The Essence of Fate

Fate Condensed is a compact, stand-alone version of the Fate Core System streamlined for clarity and ease of reference.

Fate Condensed gives you easy-to- digest rules in as few pages as possible, letting you get to the table and roll the dice, fast. It includes a few simple refinements to the Fate Core engine honed over a decade of active play and development. And best of all, it's 100% compatible with every one of our 90+ Fate products already published.

Fate veterans will appreciate the concise layout, minor refinements, and additions to Fate’s rules (see below for the details).

New to Fate? Fate Condensed can drive any game, any scenario you can imagine. Unleash your creativity! Fate's flexible rules make it easy.

You can adapt your favorite movie or tv series, or create an original world uniquely tailored to your group. Players populate that world with proactive, capable characters leading dramatic lives. The Game Master challenges them with crises tied both to the world and to their personal troubles.

Fate Condensed gives you the flexibility and power to bring your vision to life!

Refined. Streamlined.

Fate Condensed.

What’s new?

Inside Fate Condensed, you'll find:

One-point stress boxes to help reduce player confusion. (Don't worry, you can still use Fate Core stress if you want!)

to help reduce player confusion. (Don't worry, you can still use Fate Core stress if you want!) Skills no longer determine turn order. Instead, the story determines who goes first, and the active player chooses who goes next.

Instead, the story determines who goes first, and the active player chooses who goes next. We've improved advancement , eliminating significant milestones and finessing major milestones to compensate.

, eliminating significant milestones and finessing major milestones to compensate. Active opposition is no longer separate from the defend action.

is no longer separate from the defend action. Fourteen pages of optional rules to make building your own custom variant of Fate easy. These options give you rules for countdowns, scale, extreme consequences, methods to make your Big Bads bigger and badder, and more.

Open Licensable.

For game creators, the text of Fate Condensed is available for development under an open license. Its low word-count means it won’t bust your budget when creating your own stand-alone game Powered by Fate. See https://www.faterpg.com/licensing/ for details.

Choose your Fate!

Looking for an in-depth walk-through of the system? Fate Core contains copious examples and under-the-hood design philosophy.

Fate Core contains copious examples and under-the-hood design philosophy. Want beginner-friendly, streamlined play? Check out Fate Accelerated, designed for speed.

Check out Fate Accelerated, designed for speed. Seeking a tight, refined, wallet-friendly rules reference? Put one (or more!) copies of Fate Condensed in easy reach, break out your dice, and start playing.

Whatever way you want to play, there’s a Fate that’s right for you!