Little Blue Boxes – Notes for a Doctor Who Universe game in FATE CORE September 7, 2013 by Doc by Doc Blue in Game in Game Mechanics and tagged Doctor tagged Doctor Who, Who, FATE CORE, Little CORE, Little Blue Boxes Here are my first draft notes on special traits, skills, rules, etc. for a FATE CORE game set in the Doctor Who-niverse. (I will also be running a game in the same shared universe using Fate Accelerated – a lot of the fiddly bits that I crafted for FATE CORE get hand-waved away for FAE.) I would sincerely appreciate any thoughts on these proposed options. SPECIAL TRAITS Experienced/Inexperienced: Still Under Consideration (premise: exchange Refresh for Skill Points. Proposed: spend Experienced/Inexperienced: 2 Refresh to gain one additional level of your skill pyramid, earn 1 Refresh to lose one level of your skill pyramid; may be taken more than once) Immortality: [1 or 2 Refresh] For 1 Refresh, character does not age at all but may be killed normally. Heals normally. For a total of 2 Refresh, cannot be killed at all. Heals normally. Time Agent: [1 Refresh] May take the Traveller skill and any associated stunts. Must include Time Agent in your Core Concept. May start the game with a Gadget. Time Lord: [2 Refresh] Must take at least one level of the Traveller skill. Must include Time Lord in y our Core Concept. May start the game with a Gadget. May regenerate if you suffer massive physical damage. (See TIME LORD REGENERATION). REGENERATION). Get Time Lord Stunt Stunt for free. Fast Healing: [3 Refresh] Must have the Fast Healing Stunt. Steps the severity of physical stress and complications down one additional category for purposes of healing. Alien: [1 Refresh] Allows you to purchase alien traits, must include your alien status in your Core Concept. You may be an alien without purchasing this Special Trait – but you may not purchase any special alien powers. TRAVELLER SKILL. Allows knowledge of cosmic culture and politics. Supports operation of time travel devices and vehicles, thought Transport is still required for targeting. TIME TRAVEL. Travelling through time leaves a scar in the fabric of time and space. As a result, players can only initiate one time jump per session (per player). Note that paradoxes trigger the Blinovitch Blinovitch Effect which can result in some rather rather severe efforts of the universe to correct the resulting time loop. TIME LORD REGENERATION: May refresh all Aspects but must maintain Time Lord in your Core Concept. Update your skills pyramid. May shift skills up or down one level. Make a unmodified Fate roll – if the result is positive, your Traveller skill steps up one level. Your incarnation number is roughly twice your Traveller level plus one. If your Traveller skill advances to 7 or above, your body has worn out and you die permanently. Your skill pyramid must be a valid structure. Re-set your stress and complications to undamaged. If regenerating during an action scene, you may instantly heal new physical complications at the cost of a Fate Point. GADGETS
51st Century “Squareness Gun”: [1 Refresh] Deletes and restores walls and other items digitally. Doesn’t work on living tissue. Engram Erase: [1 Refresh] Deletes memories – often used on the witnesses of extraterrestrial incidents. Sonic Screwdriver (or other): [1 Refresh] Open/close, scan, transmit, weld. Not usable on deadlock seals, tricky controls. Vortex Manipulator: [1 or 3 Refresh] For 1 Refresh, your vortex ma nipulator will scan, transmit, and allow you to teleport short distances (temporal functions may be activated for plot reasons) For 3 Refresh, your vortex manipulator is fully functioning and will also allow short temporal jumps Use Transport to target your teleportation and time jumps, Technology for other functions TARDIS: Special. If a TARDIS is featured in the game, it will be designed collaboratively by the play group. Each player can assign: One Aspect Five Skill Points, and One Stunt The GM assigns the Flaw The TARDIS’s stunts and skill may be used in place in place of the PC’s abilities when they are on-board the time
craft ALIEN TRAITS Natural Armor [1 to 3 Refresh] Provides Armor: 2 for each point of Refresh invested Flight [1 Refresh] You may move in three dimensions as easily as in two. Immunity [1 Refresh] Take no stress/complication from one specific thing (e.g. bullets, fire). Chosen immunity must be approved by the GM. Natural Weapons [1 to 3 Refresh] Provides Weapon: 1 for each point of Refresh invested (the imbalance between attack and defense is intentional) Networked [1 Refresh] Telepathic connection to similar beings within a limited range Shape-Shifting [1 to 2 Refresh] For 1 Refresh, you have one pre-defined alternated physical form. For 2 Refresh, you may take on multiple forms and replicate specific individuals. Teleport [1 Refresh] Need to make a Notice check to teleport to a known location. Natural Time Travel [4 Refresh] Travel through time without a vehicle o r device. Time Travel costs 2 Fate Points when activated. Requires a Will check to accurately travel. If you use a time travel vehicle or device, you get +2 for your Transport checks for time travel. EXAMPLE STUNTS (need further fleshing out, players may build custom stunts according to the rules in the FATE CORE book) Boffin. +2 to create useful gadgets Fast Healing. Heal physical stress & complications as if they were one level less severe.
