Are there many tabletop gamers around?

[Harness]

OMG! I want to play dresden files so bad! That would be my top pick as a player, followed by exalted.

[illuminatus]

I'm up for anything. Heard awesome things about Eclipse Phase. Not too familiar with the Dresden Files but wouldn't hurt to pick up some of the books and read up

[SusieBlu]

I love love to play Dresden files. The thing is the books are huge and hard to find. And if people aren't familiar with the fudge system I think it would be hard to play over posts. I will say the story telling possibilities would be great and I would love to give it a try I just don't think itbis the best system for forums.

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[illuminatus]

Who writes the Dresden Files? Also does Dresden Files RPG use the Fate System?

[realbrickwall]

Who writes the Dresden Files? Also does Dresden Files RPG use the Fate System?

Jim Butcher and yes.

I love love to play Dresden files. The thing is the books are huge and hard to find. And if people aren't familiar with the fudge system I think it would be hard to play over posts. I will say the story telling possibilities would be great and I would love to give it a try I just don't think it is the best system for forums.

Physical copies of the books are hard to find (though I have seen them), but they do sell PDFs, which is what I have (and so can you).

The hardest part of FATE PbP is action point negotiation. I admit, that does pose an obstacle for people new to FATE. However, I've done PbP on and off for...wow, almost 10 years. I've found that every game runs into some issue or another with PbP (grid-based games run into grid negotiation, WW games take four posts to resolve any single action, et cetera), so the best sort of game to run over PbP ends up being the one that has an issue that everyone is willing to be patient with and has the best workarounds for.

One of the best ways to work around the whole Action Point dealie is the Retcon. PbP allows for ease of editing, which means that you can simply redact a ret-conned post and just put the new truth of the universe up in a new post. So, here's some examples of The Mighty Retcon in action.

Casey is playing a shapeshifter named Brosephine in a University-themed game. Brosephine is attempting to pull an all-nighter, so Casey makes a descriptive post with an included Discipline roll, and, seeing the high result, posts general success. However, the GM says that an all-nighter is Scholarship restricted by Discipline (meaning a low Discipline lowers your roll, but a high Discipline does nothing). Sadly, Brosephine's Scholarship is pretty bad...and, it turns out, not good enough. Casey makes a retcon post where Brosephine stays up all night, but doesn't produce a good paper. Turns out you need a good Scholarship to keep your scholarship.

Later, Brosephine is fighting off hungry thought spirits at the library, trying to save the books. The GM rolls to attack, and beats Brosephine's defense, so the GM describes Brosephine getting hurt. Casey asks to spend an action point to invoke Brosephine's "Wildly Unpredictable" aspect to help dodge. The GM makes a retcon post.

Finally, Brosephine is attempting to beg the professor for an extension, using the fact that there have been issues with the library recently as an example (hopefully the professor doesn't realize those problems started that morning at 4 AM). Casey rolls Rapport, and gets a high result. However, the GM decides to compel Brosephine's "Shapeshifting Student Slacker" aspect (the character's High Concept, of course), to declare that the professor doesn't really think highly of Brosephine's study habits. Casey accepts the Fate point, and Brosephine is forced to turn in a truly god-awful paper.

Opposed rolls present a second call-response issue, but that can be solved by anyone engaging an opposed roll simply posting a second, unmodified roll (just the dice) along with their roll. GM rolls are supposed to be out in the open anyway. The GM, of course, knowing the players' character sheets, can certainly opt to include the modifiers. Any changes can be easily retconned.

And, since DF seems to be a fairly popular choice, we're going to tentatively say that we're going ahead with that.

We'll be playing at either the 8 Refresh or 10 Refresh level, if people want to start working on their concepts.

As far as City Creation...that's a pretty big hurdle to getting started. It takes a very long time. We'll probably just stick with the On The Fly rules. I mean, character creation alone will take easily over a week, especially with Phases 4 and 5.

[Harness]

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[illuminatus]

Cool sign me up. Played Spirit of the Century and loved the system some I'm familiar with it, just not the Dresden Files. I'll pick up a Jim Butcher novel and start reading up and will get the PDF for the game from drivethrurpg. Awesome!!!!

