Hello everyone and well-met. I'm a veteran gamer, newbie here, that became aware of the DFRPG's existence through reference in other RPG boards. I am vaguely aware of the content of Dresdenverse book and TV series from reading the DFRPG books and wikia, but I have not yet gotten to read/watch them (so much fiction, so little time...). I bought and somewhat digested the game, and I may state I am much pleased by it in most aspects as a fan of urban fantasy, except one that is a huge stumbling block to me: the Laws of Magic and Lawbreaker rules.
You see, because of my playstyle preferences and personality issues, I am downright annoyed and have no sympathy for those TT or VG game systems that try hard to force players to RP good characters only, and harshly punish them if they stray from conventional moral behavior. I much prefer to play callous, amoral anti-heroic or villainous characters that care nothing about the laws, property rights, or the sanctity of life or mind of their enemies, have no scruples whatsoever using lethal or mind control magic in appropriate circumstances, and may do the right thing or save the day for any reason but having empathy. They are usually loyal to friends and team-mates, do not indulge in gratuitous atrocities, and may often be idealists in their own kind, but never in a way that would make them moral paragons. Being forced by the system to play the opposite kind of character or suffer severe performance penalties up to and incuding loss of character to NPC-hood is a total no-go to me. Any opposite thematic concern of the game has to give way.
So after much reflection I found the only feasible way to reconcile my playstyle needs with the DFRPG rules was to devise and implement the following kind of house-rule:
Responsible Lawbreaker [+ 0]:
Musts: This ability may be taken instead of Lawbreaker immediately upon breaking one of the Laws of Magic, provided the violation of the Law was done in justifiable circumstances according to a recognizable ethical code of the character’s. You must specify the Law broken at the time you take the ability. This ability must be taken separately for each Law of Magic broken—noted like so: Responsible Lawbreaker (First), Responsible Lawbreaker (Fourth), etc.
Description: You've broken one of the Laws of Magic and been able to rationalize, justify, and internalize the event according to your own beliefs, attitudes, and values. Suitable circumstances that may fit this requirement for the first four Laws of Magic include, but are by no means limited to, self-defense or in defense of someone else, dire necessity, with the subject's consent or implied acceptance of the outcome or its risk, without cruelty or malice. Your capacity to use dark magic if necessary became a part of you in a way that does not threaten to consume your identity. It does not empower your magic in similar circumstances nor it lessens your free will in any meaningful way.
Effects:
No Slippery Slope. You suffer no negative effect - apart from possibly drawing the ire of the White Council - whenever using magic in a way which would break the specified Law of Magic, as long as it is done in a way that fits a recognizable ethical compass of yours. You lose no refresh for this ability nor you are under any obligation to change your aspects to reflect it.
Ethical Boundary. If you ever choose to gain a bonus to magic that would violate the Law, this ability is lost and you must take Lawbreaker instead. If you ever break it in a way that would not fit your beliefs and values, you get the choice of accepting their failure and picking Lawbreaker or working to resolve the contradiction. The latter typically means some serious soul-searching, atonement, redemption quest, or the like, and may often require to change one or more of your aspects.
This would effectively deal with the unacceptable system aspects of the Laws of Magic and Lawbreaker rules. The social aspects remain to be dealt with, i.e. the Warden problem, and their rabid persecution of Lawbreaking characters. I assume I would be able to deal with that by playing my characters as regarding the White Council as a deeply misguided, violently intolerant, and bloodthirsty fundamentalist organization, a murderous crossbreed of Inquisition and Gestapo/KGB for a magical police state system, especially given their "death penalty for every transgression" policies and themselves as freedom fighters or professional criminals on the run from it. So I am left with the issue of how to play characters being potential enemies of the Wardens all the time. After some reflection, I see three possible strategies:
Hide. I assume it may be possible to cover one's tracks and hide all evidence of Lawbreaking activities from the Wardens' notice for a long time, but I'm not sure of what this would entail. E.g. would the Sight or Soulgaze become a problem, and how a character may protect oneself from them.
Seek protection. Due to the Unseelie Accords, I assume it would be possible for a Lawbreaker to get patronage from some other powerful supernatural faction, and get 'diplomatic immunity' against the Wardens. I suppose the character would still get some kind of occasional harassment from the Wardens, but nothing like nonstop assassination attempts anymore. Of course, the character would then have to repay their patrons with some kind of regular service, quite possibly represented by an appropriate Aspect. I would very much prefer not to use Mark of Power nor the position of Sidhe Knight for this.
Fight. I assume that past a certain power level point, it may become possible for a character to wage an ongoing guerrilla war against the Wardens, defeat WC goons when they came their way, then disapper for a while, either by relocating to a different city, or hiding in the Nevernever for a while. Past a point, persecuted Lawbreakers may even come together and organize a Resistance. I'm just not sure of how powerful a character, or a group, should have be to get a decent fighting chance against a typical Warden.
I'm well aware that the White Council is very powerful and entrenched, so a successful guerrilla war against them would be a difficult and long term affair. Certainly not something an individual may easily do on their own, and even a Resistance group (a "Grey Council") would need numbers, resources, time, and allies. Although the Unseelie Accords prove at some point an individual or group may grow so powerful and entrenched as to force the WC into Cold War-style uneasy coexistence.
I welcome constructive opinions and suggestions about this.