A successful casting will also generate free invocations:

• Successful casting (Cleric generates a Spell Power of +1 through +3) = 1 free invocation
• Succeed with style (Cleric generates a Spell Power of +4 or better) = 2 free invocations

Example: Cleric with a Will of +2 Casts Bless (Difficulty: 1) rolls 2dF+2 and gets a +0. Assuming no other modifiers, this means the spell has a Power of...

(Skill "Will", +2) + (Dice 2df+2, +0) - (Difficulty, 1) = +1 Spell Power

...which means everyone within the Area of Effect gets the aspect Blessed, and the party can leverage (between them) a single free invocation.

All other invocations require the invoker (user) to expend a Fate Point.

The aspect can be invoked for mental or physical uses.

Reversible

The reverse of the spell Creates an Advantage of Cursed within the Area of Effect. The reverse requires a different material component: sprinkling “specially polluted” or profaned, water instead of Holy Water.

Compel

A curse can either be Invoked or Compelled (Fate Core, p.71). If a player character cast the Curse, he may use an invocation as a Compel on a target that was impacted by the curse. The target may accept the compel (for a Fate Point) or pay their own Fate Point to avoid it.

Once the casting's free invocations are used, the cleric could continue to invoke compels at the cost of the cleric’s own Fate Points.

Boiling the Ocean

Despite a lack of posts, actual work on spell translation has been proceeding. While the first batch of spells is going through an editing pass for some consistency, here’s some thoughts about the process I took for spell translation.

1. Define the Scope of the Spells to be Translated
2. Organize the Spells into Similar Categories
3. Batch the Translations in Each Category.

Scope

For the initial effort, I limited my translations to a “Blue Box” approach of only doing spell levels 1-3.

Only levels 1-3? That’s not enough!

Says you. The source material spell tables for levels 1-3 (remember that “Blue Box” = Cleric and Magic-User classes only), which leaves “only”…

• Cleric spells: 36
• Wizard spells: 78

…I think 114 spells is pretty good starting place.

Organization

Starting from those 114 spells, I organized them into categories. Since the goal is to translate these spells into use for Fate Core, it made sense to make each of the Fate Core “Four Actions” a separate category:

• Attack
• Defend
• Overcome Opposition
• Create Advantage

A quick read of each spell’s description allowed each spell to be categorized into one (or more) of the Four Actions. Additionally it had the benefit of further narrowing the scope of each effort.

For example looking at the Cleric spells in level 1-3, an initial review gave the following breakdown…

• Attack: 1 spell
• Defend: 0 spells
• Overcome Opposition: 6 spells
• Create Advantage: 37 spells

…You might have noticed that this adds up to more then the 36 spells I listed above. The reason for the higher number here is that a number of spells that were “reversible” would have the reverse effect fall into a separate Action category.

So looking at this categorization, it becomes a lot clearer where to spend time to do the most good.

Batch Translate each Category

So now even within each category, you could probably start picking and choosing spells with similar spell effects or descriptions, and limit from there.

Focusing again on Cleric spells 1-3 within the “Create Advantage” category, that means that you could look at spells like…

• Bless
• Detect Good/Evil
• Detect Magic
• Detect Charm
• Find Traps
• Know Alignment

…knowing that once you’ve worked out the basics of the Create Advantage action within one of the spells, you can leverage that work across similar spells.

This also has the advantage of improving consistency between similar spells and minimizing rework later on if you find yourself in a dead-end.

So what all this is leading up to is an explanation of why you’re not seeing spells being posted in a onesy-twosy fashion.

Look for some spells coming up pretty soon!

More Ambient Music to Game by - John Carpenter

It has been an obnoxiously long time since I posted (almost a year?? I am filled with shame), and my overly-long list of "to-do list" has the next series "real" articles coming up, but in the meantime, here's something that compelled me to write.

In addition to being "Master of Late 20th Century Horror", movie director John Carpenter composed a lot of the soundtracks to his movies.

They had a minimalistic feel and are very successful at conveying a mood. Come to think of it, that was a point I made the last time I wrote about gaming music...

Keeping to another point from my prior entry: unless you (the DM) want the music to specifically prompt a connection in the players to a particular movie, say like...

• The Theme from Halloween
• Main Theme Reprise from The Fog

...You'd do well to look at some of his less recognizable work. You find A LOT of his work here John Carpenter's Music on Spotify

My Spotify Picks for John Carpenter Soundtrack Music

• Matthew Ghost Story from "The Fog"
• Wrong Flavor from "Assault on Precinct 13"
• Myer's House from "Halloween"
• Better Check the Kids from "Halloween"
• New Mexico from "Vampires"
• Valek's Portrait from "Vampires"
• Main Theme from "Escape from New York"
• The Bank Robbery from "Escape from New York"
• Descent Into New York
• Back to the Pod (version 2) / Crazies Come Out from "Escape from New York"

Beyond the Soundtracks

Though he hasn't directed a film since 2001, he released an album of original tracks called "Lost Themes" in 2015. Though it recalls his movie soundtrack work, I believe it's all original tracks. Some favorites for gaming....

• Night
• Vortex
• Wraith

Why Now?

The genesis of this writeup was learning that John Carpenter has a new album of original music due out April 15, 2016. But NPR has the entire album available for streaming right NOW. And it is GREAT for gaming.

John Carpenter - Lost Themes II