Me and some friends want to try out Fate Accelerated as a one-shot game (three to four hours) to pass up the time during a hiatus in our larger campaign. However, one of them expressed concern that the system might be poorly suited for single-session games: some mechanics like consequences and refresh come into play mostly during multi-session games.
How much do these and other features of Fate Accelerated hinder using the system for one-shots in practice? What can I do to improve the system's suitability for one-shot gameplay?
Best Answer
The rules say "yes"
According to the playbook, you might play a single session game:
See Fate SRD, The Long Game.
Both FAE and Fate Core have Consequences and Refresh. In a single session game Refresh means number of Fate points for players to start with. Consequences aren't strictly tied to sessions, in the first place they are aspects caused by damage players' characters taken.
Ouch! Damage, Stress, and Consequences said that Moderate consequences clears at the end of the next session, and Severe consequences clears at the end of the scenario, provided it makes sense within the story. So they might last longer in "normal" (not one-shot) game, this doesn't break anything.
If you're the DM, you still should learn Fate Core
FAE is a complete game, allowing players get into as quick as possible. However, it's still built on Fate Core, and assumes the DM is familiar with the system.
From Fred of Evil Hat's Blog:
See also
Very related question: Preparing a one-shot with FATE
An example Fate Core session from the game creator: Wil Wheaton Plays FATE CORE