It is advised that you create a base character sheet before following this guide.
This site uses the FATE Core system to assist GM's1 in producing an enjoyable and interesting run for all participants by adding a spice of chaos. While some of the pre-FATE had events that were awkward or awesome, these events were always controlled and thus, predictable - characters would only get injured when convenient, bad luck was only thrown in as an afterthought, and it essentially granted every non-NPC character their own invincible set of plot/protagonist armour.
FATE enables runs to become more realistic and prevents characters from universally surviving impossible Neo/Agent Smith2, but still allows for such things to happen if the characters (or rather, you) are lucky.
Applying FATE Core to your character
Step 1: Aspects
Aspects are the FATE equivalent of your character profile. They are the most prominent components of your character, separated into three different 'tiers':
- High Concept (1 Aspect)
- Trouble (1 Aspect)
- Lower Concepts (3 Aspects)
First and foremost is your High Concept. This is the most prominent part of your character, something that would be quickly noticed by others or defines who they are or what they do. Let's say we have a character named John Doe who spends a lot of his time managing the Foundation's finances. His High Concept might read something like this:
High Concept: Ace Accountant.
John has been helping manage the Foundation's finances for the majority of his career with them, and has gained a knack for noticing odd expenditures or suspiciously vanishing supplies of funds. His role within the Foundation and skills have also granted him several thankful friends both higher-up the chain of command and around his workplace - these friends may be willing to do favours for him in return for his help with their finances.
The name of the High Concept, along with all other aspects, can be whatever you want it to be as long as it's relevant to the description and wouldn't be overtly inappropriate or rude.3 The description itself should explain what this component of the character involves, what skills they gain from it (and why they have said skills), and at least hint at how they benefit from them. In the case of John Doe, it shows that he has become quite good at accounting from his experience in his job - this benefits him as he can help others in this area, which would entice them to help him in return, but also implies that he has an aptitude in mathematics (as he likely wouldn't be a good accountant if he was bad at maths).
Next is the Trouble. This could be thought of as an inverted High Concept - it is a prominent part of your character, but in this case is negative and hinders them to some capacity. It should be roughly as major as the High Concept: having a bad knee from falling down some stairs isn’t enough. If you can’t think of what to have as a Trouble, consider the down side of the character’s High Concept:
Trouble: Wanted Whistleblower
John has thwarted the attempts of multiple employees to gain extra income over the course of his career. While he is fully aware this is the right thing to do, those he has stopped disagree – because the punishment for embezzlement is high, and he is usually central to their discovery, John has multiple enemies within the workforce of the Foundation who would enjoy a serving of revenge. Since he can’t be sure how far these people will go, John is left being nervous and untrusting around people he doesn’t know. This makes it difficult to befriend him.