Recommendations for introductory one shot

[ScottMcG]

I'll be hosting some folks for BGG-CON in a couple of weeks, and I've been trying to come up with an idea for a one-shot DFRPG scenario that would get them a feel for the game.  Several of us have some experience with SotC and Diaspora, and several of the potential players don't have much Dresden exposure.  Given how much character creation is part of the game, I was thinking of providing pre-gen characters on the low end of the power spectrum, providing the high concept, along with some of the skills and stunts, but allowing the players to build up their own troubles and path-crossings for the characters. 

Has anyone done something like this, and perhaps have any advice to share?  We'd have about 6-8 hours max to fit the game in.


Thanks in advance!

-S

[Richard_Chilton]

Pre-gen is a must.  Otherwise you are devoting 25%+ of your time to PC creation and may end up with PCs who are entirely unsuitable for your plot.

Richard

[babel2uk]

I'd steer clear of trying to do full character creation in a Con-game, you just won't have time to do that properly with any guarantee of the group being suitable for the scenario, or of having the time to finish that scenario.

The way I see it you have three options - I'm assuming that you're not planning on doing city creation as part of this.

Option 1 is to use the on the fly character creation. Supply everyone with the list of skills and trappings, a pre-defined skill slot package (so they know how many skill slots they have per skill level) and their apex skill, any musts for the template, a high concept and trouble aspect. Then just play, and they can fill in the blanks as necessary. I'd be inclined to make sure everyone has easy access to the stunts and powers list (probably very brief descriptions of each typed up on a few sheets of paper rather than out of the book - you want them to be able to scan through rather than having to wade through the book descriptions).

Option 2 is to create complete pre-gens. This has the advantage that you know the characters are appropriate, you can control what items etc they have, and you can tailor the scenario to best fit those characters without having to worry about tweaking it on the fly.

Option 3 is a combination of the two. Give the characters a High Concept, Trouble, Rising Conflict aspect and First Story aspect. Tie some characters together with a combination of these, but don't tie them all together. Leave the Guest Star slots blank. Give them three or four of their highest skills (and let them know how many slots they have for each skill level), and any must have powers, plus give each one a suggestion of stunts they may wish to take. At the start of the session give them ten or fifteen minutes to chat and come up with their final two aspects and the stories to fill out those guest star slots - give them the summary structure that the rulebook suggests for these stories and tell them they have to stick to that, tell them all to come up with a convention for the story titles (whether it's tarot cards, song names or whatever). Be strict about that time limit - if they can't agree then they'll have to come up with the last two aspects on the fly if necessary. This last one gives them a taster of the co-operative part of character creation, but limits the amount of time it will take.

Personally I'd go with option 2 or 3 - unless you're running the sort of scenario that forces diverse characters with completely separate interests to work together to survive. If that's the sort of scenario you're running then the only real thing to bear in mind is the time factor - which still means that you're best to do a large chunk of character creation before you get to the table. If the scenario requires any real degree of voluntary co-operation then I'd stick with 2 or 3 because they give you the most control over the characters that the players end up with.

[Saedar]

My wife and I played in a Dresden game at GenCon (well...late night game at one of the hotels) and the GM provided premades for the game. I didn't think it hurt immersion or anything like that at all.

I think it would be good to have several options so that people can choose something they like. You won't need to do a full intro to Dresden but a quick 1-2 minutes of summary for the parts that apply to the scenario would be helpful.

[admiralducksauce]

I don't think you have to shy away from the higher power levels either.  You're likely going to want to show off the magic system with at least one of the characters, and once you're in for a penny with spellcasting, you're in for a pound IMO.  8 refresh might be a good level so you're not limiting too many options (for either your pregens or if you use PC creation at runtime).

You might also steal liberally from a well-known story or reimagine something into Dresden Files terms.  I think either on this board or on rpg.net there was an actual play where the GM ran a con game of Dracula with DFRPG.  He had pregens but every group latched onto different aspects of each character, creating a slightly different result each time he ran the scenario.  Everyone knew the story of Dracula to some extent, so there was very little setting explanation needed, and it was a neat read.

Ah, here it is:  http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=540783

[Becq]

I've played a few Fate-based games at conventions, and the general rule is that characters are pre-made, but with the last couple of phases worth of Aspects unspecified (the equivalent of the story aspects).  The rest of the sheet is complete, though minor changes elsewhere on the sheet are typically acceptable.  Basically, this is somewhere between Babel's options 2 and 3, and I think it's a good way to go.  Generating these aspects doesn't take too long, gives a bit of the feel of character generation, gives the players a bit of a feel for the other characters, and ties the characters together a bit.  You ensure that you have the character types and skill-sets you need to make your story work and you have a set of known Aspects ready to be compeled.  New players don't need to have much of any expertise to do it, and experienced players can do a little customization.

[ScottMcG]

Option 3 offered by babel2uk is close to what I was hoping I could work.  Pregens with high concepts, skills, and stunts in place, and allow the players the option to choose/build their own troubles/guest star options.

I should probably be more clear that while these folks are in town for a con, they all know each other, and this will actually be running at my house prior to the start of the con. So we'll have a great degree of flexibility.

I would like to spend about an hour and a half previewing the pre-gens and mechanics, and fleshing out any guest-starring type stuff to allow the players and characters to build some rapport prior to the traditional start of a game session.

As far as the power level goes, I'd definitely like to have have some magic in the scenario, but wanted to keep it at the minor talent or focused practitioner level.

Taking a look at the "Dracula Must Die!" provided...


Thanks again!

-S

[WillH]

If you have 6-8 hours I would consider just doing full character creation. Come up with the initial situation and tell them to make characters that would fit in with that. As an example i just played in a pick up game my friend ran at a con this past weekend. We were all newbie wardens, just graduated from Camp Kaboom. We quickly made chest deep wizards*. Then played a kick ass game. Admittedly, there was a high degree of system mastery at the table.

*Slightly modified chest deep, we went with 9 refresh so we had a little room for customization.

[Bruce Coulson]

My experience was to use pre-gens, with High Concept, Trouble, and two-three aspects generated, allowing the players to develop the remainder in play.  I also linked the characters through a common locale/character, the Pure Mortal 3rd shift clerk in a mini-mart/stop and rob.

I used the 'Mystery Men' plot; a group of low (6 refresh) powered characters who had to work together to save the city.

I favor low-refresh, low power just because a it's easier to game-master and b. it's easier for players
new to FATE to get used to the system and a few powers.

Everyone had fun, so it worked for me.