This page goes into all the details of the game mechanics. The game itself was inspired by GURPS and Monsterhearts 2, and designed to played online as a living world. This page has mostly the same information as the source books, but you can find them by clicking these links if you'd like:
Go here if you've got questions about the game system!Kanka is built by just the two of us. Support our quest and enjoy an ad-free experience for less than the cost of a fancy coffee. Become a member.
For example, Jamie wants to sneak up behind Gwen and give her a surprise hug before she can notice! Jamie should roll against Stealth. He looks on his character sheet and finds that he has a Stealth skill of 12. Gwen needs to roll Hearing to see if she can hear him coming. She looks on her character sheet and sees that her Hearing is 11. Thus, Jamie has a slightly higher chance of winning; he rolls 12-3d6 while Gwen rolls 11-3d6. If Jamie wins, then he manages to hug her while she is unaware! If Gwen wins, then she hears him before he quite gets there, and can choose how to react to this before he gets to her. In this case, since Jamie is the one attempting to act, a tie would favor him.
When you roll a critical failure, something awful or particularly inconvenient happens. A critical failure is an especially bad result. A roll of 17 or 18 is always a critical failure. If you fail by 10 or more, that is also a critical failure.
You also earn xp when you roll poorly. See "Experience Points and Improvement" or try -tag roll.
The FAST system has no classes or levels, it is all completely “point buy.” It uses experience points as the “currency” of character creation. The more experience a character has, the more skilled or powerful they become.
As you play, you will earn Experience Points, abbreviated to xp. You can then spend your xp directly to improve your character. For example, if you have earned 10xp, then you can spend that 10xp to improve your Strength by 1. The GM sets the starting amount of experience for character creation. We recommend 25.
As you’ll see as you read on through the parts of a character, you can give your character flaws and weaknesses, which is actually worth negative experience at creation! This helps to flesh out your character and gives you more room to improve the qualities you want in your character. The GM may wish to put a limit to the amount of bad features you can take, or on how many points you can get from decreasing your attributes. More on features and attributes later.
We allow up to -20xp worth of bad features, and don’t allow more than -20xp from each attribute.
At any time, the GM may award you experience points for good roleplay, for completing challenges, or for solving problems. Keep track of experience earned and spent on your character sheet! The game system is narratively-driven, so XP should not be awarded just for killing monsters… In fact, this system is not well-suited for that type of play. GMs should use their best judgement to decide what types of activities and challenges deserve experience points. We recommend awarding 3-5 XP for a few solid hours worth of careful consideration, effort, and good play.
You also earn XP on certain failed rolls. If your margin of failure is 5 or more, (even on an opposed roll), you learn from your mistake and immediately gain one XP to put toward the skill you just rolled. If you fail by 8 or more, you also learn something about yourself, so you also gain an additional XP that can be spent on anything now or later.
You also gain XP when you interact with the Leverage mechanic, if it's being used in your game. More on that later.
GMs are also encouraged to create different challenges and events that award XP to encourage participation and keep the community active. The Guides page has more information on ways you can earn xp.
Whenever you earn xp, please use the XP Form right away. Unreported xp is forfeit after 24 hours.
If it is specified that your XP must go to a certain skill when you earn it, then you should mark that down right away. Otherwise, you can bank XP for later and save up for anything you want. The GM may wish to ask you to justify how in the story you manage to unlock certain Skills or Features, and they should always make sense in the progression of your character. When spending XP to gain new Features, characters are limited to things that are either physiologically possible for their race, or have some kind of supernatural/extraordinary explanation as defined by the setting.
Spend your xp by simply making the changes in your character sheet.
Features are traits that give your character either an edge or a drawback when compared to someone without. The GM provides players with a list of features, their descriptions, and their cost in XP. Some features simply give bonuses or penalties to your skills. Others are for you to express intent to roleplay a certain characteristic. Some of them also enable you to do something new, that you wouldn't have been otherwise allowed to attempt.
When selecting features for your character, keep in mind that you must pick something that is either physically possible, or has a supernatural explanation. Many features also have a “Flavor Requirement.” The purpose of these is to explain how an ability works, what it says about your character, how/why you have it, and/or what its limitations are. While working on your character, keep track of all your Flavor Requirements in one spot. The GM will tell you where to put them so that they can easily access them.
Some features are “good” and others are “bad.” Good features give you some kind of edge or advantage, or allow you to do something special. Bad features give you a drawback or penalty to roleplay around. Not only do these help to flesh out your character and give you some fun flaws to roleplay, but they are also worth negative experience points! This means that you have more XP to work with as you spend it up to the starting value prescribed by your GM.
To see the available features, go here: Features.
A set of eight numbers, called Attributes, define the basis of your character’s abilities. All attributes start at 10, this is the average for a normal human. Increasing an attribute costs 10xp and can be done at any time, whereas decreasing one costs -10xp and can only be done at character creation unless approved by the GM. Similar to bad features, decreasing one or more of your Attributes gives you more XP to work with when building your character.
The GM should set a limit on how much you can decrease your attributes at character creation. We recommend only allowing players to decrease them by up to two steps, not including any modifiers from templates.
