At long last, Strands of Power has been released!
You can get it now at the following locations!
Free PDF! We will be extending the same offer for a free PDF of Strands of Power that we extended forStrands of Fate. If you order a hardcover printed copy, you can get the PDF for free.
The latest, and last, version of the Strands of Power playtest doc has been released to playtesters.
Sometime very soon, maybe next week, we will do a beta release that will be available to a larger audience. If you want to be a beta tester, please send an email to strands*of*powerbeta@gmail.com.(Remove the asterisks: "*".)
I'm not sure how many beta testers we'll accept just yet, but it'll be on a first come, first served basis. So get your email in quick.
To be clear, much of the reason for the beta is to catch typos, math errors, etc. You don't need to be playing in a game right now to give helpful feedback for the beta.
Also, several of the emails I've received thus far have been of the "please pick me" variety, some of which go into details about why they'd be a good tester. I just want to say that it's really not necessary. All I need from you at this point is an email address, and the best way for me to get that is for you to send an email to the above address. Feel free to say whatever you want in it, but what you say will have no bearing on whether or not you are selected.
It'll literally be the first X number of people, whatever that X turns out to be.
But if you need a topic for something to write in the email, I'd love to know how you heard about Strands.
The beta test has gone live. If you applied, check your email. Also remember to check your spam folder if you don't see anything.
We are no longer accepting applicants.
You might have noticed that the cover art for Strands of Power has now appeared on the right side of the site.
Click on it!
We're working like elves on meth trying to get Strands of Power ready by Christmas. Barring any unforseen delays, right now it looks like we are on track for an early December launch.
Also, I wanted to mention that when it comes to "unofficial" posts that don't really belong on this site, I find that I tend to use G+ more than Twitter of late.
So if you're interested in my tangential thoughts and the occasional spray of mind vomit, toss me in one of your circles.
Since Strands of Fate was released, I've tried my best to personally answer as many questions as possible. And after hundreds of threads on our official forums, dozens and dozens on RPG.net (not counting 3 "mega-threads"!) I found myself repeating the same bits on more than one occasion.
So, a while back I asked my playtesters for Strands of Power to post links to any advice I had posted that they found particularly useful/insightful. And, as usual, my buddy Tonpa came through the hero.
The list he posted was a really good one, so good that I thought it might be worth sharing here:
On tripping person with Fiery Whip
On limitation vs weakness clarification
Yard Stick for damage
Power Item Potency Calculations (Errata)
Question about maneuvers and tactical combat
On multiple attacks
On Fire part 1
Soft vs Hard Cover
On Aspected Items Part I
Aspects I and Aspect II
Mid session refresh
On chases
Power Items II
Again with aspects
ENVIRONMENT STRESS!!!!!!!
How to manage player creation when the stronger the magic he can wield, the lesser the TL he can use
High Teck low Magic
Lot of small things about power difficulty
On physical conflict being the most common one
Power Items (again)
Maneuver as supplement action
Infamous style invoke with lightning
Equipment cost
Plot protection
Fiddly bits
Money (note the question is few post above)
Organizations
Everything Stacks
Lightsabers
Make it more deadly
Force, Dark Side Edge, Non-jedi refresh and Modelling the different refresh for jedi vs non-jedi(Here few bonus ones that are not yours that should be remembered on vehicles and Reverse unit rule that should be included)
Every now and then I like to remind folks that if they order the hardcover copy of Strands of Fate, you get the PDF for free.
I also thought I'd take a moment to mention the current state of Strands of Power. To tell the honest truth (barring a couple more editting passes, art and layout finalization) Strands of Power could pretty much be released in its current state. But, we still have some work to do, and while I wait on art and layout we'll be adding more material to insure that instead of getting a good book, you'll be getting a great book.
I don't want to commit to a release date just yet, but we're still on track for release this year.
As of today, playtesting for Strands of Power is closed.
I'll post an announcement the next time playtesting for any of our products opens back up.
