Consequences

Stress is a transitory thing, but sometimes conflicts will have lasting consequences – injuries, embarrassments, phobias and the like. These are collectively called consequences, and they are a special kind of aspect. Any time a character takes stress, he may opt not to check off a box and instead take a consequence. If the character takes a hit which he doesn’t have a box for, either because it’s higher than the number of boxes on his stress track, or because it rolls up past his last box, the character may take a consequence.

The exact nature of the consequence should depend upon the conflict – an injury might be appropriate for a physical struggle, an emotional state might be apt for a social one. Whatever the consequence, it is written down on the character sheet. Normally, the person taking the consequence gets to describe what it is, so long as it’s compatible with the nature of the attack that inflicted the harm. The GM acts as an arbitrator on the appropriateness of a consequence, so there may be some back and forth conversation before a consequence is settled on. The GM is the final authority on whether a player’s suggested consequence is reasonable for the circumstances and severity.

Barring stunts which allow more, characters may only carry three consequences at a time, one each Minor, Major, and Severe. Each one can absorb a different amount of Stress and the more stress it absorbs the more dangerous the wording. Bruised and Battered (Minor -2) becomes Flesh Wound (Moderate -4) becomes Bleeding to Death (Severe -6). The highest consequence is an Extreme Consequence which is talked about more fully below.

But here’s the thing about consequences being a special kind of aspect: As long as the consequences are on the character’s sheet, they may be compelled or invoked like any other aspect. This also means that opponents may start tagging those aspects pretty easily, since it’s no secret that the consequence aspects are now on the character’s sheet!

When a new consequence is brought into play, the person that caused that consequence gains a free invoke of that consequence.

An extreme consequence is considered a life-changing event and can absorb 8 points of stress. If the character takes an extreme consequence it also requires them to change one of their aspects (except their High Concept) to reflect the change and they cannot change this aspect as long as the extreme consequence is not healed.

If a character takes a hit and they cannot or reduce it to 0 stress or less, that character is taken out. The character has decisively lost the conflict, and unlike the other levels of consequence, his fate is in the hands of his opponent, who may decide how the character loses. The outcome must remain within the realm of reason – very few people truly die from shame, so having someone die as a result of a duel of wits is unlikely, but having them embarrass themselves and flee in disgrace is not unreasonable.

The option to determine how a character loses is a very powerful ability, but there are a few limits on it.

First, the effect is limited to the character who has been taken out. The victor may declare that the loser has made an ass of himself in front of the king, but he cannot decide how the king will respond (or even if the king was particularly bothered).

Second, the manner of the taken out result must be limited to the scope of the conflict. After the victor wins a debate with someone, he cannot decide that the loser concedes his point and the loser gives him all the money in his pockets – money was never part of the conflict, so it’s not an appropriate part of the resolution.

Third, the effect must be reasonable for the target. People do not (normally) explode when killed, so that cannot be a part of taking someone out. Similarly, a diplomat at the negotiating table is not going to give the victor the keys to the kingdom – that’s probably beyond the scope of his authority, and even if it’s not, it’s unlikely something he would give away under any circumstances. What he will do is make a deal that is very much in the victor’s favor and possibly even thank him for it.

When a character has been taken out during a conflict they can “cash out” of that conflict. For each consequence they took during the conflict they get 1 Fate Point. In addition, simply being taken out of a scene grants the player 1 Fate Point.

Before the dice are thrown, a character can offer a concession and take themselves out of a scene. A concession is essentially equivalent to surrendering, and is the can often be the best way to end a fight before someone is taken out.

The concession is an offer of the terms under which the character is taken out. If the concession is accepted, the conceding character is immediately taken out, but rather than letting the victor determine the manner of his defeat, he is defeated according to the terms of his concession.

Many conflicts end with a concession when one party or the other simply does not want to risk taking higher consequences as a result of the conflict, or when neither party wants to risk a taken out result that might come at too high a price.

In addition to the Fate Point gained for being taken out of a scene, the player gets one Fate Point for each consequence they gained during that conflict.

Consequences will fade with time – characters heal, rumors die down, and distance brings perspective. How long this takes depends upon the severity of the consequence, which in turn depends upon how it was received.

In order to begin the recovery process you must success at an overcome action. The difficulty is based upon the value of the consequence. A Mild consequence is Fair(+2), a Moderate if Great(+4) and a severe is Fantastic(+6). This method is not used for an Extreme Consequence because that is a story-driven change to your character.

Keep in mind that the circumstances have to be appropriately free of distraction and tension for someone to make this roll in the first place - you're not going to clean and bandage a nasty cut while ogres are tromping through the caves looking for you. GMs, you’ve got the final judgment call.

If you succeed at the recovery action, or someone else succeeds on a recovery action for you, you get to rename the consequence aspect to show that it’s in recovery. So, for example, Broken Leg could become Stuck in a Cast, Scandalized could become Damage Control, and so on. This doesn’t free up the consequence slot, but it serves as an indicator that you’re recovering, and it changes the way the aspect’s going to be used while it remains.

Once recover has begun then, you just have to wait the time. For a mild consequence, you only have to wait one whole scene after the recovery action, and then you can remove the aspect and clear the slot. For a moderate, you have to wait one whole session after the recovery action (which means if you do the recovery action in the middle of a session, you should recover sometime in the middle of next session). For a severe, you have to wait one whole scenario after the recovery action.

• Winded
• Tripped Up
• Momentarily Dazed
• Shaken Up
• Disorientated
• Bruised and Battered
• Winged by a Lucky Shot
• Shocked
• Speechless
• Taken Aback

• Punch Drunk
• Stunned
• Bleeding
• Can’t See
• Deafened
• Concussed
• Flesh Wound
• Sprain
• Painful Burns
• Traumatised
• Embarrassed

• Broken Leg
• Broken Arm
• Bleeding to Death
• Collapsed Lungs
• Third-Degree Burns
• Mental Breakdown
• Humiliated
• Ostracised
• Hamstring injury

• Guts Hanging Out
• Nerve Damage
• Leg Off
• Throat Cut
• Skull Caved In
• Lungs Punctured
• Cut in Half
• Insane
• I Can Never Show My
• Face Again
• Exiled