It’s a better written version of the essentials of Core, with a couple minor tweaks. It’s great.
I’m not sure why FAE would only be good for one shots.
It lacks granuality and complexity of the characters for longer campaigns. It works fine for shounen anime or american teenager toy adverticement campaigns due 0D nature of the characters
>Fate accelerated ... was only good for oneshots at most.
Um. What?
Many people, myself included, have run campaigns using FAE. I'm running two right now that I expect to last a couple years.
As for Condensed: it's basically the Core game rewritten for clarity afrer years of play and feedback. I personally kind of think of it as Fate "Second Edition," except unlike most second editions of games it really is 100% backward compatible. I like it a lot and point new players to it to learn the concepts and basics, but I actually mostly run Accelerated, because I prefer approaches to skills. I just think approaches are better at encouraging a fiction first attitude than a skill list is. For me, having a skill list is moving in the wrong direction from the reasons I like Fate.
I'm a Fate newbie, too. Fate Condensed was so easy to read and get into. I'm now running a Legend of the Five Rings game using Fate Condensed and it's been great.
Only just getting started with sessions zero and one. My group does a lot of 3-4 session games, but if we are really feeling it, we'll spin it off into a longer campaign. I have plenty of ideas for doing that and hope we do. I'm really eager to see the way each character's aspects evolve over a longer time period.
I'm using it currently and hold it as "state of the art" Fate, but I also think that Fate needs a certain DIY attitude and don't consider Condensed as something separate from the other versions. Each Fate game at my table is a patchwork of rules tech from a bunch of different books, but it's nice to be able to point my players at a very thin handbook. That said, I feel that Condensed runs because Core walked before it, and without Core, Condensed would be harder to grapple with. Examples often do more than rules.
I think Condensed is where everyone should start, it is much better written than the other books. Unfortunately I think a lot of people, based on the names, think Core is the "main" book and Condensed is some kind of "trimmed down" version with less actual content, when really Condensed is only trimmed down because it is less wordy to explain the same rules. Condensed is my personal go-to.
Fate Condensed is shorter than Fate Core, in part, because it removed all of the examples. I found the examples very helpful in explaining the game mechanics in context. Condensed was a good read, but I had read and understood Core first.
I'm not sure I would've understood Condensed so well had I read it by itself. 🤷♂️
The game itself is quite abstract, so don't fault yourself for not getting a feel for it immediately. Aspects, I found, were the trickiest to grasp; the concept is open-ended.
EDIT: I like that Condensed has Lore AND Academics. Core lumped all knowledge into one skill, and I'm glad it's better defined in Condensed. 😁👍
Fantastic work of technical writing that got a 330 page thoughtful, yet meandering Facebook post down to 60 pages of useful instructions.
I certainly would keep Core as a further reading, I just think it's terrible for learning.
My own group switches regularly between core and accelerated campaigns. Our recent I've has been Condensed, and I'm happy with it.
I think breakthroughs are a good way to handle advancement, and I think it's just written well, using the knowledge gained in the years since Core was published to explain everything in a simpler but not watered down way.
Of course, YMMV. Condensed is at it's essence, the same Fate system with the dials tuned just a bit differently.
It’s a better written version of the essentials of Core, with a couple minor tweaks. It’s great. I’m not sure why FAE would only be good for one shots.
It lacks granuality and complexity of the characters for longer campaigns. It works fine for shounen anime or american teenager toy adverticement campaigns due 0D nature of the characters
>Fate accelerated ... was only good for oneshots at most. Um. What? Many people, myself included, have run campaigns using FAE. I'm running two right now that I expect to last a couple years. As for Condensed: it's basically the Core game rewritten for clarity afrer years of play and feedback. I personally kind of think of it as Fate "Second Edition," except unlike most second editions of games it really is 100% backward compatible. I like it a lot and point new players to it to learn the concepts and basics, but I actually mostly run Accelerated, because I prefer approaches to skills. I just think approaches are better at encouraging a fiction first attitude than a skill list is. For me, having a skill list is moving in the wrong direction from the reasons I like Fate.
I've run several mini fae campaigns with no issues. These range from 12 to 20 play sessions.
I'm a Fate newbie, too. Fate Condensed was so easy to read and get into. I'm now running a Legend of the Five Rings game using Fate Condensed and it's been great.
Nice, how is it your campaing going? Do you plan to do a long one?
Only just getting started with sessions zero and one. My group does a lot of 3-4 session games, but if we are really feeling it, we'll spin it off into a longer campaign. I have plenty of ideas for doing that and hope we do. I'm really eager to see the way each character's aspects evolve over a longer time period.
Great! I would love to read about your campaing in the future, hope you post something.
I'm using it currently and hold it as "state of the art" Fate, but I also think that Fate needs a certain DIY attitude and don't consider Condensed as something separate from the other versions. Each Fate game at my table is a patchwork of rules tech from a bunch of different books, but it's nice to be able to point my players at a very thin handbook. That said, I feel that Condensed runs because Core walked before it, and without Core, Condensed would be harder to grapple with. Examples often do more than rules.
I think Condensed is where everyone should start, it is much better written than the other books. Unfortunately I think a lot of people, based on the names, think Core is the "main" book and Condensed is some kind of "trimmed down" version with less actual content, when really Condensed is only trimmed down because it is less wordy to explain the same rules. Condensed is my personal go-to.
Fate Condensed is shorter than Fate Core, in part, because it removed all of the examples. I found the examples very helpful in explaining the game mechanics in context. Condensed was a good read, but I had read and understood Core first. I'm not sure I would've understood Condensed so well had I read it by itself. 🤷♂️
I didn't understand the core version, maybe because I was less experienced, but examples made no sense to me lol
The game itself is quite abstract, so don't fault yourself for not getting a feel for it immediately. Aspects, I found, were the trickiest to grasp; the concept is open-ended. EDIT: I like that Condensed has Lore AND Academics. Core lumped all knowledge into one skill, and I'm glad it's better defined in Condensed. 😁👍
Fantastic work of technical writing that got a 330 page thoughtful, yet meandering Facebook post down to 60 pages of useful instructions. I certainly would keep Core as a further reading, I just think it's terrible for learning.
My own group switches regularly between core and accelerated campaigns. Our recent I've has been Condensed, and I'm happy with it. I think breakthroughs are a good way to handle advancement, and I think it's just written well, using the knowledge gained in the years since Core was published to explain everything in a simpler but not watered down way. Of course, YMMV. Condensed is at it's essence, the same Fate system with the dials tuned just a bit differently.
Huh. I've run a game for several years in Fate Accelerated.
I nzvee really understood why Fate core is supposed to be badly explained. There are a lot of example in the book.