Four-Color FAE: BONUS - Character Highlight: Dr. Pisces, Nefarious Supervillain

As Mike unveils his sample superhero characters for his Four-Color FAE series, he needs a supervillain to throw against him. They will learn to respect the malevolent brilliance of...

Dr. Pisces

Aspects
High Concept: Psionic Bass Bent On World Domination
Trouble: I Must Tell You Of My Unstoppable Evil Plan!
Other Aspects: Infinite Intellect, Diabolical Leader of F.I.S.H, Mind Over Matter

Approaches
+5 Clever
+4 Flashy, Careful
+3 Sneaky, Quick
+2 Forceful

Stunts 

• Because I can Overpower Your Brain, I gain a +2 to Cleverly Attack when targeting an opponent's mind.
• Evil Twin: Once per session I can rearrange ambient water molecules to create an evil duplicate of any singular creature. This evil twin exists for the remainder of the scene and is fully under my control. The evil twin gains the additional aspects Made Of Water, Evil Duplicate, and Goatee.
• As I am a Master Planner, I gain a +2 to Carefully Overcome or Create An Advangate when dealing with logistics or puzzles.
• Mental Prison: Once per session, after a successful mental attack that inflicts 2 or more stress, Dr. Pisces Dr. Pisces can spend one fate point to activate this power. Instead of doing damage, he can instead inflict a Minor Consequence Dominated on the target. The target may spend an action to Overcome with a fair (2) difficulty to remove the aspect. Dr. Pisces can then direct the target to do his will, unless a fate point is spent by the target or the target's Overcome action is successful.

Refresh: 3
Stress: OOO 

Consequences

• Mild (2):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6):

Power Facts

• Mind Control
• Telepathy
• Telekinesis

Background/Personality/Plot Facts:

FISH, the Formative Institute for Scientific Hydrotransgenetics was a small, well-funded think tank dedicated to manipulating the genes of fish for treating a variety of human diseases. While manipulating the brain tissue of Morone saxatilis, researchers unknowingly triggered a rapid increase of intelligence in one specimen, granting it genius level intellect, self-awareness, and psychic powers. Eventually the bass used his mental prowess to dominate the minds of those workers and installed himself as the leader of the organization, which he renamed as F.I.S.H (Foundation for International Superbeing Hegemony). He took the name Dr. Pisces and built a base at the bottom of the mid-pacific, where he directs his minions in activities to seize control of the entire planet!

Dr. Pisces is typically seen by the most privileged of his of his minions in his natural form, a mean-looking bass within a water-filled levitating jar. For everyone else, he typically appears out of nowhere as an Evil Twin of whomever seems appropriate.

***

Review: Multiple Warheads TP 1 (Comic)

I really enjoyed Brandon Graham's comic, Multiple Warheads: enough to post a review on Comics Bulletin of it. 

Review available at the link below, if you are curious.

***

Review: 'Multiple Warheads' makes Michael fall in love with Brandon Graham's comics

Four-Color FAE: Supers Gaming via Fate Accelerated - pt9

When I get a moment, I plan to post up a recap of our first session which was devoted to character & setting creation. It was pretty awesome, and really set the scene for what everyone wanted to see at the table. 

In the interim, here is the character that I created to use when I hand over the GM reins: the teenaged 'cosmic' superhero Starseed.

• See the whole Four-Color FAE series here 

***
Starseed

• Aspects

High Concept: College freshman bound to an alien energy being
Trouble: I‘m supposed to help the world gain enlightenment...after I find it myself
Other Aspects: Heir to an infamous legacy; Two minds, one body

• Approaches

+3 Forceful
+2 Clever, Quick
+1 Flashy, Careful
+0 Sneaky

• Stunts

- When I use my Plasma Blasts, I gain +2 to Forcefully Attack opponents at range that lack force-shields or other features that defend against energy.
- I gain +2 to Create an Advantage when making Plasma Constructs with my power.
- The Power of the R’ Loh ever defends me. By paying a Fate Point, once per session I can reduce a physical consequence by one degree.

• Refresh: 3
• Stress: OOO

Consequences:

• Mild (2):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6): 

Power Facts:

• Able to generate plasma energy shields and fields
• Plasma energy blasts
• Flight
• While encased in his energy field he gains life-support and can operate in hostile environments up to and including the vacuum and radiation of space.
• The Starseed has millennia of wisdom to draw upon, provided that Brendan is willing to heed it.

Background/Personality:

Brendan Choi is a freshman of the UW School of Engineering bound to the mysterious 'Star-Seed'; an energy being from a race called the R'Loh that long ago advanced beyond the need for physical bodies.

The Star-Seed speaks to Brendan and guides him as well, telling him that he is among the few amongst his race dedicated to passing on the enlightenment attained by his people to the 'new' races of the universe.

Brendan is the second hero to be inhabited by a Starseed and to carry this name; the first was a certain Dale Smith, whose fate is uncertain along with that of the other members of the Enforcers.

Although burdened with a legacy and powers he neither asked for nor fully understands, Brendan is committed use his great powers responsibly; as long as it doesn't interfere too badly with his studies.

***

Starseed (Google Docs)

Four-Color FAE: Supers Gaming via Fate Accelerated - pt8

In part 8 of the series, I present the idea of using Fate's Concession mechanic liberally in our game, rather than 'fighting to the death' like is standard in traditional RPG's.

• See the whole Four-Color FAE series here

***
Concessions before Consequences

Stop me if you've heard this one before:

The hero enters into a conflict with the villain, but before anyone takes any real and lasting injuries, the villain gets away scott-free with whatever their goal was (usually some form of loot, mcguffin or maybe a hostage).

What, you've heard it before?

Well, of course you have: it's a staple scene of heroic fiction. And as superhero comics are an extension of heroic fiction in general, in comic books this sort of scene happens all the time.

In Fate terms, this sort of scene would be the result of the hero (or heroes) offering a Concession; a means in Fate by which one can end a conflict before anyone is 'Taken Out':

http://fate-srd.com/fate-accelerated/ouch-damage-stress-and-consequences#giving-in

http://fate-srd.com/fate-core/conflicts#conceding-the-conflict

The world of four-color heroes involves lots and lots of dangerous action, but the participants are rarely (if ever) permanently harmed. In our game, this would be modeled via Fate's system of offering concessions.

It's great to keep this mechanic in mind as we play. Although it may not feel right at first to 'fail' in a particular scene ("Wait - I can't give up; they have the magic idol AND my girlfriend!"), it's common in the fiction to fail-forward; and this sort of thing is fully supported in Fate.

If you ever seem in danger of taking a lasting (Moderate +) consequence, feel free to offer a Concession, take your Fate Points, and keep things moving forward.

You might not stop them at the museum, but you might stop them at their secret lair; you might not stop them at their secret lair, but you can stop them at the docks. Show up with a big pile of Fate Points, and sooner or later, things are going to go your way.

You are heroes, after all. That's how it works.

***

Four-Color FAE: Supers Gaming via Fate Accelerated - pt7

Game and character creation began this week. Fun was had by all. 

In further posts we will be exploring the world made at the table; but let's start now with Gary's character - The Fastest Man Alive: Mercury Man!

