Part-Time Gods Of Fate

213 Pages·2015·67.43 MB·English

by  Phil Vecchione, Chris Sniezak

PART-TIME GODS of FATE
ISBN: 978-0-9905318-7-6 (Softcover)
ISBN: 978-0-9905318-8-3 (Hardcover)
Written By
Phil Vecchione and Chris Sniezak
Designed and Developed by
Phil Vecchione, Chris Sniezak, Shawn Merwin, and Robert M. Everson
Edited By
Robert M. Everson and Shawn Merwin
Layout Design
Eloy Lasanta
Based On the Setting
Part-Time Gods by Eloy Lasanta and Third Eye Games
Special Thanks
˜ The Encoded Designs team would like to thank Eloy for taking a chance on us and
letting us convert his fantastic game.
˜ Phil would like to thank his wife Florence, whose support and encouragement led to the
formation of Encoded Designs.
˜ Bob would like to thank the rest of the Encoded Designs team for letting him play in
their sandbox.
˜ Chris says, “Thanks, Jen, for being the goddess of awesome as you deal with my terrible
artistic tendencies.”
˜ Shawn would like to thank his two goddesses of chaos, Beth and Rory, for their constant
support, and the Encoded Designs team for the hours of fun and challenge.
Legal Stuff
Part-Time Gods of Fate is copyright © 2015 by Third Eye Games, all rights reserved.
Fate™ is a trademark of Evil Hat Productions, LLC. The Powered by Fate logo is © Evil Hat Productions,
LLC and is used with permission.
This work is based on the Fate Core System and Fate Accelerated Edition (found at http://www.fater-
pg.com/), products of Evil Hat Productions, LLC, developed, authored, and edited by Leonard Balsera, Brian
Engard, Jeremy Keller, Ryan Macklin, Mike Olson, Clark Valentine, Amanda Valentine, Fred Hicks, and Rob
Donoghue, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
This work is based on the Fate System Toolkit (found at http://www.faterpg.com/), a product of Evil Hat
Productions, LLC, developed, authored, and edited by Robert Donoghue, Brian Engard, Brennan Taylor, Mike
Olson, Mark Diaz Truman, Fred Hicks, and Matthew Gandy, and licensed for our use under the Creative Com-
mons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
This work uses Fate rules and material from Achtung! Cthulhu: Fate Keepers's Guide to the Secret War
designed by Ryan Macklin, published by Modiphius Entertainment Ltd., and is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en_US).
The Fate Core font is © Evil Hat Productions, LLC and is used with permission. The Four Actions icons
were designed by Jeremy Keller.
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INTRODUCTION
SETTING SUMMARY
People think they know what lurks in the darkest corners of the earth. In
truth, humans can do little but guess at what really makes the universe tick. The
world works on a balance between order and chaos, between life and death, be-
tween divinity and mortality. This is where the gods come into play
Legends talk of the beginning of time, when gods and an entity known only
as “the Source” waged a war for control of the earth. When the gods won, the
Source was locked away. Using the Source’s power, the gods ruled for eons, each
controlling their own piece of creation, called Dominions. Using the power of
their divine Sparks, they waged centuries-long wars on each other for domains,
ancient Relics storing remnants of the Source’s magic, and worshippers to feed
their never-ending lust for power.
This led to the God Wars. The gods schemed and plotted, fought, and even
died at each other’s hands. Worse yet, the Source, forever thrashing in its prison,
sent its energy out into the universe, creating monsters called Outsiders. The
Source ordered its children to destroy the gods and unshackle its eternal bonds.
Soon the gods discovered the energy they had stolen from the Source was a
finite resource. Gods perished but none could be created from the divine Spark.
The Source went into a slumber, but the gods continued on only by passing their
power from god to human through the ages. The Source’s magic leaked out oc-
casionally during moments of creation, bringing into the universe more Domin-
ions, or more complex ones. In the Dark Ages, the newly created gods were
patrons of the first blacksmiths and ironworkers, but today gods of the Internet
or telecommunications are gifted (or cursed) with divine Spark.
Today, the Source is trying to escape its prison once again. The Coming
Storm has begun. A new surge of magic is leaking through, bringing horrible
monsters and fantastic creatures into existence. This magic also imbues unsus-
pecting mortals with the divine Spark of the gods. If the Source’s minions aren’t
beaten back, the world as we know it may cease to be. With this newfound re-
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sponsibility, these new gods--part mortal and part divine--are found and trained
by the millennia-old Theologies. These part-time gods must learn how to hone
their gift, and more importantly, how to meld their divine and mortal lives into
one existence. Without holding on to one’s humanity, there is truly nothing left
to defend against the Source’s minions.
