Perhaps the first thing to talk about is dice, followed by how and when we’d use them, followed by how we’d affect them by spending fate points, then how we _earn_ fate points.
We’ll be using sets of four Fate Dice, which provide even chances of three possibilities: plus, minus, or neutral. When you roll the four dice, you total up the pluses and subtract the minuses, for a result between -4 and +4.
Standard six sided dice can be used as fate dice.
If you don’t have fate dice and don’t want to use the online roller, a set of 4d6 can do the job. Just count any dice that read 1 or 2 as a minus, 3 or 4 as a neutral, and 5 or 6 as a plus. Thus, if you roll a 2, a 3, a 5, and a 6 on your 4d6, you’d count them as a minus, a neutral, and two plus results, adding up to a +1 for the four dice.
The dice are used in skill checks or contested actions, where you’ll be rolling against a target difficulty. For example, you could be checking to see whether you Notice something fairly quiet, which the GM says is of “Average” difficulty. If you have a Fair skill in Notice, and all other things being equal, you’d get 1 shift of success, or an “Average” success, if you rolled a break even +0 on your dice.
Remember that you can spend Fate Points to affect the results of your dice rolls. You can also take actions that create advantages or boosts, to make future efforts easier.
The dice results do not absolutely determine success or failure. If you roll lower than required to get a success, you have the option to choose to succeed, but with a cost. You get to decide whether your dice results indicate failure, a tie, success, or success with style.
For example, if you roll low and you get a Poor or Terrible result, you may choose to:
- Fail, and don’t get the result you want, or
- get what you want at a serious cost (by gaining stress or consequences or negative aspects, with the GM as final arbiter)
If your roll matches the level of difficulty, you get a Mediocre result, you may choose to:
- get what you want, but at a minor cost, or
- get a lesser version of the result you want
If you roll higher than your target by 1 or 2 shifts, you:
- Succeed, and get what you want
If you roll higher than your target by 3 or more shifts, you:
- Succeed with style, and get what you want with an added benefit
Serious cost vs minor cost:
A serious cost should make the current situation worse somehow, either by creating a new problem or exacerbating an existing one. The GM might bring in another source of opposition in this scene or the next one (such as a new opposing NPC or an obstacle to overcome), or ask the player to take a consequence at their lowest free level, or give someone who opposes the PC an advantage with a free invocation.
A minor cost should add a story detail that’s problematic or bad for the PC, but doesn’t necessarily endanger progress. Perhaps the PC will take stress or give someone who opposes the PCs a boost. Sometimes the minor cost is mainly a narrative detail, showing how the PC just barely scratched by.
Ladder of Difficulty / Ability / Shifts:
| +8 | Legendary |
| +7 | Epic |
| +6 | Fantastic |
| +5 | Superb |
| +4 | Great |
| +3 | Good |
| +2 | Fair |
| +1 | Average |
| =0 | Mediocre |
| –1 | Poor |
| –2 | Terrible |
If you were attempting a task with a Fair (+2) difficulty, but your closest applicable skill was only Mediocre (+0), you’d need to roll at least a +3 on the dice to beat the target difficulty by a full shift and get an Average success. A Mediocre result could either be a success with a minor cost or a lesser version of the result you were hoping for.
Just in case you’re curious, the probabilities of fate dice are:
- 1.2% chance of getting a +4
- 6.2% chance of +3 or better
- 19% chance of +2 or better
- 38% chance of +1 or better
- 61% chance of +0 or better
- 20% chance of getting a -1
- 12% chance of getting a -2
- 5% chance of getting a -3
- 1.2% chance of getting a -4