The Dresden Files > DFRPG

Dresdenverse game using World of Darkness rules

<< < (2/3) > >>

Matrix Refugee (formerly Morraeon):

--- Quote from: quentra on February 12, 2009, 08:27:02 PM ---I mean, yeah, I see Black Court as pretty much Nossie, and developing new types of vampire for the Courts isn't overly difficult. I mainly like the system since so much of it is already easily adapted to an urban fantasy setting, seeing as it is one itself. Also, I'm constructing the game using old World of Darkness rules, mainly because I haven't looked at the new ones. Is the system any better?

--- End quote ---

The same friend who got me into TDF also turned me on to WoD, and while I haven't gotten into it much (due to not being able to find a local gaming group), he claims the new WoD is more streamlined than old WoD, and since he's been into it a lot longer than I have, I'm taking his word for it.

TheMouse:

--- Quote from: quentra on February 12, 2009, 08:27:02 PM ---Also, I'm constructing the game using old World of Darkness rules, mainly because I haven't looked at the new ones. Is the system any better?

--- End quote ---

It's streamlined. Whether that's better is an individual taste thing.

A lot of things are resolved as one roll rather than several. Combat, for example, is one roll per attack. You have a dice pool of At+Ab+modifier, from which you subtract the defense of you target. Then you roll and the number of successes are how much damage you did. Many powers are either At+Ab+mojo stat -At (of target) or At+Ab+mojo versus At+mojo (of target).

Rather than changing target numbers, everything is 8+ for success. Difficulties add or subtract dice, so a really easy roll might give you +5 dice, while a really difficulty one gives you -5. You reroll 10s and get to continue to add successes; some things have 9 again or 8 again, which mean that if the roll is 9+ or 8+ you reroll, which increases your chance of success.

The games do a lot more of a toolkit type approach. There aren't global conspiracies and organizations with their fingers in all the pies. Instead, there is a more local focus, which allows PCs to accomplish more and gain meaningful power. All the game lines are designed to work together, but you only use what you want to.

quentra:
Well, the starting points of the conversion I think I've smoothed out, though that's only in theory. I still to need run some practical trials to see how it works in a game.

To facilitate that, I've starting a room on OpenRPG - Semiautomagic. If anyone's interested in trying out my conversions, feel free to drop by. It's on Veav I, and available most of the day.

finarvyn:

--- Quote from: quentra on February 14, 2009, 09:41:23 PM ---I've starting a room on OpenRPG - Semiautomagic. If anyone's interested in trying out my conversions, feel free to drop by. It's on Veav I, and available most of the day.

--- End quote ---
I'm very much interested in your WoD conversion for Dresden, but am not sure where to look for it. For those of us who are unfamiliar with OpenRPG, can you (1) tell us more, and (2) give some sort of link so that I can find it?

thausgt:

--- Quote from: quentra on February 11, 2009, 02:41:16 AM ---So, I recently started playing WoD, and got to thinking. The settings are very similar (not exactly, but pretty damn close.) With a few rules tweaks (No Paradox, etc.), I can see playing a Dresden game with the rulesets as very feasible. Y'know, until the actual rules come out. 

Thoughts? Anyone tried it yet? I can't see it as being too 'out there.'

--- End quote ---

For what it's worth the oWoD had at least two editions of "WoD: Sorceror" that would work very well for covering what the official Dresden RPG refers to as "Focused Practitioners". NWoD has "Second Sight" that emphasizes... well, what most would call psychics but also includes a few "hedge magic" powers. Both sets are designed to work with characters who operate only a step or two beyond the limits of perfectly ordinary human abilities.

IMHO, Harry's level of power (full membership in the White or High Council, able to step into the Nevernever pretty much whenever he's reasonably rested, etc.) sets him a step above the hedge wizards/psychics from the above-mentioned books, but not quite at the level of Awakened willworkers. On the one hand, he's able to pull off some very impressive tricks with what he knows, mixing and matching various effects according to his own needs and within his particular limits. This makes him a bit more powerful than hedge wizards as described in these books, who would have to do considerable research and practice to create these kinds of focused effects.

On the other hand, he states specifically that the full-bore wadding-up-the-laws-of-physics-like-wet-newspaper sort of magic that the Awakened can use is outside his ken. Consider his favorite spell: a blast of fire. The books state repeatedly that he is capable of conjuring fire by sucking the heat from the environment and channelling that into his attacks. The closest approximation of that effect in Mage: the Awakening is probably "Transform Forces", a 4-dot Forces effect (p. 173, for anyone with the book). A character with 4 dots in this particular Arcanum is equally capable of seeing in total darkness (Nightsight, Forces 1), maintain a comfortable temperature under any circumstances (Control Heat, Forces 2), and control light (Light Mastery, Forces 3), along with a host of other abilities. As you can probably see, Harry would probably have been extremely grateful to be able to use these abilities at various points in the books...

Part of the problem with White Wolf's Mages (both old and new WoD) is that their power is limited only by their knowledge of a particular Sphere/Arcanum, rather than a complex system of "schools" (D&D, GURPS, and probably a few others). It's very difficult for beginning players to use their powers to best effect, and it's difficult for game-masters to keep experienced players from completely derailing the game with tricky spellwork.

Ultimately, my advice would be to play around with both levels to see which ones you find suit Harry and his cohorts the best. For example, Mort the ectomancer could have several dots in Ephemera (oWoD: Sorcerer, p.98) or a series of appropriate powers from nWoD: Second Sight (Mediumist, p. 42; Ghost Ally, p. 65; See Spirits, p. 117 as three examples), or he could have access to the Spirit Sphere only, and limited to rotes and rituals; no fast-casting allowed.

With regards to Semiautomagic: please keep this forum informed about how the project is going! It sounds like a tall challenge, but I'm sure you'll come up with some fascinating ways to meet it.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page