WHAT’S THIS GAME ABOUT
At Encoded Designs, we strive to make the games we create as playable as
possible for GMs and players alike. We feel GMs and players must understand
what a game is designed to do to optimize playability. That lets you choose to run
the game as designed, or deviate from that design intent with an understanding
of the underpinnings, so that you can make informed changes. The best tool
we’ve encountered for understanding a game comes from game designer Jared
Sorensen. Jared came up with three questions to explain a game. Those ques-
tions, and our answers, are below:
What is Your Game About?
Part-Time Gods of Fate is a game depicting the struggles between the hu-
man and divine natures of everyday people who have received a gift of divine
power. The game is about using your divine powers to protect the world--and
the people and places the characters care about within it--from various mun-
dane and supernatural threats.
How Does Your Game Do This?
The game is designed to create a duality between the human and divine
parts of characters by dividing their game-mechanical parts--aspects, skills, and
stunts, for example--between the characters’ human sides and their divine sides.
Drama is created through play, when the human sides of the characters come
into conflict with their divine sides. The Theologies, Bonds, worshippers, and
Pantheons are mechanical elements that provide the GM with hooks to engage
the characters and to drive tough decisions.
Characters use divine and human powers to interact with the setting and
fight the various enemies defined in the game. The territory-creation system
provides a tool for the group to define the issues threatening the peace of their
Pantheon and its territory.
How Does Your Game Encourage and Reward This?
Through the use of aspects and the fate point economy, characters receive
in-session rewards for following different dramatic paths. The territory sheet helps
prompt the characters to action as threats rise against their territory. The milestone
system provides rewards between sessions, giving incentives for completing the dra-
matic arcs established during territory creation, as well as those created during play.
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Who are the Characters?
The characters are mortals who have received the divine Spark and have
become part-time gods wielding power over their own Dominions. The charac-
ters are a combination of human aspects, skills, and stunts; along with the divine
aspects, manifestations, and entitlements of a divine being. Gods are tethered
by their Bonds, which give them a sense of humanity. All gods are commanding
beings, but they find themselves separated from each other by their individual
interpretations of their power. These ideas are heralded by secret societies called
Theologies. Below are the most powerful Theologies today:
˜ Ascendants: Gods who look to become as powerful as the old gods.
˜ Cult of the Saints: Gods who believe themselves to be messengers
from heaven, since they hear voices.
˜ Drifting Kingdoms: Nomadic gods who build powerful domains,
simply to leave them behind to build the next.
˜ Masks of Jana: Gods who hide the existence of magic from the
world, hoping not to lose themselves in the process.
˜ Order of Meskhenet: Gods who look to the past for their power
and survive through ties to aristocratic families.
˜ Phoenix Society: Gods who guide humanity to greatness through
direct and intimate interaction.
˜ Puck-Eaters: Gods who draw power from chaos and ingest the flesh
of other beings.
˜ Warlock’s Fate: Gods who seek the answers to the universe but rely
too heavily on their Relics.
WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY
Part-Time Gods of Fate is a Powered by Fate game, and thus requires the
same components as any other Fate game:
˜ Fate Core System Rules or Fate SRD: The Part-Time Gods of
Fate (PTGoF) game is based on the Fate Core System. In order to play the
game, you need a familiarity with the Fate rules. You can get a PDF of the
Fate Core System at DriveThruRPG (http://goo.gl/N2HSSq). You can also
get an online version of the Fate rules at the Fate SRD site (http://fate-srd.
com/).
˜ Fate Dice: You need one or more sets of Fate dice for the game. Fate
dice can be found in your friendly local game stores or at the Evil Hat web-
site (http://www.evilhat.com/home/fate-dice/). If you do not have access to
Fate dice, see the sidebar on pg. 3 of the Fate Core System book for how to
use standard d6 in place of Fate dice.
˜ Tokens: You need something to use as tokens to represent fate points.
Glass beads, poker chips, or Fate coins will work.
˜ Index Cards: You need something to record aspects as they come up
in play. Index cards or Post-it Notes are frequently used. We recommend
making a set of laminated index cards so that you can reuse cards during play.
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FATE CONVENTIONS
If you have played Fate Core System games or other Fate games, Part-Time
Gods of Fate will be familiar to you, while having some new elements designed
to help emulate the world of the original Part-Time Gods.
What is the Same?
Here is a quick list of the major similarities:
˜ Aspects: It would not be a Fate Core System game without aspects.
Nothing has changed about aspects or how they are used.
˜ Skills, Stunts, Stress, and Consequences: These are still used in PT-
GoF. There are some new skills and stunts, but how they are used has not changed.
˜ Four Actions: Overcome, create advantage, defend, and attack are
still the four major actions.
˜ Contest, Challenge, and Conflict: These major dramatic rule struc-
tures remain the same and are used as described in the Fate Core System book.
What is Different?
A good Fate conversion is not without some unique mechanics to help the
Fate rules fit the world of Part-Time Gods. If you are familiar with the Fate Core
System, you will find some unique elements in Part-Time Gods of Fate.
