Playing FATE on RPOL brings some common challenges, no matter what the flavor of the game.

Let's use this thread to discuss common problems with porting FATE to RPOL, and discuss possible ways to address those problems.

Not a real problem, but I'm a big fan of tracking current Fate Point in the second line of the character bio...

A good use of the bio-lines.

Hmmm... I like to track them as a separate line at the bottom of a post, or completely at the top.

I usually don't really look to whatever is under a name.

The main challenge with FATE on RPOL, or any other forum based game I think, is World Creation and Character Creation.
I guess because people don't really see it as part of the game? The book however states that it's part of the game. It's something we can enjoy as doing together.

It could be avoided by having pre-gen settings I suppose. That makes things more easy.
What I've been thinking about, and what I'm currently trying in a game over here, is doing character creation by asking questions. Then interpreting the questions to make aspects, NPC's, factions, Issues and Troubles. However I find that asking things might limit the options of the trouble they can get.

For example. Snitch the thief has just 'liberated' a golden statue from the lost temple of Uz'Romaxxor. All seems to go well, until... What happens that gets Snitch in trouble?

This question can give a few obvious answers, for some good trouble aspects. But if the character wanted to be stealing gold because his mother has gotten ill by some disease and he's finding gold wherever he can to pay off the debts he made for her treatment, that would be very hard to write into there. Of course, they don't need to be limited by the question.

I also do the 2nd bio line for tracking FP.

The problem with setting creation isn't that people don't view it as part of the game. It's that it takes a lot of back and forth. Face to face, a conversation that might take 5 to 10 minutes might take 2-3 weeks or more online. People lose interest and drop out during that time much more often than not.

Most often, for setting creation, I'll take the lead, define a bunch of stuff and note what is immutable, what is open for discussion and what is free-thinking brainstorming.  But I try not to make this a separate phase of the game.  I'd rather it's side-by-side with character-creation and then in-character play.

Like a television-show or a movie, we don't get the whole picture right away.  Only the broadest strokes.  We drill-down to the detail as we go.

In Fate Core, you can take a Mild Consequence which clears away one scene after recovery has been initiated.  You can take a Moderate Consequence which clears away one session after recovery has been initiated, and you can take a Severe Consequence which clears away a full scenario after recovery has been initiated.

The books define a scene as a discrete unit of play, a session as a discrete gathering of players to play the game, and a scenario as a handful of sessions.

on RPOL, we don't set times to gather and meet.  So, how do you define a scene, a session and a scenario?  How long do you let Moderate and Severe Consequences linger before they can start healing, and how long does it take to heal?  How do you gauge the time ti takes to do so?
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:42, Mon 08 Sept 2014.