Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Search in excerpt
Inheritance Gambit

Is This The End Of Humanity As We Know It?

  • Home
  • Admin
    • Character Policies
      • Activity
      • Alts
      • Plagiarism
    • FAQ
    • Game Policies
      • Acceptable Use
      • Age
      • Conduct
      • Definitions
      • Disclaimer
      • Game Rating
      • Harassment
      • Player Conflict
      • Playstyle
      • Privacy
      • Sex on the Game
      • Site Terms of Use
      • Staff Discretion
    • Roleplay Policies
      • Character Conflict
      • IC vs OOC
      • Player Run Plots (PRPs)
      • Playstyle
      • TS
    • New to Mushing
    • Staff
  • Characters
    • Application Guidelines
      • Add Character
      • Add NPC
    • Banned/Restricted Characters
    • Character Types
    • Legacy Characters
    • Dramatis Personae
    • Upgrade Guidelines
  • Roleplay
    • Mechanics
      • Cheat Sheet
      • Concepts
      • Skills
      • Stunts
      • Base Powers
      • Enhancements
      • Improved Special Effects
      • Collateral Damage
      • Drawbacks
    • Events
    • News
      • Post A News Article
    • Plots and Issues
      • Add A Plot
    • Scenes
      • Add RP Log
  • Setting/Theme
    • Glossary
    • Organizations
    • Map
    • Timeline
    • World
  • Systems
    • House Rules & Clarifications
    • +help
    • My Tickets
      • Submit Ticket
    • Contact Us
  • Player Login

Contests

Whenever two or more characters have mutually exclusive goals, but they aren’t trying to harm each other directly, they’re in a contest. Arm wrestling matches, races or other sports competitions, and public debates are all good examples of contests.

GMs, answer the following questions when you’re setting up a contest:

  • What are the “sides”? Is every character in the contest in it for herself, or are there groups of people opposing other groups? If you have multiple characters on a side, they roll together using the Teamwork rules.
  • What environment does the contest take place in? Are there any significant or notable features of that environment you want to define as situation aspects?
  • How are the participants opposing each other? Are they rolling against each other directly (like in a straight sprint race or a poker match), or are they trying to overcome something in the environment (like an obstacle course or a panel of judges)?
  • What skills are appropriate for this contest? Does everyone have to roll the same one, or do several apply?

Example:

Zird the Arcane has been felled in a battle with a shadowy group of assassins who ambushed him and Cynere just outside of town! Cynere finishes off the last of them, ending the conflict, then starts toward her fallen friend. That’s when the assassins’ leader, a cutpurse she knows well as Teran the Swift, blinks in with teleportation magic next to Zird’s unconscious form! He starts casting another teleportation spell, clearly intending to leave with Zird. Cynere breaks into a run. Can she get there before Teran finishes his spell?

Amanda looks through the questions for setting up the contest. The previous conflict scene had a situation aspect of Muddy Ground, so she decides to keep that in play. Clearly, Teran and Cynere are directly opposing each other, so they’ll be providing active opposition. Teran’s going to be rolling his Lore skill for the contest, because he’s casting a spell. Because this is a pretty straightforward movement-related situation for Cynere, Amanda and Lily agree that Athletics is the most appropriate skill to roll.

Now you can get started.

A contest proceeds in a series of exchanges. In an exchange, every participant gets to make one skill roll to determine how well they do in that leg of the contest. This is basically an overcome action.

Players, when you make a contest roll, compare your result to everyone else’s.

  • If you got the highest result, you win the exchange. If you’re rolling directly against the other participants, then that means you got the highest rank on the ladder out of everyone. If you’re all rolling against something in the environment, it means you got the most shifts out of everyone.

Winning the exchange means you score a victory (which you can just represent with a tally mark or check mark on scratch paper) and describe how you take the lead.