˜ Territory Creation: We have included a process for creating your
Pantheon and territory before play begins. Those familiar with the Dres-
den Files Roleplaying Game will find some similarities.
˜ Character Aspects: Characters still have aspects, but rather than
using the “phase trio” of Fate, aspects were restructured to represent the
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duality of the human and divine sides of characters.
˜ Manifestations: These are divine skills. These skills have a super-
natural feel, and they are the skills that gods and Outsiders use to create
supernatural effects.
˜ Entitlements: Entitlements are divine stunts. Mechanically they are
stunts, but they have a supernatural feel.
˜ Relics and Worshippers: These are divine extras that gods can take
to expand their powers.
˜ Bonds: To represent the parts of characters’ lives that keep them
grounded and human, a Bond system is used, combining an aspect and a
new stress track to represent each Bond.
˜ Antagonist Fate Points: Supernatural creatures also have Spark,
which is represented by fate points. Antagonists use these to fuel their
abilities or invoke aspects.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
This book is split into twelve chapters, each adding its own information to the
game’s setting and system. This guide may help you navigate the book more easily.

˜ Chapter 1 - The Coming Storm: Discusses the history of the gods,
the Source, and Outsiders.
˜ Chapter 2 - Game Creation: Shows the process by which the GM
and players define where their gods live and the threats they face.
˜ Chapter 3 - Character Creation: Covers how players make their
part-time gods.
˜ Chapter 4 - Skills and Manifestations: Describes the human
skills and divine skills, also known as manifestations, which gods use to
interact with the world.
˜ Chapter 5 - Stunts and Entitlements: Describes the human
stunts and divine stunts, also known as entitlements, which make the gods
stand out from each other.
˜ Chapter 6 - Bonds: Describes how the gods retain a hold on their
humanity and how that hold can change or slip.
˜ Chapter 7 - Theologies: Describes the different secret societies a
character can belong to and the advantages and disadvantages each give.
˜ Chapter 8 - Divine Extras & Rules: Covers the rules for how di-
vine powers, magical Relics, and worshippers work.
˜ Chapter 9 - Gear: Supplies the rules for how mundane equipment
and weapons work.
˜ Chapter 10 - GMing Advice: Offers tips for GMs on how to run
the game, how to handle specific situations, and how to get the most out
of their sessions.
˜ Chapter 11 - Milestones: Presents rules covering how the charac-
ters can change during the course of a campaign.
˜ Chapter 12 - Antagonists: Provides NPCs, from normal humans to
mythical creatures, to be used in adventures.
Now turn the page and begin your divine chronicle...
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 3
The Coming Storm 10
Game Creation 33
Character Creation 40
Skills and Manifestations 45
Stunts and Entitlements 69
Bonds 81
Theologies 87
Divine Extras & Rules 120
Gear 138
GMing Advice 141
Milestones 165
Antagonists 170
Glossary 205
Index 206
Kickstarter Backers 208
Character Sheet 210
Territory Creation Sheet 212
CHAPTER ONE:
THE COMING STORM
One might look at today’s world, with all its beauty and hope for the fu-
ture, and wonder how anyone could deny the existence of the gods. Another may
watch the world, with all its corruption and dying sense of wonder, and question
why anyone would believe gods existed. Both viewpoints are equally valid based
on who is asked, but just because one cannot see the gods doesn’t mean they do
not still walk the earth. In fact, gods today live a distinctively typical life.
Old myths tell tales of powerful beings living in far-away lands or com-
pletely different worlds. They watched over humans, either to lord over them,
help them along in their everyday lives, or toy with their relationships for sheer
pleasure. When a god made its presence known in the area, every human in-
stinctually felt it and made quick sacrifices to gain the god’s favor (or more
accurately to avoid its eventual wrath). An angered god would call terrifying
natural disasters or fabled monsters to destroy entire cities. Happy gods, even
as their followers basked in their generosity, were always on the edge of being
angered at the slightest offense. Gods reflected the best and worst aspects of
what it was to be human.
These myths were once true but are not so much anymore. While it is ru-
mored the old gods still live in hiding, what it is to be a god has changed. Di-
vine beings no longer have to be born from divine blood, carry around magical
Relics that imbue them with power, or survive wholly on the blood sacrifices of
their worshippers. No, modern gods live beside humanity--because these gods
once were humans themselves. They live in human cities rather than long-lost
dimensions, and they work the same jobs in order to pay their bills and live some
semblance of a normal life. Divine responsibility doesn’t pay the rent, after all.
So where did it all change? How did the gods turn from mighty beings ca-
pable of destroying worlds into that derelict sitting next to you on the subway
or the unhappy temp answering your technical support calls? How did they go
from commanding hundreds of thousands of worshippers to supplicating only
a handful of followers in backrooms? Why did the gods go into hiding?
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