With 'Fellowships' in the title you might expect this WY Games/Hobby Japan game to be a cooperative game. It isn't. It's a competitive fantasy-themed card game for 2-5 players where, over four rounds, players are playing cards to collect resources for use in meeting the cost of adventure cards that will score them victory points.
Players all have a similar deck of nine cards. At the start of the round you pick the four cards to take into your hand. You'll have regard here to the adventure cards displayed, as most of these will have an acquisition cost in strength, mana and/or wisdom - the three resources in the game.
On your turn you play a card from your hand and specify whether you are playing it in its Nameless or Legendary form. Played for its Nameless effect you activate immediately its lower power effect. For most cards that just involves taking particular resources. The card is then turned on its side (we're not allowed say 'tapped') to indicate it's been used. The Legendary effects are notably stronger: they invariably offer significantly more resources and/or the opportunity to acquire an adventure card from the display. Play a card for its Legendary effect and nothing happens in that turn: you leave the card upright and it only takes effect if it is still upright on your next turn.
The challenge in Fellowships of Fate is in second guessing the other players because if another player plays the same character card, it acts as an interrupt on your Legendary card, forcing you to turn it on its side so it has no effect at all. If they play their card in its Nameless form, they'll reap the resources for their card as well as interrupting your Legendary card.
Far from being cooperative then, Fellowships of Fate is a highly interactive 'take that' game where players are competing to anticipate what cards others might have in hand and time their card plays accordingly. There's a high push-your-luck element and plenty of scope for deduction and bluffing as you set up your hand each round. The dynamics of the game differ as you extend the player count: with four or five players there's a very high chance that your Legendary card plays will suffer an interrupt, even if another player has already played a card with the same name. You are likely to be at an advantage if you are later in turn order but the start player shifts each round. Our preferred player count for Fellowships of Fate is four players because that means everyone gets a round when they are first and last player.
Fellowships of Fate is designed by Yoshihiko. The art from Takeru is attractive but it's not displayed to best effect on the adventure cards because they are printed using a dark palette.