January Status Update
Howdy again, Dresdenketeers!
(Why, yes, I have been drinking a lot of coffee today, why do you ask?)
Those of you following us on Twitter or read some blog & forum posts on the internet might have heard that I’ve been running Dresden at little cons. Fred thought it would be neat to start this status update by talking about that…since we’ve gotten to a point where we’re actually doing some convention previews of the book! That’s a pretty good status, right?
The game I ran (once at a house con outside of Minneapolis/St. Paul, and once at an Endgame Oakland mini-con) featured a group inspired by the Alphas and all going to college together. There were three werewolves, one were-wolverine, one were-raven, and a changeling. The characters that I provided were half-finished, intended to make the party (and, really, the adventure) at the table. I pitched the six core ideas around, and when they were picked I handed them a piece of paper with half of the character figured out.
Setting is a little tricky at a con game. I didn’t want to set a game in Chicago, because that’s Harry’s stomping grounds and there’s so much from the books there. I wanted a place were people could explore a little more without feeling weird about this being Harry’s Chicago. (And yes, we talk about this in our own Chicago chapter, which is your Chicago, not Harry’s.) Of course, you never know what city people are familiar with, so I asked if everyone was at least passingly familiar with Sunnydale from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. So far, I’ve yet to meet someone I’ve asked that of who has said no. Bam, everyone has a basic idea of where this werepack goes to school.
Luckily, Dresden Files characters are pretty easy to pitch. Each one has a pair of aspects, a High Concept and a Trouble. (If you’re not familiar with Fate, aspects are descriptors that you can use to boost yourself and the GM can use to make your character’s life more interesting.) So, I just went around telling them these two descriptors and said “from there, it’s pretty much however you see a character with those two things.”
I pitched:
- The Leader of the Pack, who has to deal with a Hero Complex
- A Romantic Werewolf, struggling to keep up with Living a Double Nightlife
- Our Werewolf Nerd, dealing with A 22-Unit Load? Really?
- The Goth Were-Raven, who is Deliciously Deviant
- Our fifth member has a Spirit Like a Wolverine, but he’s also on Academic Probation
- Finally, we have a Hippy Changeling, who often says “My family is…complicated.”
Each one had their stunts & powers figured out in advance, as well as the top few skills. But nearly every convention game of Fate I’ve run where some of the character creation happened at the table has been fantastic, so they came up with various antics and issues they’ve dealt with while at UC Sunnydale. That took around an hour of the four alloted, but there was a lot of fun at during that time, and not-so-secretly it’s how I figure out what’s actually interesting for the adventure.
See, as they’re coming up with different aspects and creating the backstory between them, I’m listening for interesting NPCs that could be either peril-bait or potential nemeses. I have a bit of an adventure skeleton, but it’s pretty malleable because I want the players to go after stuff they said their characters are interested in. I don’t want to go into great detail here, because I want to use this adventure structure in future con games, but the beginning of it:
- Someone at least two people are interested in (friend/lover/etc) disappears. Another person that other people are particularly interested in was assaulted in the attack, but escapes to tell the gang.
- There is evidence of at least one nemesis’ involvement that leads to a dangerous night club. Typically this leads to either the first fight or first stare-down of the game.
- The next lead happens, implicating at least another nemesis is in league. Conspiracy!
With that sort of structure, I’m able to pull the players into peril! You’ll read more about how to build great set-ups in our Building Scenarios chapter, where we talk about tying aspects together to make games pop for characters.
But, enough about this con game. There’s something bigger to talk about!
By bigger, we mean the Dresden Files RPG books. Yes, books. We have so much content that we’re splitting the game into two books. We’ve talked about this a bit online, mainly through Fred’s Twitter, but for those who haven’t heard, here’s the deal: We wrote a lot. A LOT. We really wanted to support the Dresden Files as strongly as we could. It should be no surprise that a game we’ve spend this long making is going to be big. The thing is jam-packed with great rules for making your campaign & playing all sorts of different beasts and badasses from the Dresdenverse, supported by loads of advice for players & GMs as well as a lot of characters and creatures from the books statted out. (To give you an idea of what we mean by A LOT, Fred got to about the 75% mark on the first pass through layout and saw he already had 460 pages of material. The final combined page count of the two books together could break 600. Over 140 pages of that is our comprehensive tour of the characters of the first ten novels, complete with stats where they’re stattable.)
