About The Fate Codex

by mark diaz truman

Welcome to the second annual Halloween issue of The Fate Codex!

Last year, we dedicated our October issue to zombies, a collection of undead pieces that made The Fate Codex a special treat for horror fans just in time for Halloween. This year, we’ve pulled together Fate articles, systems, and quick starts that focus on using Fate to terrify, surprise, and frighten your group. We’re kinda hoping this becomes a tradition!

We decided to focus this issue on psychological horror—the costs of fighting the darkness and the dangers that the horrors pose to our minds. Inside this month’s issue, you’ll find tips and tricks for keeping your players on the edge of their seats, ways to introduce feminine-themed horror to your game, and new systems that help characters better display the costs of the horrors they face. It’s a smorgasbord of terror, and I can’t wait for it to sink its teeth into you.

To top it all off, I’ve written my first Quick Start for Volume 2, Nostradamus, featuring a deadly serial killer who terrorizes Seattle in 1972, just as the city begins grappling with a major recession.This Quick Start is absolutely a love letter to films like Zodiac and Silence of the Lambs, and I hope you enjoy walking into the heart of darkness to pursue the killer who stalks Puget Sound.

We’re releasing this issue early enough in October that we hope to see folks use a few of these horror tricks and settings in your local games on Halloween. If you get a chance, take a picture and share it: we love watching local gamers be terrified! Use the hashtag #fearthecodex to let us know that you’re making use of what we’ve squeezed into these pages!

Editor in Chief
Mark Diaz Truman