Aspect Types5 min read

Introduction

Here are the various types of aspects which can be invoked:

1. Campaign Aspects
2. Character Aspects
3. Situation/Scene Aspects
4. Boosts
5. Advantages
6. Consequences

Campaign Aspects

Cost

Create Advantage action or 1 Fate Point

Created

Campaign Aspects are the ‘issues’ created when you create your campaign: (Current Issue Pending Issue, Legacy Issue, Thematic Aspects). Everyone can invoke, compel, or create an advantage on a Campaign Aspect at any time and they are always there and available for anyone to use. Although, Campaign Aspects are not typically used by players so much, with the potential exception of Thematic Aspects, which are not core, but people seem to like them in their campaigns.

Character Aspects

Cost	Create Advantage action or 1 Fate Point
Created	Created during character creation for PC’s or NPC’s. You can invoke or call for a compel on any of your character aspects whenever they’re relevant. GM’s, you can always propose compels to any PC. Players, you can suggest compels for other people’s characters which costs you a Fate Point, but the GM is always going to get the final say on whether or not it’s a valid suggestion.

Situation/Scene Aspects

Cost	Create Advantage action or 1 Fate Point
Created	Create Advantage or part of scene

A Situation Aspect is temporary, intended to last only for a single scene or until it no longer makes sense (but no longer than a session, at most). Situation Aspects can be attached to the environment the scene takes place in – which affects everybody in the scene – but you can also attach them to specific characters by targeting them when you create an advantage. Situation aspects describe significant features of the circumstances the characters are dealing with in a scene.

That includes:

• Physical features of the environment (Dense Underbrush, Obscuring Snowdrifts, Low Gravity Planet).
• Positioning or placement (Sniper’s Perch, In the Trees, Backyard).
• Immediate obstacles (Burning Barn, Tricky Lock, Yawning Chasm).
• Contextual details that are likely to come into play (Disgruntled Townsfolk, Security Cameras, Loud Machinery).
• Sudden changes in a character’s status (Sand in the Eyes, Disarmed, Cornered, Covered in Slime).

Who can use a Situation Aspect depends a lot on the narrative context— sometimes it’ll be very clear, and sometimes you’ll need to justify how you’re using the aspect to make sense based on what’s happening in the scene. GMs, you’re the final arbiter on what claims on an aspect are valid. Sometimes Situation Aspects become obstacles that characters need to overcome. Other times they give you justification to provide active opposition against someone else’s action.

Boosts

Use	free
Created	as a part of an action

Boosts are a super-transient kind of aspect that are typically generated as a cost to a roll. You get a boost when:

• Tie while trying to:
  • Create an Advantage
  • Attack
  • Overcome – gain a negative boost to use against you
• Succeed with Style on the following actions:
  • Attack – (may reduce your damage by 1 to gain a boost)
  • Defense
  • Overcome
  • General Action

You get to invoke them for free, but as soon as you do, the aspect goes away. If you want, you can also allow another character to invoke your boost, if it’s relevant and could help them out.

Advantages (pg 136)

Use	Free (Situation/Scene Aspects only)
Created	When you succeed at Creating an Advantage, you “stick” a free invocation onto an aspect (or create a new aspect). If you succeed with style, you get two invocations. This is the proactive way to create invocations of the Aspects in your game. Use it! NOW!!

Consequences

Use	free
Created	They’re a special kind of aspect you take in order to avoid getting taken out in a conflict, and they describe lasting injuries or problems that you take away from a conflict (Dislocated Shoulder, Bloody Nose, Social Pariah). A free invocation of the consequence is gained with the consequence is gained.

Consequences stick around for a variable length of time, from a few scenes to a scenario or two, depending on how severe they are. Because of their negative phrasing, you’re likely to get compelled a lot when you have them, and anyone who can justifiably benefit from the consequence can invoke it or create an advantage on it.