Street Level

(At this point, this game is a broken rip-off, but I thought I'd get it out there. I have to playtest, but my suspicion is that I've seriously overdesigned here and that there's not much room for actually playing anything.)

Street Level

Street Level is a game about people who put on super-hero costumes and go out and try to protect their communities from various dangers. It is inspired by:

-the "street level" characters from 1970s/1980s Marvel Comics: Moon Knight, Daredevil, Punisher, Shang Chi, Iron Fist, Power Man, and Ghost Rider.

-"indie" takes on the same concept: Mike Baron's Badger, Tim Vigil's Grips, and, more recently, Millar/Romita's Kick-Ass.

-various games by Vincent Baker and Ron Edwards (especially Poison'd and Sorcerer and what people have said about Apocalypse World on sites like Story Games). Anyway, you should play/read/buy their games if you haven't already.

-that thing Tom Spurgeon says about his favorite super-hero being Wildcat because his super power is riding around on a motorcycle and beating people up.

The game is agnostic towards actual super-powers. They can exist in the game or not, but if they do you should keep the scale and scope focused on street level action.

Things characters can do:

Your character is going to be GREAT at one of these things, GOOD at two of these things, OK at four of these things, and SHIT at one of these things:

-finding shit out
-acting normal
-sneaking around
-running after shit*
-telling people what's what
-doing violence
-running away from shit*
-taking a beating
-keeping your shit together

*even though the two kinds of running are separate on the list, they get the same rating and count as one "slot" for these purposes

Gimmicks:

Every character gets to start with two Gimmicks. A Gimmick can be:

-a weapon
-a power
-a fighting style
-some kind of equipment
-some kind of personal edge
-etc.

A Gimmick has two pieces:

-a rating
-scope

All Gimmicks start at rating 1. This means when they're in play they add 1 to your die roll.

All Gimmicks start with the scope of one area of activity. This means their bonus can only be used for that area of activity.

Once you've given your character two Gimmicks, you can "bump" one of them by increasing the rating to 2 or giving it an extra area of activity to cover (i.e. increasing its scope).

You can gain another bump by adding a Drawback to the Gimmick:

-easily lost (GM can make losing this a consequence of mixed success)
-awkward (-1 to some other area of activity when it's in use)
-immobile
-large (can't be brought into buildings, etc.)

Here are some example Gimmicks:

body armor (+2 to taking a beating, Awkward: -1 to running after/away)
kung-fu (+1 to doing violence, +1 to taking a beating)
home computer with internet access (+3 to figuring shit out, Immobile)
hot rod (+ 2 to running away/after, Large)
bad-ass stare (+2 to saying what's what, Awkward: -1 to acting normal)
mutant mind blast (+1 to doing violence, +1 to saying what's what)


Obsessions:

You can choose to start with an Obsession or not. If you do, name the target of the Obsession and give it a rating of 1. Obsessions can give you a bonus dice or penalty dice if they come into play. If the GM thinks that your Obsession would help the action your character is taking, the rating of the Obsession turns into bonus dice. If he thinks it would get in the way of the action your character is taking, the Obsession rating turns into penalty dice.

"Civilians":

If your "acting normal" is Great, make up 3 regular people characters who are in your character's life in some way. If it's Good, make up 2. If it's OK, make up 1.

The Set-Up:

Players need to fill in these details:

-how does the character live day-to-day?

Actions & Consequences:

Once you've all established a baseline for how the character is going about his business, you can start into Free Play. This works just like regular role-playing.

Whenever the character is doing (or having something done to him) that falls under one of the areas of activity, he has to roll dice. Roll 4 dice is he's GREAT, 3 if GOOD, 2 if OK, and 1 if SHIT. No matter what, though, you'll only add up the 3 highest dice. In general, if you roll 10 +, you succeed easily and probably get some bonus to carry over to related activities. If you roll 6-9, you have a partial success or a success with consequences. Usually, you'll have a choice between a few different consequences. If you roll 1-5, you fail and set up yourself for worse stuff in the future.

A key concept:

-the upper hand: your character will generally start every situation with the upper hand. As long as the character has the upper hand, he can take initiative and basically take any action that makes sense. Also, on a 6-9, the player gets to make the choice of the consequence that goes along with the success. If a character loses the upper hand, actions are limited to those that are in arenas of activity below the last one that applied (see the character creation list). That means, if you just tried to tell someone what's what and lost the upper hand, you can't get out of it by acting normal (acting normal comes before telling someone what's what). Your only options would be: doing violence, running away, taking a beating, or keeping your shit together. (The exact choice of which, of course, will depend on what is actually being done.) Also, when you roll a 6-9 and you don't have the upper hand, the GM gets to choose whatever the worst option is at the moment.

