What is it?

I love Mythic Game Master Emulator. It just works for me. I’ve played multiple
adventures and enjoyed every single one of them. Maybe except for when I’ve tried to play
Fate. Just couldn’t make it work for some reason. It should be simple. Fate Core is a
narrative driven game. So is Mythic. There should be a natural synergy between those two.
But for me - it wasn’t.
Then I’ve started looking into Fate itself. I’ve found out it’s not that simple game
system as it seems. There are multiple parts that need to come together for a story to work.
And it’s even harder to achieve that state without a Game Master.
This document is a collection of my ideas and house rules to use Fate Core and
Mythic Game Master Emulator. Those rules were playtested by me but I understand they
might need further tweaking to make them work for you. When trying to tinker with Mythic
and fate I used two guiding principles:

1. I want to play Fate Core. It means I want to play game as much by the book
as possible. Didn’t want to include crazy hacks or modifications to the system.
Those things are left up to you.
2. I want to be a player. I created this set of guidelines so I don’t need to play
part of a Game Master. Or at least I need to assume this role as little as
possible. I want to experience the story from the perspective of my character
and I’ll use everything I can to leave GM-ing to dice and tables.

Before the game

It might be tempting to quickly create character and jump into play. I’ve found out that
this approach might not give you enough to go on and you might get stuck very quickly. To
create the basic foundation of your game it’s better to look into the Game Creation chapter of
Fate Core. I’ve also found inspiration in Cooking Up a Fate One-Shot article from Fate
Codex. Here’s what it says.

First create the Current Issue of your setting. It doesn’t need to be anything
complicated or very elaborate. Then in similar fashion create an Impending Issue. Make
those two issues into Aspects. They’ll be your game Aspects you can compel and invoke
during play. They’ll also add a level of focus to your game.

Ask yourself “Who benefits from the current issue?” and “Who is trying to
change the current issue?” Create two NPCs, one for each answer. You don’t need to
create whole game statistics for them. Just a basic idea will be enough.
 Then ask yourself “What powerful person has a stake in how the impending
issue is resolved?” and create a third NPC that reflects this answer. Looks like you’re
ready to make your hero.

Character creation
Follow normal procedures to create characters in Fate Core. It might be tempting to
give him or her more Skills. Remember, that Skill value doesn’t mean anything out of
context. It doesn’t translate into any sort of scale or measure real world physics. It just
represents how much character can influence the story. I’ve found that your character is just
fine as it is. But if you want to change the tone of your game you can use Pulp or
Superheroic modes from Fate Toolkit.

As for Aspects I like to follow these guidelines:

1. Create High Concept.
2. Create Trouble
3. Imagine a short story about your character being involved with the Current Issue of
your world. Create Aspect based on that.
4. Imagine another story but this time your character is involved somehow in a situation
that was caused by an Impending Issue. Create Aspect based on this story as well.
5. Last one is Free Aspect - it can be anything. Think of something you feel is missing
or something you'll particularly enjoy during play.

Mythic lists
Last thing you should do before you start your game is to create your Lists. For your
list of Threads use two Aspects you’ve created during worldbuilding. One for Current issue
and one for Impeding Issue.
The list of NPCs uses three characters you’ve established during world building. To
expand this list, create a fourth NPC. This time he or she will be connected to your main
hero’s High Concept. So if your character is Charming Elven Thief you can create a
half-elven guard captain that was charged with the mission to capture the main protagonist.
At the end your list should have two Threads and four NPCs.

First scene setup

There’s multiple ways to start your game. It can be as complicated as you want it to
be. Here’s some suggestions:
 ● Come up with some interesting or tense situation your character got themselves into.
You might want to tell a particular story and you already have something in mind.

● Roll Random Event table with some other tables as additional inspiration if needed.

● Just like Fate Core book suggests using Aspects to create a starting point. Roll 1d20
to find out which Aspect will be linked to the problem that will be introduced in the first
scene.

