TEXT:  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  CHAPTERS 
  FATE + FICTION 
  is our line of original and 
  classic 
  short 
  stories. 
  Situations, characters, and 
  other elements from the 
  story are expressed as 
  Fate RPG Aspects. Read 
  and enjoy the stories on 
  their own, then mix the 
  Aspects you like into your 
  own Fate Core or Fate 
  Accelerated game! 
   
   
  ASPARAGUS 
  JUMPSUIT 
  We believe in literacy, 
  curiosity, and creativity. 
  Through 
  these 
  things 
  individuals, societies, and 
  the 
  entire 
  world 
  are 
  enriched 
  and 
  transformed. The Fate + 
  Fiction line was created to 
  help uphold and promote 
  these values.   
   
  Building Better Worlds 
  AsparagusJumpsuit.com 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Fate Core System 
  Fate Accelerated Edition 
  Copyright ©2013 Evil Hat 
  Productions, LLC. 
  All rights reserved. 
   
  Fate was originally 
  created by Rob Donoghue 
  and Fred Hicks 
  By Gary E. Weller 
  Chapter: The First 
  was so long ago that it is quite irrelevant to anything that you could 
  possibly know about me. I am not what was started in the summer of 1969. I am 
  something else entirely. 
   
  Chapter: The Last 
  is too far into the future to understand truly what is to become of me. It is 
  just juxtaposition of probable outcomes based on the choices that will inevitably 
  come to me. The path is too winding and various to really know. So, instead of 
  contemplating the last, I will focus on what will come to me now. 
   
  Chapter: The Present 
  Middle-aged thoughts and philosophies permeate my existence. The worries of 
  mortgages, stay-at-home children, marriage, family drama, and failed exploits tend 
  to ruin the hot and somewhat silent summertime of my life. It is not the season of 
  living. It is the season of surviving.  
   
  Chapter: Two Decades Ago 
  Powerful and young was I. Overweight, yes; active, somewhat. It was a 
  different time for me. I had a different life and a different almost-wife not yet of 
  drinking age. She was wonderful. Full round breasts were planted in easily 
  reachable positions. Her skin tasted of a salty essence and a hit of her perfume. She 
  had an ass that was just gorgeous. Loving her was easy.  
   
  Chapter: Achievement Unlocked 
  Life: Finished all levels of Life. 
   
  Chapter: Two Decades Ago Minus Some Years 
  The crushing blow when she gave back the ring was only another brick in 
  the wall I have built over the years. 
   
  Chapter:  I Need Some No-Drama Spray! Part I 
  I’ve learned that there is a curse that comes with children. It is a lack of true 
  communication that seems to propagate from the fear of replacement. I am truly 
  tired of the phrase, “You’re not my father!” 
   
  Chapter: Cutting Ties Part I 
  A new-new life with a new-new-almost wife. Overweight, still (apparently 
  obese); active, no. My new-new family has been pre-assembled from the tensions of 
  a previous marriage. 
   
   
   
  M.R.M. Blackwood (order #5896805)
  
   
   
  Chapters 
  Page 2 of 6 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Situation Aspects 
  Chapter: The First 
  “…so long ago that it is 
  quite irrelevant to 
  anything that you could 
  possibly know about me.” 
   
  Chapter: The Last 
  There is no predestination, 
  and the past and the 
  present cannot be used to 
  extrapolate a future. 
   
  Chapter: The Present 
  It’s not about living, it’s 
  about surviving. This sets a 
  tone, if not a location or a 
  specific set of problems. 
   
  Chapter:  
  Two Decades Ago 
  This period seems to be 
  dominated by a 
  relationship that we soon 
  learn is destined to fail. 
   
   
  Chapter:  I Need Some No-Drama Spray! Part II 
  FUCK! 
   
  Chapter: Time and Relative Dimension in Space. Part I 
  Yes, it is bigger on the inside. There is no surprise in that. It can take me 
  wherever I want to go in space and time. I am the master of my own destiny 
  because I allow the flow of the universe to fill me with wonder. I am not only a 
  member, I’m the president! 
   
  Chapter: Two Decades Ago Plus Some Years 
  My brother doesn’t seem to understand the passion I have for the written 
  word. Sitting at his home with my girlfriend of blonde locks and ample carnal 
  pleasures next to me, I hear his laughter as I tell him I want to be a writer.  
   
  Chapter: Hey kids, what time is it? 
  Same bat-time, same bat-channel. World domination proceeds apace. 
  Clan is stronger than family. Clan is clan. That is rule one. 
   