You can lose the upper hand through:

-taking too many injuries
-rolling a 1-5
-if it makes sense to everyone that the character wouldn't have the upper hand

You can gain back the upper hand by rolling 10+.

Arenas of Activity:

At some point, you'll want some crime fighting to happen. If the character has a specific goal in mind, he can try to figure shit out. Otherwise, he can go "on patrol".

-figuring shit out:

10+: You get a lot of info on the target. You get a general sense of his traits. You also get a One Use Gimmick with a rating of 2 and a scope of 1 or a rating of 1 and a scope of 3. You keep the upper hand and have a lot of leeway in terms of setting up any confrontation.
6-9: You get some info on the target - choose one:
-One Use Gimmick of rating 1 and scope 1 AND Heat goes up by 2
-Heat goes up by 1
-need for caution: -1 to next roll against target
1-5: You don't find anything out that's useful PLUS something bad happens. Maybe someone found out you were looking. Heat goes up by 2 and you start against the target without the upper hand and -2 to your next roll against the target.

If your character goes on patrol, the GM rolls randomly for what he runs into. You get a -1 on your first roll in these circumstances representing a total lack of preparation.

Sometimes your character will want to try to get something done in the real world and/or pretend he really isn't the kind of person who would do something crazy like dressing up in underwear and running around beating people up.

-acting normal:

10+: You pull it off and pass yourself off as normal. You can take advantage of the services of a hospital, convince the police you're innocent (as long as you aren't caught red handed), convince the guy that you were following that you're harmless and it was just a coincidence that you're staying on the same hotel floor as he is, etc.
6-9: You pull it off, some suspicion remains - choose one:
- -1 to next roll involving these people
- heat goes up by 1
1-5: They can tell you're not normal. Services denied, cops called, impersonation of a sane person FAILED. Heat goes up by 2.

Sometimes your character will want to sneak around.

-sneaking around:

10+: You remain completely undetected. You get a +1 to your next roll if it follows from the sneaking.
6-9: Success with consequences - choose one:
-undetected but blocked - abort or roll again at -1
-some suspicions raised: -1 to next roll against target
1-5: You're busted. -1 to next roll against target, add one to Heat.

Sometimes your character will want to chase someone or something down.

-running after shit:

10+: You catch whatever you were running after.
6-9: You catch whatever you were running after, but there's a consequence - choose one:
-you take an Injury
-you cause a lot of commotion, add 2 to Heat
-you lose the guy, but have an idea where to look - +1 to a figuring shit out follow-up
1-5: You fail, plus all that running caused a commotion. Add one to Heat.

Sometimes your character will want to get his way through force of personality and/or logical argument:

-telling people what's what:

10+: The audience is convinced, cowed, crazed as appropriate. Get a One Use Gimmick of rating 2 and Scope 1 or Rating 1, Scope 3.
6-9: Success with consequences - choose one:
-you got them part of the way: abort or roll again at -1
-One Use Gimmick of rating 1, scope 1, but using it generates 2 Heat
1-5: Unconvinced, uncowed, uncrazed. -1 to next roll against target.

Sometimes you want to hurt someone. After a given exchange of violence is over, heat always goes up by 1.

-doing violence:

10+: Do 2 Injuries to the Target and a +1 to the next roll against it OR 1 Injury and a +2 to next roll.
6-9: Mixed success - choose one:
-trade up to 2 Injuries with target
-gain some advantage: no injuries but +1 to next roll
1-5: Ineffective! -1 to next roll.

Sometimes you want to run away. Use the running after shit rules, but replace "catch up" with "get away".

Sometimes you have to take a beating.

-taking a beating:

10+: No pain. +1 to next roll.
6-9: Doing ok - choose one:
-take 2 Injuries, but regain upper hand (if you don't have it)
-grit your teeth: 1 Injury, but +1 to next roll
-scarred: take a rating away from acting normal
-permanent hurt: take a rating away from running
1-5: Hurting - 2 Injuries. -1 to next roll.

Sometimes a minor world that breaks apart needs to fall together again.

