Editing Unwritten: System Reference Document/Aspects and Fate Points (section)

==The Fate Point Economy==

For the most part, the use of aspects revolves around fate points. You indicate your supply of fate points by using tokens, such as poker chips, glass beads, or other markers.

Ideally, you want a consistent ebb and flow of fate points going on throughout your sessions. Players spend them in order to be awesome in a crucial moment, and they get them back when their lives get dramatic and complicated. So if your fate points are flowing, you’ll end up with cycles of triumphs and setbacks that make for a fun and interesting story. 

===Refresh===

Each character has a refresh rate, which determines how many points they receive when their pool of fate points are refilled. Refreshes usually happen at the beginning of a session, though the gamemaster can decide to declare a refresh at other times.

During a refresh, your fate points refill up to your refresh rate. If you have more fate points than your actual refresh, you don’t lose the additional points, but you don’t gain any either.

At the start of a new chapter, you reset your fate points to your refresh rate no matter what. You lose any extra fate points you have.

===Spending Fate Points===

* You spend fate points in any of the following ways:
* Invoke an aspect: You can spend a fate point to invoke an aspect. 
* Declare a minor detail. You can spend a point to declare a minor detail as true, related to the aspects in play. 
* Power a stunt: Some stunts are potent, and as such, cost a fate point in order to activate. 
* Refuse a compel: Once a compel is proposed, you can pay a fate point to avoid the complication associated with it.

===Earning Fate Points===

You earn fate points in any of the following ways:

* Accept a compel. You get a fate point when you agree to the complication associated with a compel. As we said above, this may sometimes happen retroactively if the circumstances warrant. 
* Have your aspects invoked against you. If someone pays a fate point to invoke an aspect attached to your character, you gain their fate point at the end of the scene. This includes advantages created on your character, as well as consequences. 
* Concede in a contest or dangerous action. You receive one fate point for conceding in a contest or dangerous action.
* Make a sacrifice. If you choose to make a sacrifice and take a consequence, you get fate points in exchange for the sacrifice.
* Avoid using a hint. If you excel on a Discover action, you can request a hint from the gamemaster. If you do not use your hint, you receive one fate point. p.

===The GM and Fate Points===

GMs, you also get to use fate points, but the rules are a little bit different than the rules for players.

When you award players fate points for compels or concession, they come out of an unlimited pool you have for doing so—you don’t have to worry about running out of fate points to award, and you always get to compel for free.

The NPCs under your control are not so lucky. They have a limited pool of fate points you get to use on their behalf. Whenever a scene starts, you get one fate point for every PC in that scene. You can use these points on behalf of any NPC you want, but you can get more in that scene if they take a compel, like PCs do. You reset to your default total, one per PC, at the beginning of every scene.

There are two exceptions:
* You accepted a compel that effectively ended the last scene or starts the next one. If that happens, take an extra fate point in the next scene.
* You conceded a conflict to the PCs in the previous scene. If that happens, take the fate points you’d normally get for the concession into the next scene and add them to the default total.

If the immediate next scene doesn’t present a significant interaction with NPCs, you can save these extra points until the next scene that does.