1-4 Problem comes from one of character’s Aspects

5-6 Problem comes from Current Issue

7-8 Problem comes from Impending Issue

9-12 Problem comes from mixture of two different character’s Aspects; roll twice to
determine Aspects that are causing problem; if you roll duplicate than replace roll
with Trouble Aspect or reroll

13-14 Problem comes from mixture of one of the character’s Aspect and Current Issue

15-16 Problem comes from mixture of one of the character’s Aspect and Impending Issue

17-18 Problem comes from mixture of some random event (roll on Random Event table)
and one of character’s Aspects

19 Problem comes from mixture of some random event (roll on Random Event table)
and Current Issue

20 Problem comes from mixture of some random event (roll on Random Event table)
and Impending Issue

Roll 1d10 to determine random character Aspect

1-2 - your High Concept
3-4 - your Trouble
5-6 - your first story Aspect
7-8 - your second story Aspect
9-10 - your free Aspect
Setting up the scene
Every time your character is doing something, set it up as a scene. Fate Core and
Mythic work best if you use scene as a base of what you do.
Let's say you play as a galactic smuggler and you’re trying to find a guy who owes
you money and is hiding on this huge space station. You might think to roll Contacts to see
what happens based on this roll and leave it at that. Try to resist this temptation. Set it as a
scene. When you succeed with your Contacts set a scene. Imagine where you are (use
Detail Check if needed) and who you are about to meet (roll for identity or description of that
person if needed). Basically when in doubt - set a scene. Let your imagination run wild.
Obviously that will give you a chance to roll against Chaos Factor to see if the scene
is interrupted or altered. This is a good thing as it’ll bring some level of surprise to your game
and might set your adventure into a new direction.
Remember also, that scenes in Fate Core have Aspects. After establishing your
scene (rolling Scene Focus if needed) roll 4dF. For each minus on the dice create one
troublesome or dangerous Aspect on that scene. For each plus create one helpful or
descriptive Aspect. That should be plenty to work with as it should create about three
Aspects on average. If you want to create a short scene you can always roll 3dF or even
2dF.

Example: My hero is exploring Tomb of Undying and came upon the main chamber.
After rolling against Chaos Factor I know that scene is as expected - I’ll find some riches and
mummified body of sorcerer Ka’Thrak. I rolled 4dF and got +, +, -, 0. Decided to create
Aspects: Ancient Riches (positive), Place of Power (positive), Unstable Ceiling (negative).
Of course none of those Aspects is fully positive or negative and all of them can be
used in both ways. Place of Power is good if I need to set up a protective circle but what if
Ka’Thrak will reanimate and try to use this Aspect for himself?

Compelling
You’ll need a lot of Fate Points. Your pool will deplenish quickly. That’s why you need
to be on lookout for those sweet Compels. I normally Compel in those situations:
1. Using self-compelling as normal. I’ll look for a situation when I can make a bad
decision or introduce complications to the story based on my Aspect.
2. When Fate Check will ask for a random event to occur I’ll roll on the Event Focus
Table and see if the result can match one of my Aspects to create trouble. If it does
I’ll go for it and award myself Fate Point.
3. When setting a scene if I roll a scene that is interrupted or altered I’ll look for
opportunity to Compel. If the scene is altered I’ll look at my Aspects and see if one of
them can make things harder for me. If a scene is interrupted I’ll roll Event Focus and
see if anything fits.
Setting Difficulty

Difficulty based on Chaos Factor

One thing I hate is setting my own difficulties. For that brief moment, I'm not a player
anymore but I’m forced to look at the game from GM perspective. To avoid that I’d tied
Difficulty to Chaos Factor. Reasoning is the crazier the story gets, it’s getting harder for the
hero to succeed. As the story progresses and the Chaos Factor increases, so does Difficulty
of your rolls. That means you’ll be using Success with the cost more often - and create a
more dramatic and thrilling story.

For basic Mythic your Chaos factor is a number between 1 and 10. I recommend
setting up basic difficulty all your rolls at half of Chaos factor value, round down.

For Mythic V2 Chaos Factor is number between 3 and 6. I recommend using

Difficulties equal Chaos Factor -2.

Let's look at V2 variant:

● Chaos Factor of 3 means all your rolls face opposition of +1. At this point the
story runs smooth and everything is steady for your protagonist
● Chaos Factor of 4 is your base. All your rolls are against +2. You might fail
some of them. Success with minor cost is more likely as well.
● Chaos Factor of 5 means the story starts to get complicated. Opposition of +3
is standard. You’ll fail unless you’ll use your best Skills or some Fate Points.
● Chaos Factor of 6 is peak of craziness. All your rolls are at opposition of +4.
That’s three steps above your average Skill value!

