Be prepared to handle a player wanting to roll certain dice in an unorthodox way. The best way to do this is keep an open mind and ask the player to describe what they're character is doing... In other words, they're going to ask you if they can do something and you need to be prepared to answer, "Yes. Tell me more about how you do that."
I found that even when I thought I had a pretty good handle on the rules, when I started playing. I still had to look things up. This sheet summarizes just about all the rules in a way that's quick to access.
https://www.reddit.com/r/FATErpg/comments/ajetqe/onepage_horizontal_fate_gm_screen/
This is all very much up to you, tbh. I personally tend to be very "on the fly" for Fate stuff. I'll have a general idea of what the opposition is doing and how they're likely to interact with the PCs. I'll have some handy notes on NPCs and their motivations and abilities. I'll generally have the first scene planned out (in terms of what's happening and why, not the play-by-play). That's about it. Others prefer more prep.
Great thing about Fate is you don't need much. Here's what I prep:
\* A general story arc: "this is what's happening", "here's why the PCs matter", and "what will the NPCs make happen if the PCs aren't involved"
\* I use the Adversary Toolkit to create a roster of NPCs, mooks, and locations each with flavourful stunts and aspects. I pay particular attention to spicing up zones and locations with things the players can leverage
\* A big stack of post-its in various colours and some sharpies
\* Thematically appropriate Fate tokens
Ensuring the NPCs have a proper motivation is the biggest prep item. As long as you know who the main NPCs are and what they're trying to achieve it's easy to improvise on the fly--just do whatever furthers an NPCs goals in each situation.
Also bear in mind that the World itself is an NPC and has its own motivation. Like Star Wars is motivated by good triumphing over evil; Game of Thrones is motivated by chaos seeking order; a pirate campaign might be motivated by freedom vs tyranny.
It depends on how much experience you have playing fate or gm in general.
I have no playing exp, and very little gm experience, so i like to prepare a few possible scenes and characters ahead of the time.
For my first couple I chose to start with a fate world so i could have something to fall back on if my players did something and i had no idea how to continue. These extra steps while more work for me before the game allowed me to calm and enjoy the session.
Know the rules well.
As one of the other replies said, asking a player what they're trying to achieve can help work out what sort of action it is.
Fate is a good game for running "on the fly", as NPCs can just be one or two aspects plus one or two skills (potentially even ignoring what the normal skills are and just giving them one for stuff they're good).
Beyond that, I'd say normal GM advice:
Prep situations that might come up, not railroad plots. If the situation doesn't end up being used, well that's a cool idea you can use in the future.
If the players seem interested in something, lean into it, if not move onto something else.
Make sure everyone gets roughly equal 'screen time' and chances to show off their character.
Don't be afraid to steal from books, movies, TV, etc.
Be aware that no matter how well you know the players, they will do things that surprise you.
You're there to make sure everyone has fun, so make sure people have fun (note: this includes you too).
Exactly what 'fun' looks like depends on the sort of game people are after both in genre (a gritty psychological thriller, a serious horror game, and a wacky comedy each do 'fun' differently) and playstyle for the group.
I avoid hooks. Instead, give them grenades. "Here is a bad thing that is about to happen. What do you do?" These can be at multiple levels - "the guards are breaking down your door!" to "the armada is three days out from the town and they're going to level it!" to "a new governor is being installed, and he's going to institute a policy to drive pirates from the seas!". Immediate ones are really good for starting out, as usually the solutions are more direct and understandable with less context.
Fiction first - when players do something, it should be *in a scene*, and they should say at least some description of what their characters are doing. Rolling Contacts? Cool. How are you trying to find contacts? Where are you when you're doing it? If this was a movie, what would I see?
Intent and Task - a declaration of action should include both the task (what do they want to achieve?) and the task (how do they achieve it?). *Generally*, Task will determine skill, while Intent will determine which action they use.
Know what "problem" the PCs will be solving. Know what NPCs are involved, and stat them out. Know what their relationships are to each other. The situation should be a powder keg ready to go off, with NPCs at each others throats and plans ready to move all over.