  • If you succeed with style and no one else does, then you get to mark two victories.
  • If there’s a tie for the highest result, no one gets a victory, and an unexpected twist occurs. This could mean several things depending on the situation—the terrain or environment shifts somehow, the parameters of the contest change, or an unanticipated variable shows up and affects all the participants. GMs, you should create a new situation aspect reflecting this change.
  • The first participant to achieve three victories wins the contest.

Example:

Cynere has Athletics at Great (+4). Teran has Lore at Good (+3).

In the first exchange, Lily rolls poorly for Cynere and ends up with an Average (+1). Amanda rolls a 0 on the dice and stays at Good (+3). Amanda wins, so Teran wins the exchange and takes 1 victory. Amanda describes Teran completing the first major rune of the spell, raising a lambent green glow into the air.

In the second exchange, Lily turns the tables, rolling exceptionally well and getting a Superb (+5), whereas Amanda only gets a Fair (+2) for Teran. That’s a success with style, so Lily picks up two victories and the lead. Lily describes Cynere in a full-on sprint, bearing down on Teran.

In the third exchange, they tie at Good (+3)! Amanda now has to introduce an unexpected twist into the contest. She thinks about it for a moment, and says, “Okay, so it looks like some of the various magical reagents on Zird’s belt pouch are reacting weirdly with the magic of Teran’s spell, throwing Magical Distortions into the air.” She writes down that situation aspect on an index card and puts it on the table.

In the fourth exchange, they tie again, this time at Great (+4). Lily says, “Forget this noise. I want to invoke two aspects—one, because I have I’ve Got Zird’s Back on my sheet, and Magical Distortions, because I figure that they’re going to interfere more with his spellcasting than my running.” She passes Amanda two fate points.

That puts her final result at Legendary (+8), another success with style and another two victories. That gives her four victories to Teran’s one, and she wins the exchange and the contest!

Amanda and Lily describe how she snatches Zird just before Teran finishes his spell, and he teleports away without his prize.

Creating Advantages in a Contest

During any exchange, you can try to create an advantage before you make your contest roll. If you’re targeting another participant, they get to defend normally. If someone can interfere with your attempt, they provide active opposition as normal.

Doing this carries an additional risk—failing to create an advantage means you forfeit your contest roll, which means there’s no way you can make progress in the current exchange. If you at least tie, you get to make your contest roll normally.

If you’re providing a bonus via the Teamwork rules, failing to create an advantage means the lead character doesn’t benefit from your help this exchange.

Example:

Cynere tries to throw mud in the eyes of Teran the Swift as she’s running to save Zird. Lily says she wants to create an advantage, with Teran as her target and a new aspect called Mud in the Eyes. (Imaginative, we know.)

She rolls Athletics to create the advantage and gets a Great (+4). Teran rolls Athletics to defend and gets a Good (+3).

Teran gets mud in his eyes as Cynere intended, and Lily marks that she has a free invocation on it.

Because Lily didn’t fail, she gets to make her contest roll normally. Amanda decides that being semi-blinded isn’t going to stop Teran from continuing to cast, so he also gets to roll normally.

Attacks in a Contest

If someone tries to attack in a contest, then they’re doing direct harm, and it ceases to be a contest. You should immediately stop what you’re doing and start setting up for a conflict instead.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr

Filed Under: Fate Concepts, Fate Core, Roleplay

Leave Feedback

  • See a typo? Have a question about the content? Let us know using the form below!
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Administration

Character Policies

  • Activity
  • Alts
  • Plagiarism

FAQ

Game Policies

  • Acceptable Use
  • Age
  • Conduct
  • Definitions
  • Disclaimer
  • Game Rating
  • Harassment
  • Player Conflict
  • Playstyle
  • Privacy
  • Sex on the Game
  • Site Terms of Use
  • Staff Discretion

Roleplay Policies

  • Character Conflict
  • IC vs OOC
  • Player Run Plots (PRPs)
  • Playstyle
  • TS