Unless it is an opposed roll in which the other character is also rolling against an Attribute, you should not be rolling against Attributes. Instead, find a relevant skill to roll.
Skills are the most detailed and numerical part of the game, but the large number of choices allows the player to fine tune their character’s strengths and weaknesses. Each skill represents a very specific kind of knowledge or ability. Skills are based on attributes or other skills. Increasing whatever a skill is based on also increases that skill. The next chapter goes into more detail about how skill levels are actually calculated, but in summary, the more XP you spend on a skill, the better at it you will get. In general, when spending XP on a skill, you want to spend 1, 2, or a multiple of 4 XP on each skill you want to learn. If you're new to the game, you can start out by spending 1, 2, or a multiple of 4 on your skills and then simply look at your character sheet to see where your skill level ends up. More details on how skills work are provided here: Skills.
Templates are prepackaged sets of abilities to add to your character. The purpose of a template is to spend a chunk of points to get a handful of numbers and abilities that make sense for a character of a certain background or predisposition. They can include:
It is cheaper to buy abilities through a template than it is to spend the XP on the pieces separately, to encourage players to use them. To find out how template costs are calculated, how to make your own templates, and most importantly, a list of all available templates, go to Templates.
Some tabletop RPGs like to place emphasis on positioning, action economy, party composition, facing, hit locations, and all kinds of intricate details that can add a lot of complexity to combat. FAST is not that sort of game; it’s developed more for those who want to tell a story, which may or may not have combat in it.
Combat is handled more narratively in FAST. That is, each player simply writes what their character wants to do, make any rolls necessary, and then others take their turns reacting as they see fit. You won’t find exact, precise mechanics in this chapter for sweeping the leg to make someone trip over, but you can still attempt it! Players need to respect each other and be fair, and the GM should oversee combat to keep it realistic and to keep the flow.
When your character is in combat, or when things start happening quickly that other characters might react to at the drop of a hat, the posts should tend to get shorter. Each post should just be one action. It should feel like you’re just doing one thing. Your post should describe only 1-3 seconds of in-game time.
Sometimes, your actions might cause another character in the scene to want to interrupt something you’re doing. Perhaps, in Bob’s post, he sets his drink down on a table, calls Fred a liar, then walks over to the coat rack to grab his coat and put it on. However, unbeknownst to Bob’s player, those were fighting words! Fred wants to punch Bob in the face before he can get to the coat rack! In this case, Fred’s player should let Bob’s know that he’s going to attempt the attack before he reaches the coat rack. The rest of Bob’s post should be delete (and potentially saved for later) or ignored.
Typically, combat is going to be a fight that breaks out between two people. In this case, simply keep to the posting order that you had before combat began.
If there are three or more people present who are willing and able to act in combat, then a roll determines the turn order. Each combatant rolls against a skill called Acting Quickly, which is based on Agility and has Difficulty 0. The margin of success or failure determines the turn order: the highest goes first, the lowest goes last, etc. In the event of a tie, combatants can either agree on who goes first, or roll off again to see which of them acts first.
As far as mechanics are concerned, combat is simple in FAST; it takes the form of a special opposed roll. If an attacker wishes to hit someone, they roll their combat skill, and the defender rolls their defense skill. If the attacker’s margin of success/failure meets or is higher than that of the defender, then the attack is successful and the target takes an injury. If either (or both) parties succeed their check (regardless of the victor of the opposed roll), you gain a special effect depending on the skill used.
Examples:
Hit points represent the number of injuries a character can take. It’s equal to 5 by default. You can increase this for 5xp (the “Toughness” feature) or decrease it for -5xp (the “Fragile” feature). It also increases or decreases when you increase or decrease your Health Attribute. Every 10xp changes your HP by 1, up or down.
Keep track of the number of injuries you’ve taken and the nature of them as combat progresses. Whenever you take an injury, your character is in pain or impeded in some way. It’s up to the player to describe how these injuries affect their character and to make them matter.
Once per day, you can roll with an appropriate medical skill to restore HP to an injured person, but only if you have the tools and supplies to treat the kinds of injuries or sickness that they have. The target must also roll Health. If both rolls succeed, you restore 1 HP to the target. If one of the rolls is a critical success, then the other roll is treated as a success. If one of the rolls is a critical failure (even if the other is a critical success), then the other roll is treated as a failure as well.
The roll with the medicinal skill will generally represent prolonged treatment and observation over that time period. For certain injuries, the recovery time should match a realistic timeframe. For example, a broken wrist might be represented by missing 1HP, but once it is set and in a cast, it is merely a nuisance and might no longer be painful, yet it might be several weeks before it’s fully healed. In this case, the doctor applying the cast should make daily rolls until the missing HP is restored, but the character should still wear a cast for a few weeks.
Player characters be allowed to start with whatever items make sense for their backstory, and be able to acquire any normal items that a person of their means should be able to. A normal person in a modern age can acquire a pencil pretty easily. That does not mean that a player in a FAST game should think it’s okay to buy 2 million pencils and fill their friend’s apartment with them! Be reasonable.
