- Fate Condensed

I backed the Fate Core KS years ago, and have always been impressed with the quality of Evil Hat's products. However, despite the excellent presentation and streamlining of the Fate system in that book, I could never quite make it work for me. Setting-free, highly flexible systems with lots of customization "dials" are a fun read and interesting from a game design standpoint, but I find them a bit amorphous and hard to "pin down" when time comes to pitch games to my group. So much "Hey, look what we can do. And this! And this! Oh, and maybe try this too!" that it confuses an otherwise straightforward and elegant system.Cortex Prime (a, dare I say better, kissing cousin of FATE) suffers from the same issue.Like so many, I really liked the simplified version of Fate Accelerated. Although I'm not enamored with the Approaches (instead of skills), if I had to run a FATE game, it would be the FAE implementation.However, now we have Fate Condensed. It IS Fate Core. Period. However the presentation and the way they distilled the system to its essence makes it far easier to understand and far more useable. They also took a few key optional systems (e.g. using set conditions in lieu of on-the-fly complications for damage) and put them in a short final chapter. The only thing missing that I think would have wide applicability would be a few pages on a magic or super powers system (although that's all freely available on the web, so no biggie).All in all, it is an easy-to-read, approachable, complete RPG system and the PERFECT entryway into FATE.The rules are online as an SRD, but for $8 or $9 it is totally worth it to have this print copy. Hell, buy four or five and pass them out to you game buddies. You'll have a FATE game up and running very quickly

Easy to learn and infinitely customizable. Pick up this version or Accelerated or the Core Rules; for a pleasing game at a fair price. 🙂

Great for a quick game love it use it weekly for one shorts. Great price have 3 of them now and am getting more to hand out to people looking to get into fate.

I really like the size of the FATE books.