A Love Letter to Notice in Fate Core
Prompted by a discussion on the the Fate Community FB group, I have to share my thoughts on Notice skill in Fate Core, and why I love the way it works there.
The first and biggest thing to love about Notice in Fate is that it’s a Skill amongst the others. And as one, it should work like any other Skill does in Fate. There are no special rules for it written in the book (save for it being the first skill to compare for initiative in a physical Conflict), and you don’t need to think there are, no matter how much your experience, coming in from other RPGs, tells you otherwise.
It’s a Skill, and as such, it can be used by a player to make an Action, simple as that. It can be used to Overcome, Create an Advantage or Defend. You can read about it in the SRD for the technical stuff, but on the philosophy level, it’s a tool for the player character to use on the player’s discretion. It’s an active thing. You don’t perceive things, you actively notice them.
If the Twi’lek negotiatior has brought along a Wookie bodyguard, who is “Hiding in the shadows”, I can choose to spend my screen time to Overcome with Notice to spot that bodyguard, or do something different like Create an Advantage to look tough. In a heated battle, I can use Notice to Create and Advantage to spot that Darth Vader is “More a machine than a man” to use that to my advantage later on in our duel. Or if someone tries to Create an Advantage on me to be “In a perfect position to attack”, I can Defend against it with Notice to avoid getting backstabbed next turn. Just like any other skill would work
As stated in the SRD, Notice isn’t used for broad and blanket “see if anyone spots something” things. That’s boring. And like any other skill, Notice needs to be pointed to specific task. “I enter the waiting room and roll Notice to find out more about the Inquisitor by looking around.” would prompt me a question of “ok, what are you trying to do, exactly? Mechanically and in the fiction? Are you trying to figure out what his Trouble is just by looking at the magazines in the waiting room? Because that would be an Epic (+7) task indeed.” just as any other vague thing that’s not really a specific Action with a clear goal would. I would ask for more specifics for a vague description on any other roll, why not Notice?
To address the blanket “see if you notice this” checks, Fate has a far superior technique for doing those. Compels. If in the heat of the battle, the lone group of stormtroopers have set up an ambush, and ”It’s a trap!”, and no-one has spent their turn to actually Notice the thing beforehand (since the Aspect is on the table for the players to see), when the characters move to a position where the trap could be sprung, just Compel that Aspect there. If you’re willing to pay the Fate point, you are not caught by surprise, or you rather get caught in the trap, you earn a Fate point for it. And since you had an opportunity to use Notice to prevent the Compel on you, the skill is still relevant.
I love Notice. It works so much better in Fate than it does in many other systems.
