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[Newt]

Ok I'm on a bit of a FATE kick at the moment, just picked up Starblazers and Disapora one after another, after downloading FreeFate and finally groking the system.

So this one is for FATE fans which flavour of FATE do you like best and why?
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Toodle pip!

;O)Newt

[dr_mitch]

I've been thinking about this one. My first, and completely unhelpful answer is that my favourite flavour of FATE is the one I'm slowly developing for Otherspace.

More usefully, my favourite is Diaspora. Sure, there's things I'd want to house rule now, but they only really came to light after quite a few game sessions- and that's in some ways beyond Diaspora's design, which is for short campaigns of six or so sessions. But there's enough stuff there- Cluster creation, spacecraft design and combat, the weapon design systems- that I really really like, and the core is the most elegant of any of the FATE games.

As for the others, Starblazer is a massive grab bag of stuff. If I wanted space opera, I'd bolt bits I fancied from Starblazer Adventures onto Diaspora- and there's quite a lot of stuff I do fancy there. One day I'll do this.

One you don't own is Spirit of the Century- which I certainly want to use again (I'd house-rule stress tracks to the Starblazer Adventures version, and maybe alter a couple of stunts, but that's absolutely it). The GMing advice in Spirit is absolutely excellent. That said, most of that advice is in the SRD, and part of Starblazer's huge size is the fact that it basically contains the Spirit of the Century SRD- they didn't change Spirit at all to get Starblazer, they *added* to it.

[Edit: In case it isn't clear, it's almost a toss up between Spirit of the Century and Diaspora for my personal fave at the moment, with Diaspora just about edging ahead. But I have yet to see Legends of Anglerre or the Dresden Files RPG. ]
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Paul Mitchener

Maths Sensei

Author: Blood of the Gods (Wild Talents in Ancient Greece), Drowned Lands (in Adventures in Wordplay), Dragon City (in the OpenQuester).

[First Age]

"It's all good" doesn't help, athough it is largely true.

In part it may depend on what you wish to do with it. I tend to agree with Dr Mitch - assess what you want it for and make some design decisions around:

Damage tracks
Consequences
Nos of Fate Points
Stunts
Player 'Visibility' of Aspects
Game stats for equipment
Zones
Dice curve (4DF, D6-D6, other)

Once you have got there, then blend to taste. Personally I greatly prefer Diaspora as my base and then steal ideas from Starblazer (using the experience progression system for example). I prefer Diaspora because it is cleanly written, includes Zone Aspects, is up front about the way Aspects are brought into play (openly and taggable), uses neat twiddles for equipment, uses 4DF, has about the right numbers in the damage tracks, and handles Stunts flexibly in a build your own kind of way.

I'd review again once I attached an actual game to the rules but as a base it works best for me. Haven't seen Legends of Anglerre yet, but expect there will be lots of fantasy stealable elements there too.

Fate - it's damned good.
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First Age

[NeilFord]

Right now it would be The Dresden Files RPG, but that's because it's what I'm reading right now. And it looks absolutely beautiful.

Having not really played any of the versions I have, I can't really comment from a play point of view.

- Neil.

[DigitalMage]

Starblazers for me, but then I don't have DFRPG or Diaspora - so for me its a choice between Starblazers and SotC and I like the former a bit better in that gear has some impact, plus I would use it for Star Wars

Starblazers was my first FATE game and the one that therefore inspired me the most when I wrote Free FATE.
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Geek in wolf's clothing