Fated Hand Game Master Guide

Welcome to Fated Hand's guide for Game Masters! This document is a complement to the primary game manual, and offers some extra resources, advice, and guidelines to help Game Masters deliver a quality experience for the players and of course, themselves.

Fated Hand is a game designed with the Game Master (and their sanity) as a first-class concern. At this point, you should be familiar with the system by which players make checks and engage in combat: they draw and play Cards, either in a Story or Combat context. However, the Game Master needs to manage numerous Non-Player Characters (NPCs). Managing more than one hand of cards would be... a nightmare, to say the least. Therefore, ordinary NPCs play by different rules, which approximate the capabilties a player could muster, but are significantly easier to administrate. Bosses and other "special" NPCs may, of course, use the player's rules and have their own hand of cards.

This document also includes numerous meta-game tips and pieces of advice on how to play the game efficiently. The Game Manual is devoid of such things, with the intention to keep the player experience as streamlined as possible. You should feel free to share the tips and observations in this document freely with your players; they may well not realize the value of multi-classing or other such nuances unless it is pointed out to them, and it is important for the players to feel powerful and effective in order to have an enjoyable experience.

Running the Story Segments

As a Game Master, you are in total control of the out-of-combat Story experience. As in all unstructured TTRPG segments, there are far less constraints here and it is typically easy to get players to have a good time.

Skill Checks and Talents are really the only connection between the Fated Hand manual and Story segments, so the following sections shall pertain to these.

Story Guidelines

Due to the nature of the rules and the world. Certain themes should be present in every Fated Hand game to make sure the world works. Now, if these truly do not fit your game, you can go without.

Having a dangerous world is important for this. Because creatures only have one hit until they are dead, making sure things in this world respect that and have some sense of self preservation is important. NPCs should be rightfully scared of greater powers and should warn players of difficulty.

The next is uncertainty. Magic is not consistent in this world and so not a lot should. People fend for themselves and are weary of change. That is not to say people can't be friendly, but people should definitly fear the unknown.

The final guideline is that the players are new and learning. Most campaigns should start with all players being novices. This lets the players grow into their characters and truly feel like they are creating a character instead of just having one. This also means that the players do not start out special. They should be people who are pushed to do something.

Introducing Bosses & Guarnteed Losses

This section should explain the nature of battles in Fated Hand. Battles should always be difficult, if the players do not feel intrigued in the battle, perhaps it shouldn't be there at all. The next part may be the most difficult as a GM. Make the players lose. Too often, battles are made with the intentions of a win for the players. The worlds of Fated Hand are dangerous and the players should understand that. Now, that does not mean kill the players, it can mean make them retreat. Allow the players to be able to see early on if the battle is even possible through mind related skill checks. Having the players lose to a boss or enemy early and then see them again later can be satisfying for their growth.

Skill Checks and Difficulty

When a character makes a Skill Check their total Power (as determined by their Card, Attribute Bonus, Proficiency, and relevant Talents), is compared with the Difficulty of the challenge. Their Power must meet or exceed the Difficulty to be successful.

Determining Difficulty

The Difficulty of a challenge is ultimately up to your discretion as the Game Master. The following are some good guidelines.

• An easy task might be 1-2 Difficulty. Almost any character could muster this score with even a modicum of effort. If you are thinking of imposing a score this low, reconsider demanding the Check in the first place (though you may want to play mind games with the players, EG: make them waste their cards)
• 3-5 Difficulty is the realm of medium-challenge tasks. Most characters could achieve a score in this range, either with a strong card or Proficiencies and Talents. However, a playing a weak card or even a medium strength card with no additional modifiers would be enough to fail a 4 Difficulty Skill Check.
• Tasks 6+ Difficulty are feats of impressive ability. Remember, Fated Hand does not feature any kind of critical-hit which grants automatic success! A Novice character would be totally incapable of mustering 9 Power at all, and could only manage 8 Power with the benefit of a high Attribute Bonus, played King, relevant Proficiency, and relevant Talent all working in tandem!
• Because players have reasonably good control over their Power when making checks, you may find it valuable to keep your Difficulty ratings a bit unpredictable. A good method to achieve this might be to determine some low modifier for unclear Difficulty tasks (+0 if it seems average, or +1-2 if the task might be hard), and let the Difficulty equal 1d4 + Base Difficulty as you previously determined. This way, the players retain control of their chances of success, but they can't learn to read you like a book and carefully save all their best cards.

Finally, remember there's no harm in letting the players have fun. Difficulty should reflect common sense, but if a player fails a Skill Check and you feel disappointment while announcing the result... you are the god of this world. No one has to know you gave them the upper hand. Also, it is ok to let a player fail forward, perhaps they succeed at task but an unforseen other problem presents itself.

NPC Skill Checks

NPCs do not have a hand of cards, but will most likely be required to make checks on a regular basis. As a theme, NPCs simply use some random source to produce a plausible value for what would be their Card Power for this check.