Staff

New To Mushing

Characters

Add Character

Application Guidelines

Character Types

Dramatis Personae

Upgrade Guidelines

Roleplay

Cheat Sheet

Concepts

Skills

  • Athletics
  • Burglary
  • Contacts
  • Crafts
  • Deceive
  • Drive
  • Empathy
  • Fight
  • Investigate
  • Lore
  • Notice
  • Physique
  • Provoke
  • Rapport
  • Resources
  • Shoot
  • Stealth
  • Will

Stunts

  • Always a Way Out
  • Always Making Useful Things
  • Armor of Fear
  • Attention to Detail
  • Backup Weapon
  • Best Foot Forward
  • Better than New!
  • Body Language Reader
  • Called Shot
  • Danger Sense
  • Dazing Counter
  • Demagogue
  • Ear to the Ground
  • Eavesdropper
  • Face in the Crowd
  • Grappler
  • Hard Boiled
  • Hard to Shake
  • Hardcore Parkour
  • Heavy Hitter
  • Hidden Knowledge
  • I’ve Read about That!
  • Indomitable
  • Killing Stroke
  • Lie Whisperer
  • Lies upon Lies
  • Mind Games
  • Money Talks
  • Ninja Vanish
  • Nose for Trouble
  • Okay, Fine!
  • One Person, Many Faces
  • Pedal to the Metal
  • Popular
  • Provoke Violence
  • Psychologist
  • Quick on the Draw
  • Ramming Speed!
  • Reactive Shot
  • Ride
  • Rumormonger
  • Savvy Investor
  • Security Specialist
  • Shield of Reason
  • Slippery Target
  • Specialist
  • Sprinter
  • Strength From Determination
  • Surgical Strikes
  • Take the Blow
  • Talk the Talk
  • The Power of Deduction
  • The Weight of Reputation
  • Tough as Nails
  • Trust Fund Baby
  • Uncanny Accuracy

Powers

  • Animal Control
  • Creature Summoning
  • Disguise
  • Duplication
  • Elasticity
  • Energy Absorption
  • Energy Blast
  • Flight
  • Gadgeteering
  • Harm
  • Healing
  • Illusion
  • Influence
  • Invisibility
  • Item Summoning
  • Machine Control
  • Machine Control (Hacking Variant)
  • Material Mimic
  • Natural Weapon
  • Phasing
  • Plant Control
  • Power Amplification
  • Power Nullification
  • Power Replication
  • Precognition
  • Regeneration
  • Shape-Shifting
  • Shielding
  • Slowing
  • Super Agility
  • Super Intelligence
  • Super Senses
  • Super Speed
  • Super Strength
  • Super Toughness
  • Telekinesis
  • Telepathy
  • Teleportation
  • Teleportation: Portals (Variant)
  • Theme: Chaos Conduit (Mutant Only)
  • Theme: Corruption
  • Theme: Dark Conduit (Mutant Only)
  • Theme: Electricity Projection
  • Theme: Energy Manipulation
  • Theme: Fire Projection
  • Theme: Frost Projection
  • Theme: Gravity Manipulation
  • Theme: Light Conduit (Mutant Only)
  • Theme: Shadow Projection
  • Theme: Super Form
  • Theme: Technology
  • Wall-Crawling
  • Weather Control

