Basic Roleplaying vs Fate Core
Compare Basic Roleplaying and Fate Core side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Basic Roleplaying | Fate Core | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Universal | Universal |
| Play Style | Skill-Based, Modular, Simulation, Gritty, Roleplay-Heavy, Investigation, Low-Fantasy, Classless | Narrative, Rules-Light, Collaborative, Cinematic, Improvisation, Theater of the Mind, Low-Prep, Roleplay-Heavy, Drama, Freeform Magic, Open Source, Tag-Based |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d100 under your skill percentage to succeed. Critical success on 1/20th of skill value, fumble on 99–100. Opposed rolls compare results. Optional rules layer on complexity as desired. | Roll 4 Fudge dice + skill vs. difficulty. Spend/earn Fate points to invoke aspects. |
| Dice | d100 | 4dF (Fudge dice) |
| Complexity | Medium | Low |
| Accessibility | Medium | Very High |
| Community | Medium | High |
| License | ORC | CC BY 3.0 |
| Cost | $$ | Free (SRD) |
| Publisher | Chaosium Inc. | Evil Hat Productions |
| Year | 2023 | 2013 |
| Best For | GMs who want a modular, genre-agnostic percentile system they can tailor to any setting with optional rules for powers, combat, and more. | Narrative-focused groups who want to tell collaborative stories in any genre with minimal rules. |
| Highlights | Highly modular — add or remove subsystems at will, intuitive percentile mechanic, unified system across any genre, skill-based progression through use, long design heritage | Genre-agnostic, encourages narrative play, free rules |
| Considerations | Can feel generic without a specific setting, requires GM effort to select which optional rules to use, combat can be deadly and swingy | Aspect economy demands constant creative input which can exhaust players, character differentiation can blur with freeform aspects, requires system mastery from the GM to run smoothly |