In both of the games I'm writing, I've realized that the home base is a big deal in the game. Thinking back to earlier games, this has been true for every game of Fate I've run. Yet I cannot remember any rules or advice in Fate books for creating a home base. Does anyone know of one I missed or done the same in your own games? I would have thought it would come up, whether it's a castle or a flying mecha battleship.

I've handled creating bases myself several ways in the past, and this weekend sat down and wrote out the first draft of the chapter for creating a speakeasy for Criminal Spirits. I've cut out the first part which is very specific to the genre and NYC, but I'd love feedback on it. Especially if it's clear and easy to follow, and if you like the results and would find them helpful in a campaign. There are more example images (building it in stages) in the chapter but reddit is a pain to embed images mid post.

This draft is part of the 6th chapter I've written out for Criminal Spirits, which I'm crowdfunding September 1st. I appreciate any feedback and of course any follows if your interested in the game. Criminal Spirits TTRPG - BackerKit

Zoning Out the Speakeasy

No other location in the game will have more scenes happen in it than your speakeasy and it should be laid out clearly for play. 

This setup uses the concepts of Zones and Barriers, which you can learn more about in the chapter Time and Space. All you need to know for laying out the speakeasy is that Zones define locations that characters can move between, as long as they are touching. Barriers are obstacles that make it difficult to move between Zones.

The first three Zones have already been created when you wrote down the High Concept, Front, and Neighborhood. 

Write down your high concept, write the Front below that, and the Neighborhood below the Front. 

Now you need to add one more Zone, a secret entrance. This could be another business, a side alley, a hidden door, or any other place or method that allows characters to slip in and out unnoticed for smuggling moonshine or just sneaking around. Write it down and put it above the High Concept. 

The Secret Entrance most likely also leads into the neighborhood, but may go somewhere else (such as the Hudson River for a secret dock). If it does, add that area as a Zone as well. 

These are the four essential zones for the speakeasy. You may want to add more, for instance some characters may have an apartment in or above the speakeasy, or there may be a neighbor you go to often enough that it’s worth writing down.

Place these new zones touching the zones that you can directly go to from them. This may be the neighborhood if you need to step outside the speakeasy to reach them. 

Don’t worry about catching everything, you can always add more.

Once the zones are down, it’s time to consider Blocks. Is there anything that would stop characters from moving between them? You can always assume there is a possibility to lock or block doors and that doesn’t need to be written down. But something exceptional like iron bars might be worth noting. At minimum, you should note down what keeps just anyone from going between the Front and the speakeasy freely.

Finally, you should add a magical aspect to one or two zones. These are aspects that bring a bit of magic and wonder into your speakeasy. Examples could be a magical resident, an enchantment or curse, an emotion the Zone brings out in those there, or some artifact within it. The possibilities are endless.

And now you are ready to play in your speakeasy.

Updating Your Speakeasy

Over the course of a campaign, your speakeasy will change. Unlike a player character there are no strict rules about when the speakeasy can change, but the players should at minimum be able to request changes to the speakeasy whenever there is a minor milestone. The gamemaster should make a change based on the events of the campaign at least every major milestone in the game. You can change anything in the speakeasy to represent the new reality the player’s characters have created.

I'm in the middle of working with my artist on the "fancy" character sheet for Criminal Spirits. There WILL be a much simpler sheet without art available - I understand that this is not for everyone. But that's no excuse to not make this as functional as possible. I'd greatly appreciate any feedback.

There are already changes planned: a lot of the french words will be removed (basically just Distillerier Esprit will remain) to clean it up and be less distracting, and the name section in the top left will be made more obvious what it is along with some other smaller changes. But so far I've only gotten to show this to a few friends and I'd like to have a much wider range of feedback on it.

This August 7th-9th is the online charity convention, Summer Knights.

https://tabletop.events/conventions/summer-knights-2026

Badges are $5 and go to support Doctors Without Borders.

This year, three Fate games will be running. Two by me, using my own Glorious Fate system, and a game of Fate Core which I'll be playing in! If your looking for some oneshot action, come check out the schedule.

Besides Fate games, there are several other Indy RPGs and many DnD games running for charity. I will also be giving an encore of my presentation on unusual RPG mechanics, "Don't Tell Me the Odds" for anyone free on Sunday.

And counting, so send me your own ideas to add to the list! This is the first major update for the Criminal Spirits character inspirer, doubling the number of professions and adding a few new personal and nature choices as well.