• See the whole Four-Color FAE series here

***
Mercury Man

• Aspects

High Concept: The Fastest Man Alive!
Trouble: I live in my Father’s shadow
Other Aspects: Here, there and everywhere, Faster than the speed of thought

• Approaches

+3 Quick
+2 Flashy, Forceful
+1 Clever, Sneaky
+0 Careful

• Stunts 

- Because I have superhuman reflexes, I can move two zones for free in a conflict without rolling instead of one providing there are no situational aspects restricting my movement.
- Because I can move faster than the eye can see, I gain a +2 to Quickly Create an Advantage when my Superspeed is a factor.
- Because I travel at supersonic speeds, I can spend a Fate Point to show up anywhere I want as long as I could run there, no matter how far.

• Refresh: 3
• Stress: OOO 

Consequences:

• Mild (2):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6):

Vital statistics

• Real name: Max Monroe
• Alias: Mercury Man
• Age: 33
• Species: Human (Meta)

Power Facts

• Superhuman speed 
• Superhuman endurance
• Superhuman reflexes
• Accelerated healing

• Background/Personality/Plot Facts:

- Nemesis is a female speedster known as Mean Streak. Could they be related???
- His father manipulated his genetics in the womb using his powers. Max discovered his abilities in his teenage years.
- His mother knew of this manipulation and told him on her deathbed.
- The general public knows Max is the son of Moleculon. The public does not know he is Mercury Man!
- There are forces out there that know of his super abilities and are keeping a tab on him because they fear the apple doesn't fall far from the tree,
- Max fears that because he is his fathers son, he may become what he fights against.
- Secretly Max is looking for answers. He will go to great lengths to discover more about his heritage and the Enforcers.
- Max chose his superhero name from the god Mercury. In a way, the name Mercury Man is a homage to the Enforcers and the gods among men that they were.

***

Mercury Man (Google Docs)

Four-Color FAE: Supers Gaming via Fate Accelerated - pt6

Here in Part 6 I move away from discussing game-mechanics and play, towards the sort of features I would like to see as GM in our fictional world.

We will be building the world at the table using the rules provided in Fate Core, but this post was made to 'prime the pump' before we hit the gaming table.


See the whole Four-Color FAE series here


***
Inspirations for our Supers Game

There is ALWAYS a monkey in Fate

First came the Golden Age: the beginning, an age of mystery men and women. An age of hope and optimism; an age of sacrifice and glory.

Then came the Silver Age: an age of boundless confidence. All problems seemed to be but puzzles to be solved by super-science and an unshakable sense of rightness.

This was followed by the Bronze Age. This was the era when the cracks began to show; when heroes were shown to have feet of clay, and when villains and heroes began to blur together and intermingle.

All this was before the dark times; before the Age of Iron. An age dominated by so-called 'heroes' with names like Bloodspawn and Venomreaver; an age of mindless violence and endless cycles of vengeance between what were effectively warring gangs of meta-talented thugs.

Thankfully this time has now past, and a new world is beginning to emerge from the ashes.

A world maybe more jaded and self-aware, but a world that believes in wonder, and a world that believes that right and wrong, in a sometimes hard to discern but very real difference between good and evil.

A world that believes that liberty and justice are not mere abstractions but inherent and eternal truths.

A world that believes in hope.

And this is your world now. And what you will make of it will define the arc of your story, your legacy, and our shared destiny.

--------

My inspirations for our shared game-world are largely from the comics of the late 1990's and the past decade, where a conscious attempt was made to recapture some of the gonzo energy, innocence, optimism and sense of wonder from the previous ages of comics after the lifeless and bland 'grimdark' of the Iron Age.

Inspirations include:

*Monkeyman and O'Brien (pictured)
*Top Ten
*Teen Titans (Wolfman & Perez era)
*Legion of Superheroes (Jeff Moy era)
*Leave it to Chance
*Astro City
*Young Justice (animation)
*Heroes for Hire (seriously!)

This a world where the unbelievable and the mundane, the sublime and the ridiculous rub shoulders with one another. Where no matter how gonzo things might seem to the outside observer, everyone is taking it completely seriously in the fiction.

Questions that could be asked of your hero during character creation:

*What makes you a hero? What is it that motivates you?
*Who are your heroes? Who inspires you? Are you somehow following in their footsteps?
*What is the source of your strength? What is your greatest weakness?

Keep in mind; a great superhero universe is a smorgasbord of seemingly incompatible influences; there are no bad ideas to bring to the table, but only ideas that we need to figure out how to incorporate into the whole.

Looking forward to talking about this more at the gaming table! 

***

Four-Color FAE: Supers Gaming via Fate Accelerated - pt5

The saga continues! I this post, I suggest a new rule for FAE that grants a Fate Point when an action is denied due to an aspect that grants immunity.  

This is largely inspired by a similar mechanic in Mutants and Masterminds that grants Hero Points under similar circumstances. 

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

***
Aspects and Immunities in FAE Supers

It's a common scene in heroic fiction: the hero attacks the Big Bad, only to find the villain completely unphased by his best efforts.

"Your attacks are futile against my (fill in aspect here)!"

This is fun, and is great for building a story where the heroes face insurmountable odds only to overcome the opposition through perseverance, creativity, know how...and a little luck.

But as a player experiencing this, it not fun at all. You just wasted an action that could have been used doing something productive (like creating an advantage, or overcoming an element aiding the villain) on a useless attack action followed by ritual belittlement.

To offset this, I am proposing the following rule; the first time that an immunity aspect is 'invoked' in a scene (this is a free invocation, as the aspect is already true), the opposing party that prompted the invocation is paid a Fate Point.

This sweetens the pot a little bit, doesn't slow down the game, and doesn't break the Fate Point economy. It also creates a cost for taking immunities; you are potentially granting a Fate Point to the opposition that they will surely use against you in other ways.

***

Game Theory: What's on the menu?

Say what you like, Pathfinder's got Class

It's 1985, and my friend Brian (a huge fan of the newly published Dragonlance novel, Dragons of Autumn Twilight) convinces me to purchase the D&D Red Box at the local Toys "R" Us so we can play a game with a similar cast of characters that he had come to love in that series.

Getting back to his house with our newly obtained loot, we open up the box and start reading (after marveling after the odd dice and little crayon included, along with the map). 

We start with the one marked Player's Manual, as it is inscribed with bold yellow letters saying: READ THIS BOOK FIRST! The color, the fact that it's in all caps and with the added '!' indicates that this is an important prerogative, so we dutifully comply. 

Immediately we find that the book gives us a series of options to play characters; this is not some free-form improv-theater piece where you just make up a guy and bluff your way through. It's hard-coded with options that reinforce what sort of characters are expected to appear as protagonists are expected to appear in this world. These options were:

Humans (Yay! We are human, and we get to pretend that we are other humans!)

• Cleric
• Fighter
• Magic-user
• Thief

Demi-humans (Yay! We are human, and we get to play things that are almost, but not-quite human!)

• Dwarf
• Elf
• Halfling

Now, I had bought this game to play a Magic-user - since magic is cool - so I knew immediately what 'Class' of character I wanted to play already (although I looked REALLY hard at the Elf as a option. He gets to do magic AND he's good at fighting? Money.)

