In a game of Fate Condensed, you will control the actions of the character you created, contributing to the story you are all telling together. In general, the GM will narrate the world and the actions of non-player characters (NPCs), and the other players will narrate their individual PCs’ actions.

To act, follow the principle of fiction first: say what your character is trying to do, then figure out how you’ll do that in the system. Your character’s aspects inform what they can attempt and help set the context for interpreting the results. Most people couldn’t even try to perform emergency surgery on a disemboweled ally, but with an aspect establishing a medical background, you can try. Without that aspect you might at best buy a few moments for some last words. When in doubt, check with your GM and the table.

How do you know if you’re successful? Often, your character will simply succeed, because the action isn’t hard and nobody’s trying to stop you. But in difficult or unpredictable situations, you’ll break out the dice to find out what happens.

When a character wants to take an action, the group should think about these questions:

• What’s stopping this from happening?
• What could go wrong?
• How is it interesting when it does go wrong?

If no one has good answers to all of these questions, it simply happens. Driving to the airport doesn’t require a roll of the dice. Racing down the highway to a waiting plane while being pursued by cybernetically enhanced beasts from another world, on the other hand, is a perfect time to roll the dice.

Whenever you take action, follow these steps:

1. Fiction first: Describe what you’re trying to do, then choose the skill and action that fits.
2. Roll four dice.
3. Add up the symbols on the dice: a [+] is +1, [-] is -1, and [0] is 0. This will give you a dice result of -4 to 4.
4. Add the dice result to your skill rating.
5. Modify the dice by invoking aspects (page XX) and using stunts (page XX).
6. Declare your total result, called your effort.