The Basics

Original SA post
The Basics
After it explains a bit about the setting, the book goes into an explanation of the FATE system, which the Dresden Files RPG runs off of.
Dealing with the Dice
FATE uses 4 Fudge dice, which are special d6's that have a - on two sides, are blank on two sides, and have + on the last two sides. You roll four of these at a time, and each - gives -1 to the roll and each + gives +1 to the roll. Thus, you get a bell curve of -4 to +4, centered at 0. If you don't have Fudge dice, you can roll regular d6's and treat 1-2 as -, 3-4 as blank, 5-6 as + for the same result. You'll roll these against either a target difficulty set by the GM, or as an opposed roll. For every point higher than the difficulty you roll, you get what is called a shift, which generally translates into degrees of success. If you get exactly the result, you did the job just good enough to get it done. If you get 5 shifts, you did an awesome job a it.
Skills
Unlike a lot of other systems, FATE doesn't use stats, only skills, and each FATE game has a different variety of skills based on the setting. Pretty much every time you roll the dice, you'll be adding a skill to it. Skills for characters usually range from 0 to +5, with higher levels only seen in specific cases due to stunts and powers (see below). There will be a skills chapter coming later.
Aspects
Aspects (and the associated fate points) are the real meat of the system. Each character (as well as locations, enemies, and many other things) have a set of traits known as aspects. Aspects are what really define your character and make them unique. They can be relationships, beliefs, catchphrases, descriptors, items, or pretty much anything else that paints a picture of the character. Examples are No Sympathy for the Devil, Apprenticed To A Four Foot Tall Fourth Grader, My Life for the White Council, Bloody Crazy and Bloody Minded, Veteran of the Vampire War, and Nobody from Nowheresville.
Stunts
Stunts are special tricks and knowledges your character has. They generally modify a specific use of a skill, giving a bonus or making it faster, or broadening its use somehow. There will be a stunts power coming later.
Supernatural Powers
If it goes behind what a normal mortal can do, it goes here. Magic, supernatural strength, flight, shapeshifting, things like that.
Fate Points
Fate points are the other driving factor to the system, along with aspects. Each character has a number of fate points, which you can use in four separate ways.
1) Gain a bonus. You add +1 to a dice roll. This is basically the weakest way you can spend a fate point, and you almost never want to do this.
2) Invoke an aspect. This, on the other hand, is probably the way you'll most often use a fate point. When you have an aspect that applies to a situation (for example, having No Sympathy for the Devil when fighting a demon), you can invoke the aspect and get either a +2 bonus to a roll or to reroll it entirely. This doesn't just mean your aspects, either. You can compel aspects on an enemy (Walks with a Limp), on a scene or location (Flickering Lightbulb), or even city/setting aspects (discussed in the next chapter).
3) Activate stunts or powers. Some stunts and powers require a Fate point to use them, generally particularly potent ones.
4) Make a declaration. Declarations are statements about a scene or character that are true. Generally you make a skill roll to do this, but if you don't want to take your chances you can just burn the fate point. Declarations are intended to add things that would make something interesting or cooler, and are subject to veto by the GM. You probably couldn't declare that the bad guy drops dead of a heart attack, but what if the shelf he was hiding behind contained Propane Tanks?
Recovering Fate Points
There are two ways you get Fate Points back. The first way is the easiest - you recover up to your starting fate points each time you start a session. This is known as a refresh. Some exceptions apply - if you ended the session in the middle of the fight, you aren't going to refresh until after it's over, and if you have a substantial amount of downtime mid-session you might refresh then.
The other way to get fate points back is to get compelled. A compel is like an invoke in reverse - instead of spending a fate point on an aspect to gain a bonus, the DM (or even you!) can compel an aspect to cause problems for you, and in return you get a fate point. This goes to the process- vs results-sim mentioned earlier in the thread. In a game like GURPS, an alcoholic rolls a dice every so often and if he fails, he has to go get drunk, and the player feels like he failed. In FATE, an Alcoholic goes drinking when he needs a drink, and the player gets a bonus for it. You can buy off a compel by paying a fate point to the GM instead, if you really can't afford to go drinking right now.
And that's the core of FATE! Overall, it's relatively simple but works well.