[Updated to add: Landon’s advice on picking Aspects to ensure characters have Description, Connections, Story, and Situation.]
Though the advice applies to just about any Pulp game that has a strongly supportive system.
This is all quoted from Roger’s post on the Yahoo FateRPG list:
I’ve played the game a couple times now and listened to hours and hours of Actual Play, and I’ve noticed a few trends in the way some people tend to play the game, and what works well and what doesn’t. I don’t mean to present this as ‘the One True Way’ to play the game or anything, but hopefully some of this advice will be helpful.
Advice for GMs
* Get on with it. Get to the adventure, get to the fun. It seems like some GMs are inclined to make the players spend a certain amount of time groping around in the dark for something to do. You don’t need to do that. Don’t be worried about ‘running out’ of adventure — I think every single game I’ve played or listened to has run too long for the time alloted.
* Related to the above, don’t feel like it’s your job to somehow get the characters and/or the players some sort of motivation for the adventure. They probably don’t need it; if they do, they can darnn well provide it themselves.
* Start the game off with a Compel. Heck, start every single scene with a Compel. It has a number of good effects. From a purely mechanical viewpoint, it gives the whole Fate Point economy a bit of a kick-start. It’ll familiarize you a bit more with the characters’ Aspects. Because the players have picked Aspects they want in play, it automatically gives you something that they and their characters will be interested in. Seriously, give it a try.
* Feel free to push some of the detailing back on to the players. This is the way I personally think it should work:
GM: Okay, so you got a Superb result on your attempt to Research the mysterious Cult of Osiris.
Player: Great! What do I find out?
GM: That’s a good question. What DO you find out?
It may take a bit to coach the players into running with this, but when it starts to fire it’s really hot.
* Review the Social Combat rules and use them. A lot of games don’t have a good system, or any system at all, for this sort of thing, so you might need to consciously go looking for times to use it to begin with. Pretty much any time a PC wants an NPC to do something that they don’t want to do, it’s time to roll those dice. Even if the NPCs yield 9 times out of 10 when they’re beaten, it’s still worth it.
Advice for Players
* Before your character does anything, ask yourself this question:What’s the MOST DANGEROUS thing that someone might barely plausibly do in this situation? Then ask yourself if there’s any good reason why your character shouldn’t take exactly that course of action.
Other game systems may have beaten an amount of risk-aversion into you, and this can be a good way to fight it.
* Look, even if your character is the most bookish, nebbish, fragile pansy ever to have graced a pulp novel, you want to seriously consider putting some sort of physical combat skill somewhere in the top 3 slots of your skill pyramid. It’s just the nature of the genre that before long you’re going to want to knock someone’s teeth out,or beat on them with your umbrella, or fill them full of lead. And you’ll want to succeed. Seriously, seriously consider it.
* You may, at a certain point, find yourself a little bored with how a scene is going. Find a reason to be interested. Invoke or Compel something into the scene to make it interesting, if you wish. You don’t need to have the spotlight in every single scene, of course, so use your discretion.
* Put a little check mark beside each Aspect as they’re Invoked or Compelled. Occasionally review which ones are not seeing any action, and which ones are constantly in use.
* Try asking less questions and making more statements. For example, instead of asking “Do I find the cultists’ trail through the jungle?” try “Hey look! I found the cultists’ trail through the jungle!” The GM will let you know if you go to far; it’s more common for players to not go far enough.
OT: Seven Coins of Death, great Spirit actual play