Some items, even if they fall under the above, should be marked down on your character page. This includes anything that is:
The GM should approve each item before you attempt to make it. For example, maybe you would use an Engineering skill to make a jetpack. If you create an item for yourself, you need to spend the xp on the Cool Item feature before you can use/equip it. If you create an item for another person, they need to spend the xp in order to equip/use it. When you roll to create an item:
There are two functions of the #journals channel. Please create one thread for each character.
Do not make any OOC comments in your journal; they will be deleted.
This is optional. When you finish a scene, you can go to your thread in the the #journals channel and state what happened in your scene. Some people like to write a paragraph, but all that is really required is: What happened? Where was it (in game)? Who was involved?
Just one sentence is enough, but feel free to get creative and do more if you wish. If your scene happened on a specific day, state this as well. Whenever you do a scene reflection, you get 1xp.
These are also optional. Offscreen actions are things your character did, but not in a scene. Offscreen posts should be at least 20 words and give some characterization in some way. You can also work with other players to do things offscreen together! You can write your paragraph together, but it needs to be pasted into each journal. You can do an offscreen action once per in-game day, so you must state which in-game day it takes place on.
The actions below reference good and bad effects. Click to expand these.When you do an offscreen action, roll with any skill that could be considered related to something you did. With GM approval, if you can't think of a skill that applies, you can roll against an Attribute. You can interpret this very liberally and feel free to stretch. Based on your roll, you get one of the following effects:
Characters can learn from each other, and teach each other as an offscreen action! here is how it works:
Characters can practice any skill or attribute together, so long as they can imagine a way to make that make sense!
You can do a favor for another character as an offscreen action. It should be something that takes a bit of time and effort to do. "Go to the store and get me chicken soup" could count, but "Pass me a napkin" wouldn't. If you do someone a favor, work with them on your offscreen action (you can use the Public Google Doc to collaborate) to write a paragraph, but this does not take up the recipients offscreen action for the day. In character, it can be a surprise, but out of character, the recipient player must agree to it. When you choose this offscreen action, there is no roll, simply take Leverage on the person the favor is for, and gain 1xp. Your character need not think of it as a favor, but whatever they're doing, it must be something that feels worthy of taking Leverage.
You can hang out with someone as an offscreen action. This can be something like going for a walk or watching TV, and it can even be cuddling or sexytimes, but it should be something that takes at least an hour. If you hang out with someone, work with them on your offscreen action (you can use the Public Google Doc to collaborate) to write a paragraph. It takes up the offscreen action for both characters that day. When you hang out with someone, decide randomly which of you gets 1xp, and take Leverage on each other.
See Inventory and Items, above.
The first time during a scene that someone succeeds at a roll with any social skill against you, respond however you think it makes sense, and they gain Leverage on you. Other rolls may warrant Leverage too, at the discretion of the players. If they attempt further rolls on you in the scene, you can choose whether to give them Leverage or not. It's recommended, but not required, if it seems like too much or doesn't make sense. If you fail a roll against another PC, it's also recommended that you give the target Leverage, depending on how those involved feel about the interaction.
Unless you have a Feature that says you get Leverage under certain conditions, it is up to the other player to decide whether the situation warrants giving you Leverage. Please be fair to each other when deciding if it's appropriate, and remember that it might be interesting for the story for people to have Leverage on each other.
It is also recommended to evaluate your character's outlook and feelings at the end of every scene. If you haven't given or taken Leverage during your scene, think about how your character views the situation and whether you should give your scene buddy any Leverage.
You can store any amount of Leverage on any number of characters, which is handled in your character sheet. Each time one of the above happens, you gain one Leverage. Since Leverage represents a subtle power imbalance between two people, when someone has significantly more Leverage on you than you have on them, you as a player should take that into account in the way your character reacts to them. Maybe they feel more shy than normal, or more defiant than normal, or more compliant than normal. How this manifests in your character's personality is up to you, and is dependent on the story you've told with that character so far!
When you spend a point of Leverage to do any of the above, gain 1xp!
State in your RP thread that you are applying Leverage, and which effect you are using.
This is not to be confused with the "Connections" button on almost every Kanka page. We'll use that one just for fun. Backstory Connections, on the other hand, are a required game mechanic.
Backstory Connections make the world come alive, and give you more inspirations for what to do with your scenes. As such, each character is required to make at least three connections. Backstory Connections encourage you to work with other players to fill out your character, and result in giving and gaining some Leverage to start out with! Backstory Connections can be made for a lot of reasons, so feel free to get creative. Templates come with a list of recommended Backstory Connections (and you can see those here), but you can also feel free to make up your own. In either case, work with the player to tell a quick story about the interaction between your characters in the past, and write it down on your character sheet. Connections should give either 1 or 2 Leverage, depending on the intensity or impact of the story you come up with. There is no limit on the number of points you can earn in this way, but you must do at least three. If a character that you had a connection with retires, dies, or leaves, you keep your experience. All Backstory Connections require consent from the other player.
Joining an Organization can also count as a backstory connection (except for a few that specify in their descriptions that they don't count). Unless otherwise stated in the description, joining an Organization awards 1xp.
Magical abilities in this game are covered by either skills or features. To read more:
There are currently no articles tagged with this tag.