Discuss the world-building toolkit here.

(Since this is turning lengthy, I'll start posting piece by piece what I had in mind.)

My tabletop Fate party gave this one a try during the weekend and it was fuuuuun. This weekend we couldn't get our usual lineup, so we had some time to kill and I decided to give this one a go. I saw it couple of weeks ago on DriveThruRPG and I thought it could be fun, but I had no idea it would be this good. Now I see some folks at RPoL did Spark, but I had no idea.

Anyway, I kind of don't understand why this thing didn't get into Fate Toolkit at least (if not Core). And since I need to type in what we did already, I might as well post it here.


Beforehand we decided on high fantasy genre because I was missing wizards and paladins. I gave my players homework for artistic inspirations, which needed not be high fantasy, but most of them were clueless anyway. Couple of nights before we got to play, I ran into Vuk, a rookie who'd play with us and I somehow managed to expand his generic "pirates" inspiration into Pirates of Dark Water cartoon. When I asked him about something specific from the cartoon, he mentioned the father's broken sword which is used as a full fledged weapon. This kickstarted my imagination and I decided to use it as a basis for my game (knowing that rest of the gang would not object). For my own inspiration I picked Dark Sun and the Thri-kreen in particular. Then came Toza, who despite being a veteran roleplayer (WoD mainly), never quite mastered the art of inventing aspects and such. After agonizing for a while I lost my patience and asked his wife what his favorite movie was. She said she didn't know his favorite movie, but gave three favorite books (interesting choices to say the least) -- The Hobbit, Karamazov Brothers and War and Peace. I dropped Hobbit immediately as overused and War and Peace as boring, but I remembered parts from Karamazovs well enough to know it was a nice story. For particular part Toza mentioned that he loved how Alyosha's harvest was beautifully described and it kind of gave me an idea to introduce Cult of the Redemption into the setting. Finally, when we gathered at the table, my friend Mrckey, a veteran Fate player, quickly grasped the concept and he added Sword of Shannara as his inspiration and particularly selected lords of tiny islands who were calling themselves kings (even though they control extended only as far as one could see from their castles). It was close enough to Pirates of Dark Water, but with a slightly different overtone, so we settled on a world that is slowly sinking as people use magic and if they mess something badly, black water appears.

As GM I gave some initial outlines on Cult of the Redemption, black water, explained WTF Thri-kreen are and in the end said that anything unmentioned remains unspecified for the game and people by now knew what that meant.

This is where we made our first mistake. We used A Spark in Fate Core Game Creation Worksheet. It looks nice and resembles Fate Core worksheets, but it has two mistakes. First is that while it does provide space for answers on worldbuilding questions, it does not provide space for questions. That means that by now we no longer remember some questions. We have the answer, but from it we can't deduce the question. (Kind of line 42.) Second, Spark lacks cards or tickets which would allow us to toy with campaign aspects while we're deciding which to use for faces and which for places.

Unfortunately our time run out half-way into worldbuilding, but what we got was so much more tangible than first time we tried creating campaign from core book alone. So without further ado, here is the data we created for our campaign we're calling Cruel Mistress.


Inspirations

Pirates of Dark Water and father's broken sword used as a viable weapon in particular (Vuk)
Dark Sun and the Thri-kreen in particular (me)
Karamazov Brothers and Alyosha's harvest (Toza)
Sword of Shannara and kings of tiny islands in particular (Mrckey)


Genre: High Fantasy
Descriptor: pirates and black water (duh)
Scale: Still undetermined


Facts I, as a GM, established before Q&A

(Inspired by Pirates of Dark Water)
Black water and how it works (no point typing details here).

Metal is scarce and ancient weapons, even broken ones, are valued. I gave some vague explanation about spirit of the weapons, but that can be revised.

(Dark Sun)
Irresponsible use of magic is sinking the world and may spawn dark water. (Details pending.)

(Karamazov Brothers)
Only through penance and redemption world can be restored.

(Things that just occurred to me)
Wizards deny this and claim that world is not sinking and there is no link between spellcasting and the ocean.

In medieval times few sailors could swim, so I decided to enforce this. After some discussion I explained my players that I don't want all characters to be able to swim, but if one could, that would be cool. In the end they understood that they should treat swimming like a magical power or obscure skill. Either spend some skill points or dedicate a stunt or aspect to it.

(Sword of Shannara)
People live in remnants of feudal society (rather than whatever was in Pirates of Dark Water).

Q&A

We were unsure whether GM gets tokens for questions and answers, but as a GM I decided that I was not missing out on fun, so we houseruled that GM does get the tokens. We also were unsure whether GM needs to spend one of the tokens for the first questions (because not spending gives the GM first question and last answer above and beyond what he pays with his tokens). In the end we reasoned that GM is allowed to cheat a little, so we decided to treat first question and last answer as a GM privilege.

In retrospect we probably should have made a house rule that any player can spend a token to ask the first question and answer the last one.