So I rolled up my character as per the book, didn't get a high Intelligence (which the book said I HAD to have to even play a Magic-user), so Brian and I agreed that it would be OK to switch some numbers around to facilitate that. 

Time from reading my first RPG to hacking my first RPG? About 1 hour.

From there I picked out a few weak first-level spells, choose some languages I knew, a bought some gear with what little money I had from the gear list, and went into my first dungeon (and somehow survived it, which is a wonder to this day).

Looking at the most recent version of D&D today, although a lot has changed (Elves and Dwarves and Halflings are still there, for example, but they are no longer 'Classes') the fact remains that the system is still very much menu-driven: rather than being given limitless options to make the character you envision, instead you are given a 'menu' of options to choose from, and build around that. 

You choose:

• Your Race
• Your Ability Scores
• Your Class
• Your Skills, Feats, Powers, and Equipment (as appropriate for your Class)
• Your Alignment

Once this is resolved, voila! You are ready to do some D&D. 

Make sure to fill in all the circles, please.

As per the original D&D, the 'menu' concept continues from there as you play; as you gain Experience Points (the meta-resource for the game that enables you to gain new abilities), you are given new options to build upon your abilities. But as offered in character creation, the decision-tree presented for advancement is determined by the original choices you made for your character when you started. The choices you make simply offer new sub-menus with limited numbers of new options you can add to your character.

Every RPG system to date has some form of menu available to choose what sort of character you are playing, and what they can do well or not-so-well. Some of the lists can be bigger and offer more choices than others (GURPS, for example, has a mind-boggling number of options right out of the box), and some smaller (indie-darling Dungeon World has a relatively small menu to choose from vs 4e), but there is still a menu regardless.

Why is this? Why do we want or need a menu at all? Why can't we just say: 'Here's my character, this is what motivates him, and this what he is good and bad at', and hit the gaming table with that?

Well, menus do a few key things for RPG's:

• Menus reinforce genre. Having a game where the options include Cleric, Wizard and Fighter but does not include something like 'Cyborg' tells us a lot about the world the characters are expected to appear in.
• They also help define Party Roles, which is important for team-based play; a state assumed by 99% of the RPG's on the market.
• Menus (in theory..) promote game-balance. By clearly defining what sort of abilities can appear on the table in any combination, you can limit Mary Sue-ism and reinforce party roles, as above.
• Having a menu also helps players to decide what sort of character they will play by defining what sort of character is allowed in the game. If you have no clear idea of what sort character you want or what traits they should have, having a limited list to choose from is of help.

But it's not all gravy. Menus also limit you in some key ways as well:

• They limit your options. Want to play a Fomorian princess-in-exile who can cross between the Otherworld and our own? Too bad; that's not in the book. 
• They limit imagination. You want your wizard to cast a huge spell that impresses the frost giants into aiding your cause? Too bad; you have nothing that allows that on your character sheet. Think of something else.
• They can also create the bizarre netherworld of 'Character Optimization'; a term that comes up often in reference to D&D 4e and her prettier and more popular sister, Pathfinder. Just because you have more than one option to choose from when creating and advancing your character doesn't mean that they are all equally useful. Which segueways us well to the next issue...
• Menus promote samey-ness. If my optimized fighter with optimized gear looks just like your optimized fighter with optimized gear at Gen-Con, it's like two girls in the same dress at the prom. Neither one of us looks very unique or interesting next to the other. 

My current interest in more 'rules-light' systems like Fate or Heroquest is not because I hate all-the-damned-rules; I've happily played and run games with all-the-damned-rules just fine, thank you very much.

The main appeal for me is that these sort of systems allow me to play what my imagination summons up without having to either hack the system, make my own playbook from scratch, or ignore some rule to make it work. In other words; I have the freedom to order something not on a menu.

Dagger-wielding cultists, evil robots, and a zeppelin? Huh, guess it's Wednesday already.

As a GM, I have always had the freedom to make my NPC's as I like with just about any RPG on offer. But as a player I want to have that same freedom when making and advancing my character, and as GM I would like my players to have that same freedom as well.

Note that this sort of freedom is not by necessity limited to 'rules light' systems either; Mutants & Masterminds grants a massive number of options for character creation, and allows the player to pre-flavor them as desired, as does the ever-popular Savage Worlds (although Savage Worlds could be described more as 'rule-medium' at worst).

It's no secret that my current RPG drug-of-choice is Fate. I've been tinkering with it since I first discovered it as FUDGE-hack, and for the same reasons noted above; because it allows me to make the character I want to play at the gaming table straight-out, and not some compromise that some distant game-designer thought I might like to play; nor do I have to wait until I've reached some arbitrary 'level' to play them.

In Fate, for example, if I want to play a wizard with Hands burned by the cold fire of the underworld, who has Shadow-demons that respond to my whispered commands, I can. No hacking required; just add those Aspects, some Skills or approaches to reinforce this, and maybe some Stunts and/or an Extra to back it up, and 'boom!': I'm ready to do some Fate.

For me, this is all-kinds of awesome. I'm now given permission to play what I want at the gaming table, and my friends are as well. 

As noted above, however, there is a trade-off here; by abandoning a menu-based system we have opened the possibility for confusion. With no road-map, with no clear path to create characters, we are now largely left our understanding of the system to create characters; and this is often a scary path for new players and even new game-masters.

In many ways this is the main failure of Fate Core in particular; by not providing a good number of examples for creation of characters (something I think Savage Worlds and Mutants & Masterminds in particular does well), new players are largely left adrift at sea when making sense of what the system can do. That's unfortunate, and I hope that some of my posts here might assist in that regard.

That being said; despite the difficulties involved, for me the effort is worth it to make the characters we want to play appear at the gaming table.

It may be the chef's (game-designers) pots, pans and range we are using, but we get to pick the ingredients now. And we have free-run of the kitchen:

So let's get cooking.

***

Four-Color FAE: Supers Gaming via Fate Accelerated - pt4

Continuing my series about supers gaming in FAE, in this post I discuss the use of Extras with my group.

Part 1 here.
Part 2
Part 3

***
Extras in Fate Accelerated

Just where does he get all those wonderful toys?

You may note that in all of my builds I devote an area to Extras for each character.

In Fate Core, Extras are largely objects or powers that expand the scope of character abilities beyond the standard options offered in Chapters 1-10.

But in Fate Accelerated, your character aspects can do that by themselves.  So what are 'Extras' in FAE?

Exactly that: extras.

Batman is still Batman without his Batmobile, or his Bat Plane, or even without the Batcave. He has these things even without needing them as his core (his main five) aspects.

But without them, the Bat has no way to get where he wants to go, and nowhere to rest when he is not in action. So although these items may not be essential, they are part of the character's mythology and are worth noting.

In short: Extras are there to round out your character. You may start with 0-3 as your starting character, and acquire more in play.

In brief:

* Extras are aspects, and work as other aspects do.
* Extras are fragile; they are things that are subject to change or even being lost in play.
* Extras are never character-defining. Captain America's van is an Extra: his shield, however, would be one of his five main aspects.