Enhancements

  • Accelerated Growth
  • Alarm Bypass
  • Alertness
  • All the Things
  • Animal Telepathy
  • Banish Darkness
  • Black Bargain
  • Bloody Weapon
  • Built-In Wi-Fi
  • Capacitance
  • Cat’s Landing
  • Chessmastery
  • Close Observation
  • Cocoon
  • Collective Teleportation
  • Complex Summoning
  • Conductive Trip
  • Convincing
  • Critical Hit
  • Dark Aura
  • Dark Rites
  • Dark Sight
  • Dazzle
  • Defensive Blasts
  • Defensive Phasing
  • Disposable Duplicates
  • Distant Power Nullification
  • Dryad Step
  • Eagle-Eyed
  • Effective Duplication
  • Eye of the Needle
  • Familiar Presence
  • Fast Healing
  • Featherstep
  • Fire Control
  • Fortean Storm
  • Friend to Flames
  • Full Nullification
  • Full Sensory Overload
  • Giant Illusions
  • Growth
  • Horrifying to Behold
  • Hot Blooded
  • Human Pincushion
  • Ice Slick
  • Icy Aura
  • Immortal
  • Implacable
  • Improved Reaction Time
  • Intense Training
  • Ionize
  • Jaunt
  • Juggernaut
  • Kinetic Acceleration
  • Lasting Harm
  • Lingering Power Amplification
  • Lingering Power Replication
  • Lingering Weather
  • Long-Distance Telekinesis
  • Long-Distance Telepathy
  • Long-Range Blaster
  • Luck Curse
  • Machine Language
  • Mark and Recall
  • Master Absorption
  • Master Animal Control
  • Master Creature Summoning
  • Master Disguise
  • Master Duplication
  • Master Elasticity
  • Master Energy Blast
  • Master Flight
  • Master Gadgeteering
  • Master Hacking
  • Master Harm
  • Master Healing
  • Master Illusion
  • Master Influence
  • Master Invisibility
  • Master Item Summoning
  • Master Machine Control
  • Master Mimicry
  • Master Natural Weapon
  • Master Phasing
  • Master Plant Control
  • Master Power Amplification
  • Master Power Nullification
  • Master Power Replication
  • Master Precognition
  • Master Regeneration
  • Master Shape-Shifting
  • Master Shielding
  • Master Slowing
  • Master Super Agility
  • Master Super Intelligence
  • Master Super Senses
  • Master Super Speed
  • Master Super Strength
  • Master Super Toughness
  • Master Telekinesis
  • Master Telekinesis
  • Master Telepathy
  • Master Wall-Crawling
  • Master Weather Control
  • Menagerie
  • Mental Blasts
  • Mimicry Memory
  • Multiple Mimicry
  • Nice Toys
  • Obvious Target
  • Ongoing Mutations
  • Opaque Shields
  • Orbital Path
  • Out of the Shadows
  • Overhealing
  • Overwhelming Voice
  • Pain for Power
  • Piercing Damage
  • Portal Mastery
  • Power Generation
  • Power Suite Duplication
  • Power Vampire
  • Precise Invisibility
  • Precision Shielding
  • Quick Recovery
  • Radiohead
  • Rapid Shifting
  • Ray of Empowerment
  • Ray of Harm
  • Realm Warp
  • Restore Sanity
  • Sartorial Doubling
  • Semi-Permeable Shield
  • Sensory Suite
  • Shadow Dodge
  • Shareable Invisibility
  • Shiny Shiny
  • Shrinking
  • Skill Shifting
  • Slow Field
  • Spatial Distortion
  • Stand Fast
  • Stop
  • Stunning Blow
  • Superior Gadgeteering
  • Supersonic Flight
  • Taskmastery
  • Telekinetic Might
  • Telepathic Flexibility
  • Teleportation Mastery
  • Temperature Reduction
  • The Right Tools for the Job
  • Tireless Grip
  • TK Shield
  • Tough Little Thing
  • Tunneling
  • Uncanny Dodge
  • Useful Devices
  • Visions
  • Walking Library
  • Wall Kick
  • Weather Precision
  • X-Ray Vision
  • Zoological Polyglot

Improved Special Effects

  • Bullrush
  • Dangerous Weather
  • Duplicate Action
  • Flame On
  • Hammer Toss
  • Healing Wave
  • Ice Shield
  • Magical Disruption
  • Visions of Change

