The first issue I had was weaponry and items. Within the setting of Eberron there are a lot of weapons and items that are very narratively important. There is also a big difference between a magic item and a mundane item. Normally for Fate I like to go with a minimalist approach to items, but for this I felt a bit more granularity would be needed. I originally just went with weapon and armor ratings as described in the extras chapter. As I have played through the game I think I would do this differently had I to do it again. So for this public hack I think I will go with a new rule. If your weapon/armor rating is higher than your current shifts on the roll it sets the minimum for the attack/defense. I am on the fence as to whether this will work better, but I think it will. I am also a bit wary of the armor rules. I am wary of creating a zero sum game. I am unsure how to fix this though, any thoughts would be appreciated. These are just mundane items, a magic item has one or more aspects attached to it. The more aspects the more powerful the magic item. So far this system seems to have worked out OK, though there has been some abuse. Here is a listing of the weapons and armor and their ratings:
Weapons
Damage 4 Greatsword, Great axe, Maul
Damage 3 Longsword, Long bow
Damage 2 Short Sword. Staff, Wand
Damage 1 Knife, light weapons
Armor
Armor 4 Full plate(heavy armor)
Armor 3 Half plate, Breastplate(heavier medium)
Armor 2 Chain(lighter medium)
Armor 1 leather/padded(light)
Character creation also provided a bit of a rethink when I started this. I went back and forth on replacing trouble with alignment and how to deal with race and class. In the end I decided to have a race aspect and a class aspect and leave the trouble as trouble. If I had been running any other DnD based game I would have swapped out trouble for Alignment, but in Eberron the focus was very much moving away from the traditional DnD cosmology/worldview. Here are the character creation Phases I set out for my players:
Class aspect: You must have an aspect relating to your class. This could be a simple as fighter/wizard/thief, but you could make up your own, or use one of the stranger ones from the DnD universe of games.
Racial Aspect: You should have one aspect relating to your race, this aspect will be used for any racial abilities you might have(low-light vision, tunnel sense), as well as any racial debility you will run into(elven arrogance, dwarven bluntness)
Then next three remain unchanged from the standard Fate core. there is only one crossing paths section though, so be aware of that.
Trouble aspect
First Adventure
Crossing paths
Magic was the next big thing in the setting. Originally I envisioned only two types Learned magic(wizardry) and gifted magic(Clerical). Having played for a bit I have added a third type of magic, Innate magic(this is sorcerous magic and the like). each is represented by a stunt, and each has its own set of rules, though they are similar.
Spells are treated as aspects, the controlling skill of the spell is used to charge up/create/change out the spells and the spells themselves will generally be used as an enhancement on other skills. The spells cannot be used to allow the controlling skill to do more than is normal for that skill(no using arcana to attack and the like).
Learned Magic: When you take this stunt yo must choose a skill to represent your control and knowledge of these magics. Wizards will take Arcana, Artificers would take crafts. You gain a number of spells(or infusions/augments if an artificer) equal to your rank in your controlling skill. You can swap these out if you are given enough time and a chance to roll Arcana. After the requisite game time you make an Arcana roll with the difficulty equal to the number of spells you wish to change out time two. If you succeed you have the new spells, if you fail you keep the old spells. After each rest period(about eight hours of rest/meditation) you gain one free use of each of your spell aspects. any use after that will cost Fate Points.
Gifted Magic: You have been granted power by some external force, be it gods, demons, or the forces of nature. You must choose your controlling skill much like learned magic(Will for clerics/paladins, nature for druids/rangers, and so on). each day your power(god/nature/demon) grants you a number of spells equal to your controlling skill. You must spend time in prayer/devotion to your chosen power. At the end of this time you must make a controlling skill roll versus your controlling skill's rating. If you succeed with style you gain the exact spells you wish to have and one use of each for free. If you succeed you gain one spell you wanted and the rest(if there are any) are chosen by the GM, you also get one free use each. If you tie you can choose between getting the same as a regular success or getting all the spell choices you wanted but only one free use of one spell. If you fail you choose between gaining a fate point and the GM chooses what spells you get(and you get only one free use of one spell), or you can choose the spells you want and get no free uses of them but still gain a fate point. this is one of the more complex ones, and as we have no gifted magic users, I am uncertain how this will work.
Innate Magic: You have magic in your blood. It just comes naturally to you, this could be psi or sorcery. You choose a controlling skill, probably something like will, sense, or lore, though it could be nearly anything if you can convince the table that it fits. you gain a number of spells equal to your rating in the controlling skill. These spells do not change, so choose carefully. You also get no free uses of the spells. What you must do, when you want to cast a spell, is spend at least one round rolling your controlling skill, success give you one free use of a specific spell you have. If you succeed with style you gain two uses of the spell. You can keep building up charges on a spell, but they must be used by the end of the scene or else they go away. Basically these are the focused and powerful magic users, but it takes time.
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