We will talk more about Extras during character-creation, including the possibility of adding team extras to add some flavor and expand the options of the group.

***

Four-Color FAE: Supers Gaming via Fate Accelerated - pt3

In part three I examine the Approaches of Fate Accelerated vs the Skills offered in Fate Core.

Part 1 can be found here.
Part 2 linked here.

****
Approaches vs Skills in Fate 

That's goddamned right.

When looking at FAE vs Fate Core, the first question asked is usually:

"Wait - but what can I do?"

This a reasonable question. Although Fate 2.0+ handily replaced the standard Stat + Skill rubric used by traditional RPG's with just Skills, FAE goes another step further still by saying:

"What you can do isn't interesting - it's HOW you do it that matters in the fiction."

But this still leaves open the question: what can you do? And what do you do well, or not so well?

As noted in my previous post discussing Power Facts, aspects are asked to do an extraordinary amount of the heavy-lifting in FAE; in-fact, much of what is defined by Skills and Extras in Fate Core.

Therein lies the answer: you can do what your aspects say that you can do. How you do them, and how well, is defined by the strength of your approaches:

• Sneaky: Stealth, Deceit and Misdirection
• Clever: Intellect, Games and Puzzles
• Quick: Speed, Agility, and Fast Decisions
• Careful : Wisdom, Awareness, and the Measured answer
• Forceful: Strength of Body and Will, the direct approach
• Flashy: Charismatic, Obvious and Overt actions.

What are the benefits of approaches vs skills then?

Approaches reinforce the main goal of Fate in a key way: by underlining Character Competence.

When you are using your primary or secondary approach to achieve a task, you are both confirming your character's competency at this sort of task, and confirming your character's preferred method of resolving issues. Both are great for role-playing, and underline what is already great about Fate as a system.

Coming back to the original question though: where are your skills? What can you do, and not do so well?

The answer is that the Skills are still there, but they now appear in the background. The question of whether you prefer to Provoke your opposition (a Forceful approach) or use Rapport (a Flashy approach), or simply to Deceive them (Sneaky) is based largely upon what your preferred approach happens to be.

The scope of where these actions might be applied, and how, is largely defined by Aspects and Stunts, as per Fate Core.

So in summation: what can you do in Fate Accelerated? The answer is this: you can do whatever you can justify narratively, just like in every previous version of the game.

***
Additional reading:

Fred Hicks on 'One-Note Approaches'
Clark Valentine on FAE “vs” Core

Four-Color FAE: BONUS - Character Highlight, Magik (New Mutants via FAE)

First appearing in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975), Magik (Illyana Nikolievna Rasputina) has experienced an unusual number of plot twists over the past 30+ years, including being dead (a condition of indefinite permanence in the comic-book world). 

I've always liked Magik though, so I thought it might be fun to post up a build of her in FAE. Note that this version of the character reflects her during her time as a New Mutants member. 

***

Magik (FAE)

• Aspects

High Concept: Magic-wielding mutant teleporter
Trouble: The Darkchylde stirs within
Other Aspects: Sorceress Supreme of Limbo; My Soulsword is part of me; The Bloodstones bind me to my friends

• Approaches

+3 Forceful
+2 Clever, Sneaky
+1 Careful, Quick
+0 Flashy

• Stunts

- When armed with my Soulsword I gain +2 to Forcefully Overcome mystical opposition.
- My mind is a fortress. I passively gain +2 to Forcefully Defend against psionic attacks and probe attempts via my Psionic Shields.
- When I am prepared to enter a conflict, I gain +2 to Cleverly Create the Advantage ‘Eldritch Armor’; this aspect can be invoked to Defend vs physical attacks.
- It’s not a good idea to mess with me. Once per session I gain a free invocation of my ‘The Darkchylde stirs within’ aspect if I have taken a consequence in the current scene.

• Refresh: 2
• Stress: OOO

Consequences:

• Minor (2):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6):

Power Facts:

• Stepping Discs: Ability to mentally control "stepping discs", which allows herself and others to teleport across interstellar distances or through time. The discs are part of a dimension known as Limbo.
• Sorcery: Magik is the sorceress supreme of her Limbo dimension. While there, Magik is capable of casting binding spells, energy blasts, scrying, projecting an astral form, and other talents. On Earth she is limited to Astral Projection, a Mystical Sense (ability to detect mystical presences), simple spells, and summoning her Soulsword.
• Limbo Control: The matter within Magik’s Limbo can be shaped and transformed by the thoughts and emotions of Magik, the sorcerer who is its master.
• Mystical Armor: The more that Magik uses her magical power on any occasion, the more mystical armor appears on her body. Along with the armor, Magik’s appearance becomes more demonic including horns, hooves or a tail. The mystical armor is a natural power of whoever rules in Limbo. 
• Psionic Shields: She has impenetrable psionic shields, most likely a result of the time she spent in Limbo and the effects of her partially demonic soul.

Background:

"Take a tip from your little sister. You want to be happy again? You want to live again? You need to learn to forget." - Magik

The younger sister of the X-Man Colossus, Illyana came to live with her brother after being kidnapped by the eccentric assassin Arcade.

Months later, the sorcerer Belasco captured Illyana and held her prisoner in the pocket dimension Otherplace, a.k.a. Limbo. Belasco turned a portion of her soul demonic in nature, and in the process conjured a “bloodstone” gem from her soul.

When Belasco conjured five such gems, Illyana, who would have transformed into the entirely demonic Darkchilde, would serve as the means by which Belasco’s demon masters, Chthon and the N'Garai, could conquer Earth.

Belasco’s spell gave Illyana considerable magical power, and she nearly killed him, but decided not to give in to her demonic side and drove him from Otherplace, becoming its new leader.

Illyana returned to Earth at a point only seconds after the X-Men’s escape from Otherplace. However, whereas only seconds had passed for the X-Men, Illyana had aged seven years in Otherplace and was now 13 years old. She then joined the team of superhuman mutant trainees the New Mutants as Magik.

http://marvel.wikia.com/Illyana_Rasputina_(Earth-616)#HistoryEdit

***

Magik (Google Docs)

Four-Color FAE: Supers Gaming via Fate Accelerated - pt2

In part 2 of this series, I discuss character roles in team-based superhero characters with my group. 

Part 1 can be found here.

****
 Character Roles in the Supers Genre

Team-based supers tend to differ from characters that guide their own books in a key way: team-based heroes tend towards a particular role in the group that allows them to stand out when facing specific challenges.

Even when characters like Batman or Superman (who normally operate solo) are added to a team like the Justice League, they are usually simplified to fill particular roles within their respective teams.

A good supers team is therefore like a good D&D party: each character brings something to the table to round out the strengths and weaknesses of the others.

Let's view the classic Silver Age hero team The Fantastic Four through this prism:

Thing - Fighter/Tank (Peak: Forceful)
Invisible Girl - Rogue (Peak: Sneaky)
Human Torch - Ranger (Peak: Flashy)
Mr. Fantastic - Wizard (Peak: Clever)

Individually, each of these heroes only brings one main approach to the table that they are particularly good at. Each might therefore be considered a minor-level hero. But together, they are able to handle cosmic-level threats with ease. A great, well-balanced team. Which I think goes far to explain their continued popularity after five decades worth of stories.

