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Is the process of research and development integral to your Fate game? Then this might be the subsystem for you. These rules are flexible enough to cover a range of variations, including uncovering scientific principles, restoring wrecked machinery, and performing alchemical studies.
Projects
A project is created like a character, but representing an abstracted problem, such as "Discovering the Location of the Temple" or "Repairing the Mark 2". Projects have at least two aspects, a sticking point (the most difficult part to deal with) and a weak point (a way to make good ground).
| Preparing a Grand Feast
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Great [+4] Difficulty
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| There's a lot of work that goes into such a mighty meal.
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| Progress Track:
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| Aspects
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Enormous Quantities
Simple Recipes
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A project's stress track is a progress track, with each successful attempt against the project causing progress. If a skill or approach beats the project's difficulty, progress is made. When a project cannot mark off progress, it is considered complete. Unlike stress, progress is retained from scene to scene, allowing characters tackling the project to come back to it later, after a break or a different adventure.
The player characters are Preparing a Grand Feast as part of their role as twee, sword-wielding woodland creatures. The project is of Great [+4] difficulty, with a progress track of 2. Archbishop Bramble, an industrious vole, rolls to overcome with his skill of Good [+3] Leadership to direct the kitchen staff. He rolls    to give him a total of +4, besting the project's difficulty. One progress box is checked off, and the preparations are halfway done. Lady Willowbranch, a squirrel, uses her skill of Fair [+2] Cooking to lend a hand but rolls . This wouldn't succeed, but by spending a fate point to invoke the project's aspect of Simple Recipes, she gets a +2 to her result and manages to pass. The preparations are complete, and now they can only hope that the sinister Baron Winterfang does not crash the proceedings.
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More difficult projects may fight back when tackled, inflicting stress in return. A mechanical project may cause physical stress from an industrial accident, a research project may cause mental stress due to burnout, but it will be the GM's choice. A project has three approaches called risks, which by default are Confusing, Demanding, and Hazardous. These represent how mentally taxing the project is, how physically draining it is, and how liable it is to cause bodily harm.
| Decoding the Enemy Cipher
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| If we can crack the code they're using, we'll finally be one step ahead of them.
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| Progress Track:
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| Aspects
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A Linguistic Nightmare
Familiar Patterns
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| Confusing
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Demanding
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Hazardous
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| Good [+3]
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Average [+1]
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Poor [-1]
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When a project has risks, you can forgo the difficulty as a static opposition and use the risks for defending rolls instead.
| The player characters are spies working against forces unknown, and Decoding the Enemy Cipher will help them understand just who and what they're dealing with. Agent 9 opts to tackle the problem head-on with her collection of codebooks from defunct agencies around the globe, rolling with a Good [+3] Careful approach. The project responds with its own Good [+3] Confusing, rolling and making a +4 against Agent 9's +1. This means Agent 9 takes 3 shifts of mental stress, and has to take a break to recover. Perhaps a different method will be required, if the spies are to make progress on this project.
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Both PCs and NPCs should be able to contribute to a project, allowing such actions as the PCs procuring a supercomputer or a lab team to work on the project while they are off elsewhere. Skills, stunts, and invoked aspects can be used to gain an edge, just like in any other conflict between characters.
A project's own stunts are ways that it can introduce new complications to the effort, reduce progress, or otherwise stall for time.
| Summoning Ritual
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| Reaching out through the infinite abyss is easy, bringing back the right thing is the tough part.
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| Progress Track:
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| Aspects
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Breaching the Unknown
Using the Appropriate Grimoire
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| Confusing
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Demanding
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Hazardous
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| Mediocre [+0]
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Average [+1]
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Fair [+2]
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| Stunts
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Arcane Backlash: If this project succeeds on a Hazardous defence, it can choose to deal 1 shift of damage to everyone involved.
Chaos Magics: If a progress box is checked, this project increases the rank of one of its risks by 1.
Fading Power: Once per session, if no progress has been made on this project, it clears one progress box.
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| The player characters are a group of wizards trying to dredge up an elemental from the lower planes to assist them in their quest. However, such an undertaking is fraught with danger. There are three major things that they should beware of when starting this project. First, the Arcane Backlash from the wild energies will hurt those involved, should they fail to progress. Second, the Chaos Magics inherent in the summoning ritual will make it more dangerous as they reach through the more distant realms where greater powers reside, with the risks steadily increasing. Third, the ritual's Fading Power means that if it is not maintained by at least one of their number, it will begin to collapse. It would be best if these wizards did their best to focus their powers and get the ritual done as safely and as quickly as possible!
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Resource requirements
Using the Supply and Demand subsystem, projects can be made to require resources in order to be completed. Any project that has a resource requirement must have those requirements met before progress can be made.
| In the distant retrofuture, the player characters are the crew of an independent trading vessel. In order to reach more distant stars, they've begun a project to upgrade their ship's hyperdrive. However such an endeavour is going to take significant resources. They will have to scour their current region for the right materials for the job. Only when they've attained the required amounts of Gravity Plating, Dark Matter, and Quantum Magnets can they actually begin work on the project. Getting a better hyperdrive will do a lot for the crew, so it makes sense that this project is very complex and demanding!
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Fields
To avoid having multiple knowledge skills cluttering up the game's skill list, you can opt to use fields instead. Fields are like approaches that stack on top of the skill rank a character possesses, showing their aptitude at certain areas.
Take any appropriate knowledge skill (such as Lore, Craft, Magic, etc.) in your game and designate around four fields for it. For instance, Magic could have the fields Alchemy, Enchanting, and Summoning. When players take ranks in the skill, they can choose to specialise in a field, giving them a bonus when using the knowledge skill when the field applies. This effectively works the same as a stunt that reads "When you use a skill for a specific purpose, take +2" but without taking up a stunt slot.
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