Fate Core vs The Elf Game
Compare Fate Core and The Elf Game side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Fate Core | The Elf Game | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Universal | Universal |
| Play Style | Narrative, Rules-Light, Tag-Based, Freeform Magic, Social Combat, Improvisation, Open Source | Rules-Light, Beginner-Friendly, Hackable, Descending AC |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 4 Fudge dice + skill vs. difficulty. Spend/earn Fate points to invoke aspects. | Assign six ability scores rolled on 3d6, then resolve any uncertain action by rolling a D20 and subtracting your adjustments. A result at or under the relevant Ability Score succeeds, and a higher result fails. A natural 1 always succeeds and a natural 20 always fails. Attacks use the same roll-under method, subtracting a Melee or Ranged score and comparing the total to the target's Armor Class. |
| Dice | 4dF (Fudge dice) | d20 |
| Complexity | Low | Very Low |
| Accessibility | Very High | Very High |
| Runnability | Very High | Medium |
| License | CC BY 3.0 | Public Domain |
| Cost | Free (SRD) | Free |
| Publisher | Evil Hat Productions | S&A Baudelaire |
| Year | 2013 | 2025 |
| Best For | Narrative-focused groups who want to tell collaborative stories in any genre with minimal rules. | Groups who want a free, pick-up-and-play system for a first RPG or a one-shot, especially tables happy to supply their own spells or borrow rules from other old-school games. |
| Highlights | Genre-agnostic, encourages narrative play, free rules | Ability tests and attacks both roll a D20 under a target number, so players learn a single resolution method and apply it to skills, combat, and saving throws alike. A character picks a class and a stance independently, so Fighter or Tradesman combined with Magical or Mundane yields several distinct builds from a tiny ruleset. Characters advance only from Level 0 to Level 3 by Referee fiat, so there is no experience economy to track. |
| Considerations | 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 | Advancement caps at Level 3, so extended campaigns quickly run out of mechanical growth. Spells are named but never detailed on the rules sheet, so magical characters draw their actual spell effects from the Referee or compatible outside material. Every uncertain action is a single Ability Test with no fixed difficulty tiers, so how hard a task is depends on which ability the Referee calls for rather than a set target number. |