Questions tagged [compels]
A mechanic in the Fate system for getting people to do stuff that complicates the story dramatically and with bite.
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Does the person who came up with a compel have to propose it?
Background
I'm GMing a Fate game set in space, with Starhound, Athens, and Twilliam (the names have been changed to protect the innocent) helping a stalwart band of rebels break the yoke of the Black ...
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How can I word an aspect that I can potentially veto being compelled without using an X-Card?
I'm trying to recreate an existing character in FATE, but she has an aspect that I'm unsure how to handle.
This aspect is something that I want to be able to bring up in play, and I mostly see myself ...
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Do you get all your Fate Points at the end of the scene?
Fate Core Electronic p.81 indicates that these are the three ways to gain Fate Points.
Accept a Compel: You get a fate point when you agree to the complication associated with a compel (...)
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How can I mechanically create a "Zone of Truth"?
In a Fate-Core game, I want to introduce an area in which a powerful ritual had been cast in which everybody must say the truth (kind of similar to the D&D Zone of Truth spell).
I have some ...
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How do the Fate Points work when players compel other characters?
I think I understand how it works when the GM compels a PC (or when a GM compels an NPC they control), but I'm unclear on how the Fate Points are handled when a player tries to compel an NPC or ...
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Why does proposing a compel against another player cost a fate point? [Nevermind] [closed]
Fate Core p. 71
Finally, and this is very important: if a player wants to compel
another character, it costs a fate point to propose the
complication. The GM can always compel for free, and any ...
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Is using compels to create aspects precedented and balanced?
I recently watched an abridged playthrough of a one-session Fate Core game on Tabletop.
In the session, the GM, Ryan Macklin, uses a version of compel I haven't seen before. Macklin essentially hands ...
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Can an aspect be active without being invoked/compeled?
I keep finding my players in situations where this doesn't make sens.
Example: There's a gun fight in a room filled with smoke. The players and NPCs have a hard time seeing anything. It feels logical ...
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Using a compel to force concession
Last time we played some Fate, we got in the following scenario:
A burglar PC gets into trouble in some cellar and gets cornered by his nemesis and about 10 of his thugs. His nemesis wants to 'set ...
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What changes if I allow a free invocation to pay for a compel?
The distinction between invoke for effect and compel in Fate has not always been clear. Free invocations are often stacked on temporary aspects created as advantage or otherwise not thought of as ...
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Do self-Compels draw from the GM's Fate pool?
When you suggest a Compel on one of your own Aspects - and the GM accepts your suggestion - does the Fate Point get drawn from the GM's finite Fate pool for that scene, or is it created from thin air?
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How does Compelling your own Aspects work?
To my understanding, it's possible to Compel your own Aspects.
Anyone at the table is free to suggest when a compel might be
appropriate for any character (including their own).
But I don't ...
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How severe should a Compel be if it's worth one Fate Point?
If a Compel is the most interesting way to gain Fate Points, then how serious should it be? What kind of trouble does a character have to go through to get one? If it's too bad, they might end up ...
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Can you concede when compelled to fight in Fate Core?
The character in question has the Curse of the Lycanthrope aspect, which causes him to become rabid and ferocious when something triggers him to transform.
The characters are all traveling together ...
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How to handle compels that affect the entire party?
The rules talk briefly of players compelling multiple targets and how they have to pay a fate point for each one. Similarly, it makes sense that if the GM wished to, say, knock the entire party out ...
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Negative Aspect Compels: How often is too often?
I've seen quite a few Fate-powered games where there are Extras that use negative aspects as permissions (such as having "Limited Battery Pack" on a lightning gun, or "Unstable Mutation" for a ...
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Can the GM compel their own NPCs?
NPCs can according to the rulebook be compelled just like PCs - with certain limitations. However, it appears to me that this is a slippery slope if the GM is allowed to compel their own characters ...
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Would motivating a Stout Pacifist to join a war be a Compel or Invoke?
Assume the following situation:
The player wants to convince an NPC to help them in battle. However, the NPC has the aspect "Stout Pacifist" and would rather avoid being dragged into a war. This ...
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Do all players have to agree to accept or deny a group compel?
I just ran my first game of Fate Core and I ran into a question I can't seem to find an exact answer to.
Basically at one point I used a situation aspect "Wanted by the city guard" to compel all ...
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Tempting fate: precedent for compels without aspects
Sometimes a possibility for complication presents itself without any particular aspect being obviously associated with it. I've had times when a compel seems to rise naturally out of the narrative, ...
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When paying fate points for compels, where do the points go?
In Fate Core, resolving a compel has three basic steps (p.71):
Somebody proposes the compel. If a player compels another character, it costs a fate point.
The GM and players involved negotiate, ...
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If someone is "Out of Ammo," can they still shoot until compelled?
Let's say someone creates the Aspect Out of ammo by running everywhere, making the other character fire all his bullets.
Can this character still fire until someone compels Out of ammo?
Is it the GM ...
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Can there be mechanical disadvantages in Compels?
In Fate, compels of aspects are primarily a narrative tool, and as such don't usually have mechanical trappings in the consequences. But is this a hard and fast rule? I saw someone ask this question,...
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Do consequences grant you Fate points when compelled by opponents?
I've run a quick search though the site and I didn't seem to find this topic covered, so I'm asking:
In Dresden Files RPG when an opponent compels one of your consequences against you (spending a ...
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Must compels be negative in Fate?
Are GM Compels meant to be necessarily negative? And are they to have an immediate effect, or get the PCs into a situation?
Examining other accounts of compels, it seems that most of the examples are ...
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Is a GM meant to compel when the player has no Fate Points Remaining?
So we tried out the Dresden Files RPG earlier. Overall, we had a great time. Some issues came up, though. Specifically, when you compel an aspect, the player has the choice to either accept the ...
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When changing a PC's actions based on an aspect, is it better to Compel or Invoke for Effect?
We had an interesting combat last night; the PC was a very tough Changeling in the back of a limo glamoured not to be visible, and he was attempting to protect another passenger in the back of the ...
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