Licensing Fate
Licensing: Licensing of Fate Core and Fate Accelerated is now possible with the July 2013 release of our system reference documents (SRDs).
- On September 2013, we made Fate System Toolkit available for licensing.
- On March 2016, we added the Venture City character creation rules and super-power catalog.
- On April 2016, we added Atomic Robo RPG, Sails Full of Stars, Gods & Monsters, Frontier Spirit, Conspiracies, and No-Skill Swashbuckling system reference documents.
- On December 2017, we made a portion of the Fate Adversary Toolkit available for licensing.
- On February 2020, we made the Fate Condensed system reference documents available for license.
Text: Two open licensing schemes are available to you for the above content, and you can choose the one that suits you best. Read more about these choices below. In order to get to the SRDs, you must determine which licensing scheme you want to use, then click the relevant link for that license below.
Logo: We also provide a “Powered By Fate” logo for your use should you wish to brand your product as a Fate game. (The Fate Core and Fate Accelerated logos will remain the property and trademarks of Evil Hat Productions, LLC.) You can find the Powered by Fate logo further down this page.
Font: Finally, we’re providing a Fate Core Glyphs font to use for the Four Actions and easy creation of stress tracks. See below.
Your Licensing Options
The System Reference Documents (SRDs) for all the content listed at the top of this page are available through two licensing schemes.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY)
For our second open license option, we will be making use of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license. Use of this license will simply require that you make a clear statement (we’ll give you the text) that your game is based on our material. Unlike some other Creative Commons options, this is not “viral”—you don’t have to make your derived content open at all. We think it’s awesome if you do, though, because a) we did, and b) it means you’re contributing something back to the community that made Fate possible in the first place.
Our advice: This is the easiest option to implement and understand. For each SRD you use, you must include a small attribution bloc on your copyright page. The attribution bloc is given at the top of each SRD, so it’s an easy copy & paste. It lays no claim to your work, and you’re not obligated to make your derived work open as well, it just requires you to give credit as specified.
Open Game License (OGL)
The Open Game License (OGL) is a popular choice that is well-known in gaming circles. This is a good choice if you’re already familiar with its use, or if you’re looking to intermix your content with other OGL licensed content. Prior to Fate Core, the OGL was the only license available for the Fate system, due to the earlier edition’s derivation from the Fudge RPG system. The OGL compels you to keep open what you’ve borrowed, and to make a clear product identity declaration about what you’re not making open by basing your game on OGL content.
Our advice: This licensing option is here mainly for folks who are already familiar with the OGL, and/or are looking to integrate our content together with something also available under the OGL. It’s bulkier and more baroque to use, and for some it’s more difficult to understand.
Powered by Fate
We’re offering two versions of the Powered By Fate logo. Choose the one that best suits the background you’re putting it on. To make legal use of either logo, you must include the following text:
Fate™ is a trademark of Evil Hat Productions, LLC. The Powered by Fate logo is © Evil Hat Productions, LLC and is used with permission.
That’s it!
Download “Powered by Fate” logos in EPS format, one for light backgrounds, one for dark
If you need to make color alterations to one of these logo options to better suit your product, please email Evil Hat for permission (which is usually granted). You may not otherwise alter the logo (change its shape, use only part of it, etc).
Fate Font
You can download the Fate Core Glyphs font here. Fate Core Font.ttf
To make use of it, just give us credit:
The Fate Core font is © Evil Hat Productions, LLC and is used with permission. The Four Actions icons were designed by Jeremy Keller.
This font contains a small number of glyphs, supporting Fudge Dice faces (0, +, -), the Four Actions (A, D, C, O), and some stress track boxes (using the number keys). Enjoy!
114 Responses to “Licensing Fate”
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Is the Horror Toolkit Open to Creative Commons?
It is not on the list of SRDs found on this site; it is not currently open.
At a first glance, it seems if someone wanted to create either 1) a commerical closed-source PC game using/exposing Fate rules/concepts or 2) an open-source library implementation of Fate SRDs – they could just use the creative commons license only be required to attribute these things were based on Fate.
Do I have this correct?
You have it correct enough to check if you’re correct with a lawyer. I’m not one so I can’t fully advise you there. But to the very limited extent I understand the concepts you’re putting forth, sounds right.
Hello, your fate font download is mucked up. Clicking the link fails. When I right click and “save as” it is because your file name is “Fate-Core-Font.ttf_” and is therefore lacking the .zip extension. The browser also comes up with an error saying it is not safe, which you then have to override.
When I just click on it directly, it downloads a zip for me just fine, which I then unzip just fine, and then have a TTF file. Sounds like a browser issue? The file’s name is Fate-Core-Font.ttf_.zip — and that’s how it downloaded for me as I tested it.
To get the font to download you have to open up the website in Microsoft Edge…. it won’t work with anything else… I tried all the other platforms and finally decided to use Edge and it opens just fine
Downloads fine on multiple browsers on my Mac, for what it’s worth.
The Fate Accessibility Toolkit is very appealing to me, but it hasn’t been opened up yet, as far as I can tell. Do you intend to do so eventually? If yes, could that be years down the line?
Possibly! Not ready to make that decision yet tho.
I have an idea for a RPG setting that I think would be a good fit for Fate Condensed. I understand that I can use this with the correct attribution which is great. I’d like to change a few areas of the game to make it work for the idea I have, is it enough to say “inspired by fate” and then take a red pen to some of the rules and add others?
I do want to give you the right credit.
The license allows you to use between 0% and 100% of the text offered in the SRD.
The license allows you to alter between 0% and 100% of the text offered in the SRD.
The license allows you to delete between 0% and 100% of the text altered in the SRD.
If you start with the text — if you use parts of it (more than 0%, up to as much as 100%) at all — you need to include the specified licensing text.
You’re under no obligation to label the result as Fate at all, *so long as* you’re including the specified licensing text.
That’s great, thanks for your speedy reply!
I love You guys. Thats it. I’ve been working for over a decade in my own Game sysem and different worlds. Like 3 years ago another DM told me “It’s kinda fate, you would love it”.. this past week i’ve started downloading the free content on oficial pages. What you’ve Made is really awesome. I still don’t know if i’ll use some of your text, but prolly put a powered by fate and disclaimer anyway. Thanks!