-keeping your shit together:

10+: You pull it together. +2 to next roll and ignore any injury penalties.
6-9: Pulled together with consequences - choose one:
-pull it together, but still off-balance - -1 to next roll and regain upper hand if you didn't have it
-pull it together, but still off-balance, - -1 to next roll, but ignore injury penalties
-pulled together, with scars - add a new obsession
-pulled together, with scars - take a rating away from acting normal
1-5: Broken! You're incapacitated or otherwise ineffective due to mental and emotional strain. Take a rating away from acting normal and figuring shit out. Add an Obsession or increase an Obsession (up to a max of 3).

Heat:

Your Heat rating represents how much attention you've drawn to yourself from criminals and law enforcement alike. Heat affects:

-the kinds of criminals you run into on patrol
-the amount of police effort directed at you
-the ease with which you can get away with shady stuff in your community

Heat:

1-6: Bubbling under - no problems
7-12: Some concern - detective assigned to the case
13-18: Wider concern - task force assigned to the case, -1 to rolls that might be affected by heightened state of alarm (figuring shit out, sneaking around, etc.) Crooks put out a bounty.
19-24: Secret ID discovered - penalty die to all acting normally rolls. No access to home base. Bounty goes up: attracts out-of-town talent.
25+: City-wide emergency: curfew, lock down, etc. Everyone versus the hero.

Laying low:

You can try to Lay Low. Just say what you're doing instead of fighting crime. For each week you lay low:

-take one off of heat
-return a bad guy to the bad guy list
-take a -1 penalty to your next roll (for being out of practice)

Injuries:

When you delivery an Injury, it gets marked off the rating of the target. When their rating is zero, they've been defeated.

When you take an Injury:

Mark it off under the appropriate column: Fists, Sticks, Knives, Guns.

(I'll have some kind of chart here: 1st level of wounds is a -1 to roll, second level is one penalty die, and third level is 2 penalty dice. Fists and Sticks go through all three levels, but any knife/gun injury puts you at the second level of injury at least.)

[So - the injury record for your character will look like: four columns up top - Fists, Sticks, Knives, Guns. Three rows down - -1, 1 Die, 2 Dice. The number indicates the how many injuries you can take before that level is "filled" up and you move onto the next penalty level. When a column is filled up, you shift to the right and start taking injuries in that column. When you get to the end you are dying, but I don't have any particular rules for dying yet.

F S K G
-1 3 2 - -
1 Die 3 2 3 2
2 Dice 3 2 3 2

Right now the game is, somewhat purposefully, a huge death spiral. I'm working on some kind of advancement mechanic to slightly balance that.]

Healing:

Only the highest penalty in each category matters for Healing purposes.
If your character does nothing but rests, he can make a taking a beating roll to heal Fist and Stick penalties:

10+: All Fist penalties healed, Stick penalties drop to the next lowest level
6-9: Fist penalties drop to next lowest level, Stick column loses one Injury
1-5: It gets worse: nothing happens, and -1 to subsequent healing rolls

Healing from knives or guns is different: you have to either figure shit out (i.e. first aid, find a back alley doctor) or act normal (to get a regular doctor, hospital to help you) first. Then you get to make a taking a beating roll (at -1 if you're not at a legit hospital):

10+: One level of penalties is healed after a week of rest.
6-9: A week of rest gives you:
-get rid of one injury
1-5: It gets worse: nothing happens, and -2 to subsequent healing rolls

Stuff that could happen:

-investigate
-find random crimes
-beat up bad guys
-question bad guys
-spy on bad guys
-help people with problems

The Bad Guy List:

Heat 1-6:

1 - vandal (1)
2 - brawler (1)
3 - domestic disturbers (1)
4 - prostitute (1)
5 - mugger (1)
6 - car thief (1)

Heat 7-12:

1 - burglar (1, 1T)
2 - prostitute (1, 1T)
3 - mugger (1, 1T)
4 - car thief (1, 1T)
5 - drug dealer (2)
6 - bodega robber (2, 1T)

Heat 13-18:

1 - rapist (2)
2 - burglar (2, 1T)
3 - drug dealer (2, 1T)
4 - car jacker (2, 1T)
5 - pimp (2, 2T)
6 - mobster (2, 1T)

Heat 19-24:

1 - drug dealer (2, 2T)
2 - bodega robber (2, 2T)
2 - rapist (2, 1T)
3 - car jacker (2, 2T)
4 - pimp (2, 3T)
5 - heister (2, 2T)
6 - mobster (2, 2T)