  Chapter: A Three-Hour Tour 
  Hiking when obese, naturally nature-avoidant, soft of flesh, and 
  chronically grumpy can be challenging. When dealing with a beginner’s hike 
  that seems to take three times as long as any guidebook says, it may be obvious 
  that some other training may be involved. Summation: a five-mile hike shouldn’t 
  take six hours. 
   
  Chapter:  I Need Some No-Drama Spray! Part III 
  If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. Sadly, I don’t know how to 
  deal with my mental mother-in-law. Her pious delusions of Christianity suffer 
  from a deliberate lack of understanding and a loophole that exists in Canon Law. 
   
  Chapter: Cutting Ties Part II 
  I remember the day when the Officer of the State came to the door. He 
  was concerned for the welfare of my sibling’s children. He asked me hurtful and 
  uncomfortable questions that brought about one of the first bricks of my 
  emotional wall.  
   
  Chapter: Here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson 
  I remember her touch all too well. She was truly my first lover. Our 
  destinies are wrapped into infinite knots as we share lifetimes of experiences. You 
  see, before I was born, I had to say goodbye to her as I went to war.  
   
  Chapter: GURPS 
  Saturday Night’s all right for fighting. It’s 10 O’clock; do you know where 
  your meat body is? Why did you shoot the driver? And tonight’s Body Count 
  Lotto Winner is… 
   
  Chapter: Uncle Walt 
  Six-thousand dollars was spent. Expensive memories that will stay with 
  me were created that summer. Florida burned in my presence. The House of 
  Mouse shined for me.  
   
  M.R.M. Blackwood (order #5896805)
  
   
   
  Chapters 
  Page 3 of 6 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Chapter: Time and Relative Dimension in Space. Part II 
  Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping – into the future. Everything Zen – 
  I don’t think so. I want a girl with a short skirt and a looooooooooooooong jacket. She 
  don’t eat meat, but she sure likes the bone! Into this house we’re born. Into this world 
  we’re thrown. Ma-ma, Ma-ma-ma, Ma-ma-madness. I stepped in to a burning ring of 
  fire. God Money, I’ll do anything for you. 
   
  Chapter: Epiphanies 
  Hummingbirds sound like light sabers. Peace comes from within, not without. 
  Even though a knife is in its sheath, it is still sharp. Hot coffee is hot! 
   
  Chapter: Psych 
  In between the lines there’s a lot of obscurity. I’m not inclined to resign to 
  maturity. If it’s all right, then you’re all wrong. Why bounce around to the same damn 
  song? You’d rather run when you can’t crawl.  
  I know you know that I’m not telling the truth. I know you know they just 
  don’t have any proof. Embrace the deception, learn how to bend. Your worst 
  inhibitions tend to psych you out in the end. 
   
  Chapter: A mind is a terrible thing to taste 
  Chuck Wendig is a novelist, screenwriter, and game designer. This is his blog. 
  He talks a lot about writing. And food. And the madness of toddlers. He uses lots of 
  naughty language. NSFW. Probably NSFL. Be advised. 
   
  Chapter: The Next 
  Keep on trucking. Write more. Smile often. 
  About Chapters 
  by Berin Kinsman 
  I hope you enjoyed Gary’s story. That would make me happy, and I know it would 
  make Gary happy. Yet even if you didn’t, I hope you can see how even a piece of 
  fiction you don’t like can be mined for ideas, and ways that those ideas can be remixed 
  and reimaged and used as material for your own Fate RPG game. 
  Now let’s deconstruct the story, pick out some of the elements that are present, 
  and discuss ways that you might use those as possible Aspects in your own Fate RPG 
  game. Understand that the following interpretations are only my interpretations, and 
  not the only possible interpretations. The object of Fate+Fiction is to help you learn 
  how to mine stories for pieces and parts that you can adapt for your own purposes. 
  Let’s begin by trying to summarize the story. This is actually a semi-
  autobiographical piece that Gary put together as a writing exercise, spurred on by 
  author Chuck Wendig. When I read it, I immediately though that it was a perfect 
  example of a Fate character backstory. Each Chapter can equate to a Fate Core Phase. 
  Some of it only has meaning to Gary. Some of it only makes sense to his close friends 
  and family. A lot of it is open to interpretation as to what it actually means, which I 
  think is perfect for a roleplaying game backstory. You can run these slices through 
  the filter of what’s happening right now, in life or in the game, and use them to 
  provide a completely different context on current events and conversely use events in 
  the present to frame events of the past with a new context. When you take disparate 
  things and make connections, you get richer characters and a deeper setting. 
  Character Aspects 
  Weight and Activity 
  These are recurring 
  thoughts through all of 
  the chapters, comparing 
  and contrasting the 
  narrator’s health from one 
  period to another.  
   
  I need some no-drama 
  spray! 
  The narrator does not like 
  drama, but encounters it 
  no matter how hard he 
  tries to avoid it. 
   
  Various interests 
  There are references to 
  Doctor Who, Disney, 
  GURPS, and Chuck 
  Wendig. This gives us an 
  idea of what the narrator 
  likes. These can be 
  Compelled to get the 
  character to go somewhere 
  or do something, and 
  possibly Invoked when the 
  character needs to calm 
  down and enter himself.  
   
  Keep on trucking. Write 
  more. Smile often. 
  This is the narrator’s goal 
  in life, and his mantra. It 
  reiterates the thought that 
  the present is about 
  survival. It shows that even 
  though the future is 
  unclear, he wants to be 
  happy and do the thing 
  that makes him happy.  
   
   
   
   
  M.R.M. Blackwood (order #5896805)
  
   
   
  Chapters 
  Page 4 of 6 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  The Situations 
  There are a few Situation Aspects that we can pull out of this story. These Aspects, 
  or something like them, can then be adapted to your own Fate game. Let’s take a look. 
  We don’t have a lot of locations or set pieces, but we have time periods, and 
  situations within those periods. Gary gives us a loose past, a vague future, a solid 
  present, and influential periods like 20 years ago. The structure of not presenting 
  these things in chronological order is to tell us that some things only make sense in 
  the context of things from other times. You can’t grasp the present person until you 
  understand how he has been shaped by the past, and how he views his own future.  
  As a player, when things happen that seem to align with vague events in past 
  chapters, I’m going to use that to fill in the character’s backstory, Establish Facts, and 
  Invoke them whenever possible. As a gamemaster, I’m going to look for those 
  connections as well, and Compel the player to take actions and make decisions 
  influenced by past decisions and past events.  
  Chapter: The First suggests that there may have been events that influenced his 
  lie, but he doesn’t remember them. Maybe older people have told him things that he 
  can’t verify. Maybe he dismisses them because he doesn’t see the impact, or thinks that 
  such things would have affected him differently. We don’t know, but it leaves room for 
  interpretation in a game character.  
  Chapter: The Last tells us that like most real people, and unlike most fictional 
  characters, there is no clear arc, no definitive through line, no assurances as to how 
  this story is likely to end. He cannot look at his past, and his present, and clearly 
  extrapolate a future. It’s not building to something definite. Or perhaps it is, and it 
  takes a few more events in the future to make the pattern clear.  
  Chapter: The Present, which in a game is theoretically where most stories will be 
  set, is described as the season of surviving. There is implied conflict, but they are the 
  challenges of real life: balancing work, family, finances, and daydreams about what 
  you’re really rather be doing. We’ve all been here, and we can all relate to it.  
  Chapter: Two Decades Ago tells us of love lost, and other chapters illustrate how 
  that pain resonates and still affects current relationships. There’s plenty to both Invoke 
  and Compel here, either to keep the character from growing and getting past it or to 
  inspire the character to take actions to break the cycle. 
  There are more Situation Aspects, of course, but these are the ones that stand out 
  to me.  
  The Characters 
  Now let’s examine the characters in the story. For your own Fate game you don’t 
  need to use these exact characters. Look at existing player characters and supporting 
  characters, and see who might fill the same roles in relation to the Situation Aspects. 
  Who might the relevant Character Aspects, or something similar, be appended to? 
  Weight and Activity: These are recurring thoughts through all of the chapters, 
  comparing and contrasting the narrator’s health from one period to another. 
  I need some no-drama spray! The narrator does not like drama, but encounters it 
  no matter how hard he tries to avoid it. 
  Boosts 
  The only specific boosts 
  implied here is the mantra 
  to write more and smile 
  more. When faced with 
  drama, and in need of the 
  no-drama spray, I would 
  allow the character a Boost 
  to deal with a tough 
  decision if he makes the 
  hard decision to smile 
  through it.  
   
  I would also allow a Boost 
  on a future action – usable 
  no longer than a day 
  afterward – if the character 
  sits down and writes about 
  the situation. Once he’s got 
  his head around what’s 
  going on and how he feels 
  about it, and has 
  theoretically concocted a 
  plan of action, he can deal 
  with things better. 
   