When creating characters for our game, regardless of the powers and backgrounds we choose, it's good to consider:

* What strengths does this character bring to the table? What are their weak spots?
* How do our characters work together as a team?

Many of these questions will be answered in play as well, of course. But thinking about them during character creation will help us to create a strong base to build upon as we find their individual stories.

***

Four-Color FAE: Supers Gaming via Fate Accelerated - pt1

Roughly four months after posting my first supers build (and my first Google+ post!) using Fate Accelerated, I'm finally going to be running my first supers game using the system here in Seattle. 

Needless to say, I'm stoked!  

To introduce my players to my concepts using the system, I have been posting a series of 'primers' to our game community. Seeing as they might be of use to others as well, I am also sharing these to the site. Note that I will be covering some of the same ground covered by earlier site posts, but specifically tailored to what the system brings to a supers game.

***
Power Facts in Fate Accelerated

As in all Fate games, the most powerful aspect of Aspects is the ability to Establish Facts:

http://fate-srd.com/fate-accelerated/aspects-fate-points#establishing-facts

In our game, these are often expressed with Power Facts: truths about the character's powers.

Although these facts do not change the effectiveness of the uses of Approaches (your approach level and stunts impact that), the scope of what you can do is largely impacted by your Aspects, as defined by power facts.

Let's look at Miss Martian, whose character sheet appears in the link.

Her power facts state that as a Martian she has the following abilities:

• Shape-shifting: She can change her form, completely altering her physical appearance, including her organic clothing, allowing her to mimic other people as well as adapt to different environments.

• Malleability: She can extend her limbs into large whips to grab things at great distance.

• Healing: Her shape-shifting allows her to heal faster than a human would. 

• Camouflage: She can change the appearance of her form (and her clothes) to match her surroundings, but she is not completely invisible.

• Super strength: Like all Martians, Miss Martian has strength above that of a typical human.

• Telepathy: Telepathy comes naturally to Martians. She can create a telepathic link with her teammates, which makes communications easier and untraceable. Megan can also telepathically connect with her Bio-Ship.

• Multilingualism: Megan can speak Martian and English. She can also translate languages psychically. 

• Telekinesis: Megan can use telekinesis to manipulate many objects with her mind. However, she can lose control when moving too many objects at once or not paying enough attention. By telekinetically moving herself, she can simulate flight. 

• Heat/Fire Sensitive: Miss Martian can be weakened when exposed to direct heat or fire

This is, to be fair, an overwhelmingly MASSIVE list of abilities, all granted by a single aspect. Surely this is broken character compared to someone like Robin who is limited to what his wits and agility alone allows him?

Yes....and no. As noted above she is still limited in the use of all of these abilities by the strength of her approaches and stunts, just like any other character.

This is the beauty of Fate in many ways: even with all of these vast powers she is ultimately using the same four actions available to anyone else, and is no stronger in general at them than anyone else. It's just the permissions of what these actions can mean narratively is expanded by her powers.

When we get to making characters in our game, the following questions should be addressed:

• What can your powers do?
• How do they work and/or why can you do these things?
• What limits can be compelled on them?

As long as the three questions above can be answered, you have created a great set of powers for the game. :-)


***

Next up: Approaches vs Skills in Fate. In the interim, feel free to check out the Miss Martian build below via Google Docs.

***
Miss Martian (Google Docs)

Character Highlight: Robert E Howard's Conan - Through His Career (FAE)

Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet."

- Robert E Howaard, 1932

Back in October, Mike posted a hilarious retelling of Batman's career as part of a two-player crime game. At the time, I told him it would be a blast to do the same with Conan, as I have a great love of Howard's original Conan stories. Little did I realize how difficult and time-consuming it would be, but isn't that always the case with a labor of love?

Below I sketched out our favorite adventurer from his early days in the shadowy hills of Cimmeria to his bloody ascension to the throne of Aquilonia. I decided to only use the original, published stories of REH, which one notable exception*. There are many different approaches to putting Conan's adventure in chronological order, so I went with the Dale Rippke chronology as it best fits my view of the Cimmerian, and provided narrative consistency.

I hope you enjoy it!

Conan the Cimmerian is born on a battlefield, during a fight between his tribe and Vanir raiders. He spends his youth amid the continual warfare that takes place on the mountainous northern frontiers of Cimmeria. His grandfather had taken part on raids into the Hyborian kingdoms, and his tales instill within Conan a desire to see the civilized world. At 15, was already one of his tribe's most accomplished warriors, and participated in the sack of Vanarium. Howard notes: "At Vanarium he was already a formidable antagonist, though only fifteen. He stood six feet and weighed 180 pounds, though he lacked much of having his full growth." After Vanarium, Conan's wanderlust overtakes him, and he sets out for adventure.

Here's Conan, as he leaves his homeland and starts his long career of adventure:

Conan of Cimmeria, Age 15

High Concept: Powerful Northern Barbarian Fascinated By Civilization

Trouble: Inexperienced With The Wider World
Other: Lithe As A Panther And Strong As A Bull

Approaches

+3 Forceful
+2 Quick, Flashy
+1 Clever, Sneaky
+0 Careful

Stunts

• Because I Do Not Fear Death, I gain a +2 to Forcefully Overcome or Attack when I have Taken A Consequence.
• Unstoppable: Conan gains an additional minor physical consequence. 

Refresh: 3

Stress: OOO

Consequences

• Mild (2):
• Mild (2 - physical only):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6):

***

The Frost-Giant’s Daughter 

Minor Milestone

The last survivor of an Aesir raiding party, Conan has a supernatural encounter with the gods of the Northlands. Superstitious by nature, he adds his third free stunt:

Because I am Strong Willed, I gain a +2 to Cleverly Defend against Charms or Glamours from Supernatural Creatures.

The God in the Bowl
Minor Milestone
New to civilization, and entirely lawless, Conan attempts to loot a Numalian treasure-house, and is caught between the authorities and an ancient menace. His eyes opened to the politics of civilizations, he renames his trouble aspect: The Laws of Nature Trump The Laws Of Men

The Tower of the Elephant
Significant Milestone
More daring than skilled at thievery, Conan attempts to steal a fabled jewel from the tower of the wizard Yara in Zamora’s fabled City of Thieves.Now a novice thief, Conan arrives at his first Significant Milestone. He raises his Clever approach to +2, and swaps his Flashy and Sneaky approaches.

Rogues in the House
Minor Milestone

Thrown in jail for the murder of the priest that betrayed his partner, Conan agrees to become an assassin to gain his freedom. Using the optional rule for adding aspects, he gains one here: Savage Wisdom, as his barbaric upbringing helps him see things civilized man misses.

The Hand of Nergal
Major Milestone
Conan is just about the only survivor of a battle, presumably near the city of Yaralet. He defeats a great evil, and is now an accomplished mercenary. He arrives at his first Major Milestone, renaming his high concept. Now that he's led men into battle, he swaps Sneaky and Flashy. Now fully grown, he raises his Forceful approach to +4. His experiences serve him well in combat, and he spends his new point of refresh on a new stunt.