Just wanted to give a quick update on Strands of Power.
The book is nearly content complete, but due to several issues I won't bother to get into, it's going to miss the August release I was hoping for. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though, as I'd like to get in some more playtesting anyway.
I'm not going to set a new release date just yet, but we should have no trouble making it by the end of the year.
Similar to what I did with D&D4e here, I spent a little time toying with a system for providing players with a bit of narrative control in new or old World of Darkness games.
The "Character Traits" sit on top of the existing system and function a bit like Aspects do in FATE, but do so without adding a new pool of points to manage.
So if you like World of Darkness games, check this out and tell me what you think.
I'm looking forward to giving these a test drive with the 20th Anniversary release of Vampire: the Masquerade.
Mike
Some time ago I began to notice a trend in how Strands of Fate characters were being created. At the higher Power Levels, players generally skipped over the Expert Advantages in favor of the (admittedly cooler) Heroic and Power Advantages.
The Expert Advantages were designed to (when coupled with Abilities and Specialty Aspects) help define what your character's "skills" are. So by ignoring the Expert Advantages, you end up with characters who are not as well defined as they otherwise could be.
So, after thinking about this for a while it occured to me that the best solution would be to give out a few Expert Advantages to every character for free. And to balance this, the character's Refresh is reduced a bit. I made a few other minor tweaks as well and eventually ended up with the alternate CamPL table found below.
The feedback I've received since releasing this to playtesters and on our messageboard has been really positive. So feel free to use it or ignore it as you please.
Notes:
1. The numbers in parenthesis are the maximum starting value a character can have in a single Ability or Power.
2. You can use Advantage Points to purchase more Expert Advantages if you wish.
3. You still have to start at the appropriate Super Hero CamPL to purchase Super Powers.
4. Why do Super Heroes not get more Ability ranks? This is a bit of a genre convention. Strip the Power from pretty much any Super Hero and what you are left with is an Action Hero (at best). For Super Heroes who are best modelled with high Abilitiy ratings (Batman, Captain America, etc.) you should use your APs to purchase the Experienced Heroic Advantage. Then spend the resulting XPs on upgrading your Abilities.
As I announced on Twitter, Strands of Power is far enough along now that I took some time today to compile the various playtest docs into a semblance of a single product. There is still a lot to be done, but the compiled playtest docs are, at this time, 265 pages.
It currently includes:
Likely the final product will be between 300-350 pages. Still shooting to release in August, but I'm not willing to bet my life on it.
Andrew McMenemy has taken the time to write up a very thorough review of Strands of Fate over on RPG.net. It's one of the most detailed and perceptive that I've seen. Check it out!
Some folks have asked for a more substantial preview of Strands of Fate. How about a 113 page preview?
I recently received the following comment on a previous post and I felt it was worth addressing more openly:
So will more Strands of Fate products only be available on the Untold site? They have Aspect cards... is Strands of Fate and Untold merging or something?
Sorry, I am confused by what I'm reading. I really want to get my hands on the Strands of Fate Companion and the Strands of Power product I've read about in a few places. Let me know where I can go to get these. I got my copy of Strands of Power from RPGNow.com. Can I get more products from there? Some day I'd like to purchase a real copy of my Strands of Fate... just to make thumbing through to find things easier or for a copy to pass around. Plus they look awesome.
Let me know where and how to get your further products. Oh, and when, heard July in one post. Thanks in advance for any information you can give me.
- Modern Fairy Tale
Not too long ago, Wandering Men (creators of Untold) became Ignitus Innovation. During that time we did a contract re-negotiation and a bit of restructuring. Our relationship has changed somewhat since the initial press release, with Ignitus now filling the role of a potential contractor for Void Star and Void Star once again becoming a wholly independent entity under my sole direction.
What does that mean to Void Star's customers? Not much really. A Strands of Fate material will be coming directly from Void Star for the foreseeable future, via the same channels we presently use.
