Shaun, if you read this before you leave for your honeymoon, would you be so kind as to send the updated Dresden Files...files...to me by email? Dawn would like to review the full character creation rules before we next get together, since she's never played the Fate system at all.

Understandable.

I really dig how the rules have examples right there in the body text. Not separated off at the end of the chapter like some books.

It might just be that our group has a bunch of awesome players, but when we build as a group, it's fucking awesome. We were throwing out questions and ideas to help each other flesh the skeletal ideas we came to the table with. It was collaborative, which will really help when we start playing. How much of that was because of the rules? Very little. The guest-starring steps are the only part that really demand the players interact with each other. Maybe if interaction was a bit more explicit in the rules, it would help. So far, the game feels like Dresden-flavored SotC. Which is exactly how I wanted it to feel.

My character, rev 2

Oklahoma "OK Tom" Tomorrow

High Concept: Psychic Rom Bicycle Messenger

Theme: Heritage v. Progress
OK Tom is trying to reconcile his family's pressure to adhere to Rom traditions, and his own desire to understand the truth about the universe in all its scientific glory.

Background: Autodidact
He had to hide all his pilfered science textbooks from his family. He spent all his free time with his head in a book.

Rising Conflict: I slept in the bed, now I have to make it.
OK Tom cheated on his girlfriend while she was pregnant with his child. She aborted the fetus. OK Tom values family, and his actions destroyed his chance to have a family of his own. Now, he's dealing with it.

First Novel: Eye for detail
"Third Wheel" OK Tom's ex-fiance, one who his family arranged for him, has come back to town with a new squeeze. After an accidental use of psychometry, OK Tom discovers the man to be a serial murderer. Can OK Tom save the next victim all the while keeping it a secret from his family?

Guest Star 1: Watch Kate's back
"Fourth Quarter" At Kate's sorority party, OK Tom discovers the truth about an old book of spells just in time to save Kate from a fire she caused.

Guest Star 2: Shadowy contacts
"First Edition" OK Tom overhears Martin complaining about customs; he can't get his goods across the border. OK Tom comes to the rescue, even though he had no clue how to do it. So he made some new contacts...shadowy ones.

Stunts:
Psychometry
Human Google Map (+2 to navigation-based Driving tests)
Backhanded Compliment (use Rapport for social attacks)
Quick Eye (Investigate twice as fast)

Skills:
Great: Contacts, Rapport
Good: Driving, Investigation
Fair: Scholarship, Craftsmanship, Presence, Resources
Average: 3 to be determined

Refresh: 4

So, they want the playtest reports in by the end of the month, right? I think we should try to wrap things up (not necessarily finish everything in the story, just test all of the mechanics we want to) this weekend. Partially so Shaun isn't rushing to finish the writeup next weekend, and also, to be blunt, because I want to stop dicking around with one-shots and start playing Burning Wheel.

Give me till 6. I promised a friend I'd help her do something, and I don't get to hang out very often anymore

Couple things that we talked about in the car:

What mechanic is there in the spellcasting rules to determine how much magic you can use in a given amount of time? In the Dresden books, one of the major themes is Harry draining his reserves, at one point he even uses so much when he was already tired out that he "injures" his magic and is almost entirely unable to cast at all (at the end of Fool Moon, after he drank the pick-me-up potion).

Going by the source, it wouldn't be just when he overcasts or fails his discipline roll that he would tire out from it. In the books, even magic that is easily in his strength begins to tire him out if he does too much of it.


Also, Shaun, was the sidhe you had us come across taken directly from the book, or were you making up her stats as you were going? If her stats were pulled from the book, I would recommend they be increased significantly. Even just a normal sidhe would be a major threat to a group like ours, let alone a contender for a fairy throne. She would probably be about Lea's strength, and Lea scares the shit out of Harry.

Posted By: AmnesiacWhat mechanic is there in the spellcasting rules to determine how much magic you can use in a given amount of time? In the Dresden books, one of the major themes is Harry draining his reserves, at one point he even uses so much when he was already tired out that he "injures" his magic and is almost entirely unable to cast at all (at the end of Fool Moon, after he drank the pick-me-up potion).

Going by the source, it wouldn't be just when he overcasts or fails his discipline roll that he would tire out from it. In the books, even magic that is easily in his strength begins to tire him out if he does too much of it.

Check the Gathering Power section under Evocation, and the Preparation section under Thaumaturgy. You can take Consequences up front to channel extra power for both Evocation and Thaumaturgy. I think that tagging and compelling those consequences could adequately account for weakened spellcasting ability.

As for the Sidhe, I basically just made it up. I needed an excuse to test out the spellcraft mechanics, and Fae Magic uses the same mechanics as Evo/Thau. Unfortunately, there aren't really any stats for Fae in the test chapters, so there wasn't a whole lot to go on. Even Lea only has a couple of Aspects and skills listed:

From the Who's Who chapter:
Physical: INHUMAN Beauty; Ageless; Graceful.
Mental: Lore.
Emotional: Mad?; Vicious.
Magical: Fae; Sidhe; SUPERB+ Fae Magic; Connected to Wild Hunt; Feed on Artists/Grant Inspiration; Second in
Strength Only to Mab (Stronger than Winter Lady?); Power over Harry Due to Broken Debts.
Miscellany: Ally: Maggie Dresden; Thorn: Harry Dresden; Held the Athame for Awhile, then lost it to Mab.

There's really not much to go on, and, for the purposes of playtesting, it wasn't particularly important. I have a feeling that the finished product will have a lot more advice for creating more accurately Dresdenish antagonists.

I don't think that it's necessarily in the spirit of the rules to keep track of how many spells you've cast. If you want to push it, tag or compel whatever wizardly aspect you have and use the source material as justification.

I think it works better with the consequences of a failed spell. Instead of having to track exhaustion, and how many times you've use a spell, and how powerful, which isn't actually the fun part of a game, you always have that possibility of nasty recoil from casting wrong. It's simpler, and there's no paperwork that way. I think it mimics enough, because if you cast enough, you will fail eventually. Why bother with anal bookkeeping?

Awesome, that works. I agree that anal bookkeeping would be bad, but I felt it needed -something- to add the flavor of the source material.

just got done watching the dresden tv series on dvd. was ok,.

how does the game handle a group of players? are the all a covenant or cadre of wizards. or are they what ever they want spread across the city working for and against each other?

One thing about Dresden character creation that I think would help, and that I think we should do once it comes out and we play it, is adding "...and we became friends." to the various guest appearances in the other players' books. I found it to be a little (not badly, just a little) awkward at first when we played, having it so we knew the other characters but didn't really have an in-character reason to be around them. It make it feel a bit forced. I think just having it bluntly stated that your experiences together turned into a friendship would smooth a lot of that out. Mind you, not every character needs to be (or even should be) friends with every other, but they should have enough connections so it doesn't feel forced.