Review: Fate Accelerated Edition

Both Fate Core and Fate Accelerated Edition ‘versions’ are amazing products. I put ‘versions’ in quotes because, as Fred Hicks (from Evil Hat Productions, which puts out these products) will tell you, Fate Accelerated Edition (or FAE for short) is simply a build of Fate 3.0, and compatible with Core. Of the two, Fate Accelerated Edition will be my go-to edition. Here’s why:

It’s a short book. At 50 pages, it’s very digestible.
It’s only $5. Buy a bundle and give them out like candy to your game group.
It’s concise. Easy to use at the table; and makes for a great ‘Player’s Handbook’.
It plays well with Fate Core. The GM can import any rules from Fate Core they want, but players don’t need the large, more expensive Fate Core hardback to play.
It has 6 ‘Approaches’ — Careful, Clever, Flashy, Forceful, Quick, Sneaky. Easier than Skills to master.

Approaches in FAE work well as is, but I like to hack this and instead use the standard D&D / d20 Ability Scores. FAE allows this easily without missing a beat in gameplay.

Below is a 4×6 card character sheet for FAE using the 6 D&D Ability scores instead of approaches. Hints are under each ability for how and when you’d use that ability. Having used the 6 abilities since the late 70’s (roll a d20 under you ability to succeed at that skill, etc.), and seeing other d20 folks converting to Fate struggling with approaches (“What do I roll for a perception check?”), I really like this hack. I hope you enjoy this character sheet. Eventually I’ll do a 8.5×11″version of it as well. 🙂

What are you waiting for? Grab a ‘pay what you like’ copy of Fate from Evil Hat Productions and start playing!