Editing Fate Core (section)

==Aspects==

'''Aspects:''' brief phrases that define and describe people, places, and things.

Example: The characters come across a tavern that Stanford decides to duck into for a drink and to search for someone the party is looking for. Avi describes the place quickly, mentioning that it is '''Crowded'''.

'''Invoke:''' to use an aspect to create a positive (for you) effect on the story, either by boosting a roll, triggering a reroll, or asserting something about a scene.

Example: Stanford is alone at the bar of a tavern that Avi has described previously as '''Crowded''', when he gets into an altercation with a few tough looking guys. Unable to see his companions, Stanford attempts to lose them in the crowd. Chris Mu. rolls Stanford's Stealth, with a net result of +2. Wanting to guarantee that he succeeds on the roll, Chris '''invokes''' the '''Crowded''' aspect of the bar, spending a Fate Point to add +2 to the roll, for a total of +4. Stanford quickly makes his way out of the bar, leaving his pursuers behind. 

'''Compel:''' when the GM invokes an aspect to complicate a player character's life, either granting one Fate Point if the compel is accepted, or costing one Fate Point to negate. 

Example: Jeroy has a tendency to act without thinking, especially in the throes of a barbarian rage. As the party attempts to make its way into a cave full of pirates, the others successfully subdue a pair of lookouts stationed near a large bell, the bell having been rendered '''Silent''' by magic. Avi decides to compel Jeroy's aspect '''Smash First, Ask Questions Later''' to assert that Jeroy would do something here that complicates things for the party. Chris C. accepts the Fate Point and says that Jeroy decides to smash the bell despite it being silenced, in full view of another group of pirates farther in, who manage to sound the alarm.  

Aspects are one of the defining features of Fate. Virtually everything of note in the game will have one or more associated Aspects. From a storytelling perspective, these function as quick, descriptive tags that sum up and differentiate characters, objects, and even scenes. These are not standardized, and can come in varying degrees of specificity. A tavern scene might simply be '''Crowded''', or it might be '''Full of Music and Chatter'''. Aside from the obvious storytelling differences to these two aspects, they can have different mechanical effects. Aspects do not need to be exhaustive, and not everything needs an aspect. A group of nameless NPCs harassing the player characters may all fall under the aspect '''Angry Mob''' rather than being handled as individuals. A character's armor might simply exist without an associated aspect, while their heirloom sword, passed down in their family through a century of martial tradition, might have the aspect '''Century of Nicks and Sharpenings'''.

Mechanically, aspects are used by players and the GM for a number of purposes. The most typical use of aspects is for '''invokes'''. When a player or the GM invokes an aspect, they (generally at the cost of a Fate Point) are asserting that the particular aspect allows them to influence the scene. A character trying to lose themselves from pursuit into a busy tavern could invoke the tavern's '''Crowded''' aspect to boost a Stealth roll, or allow for a reroll of a low Stealth roll to achieve success. The GM could similarly invoke the tavern's '''Full of Music and Chatter''' to boost an NPC's own Stealth roll, asserting that the noise of the scene makes it harder for a player character to use Notice to listen in on a conversation. 

Another use of aspects is through '''compels'''. These are typically used by the GM to create complications in the story as a result of aspects the players have. Accepting a compel grants a Fate Point to the player being compelled, while ignoring or negating a compel costs a Fate Point. As a means of heightening the dramatic tension or complicating the story, and as the primary method of acquiring Fate Points, players are encouraged to seek out compels and situations where their character's aspects might make life harder, though the ultimate decision on what counts as a compel is up to the GM.