The Dresden Files > DFRPG
A hint about the game system
Belmonte:
--- Quote from: finarvyn on June 04, 2006, 06:14:51 PM ---Either way, some people will be upset by the design choice. I believe that the best action in general is to target the top NPCs at the maximum level that PCs would be expected to reach with the hopes that extended play would eventually allow someone to equal and tie Harry, if not actually beat him.
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See, I wouldn't use Harry--at least as now--as the upper level. He may have physical strength, but he's admitted that Ebenezer, Morgan, and the Merlin are WAY outclassing him. Let alone Mab and Leanansidhe, and I think that sort of thing should be possible as well. :)
--- Quote from: finarvyn on June 04, 2006, 06:14:51 PM ---I believe you are referring to the "Merlin was a PC" discussion from Shadow Knight? Of course, ADRP is also designed such that each individual GM can determine the attribute scale for the PCs and NPCs in the campaign, so whereas in Zelazny's world (for example) no one could out-Strength Gerard it is certainly possible for a PC to do so in someone's campaign if they so choose.
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Nah, actually simply some of the flavor text and RP suggests in the core book. I LOVE the idea of Amber Diceless, but some of it was ... very confrontational in a GM vs PC sense, and very weirdly designed. I'm talking about the comments that 'no PC will ever surprise Benedict, because he's always expecting attack' and 'no PC will ever beat Benedict, it's impossible' and similar statements for other elders, such as Fiona with Psyche. It's, as I understand it, one of the main arguments in Amber Diceless, between various groups--I tend to lean on the 'Hey, Gerard wasn't totally shocked that Corwin's Shadow Guard (Gavelon, Garelon? I suck at names) coldcocked Benedict, and the Hellmaid nearly beat him too and did take his hand! Unbeatable? Huh?'
Then again, I tend to to prefer playing in the -spirit- of games rather than playing games where I'm simply outclassed by setting NPCs. Why I don't play stock Pendragon either. It's pretty much impossible to stat out a PC in that game to match most of Arthur's statted knights. One guy I know computed experience and is a Pendragon guru and said it'd need 50+ years to get to Gawain's level, let alone Lancelot's. :)
Grogtard:
I for one am glad about the choice of the FATE system. I'll admit that I never heard of it before. Sorry guys. But I did download the rules. This looks like a good balanced free form system. When I first read and thought about trying to do Dresden game my first thought was actually Over the Edge from Atlas Games.
So a question to the Evil Hat guru's. How open are character types going to be? You know a wizard, a werewolf and a fairy walk into a McNally's....
finarvyn:
--- Quote from: Grogtard on June 13, 2006, 11:38:11 PM ---So a question to the Evil Hat guru's. How open are character types going to be? You know a wizard, a werewolf and a fairy walk into a McNally's....
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I think that this will be a question to your GM, not a question to the Evil Hat gurus. The FATE game system is set up as a universal mechanic that allows for pretty much any type of character you want to have in the campaign. The DFRPG will be more Dresden-specific, but the core rules it is built from are still somewhat universal.
Since there are wizards and werewolfs and fairies (oh, my!) in Harry's world, there will be some rules in the Dresden Files RPG to handle these sorts of characters (at least as NPCs if not PCs). If we use Jim's books as a guide we would see that we have a wizard for a PC (Harry), a Holy Knight (Michael) and perhaps a vampire (Thomas) and otherwise supernaturals seem to be more along the NPC line. Again, that's for Jim's version of Harry's world.
When your GM constructs a world (it may even by you who is the GM) that world deviates somewhat from Jim's version. It's probably not the same characters, may not be the same city. Certainly not the same situations, or we're doing a "group read" rather than an adventure. At this point the GM will have to decide what goes on in this particular variation of Harry's world and what types of characters will be allowed to particiapte. I would guess that some GMs will allow for many supernaturals, others will allow for only a few. The rules should have elements built into them that will allow for either case.
Does that help?
jtaylor:
--- Quote from: finarvyn on June 14, 2006, 01:12:58 AM ---If we use Jim's books as a guide we would see that we have a wizard for a PC (Harry), a Holy Knight (Michael) and perhaps a vampire (Thomas) and otherwise supernaturals seem to be more along the NPC line. Again, that's for Jim's version of Harry's world.
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I don't know, we had more characters that I think could qualify as PC's. Billy the werewolf, Fix the changeling (not Fix the Knight), and Butters are all PC level characters. They aren't in the same power level as Harry and Micheal, but they do bring other abilites to the table to flesh out a group. After all, what good is playing a bard without a party to buff?
iago:
--- Quote from: Grogtard on June 13, 2006, 11:38:11 PM ---So a question to the Evil Hat guru's. How open are character types going to be? You know a wizard, a werewolf and a fairy walk into a McNally's....
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Our strong guideline here is going to be one of freedom of choice. If something retains the mortal quality of freedom of choice -- wizards, werewolves, *some* kinds of vampires (e.g., Thomas, Susan), and changelings do qualify -- it can probably be a player character.
When the person proceeds to the point where that freedom of choice is lost -- where they become slaves to their nature -- that's the point at which we (the way we're writing the game) believe they stop being viable as player characters. This means that a Black Court vampire as a PC is pretty much a bust -- same for full-on faeries. Just as a few examples.
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