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.

That's a good suggestion.  Can you think of any game/story situations where "first to the finish line" would matter?

Not exactly the way it happened in the book, but the Dead Beat idea of summoning the Erl King before the bad guys could do so is probably a good basic idea. Obviously you'd need a story reason why the rituals would have to be started at a similar time. But then you've got a race to the finish line situation.

It is very hard to weaponize true love.

Lol 

Weaponised True Love. Now I'm envisioning a bunch of roses with a countdown clock hidden in a White Court club.

That and the Cupids from an old series called SheWolf of London - who were guys in suits and shades with little hand held crossbows.

Maybe, but not necessarily.

Just a pricked finger?  I don't think so.

I still think the easiest way to model it would be to just use a Lore roll.  I try and avoid complications when I can.

I'm no longer sure where this is going. I only originally pointed out that Evocation sometimes uses Thaumaturgy trappings. So not everything in the books that looks like very fast Thaumaturgy necessarily is Thaumaturgy. I then pointed out that what was being said about a circle was basically an Evocation Block - no need to create new rules to cover it.

Yes the Butters situation is an anomaly that the rules don't really cover. But I stand by the comment that the description of Butters closing a circle should constitute physical stress. Bearing in mind (as I appear to be repeating in several threads today) stress is not in and of itself true damage - for physical stress it's near misses, fatigue and minor cuts and bruises.

I also stand by the comment that - as far as I can recall - every time Harry uses a circle, he infuse it with his will (regardless of whether it's evocation or thaumaturgy. Which makes it Mental Stress if you're using that circle as an evocation block.

And an Evocation Block doesn't just stop everything. It can be used to block a specific thing, but you have to dictate when you cast it what exactly it's protecting against. So my point still stands. If you allow it as a Lore block (which personally I wouldn't) you are giving a non practitioner the effect of an Evocation Block against Magic at no cost. If you're happy with that then fine, I have no problem with it. I'm just explaining why I personally do have a problem with it. I'm quite willing to be argued around if someone raises a point that solves my concerns.

OK, yes that does make sense. having re-read a few passages grapple may not be appropriate. It could be used for smaller fires that wouldn't necessarily be immediately life threatening (arguably being on fire is a block against casual dinner conversation . The way I see it working is this:

If the building is on fire then the proximity of the fire to the PC dictates whether the fire just prevents them doing certain things (like following an NPC through a collapsing doorway - a compel), or aids one party or another in their action (throwing a bolt of fire at the enemy by tapping into what's already there - invoke). If the fire is close enough to actually have an effect on a character then the Environmental damage rules kick in - which work almost identically to venom - bearing in mind that if the fire is severe enough then everyone in the scene suffers the same effects.

Unlike Venom the character has the chance to put themselves out by rolling on the floor etc, rather than waiting to just be treated by a doctor, with the strength of the fire being the attack roll. The attacks also may not just stop when a character is taken out if there are still consequence slots available.

Since the environmental damage rules say to treat the environment like an actual opponant you may also allow the fire itself to maneuver to add the aspect of ON FIRE to the character and then tag it to add more damage, but it's more likely to be used by someone attacking you saying that you're so distracted by the fire they get a bonus to their hit. Or you could invoke it to aid in a grappling maneuver - nobody likes to be that close to flamey boy! Or compelled when you're about to roll on the floor to put out a flaming sleeve and you notice that pool of gasoline creeping across the floor towards you...

It's not perfect, but the system isn't supposed to be a crunchy true life simulation.

Edited to make Morfedel happy! 

 

It only helps if you have a wheelbarrow as well...

This came up in a game the other night.  Can a non-spellcasting character gain a magic-item slot?  Say a Wizard creates a magical item for another character; is there some way that character can "buy" the right to own the item, or is it permanently tied to the wizard who made it?  Am I missing this in the book?  Should I home-brew a rule?

Couldn't the non spell caster could just buy the item as an Item of Power, with the cost based on what it does?