An excellent discussion on reddit comparing “Combat” in D&D with “Conflict” in FATE: https://www.reddit.com/r/FATErpg/comments/cxcq4a/how_does_combat_work_in_fate/

the most expedient initiative system: the side that took the initiative goes first (because they took the initiative), and all the individuals on a side act in whatever order they please. The Notice skill is a tiebreaker 

Popcorn initiative has no fixed order, when a conflict starts the GM choses the most suitable character to go first, who nominates the next character, and so on. The only restrictions are that each character should get a turn once per round, and the same character can’t act twice in a row. I personally feel that this is a much better fit for Fate and how it tries to model narratives which don’t usually have a set order of characters acting (think of movies save books, there isn’t usually a fixed repeating order of characters getting the spotlight), and unlike D&D Fate doesn’t have importance placed upon turn order (spell duration, etc…).

Now, you speak of “combat” which doesn’t really exist in Fate, instead there are “conflicts” – this may seem pedantic but I will explain why I feel it’s important. Now a conflict can be a combat, but it can also be an interrogation, or a dangerous mountain journey (the mountain is the NPC trying to take out the PCs before they take it out, i.e. finish the journey). Conflicts are a much broader term, which can cover a physical fight, but isn’t limited to that.

Conflicts are another area where it helps to drop pre-conceived notions from D&D. When a conflict starts it helps to take a step back and lay out the goals of both sides. A fight to the death for it’s own sake isn’t all that narratively interesting, and in real life there is always an underlying reason for the fight – stop the PCs getting the treasure, arrest the PCs for suspected crimes etc… Winning a fight doesn’t mean killing the other side (though that’s often a direct route), but in achieving your goal before the opponent achieves theirs.

Finally you talk about damage. Once again there is a difference from D&D in that date doesn’t have a damage system. The stress system is a way to pace out a conflict so that it has time to be an interesting interaction, not just one or two rolls. A character takes stress equal to the difference between their defence roll and the attack roll when the attack succeeds – for example if an attacker gets +5 and a defender gets +2 then the defender takes 3 shifts of stress.

Now stress is either absorbed by stress boxes, which are cleared at the end of a scene, or by taking a consequence which take longer to recover from and represent the leading, well… consequences of getting into a conflict. There are two ways for a character to “lose” a conflict, first if you have taken a beating you can concede before dice are rolled, allowing you to avoid the worst of your fate but still suffer for the loss. The other way is if a character is unable or unwilling to absorb stress they would take, then their fate is in the hands of their opponent entirely, they could be killed, but could also be captured, dethroned, etc…

I think the big takeaway is to try and remove the lens of D&D that you’re trying to look at Fate through. It’s something many of us here, including myself, have had to do, so you’re not some in this. Is recommend reading the book of hanz (available on the Fate SRD), which is the well written musings of u/robhanz as he went through the process I’m describing.

in Fate, you shouldn’t limit your thinking in combat to simply “I hit the monster.” Instead, you team up with others to create advantages, shuffling them down the line until one player can hit the monster really hard.

Imagine a Fate combat like this. Louis, Dewie and Moe are fighting a huge robot. They all have fighting 4, while the robot has fighting 5.

If the combat was, “Louie hits it, Dewie hits it, then Moe hits it,” you’ll have a series of players who have to do better than +1 on four fate dice to get a hit. Meanwhile, the monster should hit each time. This is not a winning strategy.

If, however, Louie “creates an advantage,” by throwing a tarpaulin over its head, that gives a free +2. Then, Dewie creates an advantage by throwing oil all over it, creating another free +2. Finally, Moe uses a flaming torch to burn the oil, having +4 for fighting, +2 because it’s covered in oil and +2 because it’s blinded. This +8 to attack is miles more effective as everyone is working as a team. It’s also much more interesting than “I hit it with my sword.”

should only play a scene in Fate if the scene has a narrative point to it. Meaning that the opposing sides should both have an interesting objective and both success and failure are interesting results. That means that 80%+ of the battles that get played in D&D should never happen in a game of Fate. Namely the ones where you just kill whichever monsters are in front of you because they happen to be there. Fate rather focusses on the scenes that are interesting from a story-perspective. Some will be fights, but many won’t be, and none will be fights where there’s nothing at stake and the enemy are generic and purposeless.

You can’t die in Fate unless the table agrees it at that moment. But you can be taken out. If a PC is taken out it means that the GM gets to decide what happens to them and narrate how: if the NPCs get taken out the players get to decide. Someone is taken out when they no longer have any stress and consequences left to soak up incoming damage. 

Conceding is a possibility in FATE that doesn’t exist in D&D. Before rolling defense, you can choose to concede, taking yourself out of combat with the benefit of being able to narrate it, instead of your enemy getting that narrative control. Typically, if you’re in a conflict, the opponent is trying to kill you, and you can concede to keep that from happening, narrating that you simply run away or something.

So, the basic flowchart would look something like this:

1. Set up the Conflict
   • Make sides, with appropriate skills and aspects and stress tracks
   • Create situational aspects describing the scene
   • Make zones, if necessary
2. Decide who goes first by some manner
3. The side whose turn it is gets to declare a normal Conflict action. This should still be narrative rather than simply “I attack”
4. If this cannot be framed as a scene involving the PCs, simply roll as normal.
5. If this can be framed as a scene, create the scene:
   • Give appropriate NPCs/resistance per the relative skills of the sides
   • If aspects are invoked, modify appropriately
   • Define success criteria, and stress values if this is an Attack
6. Play the scene out
7. Using the criteria set in step 5, transfer stress/aspect creation/destruction/consequences to the “upper” conflict.
8. Move to the next side and go to Step 3.

Playing the Game

Playing the Game

• Play “fiction-first”. Think of what you want to do in the “fiction”, and then work with the GM to translate that into game mechanics.
• Prepare to fail. Fate is a game where occasional failure is encouraged. Don’t fear it. If you’re playing Fate “by the book,” a failure of any sort doesn’t end the game or the story, it just pushes it in a different direction. Don’t feel you have to “win” every encounter/scene -save the Fate Points for where you really, really want the story to go a particular way.
• Conceding is your friend. If you’re getting your butt handed to you, Concede! It’s a lot better than being Taken Out, and you’ll even get Fate Points for it!
• Self-compel whenever you can. The GM will complicate your life. That’s his job. By self-compelling, you at least get a Fate Point out of the deal.
• Be proactive. Call for scenes. Figure out how you want to drive the story forward. A good Fate GM will work with this -after all, your characters are the protagonists and should drive the story, not just react to what happens.
• Think in terms of goals. Your actions should be geared to drive the story forward. Figure out what “amazing success” looks like, and make sure the GM knows what you’re after. Fate is less about probing the existing scenario, and more about driving a story forward. Even if your “amazing success” doesn’t make sense for some reason, the GM can at least give you something similar.
• Negotiate with the GM, but accept that some things won’t go your way. In Fate, the GM has a lot of power. And sometimes you’ll disagree with him. Fate also recommends bringing things up to the table, and so a good GM will do so when there’s a dispute. Sometimes, though, you’ll still disagree with the final answer. Deal with it. If it’s not happening all of the time, and isn’t just completely ruining the game, let it go. Think about it after the game, and if it still bugs you, take it up with the GM -away from the table.