The Golden Rule

By Jeremy Price - 2021-03-06

What Is The Golden Rule?

Fiction precedes rules. There is a duality in Fate, as in many RPGs; 1. You witness, in your mind’s eye, a cast of characters taking actions and having dramatic experiences. This is the fiction. 2. You also witness, with your normal eyes, you and your friends rolling dice, adding numbers, and referring to rules like Create An Advantage or Fate Points. These are the rules. The Golden Rule is that the fiction precedes the rules, and it has a double meaning. It’s not just that the fiction has a higher priority, that when in doubt you’d go with what makes sense in the fiction over what the rules would normally require; in fact that’s the Silver Rule. The Golden Rule is that fiction precedes rules literally and chronologically. When you’re deciding what to do next, as a player and as a character, your initial consideration is what you want to accomplish in the fiction. Once you know what that is, you then look to the rules for how best to model it.

What’s The Alternative?

The alternative, which is the default for a great many players of Fate and other games, is to put the rules first. If the Golden Rule goes like this:

1. Imagine a cool moment you want to create
2. Picture like it’s happening on screen
3. Describe your vision to the table
4. Consult the rules to help model your moment

Then it’s opposite, the “rules first” style, is like this:

1. Consult the rules or your character sheet
2. Find a strategically advantageous option
3. Describe, mechanically, what kind of action or skill you’re using
4. Picture & describe how doing that would impact the fiction

Do I Have To Follow The Golden Rule?

No. You can play any game any way you want to. However, Fate was designed with the Golden Rule in mind. Symptoms of not following the Golden Rule include:

• It’s a chore to come up with Aspect names when I Create An Advantage
• When I use X stunt, I don’t know how it should look “on camera”
• When I invoke X Aspect, I don’t know how it should look “on camera”
• Feeling like Fate snobs are judging you

How Do I Embrace The Golden Rule?

Ask Questions Which Pull The Focus Back To The Fiction

Watch For Old Habits

If you find that you know what skill and action combo you want to use, but you have no idea how it looks onscreen, then stop. Forget about the skill and the action, and focus on the fiction. Only when you know what you want to see on screen should you return to the skill list and make your choice.

A Fate Pressure Point: The Bidding War

The ‘bidding war’ is what happens when two characters make opposed rolls, and begin invoking aspects to trump each other’s total. This is a pressure point of Fate because it can easily descend into math games and the story can get forgotten. Here is some general advice to keep the bidding war from becoming a slog:

• Consider saving your invokes: If it’s the NPC’s turn, consider letting them be awesome now, and saving your invokes for your turn. You can probably take the hit, and if everybody spends every invoke and it’s a zero sum, it’s kind of a waste.
• Avoid weak aspects/advantages: It’s tempting to create an advantage that an enemy is Off Balance, but do you really want a story about people being off balance? Is it dramatic enough? Is it worthy? Avoid this kind of filler because when you invoke boring aspects, boring things happen.
• Have every invoke contribute something: Each invoke can change the scene somehow, because if every invoke leaves a mark then it has more narrative power than just being a +2 to some roll.
• Mind your phrasing! First: Describe how your action looks on screen Second: Contextualise your description by telling everyone what you’re invoking to make that happen.