Friends. Contacts are far more reliable and accurate and may have access to info from someplace like UNIT or Torchwood Indomitable Will. +2 to resist mental influence Keen Senses. +2 to notice checks Owed Favor. Can use Contacts to seek more physical and active assistance in the current adventure Photographic Memory. Linked to Notice, +2 to recall details Climbing. +2 to Athletics for climbing checks Environmental Toughness. +2 to Survival checks in harsh conditions Time Pilot. May use your Traveller skill in place of Transport for targeting time/space jumps. May make one additional time jump per session. Experienced Time Traveller. Must have at least +1 Traveller to take this stunt. +2 to off-set penalties for using technology from a non-native era Time Lord. Must be a Time Lord or have the Experienced Time Traveller stunt to take this stunt. For a Fate Point, you may use your Traveller rating in place of another skill. Experienced Time Lord. Must have the Time Lord stunt to take this stunt. Choose one skill. For the rest of this session, you may use half your Traveller rating (rounded up) in place of the chosen skill. SKILL LIST Academics Athletics Burglary Contacts Crafts Deceive Empathy Fight Investigate Medicine Notice Physique Rapport Resources Science Shoot Stealth Survival Technology Transport
Traveller * Will CHARACTER GENERATION OVERVIEW Standard Fate Core Rules except as noted: Choose your HIGH CONCEPT and TROUBLE aspect – note that certain Special Traits (Alien, Time Agent, Time Traveller) must be included in the High Concept Aspect Phase One: Your first or iconic adventure. Phases Two and Three: Your guest appearances in two of your fellow travellers Phase One adventures – note that these may occur before or after your own. Time travel is funny that way. Skills: Default is a skill pyramid topped with +4. You may optionally build on 20 skill points. If you wish to purchase the Experienced or Inexperienced trait, you MUST use a skill pyramid for your initial character design. Stunts and Refresh: Each player starts with 6 Refresh and may spend up to 5 Refresh on Stunts and Special Traits. SKILL PYRAMID TEMPLATES Medical Doctor +4: Medicine +3: Academics, Science +2: Deceive,Technology, Transport +1: Athletics, Survival, (
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Musician +4: Craft +3: Deceive, Transport +2: Athletics, Fight, Stealth +1: Survival, Technology, (
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Journalist +4: Academics +3: Technology, (
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+2: Athletics, Science, Transport +1: Survival, Deceive, Fight, Medicine Soldier +4: Shoot +3: Fight, Survival +2: Athletics, Technology, Transport +1: Deceive, Medicine, Stealth, ( Torchwood (or similar) Operative +4: Technology +3: Shoot, Athletics
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+2: Deceive, Fight, Stealth +1: Academics, Medicine, Science, Transport Scientist/Inventor +4: Technology +3: Science, Academics +2: Deceive, Medicine, (
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+1: Athletics, Craft, Transport, (
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