Heat 25+:

1 - heister (3, 3T)
2 - arsonist (2, 1T)
3 - drug dealer (2, 3T)
4 - out-of-town talent (3, 2T)
5 - mobster (3, 1T)
6 - mobster (3, 2T)

Kingpin - mobster (3, 3T)

How the list works:

The goal is to get rid of the head mobster. You have to work your way up the ladder, though. Rules: you can only figure stuff out about bad guys in your heat level or lower OR about bad guys of the same type of one you've already dealt with (although this requires figuring stuff out, sneaking around, and/or telling them what's what). You can only roll randomly (on patrol) in the current heat level. Once a target has been chosen, the GM needs to give that Bad Guy a name and choose traits (if necessary). From then on, that Bad Guy slot is filled up and if a random roll hits it again, it bumps up to the next level.

Bad Guy Traits:

Bad Guys have a rating and one or more traits.

The rating is how many Injuries it takes to subdue them (if you choose to go the violence route) and the penalty/bonus associated with their traits.

-tough (need weapons to injure)
-speedy (-1 against running)
-determined (-1 against telling what's what, taking a beating)
-knife fighter (injure with knives, -1 to doing violence)
-well-armed (injure with guns)
-gang (-1 against doing violence, running away, +1 against sneaking, figuring shit out)
-mobbed up (draws attention of mobsters, corrupt cops - cannot be arrested, talked out of, etc. - must be killed to be permanently removed from list)
-hard to kill (takes double injuries to kill)
-out for justice (-1 against telling what's what, doing violence)
-under siege (-1 against figuring shit out, sneaking around, telling what's what, +1 against running away)

Defeating Bad Guys:

"Defeating" here might mean beating up or killing, but it might also mean scaring straight or "turning" someone (i.e., into an informant). When you defeat a bad guy you get an XP for each point of rating and each trait.

You can spend XP as follows:

-a +1 to a single roll costs 2 XP (you can spend it after the roll) (you can only get a single +1 per roll by spending XP, but this +1 stacks with +1s from other sources)
-you can add a rating point to a gimmick for 3 XP
-you can add scope to a gimmick for 3 XP
-you can buy a new gimmick for 6 XP (note: this new gimmick can start with a drawback)
-you can increase one of your areas of activity by one level for 10 XPs

My Sword and Planet Hack for Spirit of the Century

I'm starting to write up some house rules for my Spirit of the Century-derived, FATE-based Sword & Planet role-playing game scenarios.

Until I sat down to do this, I really didn't realize how hard writing good, clear rules can be. I salute the Evil Hat guys and beg forgiveness for the clumsiness that follows. This is a rough, rough draft - I've written it up quickly to get something out there. At this point, a lot of it will only make sense in the context of SotC and FATE.

Inspirational Fiction:

Flash Gordon - the Alex Raymond comic strip, 'natch - of course, but filtered through the kind of sensibility that Grant Morrison brings to his super-hero projects. Also: Jack Vance's Planet of Adventure stories.

Inspirational Games:

I started with Spirit of the Century but found that though it did what I wanted, it also did some other stuff that I didn't necessarily want and was getting in the way. Luckily, the genius of the guys at Evil Hat is that SotC and it's underlying FATE system are endlessly and easily tweakable. Abilities are a Sorcerer-inspired paring-down of Skills from SotC. Descriptors are also adapted from Sorcerer. The "Brutal" Conflict rules are taken from The Shadow of Yesterday/Solar System's Bringing Down the Pain. "Primed Aspects" are from a Story Games thread started by Paul Tevis.



Part 1 - Characters:

There are two major (mechanical) pieces to characters creation.

(1) Setting Abilities
(2) Choosing Aspects

(1) Setting Abilities:

A Character has three Abilities - Body, Will, Skill. Set one at +3, one at +2, and one at +1.

(2) Choosing Aspects:

A Character has room for 10 Aspects, but will probably start play with 6 or 7, leaving the other slots available to be chosen during play. Here are the guidelines for choosing Aspects:

-choose 2 Aspects based on and/or related to the Character's cultural origins. For the purposes of Sword & Planet gaming, there are three Cultures: Earthling, Alien - Primitive, and Alien - Decadent. These Aspects can answer a question like "Where did I come from?"

-choose 2 Aspects based on and/or related to the Character's profession/job/etc. Answering questions like "What do I do?" and "How do I do it?"

