The Holiday Game: A Job For the FATE System

Generally speaking I go to my Uncle's house for Thanksgiving. This has been a tradition my family has followed, pretty much without fail, since we moved to the United States in the very early 1990s. My cousin, the son of this Uncle, is the man who got me into role playing games. His closest friend plays RPGs as well, and so does his (my cousin's) wife. Is it really a surprise that when the four of us get together for the Holiday weekend that we try to play games? Last year my cousin and his wife each ran a Pathfinder adventure (one ended, the other began) the characters from which are still dancing around in my head waiting for a chance to come out and play somewhere. This year, I've been tapped to run a game.

The System
The system of choice isn't really a question for me. They are all Pathfinder players, and so while I'd love to do that I don't know the system well enough to run it for them. What I need is a system with flexibility, the ability to quickly make characters that have some depth, and something that can fit whatever type of genre or world we are going to want. In short, I need the FATE system.

The Game Itself
At present there are two ideas currently in my head. The first is basically a "what if" as in "What if the elements of High Fantasy violently and abruptly returned to the modern world?" The other is "The players are recent graduates of Famous Adventurer's Correspondence School and head out to make a name for themselves as heroes."

High Fantasy Returns
I like this idea because it gives me the chance to really show off some of what FATE can do and how easily it handles things. It also lets me play to the common fantasies/desires that my players have shown they have over the years. My cousin's wife can easily be the Fairy Tale Princess who needs help defeating the grand evil. My cousin can become a mage/wizard/sorceror on the path to true power. The friend can be the bad ass knight who stands against the tide. All that fun stuff can happen, complete with the freedom to let the players turn to the dark side as two of the three are wont to do.

Adventurer's Correspondence School
I like this idea because it lets me use FATE to play in a world from an old series of video games that most, if not all, the people playing the game have enjoyed and loved for a very long time. The ability to borrow landmarks, characters, and to be a bit silly are all very appealing to me. On the downside, this gives me a bit less freedom with how to bring up issues and problems, but not by much. The biggest downside here is not being as able to customize things for the players themselves but that is countered by the shared previous experiences in this universe to draw on.

The Choice
Ultimately, I'm going to let my players choose. It is easy enough to run with either idea and it isn't like I need different books depending on what I choose. So i guess I'll just wait and see what happens.