We’ll talk more about how we’re splitting the book and get into some detail next month. But no status update from me is complete without getting a little peek at what’s to come. Without further delay, I present to you one Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden — as of around the end of Storm Front.
Download Harry Dresden’s Character Sheet (PDF)
Seriously, seeing Fred’s work on this has made me want to play as Harry. So, who’s going to run this for me? 
- Ryan
Books. Wow. So awesome.
Awesome stuff! The pdf download link isn’t working, though – and I really want to see this!
@Tush Hog — Dang it. Was working last night; fixed now. Download away!
It was damn cool to get to see what Harry looked like as a character. Thanks!
Looks great! Is there a PDF of a blank character sheet floating around?
@Scott — Not yet, but soooooon.
Do the lawbreaker stunts do anything desirable? Or are they just a tools to push lawbreakers towards NPC status and represent social stigma?
Two books???
Is one of them a burner?
@jessecoombs How do you mean “burner”?
@Jonathan, they do something useful (very useful) if you’re looking to continue to break the laws. Blanket +1 bonus to all rolls for spells that break that law. And the bonus can grow the more you break it. But, yes, this also pushes you closer to NPCness as you do it.
@Fred …Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the supposed cause for Harry’s Dad’s death listed as a brain anneurysm the novels?
-9 refresh for Harry?!
He’s pretty close to being an npc himself then.
@Edward Lynch — Yep. Harry is TOTALLY a powergamer’s PC.
@Sigma77 — Hm. I’ll have my setting expert peek in on this and comment.
Could have sworn Harry’s Dad died of a heart attack.
Could have sworn Harry’s dad died of a Heart ATtack.
@Fred: Has Harry ever broken the Law beyond Justin? I just have the feeling the utility of that Stunt isn’t all that much, given the FREQUENCY. But this is just me nitpicking.
@Sigma77 — Yes: brain aneurism in the novels (Chauncy the Demon claims it was unnatural in FM).
@Recha — Yes: heart attack caused by Justin Morningway doing black magic in the TV show.
Looks like we’ll need to correct it for the final version. Thanks for the catch folks!
(bows) Siggy, the ridiculously attentive bookworm, at your service.
I’ve been looking forward to this since ’twas first announced. Now I’m wondering how much is hype (to make more money) and how much is really going to happen.
@Li Carlson, guess you’ll have to wait and see, since you’re clearly a big optimist.
No sign of his rote spells on there, are they usually just kept on a seperate piece attached to the character sheet or..?
Say, shouldn’t bob be a aspect, I think he as even given as an example in fate 2e right?
All I can say is: Hell, it’s about time. This just made my day (or even week).
@Ihadris — Yeah, they’d be on a separate sheet, at least in this presentation. Here they are:
Fuego (fire attack , four shifts): directs a tight beam of magical fire (Weapon: 4) at a target. Requires his blasting rod to cast.
Shield (spirit block, four shifts): creates a hemispheric shield in front of Harry’s wrist and acts as either Armor or a block. Usually, Harry uses one shift for persistence, so he can do something else in the following exchange without renewing the shield. Requires the shield bracelet.
Forzare (spirit attack as force, three shifts for a Weapon: 3 attack): sends out waves of force attacking a nearby enemy. Has the added benefit of not setting everything on fire.
@Tim: Bob *can* be an aspect, but doesn’t have to be. We discuss him at length in the game, no worries.
Will the scenarios used at cons be available afterwards to give us a sense of the structure of a typical (or even atypical) adventure in Harry’s world?
In a similar vein will the rulebooks come with a sample scenario or will one be put up on the website?
