Aspect is sort of a freeform set of words and concepts to describe a character -- with game impact written in. (FUG 4) It reflects things beyond skills, such as advantages, disadvantages, connections, attributes. (FUG 16) So, instead of Classes, Races, and Abilities, you have Aspects. Anything you don't have an Aspect in, you're considered normal/average. Anything you have an Aspect in you can draw on in different ways.

Aspects can be (with examples):

• Attributes/Abilities: Strong, Tough, Agile, Fast. Crippled.
• Descriptions: Lovely, Clever, Melodramatic, Burly, Vengeful, Alert, Slothful.
• Careers: Mercenary, Professor, Cop, Spy, Salesman, Faceman, Snoop, Wheelman
• Organizations You're Associated With: The Agency, US Army
• Items: a Signature Gun, Captain America's Shield, a Scar.
• A Catch Phrase: "Better to Reign in Hell," "Feeling Lucky, Punk?"
• People: Mentors, Family, Buddies, Familiars, Nemeses, a team mate.

(See other Aspect Examples.)

Aspects can be good or bad (or both). Most virtues can be vices under the right circumstance, and vice-versa. Xander may have "Normal Joe" instead of a "Slayer" Aspect, but he's as indispensible a member of the Buffy gang as Buffy herself. (FUG 76)

Aspects have levels (or ranks). Each time you choose an Aspect in a given Phase during character advancement, it goes up one level (shown on the character sheet as one checkbox). You cannot have more levels in an Aspect than half the number of Phases (rounded down) thus far. So in the 7th phase, you can only have a max of three levels ("Great" on The Ladder).

Aspects are not just what define the character, they are what is important to the character. The power of an Aspect is really in how interesting it is. Interesting aspects come up more often, are easier to convince the GM to allow re-rolls, etc., and give you more to work with. "Soldier" is okay, but "Navy SEAL" or "Rogue MI.6 Agent" provides additional ways of leveraging the Aspect. (FUG 22) "Intelligent" is okay, but "Bookworm" lends some useful (to player and GM each) color. (FUG 60)

Something that is like an Aspect, but not "permanent" or intrinsic to the character, can be taken instead as an Extra. Discussion of the distinction can be found here and here.

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Using Aspect

During any given session, you can use an Aspect box (level) to do one of two things after you make a die roll:

1. Pick up all four dice and reroll them. (Good for a really awful roll, but risky the better the original roll was.)
2. Pick up any single die and change it to a [+] (effectively adding a safe +1 or +2 to the original roll).

To do this, you have to explain, as part of the story and setting, 'how your Aspect applies here,' what you're doing with it to pull out of the bad roll. (GM adjudicates.) You then check off a box of the Aspect.

Aspect can also be used in a couple of other ways: (FUG 17)

• You can invoke the Aspect for effect, for an advantage not related to a die roll (e.g., checking off a box of "Rich" to get a good hotel room). (People converting from another system can use this to reflect a non-chance class or racial effect.)

• You can have an Aspect compelled (involuntarily invoked) by the GM (this does not check off a box). If I think one of your Aspects is at odds with (or detrimental to, heh heh) an action you're taking (or not), I can declare I'm invoking it. ("You have the Chip On Your Shoulder Aspect, so you're not just going to let that insult slide the way all your team mates want you to.") In which case, you have to do one of the following:
  • Accept the change in action ("Heeeyyyyy!!! Whaddaya mean by that crack?!"). On the up side, you get (Aspect level) Fate Points for your (impending) trouble.

  • Reject the action ("I swallow my pride and march on!"). That will cost you (Aspect level) Fate Points.

  • The compulsion can be bid for (the GM says he's going to do it, offers you a FatePoint, you accept or bid upwards ... and the GM decides it's not worth any more and you end up paying that amount, or you decide to take the FP and run). Max bid remains the number of levels in the Aspect.

• You might roll against your Aspect (as though it were a skill).
  • If for multiple skills that fall under the Aspect, when in a contest covered completely by the Aspect, etc., you can do this for free. (FUG 23) Essentially this is to save a whole bunch of die rolls.

  • If in lieu of a skill that is explicitly spelled out ("I want to use my L337 HAXX0R Aspect at Great instead of my Computers skill at Fair!"), you need to check off an Aspect box (as if you were doing a reroll on your Computers skill). See also: Aspect As Skills

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Regaining Aspect

Your Aspects "recharge" -- are returned to an unchecked state -- between game sessions, or some other appropriate dramatic transition. (E.g., if you break the session in the middle of a melee, or some other sort of scene, you probably shouldn't reset Aspects.)

In cases where you have many Aspects in play (over ten, some suggest), the GM might consider only returning a portion of them between sessions (e.g., the players have 15 Aspects, and 8 of them return at the beginning of each session). An exception to this might be if there is a substantial downtime between the sessions (e.g., between "missions" all the Aspects are recharged, but within a mission, only X are recharged per session).

Note that the Aspect boxes don't fundamentally represent how many times the ability can be used, but how many times it will used that matters in the story during that interval. E.g., you are always Strong (and should always be treated that way), but the Strong Aspect only tweaks the die rolls (levels) times per session. (FUG 24, 75)

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Evolving Aspect

It's possible for an Aspect to become obsolete -- killing a villain who is an Aspect, getting rid of the One Ring, that sort of thing. If that happens, then at the next phase, you can trade out the Aspect for something else, related to the resolution of the previous Aspect (e.g., since your "Dad" was an Aspect, and he got killed, you now have "Vengeance"). (FUG 34) See also character advancement.

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NPCs and Aspect

NPCs have Aspects, too, though they may be simplified for bookkeeping purposes:

 Thug - Fair +1 - [][]

Indeed, it's not unusual to simply write up NPCs with Aspects as a short-handed way of generating them.

NPCs do not usually do rerolls against Aspect, though they can. The GM will tend to reserve such for special effects, and for special NPCs who really should get away or something ... [1]

See: NPC Thoughts

An organization can be defined with Aspects, too. See Organization Aspects.

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Character Rules