-If you haven't already written an Aspect that does this: (a) write an Aspect that acts as a descriptor to your Body ability, (b) write an Aspect that acts as a descriptor to your Will ability, (c) write an Aspect that acts as a descriptor to your Skill ability.

-Fill in a few more Aspects so you have around 6 or 7. Leave a few blanks to be filled in during play.

Special Effects:

You can choose to give your character a Special Effect. This is optional. In general, characters should be assumed to be (more-or-less) human, with normal capabilities within the limits of their culture and profession. A Special Effect gives them access to additional powers and capabilities, but also acts as a narrative constraint. In practice, this means that while characters with a Special Effect can do something out of the ordinary, they are subject to be limited by circumstances. A Special Effect must be directly linked to an Aspect that deals with it.

In my game, here are some examples:

Some characters are Dragon Riders. This Special Effect means that they can ride on the dragon (taking advantage of its flying ability) and they can use the Dragon's breath weapon to attack foes from a distance. And Consequences caused by a dragon's attack are likely to be pretty severe!

However, this leads to some limitations: dragons are big, they can't always be with their riders. A rider apart from their dragon might susceptible to being Stuck with an Aspect like: "No confidence when alone".

Some characters are initiates into the alchemical secrets of various desert powders. This allows them to act on characters in a variety of ways: Sticking them with Aspects like "Drugged and dazed" or "In love with the next person she sees..." But the limitation is that it requires time to gather the materials and create these concoctions.



Part 2 - Aspects:

See here for the SotC overview.

If you Invoke/Tag you have to say how that looks in the fiction. As a corollary, you can only Invoke/Tag if doing so would make sense in the fiction.

Invoking - after a roll, spend a Fate point to Invoke one of your Aspects. Invoking allows you to re-roll or add a +2 to the final roll. Mark that you have used the Aspect.

Tagging - after a roll, spend a Fate point to Tag an Aspect that is not on your sheet (i.e. an NPC Aspect or a Setting/Scene Aspect). Tagging an Aspect allows you to re-roll or add a +2 to the final roll. Fate points spent on Tagging go into the Pot. If you are Tagging an Aspect on an NPC or the Setting/Scene mark that you have Tagged it. (You do not mark another PC's Aspect when tagging).

Primed Aspects (PCs only):

If you Invoke an Aspect three times in one session it is "Primed". At that point, you can no longer Invoke that Aspect (although it can still be Tagged by other characters). However, you can choose to Burn that Aspect if you desire. A Burn is like a super compel: you get three Fate points, but you have to change that Aspect into something else. The new Aspect starts with no marks (fully unprimed).

Invoking/Tagging Sequence:

Invokes/Tags are not declared until after the initial roll. At that point, the current loser gets to say whether or not they want to spend a Fate point to alter their roll. (In the case of ties, the character with the lower Ability in conflict goes first. If this ties, the character with the least number of Fate points goes). They can choose to re-roll or gain a +2 bonus. If they do so, they have to say which Aspect they are Invoking/Tagging and what that would look like. Once they commit, they can't take it back. The other player gets a chance to respond with an Invocation/Tag of their own. This goes back and forth until one player or the other gives up or runs out of Fate points. For a given character, all re-rolls have to come before any +2 bonuses. (I.e. once you choose to take your +2 you have to let your dice stand).

Sticking - Certain kinds of successes allow you to Stick a New Aspect on the Setting/Scene or a Character. Whenever you Stick an Aspect you get a free Tag on that Aspect. "Stuck" Aspects can be Fragile (they go away after that Free tag), Sticky (they stay around for you or anyone else to use until they go away because of shifting circumstances and/or the Scene ends, or Session (they stay for the rest of the Session).



Part 3 - Conflicts:

Simple Conflicts:

For the most, only roll dice when there is a conflict of interest between two characters.

Players should state their intent. (This is a Free and Clear phase).

The higher roll is the Winning roll.

Check for Invocation/Tags.

Determine the final outcome: High Roll - Low Roll = Effect.

Any Effect of 1 or more is a success (i.e. the winner gets their intent).

In addition:

An Effect of 1 allows you to Stick a Fragile Aspect on the immediate Setting/Scene.

An Effect of 2 allows you to Stick a Sticky Aspect on the immediate Setting/Scene.

An Effect of 3+ allows you to Stick a Session Aspect on the immediate Setting/Scene.

You can only Stick an Aspect on another character through a Brutal Conflict.