Also A Spark in Fate Core gives no rules what happens if no players are willing to answer a question or what happens if more than one player wants to answer. For the first situation, we made a house rule that explicitly says that such question remains unanswered. For the other, we made no decision, as such situation didn't arise. In the end we would have probably talked a little.

Q1 (me): If this world once had a developed civilization of dry land inhabitants, where are the ruins, what happened to them?

Mrckey initially thought we established that, but I reminded him that most of that was talk about some Savage Worlds setting and that discussing the influences does not establish facts in the setting. Then he asked if I meant to ask where they are physically or in general. I refused to clarify, saying that ambiguities are the point. I had asked the question and I wanted him or whoever answered it to interpret it however he liked. I also pointed that answers could be as ambiguous as the one answering liked.

Mrckey then spent a token and answered...

A1 (Mrckey): Wizards looted the ruins

I liked it great deal as it was quite bombastic and I expected that it would provide more information about wizards, their guild etc..


Q2 (Mrckey): Since black water was so dangerous and flammable (that was established by me in introduction), has anyone found some use for black water?

Of course we immediately houseruled that yes and no questions like that implicitly require some sort of additional explanation, since simple answer would be no fun.

A2 (Vuk): No. Land people do not believe in the black water, considering it yet another sailor story.

Personally I was slightly underwhelmed by the answer, but since the answer lent itself perfectly for campaign aspect, I let it stand


Q3 (Vuk): Since magnetic compasses don't exist (and he mentioned something blocking the astronomic navigation, but I'll probably disregard that), how do people navigate?

This one created most collaborative thinking and interesting discussion, but Toza immediately paid a token to answer it, even though he did not have answer ready. To me the gesture was very cool and I took it as if he wanted to preside over discussion on the subject.

First Toza established that there is no simple portable way to navigate, neither by magic, knowledge nor technology.

Second he established that the navigation device was a clunky and expensive magitech device.

I don't recall what he ruled (if anything) on whether such devices can be created anew. I'll have to check that next time we gather.

At first we were calling these devices simply "compass", but for me that name was indicating a small hand-held device, so Toza agreed to rename it. Since no one had any ideas other than compass and boussole, Mrckey went to Google Translate and picked Greek word pixade (or was it pixide). Unsurprisingly I liked Greek word, but I initially wasn't sure whether it was "pixade" or "fixade", and I liked fixide better, because it sort of implied that they fix the location of the center. I wanted device to shoot some sort of light in certain direction (kind of like in Pirates of Dark Water) and Toza agreed to both word and how it worked.

Toza, however, wasn't very interested, about where fixides point. We decided to call that place the center and leave unspecified what's there. We specified that one cannot sail to the center (for yet unknown reason), but can come close enough to see it. This was needed because Mrckey started (in my opinion unproductive) discussion about what was needed (scientifically) for people to know that fixides point to a place, rather than direction.

We summarized all this by:

A3 (Toza): All fixides point to the center


Q4 (Toza): I don't recall this question, but I think it had something to do with relationship between elves and "others".

I gave a token for this, because I didn't want details to ruin atmosphere. Admittedly this is probably the poorest answer of all.

I specified that elves are very rare, almost extinct, that they are disappointed in how the world turned out and I implied that they're not too interested in their own survival (I think). I intend to play them as if they don't care great deal about their survival. My plan is to use elves to add a strong sense of nostalgia for the world as it once was.

I think I established that they can live indefinitely, but I'll have to check that too. In the end the only real addition is the line below.

A4 (me): Elves thought the others


With this I realized I had to do something with Thri-kreen or drop them from the setting, so I decided to spend my two questions on them and on the ship PCs have. I knew I could delay ship for the later phase, but I wanted to have players start thinking about the ship while they were in mindset I really liked.

Q5 (me): With elves nearly extinct, what do Thri-kreen eat?

And as always when one least expects it, a rookie shines.

A5 (Vuk): They love to eat brains of mammals. They consider dolphin brains especially a delicacy, which also gives Thri-kreen a bad rep with sailors, since sailors believe dolphins are good luck.


Q6 (Vuk): Who drains power from fixides?

Another bit of rookie magic. And this time I rose to the occasion. First draft of the answer was simply "Illithids". That of course exploded like a bombshell. First I had to explain WTF Illithids are to Vuk and Toza. Then I went through a round of argument with Mrckey (for like fifth time) about whether we should use D&D names for monsters if we keep appearance only, not powers.

Not wanting to ruin the atmosphere (nor pull a rank on Mrckey) I dropped Illithid name and since no one offered no cool name, I chose to call them navigators.

I specified that they were draining fixides not because they need or must, but only because they want to be the only ones capable of long-distance travel between scattered archipelagos. Furthermore I said that draining magical items temporary boosts their strength, but that they don't need to do it. In fact they require no food or sleep.

Finally I said that navigators had worshiper cults. Mrckey asked if they had some power to control these people, and I said probably, but declined to specify further.

