Hello ladies and gents,

What do people think about Fate 2.0 versus Fate 3.0 (e.g. Dresden Files and Spirit of the Century)? What do you like/dislike about each set of rules? I am asking about the rules, rather than the settings.

The backstory... I was looking to run an urban fantasy game. A few friends highly recommended Fate 2.0. As I have been drawn to experimenting with more narrative systems, I decided to give Fate 2.0 a read. I loved it, at least on paper. Having yet to see how it plays hinders my ability to assess it. Hence, I am turning to this community. :) Then I thought, if I am running an urban fantasy game, Dresden would likely be a great fit. So I started reading those rules. I was surprised at first that a 90-page rulebook became a 400-page one. Some of the changes seemed fascinating (e.g. tagging Aspects) but many of them seemed to add more restricted details than open options (e.g. if you have X skill with Y stunt, you get Z bonus to this action). Again, this is just from reading the book, not from playing.

I am not necessarily looking to find out which is better, since most of us realize that all rule sets have their uses. It just depends on the goal. I would just like some insight before trying to decide what to play. I would really love comments from people that have played at least one of these systems (or SotC) to help me evaluate where to go from here. Thanks!!

Hi Stephen,

I've played quite a bit of SotC and ran a mini-campaign of a somewhat modified SotC/Fate3 system set in the Planescape campaign setting once. So, I have a little bit of experience playing it, running it, and modding it. I haven't looked at the Dresden books yet so I couldn't give you any insights into what's happened with the system post-SotC.

In SotC, I was struck by how many sub-systems had been constructed for a core mechanic that's fairly simple. I found that a great deal of the sub-systems were useless for my purposes; likewise Stunts, which I ignored completely for a convention scenario I ran once.

Generally speaking, it's relatively hard for me to think of a style of game where Fate would not be a good fit. The one exception I've run into are games where high mortality rates are integral to the setting; SotC in particular makes it really hard to off somebody, which fits in with the source fiction. Not sure if Dresden addresses that issue of not?

If you have any more specific questions for me I'd be happy to try to answer them, either here or by email as you prefer.

Thanks so much. This is rather what I thought when I read the system so I wondered how it played out. Since I posted I have begun to set up a Fate 3.0 campaign, using the Free Fate rules (90 pages). I am looking forward to it! :)