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  DAK KODAK 
  FATE + FICTION 
  is our line of original and 
  classic 
  short 
  stories. 
  Situations, characters, and 
  other elements from the 
  story are expressed as 
  Fate RPG Aspects. Read 
  and enjoy the stories on 
  their own, then mix the 
  Aspects you like into your 
  own Fate Core or Fate 
  Accelerated game! 
   
   
  ASPARAGUS 
  JUMPSUIT 
  We believe in literacy, 
  curiosity, and creativity. 
  Through 
  these 
  things 
  individuals, societies, and 
  the 
  entire 
  world 
  are 
  enriched 
  and 
  transformed. The Fate + 
  Fiction line was created to 
  help uphold and promote 
  these values.   
   
  Building Better Worlds 
  AsparagusJumpsuit.com 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Fate Core System 
  Fate Accelerated Edition 
  Copyright ©2013 Evil Hat 
  Productions, LLC. 
  All rights reserved. 
   
  Fate was originally 
  created by Rob Donoghue 
  and Fred Hicks 
  By Gary E. Weller 
  George Eastman watched his friends leave with a bit of sadness in his heart. 
  He knew it was going to be the last time he saw them. They were good workers, 
  businessmen and confidants. George was going to miss them all. Without them, he 
  knew that the entire world would have already succumbed to the Dak. Very few 
  actually knew about the species let alone see them in their natural form. George 
  kept that secret to himself and a scant few within his company that was founded so 
  long ago.  
   
  He only became aware of the Dak by accident. It was during the planning 
  of the trip to Santo Domingo. The enormous amount of devices that he was trying 
  to pack for the trip leaked into his spare clothes and toiletries. It was too late for 
  George to not be affected by the chemicals that had already soaked into the silk 
  pocket-square. With eyes burning from the combination of chemicals, George 
  Eastman’s vision quickly and surprisingly came into focus. 
  The beings seemed to shimmer into an existence without the knowledge of 
  everyone else around them. George looked up and down the street and couldn’t 
  believe what he was seeing. Between the men and women carrying about their 
  business throughout the day were the unspeakable things that flickered in and out 
  of reality. Strange pops and sizzles came from them. 
  Altogether too many of the beings seemed to group together 
  communicating in a series of flashing lights from orbs circulating around their 
  misshapen and lumpy heads. What George took as their faces were little more than 
  a bristly series of insect-like antennae that absorbed the light from the circulating 
  orbs. The bristles radiated colored sparks all along the misshapen head and then 
  arced to another of the alien’s lumpy and bristled heads to start the process all over 
  again. 
  Three of the things were in tow surrounding Roland Jenkins, one of his 
  mother’s boarders. The man was bedraggled as the sparks passed through him from 
  one Dak to another. Jenkins’ eyes were puffy and dark circles lined his eyes as if he 
  were punched in the nose.   
  “Dak skzzzzzzzzzat.” 
  “Dikdak,” 
  “Dakdak stzkozat dek-DAK.” 
  As he approached the house, George could see the strain on Jenkins’ face. 
  He often complained of headaches and now George could see the cause of them. 
  The Dak were passing their lightning through his body and soul. 
  It was then that George Eastman knew God’s plan for him. More pops and 
  sizzles sounded off from further down the street. Everywhere that George looked, 
  there were more Dak slithering in that impossible gate near people passing their 
  lighting to each other through the men and women walking about Rochester. 
  Divine Providence gave him the power to see the unholy monstrosities and 
  he knew that God would give him the tools and knowledge to somehow destroy 
  them. George didn’t know what else to do but try to get a picture of the beasts. 
   
   
   
  M.R.M. Blackwood (order #5896805)
  
   
   
  Dak Kodak 
  Page 2 of 5 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Situation Aspects 
  The entire world would 
  have already 
  succumbed to the Dak. 
  There I some sort of alien 
  or extradimensional 
  menace, invisible and 
  unknown to the people at 
  large, but the main 
  character and his cohorts 
  are in the process of saving 
  the world. 
   
   
  As quickly as humanly possible, George Eastman began to set up the 
  bulky mass that he was to bring to Santo Domingo with his mother. The task was 
  important. He had to capture the image on the glass plate and get the image 
  developed. Others had to know that these creatures, these Dak were in the world. 
  His destiny unfolded before him within colored snaps and pops from an alien 
  race. Colors flooded his mind as he ran. Soon, he began to understand them. 
  “He’szh dak-shtzzzzzztak.” 
  “Kidakdek shzee us!” 
  George prepared the plate and slid it into the wooden frame and opened 
  the aperture to illuminate the coated glass. Immediately he regretted it. The 
  noise on the other side of the curtain was terrible and loathsome as the Dak 
  seemed to stop in place. High pitched screams mixed with equally loud pops and 
  sizzles began to fill the air. 
  “Kodak! Kodak!” Slowly George came out from underneath the curtain as 
  the image burned itself into the silver salts that were coating the glass plate. He 
  let the aperture of the camera close as many of the Dak came to a halt in the 
  street. The color faded from their orbs and the lightning passing between them 
  ceased. The tentacled, deformed bodies did not move as the wind took their 
  particulate like smoke from a stack.  
  “Tzzzze meat hazzzt kodak uzzt!” The sickly voice came from behind 
  George. Turning, he faced the Dak and stared. The imprint of the alien visage 
  burned into his mind. The Dak squelched and popped ambers and reds at George. 
  He could only smile at the feeble attempt at the attack. He could live with a 
  headache. 
  It would only take three years of experimentation for George to perfect 
  the next stage. He, Henry Strong, and the others that were brought into the fold 
  fought the Dak at every turn – with every picture. The secret war began in 
  earnest in 1888 when the Kodak Camera was given to the public for only $25.00. 
  George looked to the window and smiled at the light shining through it. 
  It only took five decades to defeat the Dak in the United States. Still, there was 
  much work to be done. Every amateur and professional photographer or 
  shutterbug was destroying the Dak with every click of the shutter. Yes, they 
  pressed the button, Kodak did the rest. 
  Pain lanced George’s hands as he grabbed a pen and wrote out the note 
  for his friends and loved ones. The scrawl simply read, “My work is done. Why 
  wait?” George knew that some wouldn’t understand the action he was about to 
  take. His loyal soldiers would know too well. They knew the threat the world 
  faced. 
  George had to concentrate to keep his hands steady as he opened a 
  drawer in the writing table and withdrew the pistol. The fight would go on, but it 
  would have to go on without him. George smiled again at the light, pointed the 
  pistol at his heart and pulled the trigger.  
   
   
  M.R.M. Blackwood (order #5896805)
  
   
   
  Dak Kodak 
  Page 3 of 5 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  About Dak Kodak 
  by Berin Kinsman 
  I hope you enjoyed Gary’s story. That would make me happy, and I know it would 
  make Gary happy. Yet even if you didn’t, I hope you can see how even a piece of 
  fiction you don’t like can be mined for ideas, and ways that those ideas can be remixed 
  and reimaged and used as material for your own Fate RPG game. 
  Now let’s deconstruct the story, pick out some of the elements that are present, 
  and discuss ways that you might use those as possible Aspects in your own Fate RPG 
  game. Understand that the following interpretations are only my interpretations, and 
  not the only possible interpretations. The object of Fate+Fiction is to help you learn 
  how to mine stories for pieces and parts that you can adapt for your own purposes. 
  Let’s begin by trying to summarize the story. The alternate reality here is that 
  George Eastman invented the Kodak camera not just to advance the art of 
  photography, but as a weapon against an invasion by invisible aliens he calls the Dak. 
  The Situations 
  There are a few Situation Aspects that we can pull out of this story. These Aspects, 
  or something like them, can then be adapted to your own Fate game. Let’s take a look. 
  Without them, he knew that the entire world would have already succumbed to 
  the Dak: It seems as if the Dak are causing harm to humans without even realizing it. 
  They communicate with one another, so they seem intelligent. While the harm to 
  humans has to stop, and Eastman’s solution seems ingenious in its ability to fight the 
  fight without  alerting the public to the truth and causing a panic, one wonders about 
  the ethics and morality of what boils down to genocide against a species that doesn’t 
  seem actively malicious. 
  The Characters 
  Now let’s examine the characters in the story. For your own Fate game you don’t 
  need to use these exact characters. Look at existing player characters and supporting 
  characters, and see who might fill the same roles in relation to the Situation Aspects. 
  Who might the relevant Character Aspects, or something similar, be appended to? 
  George Eastman is an alternate version of a real person, an inventor and 
  entrepreneur. He did invent the Kodak camera, the first to use roll film and bring 
  photography into the mainstream. His last words in this story are his actual last words, 
  and he did in fact commit suicide, although it was likely due to chronic pain caused 
  by a degenerative spinal disorder that had grown to be more than he could bear. In 
  this story, perhaps Eastman has guilt about initiating the genocide of intelligent being 
  who don’t seem to realize the harm they’re doing.  
  The Dak are described as being lumpy with bristly hair that carries electrical arcs. 
  These electrical arcs also seem to be how to communicate with one another and, 
  incidentally, cause damage to humans who get in the way of those arcs. They seem to 
  exist on another plane, or are invisible to humans, who can’t see or hear their 
  electrical discharges either. 
  The phrase the beings seemed to shimmer into an existence without the 
  knowledge of everyone else around them would indicate that they’re not necessarily 
  hostile toward humans, and are as oblivious to the existence to humans as humans are 
  to them. This makes it doubtful that they’re malicious, although in your own Fate 
  RPG game anything is possible.  
   
