Fate Play

From Structured Freedom

From the Jeep Glossary

Shortly put, Fate play revolves around cueing actions necessary for a specific chain of events to take place. It is a good, well-known technique (Credit is due to Eirik Fatland for formalizing it.), related to transparency. A character (or player) may be given a (set of) predefined action(s) and be told to carry it out at a certain point in time. There are of course various degrees to this form of control.

   Example: When you mom finally reveals the secret of your dad's death, you kill her.

The above pretty much gives away all secrets, but is hard to misinterpret. Another example, that is a bit more spoiler free, is:

   Example: ... when she told me, I snapped. The carpet was drenched in her blood.

According to our experience, the second one is preferred by players, since it does not spoil anything, and might actually be interpreted slightly different from the first one. While the differences are merely nuances, the outcome in a game can vary quite a lot.

Fate play allows you to control important parts of the story. It gives the player a certain freedom (e.g., to kill a character, as in the example above) and prevents the character from "making a mistake" (e.g., killing the mother for some other reason). You can use it sparingly, or use it a lot (preferably with vague formulations) to "conceal" the real important actions. Another good side-effect or fate play is that is "shortens the reaction time" of the game, meaning that instead of taking the normal time to respond to a situation, a player can all of a sudden take charge which is highly stimulative to other players. Also, a certain amount of scripting can be good to keep a story water tight and sound.

Good fates should not give the impression of negative control. It should not give the impression that the character's development or actions are being limited. The player shouldn't feel as someone is twisting his arm. Formulating them well is one key. Take your time. Also think about why something needs controlling. What would be the consequences of keeping things open?

Articles on Fate Play: Amor Fati

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