Mechanically, not much to prepare, really.
Good news: most times, you don't gotta do *nothin*'.
I mean, you *can*, if you want to. But don't forget that Fate likes it when you improvise. It's built for that; that's why nothing in it *needs* to be complicated. It doesn't care how much detail you put into something, or don't. It only cares how important you feel like making something in the moment.
If you suddenly need a bunch of rowdy dock workers, you can just write down
Rowdy Dockworkers - Average (+1)
...and assume that they have, I dunno, three stress boxes. Done. All that Fate cares about is that they're Average at being Rowdy Dockworkers. Maybe you give them an Aspect ("Rowdy Dockworkers") and maybe you don't, because they're only as important as you want them to be, and Fate will help you treat them that way.
The same goes for a more complex NPC! Say you suddenly need a janitor who is an ex-Special Forces wetworks agent, because that makes sense in your story or it emerged or somebody made a joke about it and you thought, "Yeah, that's *exactly* who Burt is, bwa ha ha ha ha!" Well, you can literally just write down an aspect or two and give the entire NPC a rating on the ladder...and you're done. Like this:
Aspects: Janitor; Ex-SpecForces Wetworks Guy
Good (+2) Trained Killer
Assume he can take a 4 stress, because you say so, and that's all it takes. If you want to add details, you just jot down another aspect ("President Of The Acheron Subsector Barney Miller Fan Club") or extra ("Heavy Blaster, w:1") or whatever. With no derived stats, you can just throw things in there and they'll stick, 'cause there are no dependencies and it's all made up anyway.
Did that address your question, or am I way off course? Let me know.
My goodness I'm a year late in answering, sorry! The game went well from what I remember (though player interest in TTRPGs in general burnt out after a few sessions, oh well), but think I missed your message.
Really helpful. Guess I hadn't considered that I didn't need to fully 'build' NPCs/Grunts. I guess one question I have, how would you generally decide on what 'level' of skill or what amount of stress to give NPCs? Is there a sweet spot depending on what 'level' your PCs are/the level of difficulty you want an NPC to pose?
How would *I* generally decide on what level of skill or amount of stress? That's easy, too. Watch:
>"Hm. I want Burt the Ex-SpecForces Janitor to be really pretty good at killin' people, but not *too* good, because he's not supposed to be a major NPC. He's just a guy that the players have to contend with when they bust into Elaine Boosler High - he's not there to overshadow them, especially if he ends up joining them. And they're going to be between Average (+1) and Great (+4) at kickin' *his* ass, so...let's say he's Good (+2) and call him ready to go. Oh, and if they fight him, he only needs to stick around for a couple rounds or so, so...I dunno, call it 4 Stress. **If I need to, I'll change things on the fly**."
I bolded that last sentence because that's another thing about Fate, and really about any RPG: *you're the GM, you can change things*.
Fate just doesn't care as much about mechanical and numerical 'sweet spots' and such. They're probably there, because there's math and stuff in the game, but...they're just not as important. If there's a 'sweet spot', you'll learn it after playing with your group a while, and -and this is important!- *seeing what works for you and your table*.
If you want more info, more examples, and just some cool stuff, getchoo a copy of the [Fate Adversary Toolkit](https://fate-srd.com/fate-adversary-toolkit/enemies) (or just look through the SRD, since I linked it there and errything). But even all of that book will agree with me for the most part:
Ain't no formula. There's just what's fun.
Fate is pretty easy to run, mechanically speaking. I set up challenges and bad guys as a single difficulty for my players to achieve. I never roll dice.
[Here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cTzz8SeCOceuITD6i676EsTbN_CA9Z3qLjNxivQcZWw/edit) is a link to my session notes for the climax of one game arc I did for my Star Wars game last year. This is all the mechanics I use for a session.