Drawbacks

  • A Danger to Anyone Nearby
  • Accident-Prone While Indoors
  • Always Freezing
  • Always on Fire
  • Always Shrouded in Darkness
  • Bright Green Skin
  • Burnout
  • Can’t Climb Perfectly Smooth Surfaces
  • Can’t Get Rid of Your Creature
  • Can’t Heal Someone You Don’t Like
  • Can’t Shut It Off
  • Caught Up In Dark Plans
  • Clumsy
  • Completely Visible Reflection
  • Constant Migraines
  • Darkened Soul
  • Destructive Rage
  • Doesn’t Work on Clothes
  • Don’t Get Along with Yourself
  • Don’t Know Who You Are Anymore
  • Don’t Know Your Own Strength
  • Easily Distracted
  • Easily Forgotten
  • Easily Overwhelmed
  • Energetic Diet
  • Energetic Distraction
  • Exhausting
  • Extended Transformation Sequence
  • Feel Their Pain
  • Fragile as Glass
  • From Another Time
  • Fueled By Rage
  • Grotesque
  • Grotesquely Scarred
  • Hackable
  • Half-Feral
  • Hard to Maneuver in Flight
  • Horrifying to Behold
  • Hot-Tempered
  • Huge, Visible, Pulsating Brain
  • Hyperactive
  • Illusions Dissipate in Daylight
  • Illusions Don’t Show Up on Video
  • Inaccurate at Close Range
  • Inhuman Visage
  • Intensely Sleep-Deprived
  • Involuntary Bursts of Energy
  • Involuntary Energy Field
  • Involuntary Mimicry
  • It Has a Mind of Its Own
  • It Looks Like a Living Nightmare
  • Kept Alive by Your Own Devices
  • Leaves You Weakened
  • Lethargic
  • Limited Fuel
  • Limited Fuel
  • Limited to Organic Materials
  • Limited to Terrestrial Mammals
  • Lots of Collateral Damage
  • Machinery Tends to Fail Around You
  • Massive Bursts of Ill-Smelling Smoke
  • Modern Tech Just Doesn’t Like You
  • Must Maintain Physical Contact
  • Need a Hardline
  • Need a Mask to Protect Those Around You
  • Need a Spark
  • Need Solid Anchor Points
  • Need to Concentrate to Stay Solid
  • No Empathy
  • Not Useful Indoors
  • Not Very Useful Indoors
  • Often Arguing with Yourself
  • Only Effective While Indoors
  • Only Good Up Close
  • Only Live in the Cold
  • Overflowing Light
  • Overwhelming Animal Instincts
  • Power Drain
  • Power-Hungry
  • Psychic Feedback
  • Quite Frail
  • Racked with Guilt
  • Radioactive
  • Reality Kind of Hates You
  • Require a Prop
  • Require Complete Concentration
  • Requires Physical Contact
  • Requires Sustained Physical Contact
  • Restless
  • Shabby Equipment
  • Short-Range Control
  • Slow
  • Slow to Form
  • Slowed Reaction Time
  • Sometimes Things Drop Right Through Your Hands
  • Sticky-Fingered (Literally)
  • Subconscious Made Real
  • Surrounded by Admirers
  • Sympathetic Weather Patterns
  • Tend to Abuse Your Power
  • The Machines Never Stop Talking!
  • Touch-Activated
  • Trail of Random Stuff
  • Unpredictable Superpower Misfires
  • Unwanted Feedback
  • Unwanted Feedback (Hacking)
  • Unwanted Menagerie
  • Up, up and away
  • Very Noticeable
  • Visibly Corrupted
  • Water Shorts You Out
  • Weak
  • Weak and Frail Body
  • Weakened by Daylight
  • Weakened in Ordered Environments
  • Weighty
  • You Can’t Breathe While Phasing
  • You Can’t Feel Much of Anything
  • You Can’t Turn It Off
  • You Don’t Look Quite Human
  • You Have Trouble Seeing the Present
  • You Think You’re Better than Everyone