  M.R.M. Blackwood (order #5896805)
  
   
   
  Chapters 
  Page 5 of 6 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Various interests: There are references to Disney World, GURPS, TV shows, song 
  lyrics, and Chuck Wendig. This gives us an idea of what the narrator likes. These can 
  be Compelled to get the character to go somewhere or do something, and possibly 
  Invoked when the character needs to calm down and enter himself.  
  Keep on trucking. Write more. Smile often. This is the narrator’s goal in life, as 
  well as his mantra. It reiterates the thought that the present is about survival. It shows 
  that even though the future is unclear, he wants to be happy and do the thing that 
  makes him happy. It can be Invoked or Compelled when the character needs an extra 
  push to keep on going, but he needs to be writing, smiling, and persevering to utilize 
  it. 
  She was wonderful/Loving her was easy: There are a lot of things about that early 
  relationship scattered throughout. We know something of what she looked like, and 
  that she was under 21. In playing out flashback scenes, or setting a story in the past, 
  this character would be fleshed out. 
  New-not-wife: The narrator's domestic partner, who travels with him and does 
  things. Another character to be fleshed out for the present, as well as the recent past 
  and future. 
  You're not my father: We know something of the narrator's present not-wife's kids, 
  and all we really know is the relationship. As characters, there is a lot to be fleshed 
  out and a lot of possibilities. What are their situations that they take such a stance 
  against the narrator? Is it something the narrator did? Is it affection for their real 
  father, or does it stem from baggage that results from a bad relationship from their 
  father? How do the kids fit into the future? 
  I hear his laughter as I tell him I want to be a writer and He was concerned for 
  the welfare of my sibling’s children.  The only mentions of the narrator’s brother – 
  assuming the second reference to a sibling is talking about the same person – don’t 
  paint a glowing picture. He’s not a particularly nice person, mocking the narrator’s 
  interests and doing who knows what to his kids. Where is the brother, and where are 
  the kids, in the future? 
  In an expanded story you can combine concerns over the sibling’s children with 
  you’re not my father to speculate as to why the narrator might keep some distance 
  from his not-wife’s kids. Or maybe he tries too hard, consciously trying to not make 
  the mistakes his brother did, being too supportive? There are a lot of directions this 
  could go, and a lot of story ideas to play with. 
  The brother and the brother’s children also link in with clan is stronger than 
  family. Are there unseen friends, implied by the interests in roleplaying games and 
  other fandom-centric activities that the narrator is closer to than his not-wife and her 
  children? Are they not mentioned because they’re sources of calm, rather than 
  sources of drama? Or is this a declaration that the narrator is closer to the woman he’s 
  not married to and the children he’s not connected to by blood than he is to his own 
  sibling, nieces, and nephews? Even with the dram he so despises, does he hold more 
  affection for his no-kids than he does for his “real” family? There’s a lot to play with 
  here, and as a gamemaster a lot that I’d Compel to try to guilt the character into 
  doing, or not doing, things for other people in his life for dramatic effects in the 
  game.  
   
   
  Consequences 
  There are no specific 
  Consequences here, but I 
  might impose a few if 
  certain things are Invoked 
  or Compelled. Does he slip 
  into treating his new not-
  wife like his old not-wife? 
  Does his hurt over being 
  rejected affect his current 
  relationship, with 
  Consequences being that 
  he acts inappropriately?  
   
  The same with his 
  relationship with his 
  brother: is he more 
  accepting of other people’s 
  dreams and goals because 
  his brother was so rough 
  about his wanting to be a 
  writer? Is that reaction a 
  Consequence? Does his 
  brother’s relationship with 
  his children color the 
  narrator’s relationship with 
  his not-kids, and they with 
  him, and is that a 
  Consequence? All of this 
  should be food for thought 
  when looking at 
  Consequences in your own 
  Fate RPG games.  
   
   
  M.R.M. Blackwood (order #5896805)
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
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  15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE 
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  Fate Core System and Fate Accelerated Edition © 2013 by 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. 
  Fate+Fiction: Chapters ©2014 Gary Weller, Berin Kinsman. Authors: Gary Weller, Berin Kinsman. Editor: Stefan 
  Livingstone Shirley. 
   
  Open Gaming License 
  Asparagus Jumpsuit 
  AsparagusJumpsuit.com 
   
  Chapters  
  ©2014 Gary E. Weller  
   
  Additional content  
  ©2014 Berin Kinsman 
   
  Edited by  
  Stefan Livingstone Shirley 
   
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