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

===Importance===

Your collection of game and character aspects tell you what you need to focus on during your game. Think of them as a message from yourself to yourself, a set of flags waving you towards the path with the most fun. GMs, when you make scenarios for Fate, you’re going to use those aspects, and the connections between aspects, to generate the problems your PCs are going to solve. Players, your aspects are the reason why your PC stands out from every other character who might have similar skills—lots of characters might have a high skill in some science, but only Victor Laxman is a DRC Expert in D’ni Technology. When his specialization in D’ni technology comes into play, or the DRC takes action, it gives the game a personal touch that it wouldn’t have had otherwise.

The game aspects do something similar on a larger scale—they tell us why we care about playing this particular game in the first place, what makes it concrete and compelling to us. We can all say, “Oh, we like games about exploring new places,” but until we drill down to the specifics of a universe where There is Always a Surprise Over the Next Hill, and where D’ni Left Their Mark Everywhere, we don’t have anything to attach our interest to.

Situation aspects make the moment-to-moment interactions of play interesting by adding color and depth to what might otherwise be a boring scene. A scene in ancient ruins is generic by nature—there are a lot of ancient ruins around D’ni, after all. But when you add the aspect Huge Bronze Statue to the scene, and people bring it into play, it becomes “that time we were at the Bronze Statue, when I was blocking the door and you were deciphering the inscription.” The unique details add interest and investment.