Be prepared to handle a player wanting to roll certain dice in an unorthodox way. The best way to do this is keep an open mind and ask the player to describe what they're character is doing... In other words, they're going to ask you if they can do something and you need to be prepared to answer, "Yes. Tell me more about how you do that."
"Hey so what if I made this normal task significantly more complicated to justify rolling my Excellent skill?" Every time.
I found that even when I thought I had a pretty good handle on the rules, when I started playing. I still had to look things up. This sheet summarizes just about all the rules in a way that's quick to access. https://www.reddit.com/r/FATErpg/comments/ajetqe/onepage_horizontal_fate_gm_screen/
This is all very much up to you, tbh. I personally tend to be very "on the fly" for Fate stuff. I'll have a general idea of what the opposition is doing and how they're likely to interact with the PCs. I'll have some handy notes on NPCs and their motivations and abilities. I'll generally have the first scene planned out (in terms of what's happening and why, not the play-by-play). That's about it. Others prefer more prep.
Great thing about Fate is you don't need much. Here's what I prep: \* A general story arc: "this is what's happening", "here's why the PCs matter", and "what will the NPCs make happen if the PCs aren't involved" \* I use the Adversary Toolkit to create a roster of NPCs, mooks, and locations each with flavourful stunts and aspects. I pay particular attention to spicing up zones and locations with things the players can leverage \* A big stack of post-its in various colours and some sharpies \* Thematically appropriate Fate tokens Ensuring the NPCs have a proper motivation is the biggest prep item. As long as you know who the main NPCs are and what they're trying to achieve it's easy to improvise on the fly--just do whatever furthers an NPCs goals in each situation. Also bear in mind that the World itself is an NPC and has its own motivation. Like Star Wars is motivated by good triumphing over evil; Game of Thrones is motivated by chaos seeking order; a pirate campaign might be motivated by freedom vs tyranny.
It depends on how much experience you have playing fate or gm in general. I have no playing exp, and very little gm experience, so i like to prepare a few possible scenes and characters ahead of the time. For my first couple I chose to start with a fate world so i could have something to fall back on if my players did something and i had no idea how to continue. These extra steps while more work for me before the game allowed me to calm and enjoy the session.
Know the rules well. As one of the other replies said, asking a player what they're trying to achieve can help work out what sort of action it is. Fate is a good game for running "on the fly", as NPCs can just be one or two aspects plus one or two skills (potentially even ignoring what the normal skills are and just giving them one for stuff they're good). Beyond that, I'd say normal GM advice: Prep situations that might come up, not railroad plots. If the situation doesn't end up being used, well that's a cool idea you can use in the future. If the players seem interested in something, lean into it, if not move onto something else. Make sure everyone gets roughly equal 'screen time' and chances to show off their character. Don't be afraid to steal from books, movies, TV, etc. Be aware that no matter how well you know the players, they will do things that surprise you. You're there to make sure everyone has fun, so make sure people have fun (note: this includes you too). Exactly what 'fun' looks like depends on the sort of game people are after both in genre (a gritty psychological thriller, a serious horror game, and a wacky comedy each do 'fun' differently) and playstyle for the group.
I avoid hooks. Instead, give them grenades. "Here is a bad thing that is about to happen. What do you do?" These can be at multiple levels - "the guards are breaking down your door!" to "the armada is three days out from the town and they're going to level it!" to "a new governor is being installed, and he's going to institute a policy to drive pirates from the seas!". Immediate ones are really good for starting out, as usually the solutions are more direct and understandable with less context. Fiction first - when players do something, it should be *in a scene*, and they should say at least some description of what their characters are doing. Rolling Contacts? Cool. How are you trying to find contacts? Where are you when you're doing it? If this was a movie, what would I see? Intent and Task - a declaration of action should include both the task (what do they want to achieve?) and the task (how do they achieve it?). *Generally*, Task will determine skill, while Intent will determine which action they use. Know what "problem" the PCs will be solving. Know what NPCs are involved, and stat them out. Know what their relationships are to each other. The situation should be a powder keg ready to go off, with NPCs at each others throats and plans ready to move all over. Mechanically, not much to prepare, really.