Conan of Cimmeria, Age 19

High Concept: Resourceful Northern Barbarian Mercenary
Trouble:  The Laws of Nature Trump The Laws Of Men
Other: Lithe As A Panther And Strong As A Bull, Savage Wisdom

Approaches

+4 Forceful
+2 Quick, Flashy, Clever
+1 Sneaky
+0 Careful

Stunts

• Because I Do Not Fear Death, I gain a +2 to Forcefully Overcome or Attack when I have Taken A Consequence.
• Unstoppable: Conan gains an additional minor physical consequence. 
• Because I am Strong Willed, I gain a +2 to Cleverly Defend against Charms or Glamours from Supernatural Creatures.
• Because I have honed my Combat Instincts, once per exchange, when an opponent tries to Create An Advantage during combat, I may Spend a Fate Point to invoke it to my own benefit first.

Refresh: 3

Stress: OOO

Consequences

• Mild (2):
• Mild (2 - physical only):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6):

***

Shadows in the Moonlight/Iron Shadows in the Moon
Minor Milestone
Conan and a girl named Olivia are trapped a midst a trinity of perils on a devil-haunted island in the Vilayet Sea. Conan is captured and escapes from a band of pirates. As a result, he swaps two of his approaches, moving Sneaky to +2 and Quick to +1.

Black Colossus
Minor Milestone

Conan is chosen by Queen Yasmela (with the urging of Mitra) to lead her country’s defense against the high-powered sorcery of the resurrected Thugra Khotan of Kuthchemes. Here we add the second optional aspect, to reflect his growing prowess as a leader: Mount And Follow Me To Hell!

Queen of the Black Coast
Significant Milestone
Conan joins the she-pirate Bêlit and her crew of Black Corsairs aboard her ship, the Tigress. Conan becomes known along the Black Coast as Amra, the Lion. Bêlit is the love of his life and that life is good. Together they sack the Black Coast city of Abombi and burn the Stygian Fleet in its harbor at Khemi. After spending much time as the leader of a pirate crew, Conan is coming into his own as a commander.

He raises his Flashy approach to +3. In addition, spends one refresh to add a new stunt: Because I am a Natural Leader, I gain +2 to Flashily Create An Advantage when directing groups of people in combat. The advantage created may be tagged by minion groups.

The Slithering Shadow

Minor Milestone
Fleeing southward into the desert, Conan and Natala discover the time-lost city of Xuthal and must deal with its demonic deity. After the close brush with death, Conan moves Sneaky to +0 and Careful to +1.

A Witch Shall Be Born
Major Milestone
Khauran’s Queen Taramis is overthrown by her sorceress sister and Conan is nailed to a cross to die. He is rescued by Olgerd Vladislav, who has left the kozaki and has become the chief of the Zuagir, a band of desert tribesmen. Seven months later, Conan deposes Olgerd, rallies the Khauranians to revolt, and retakes the kingdom, restoring Taramis to her throne. He decides to remain as the chief of the Zuagir.

At this major milestone, Conan gains one refresh, but does not spend it on a stunt, and he raises his Clever approach to +3.

Conan of Cimmeria, Age 26

High Concept: Resourceful Northern Barbarian Mercenary
Trouble:  The Laws of Nature Trump The Laws Of Men
Other: Lithe As A Panther And Strong As A Bull, Savage Wisdom, Mount And Follow Me To Hell!

Approaches

+4 Forceful
+3 Flashy, Clever
+2 Careful
+1 Quick
+0 Sneaky

Stunts

• Because I Do Not Fear Death, I gain a +2 to Forcefully Overcome or Attack when I have Taken A Consequence.
• Unstoppable: Conan gains an additional minor physical consequence. 
• Because I am Strong Willed, I gain a +2 to Cleverly Defend against Charms or Glamours from Supernatural Creatures.
• Because I am a Natural Leader, I gain +2 to Flashily Create An Advantage when directing groups of people in combat. The advantage created may be tagged by minion groups.
• Because I have honed my Combat Instincts, once per exchange, when an opponent tries to Create An Advantage during combat, I may Spend a Fate Point to invoke it to my own benefit first.

Refresh: 3

Stress: OOO

Consequences

• Mild (2):
• Mild (2 - physical only):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6):

***

The Devil in Iron
Minor Milestone
Conan is caught between the Turanians and a diabolism from the earth’s dawn on the isle of Xapur and defeats the forces of Jelal Khan. Once again tricked, Conan moves Careful to +3 and Clever to +2.

The People of the Black Circle

Minor Milestone
Conan kidnaps Yasmina, the Devi of Vendhya, in an attempt to ransom the release of his Afghulis. He loses her to the sorceries of the Black Seers of Mount Yimsha and is compelled to join forces with his old enemy, Kerim Shah, to attempt a rescue.
Conan then swaps the aspect Savage Wisdom for I Couldn't Save Bêlit But I Can Save You

Shadows in Zamboula
Significant Milestone
After a brush with the Darfari cannibal cult, Conan rescues Zamboula’s satrap from the magic of the priest of Hanuman, steals the satrap’s ring, and indulges in a bit of vengeance before taking his leave of the city. Conan raises his Clever approach to +3 at this Significant Milestone.

The Vale of Lost Women
Minor Milestone
Conan breaks a truce during a war council for the sake of a woman, finding himself in a mysterious valley populated by women and a demon.
Conan makes no changes here.

The Pool of the Black One
Major Milestone

Conan is picked up by the Wastrel, a ship of buccaneers led by the Zingaran renegade, Zaporavo. Conan joins the ‘Fellowship of Freebooters’ as a member of the crew. On a trip deep into the empty Western Sea, Zaporavo discovers a mysterious island. Conan conspires to kill him while ashore, but quickly runs afoul of the ancient evil that abides there. After escaping, he takes up command of the buccaneers.

At this Major Milestone, Conan raises Sneaky to +1 due to all the stealthy activities he's been involved with of late and gains a refresh. 

Conan of Cimmeria, Age 32

High Concept: Resourceful Northern Barbarian Mercenary
Trouble:  The Laws of Nature Trump The Laws Of Men
Other: Lithe As A Panther And Strong As A Bull, I Couldn't Save Bêlit But I Can Save You, Mount And Follow Me To Hell!

Approaches
+4 Forceful
+3 Flashy, Careful
+2 Clever
+1 Quick, Sneaky

Stunts

• Because I Do Not Fear Death, I gain a +2 to Forcefully Overcome or Attack when I have Taken A Consequence.
• Unstoppable: Conan gains an additional minor physical consequence. 
• Because I am Strong Willed, I gain a +2 to Cleverly Defend against Charms or Glamours from Supernatural Creatures.
• Because I am a Natural Leader, I gain +2 to Flashily Create An Advantage when directing groups of people in combat. The advantage created may be tagged by minion groups.
• Because I have honed my Combat Instincts, once per exchange, when an opponent tries to Create An Advantage during combat, I may Spend a Fate Point to invoke it to my own benefit first.

Refresh: 4

Stress: OOO

Consequences

• Mild (2):
• Mild (2 - physical only):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6):

***

Beyond the Black River
Minor Milestone
The escape of Zogar Sag sets off a string of events that end in a Pictish war to retake Conajohara. Learning that the Picts are coming, Conan escapes in time give warning to the province. Having narrowly escaped pursuing Picts, he switches Sneaky with Careful.