In combat, each NPC effectively rolls a 1d12 and follows the same table of values for their Card Values. Applying this rule to Skill Checks would be perfectly servicable, and is advisable for unimportant NPCs. However, don't forget that players manipulate their hand and save their best cards for important moments. For "important" and even moderate NPCs (player allies, villians) making checks, we typically roll 2d12 and use the better.

Using Talents

Characters may have Talents, which typically give a strong bonus to Power when making Skill Checks in certain situations. You are welcome to write NPCs which have Talents, but they really do not need them.

The usefulness of Talents should be interpreted broadly, with one exception: Talents have no direct value in Combat. Any interpretation of a Talent which implies it increases any of your Combat Stats or makes any kind of Perk, Technique, or Action easier to accomplish is incorrect. The only sense in which Talents may aid in Combat is when a character attempts a mid-combat Skill Check (which is quite possible), and the outcome of the Check then influences the flow of the battle (IE: a player with Saboteur wants to break down a thin wall, which then changes the terrain of the battle)

Wealth

Players do not have a numerical amount of money in Fated Hand. Each character will have a rank of wealth that they are (Destitute, Poor, Moderate, Wealthy). Destitute - Almost nothing except the clothes on your back, finding food is difficult. Poor - Food and shelter are usually taken care of, most wealth is in the things you own. Moderate - Enough to support a family happily, usually shopkeeps and owners of small buisnesses. Wealthy - A truly extravagent lifestyle for one person, the law barely applies with the bribes you give, usually buisnesses and important governement officials.

Most people in the world should be poor most likely including the players at the begining. Do not worry about paying for food and shelter when towns are plentiful. Obviously you can make the players eat and sleep by giving exhaustion to the players. But menial payments do not matter that much at anything above poor. The party/individuals can move up or down if significant financial events occur.

The important thing to keep in mind when moving players up or down in wealth is that players enjoy feeling rich and gaining things. So if the players raid a ship and would gain a lot of money, instead of saying "gain 500 gold" describe the great bounties of gold and treasure they find on the ship and then end with "With this treasure, you are wealthy".

Hand Manipulation

Because Story Segments are open ended, players have broad leeway to attempt things which require Skill Checks as much as they please. Because they must exhaust their Story Hand before drawing another, there is potential for players to abuse this freedom in order to waste bad cards on spurious checks while saving good cards for critical checks

A certain degree of this hand manipulation is expected and intended. However, a dedicated player could bring it to an annoying level. Don't be afraid to impose unpredictable checks on players to counteract this behavior if it becomes problematic to your storytelling. Or take the radical step of permanently disfiguring their character. It's your world, they're just living in it.

Story Magic

Magic in Fated Hand is intended to be much more random than in other TTRPGs and this is intended. and this should be partially reflected in the world. From a cultural standpoint in the world, magic should be seen as very inconsistent, but only certain kinds should be viewed as evil. Magical schools can exist but they should not be everywhere and there should be mysteries surrounding them.

Story Magic also refers to the players using story magic and when they are able to draw for more cards and whatnot. Feel free to be loose with these rules but try to be fair to your players.

You can announce that magic users can draw by simply saying "magic draw". You should do this whenever another npc makes a check either against the characters or in general, another PC makes a check, or a change in energy of the envirment occurs. Ex. The party is in a jolly tavern after saving the village. Suddenly, a cloaked figure bursts through the door and the tavern falls silent. "Story draw". In that example, something happened that changed the emotions and energy of the envirment that would allow spellcasters to sense changes in the tide of magic.

NPC Story Magic

NPCs should be expected to mostly just cast the magic that is needed to move the plot along. But, if needed, npcs do have their own system for knowing when they can cast spells and how many. In the spells table, there are numbers ranging from 1-100 next to the reagents for spells, this is the rough percent chance that someone would have to draw that spell. This is used more heavily in combat and will be used later but it is also important for story. If you need to know if an npc can cast a spell roll a d100 or 2d10 using 1 as 10s and 1 as 1s places. Since characters have better chances because they can manipulate their hand over time, roll this again and take the lower value. This is their "hand". From there, look at the spells they have available, if any of the spells chances are above that value, the npc can cast it. Once they cast it, double whatever number you rolled. If there are still spell chances above what your number is, you may cast again. Repeat this cast and doubling process until the npc is done casting or no longer has spells it can cast. More on this in the combat magic section.

Running Combat

Creating an Encounter

Choosing Enemies

Choosing enemies is one of the most important decisions when creating an encounter. The types of enemies should make sense to the world and situation the players are in. When choosing enemies, consider what your team composition is. In general, magic users do not have direct kill power but can manipulate the battlefield to their whim. Martials usually have less movement but can one hit many opponents if they play their cards right. Most parties will be a combination of these so consider who will be attacking first and what the enemies' abilities are in relation to the party. For example, an enemy that has a lot of movement but low defense will be deadly to a caster but not to a martial. Also, feel free to customize monsters to your party. If combat begins and you realize one stat is too high/low, nerf/buff it right there and the players do not need to know.

