I am looking for advice regarding Fate/FAE conflict.
In my group, the conflict takes quite a while. Not because our team is just doing simple attacking and defending. We spend lots of time on "create-advantage" and "overcoming" action. However, it just becomes a tedious advantage arm race.
Sure, the situational aspect they are building is different each time. But my players feel all of the combat feels too similar. In the end, it is whoever stacked the most advantage, without getting erased by overcoming action, is the winner.
Our usual conflict goes like this:
A wants a', B wants b'. A' and b' can't coexist together, so they get into conflict. (For instance, A needs to get out of this temple, and B wants A to stay in the temple.)
1st round:
- A makes an advantage a1.
- B either tries to disarm the a1 or try to make b1. (Usually disarm fails because A use advantage defensively too)
2nd round:
- A makes advantage a2 if a1 is defended.
- B either tries to disarm a2 or try to make b2.
(repeat 1,2 round for 5~6 times)
A or B, whoever feels confident they can knock out the other side with stacked advantages, finally attacks. With three players, this usually means 5~6 advantages, thus winning the fight. (Usually Knock out doesn't happen, but gives 1 or 2 consequences, thus forcing the other to concede or risk losing)
If one side doesn't reach that point, we continue to create advantages or sabotage the other side's advantage. Both sides, knowing attacking with a mere one or two advantage won't cut, continue to churn them out. This making advantage to the tipping point is what slows our conflict process. More often than not, the competition-type scene is faster and more engaging for my players because they don't have time to create multiple advantages. In competition, players can try to make advantage only once and have to fight right away. They can't just sit there and keep making advantages till they sure win.
So how should I help to make conflict more engaging & fast? Changing Stress Box from 1, 2, 3 to 1, 1, 2 slightly helped.
TL;DR: Our team stacks advantage during the conflict until they can surely win. This advantage grinding makes the battle feel dragging and boring. What could I do?
Best Answer
Advantages shouldn't just be mechanical gatherings of numbers, they should meaningfully advance the story.
Aspects, created by that move, are always true. which means they have narrative weight in the game. You should be using aspects not just to layer on debuffs to win, but to change the story in interesting ways. Think about the story first, not about the pure numbers, and ways that you can have cool stuff happen.
If you have an advantage on someone, it's gonna open up new options, restrict options, and change the game in a meaningful way. For example, the first advantage A creates might be activating an ancient trap in the temple so a giant boulder rolls down to crush B like Indiana Jones, creating the advantage Pinned Down by a Boulder. If B chooses to ignore the boulder so they can set up an Unsteady Ground debuff or something boring for A, the boulder will pin them down, and they won't be able to block A leaving.
This forces some creative problem solving, like riding the boulder, or creating an advantage We Are Pinned Down by a Boulder. If they are stacking multiple advantages, then it should be strangling off options of their enemy, or creating a huge advantage for them that allows the plot to move forward even before the numbers come into play.
If the fight is getting boring, use compels to push it to more interesting angles.
Compels are a key tool to make the narrative more interesting. So, if the scene is dragging on, use a compel to push it in a more interesting option, like having them have a motorbike chase scene (you have an aspect Vengeance At Any Cost, one fate point for them to escape and you to pursue them), or having the temple fill with poisonous gas (I'm compelling your Angry Little Red Girl aspect to have you trigger a trap to fill the temple with poison soon) so that the scene is more interesting.