Linked Conflicts:

Sometimes a conflict will lead to a natural follow-up conflict. In this case, use the success of the first conflict to Stick a temporary Aspect somewhere. This Aspect, like any Stuck Aspect, is eligible for a free Tag. The narrational trick is to make this Stuck Aspect relate to the follow-up conflict.

Helping:

One character will make the roll. Use their ability. Other characters may help. They do this by spending Fate points to Invoke or Tag Aspects just like the acting character. They should decalre they are helping before the roll, but if they didn't roll their own dice in the current conflict and it makes sense that they could "jump in" partway through, they can decide to help at any point afterwards. (Any Invocation/Tagging for re-rolls must happen before any +2 bonuses are taken by the side).

Assessments:

An Assessment is a special kind of Conflict where you try to uncover the Hidden Aspects of an NPC or the Setting/Scene. Vs. an NPC this is usually a Will vs. Will roll, but Skill could be substituted depending on the circumstances (i.e., using a police interrogation technique). Vs. the Setting/Scene you will usually be rolling Skill vs. an unmodified roll. If you lose vs. the NPC, the NPC gains a Free Tag on one of your Aspects in any follow up conflict. If you lose vs. the Setting/Scene, you gain a Fragile Temporary Aspect relating to somehow misreading the lay of the land/mood of the crowd/etc.

Declarations:

A Declaration is a special kind of conflict where you can Stick a new fact onto the Setting/Scene. This is usually a Skill vs. an unmodified roll. The "color" of the Declaration (i.e. what it looks like in the fiction) should be based around an area of expertise that makes sense in terms of the character's concept. The level of the Stuck Aspect is based on the Effect earned in the roll. The PC gets a free Tag (just like with any other Stuck Aspect). If the PC loses, they receive a Fragile Consequence that doesn't count against their limit. A Declaration cannot change the backstory or a character's history: it has to be something that applies to the unfolding situation.

Brutal Conflicts:

If you want to take a named character out of the game or if you want to Stick an Aspect on a PC or NPC you need to do so through a Brutal Conflict.

Brutal Conflict works in rounds.

Free & Clear - determine who is opposing whom and whether actions are parallel or perpendicular.

If you are just defending you get a +2 bonus and get the possibility of generating Spin.

Parallel Success = deliver harm equal to your Success level

Perpendicular Success = deliver harm equal to the difference of Success levels

Harm above the max leads to Consequences. Consequences are a special kind of Stuck Aspect.

Maneuvers = instead of doing harm, Stick an Aspect to the Setting/Scene as per the normal conflict rules



Part 4 - Fate Point Economy:

PCs start with 10 fate Points.

VIP NPCs start with 5.

Major NPCs start with 3.

Minor NPCs start with 1.

When PCs or NPCs Invoke the Fate Point is simply spent.

When PCs get Tagged they take the Fate Point used in the Tag.

When PCs Tag NPCs or the Setting/Scene they put the Fate Point in the Pot.

The GM has an unlimited number of Fate Points to use for Compels.

The Pot:

After the game, look at the Fate Points in the Pot. The group spends these points to add Aspects permanently to the Setting/Scene and/or to NPCs.

A totally new Aspect costs 3 points.

Making a Sticky Aspect permanent costs 2 points.

Making a Session Aspect permanent costs 1 point.

Making an NPC Consequence permanent costs 3 points.

Promoting an NPC from Minor to Major costs 1 point.

Promoting an NPC from Major to VIP costs 2 points.


Part 5 - NPCs and Setting:

NPC Notes:

VIP NPCs are created more or less like PCs. Major NPCs have one Ability at +2 and another at +1. Minor NPCs have one ability at +1.

VIP NPCs should have 5 or 6 Aspects. 3 must be Open and the others should be Hidden. Think of the Open Aspects as part of their description when introducing the character. (Two of the three Open Aspects might map onto the NPC's Culture/Profession).

Major NPCs should have 3 or 4 Aspects. 2 Must be Open and the others can be Hidden.

Minor NPCs should have one or two Aspects, both in the Open.

Setting/Scene Notes:

Follow the same breakdown for Setting/Scenes - they are either VIP, Major, or Minor, with the same number of Aspects and the same breakdown of Open/Hidden.

Still needed: Character Sheets, NPC sheets, Setting/Scene sheets, better names for a lot of this stuff (i.e. Stuck Aspects, abilities), more info on Compels, more info on scene framing, etc., etc.