Fate Accelerated Story Gamebook - World of the Fifth Sun

Over the past few weeks, I have changed direction with my focus. For WotFS, I for the longest time wanted instead of reading all these rules to somehow incorporate game play with the reading of the rules. A few weeks ago, I toyed with the idea of using a basic rule-set in order to jump right into the story. My search lead me to FAE, Fate Accelerated. I might be able to use a limited number of those rules in order to realize my idea of game play included in character creation and story telling.

During my teens, I encountered Joe Dever's Lone Wolf Adventure Game, which took Choose-Your-Own-Adventure to a more exciting height. The rules were fairly simple, and the adventures were fun.

With FAE rules, I might be able to do this as well, a sort of simple adventure gamebook, where readers can choose their path, for solo gameplay.

Ken Wickham
Copyright © 2015

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 You wake up this morning ready for the big day.

 In the wake of the big day, your stomach flutters, you slept uncomfortably, and uncertainly lies in front of you.

 From your bed, you stare at the ceiling. You can hear the world coming more alive outside. Birds are singing their morning songs. In the distance, rosters are crowing. A neighbor’s dog seems to be barking at something. You can smell the fresh breeze blowing the spring scented warm air up to the plateau. The world of Ea is coming increasingly alive, awake from the deep dark night.

 Ea, the World of the Fifth Sun, is a vast expansive world filled with great-blue oceans, high-majestic-mountainous peaks, rugged earthen hills, desolate-broad-sandy deserts, deep-green jungles, and white-frozen glacial lands. You have heard the legends from Tsum’il, the local story teller. Although you have only traveled at the greatest distance of up to three days journey into any direction, however Tsum’il’s legends bring alive distant lands, never before seen beasts, and strange cultures from far away places. He has always had a way with words, bringing mental images to life.You have also seen oceans and distant lands on recorded memories, kept on the memory trees.

 A few times you have heard Tsum’il tell of ancient times. Your ancestors, as legends reveal, were not of this world. They settled this world, one eventually reaching your village of Everwood.

 You decide to get up, stretch and yawn, your spine and shoulders popping, and you walk to the door. Opening the cloth cover on your home, you peer out into the early morning sky.

 To the right, the morning sky becoming lighter, and half of the sky is light, but half is still dark. You notice the light wispy clouds, indicating the weather being fair today. After a few breaths of air, and looking at the peaceful morning dawn, you head back in to prepare some food.

 You think back on your early childhood as far as you can remember on down to you current day life. What was your early childhood like? Did you live in a structured family, or were you adopted into a situation because of an early childhood event. What was your home life like? Did you grow up in a more important family, or struggle coming from a lower, unimportant family. Did you move to Everwood or did you grown up here?

 Record your background as your 4rth aspect - important or unimportant family - then read the one of the two following paragraphs that fits your family background. For more information, you can name now or later your family name. In this world, family names come from either what you do, or named after common paleolithic objects or creatures. Ex. Stonewolf, Skyspear, Fletcher, Healer, Tracker, Hunter, etc.. So you might write down, of the unimportant Stonewolf family, which moved here four years ago. Importance only limits how someone begins life, not where they end. So an unimportant family one generation might become important because of the acts of a character. Likewise, important families might crumble and produce unproductive offspring and become unimportant. In the tribe and clan society, value is based on importance to the group, rather than inheritance. 

 An aspect is a word, phrase, or sentence that describes something centrally important to your character.

 1 If from a important family read this. If not, read the next paragraph: You live in a cramped small adobe brick building that is nothing like the larger spacious adobe home you grew up in. The reddish adobe bricks keep the heat in during the winter, and the cold in during the hot summers. You crack open two of the windows, rolling up the woven window coverings. Your bed is a raised structure made from smoothed straight branches. Your bed is very comfortable. A nice soft skin creates a nice soft hay mattress. You make your bed and straighten your bedding furs. Skip the next paragraph and continue reading.

 2 If from a unimportant family read this. If you read the last paragraph, move on to the next paragraph. Like most of the people of Everwood, you live in a meager small wikiup structure. Although it is not much, at least it is your own home. It is made of bent tree limbs and small trees, covered with grass and evergreen branches. In the center, you can stand up fully, though around the edges the roof curves rapidly dome shape to the grown. You sleep along the back of the domed wikiup. You try to pile a nice amount of dried grass to help cushion yourself from the cold earthen floor. The center is where the fire pit is, a whole in the roof lets the smoke from the fire go outside. The coals from last night’s fire still smolder, pop, and glow. White ashes cover most of the fire pit. This wikiup has one window, which you roll up the woven window covering to allow the morning light in.