The Black Stranger
Minor Milestone
After a chase of several hundred miles, Conan manages to shake the pursuit of the Eagle Picts. He holes up in a hidden cave and discovers within the fabulous treasure trove of the legendary pirate, Tranicos. After regaining his strength, he travels west to the ocean shore, only to discover a rendezvous of notable rogues at the stockade of a Zingaran exile. He deals himself into the meeting in an effort to return to the Main as a pirate. All of his planning goes to hell when the Picts attack the stockade. Conan makes no changes here.

Red Nails

Significant Milestone
Barely escaping a rampaging dragon, Conan and Valeria discover the forgotten city of Xuchotl and become involved in a decades-long feud. Having spent years witnessing 'enlightened' men destroy themselves trying to obtain power, he begins to understand the civilized mind. He raises his Clever approach to +3 and once again swaps Sneaky and Careful.

The Servants of Bit-Yakin / Jewels of Gwahlur
Minor Milestone
Conan learns that the treasure, the Teeth of Gwahlur, are hidden in the ancient ruins of Alkmeenon. He surreptitiously travels there and becomes embroiled in a rival’s confidence game. Conan puts his mastery of languages to good use while in Kesh, so he replaces one aspect with another. 
I Couldn't Save Bêlit But I Can Save You is replaced by, I've Heard Many Tongues Over The Years.

*Conan the Liberator
Major Milestone
Conan and his friends arrive in Messantia. There they muster an army and battle their way east, through Aquilonia's province of Poitain, and on to Tarantia, where Conan takes the crown of Aquilonia.

Note: this is the only Howard story I've included that was not one he finished and published in his lifetime. This story was written by L. Sprague de Camp in 1979, but fills a crucial role in maintaining the narrative chronology, as it relates the tale of Conan becoming king.

Here Conan changes his High Concept, renames his trouble aspect, and raises Flashy to +4, to reflect his new role as king. He gains another point of refresh, which he spends on a new stunt reflecting both how he came to power and his connections in the underworld.

Conan of Cimmeria, Age 40

High Concept: Barbarian King Of Aquilonia
Trouble:  All Men Deserve A Just Ruler
Other: Lithe As A Panther and Strong As A Bull,  I've Heard Many Tongues Over The Years, Mount And Follow Me To Hell!

Approaches
+4 Forceful, Flashy
+3 Careful, Clever
+1 Quick, Sneaky

Stunts

• Because I Do Not Fear Death, I gain a +2 to Forcefully Overcome or Attack when I have Taken A Consequence.
• Unstoppable: Conan gains an additional minor physical consequence. 
• Because I am Strong Willed, I gain a +2 to Cleverly Defend against Charms or Glamours from Supernatural Creatures.
• Because I am a Natural Leader, I gain +2 to Flashily Create An Advantage when directing groups of people in combat. The advantage created may be tagged by minion groups.
• Because I have honed my Combat Instincts, once per exchange, when an opponent tries to Create An Advantage during combat, I may Spend a Fate Point to invoke it to my own benefit first.
• As I became King By My Own Hand, I gain a +2 to Cleverly Overcome when investigating corruption or sedition in my kingdom.

Refresh: 4

Stress: OOO

Consequences

• Mild (2):
• Mild (2 - physical only):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6):

***

The Phoenix on the Sword
Minor Milestone
The first major threat to Conan’s rule is an assassination attempt by the Rebel Four. With the help of the Gods he sniffs out the conspiracy before it is too late, and barely survives.
Conan replaces an aspect with a new one: Mitra's Blessing.

The Scarlet Citadel
Minor Milestone
Conan is captured, during his first foreign war, by Amalrus of Ophir and Strabonus of Koth. He is imprisoned in the Scarlet Citadel and escapes with the help of his fellow inmate, the Kothic sorcerer Pelias. He then goes on to defeat his enemies soundly in a large battle.
A lifetime of combat begins to take its toll on his body, and he switches Forceful with Clever.

The Hour of the Dragon
Significant Milestone
A plan to reshape the face of western Hyboria is hatched with the resurrection of an ancient sorcerer, Xaltotun of Acheron. This conspiracy usurps the throne of Nemedia and even manages to depose Conan through black magic. Conan escapes with the aid of Zenobia, a clever salve girl, and embarks on a quest to find the ‘heart of his kingdom’ and reclaims his throne. He marries Zenobia, and rules over what he believes to be a content kingdom, but the fires of adventure still burn in his heart.

At this Significant Milestone he changes an aspect, and increases Flashy to +5.

Conan of Cimmeria, Age 45

High Concept: Barbarian King Of Aquilonia
Trouble:  All Men Deserve A Just Ruler
Other: None Are As Shrewd As Queen Zenobia, I've Heard Many Tongues Over The Years, Mount And Follow Me To Hell!

Approaches
+5 Flashy
+4 Clever
+3 Careful, Forceful
+1 Quick, Sneaky

Stunts

• Because I Do Not Fear Death, I gain a +2 to Forcefully Overcome or Attack when I have Taken A Consequence.
• Unstoppable: Conan gains an additional minor physical consequence. 
• Because I am Strong Willed, I gain a +2 to Cleverly Defend against Charms or Glamours from Supernatural Creatures.
• Because I am a Natural Leader, I gain +2 to Flashily Create An Advantage when directing groups of people in combat. The advantage created may be tagged by minion groups.
• Because I have honed my Combat Instincts, once per exchange, when an opponent tries to Create An Advantage during combat, I may Spend a Fate Point to invoke it to my own benefit first.
• Because I Have Known Many Gods, I gain a +2 to Forcefully or Carefully Defend against beings who are not of this world.
• As I became King By My Own Hand, I gain a +2 to Cleverly Overcome when investigating corruption or sedition in my kingdom.

Refresh: 4

Stress: OOO

Consequences

• Mild (2):
• Mild (2 - physical only):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6):

***

Review: Age of Arthur RPG (Fate 3.0), Pt 2

Writing: Paul Mitchener, Graham Spearing

Art: Jason Behnke
Map: Steff Worthington
Editor: Mitch Williams
Page Template: Steff Worthington
Layout: Paul Mitchener
Arthurian Timeline: Andy Sangar

Publication Date: 2013

Pages: 291 (including Index)

This is part 2 of our series reviewing Age of Arthur, and you can read Part 1 here.

***

One of the more intriguing crunchy bits in the Age of Arthur core rulebook are the rules for mass combat. Chapter 8: Battle provides a breakdown on how to run mass combat on a variety of scales, and allows for the players to have significant individual impact on the outcome. The chapter details four separate steps in running these battles, as well as a wonderfully flavorful example.

ARMIES
Each army is assigned a skill level, from 1-4, as well as a stress score based on its size. Each army has some sort of commander; who influences the army's dicerolls based on his/her Strategy And Tactics and Leadership scores. If one is higher than the army's skill the commander grants a permanent +1 bonus; if both are higher, that bonus is +2. Given the power of +1 or +2 to skill checks in FATE, this is very powerful, and really dives home the idea of an army as an extension of its leader. In addition, each army has a number of aspects assigned to it; these can be anything from a descriptor of the army itself to an aspect describing its role in the combat.