That said, it's a pleasure to know and work with the guys at Ignitus, and don't be surprised to see some cross-pollination of our writing credits in the future.
Future Releases
Strands of Power is currently in development and playtesting. It will focus on expanding the Advantages already present in SoF, while adding a few new ones. In addition, we've been expiramenting with something we are calling Power Packages and Power Paths that provide you with pre-build character concepts and a detailed advancement path. These are very useful when someone knows the sort of character they want to play, but isn't comfortable enough with the system (or just doesn't have time) to pick and choose the individual character traits (Affinity Abilities, Advantages, Specialty Aspects, etc.) needed to effectivly build the character.
For example, if a character wants to build a wizard, he can either pick the Advantages he wants, or he can purchase the Wizard Power Package. For a set price, he gets a bundle of Advantages, Aspects, Weaknesses, etc. And as he gains experience he can either purchase what he wants whenever he wants, or he can put XPs into the Path of Wizardry which unlock new benefits as more XPs are put into it.
Whether you build the character by picking and choosing what you want, or by picking a Power Package and Path (or by doing a bit of both) the end results are the same.
"The Companion" has not officially gone into development yet. In fact, we're not even sure what the name is going to be. What I can tell you at this point is that we're looking to use this book to expand on the parts of Strands of Fate that we don't cover in Strands of Power.
It's looking like "The Companion" will also contain an assortment of new ways to tweak and twist Strands of Fate to your liking. This includes sections that provide guidelines for making Strands work a little more like traditional FATE games (like Spirit of the Century or Starblazer Adventures) but also a lot of new ideas that push Strands further away from its roots; in some cases a lot farther. We've been playing with alternate core resolution mechanics, Skills instead of Abilities, using neither Abilities or Skills, playing on a battle mat, all sorts of stuff.
Strands was developed to be a massive toolkit. "The Companion" is going to be a whole new bag of tools to suppliment it.
Writers Wanted, Apply Within
Barring a few wonderful additons from our playtesters, the bulk of the writing, design, layout, marketting, management, etc has been on my shoulders. I'm looking to change that.
If you are one of those guys who thinks "Strands is almost exactly what I want except..." now's your chance. Except what? Think Strands needs to expand on some topic it hasn't touched on yet? I want to know about it. Want to develop your ideas into something official? Write me and tell me about it.
Do you think you've got the creativity and drive to make a mark in the freelancing game design world? Let's find out.
In the near future Void Star will begin handing out paying gigs to writers who want to be a part of Strands of Fate. So if you've got something you want to write for Void Star, shoot me an email and tell me about it.
-Mike
Some folks prefer more specific "Skills" over the more general "Abilities" found in Strands of Fate. If you are one such person, you can swap out Abilities for Skills with a few simple adjustments:
Replace Abilities with Skills
You're going to need to come up with a Skills list to fit your game, then figure out how to distribute ranks in them. You can easily use the Skills from any other FATE game and distribute them in the same way that game does it.
Remove Specialty Aspects
The primary function of Specialty Aspects is to explain the specific things your character is good or bad at. They are one part of the Abilities + Advantages + Specialty Aspects formula that combine to define the character. But if you aren't using Abilities, Specialty Aspects are largely unnecessary. Skills fill the role of both Abilities and Specialty Aspects in most cases.
Reduce The Refresh for your CamPL by 1
Strands tends to have a higher Refresh value than most other FATE games, and this is to help you invoke your Specialty Aspects. So when you remove Specialty Aspects, you can reduce your overall Refresh a bit.
Add Three More Character Aspects
Extend the Aspect Alphabet (if you are using it) for Character Aspects to cover A-D as normal plus "Enemies", "Friends" & "Gear".
I personally like Abilities just fine, as I feel the Specialty Aspects result in more interesting characters than the static numbers provided by Skills since they can be invoked for effect and compelled. But for the folks prefer Skills, there you go.
This is something we are likely going to explore in more depth in the next book after Strands of Power. The "Strands of Fate Companion" (as it is currently called) will feature all sorts of tweaks to the system like this.