[Harness]

I am rolling around the idea of playing a WC Vamp.

[realbrickwall]

I'll pick up a Jim Butcher novel and start reading up

There are debates on where you should start in the Dresden Files. I say start with Storm Front (book 1). Lots of people say start with Grave Peril (book 3) because that's when the writing really hits its stride (and I do agree on that point). My one friend says it doesn't even matter (I disagree: watching how the characters change over time is really compelling).

Also, Jim Butcher's other series, Codex Alera, is seriously nothing like Dresden Files, so reading that won't help much.

Anyway, I'm considering setting the game in Columbus, Ohio, because I know a lot about it, which is good for a GM. Just a heads-up.

Finally, I'm setting a solid -10 refresh. I like large-scale stuff, so let's start big!

[SusieBlu]

Refresh 10 coming up. Quick question any restrictions on magic or species?

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[realbrickwall]

Refresh 10 coming up. Quick question any restrictions on magic or species?

I was hoping for a more heroic game than a morally ambivalent one, so yeah. Of course, being a PC is always about having a choice rather than a nature, so you certainly don't need to be someone insulated against the temptation to be selfish or wicked (as if that were possible; even Michael Carpenter has to deal with that sort of thing on a constant basis).

At 10 Refresh, I fully expect players to enjoy the possibilities. There's no reason you can't be something truly strange that the books don't talk much about (I once played a character who was the Hand of the Tao, basically an employee of the Grand Design itself, empowered to defend mortals from things counter to Fate's plans for them, so really, feel free to go out there). Just make sure you play nice with others! Also, if the book says "this isn't really a player power" (i.e. Shapeshifting), and you want it anyway, give me a really good concept and I'll give it some thought. Those restrictions exist so that the players can all enact the most interesting stories. Unlimited shapeshifting, for example, solves too many problems for too little work in most cases. However, just below that, Faerie Glamours are incredibly powerful, but they do things in an interesting way, with interesting limitations. Of course, Spellcasting and Thaumaturgy is the "sweet spot" of power, providing a ton of capability with a ton of complications that make it fun.

That rant got away from me. Basically, don't feel restricted by what the books tell you (Harry, and even Bob, may well be wrong about something, for all we know), but make sure your character engages the story in an interesting (I need more synonyms for that word) way that also leaves room for a number of other players.

Oh, and don't plan on doing too much Lawbreaking in the game. Obviously, the rules already say that every time you break a Law you get closer to losing your character to Refresh, but still, don't make a necromancer or chronomancer or psychomancer or Cthulhumancer.

[shagy2303]

for dresden files what pdfs are needed

[SusieBlu]

The first book is for characters and pc the second is world building.

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[SusieBlu]

My character concept starts with being a scion. High concept- last child of Tir na nog. Not faeire but connected.

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[realbrickwall]

My character concept starts with being a scion. High concept- last child of Tir na nog. Not faeire but connected.

Hmm...

Dredging up research (my knowledge of Tir na nOg was previously only what I knew from White Wolf's game Scion), Tir na nOg was basically faerie. Its inhabitants were the aos si, or, under the more familiar term, the sidhe. These same myths that give name to the sidhe (which does include the Tuatha de, who are also considered gods by some) are the ones that give them their known bane, iron, so I'd have to say these are the same fairies.

If you're angling to distance yourself from the Summer and Winter Court, there's plenty of room in the Nevernever, but I'd have to say that someone hailing from the realm of fairies that most influenced the Dresdenverse fairies (the second-biggest influence would be Shakespeare, of course) would fall under their general rules.

If you have something more specific in mind, I'd be happy to help you work it out, but there's quite a bit of complication involved with entirely separating fairies from their mythological source.

Of course, Tir na nOg is the place to which the fairies fled. Long ago, the natives of Ireland were driven out by the "modern" Irish peoples (modern as in a few millennia). They were immortalized in myth as a race which fell to iron, whose burial mounds were called "sidhe", and thus the creatures said to have come from them. Basically, they were something else before they became fairies. Maybe your character is somehow connected to that. Whatever happened, it happened long before any form of writing came about, so only the Fairy Queens would have any sort of idea of it at all.

tl;dr: Your concept doesn't quite jive as you wrote it, but your idea leads to a few interesting possibilities (obscure fairy, last descendant of the beings fairies came from, to name two). I hope my nerd-rant hasn't lessened your interest in pursuing your character idea!