I can see what’s happening here though – the first several hits are free on the website and then when we’re hooked……
@Lutudarum: I don’t know about con games, but the book has a running example (set in the Baltimore setting) through its Building Scenarios chapter. It involves vampires, machine guns, and familial obligations.
@fred
I’m just wondering if you’re following the Burning Wheel’s model for their core books.
When are we going to get a taste of RPG-specific material?
In the World book I can see new monsters, cities, etc. But what about character options.
What unique options do PCs have to look forward to outside of Were-goats?
Would it be possible to do the ‘canon’ characters as a pdf only purchase rather than putting them in a book (perhaps POD for those who want a dead tree version)?
I’m not too sure how often I would reference them and it seems it would add an awful lot of page count….. Then again I tend to run stuff in my own creations.
I’m happy to be shouted down if other think it would be good to have them in ‘The Tome’
Chris
That sound you hear over your television is me shouting you down
Can I make Chris even happier by shouting him down too?
(I’m happy to be shouted down if other think it would be good to have them in ‘The Tome’Chris)
Fred,
Is it possible that maybe Bob is not an aspect , But (ahem) maybe an actual character as well. Thusly an aspect is caused by interaction with PC and NPC (or big lifetime events). Aspects aren’t people but may result from interaction? One wonders? Harry in that instance would need a lot more aspect sheets. Finally on lawbreaking, it seems appropriate considering the consequences of black magic.It’s easier to do the more you do it and dangerous ie; soulessness, beheading, enslavement to dark forces.
I saw that Harry has additional room for 1 further minor mental consequence. Does that come from his Wizard’s Constitution?
A few things.
How many cities will be included in the books so we don’t have to make our own?
Will there be an option in the set up for “field trips” IE when Harry went to N’aw Lins (in day off) or even other smaller cities. If so would set up or stats on smaller cities be given?
Does it guide you through making your own cities if we choose to take the game global?
Next would be characters.
With all the different aspects would a very learned were character be able to take on two forms assuming all penalties of having two animal types?
Would characters be able to easily cross train, like say a changeling also had a predilection to healing magic or fire.
A were character has the ability to open to the never never or even throw some basic force spells around on in human aspect?
I am wondering this because of Listens to Wind, he could shift on the fly and his clothes changed too.
Making him a were and a wizard.
Personally if I were a were I would have the clothes shift for some sorta bonus like all black adds stealth or body armor, but a negative in speed or strength or even stealth lowers your personal alertness.
@SAM Hitch, Baltimore is fully detailed, and Chicago is detailed enough for people to then build their own take on it with minimal work. So, two.
Field trips are supportable, and we do discuss a global/non-single-city option.
Most of your questions about characters are answered by “it depends on what power level the GM sets for the game.”
Oh I so can’t wait!
Thanks so much.
I am even thinking of getting together a group earlier than june just to polish up my/our skills so when it comes out I/we will be ready.
Any Genre similar titles you could recommend that we could work with to gear up?
ok i like they made harry but he seems under powered to me, like his mental power heck he went toe to toe with a vampire lord and was winning and its only 4. oh and they for got his armor aka the trench coat.(or did i just miss it)
but all that aside cant wait to look thru the book to see if i will buy it so i can run it for my family to play
@tony, you missed a crucial detail if you’re saying all that.
In the entry above, you can see we showed a character sheet for Harry “as of the end of Storm Front”.
He didn’t get his armored duster until Grave Peril or later, so he wouldn’t have that yet.
And he definitely didn’t go toe to toe with a vampire lord in Storm Front, either!
Also, his mental stress capacity of four is the maximum the system allows — and he goes beyond it by being able to take a second mild mental consequence. That’s what he gets for Superb Conviction (the highest possible for a starting high powered PC).
I have a technical question.Harrys endurance is great a.k.a +4 right? and he has 4 circles for physical stress, so does your endurance skill judge how many circles you have for your physical stress? and does having somthing like inhuman strength or one of those abilities add to it? sorry if i phrased that strangely.