Travel and zones, re-revisited

Over at RPG.net, Gullerbutry had a take on travel that I hadn't thought of before and looks pretty solid. Yes, it's adding even more stress tracks, but I'm not sure anymore whether or not you can actually have too many (or, at least, there is no reason a stress track of some flavor shouldn't be in play at all times).

The central concept I'd like to take on his post is the idea of using a stress track to represent progress while travelling. I'm surprised that I didn't think of it before. It very neatly segues into my previous post on Zones and Locations here.

The modification I'd make to the previous rules would be this: zones have a Distance stress track, with stress boxes per level equal to Terrain + Threat. Consequences represent encounters of some kind, or perhaps reaching specific Locations within the Zone. The Consequence only takes place if the first Stress box on that level is hit, otherwise they are ignored. Each roll represents travel for a time increment appropriate for the scale (for Vimary, that's one hour at Campaign Scale but for a larger campaign it might be a day). If the exact distance traveled is important, each rank in Terrain represents approximately 1 mile at Campaign Scale. So a Terrain 6, Threat 4 Campaign scale zone covers roughly 6 miles, with every 6-7 stress boxes representing a mile traveled. More threatening zones make travel more difficult. For large campaigns, the scale can be adjusted but it could just as easily be the same if more granularity is desired. A kingdom could then be composed of multiple zones instead of one large one for more variety.

When the characters travel, they "attack" the Stress track, making a roll with an appropriate Ability against a standard roll plus Terrain. The Ability used is dependent on the Scale - for Campaign Scale it's Endurance for characters or Physical for units; Scene Scale either Agility or Reasoning, and Personal Scale uses Agility. Obviously various Advantages and Aspects may be used to modify the roll. If the roll is failed, the character or group makes no progress for that time increment and must make a roll versus Threat or take Stress. Borders are reworked to be an additional roll that must be succeeded in order to cross the border, taking an attack from the Zone's Threat if they fail.

The beauty of this is that it can be used to represent personal scale movement in conflicts. Hurray for the Fate fractal! Overall I think it is a very, very cool setup. Once I get done with some exploration rules I'm working on, I'll work on detailing Vimary's Campaign scale zones. Kudos to Gullerbutry!

Locations

There are a great number if implementations for locations in various FATE-based games. While I like the rules in The Dresden Files, they have more of a feel for the Dresdenverse as opposed to Vimary. After a little thinking and a couple of Newcastles, the following is what I came up with for statting up locations in Vimary.

Locations have three types of Aspects (Defining, Points of Interest, and Location), two Abilities (Threat and Resources), and an optional Location Stress track.

Aspects

Defining Aspect

Every location has some overall theme, tone, purpose or other fact about it that defines it. Examples would be Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy or Meeting Place of the Tribes.

Points of Interest

A point of interest is a location within the location that is somehow important or noteworthy. Points of Interest often have their own zone maps or location write-ups. Points of interest may initially be hidden, requiring an assessment before they can be entered or utilized. Example Points of Interest include Theren's Den, Junks, The Red Gaol, etc.

Location Aspects

Locations may have additional Aspects that further describe inhabitants, services, threats, or other features. Examples include, "The Watch", "Haunted by ghosts", etc.

Abilities

Threat

Threat represents the inherent danger of traversing the Location. Threat has a Specialty Aspect describing the nature of the danger - it may be a pack of wolves, treacherous terrain, unusual weather or any other imaginable danger. Very safe areas will have a Rank of -1. Every time a character enters the Location, they must roll an Ability appropriate to the Threat versus a standard roll, modified by the Threat rank. The difference is the amount of stress the character takes.

Resources

Resources represents the availability food, items for scavenging, raw materials, etc. in the location. It has a Specialty Aspect that describes the type of Reward - examples include Bountiful Food, Fresh Water, or Untouched Ruins. Reward is added to any rolls for Scavenging; the Specialty Aspect (if known) can also be tagged to get an appropriate effect.

Location Stress

This is an optional stress track. It reflects the amount of attention that those who act out of place within the location receive, and how the residents react. The number of stress boxes varies depending on the size of the location, how easy it is to appear out of place or offend, etc. A good rule of thumb is each level of Consequence should have stress boxes equal to the number of Points of Interest in the location; this is because it is harder to attract attention in larger, busier locations. Once stress boxes are determined a list of various actions that PCs might take that would get attention in the location is created, along with how much stress each action inflicts. 

When a character does something that is on the list, that amount of stress is checked off the Location Stress track. Note that these generally add up. If a character is "Revealing themselves as Fallen in the open" (+2), "Acting disorderly" (+2), and "Stealing From a Stall" (+3), the stress inflicted on the Location Stress track is 7. The Consequences will represent what the reaction within the location is.

For example, a market may have the following Consequences:

Rude Stares and Muttering (Minor)
Refusal to buy or sell (Major)
Arrested by the Watch (P) (Severe)
Attacked by the Watch (P) (Extreme)

If the market only has two stress boxes per Consequence, the above example would get them arrested.

Next up I will be working on a location map for Vimary.