Inspire Your Criminal Spirit

This update was focused on the professions, but I'm planning at least one more big one to add nature and personal options. This should bring the site to near 100,000 random character inspirations.

After that, I will probably wait until October when the Criminal Spirits backerkit launch is done before moving on to new genres.

As foretold, the random character inspiration website for Criminal Spirits is LIVE!

Inspire Your Criminal Spirit

Click on Random to get a new inspiration for an urban fantasy character in Glorious Fate or Fate Accelerated. Each new high concept is made up of 3 randomized words or phrases, for a total of over 4000 possible concepts and growing. Every part of the concept comes with ideas for what they allow the character to do, when they could be invoked with fate points, and when they could be rewarded (or compelled in FAE) to give the player more Fate points.

New ideas for character inspirations are always welcome! This is as living website that I intend to add to regularly for at least the next few weeks, and I'm also planning to do the same for other settings and genres, starting with Sky Pirates around the end of this month.

As foretold, the random character inspiration website for Criminal Spirits is LIVE!

Inspire Your Criminal Spirit

Click on Random to get a new inspiration for an urban fantasy character in Glorious Fate or Fate Accelerated. Each new high concept is made up of 3 randomized words or phrases, for a total of over 4000 possible concepts and growing. Every part of the concept comes with ideas for what they allow the character to do, when they could be invoked with fate points, and when they could be rewarded (or compelled in FAE) to give the player more Fate points.

New ideas for character inspirations are always welcome! This is as living website that I intend to add to regularly for at least the next few weeks, and I'm also planning to do the same for other settings and genres, starting with Sky Pirates around the end of this month.

If you enjoy rules light narrative RPGs, come try out Glorious Fate. Glorious Fate is my version of Fate Accelerated, taking the already rules-light system and stripping it down to create the fastest, most engaging and creative experience I can manage. If your familiar with Fate systems, expect everything that makes Fate unique, including a great emphasis on Aspects (written words) and roleplaying with new streamlined actions and conflict. You can download the rules for free here:

Glorious Fate in 10 Pages | Patreon

And I'd love to talk about the system in the comments.

In the next 3 weeks I am running 3 one-shot demo games of Glorious Fate in 3 different settings, two of them of my own design. All Followers on Patreon are welcome, including the Free tier. Join for an invite to the Game Map Discord where the games will be run.

https://www.patreon.com/c/u82882832

Friday June 19th, 8PM EDT: Skyjail Break, a Sky Pirates Oneshot

Wednesday June 24th, 8PM EDT: Jungle Temple, a Masters of Umdaar Oneshot (this game will be using the setting of Evil Hat's Masters of Umdaar, with the rules of Glorious Fate)

Friday July 3rd, 8PM EDT: Senseless Violence, a Criminal Spirits oneshot.

Play Glorious Fate!

Join the Game Map for three weeks of online games of Glorious Fate. All Followers on Patreon are welcome, including the Free tier. Join for an invite to the Game Map Discord where the games will be run.

https://www.patreon.com/c/u82882832

Friday June 19th, 8PM EDT: Skyjail Break, a Sky Pirates Oneshot

Wednesday June 24th, 8PM EDT: Jungle Temple, a Masters of Umdaar Oneshot (this game will be using the setting of Masters of Umdaar, with the rules of Glorious Fate)

Friday July 3rd, 8PM EDT: Senseless Violence, a Criminal Spirits oneshot.

Got the first prints of Glorious Fate and Trouble today, just in time for a game at Mid Island Collectibles. They both look and feel great!

My third adventure for Criminal Spirits is now on DTRPG and Patreon!

Trouble is an adventure for Criminal Spirits campaigns, where a simple bar fight escalates into huge trouble with the mob, the cops, the church and ancient Greeks. Trouble can be played as a mini-campaign or used as a source for NPCs and encounters with the denizens of Criminal Spirits.

Trouble, along with 2 other adventures for Criminal Spirits, is available at the $5 tier on Patreon and can be purchased on DTRPG.

Trouble on Patreon

Trouble on DTRPG

Criminal Spirits is my 1921 Prohibition-Era Urban Fantasy setting for Glorious Fate, which I aim to bring to crowd funding when I have 100 followers on Patreon. You can see what's already available on Patreon here: What's Here? | Patreon. More content is posted every month for both free and paid supporters.