A6 (me): Navigators do, because they want to be the only ones who control long-distance travel.


Q7 (me): What is your ship?

Toza paid the cost for this one, but kill me if I remember what his contribution was on this one. He might have only refereed this one.

A7 (Toza): She is a state of the art modern ship with best fixide money can buy. She is named Cruel Mistress from saying that sea is a cruel mistress (cruel lover). Characters use her for smuggling goods wizards don't allow to be traded freely.


Q8 (Toza): Who rules the sea?

A8 (Mrckey): A vain and selfish deity people believe they must flatter to no end.

Vuk added that thumping the water (kind of like in Dune) enrages the sea god and that it is the surest way to cause wind and storm. This is so cool, that I'm keeping it for sure.

Since last answer was mine, Mrckey very carefully asked me if I wanted him to ask if there was some connection between sea god and navigators. After a bit of thinking I said "Yes, please."

Q9 (Mrckey): Is there any relation between sea god and navigators?

A9 (me): They are his bastards.

After Q&A we went for aspects. As we started it became apparent that only Mrckey and myself had skill needed to write quality aspects. About half way through, I asked Mrckey to take a break from creating aspects, hoping it would give Vuk and Toza space to offer some of their ideas. Unfortunately it simply meant that I would have to write the remaining aspects. In the end, Mrckey rejoined writing and these are the aspects we wrote:

1. Bones of the old world keep many secrets
   Mrckey wanted to call this one "Skeletons in the closet", but I said that it wasn't obvious enough to me, so he rephased it.
   
2. Black water and other sailor stories
   Initially this one was supposed to be called simply "Sailor stories", but this time Mrckey offered more precise wording
   
3. Dark visions emerge from the center
   
4. Sins of teachers reflect upon the thought
   This one started as "Sins of the fathers", but it was obvious this was too vague
   
5. Humans we'll handle easy, they have no hive mind
   This is an old Toza's aspect from previous Race for the Galaxy game, which I decided shamelessly to copy
   
6. No place for navigators in this world
   This one was Mrckey's gem, because it established that Navigators are solitary creatures and that even they dislike one another
   
7. Sea is a cruel mistress
   No need explaining this one, as it gave name to both the ship and the game
   
8. On waves of god's rage
   
9. There is but one navigator in Cult of the Redemption
   I contemplated dropping Cult of the Redemption and Wizards' Guild from the game, as no player seemed interested in any of them, but Mrckey dissuaded me, saying that they enhance dramatic potential and that if no player wanted ties with them, it doesn't mean that they wouldn't be effective as adversaries

We had no time to do places and faces, so it will have to wait for a different opportunity.

To respond to an earlier post: my small group and I (3 players max not including myself as GM, usually 2) started our first FATE game by using a spark in fate core. We only ever played Pathfinder prior to this, so the extended world creation, as opposed to the GM (myself) inventing most everything was a bit difficult to deal with for them. I only had two players, and I assume that will be my average for now. One of them was eager and interested and actively contributing, if a bit haphazardly. The other contributed but seems very uncomfortable with the narrative control. None of them fully grasp the rules yet.

Which brings me to the first of my two points:
1) do you think a Spark in Fate Core is overkill for new players? Our session with it felt a bit strained and difficult, though I will admit they made some awesome stuff for our world and I think the game will be better for it. The combo of new system misunderstanding + not used to the narrative control made it feelt a little like pulling teeth. I couldn't help but feel, at the end of the day, if I wouldn't have been better off just making the world myself and offering limitations like in our previous games. This might have made the initial transition easier.

2) I totally think the GM gets tokens to spend on creation, too. I'm biased because in my group of two players and one gm, not doing so would make more problems than it would resolve. So we sort of had to.

EDIT: additional question: has anybody used spark I fate core on RPoL successfully? How did that work?
This message was last edited by the player at 14:43, Wed 13 May 2015.

I used Spark Q&A with kids ages 11 and 13 who have never played RPG before and it worked like a charm. As such I'd recommend it even for existing settings, to provide additional details which give players opportunity to adjust parts of the setting which are important to them. For instance "When will Cosmos VII become an emperor, since his father was Cosmos IV?" This gives one of the players opportunity to do all sorts of dynastic and political stuff.

One thing that helped me great deal in Cruel Mistress Spark (not the kids one I mentioned in this post) was that I established some stuff even before we started Spark phase. For instance, I established the black water, that the world is sinking and so on. One thing to keep in mind is that in Spark phase whoever pays the token can override anything the GM set ahead of time.

As for Sparks on RPoL, I should hopefully getting one under way pretty soon.

Sounds very cool. I hadn't heard of Spark actually.

Have you ever played Microscope? If so, how would you compare it with this?

I read Microscope, but haven't played yet. I can see similarities, but there is one rather big difference. Fate is all about collaboration between players and Sparks very much inherits this approach. Microscope on the other hand is all against deciding by comity. I found that rotating GM privileges was more than enough to stimulate my more timid players.