Red Box Fate - Basics & Bodging

Part of the Red Box Fate series.

That was a hell of lot of new rules to add if you're trying to "simplify things", right?

Is all this too much?

Maybe you don't want to go the whole hog and just want to bring some of the tasty Fate treats into your D&D game - how and what to bring over?

Pick and mix from these options - they are most likely to fit into a regular D&D game without disruption, and bring the biggest benefits.

Actions

Create Advantage

This was the first Fate rule that I brought into my D&D gaming. Use this to allow imaginative combat tricks, without needing a set of pre-written situations to look up or memorise.

Adding Aspects

Aspects vs Conditions

Use the style of Aspects to bodge a condition during game play, instead of stopping to look it up. Get into this habit, and games will run smoother, with less rules lawyering.

Stress and Consequences

Let players swap HP damage for Consequences - when dealing damage, absorbing damage, or both. Consequences add drama to combat, instead of the the brutal wearing down of HP.

High Concept

Unlocking the potential of your character concept by just being able to point at your High Concept, rather than having to pick the "right" selection of feats and skills. Of course you know how to read magic writing, you're a Wizard! Of course you can find and remove traps, you're a Tomb Raider! Of course you can acrobatically vault over ledges and walls, you're a Catburglar!

Using High Concept - maybe not even adopting that name, but just adopting the philosophy - means that so much of the crunchier D&D editions' game rules can be set aside for when they might be really important.

Fate Points

Fate Points at their simplest allow for PCs and major NPCs to bend random chance in their favour, or to add drama to scenes that otherwise might play out too straightforwardly.

Adding Fate Points isn't entirely necessary to bring in the rest of the other features, but it helps - lots of features run on the exchange of FP. If you don't add Fate Points, you'll need to come up with some other way to run the powers.

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Credits

I'm indebted to Killershrike's "Pathfinder Fate Accelerated" for the initial idea that this sort of thing could be done - without their groundwork, I'd have been lost.

Of course the Creative Commons access to D&D's engine and FAE are essential as well - D&D is CC-BY-4.0, FAE is CC-BY-3.0

Old School Essentials collects much of the D&D Basic and Expert set rules into one handy SRD, which you can find here.

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Introduction & Index