Those Difficulties represent heroic or challenging actions. Chases, combat or tense

investigation. If your hero is under time pressure or situation is really stressful - use base
difficulties above. Don’t worry too much about other modifiers. It assumes that higher Chaos
Factor means life is harder. Basically higher your Chaos - more traffic is on those streets
during the car chase scene.
If you feel like based on the fiction character don’t have to worry about time limits or
can try multiple times without consequences - lower Difficulty by 2. Basically any time you’ll
describe your action as slowly and carefully.
In opposition if you feel like action is extremely hard and you can think of at least one
additional major factor that will complicate things just add 2 to Difficulty.
Difficulty based on Fate Check Modifiers

There’s obvious that the more you play uning Mythic the better you’ll be at handling
it’s mechanics. As you’ll find yourself using Fate Check a lot you’ll also get used to judging
modifiers based on difficulty of the challenge. You have to do it almost constantly when
asking your Yes/No questions so why not use the same mechanics to judge the difficulty of
your opposition when applying Fate Core rules.
So the question is: How likely my hero will succeed in his task?

Very Likely opposition of +0

Likely opposition of +1
50/50 or Unsure opposition of +2
Unlikely opposition of +3
Very Unlikely opposition of +5
No Way opposition of +7
Impossible opposition of +9

Difficulty based on fiction

As setting difficulty is normally a GM's job I always try to find a way to create a
formula or set of simple steps that will eliminate my bias as a player. When searching for
inspiration I’ve found something I was looking for in Bulldogs! core book.
Basic premise is that your opposition starts at +0. For every question you can
answer Yes it goes up by 2.

OVERCOME:
● Is this situation dangerous, stressful or under a time limit?
● Does this action require mastery in certain skills?
● Is this action completely crazy and unlikely to succeed?

CREATE AN ADVANTAGE:
● Is creating this advantage require care, skill or strength?
● Is Aspect you’re trying to create goes against the nature of whatever is being put on?
● Would it be hard to rid of this Aspect you’re trying to create?

CREATE AN ADVANTAGE (discovering existing Aspect)

● Is this Aspect actively hidden
● Is there any major obstacle preventing you from doing it?
● Are there any complications on the way of those who try to discover that Aspect?
 Let's look at a few examples:

Our hero is trying to climb a rock as an Overcome action. He has proper tools and an
unlimited time to do it. Opposition would be +0 as he’s not under pressure, doesn’t need to
be a master of climbing and the situation is not really crazy. If he tried to do it during heavy
rain when he lacked proper equipment, the situation would be crazy (rain) and dangerous
(no equipment) for opposition of +4.

Our hacker is trying to find information on corporation’s servers. She need mastery to
do it (+2) and we know that security is very tough (it’s crazy to try it for another +2). But she’s
not in danger so opposition total is +4. If she knew she only had two minutes before the
system would kick her out it would apply time pressure for another +2 and a total of +6.

Our character is a superhero with telekinetic abilities. Right now he’s trying to Create
Advantage called Telekinetic Shield around him to protect himself from being shot by two
gunmen. I’d say it requires skill as he needs to be quicker than the actual bullet to do it (+2).
It’s natural for him to protect himself so no modifier there. Also it’s not hard for him to lose
concentration and lose his protection so opposition is only +2.

Success with cost

That’s another situation when you’ll need to look at the story as a GM and I struggle
with that as a solo player. I decided to give power to the player - means myself. Every time I
Tie or Fail - I’d pick one from the list.

Minor Cost
❏ I did it, but my success will cause problems in the future
❏ I did it, but my result is slightly altered
❏ I did it partially - I’m only halfway there
❏ I did it but this scene gets troublesome Aspect
❏ I did it, but I’ve gained negative Aspect
❏ I did it, but opposing NPC will gain Boost (if there’s opposition)
❏ I did it, but I need to mark one of my Stress Boxes (if in conflict)

Serious Cost
❏ I did it but my success will cause serious problem right now
❏ I will do it eventually, but it will take it a lot longer than expected
❏ I did it but opposition gets to create Aspect on the scene with free invoke.
❏ I did it, but someone I care about gets hurt or ends up in a very bad spot.
❏ I did it, but there’s another obstacle on the way I did not predict.
❏ I did it, but the opponent can clear their Stress (only in conflict)
❏ I did it, but I need to mark Consequence with a free invoke for the opposition.
 Example: Jessica Marsh is occult investigator. She spent her time in Miskatonic
Library looking at ways to send the creature from another dimension to the place it came
from. I roll my Investigate but I fail. I decided to take Success with serious cost. Jessica
found details about ritual in the book called Necronomicon, but as a player I need to decide
what will that cost her. Here are just a few examples:
❏ As I’ve found out about the ritual group of cultists appeared in the library. Jessica
reaps the page out of the book and ducks for cover (I did it but my success will cause
serious problem right now)
❏ I’ve spent the whole night in the library. In the morning I’ve found out that creature
killed another person (I will do it eventually, but it will take it a lot longer than
expected)
❏ That book gives me nightmares. I have Didn’t Sleep Well Aspect on me. (I did it but
opposition gets to create Aspect on the scene with free invoke.)
❏ Person that hired me is calling me. It’s her voice but she speaks in an ancient
language. Was she possessed by the creature? (I did it, but someone I care about
gets hurt or ends up in a very bad spot.)
❏ I’ve found the ritual but I can’t translate it. Is anyone here that can read old greek? (I
did it, but there’s another obstacle on the way I did not predict.)