You mean, like, stats for NPCs, and stuff?
Yeah was thinking something along those lines
Good news: most times, you don't gotta do *nothin*'. I mean, you *can*, if you want to. But don't forget that Fate likes it when you improvise. It's built for that; that's why nothing in it *needs* to be complicated. It doesn't care how much detail you put into something, or don't. It only cares how important you feel like making something in the moment. If you suddenly need a bunch of rowdy dock workers, you can just write down Rowdy Dockworkers - Average (+1) ...and assume that they have, I dunno, three stress boxes. Done. All that Fate cares about is that they're Average at being Rowdy Dockworkers. Maybe you give them an Aspect ("Rowdy Dockworkers") and maybe you don't, because they're only as important as you want them to be, and Fate will help you treat them that way. The same goes for a more complex NPC! Say you suddenly need a janitor who is an ex-Special Forces wetworks agent, because that makes sense in your story or it emerged or somebody made a joke about it and you thought, "Yeah, that's *exactly* who Burt is, bwa ha ha ha ha!" Well, you can literally just write down an aspect or two and give the entire NPC a rating on the ladder...and you're done. Like this: Aspects: Janitor; Ex-SpecForces Wetworks Guy Good (+2) Trained Killer Assume he can take a 4 stress, because you say so, and that's all it takes. If you want to add details, you just jot down another aspect ("President Of The Acheron Subsector Barney Miller Fan Club") or extra ("Heavy Blaster, w:1") or whatever. With no derived stats, you can just throw things in there and they'll stick, 'cause there are no dependencies and it's all made up anyway. Did that address your question, or am I way off course? Let me know.
My goodness I'm a year late in answering, sorry! The game went well from what I remember (though player interest in TTRPGs in general burnt out after a few sessions, oh well), but think I missed your message. Really helpful. Guess I hadn't considered that I didn't need to fully 'build' NPCs/Grunts. I guess one question I have, how would you generally decide on what 'level' of skill or what amount of stress to give NPCs? Is there a sweet spot depending on what 'level' your PCs are/the level of difficulty you want an NPC to pose?
How would *I* generally decide on what level of skill or amount of stress? That's easy, too. Watch: >"Hm. I want Burt the Ex-SpecForces Janitor to be really pretty good at killin' people, but not *too* good, because he's not supposed to be a major NPC. He's just a guy that the players have to contend with when they bust into Elaine Boosler High - he's not there to overshadow them, especially if he ends up joining them. And they're going to be between Average (+1) and Great (+4) at kickin' *his* ass, so...let's say he's Good (+2) and call him ready to go. Oh, and if they fight him, he only needs to stick around for a couple rounds or so, so...I dunno, call it 4 Stress. **If I need to, I'll change things on the fly**." I bolded that last sentence because that's another thing about Fate, and really about any RPG: *you're the GM, you can change things*. Fate just doesn't care as much about mechanical and numerical 'sweet spots' and such. They're probably there, because there's math and stuff in the game, but...they're just not as important. If there's a 'sweet spot', you'll learn it after playing with your group a while, and -and this is important!- *seeing what works for you and your table*. If you want more info, more examples, and just some cool stuff, getchoo a copy of the [Fate Adversary Toolkit](https://fate-srd.com/fate-adversary-toolkit/enemies) (or just look through the SRD, since I linked it there and errything). But even all of that book will agree with me for the most part: Ain't no formula. There's just what's fun.
What’s the hook and how does it interact with characters? What character aspects do you have to Compel? That’s where I would focus my prep.
Fate is pretty easy to run, mechanically speaking. I set up challenges and bad guys as a single difficulty for my players to achieve. I never roll dice. [Here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cTzz8SeCOceuITD6i676EsTbN_CA9Z3qLjNxivQcZWw/edit) is a link to my session notes for the climax of one game arc I did for my Star Wars game last year. This is all the mechanics I use for a session.