PRELIMINARIES
This section details the events that can occur leading up to the battle. The preliminaries listed are:

Manoeuvring
A successful opposed check by the commanders nets adds another aspect on the successor's army reflecting some tactical movement, such as Pinned Against The River, or Cut Off From Supply Lines.

Magic
If both armies have magic-wielding individuals on their side, they can make an opposed check to grant their armies another aspect, such as Favored By Belenus, or Posessed By Wolf Spirits. The rules do not speak to a scenario in which one magic-wielder goes against an army without one, but substituting the opposing commander with a penalty to his/her roll might suffice. The rules do, however, address having more than one magician on each side.

Champions*
This preliminary might be my favorite! It allows for an individual to call out an opponent into a Hero Duel, allowing yet another Aspect to be granted to his or her army. The rules speak to using more than one champion for Hero Duels as well. It seems to me this can also be re-skinned to allow for smaller groups of individuals to perform tactical functions separate from the main army as well. For example, we have two armies of 2000 soldiers each. The Commander of one army tasks 50 of his best rangers to sneak past the opponent's picket lines in the night and set fire to their supply tents, thus granting the aspect Hungry And Tired. You could have the heroes undergo some kind of Druidic ceremony taking them into the fae realm via dreams to influence the battle, or any number of unique scenarios with this step.

Other Factors
Here the designers address the effects of weather and fortifications; such rules could be easily customized to account for disease, local resistance, and political entanglements.

THE BATTLE
Now the carnage begins! Individual Heroics and Getting Personal both speak to using your heroes as they fight midst the throng, spending fate points and with individual skills tests, including one hero many foes. Each army then attacks, with the smaller one acting first. Successes are inflicted upon the opposing army's stress score. A draw does no damage, but allows each side to place a new aspect on the field, which can be tagged by a Commander by spending a fate point. Turns go by, and the battle ends when one side is reduced to 0 stress, which can be a slaughter, a retreat, a surrender, or any other outcome the story necessitates. In addition, there are rules for a side to withdraw or surrender before falling to 0 stress.

The Aftermath
At this point, you assess the losses for each side, and the leaders of each army can make a Leadership check to try and recover some of the army's strength. Player characters must make an check to see if they were wounded in the battle, modified by the success (or lack there of) of the army he/she fought in, and takes the appropriate damage.

Example
The last section in the chapter walks through the above steps, in an evocative combat between a horde of Angles attempting to defeat a fortified smaller Brythonic group defending a town. This example goes a long way towards showing how easy and cinematic the mass combat rules can be.

This design really seems to have a great deal of flexibility allowing for a wide range of different combat scenarios involving varied forces. Individual player characters seem to be able to have a great deal of impact on such battles, which really drives home the influence of heroes.
***

Inspired by this chapter, I designed my character for Mike's game as just such a battle commander.

Amaethon ap Aquila (converted to FATE Core)

High Concept: Devout Brythonic Veteran Battle Captain
Trouble: I've Seen One Campaign Too Many
Other: There’s Wisdom In The Old Tales
Oaths: I Pledge My Life To Protect Britannia From The Invaders

Skills:
+4 Leadership
+3 Will, Lore (Tactics)
+2 Fight, Lore (History), Lore (Languages)
+1 Lore (Games), Lore (Myth And Legend), Investigate, Athletics

Stunts:
Many Tongues: The character knows twice as many extra languages or alphabets as his level in the Languages skill would normally allow.

Planned Assault: When you make a successful Tactics check (default opposition Fair [+2]) you may add +1 to the first action in combat to all allies in visual or audible range. This ability may also be applied in Mass Combat circumstances.

Know Your Enemy: Once per session, you may automatically Create an Advantage in combat related to a weakness for the opposition.

Refresh: 3
Physical Stress: OO
Mental Stress: OOO
Consequences:
  Mild (2):
  Moderate (4):
  Severe (6):

Languages: Brythonic (free), Latin (free), Goedelic, Saxon, Greek, Pictish

Extras: Ring Mail (-1 penalty to physical non-combat skills), Shield, Gladius (Ignore one grade of armour), Cold Weather Clothing, Writing Equipment, Handaxe

Background: 

Decimus Axius Aquila was a minor government accountant of Roman lineage from Din Eidyn, the capitol of Goddodin. The book describes Gododdin as the most powerful of the northern British Kingdoms. Lying between the Walls of Antonine and Hadrian, it was never fully conquered by the Romans. For much of its history it was a Roman ally. The great Welsh leader, Cunedda Wledig was part of the royal house of Gododdin. By tradition, the kings of Gododdin spend time in each of the main settlements of the kingdom. The largest settlement, the town of Din Eidyn (which corresponds to modern Edinburgh) is where the current king, Lot ap Luwddoc, spends most of his time. The people of Gododdin are British rather than Pict, though King Lot is half Pict, through his mother, a princess of Orkney. He rules both the Kingdom of Gododdin and the Kingdom of Orkney. In order to make peace with Lot, High King Ambtosius Aurelianus arranged a marriage between Lot and his niece, Morgan Le Fay. However, under Pictish law, such things as royal rule pass through the female line and more usually through a niece than a daughter. Morgan Le Fay feels she has a good claim to be High Queen of Britain now that Ambrosius Aurelianus and her father Uther are dead and King Lot desires to be High King. The people of Gododdin and many Picts support this claim.

Decimus Axius Aquila was a student of history and lore, and had a great love of languages. His notable Roman nose earned him the epithet of Auila (Eagle). While on a trip to assess taxes in the countryside, he met a beautiful young woman named Caoilfhionn, the daughter of a druid.

After his tour was complete, he sold his holdings, bought a rural farm, and married Caoilfhionn. She was as smart as he, and steeped in the lore of Brittany. They had many children, the youngest of which they named Amaethon, after the legendary hero of myth. True to his namesake, he dreamed of being a hero himself, and come harvest-time, wielded his scythe to cut down stalks of wheat, pretending they were the enemies of legend. He took after both his father and mother- inheriting the former’s aptitude for language and the latter’s love of his native mythology.

When old enough, he became a soldier and fought in many battles. He fought for and against many ‘kings’, and earned a reputation as a formidable strategist and tactician.

While fighting for a minor lord, Owynn ap Powys, he fell in love with his daughter, Nolwenn, who bore him a single son before dying of Phthisis ten years later. Amaethon's son, Bran, then accompanied him on his campaigns and grew into a formidable warrior himself.

Amaethon fought alongside Vortigern, who hired the Germanic mercenaries Hengist and Horsa to repel the Angles. They betrayed the army, ensuring its utter defeat, and Vortigern was marked as a traitor. After this incident, Amaethon realized that in-fighting against the Britton kings was pointless, and vowed to protect the lands and culture he loved from the invaders. Now he fights against the Angles and Saxons with his trusted companion and adviser: Aedan Mordha, warrior Druid and defender of the old gods!

*This system is absolutely perfect for running the battles in the Iliad; has no one done a Homeric Cycle hack for FATE yet?

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