Create NPCs
Making your NPCs is something I absolutely hate as a solo player. That’s the time
when for a few minutes you need to stop your game flow and engage with the system and
math. It takes you out of the game. Below I will try to show some guidelines on how to create
nameless, supporting and main NPCs. I’ll try to stick to Fate Core rules as much as possible
while trying to make it smooth and painless
Every time you're asked to roll a random Skill for your NPC you can use the table
below or come up with any other method you're comfortable with. You can either roll 1d100
or 1d20 depending on what sort of dice you have handy.
 Roll d100 Roll d20 Skill Roll d100 Roll d20 Skill

1-5 1 Athletics 51-55 11 Notice

6-10 2 Burglary 56-60 12 Physique

11-15 3 Contacts 61-65 13 Provoke

16-20 4 Crafts 66-70 14 Rapport

21-25 5 Deceive 71-75 15 Resources

26-30 6 Drive 76-80 16 Shoot

31-35 7 Empathy 81-85 17 Stealth

36-40 8 Fight 86-90 18 Will

41-45 9 Investigate 91-100 19-20 Special

46-50 10 Lore

Nameless NPC
They're coming in three flavours. Based on the fiction you’ll decide on the type of the
character.
● Average - it’s average person on the street; typical night guard would be in this
category
● Fair - they’re professionals; bouncers guarding entrance to fancy night club would
belong here
● Good - they’re elite; personal celebrity bodyguards are Good at their job

First start with Aspect. Perfect Aspect will include a person's Identity and Personality
if you’re planning to use Behaviour Check from V2.

Next pick or roll their Skills:

● Average NPC - two Skills at +1 each
● Fair NPC - one at +2 and two more at +1 each
● Good NPC - one at +3, one more at +2 and two at +1 each

If you’re rolling for Skills you might roll in order assigning values as you roll them. You
might also assign one or two skills and roll for the rest of them.

If you roll Special on the table above consider rolling again and treat the next Skill
you’ll roll as a special case - this NPC will have additional Aspect or Stunt based on that
Skill. You can also use this rule for any duplicated Skills when rolling.
 Nameless NPCs will not have any Consequences and will possess a very limited
Stress track.
● Average NPC - no Stress, any hit will take them out
● Fair NPC - [1] box only
● Good NPC - [1] and [2] boxes only

Examples:

Neuron is a future hacker that is trying to protect his local network against rogue AI
attacks. I’ll try to establish these AI stats.
Based on the fiction I know it’s Advanced Rogue AI - I’ll make it into the Aspect.
This will be an elite NPC so it’ll fall under Good category.
For skills I’ll pick Stealth +3 and Fight +2. I still have two more Skills to pick up but I
want to surprise myself so I’ll roll: 27 and 85. That will give me Drive +1 (looks like this AI
can control vehicles) and duplication on Stealth. I’ll give it an Aspect Nearly Undetectable.
Reroll gives me 66: Rapport +1.
For Stress boxes we stick to default: [1] [2].

My hero just escaped the zombie horde and managed to find shelter in a suburban
house. As I’ve explored the house I've found there's another person hidden in the basement.
Fate checks told me it’s a male, young and he’s hiding. Mythic told me he’s Fast, Careless
Elite.
I’ll give his Aspect Fast and Furious Rich Boy. Naturally he’ll get Drive +1. Roll of
06 will give him Burglary +1. He’s a true bad boy.

Creating Mob
When dealing with groups of NPCs in solo play it’s always easier to treat them as a
Mob. That way you speed up your play and it’ll take less effort to create a whole group of
adversaries.
To determine how many opponents you’ve encountered feel free to ask the Oracle or
choose based on fiction. In a situation where you want to be surprised you can use the
following rule. First determine the basic Difficulty of the scene (in Setting Difficulties above)
and add 4dF roll to it. Number you’ll get will tell you the rough strength of the group.
Remember that Mob will roll Skill + 1 for any additional person in the group. By reversing this
math you’ll get a number of enemies.
This method might give you a group of one or even no opponents at all. You might go
with it if it fits the fiction.

