At the beginning of an adventure, the party will be hired or stumble upon an opportunity, often sit down to make a plan. Going over the information they collected, sitting around a corner table in a dimly-lit tavern and putting their heads together, discussing whether to accept the mission, various possible approaches and arguing over the level of violence they wish to employ.

In Fallen Empire, you, the players, do not have to spend this time if you do not want to. There are several game mechanics to support the notion that the characters have decided to go on this adventure, made a plan, and prepared for the adventure, without playing out all this pre-adventure work.

Motivation

First, establish the motivation of the party. Why are they here and why are they going on this adventure? What do they hope to gain? What do they stand to lose?

At this point, the characters may have incomplete information and things may later turn out not to be as they seem. But for the moment, with what they know, we establish why they are on this adventure at all.

This is not a roll or a challenge, but a discussion between the GM and the players, including the players with each other. Since you, the players, have already decided to play this session together, the question is not if, but how and why. Do your characters know each other or is it a chance meeting? Do they expect a reward or do they work against a threat? Why do they fight and not just run away?
You can set up conflict between the characters here, if you want. However, keep in mind that you, the players, are playing this session together, so you should not give your characters motivations that would stand in the way of working with each other, at least reluctantly. Don't build in time bombs that make the party split up at the first sign of trouble.

Establish at least answers to these three question - noting that different characters may have different answers:

• why are you here?
• what do you hope to gain?
• what do you stand to lose?

Engagement

After establishing the why, move to the how. Instead of a detailed plan, the players merely decide upon a rough outline of a plan. Do they want to bash down the front door, swords in hand? Or sneak in through the back alley? Or bluff their way in with their superior social skills?

In fact, the GM can start off the entire adventure with the first interesting scene, setting it up with a short prolog about how the party was hired or stumbled into the adventure, and only asking for this rough approach, and then proceed to the Engagement Roll.

Using flashbacks, any other things the party has prepared beforehand can be established during the adventure.

Engagement Roll

Once the party has established their initial approach to the adventure, a fortune roll establishes how well this works.

Normally, as a fortune roll, this would be just 1 die for sheer luck, but given the circumstances, the engagement roll could also be made with:

• 0 dice (2d6 and pick the lower one) if the party is at a disadvantage, such as:
  • using an approach they are weak in (e.g. sneaking in when none of them are good at stealth)
  • attacking the strongest point of the target
  • being forced into action without a chance of preparation
• 2 dice if the party is at an advantage, such as:
  • using an approach they are especially good in
  • attacking a weak point of the target
  • attacking an unprepared target

The outcome of the engagement roll determines how the adventure starts off:

• Critical: Exceptional result. You’ve already overcome the first obstacle and you’re in a controlled position for what’s next.
• 6: Good result. You’re in a controlled position when the action starts.
• 4/5: Mixed result. You’re in a risky position when the action starts.
• 1-3: Bad result. You’re in a desperate position when the action starts.