This is something I've been rattling around in my head for a while now.
I'd been wanting a way to add something like FATE's Aspects to D&D, but FATE's Refresh mechanic doesn't really work well when your game sessions could swing wildly between no combat to entire game sessions devoted to a single combat encounter.
However, a week or so ago I stumbled upon a potential solution. And surprisingly, the solution came by ditching Fate Points.
The end result is a mechanic that promotes some measure of narrative control in D&D, but doesn't go as far with it as FATE. It's still D&D. And as such, I changed around some of the FATE-centric terminology so as not to confuse folks who play both.
And to be clear, you don't have to know anything about FATE to use these rules in your D&D game.
You can download the current draft here.
Note that while this was written for D&D4e, it is easily usable in Gamma World, 3.X/Pathfinder, Star Wars, or even older versions of D&D.
Potential Issues:
Humans are the "base-line" race. That being the case, their Racial Heroic Trait is rather lackluster. Should humans get something special to make up for this? If so, what?
What do you think? Comments welcome!
Stuffer Shack is starting a new series of articles that focuses on the FATE game system, with particular emphasis on Strands of Fate. And the primary purpose is to act as a guide for newcomers to FATE.
So if you're just wading into the FATE pool, or you're a would-be FATE GM looking for a good way to sell your players on the system, do yourself a favor and check this series out.
And who knows, you may even see a thing or two written by me pop up eventually.
One of the things I've seen people asking about is a way to allow their wizard-like character to be able to perform all lot of little trivial spells (aka. "Cantrips"). Strands of Fate didn't really offer a very efficient way of doing this. You had to buy a lot of different Powers and this got expensive really fast. So, with that in mind, I developed a new Power called Power Tricks for the upcoming Strands of Power.
And since I feel like this was something that should have been included in Strands of Fate from the beginning, I've decided to give this one to you early.
Power Tricks
Base AP Cost: 1
Activation: None or Fate Point
Activation Time: Simple Action
Requires a Power Source and Affinity Ability
You have the capacity to perform a number of simple tricks through the subtle manipulation of your Power Source. These tricks, while limited in their usefulness, allow your character to use his supernatural talents to entertain and impress others, or perform simple mundane tasks.
While your character is not limited to a set number of tricks, a trick must make sense in the context of your Power Source and the general theme of your other Powers. For example, a powerful shapeshifter may be able to temporarily change his hair color, but he probably shouldn’t be able to make sparks dance between his fingers.
Below you will find a list of examples of the types of tricks your character can perform.
Generally a trick should not be significant enough to harm a person or affect a dice roll. However, by expending a Fate Point, the GM may allow you to perform more useful tricks or to roll your Affinity Ability to perform a Maneuver. Examples of these more powerful tricks and Maneuvers include:
Modifiers
+0 (Strenuous): It requires some effort on your part to perform the more powerful tricks, or Maneuvers with this Power. Instead of spending a Fate Point, as a simple action, you roll your Affinity against an activation difficulty of 4.
+1 (Adept Trickster): If you generate Spin on an attempt to perform a Maneuver with this Power, you may decide to either make the Aspect persistent, or make it sticky. These sticky Aspects last the duration of the Scene, or until the victim performs some action to remove them.
+1 (Master Trickster): You do not need to spend a Fate Point to activate this Power when using the more powerful tricks as described above, or performing Maneuvers.
I really enjoyed the recent post about Strands of Fate on Stuffer Shack. Check it out!
Just a reminder.
If you order Strands of Fate in hardcover, you get the PDF for free!
Official website of Void Star Studios, publishers of Strands of Fate and Nova Praxis.
MIMIR Virtual Game MAster App
Strands of Fate 2nd Edition
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Nova Praxis: Savage Worlds Edition [SW]
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Nova Praxis [FATE]
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Strands of Fate [A FATE Core Rulebook]
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Strands of Power {SoF Supplement]
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