Example:
Brago, a halfling burglar, is trying to get into a rich merchant’s mansion. Unfortunately
he was spotted by his guards. I want to see how many of them are there.
Chaos Factor is 6 (I’m using a basic fate chart for this example) so I roll 4dF+3. Roll
is +1 so result is 4. Based on the fiction I’ll treat guards as professionals, so Fair enemies.
One guard is worth +2. Each additional guard is +1, so Brago found out that there are three
guards chasing him.
If I’d roll -2 that my result would be 3-2=1. That means there would be only one
Average enemy. I could ask Oracle some more questions or decide it's the merchant's son
that Brago stumbled upon.

Supporting NPCs
Supporting NPC’s are a little more complicated than Nameless NPCs, but the key
here is to create systems that will let you make them on the fly without disturbing your game
flow. Good rule is if the character in your game has been given a name - he or she is
Supporting NPC.
First determine their High Concept and Trouble. To do this ask Mythic tables or
follow the fiction.
Next pick or roll Skills. You don’t have to decide on their values just yet. Number of
Skills depends on the role this NPC plays in your story.
● Allies or Weak enemies - pick four Skills
● Stronger enemies - pick five Skills
● Serious enemies - pick six Skills
You can even try to experiment with epic enemies (seven Skills) or legendary enemies (eight
Skills) but those enemies might be beyond the scope of average solo adventure or require
longer campaigns to defeat.

Whenever you require to roll for this NPC or against it you can randomly determine
the value of Skill you need in any given moment. Supporting NPCs will have one Skill at
each value, so enemy with five Skills will have one at +5, one at +4, one at +3 etc

Supporting NPC’s will likely have additional, third Aspect. Good rule of thumb is if a
character is tied to Current Issue, Impeding Issue or main hero’s Aspect he or she will
deserve additional Aspect.

As for Stress they’ll start with standard [1] [2] tracks for both Physical and Mental
Stress. If they possess either Physique or Will those Skills should modify Stress track as
usual so it's a good idea to determine their value when your NPC needs to take a hit.

Supporting NPCs will have Moderate Consequence by default.

Consider giving them one of those Stunts:

● Skilled NPC - bonus +2 to one Skill in specific situation
● Versatile NPC - can replace one Skill they don’t have with another Skill they posses
● Deadly NPC - Weapon 1
● Tough NPC - additional Moderate Consequence.
Example:
My hero is a dwarf that was captured by the orcs. While waiting in the underground
dungeon he befriended a huge troll named Uck. Now I need quick stats for his new friend.
Uck will have High Concept and Trouble, but there’s no need for any additional
Aspects as he’s not connected to either main hero or bigger story. Also Uck will have four
Skills. I decided to be surprised and rolled three times: Resources, Athletics and Crafts. His
fourth Skill should be Physique as I’ve established he’s really big.
I’ve also given him a Stunt - extra Moderate Consequence.
During escape my dwarf asked Uck to use his strenght to make the tunnel collapse. I
rolled 1d4 to find out what his Physique is. I’ve rolled 2 so his Physique is +2. I’ve also
remembered to mark his additional Stress box for his Physical Stress.
Later on we’ll try to run for our lives and we both roll our Athletics. I roll 1d3 to
determine Uck’s Skill value. I’ll treat roll of 1 as +1, roll 2 as +3 and roll of 3 as +4 because
my +2 slot was already taken by Physique. I roll 1 so my new friend has Athletics at +1. That
means that his Resources and Crafts are his best skills at +3 and +4 but I don’t need to
know exact values until the situation will call for roll. Looks like this troll has some treasure
buried nearby.

Other types NPCs

I do understand that Fate Core mentions Main NPCs alongside Hitters, Threats and
Bosses from Fate Toolkit. Feel free to create those types of NPCs for your game. Guidelines
I’ve provided are meant to enable you to create NPC stats quickly during the game. If you
feel you want to add depth to your opposition or allied characters feel free to do it using any
rules you’ll see fit.

Advancement
Solo games tend to be shorter and more focused. For me a typical session normally
lasts only a couple of scenes as I play quite often but in short, hour or two bursts. To see
character change and grow I’ve used an idea I’ve found on rpg.net in a thread called
Dragonlands by user Nessalantha. I truly recommend that actual play as a prime example of
successful Fate solo game.Here are some rules for advancement you might steal for your
solo game:

● Minor Milestone is happening every four scenes.

● Significant Milestone is happening every time you manage to resolve one of the
Threads; as an alternative you can decide you can trigger it every 8 scenes.
● Major Milestone should happen when you manage to resolve Impending Issue or
Current Issue