Collateral Damage

  • “DIE!”
  • Armor Piercing
  • Army of Me
  • Bad Ride
  • Balloon
  • Battle Plan
  • Berserk
  • Black Blessing
  • Blizzard
  • Bulking Up
  • Bulletproof
  • Charged Shot
  • Come to Me!
  • Deadly Ivy
  • Decay
  • Deflection
  • Demonic Gaze
  • Direct Control
  • Dramatic Entrance
  • Earthing
  • Escape Plan
  • Eviscerate
  • Expected Backup
  • Extra Copies
  • Flaming
  • Flashburn
  • Foreign Objects
  • Future Echoes
  • Gravity Manipulation
  • Grounded Discharge
  • Hair-Trigger Reaction
  • Handmade Off Button
  • Highly Experimental Device
  • Hold Fast
  • Holding Pattern
  • Horror Show
  • Hyper-Mode
  • Hyper-Visibility
  • Hyperfocus
  • Interception
  • Invulnerability Charge
  • Jaunt
  • Killing Disguise
  • Killswitch
  • Mass Empowerment
  • Mass Hysteria
  • Mass Illness
  • Mass Slowing
  • Megaton Punch
  • Mental Map
  • Micro Singularity
  • Mighty Bound
  • Missed Me
  • No More
  • Noble Sacrifice
  • Overload
  • Pacifist Aura
  • Pawn Interception
  • Perfect Evasion
  • POW!
  • Psychic Lockdown
  • Psychic Maelstrom
  • Puppetry
  • Quantum Tunneling
  • Rapid Fire
  • Rapid Reforestation
  • Ravage
  • Replicated Collateral Damage
  • Rubber Vengeance
  • Shadow Beast
  • Shield Bubble
  • SMASH!
  • Speed Demon
  • Stegosaurus
  • Sturm und Drang
  • Super-Power Strike
  • Sweet Ride
  • T-Rex
  • Take Up Arms
  • Through the Grid
  • Timeless Zone
  • Unstoppable Telekinesis
  • Untouchably Airy
  • Virtual Possession
  • Whirlwind
  • Winds of Change
  • Wormhole

News

  • Website Updates 2 Jul 2020
  • Pandora Jones has been approved for Roleplay 23 Mar 2019
  • Empire State Heroes MUSH 1 Mar 2019
  • Adrien Thomas has been approved for Roleplay 29 Dec 2018
  • Nate Forgeson has been approved for Roleplay 5 Dec 2018
  • Lincoln Fox has been approved for Roleplay 24 Nov 2018
  • Miranda Moore has been approved for Roleplay 22 Nov 2018
  • Lilli Remilliard has been approved for Roleplay 18 Nov 2018
  • Ivara Lee Armstrong has been approved for Roleplay 9 Oct 2018
  • Website Updates 15 Sep 2018
... more news

Scenes

Performing A Duet

IC date: June 24, 2052 | Cast: Cailean (Kaylee) Simmons, Jericho Trent

Something Like Top Gun

IC date: June 12, 2052 | Cast: Kamila Novac, Liam Whelan

Defying Murphy

IC date: June 03, 2052 | Cast: Cailean (Kaylee) Simmons, Ian Owenshire, Jericho Trent

Aura Of The Alpha

IC date: June 01, 2052 | Cast: Brinley Irvine, Jeremiah Gleason

Breaking The Programming

IC date: May 24, 2052 | Cast: Michael Cross, Nekesa (Neke) Okeke

... More Scenes

Setting/Theme

  • Glossary
  • Map
  • Timeline
  • World

Systems

House Rules and Clarifications

+help

My Tickets

Submit A Ticket

© Copyright 2017 - Inheritance Gambit · All Rights Reserved · Site customised by Ask Charly Leetham · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use

Powered by FATEFate™ is a trademark of Evil Hat Productions, LLC. The Powered by Fate logo is © Evil Hat Productions, LLC and is used with permission.

Connect with us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter