messyreading's review against another edition
4.0
Cool framework, need to play more to really test it.
vickar's review against another edition
3.0
Besides the fact that I consider that Fate lacks modularity and more generic mechanics to actually be an adaptable system, the book lacks clarity. The flow of the book doesn't follow the game flow, and some rules are ambiguous.
ricksilva's review against another edition
4.0
When we moved overseas, I packed up my mammoth collection of roleplaying game rulebooks, with one exception. Fate Accelerated is a complete roleplaying system that weighs in at under 50 pages, and allows for running a game in any setting that the GM wants to think up. It was the perfect "I can only fit one rpg book into the suitcase" book.
I read this cover-to-cover as part of a "Read An RPG Book In Public Week" that I discovered over on Facebook, and so I've spent the past few days pulling it out during my morning commute on the Ho Chi Minh City bus system.
Obviously, a game really needs to be played to be truly experienced, and I have only run the game on one occasion, and that was with me playing pretty fast-and-loose with the rules.
I did find that reading the whole book gave me a much better sense of the total system than I gained by just trying to dive right in an run a session. That being said, I felt like the book could have been better organized in its presentation. There is a lot of mention of rules "which will be explained in a future chapter", which felt like the kind of thing that could be minimized with better organization.
The game is highly cooperative, with players having a much bigger role in determining the course of the story than they do in something like Dungeons & Dragons. There is heavy emphasis on storytelling, and the gameplay is minimized. This suits my style of GMing very well, and I love the fact that I don't have to learn huge amounts of rules to run a game.
People who love characters with very detailed powers and lots of game-mechanic-based strategy are not going to find this as enjoyable.
But as mentioned, it fits my style of play, and it allows me to very quickly adapt ideas for worlds into playable settings. It's free as an ebook and $5 for the hard copy. Compare that to the well over $100 investment you'd have to make for the new D&D edition (which, to be fair, does have a free "basic set" ebook available).
I haven't played enough to really see what this system can do, but it has loads of potential in a small, easily transportable package.
I read this cover-to-cover as part of a "Read An RPG Book In Public Week" that I discovered over on Facebook, and so I've spent the past few days pulling it out during my morning commute on the Ho Chi Minh City bus system.
Obviously, a game really needs to be played to be truly experienced, and I have only run the game on one occasion, and that was with me playing pretty fast-and-loose with the rules.
I did find that reading the whole book gave me a much better sense of the total system than I gained by just trying to dive right in an run a session. That being said, I felt like the book could have been better organized in its presentation. There is a lot of mention of rules "which will be explained in a future chapter", which felt like the kind of thing that could be minimized with better organization.
The game is highly cooperative, with players having a much bigger role in determining the course of the story than they do in something like Dungeons & Dragons. There is heavy emphasis on storytelling, and the gameplay is minimized. This suits my style of GMing very well, and I love the fact that I don't have to learn huge amounts of rules to run a game.
People who love characters with very detailed powers and lots of game-mechanic-based strategy are not going to find this as enjoyable.
But as mentioned, it fits my style of play, and it allows me to very quickly adapt ideas for worlds into playable settings. It's free as an ebook and $5 for the hard copy. Compare that to the well over $100 investment you'd have to make for the new D&D edition (which, to be fair, does have a free "basic set" ebook available).
I haven't played enough to really see what this system can do, but it has loads of potential in a small, easily transportable package.
heregrim's review against another edition
5.0
Love the fate system! More important this book serves as both a faster way and a quick tutorial for new players!
morganlethey's review against another edition
4.0
I'm surprised. I might actually find a use for this as a one-shot or something. Definitely willing to give FATE another shot after reading this.
mburnamfink's review against another edition
4.0
Fate Accelerated is probably the definitive minimally viable universal RPG system. Roll 4dF (special d6s marked with -,0,+), add a bonus from one of six approaches that are basically the classic six stats with more evocative names, and play fate points to invoke aspects, from the high concept of your character to situational bonuses. The true clever part is how aspects cover almost every possibility in play, providing mechanical weight to describing how things happen without weighing down the game with a ton of rules. Fate points provide a nice way to limit character power, and compels, where a negative aspect is invoked against the character by the GM, create drama in the moment and fuel the fate point economy.
I can't say that I want to run Fate, but like a set of hex keys ever game collection should have it.
I can't say that I want to run Fate, but like a set of hex keys ever game collection should have it.
frater's review
3.0
Fate is something of a polarising system at the moment, evoking strong emotions - some love it, some hate it. After seeing a recommendation online, I decided to look into Fate's little brother, Fate Accelerated, as a possibility for playing with my children who are getting old enough to be introduced to RPGs.
As for fit to purpose, i'm not sure that Fate Accelerated is the one I will be using for the kids. It is certainly aimed, in some ways, at a younger set, with lots of recommendations that you play as your favourite characters - such as a young wizard at a school for wizardry, along with other less-than-subtle-but-not-completely-spelled-out pop culture references. That's why I thought it might be a good choice.
Generic roleplaying systems aren't a new thing; there have been many attempts to create a roleplaying system that allows you to play any setting, any type of game with one set of rules. Generally they haven't been hugely successful, though some have been successful enough to set up in niches of their own. (GURPS springs to mind here, whose simulationist approach and high standards of research have resulted in some amazing material that even people who don't like GURPS itself buy as reference material.)
FATE's approach to this, particularly fate accelerated, is to slim down the rules entirely to a rather intriguing idea of "aspects" and "approaches". Rather than a character sheet full of skills and attributes seeking to simulate the world, a character is made up of statements and properties such as "The fastest draw in the west" and "Captain of the starship excelsior", which can be brought into play to give a bonus to any roll where they might be argued to apply. FATE is a narrative game taken far over to the narrative side of the rpg fence, where the storygamers live, with all the shared worldbuilding, consensus gameplay and improvised stories that are part of that 'style' of roleplaying. To be honest, it is an intriguing system that I will like to put to the test some day.
What it lacks, however, is structure. Whilst some games (GURPS springs to mind again, as well as Pathfinder and D&D 3.5) built up so much structure, rules and exceptions that the game could easily topple under the weight of them, with GM's and player's alike lost trying to remember the rules to the game they were playing, Fate accelerated throws most of that out of the window in storygame fashion, giving a simple couple of mechanical rules and challenging the players and particularly the GMs to handle the heavy lifting and exceptions in narrative, with creative use of aspects.
It sounds fun, however for a first game with my little ones, I'm looking for something with a bit more structure to it.
Still, definitely worth a good look if you want something mechanically simple but capable of serving as a base for complex stories, or if you want something that you can use to run a game on very short notice, with little preparation.
As for fit to purpose, i'm not sure that Fate Accelerated is the one I will be using for the kids. It is certainly aimed, in some ways, at a younger set, with lots of recommendations that you play as your favourite characters - such as a young wizard at a school for wizardry, along with other less-than-subtle-but-not-completely-spelled-out pop culture references. That's why I thought it might be a good choice.
Generic roleplaying systems aren't a new thing; there have been many attempts to create a roleplaying system that allows you to play any setting, any type of game with one set of rules. Generally they haven't been hugely successful, though some have been successful enough to set up in niches of their own. (GURPS springs to mind here, whose simulationist approach and high standards of research have resulted in some amazing material that even people who don't like GURPS itself buy as reference material.)
FATE's approach to this, particularly fate accelerated, is to slim down the rules entirely to a rather intriguing idea of "aspects" and "approaches". Rather than a character sheet full of skills and attributes seeking to simulate the world, a character is made up of statements and properties such as "The fastest draw in the west" and "Captain of the starship excelsior", which can be brought into play to give a bonus to any roll where they might be argued to apply. FATE is a narrative game taken far over to the narrative side of the rpg fence, where the storygamers live, with all the shared worldbuilding, consensus gameplay and improvised stories that are part of that 'style' of roleplaying. To be honest, it is an intriguing system that I will like to put to the test some day.
What it lacks, however, is structure. Whilst some games (GURPS springs to mind again, as well as Pathfinder and D&D 3.5) built up so much structure, rules and exceptions that the game could easily topple under the weight of them, with GM's and player's alike lost trying to remember the rules to the game they were playing, Fate accelerated throws most of that out of the window in storygame fashion, giving a simple couple of mechanical rules and challenging the players and particularly the GMs to handle the heavy lifting and exceptions in narrative, with creative use of aspects.
It sounds fun, however for a first game with my little ones, I'm looking for something with a bit more structure to it.
Still, definitely worth a good look if you want something mechanically simple but capable of serving as a base for complex stories, or if you want something that you can use to run a game on very short notice, with little preparation.
toddgrotenhuis's review against another edition
4.0
See my review for FATE core. This is the lighter version that is super-fast to get going!