10/12/2017 Fixed and Dynamic Aspects | The Walking Mind

The Walking Mind

Mostly about games, but with occasional detours into other nerdy territories.

Fixed and Dynamic Aspects

“Always On” aspects is one of those ideas that has been kicking around as
long as aspects have existed. There are a lot of great implementations do
things like  grant simple bonuses for aspects. TinyFate is based on this idea,
and the truly excellent Three Rocketeers by PK Sullivan is almost iconic in its
application.

With that in mind, I decided to solidify my thinking on this approach to

aspects in a way that makes them easier to talk about, and to that end I
want to talk about locked and dynamic aspects.

What’s a Dynamic Aspect?

That one’s easy – it’s a “normal” aspect. I’m applying this label purely for clarity.

What is a Fixed Aspect?

A xed aspect is written up like a normal aspect, but its Fixed nature is denoted by it being underlined.
Mechanically, a Fixed aspect’s impact is very simple: If it would help on a given roll, it grants a +1 bonus. If it
would hinder a given roll, it applies a -1 penalty. Simple as that. Note that there is no interaction with fate
points in this – it’s simply something to be taken into account.

How to Use xed & Dynamic Aspects

As designed, xed aspects can be used interchangeably with dynamic aspects. In fact, their use is the easiest
part of this. If I have the aspects:

Strong

http://walkingmind.evilhat.com/2017/10/06/fixed-and-dynamic-aspects/ 1/4
10/12/2017 Fixed and Dynamic Aspects | The Walking Mind

Fierce Fighter

And I make a roll to attack, let’s say I get a +2. Now, Strong is a xed aspect, so it’s going to give me a +1,
bringing that to a +3. Fierce Fighter is a dynamic aspect, so if I spend a fate point, I’ll bump that to a +5.
Mechanically, this is all very simple.

Where this gets a little more complicated is the question of what aspects should be locked and which aspects
should be dynamic. To that end, there are a few di erent models:

Free For All

The simplest model is to simply decide what type each aspect is when it’s created1. As an option, you may allow
for an aspect to be ‘ ipped’ by spending a fate point to change it from xed to dynamic or vice versa. This works
well if there’s a balance, but it breaks down in edge cases. Speci cally, if characters simply load up on xed
aspects, then bonuses can quickly get out of whack, and characters will also get much more boring, since the
usual advice (“More interesting aspects are more mechanically potent”) stops being true, and aspects that grant
more bonuses more often become more desirable. As such, this is not a recommended approach.

Constrained – Capped

This is the same as the Free For All, with the single caveat that the bonus from xed aspects is capped at +3.
This is still quite potent, but it can work decently well in games where there’s a more constrained set of other
bonuses (such as FAE).

Option: If you like math and a world FULL of aspects, instead of a hard +3 cap, consider 1 aspect grants a +1, 3
aspects a +2, 6 a +3, 10 a +4 and so on.

Constrained – GM Only

Another approach is to make xed aspects the domain of the GM, and any aspect the GM creates is considered
to be xed, while character and player-created aspects remain dynamic. This model has a lot of advantages – it
drives any GM invokes and compels towards the players while allowing for simpler mechanical application of
things like environmental aspects and unnamed NPCs (who could be expressed purely as aspects). In fact,
under this model, the GM will probably almost exclusively create static aspects except for very key elements
(like named NPCs or plot points worth hanging a lantern on).

Blended

Note, this model does not work well with skills or even approaches, but it is a solid way to handle aspect-only
play. In this model, aspects are both xed and dynamic. That is, they will provide their passive bonus or penalty,
but can also be invoked or compelled for an additional +2/-2 as appropriate.

http://walkingmind.evilhat.com/2017/10/06/fixed-and-dynamic-aspects/ 2/4
10/12/2017 Fixed and Dynamic Aspects | The Walking Mind

While this is very simple on its surface, the one complication is the question of what fate points are used for.
Because the xed bonuses can be substantial, players may decide they do not need as many Fate Points to
function, and we can end up with similar problems to the free for all. If your game has some additional use for
Fate Points (either because you’ll be pushing compels hard for setting reasons, or because they have some
other mechanical value, such as fueling stunts) then you should be ne, but if not, consider implementing a
cap.

Pure Fixed

As with Blended, this works poorly in conjunction with skills (unless you introduce a cap, as in the Constrained-
Capped model) but this is another way to do aspect-only play if you have always been interested in Fate but
less into the whole hippie-dippy fate point economy stu . This will complicate speci c games that require fate
points for mechanical elements (Dresden Files, for example) but for many games, this o ers a di erent but
functional model of play.

Other Options

There’s still plenty of room for nuance and tweaking within this space – the approaches I’ve outlined are far
from the only ways to handle it. But for all that, this can be a useful tool to throw into your toolbox, especially
for GMs who like the descriptive  nature of aspects, since it allows the GM to go aspect-only in many situations.
 Starting up NPCs is as easy as noting they’re a Stupid, Brutish Thug and you know they have +2 to most
violence, -1 to anything depending on cunning, and you’re good to go.

This also can interact well with consequences.  While I recommend that most character aspects are dynamic,
consequences can be a reasonable exception to that for games which want injury to carry a lingering impact.
 This becomes even more true when you decide to replace stress and consequences with conditions,

Anyway, my goal here is not to exhaust the idea, but simply to talk about it in a way that allows easy
interchangeability between xed and dynamic aspects. If nothing else, it’s provided me a way to talk about it in
the future, so I’m good with that.

1. Important mechanical note: if you create a xed aspect, then that e ectively forgoes the free invoke (or
extra free invoke for success with style) and that may disincentives creating xed aspects. That sounds
like a bug, but it’s really a feature, since it means player-created aspects will tend to be dynamic, while
GM-created aspects (those for framing a scene) will tend to be xed. ↩

This entry was posted in Fate on October 6, 2017 [http://walkingmind.evilhat.com/2017/10/06/ xed-and-

dynamic-aspects/] .

http://walkingmind.evilhat.com/2017/10/06/fixed-and-dynamic-aspects/ 3/4