(This is what the Capable Researcher stunt looks like, I think)

[shagy2303]

wow $25 ...

[realbrickwall]

RPG books have never been cheap. I don't really have a way to provide my files for you, either. However, if you need, I certainly won't investigate it if you research alternate sources for the rulebooks.

[SusieBlu]

My character concept starts with being a scion. High concept- last child of Tir na nog. Not faeire but connected to the faeries in a way that could make thing interesting.

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[DaygloNirvana]

I wish I had seen this thread sooner. Though the Dresden/Fate system seems awfully more complex than what I'm used to.

[Harness]

I wish I had seen this thread sooner. Though the Dresden/Fate system seems awfully more complex than what I'm used to.

Depending on what you are used to, it really isn't that more complex. It does have a bit of a learning curve, but that is really just because it is so DIFFERENT from most other games. I felt pretty intimidated by it at first to, but it really isn't bad.

[DaygloNirvana]

Most recently? V:TM, D&D 3rd and 4th. I think I played L5R at some point. Back in college it was Cyberpunk.

I'm a bit out of practice. My dice are rather dusty from lack of use. Nobody around here wants to play anything tabletop. Jerks.

[realbrickwall]

Dresden Files is no more complicated than any of those systems, and quite a bit less complicated than many of them (I'd take it over D&D 3.x any day, complexity-wise). If you're interested, give it a shot!

[Anduril]

Been playing D&D since 1978 ... our kids play too, they make great DM's. I'm also a bit of a chess player and my son has been trying to get me to play Dresden Files (love the series, just short on time)

Also like World In Flames, although I haven't played much recently.

ETA: never heard of the Serenity RPG, I'd be game to learn that.

[realbrickwall]

ETA: never heard of the Serenity RPG, I'd be game to learn that.

Our GM for it is MIA. We are trying to gear up for a Dresden Files game right now, though. I'm GMing for it. Currently we have two character ideas submitted, and no full sheets (no rush, though; it's PbP). You can feel free to post stuff in the thread rather than PMing me, since players should know each others' sheets.

[Harness]

My Dresden Files character is Aaron Jeremiah Stone, AJ to his friends, Mr. Stone or worse to his enemies. He is a Scion of Uriel, an actual part-human/part-angel. He is a sort of Vigilante for the White God. He doesn't truly serve Him the way that the Knights of the Cross do, but he does act to promote the cause of Good. This may put him going head to head with Denarians, giving aid to those in need, gently nudging people back onto the path of righteousness, banishing ghosts that are wreaking havoc, or any number of other "quests". He is "that guy" who people can't help but to want to be around, very charismatic, and with an inner warmth and easy laughter. That is not to say that he is all hugs though, his easy-going nature quickly turns into steely conviction when he is on a mission. He also seems to lead a blessed life, he never has to worry about money, traffic, or really any of the minor annoyances in life. That isn't to say that his life is truly easy, he also always finds himself to be in the right place at the right time, when things go horribly wrong. He has an understanding that the blessings in his life are kind of payment for the mercenary jobs that he does for Him. He is a valuable tool for the Heavens because he isn't truly aligned with them, and as such, can overstep some of the constraints that are placed on the Holy Host. Of course, because he isn't really on the payroll as it were, there is a certain amount of deniability if things go south...so he makes damned sure that doesn't happen.

His powers are:

Ghost Speaker [-1]

Bless This House [-1]

Guide My Hand [-1]

Righteousness [-2]

Holy Touch [-1]

Inhuman Recovery [-2 (1)] (Catch possibilities: Creatures with souls untainted by dark magic, for God is not armored from his own flock; this catch may need a little work, don't know yet)

Inhuman Speed [-2]

I don't have my skills or aspects picked yet, but I am planning on taking Conviction and Fists high, followed by Contacts, Discipline, Endurance, and Athletics...we will see though.