Placing Enemies

Since Fated Hand is a strategic game, initial placement of enemies and players are key. In general, enemies starting farther away give players a better chance of survival. Enemies starting surrounding the party is asking for a TPK. Unless you plan on surprising the players with a combat, feel free to let the players start the battle on their own terms. Let the players position themselves around the bank before they break in to rob the vault.

Planning Phase

The planning phase is where the brunt of the GM's work is in combat. Once you say that combat begins and the players begin to draw cards and plan their turns. You have work to do.

Battles are easiest to administrate using something like a white board or other erasible media. For every NPC, write their name and base Stats in a row on your whiteboard. During the Planning Phase of each turn (when the players are drawing their cards and thinking about stances), roll 3d12 for each NPCs card Stats this turn. Use the table below for the Strike and Defense values given by a d12. The face value of the die is used when applied to Speed. You may write the values on your whiteboard, or simply keep the dice themselves as a record (this is why we advise having many dice).

Tip: Pre-Roll Values

To speed up the planning phase of combat, preroll 20 or so values and then calculate the bonuses these would give. When combat comes, Refer to this chart in order for each enemy instead of rolling. You can also preroll npc magic if you feel it is necessary.

Initiative

The Game Manual should already have adequately explained the flow of combat. You will be in charge of counting down the Initiative. Start from a high value, but if you accidentally start too low, below someone's Speed, there won't be significant problem. Since you are in charge of both counting and declaring when NPCs will take their turn, the players will most likely call out before you do if they have equal Speed. This is intended.

Story Checks in Combat

Sometimes in combat, a player will want to make a story check. Perhaps to intimidate the foe or to make a knowledge check to learn about a beast. For them to do this, have them draw 2 story cards and then choose from those making the check. Then discard the other card. Use the standard system for setting the difficulty.

Stealth

Stealth checks during combat are only possible by rogues and assassins. These classes have their own system for manage when they are able to becoe hidden, you should be familiar with these mechanics but you do not need to actually decide anything for the players.

If a character who is not a part of these classes wants to make a stealth check during combat, you should be extremely cautious to grant it. You may use the normal difficulty rating system for this check, but you should make your players aware that the only mechanical benefit they get is not being noticed for a brief period of time. This should also only occur where another class would actually make sense to be able to hide during combat. Ex. A crowded fair is happening and a scuffle breaks out involving the players as a ring forms around the fray. Stealth would only be allowed if the player is attempting to hide within the crowd (Not within the cleared area). Also feel free to set limits on what this stealth check means, for example, the GM may specify that this stealth check will only allow a player to remain hidden when they are in the crowd from the previous example. These rules are in place to let the rogue/assassin character feel cool and effective, while also removing the tension between GM and PC Rogue by allowing the GM to take a more hands-off approach.

NPC Combat

NPCs take their turn based on their speed and when you announce they do in the countdown. If you think they wold wait until something happens, then they do. On their turn, they can perform all of the normal character actions. Most npcs will have many less perks and techs available to them to make sure you can keep your sanity.

NPC Combat Magic

Magical enemies are some of the most fun but complicated creatures to have in ttrpgs so we have attemped to make them easy to manage as a game master. Each magical creature in combat should have a list of spells it has access to and next to that there should be a number from 1-100. That is the chance it has that spell available that round. During the planning phase, roll a d100 or 2d10 using 1 as 10s and 1 as 1s. This number acts a the creature's alt hand. If any spells are above that then they can cast it. When the creature takes it's turn, it can cast. When the creature casts, it doubles this alt hand, if it still is below any spells, it can continue. You can continue this process of casting and doubling until the number gets too big or the creature decides to stop.

Ex. An enemy magician rolls an 8 during the planning phase. On the magicians turn it casts Ka-Pow (Ka-Pow has a chance of 12). This doubles the alt hand to 16 and then decides to cast Phase Walk (Chance of 35). This doubles it to 36 and then casts Flashbolt (Chance of 75). That doubles the alt hand to 72 and the magician decides to stop casting.

Some magic users are better than others and should have a better chance to cast. This is represented by having a base subtraction from their alt hand. Such as a supreme lord having a base -25 to their alt hand. If this causes the alt hand to become negative, it stops at 1. If you feel that your magician is casting too much, simply stop them from casting, the players don't know what they rolled. On the other hand, if you feel you magician hasn't cast in 2 turns, perhaps give them that minus 20 as if they had manipulated their alt hand.

Retreating

Combats in Fated Hand are risky and dangerous. This means that it may not be in the party's best interest to fight all the time. Retreating is allowed and encouraged. If half or over half the party can go two rounds without being attacked, the whole party retreats. You are responsible for coming up with an in game reason that anyone left behind can make it back to the party. This reason should be serious and illustrate how dangerous the combat is. Perhaps the guards heard a call to go stop another crime. Just because the party retreats does not mean they are home free and there is no danger. Retreating should have in universe consequences that change the overall narrative of the story. Perhaps those same guards now assume the party is associated with the other crime and there is a larger bounty on their heads.

NPC Stat Blocks