  Character Aspects 
  The beings seemed to 
  shimmer into an 
  existence without the 
  knowledge of everyone 
  else around them.  
  To some degree the Dak 
  seem as oblivious to 
  humans as the humans are 
  to them. 
   
  Communicating in a 
  series of flashing lights 
  from orbs circulating 
  around their misshapen 
  and lumpy heads  
  The Dak are strange 
  looking, and communicate 
  via some form of 
  electricity.  
   
   
  M.R.M. Blackwood (order #5896805)
  
   
   
  Dak Kodak 
  Page 4 of 5 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Consequences 
  Not every action has a clear or specific consequence, and sometimes we need to 
  dig a little bit to discover them within a story. Here’s what I found. 
  The Dak were passing their lightning through his body and soul. Even though the 
  humans and the Dak can’t see each other, the energy exchange has an effect on both. 
  The Consequence of getting in the middle of such an exchange, for humans, is a drain 
  of what seems to be life force.  
  The color faded from their orbs and the lightning passing between them ceased. 
  The tentacled, deformed bodies did not move as the wind took their particulate like 
  smoke from a stack. This special effect is what happens to the Dak when they get in 
  the frame of a photograph taken by a Kodak camera.  
  Boosts 
  Boosts are another set of elements that don’t always make themselves explicit 
  within a story. It often takes some probing and a little bit of imagination to discover 
  something that could potentially provide a Boost in a Fate game.  
  Yes, they pressed the button, Kodak did the rest. If you didn’t want to make the 
  destruction of the Dak an automatic thing whenever a Kodak picture was taken, then 
  the camera would create some sort of bonus to killing the Dak. 
   
  Consequences 
  The Dak were passing 
  their lightning through 
  his body and soul. 
  The Dak’s means of 
  communication or 
  whatever it is they’re 
  doing, poses a real threat 
  to the health and well-
  being of humans.  
   
  The color faded from 
  their orbs and the 
  lightning passing 
  between them ceased. 
  What happens when you 
  take a photograph of the 
  Dak. 
   
  Boosts 
  Yes, they pressed the 
  button, Kodak did the 
  rest. 
  In a scenario where 
  characters are aware of the 
  Dak and what they’re 
  doing, the Kodak would 
  give a bonus toward killing 
  them. 
   
  M.R.M. Blackwood (order #5896805)
  
   
   
  Dak Kodak 
  Page 5 of 5 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc 
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  15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE 
  Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. 
  Fate Core System and Fate Accelerated Edition © 2013 by Evil Hat Productions, LLC. Developed, authored, and edited by 
  Leonard Balsera, Brian Engard, Jeremy Keller, Ryan Macklin, Mike Olson, Clark Valentine, Amanda Valentine, Fred Hicks, 
  and Rob Donoghue. 
  Fate+Fiction: Dak Kodak ©2014 Gary Weller, Berin Kinsman. Authors: Gary Weller, Berin Kinsman. Editor: Stefan 
  Livingstone Shirley. 
   
  Open Gaming License 
  Asparagus Jumpsuit 
  AsparagusJumpsuit.com 
   
  Dak Kodak 
  ©2014 Gary E. Weller  
   
  Additional content  
  ©2014 Berin Kinsman 
   
  Edited by  
  Stefan Livingstone Shirley 
   
  Designation of  
  Open Content 
  Except material designated 
  as 
  Product 
  Identity, 
  the 
  contents are Open Game 
  Content as defined in the 
  Open 
  Gaming 
  License 
  version 1.0a Section 1(d). No 
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  M.R.M. Blackwood (order #5896805)
  
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