Comments on general rules.
You might consider updating to the Fate core ladder. I was going to link it, but I guess it hasn't been freely published yet. It will be soon though. Backers of the project have had the preview copy for quite a while. They've made many awesome improvements.
+8 Legendary
+7 Epic
+6 Fantastic
+5 Superb
+4 Great
+3 Good
+2 Fair
+1 Average
0 Mediocre
-1 Poor
-2 Terrible
Advice:
Don't overdo the world creation. The only reason Amstaad isn't several years old is that I didn't have time to commit to running stuff. The city needs a basic structure, but after that, it should be able to live and adapt to what the mods and players add to the city through their descriptions. Actually, just read this in the Fate Core rules while looking something up for a comment below this:
One word of advice, though—don’t try to invent too much [of the setting] up
front. As you’ll see over the course of the chapter, you’re going to be generating
a lot of ideas just through the process of game and character creation, so
the details will come in time.
Advice:
Add this quote to the rules:
Both players and gamemasters also have a secondary job: make everyone
around you look awesome. Fate is best as a collaborative endeavor, with
everyone sharing ideas and looking for opportunities to make the events as
entertaining as possible.
You might edit it for the forums, though. Replace gamemasters with mods? etc.
Advice to mods
Remember that absolutely anything in Fate can be treated as a character. If you have a concern or question about how to treat some object, create it as a character.
They do not refresh. Once used, they are gone until you find a way to gain more.
The players shouldn't be looking to gain more. The mods should be looking to use them to compel. I would also suggest that if you do any campaign type side forums, which I had hoped would become fairly common, you would start with some number of fate tokens and figure out the appropriate refresh rate. Eliminating the concept of refresh also makes it harder to balance some things. But I think it should all be doable. It might make stunts better if you are going to use them.
question[
Why do aspects have levels?
Other stuff to add to descriptions
Characters in a game of Fate should be proactive. They have a variety of
abilities that lend themselves to active problem solving, and they aren't
timid about using them. They don’t sit around waiting for the solution to a
crisis to come to them—they go out and apply their energies, taking risks
and overcoming obstacles to achieve their goals.
Characters in a game of Fate are good at things. They aren’t bumbling fools
who routinely look ridiculous when they’re trying to get things done—
they’re highly skilled, talented, or trained individuals who are capable of
making visible change in the world they inhabit. They are the right people
for the job, and they get involved in a crisis because they have a good chance
of being able to resolve it for the better.
This doesn't mean they always succeed, or that their actions are without
unintended consequence. It just means that when they fail, it isn't because
they made dumb mistakes or weren't prepared for the risks.
Suggestion
Have a post at the top that lists some of the "big issues" in the city at the moment. ex.
A dramatic increase in pickpockets
might be on a region. The whole city might have something like
The Suicide Cult
because The Suicide Cult is trying to summon a Cthulu-like demon that will probably just destroy the entire city. This will put aspects on the entire city and give people something they can try to tackle. I suspect that this game will turn into warring factions of players at some point, but in the beginning, it will give players some guidance. It also gives the mods something to interact with the players with.
Add to character creation
Player characters should be exceptional and interesting. They could very
easily find success in less exciting situations than those that come their
way in play. You must figure out why
your character is going to keep getting
involved in these more dangerous
things. If you don’t, the GM is under no
obligation to go out of her way to make
the game work for you—she’ll be too
busy with other players who made characters
that have a reason to participate.
The golden rule of making aspects
in character creation:
you can always change it later.
If you’re struggling to make an
aspect, write out the idea in as
many words as you need to, in
order to get it down on paper
in the first place. If an aspect
pops up after you write it down,
great! If not, maybe someone
else at the table can help you
come up with an aspect. And
if you’re still stuck, leave it for
now—you’ll have plenty of time
during play to refine it.
And if you really need to, it’s
okay to leave some blank.
In Fate Core, they've added the idea of aspects being "High Concepts" and "Troubles" They are mildly helpful for people who didn't really grok aspects and how to make them interesting. If you think about them that way, it forces you to create aspects that are a little more interesting.
More later... Sorry for the wall of text.
