I then lept back to poor Edward, who woke up naked just after dawn, next to a cerimonial circle with a clergy man's corpse in it, a dagger sticking out of his chest. He had no memory of how he got there. He heard sirens so. He briefly considered staying to talk to the police but instead chose to turn into a wolf and sneak away (nice chance to compel to aspects which conflicted). He watched the police investigate for a while before disappearing into the night.

I then lept back to early morning when it was still dark. Vincent, Halfdan and Hanna were hunting some ghouls who'd been killing students. I figured that the three PCs had a total of 20 points in Stunts so a couple of ghoulds (-6 each) should be an interesting introductory fight. Boy, was I wrong. A short while later Vincent is 'Bleeding Heavily' with a 'Slashed Gut', Hanna is nursing a "Minor Concussion" and a "Wrenched Shoulder" and Halfdan has blown his last fate chip to turn what could have been an Extreme consequence into a "Infected Wound". Meanwhile one of the ghouls has taken a single point of physical stress and a mild consequence which it just "Shrugged it Off". I quickly reminded the players of the concession rules and agreed that the ghouls where distracted by some bright headlights and the characters escaped, but insisted that if this was the case Vincent left one of his enchanted items at the scene (he'd dropped it earlier in the fight) and that the ghouls now knew the taste of their blood and could track them all. The players agreed, and I made a note to readjust difficulty !! This fight was my first big surprise of the session.

I then took some time to introduce major plot hooks. One of Jack's old cell mates arrived asking for help, unfortunately encountering Halfdan. Both the local Warden and a church investigator turned up asking similarly awkward questions. The players discovered that the police had found wolf hair at the sight of the crime scene and were investigating. Then the players started trying to trace back the history of the books and daggers. It was at this point that Jack made his declaration that in his expert opinion the dagger was probably some dark necromantic artifact - and suddenly Heinrich Kemmler knife became a very real part of my campaign (That hadn't been part of my prep notes!!). The book which had been stolen was 'The Heart of Kemmler' and finally to really screw up any ideas I had for where this game was going the jar became Kemmler's brain stored in formaldehyde. Now this is awesome, far better than what I had planned - but its a real curve ball for the GM!

There was a bit of investigating of the ghoul problem. Jack's old cell mate was pretty much forgotten but thats not an issue - I'm sure he'll become important soon enough. Then someone realised they didn't know what had happend to the knife, so they went back to the church. Outside the church they found a couple of police cars, and documents which suggested the evidence (including the knife) was in a police lock-up. They were about to head to the police station when someone asked why the police cars appeared to be abandoned. This lead to the final scene of the session where they sneaked into the church to confront red court vampires who were searching for something.

A fight broke out. Based on my previous experience with the ghouls I figured I needed to keep the fight easy, so there were only two RCVs. This time the fight lasted a rediculously short time in the players favour. Jack openned up with a (conviction+2) blast of pure force, shattering the vampires wing and piercing its belly and before the Vampire had hit the floor our Inhuman speed werewolf had cleared a zone, tagged both the consequences the first attack had caused and ripped its throat out. The other RCV attacked but Vincent blocked cleanly. The players forcing the vampire it into a corner and Edward tried to grapple it (big mistake). The RCV threw Edward forcefully across the room (he used a few fate points to mitigate this attack, reducing it to a mild consequence), and the other players took the poor vampire apart. This second battle was abolutely no challenge to the characters. The session ended with the players walking out the front of the church straight into the search lights of arriving police.

I clearly still haven't got the hang of balancing fights. The ghoul fight should have resulted in dead PCs - the Vampire fight was no challenge. My scenario ideas need to change - Kemmler pickled brain was never part of the original plot. I really love FATE. It produces some incredible games. I'm now really looking forward to session two.

One of the players in my game wants to play a Haitian Houngan (male priest in the voodoo religion).  I was hoping people could have a look through the following and see if it looks unbalanced in any way.

We agreed that he would not be a bokor (Zombie maker) since there appear to be too many associations with Necromancy. The question was how do you represent a non-bokor Houngan in the Dresden Files RPG?

We came up with the following template:

[-2]     Ritual (Ectomancy)
[-2]     Supernatural Senses (Ghosts, Loa and Spirits) (Not sure if these three are too close)
[+2]     Human Form (Spirit Possession Ritual)
[-2]     * Inhuman Strength
[-2]     * Inhuman Recovery


The increased stats would be the result of take on the abilities of a possessing loa (spirit). We agreed that summoning the possessing loa would be the result of a relatively simple ritual and didnt require any game mechanics to support it. Persuading the load to enter your body would be another matter - and depending on events we might roleplay that or base it on a rapport roll vs Good or the spirits Presenec (whichever is higher).

We noted:

• A long ceremony of summoning lasting at least 10 minutes would result in a positive modifier
• Using lots of expensive stuff in the ritual would result in a positive modifier
• Summoning with intents contrary to the spirit’s ideals or morals would act as a very big negative modifier
  
• Previous acts contrary to the spirit’s ideals or morals would act as a negative modifier
• Summoning a loa too frequently or when there is little need will act as a negative modifier

The possessing spirit provides increased strength and stamina, however it comes with a down side. Although the character remains in control the loa colours their perception. Each loa is different (and the Houngan must know the True name of the loa he is calling). Each particular loa will come with two aspects which during possession will superceed two of the Houngan's aspects. In addition each loa may come with particular skills which replace the Houngan's native skills. The Houngan's personality may change under the influence of the spirit and this may even be represented by changes in speach patterns, temprement or attitudes.

The spirit possession will last a short while (no longer than a scene) and be exhausting. This will be represented by mental stress suffered as the spirit leaves (haven't quite decided how much - maybe a point of stress per minute which will mean a 5 minute possession will require a mild consequence)

And finally - as far as I can tell allowing a Spirit to possess your body breaks none of the laws of magic.

All the rest of the Houngan's abilities seem to fall nicely into the category of Ectomancy or Potion making and even then they are supposed to be binding spirits into their potions so that seems to fit nicely. I'll let him create potions so long as he could get the same effect with Ectomancy.

Any thoughts? Does it look about right?

There seems to be a lot of demand for Con games so people can try out the system. I'd like to make some of those people happy. The question is, if you knew next to nothing about the Dresden Files RPG but were a roleplaying fan of Jim's books what would you want to see in the game?

Some things are obvious. Any con game is going to need atleast one wizard pre-gen, so people can see that the game handles Harry well. However:

• Would you want to play well known characters (like Harry, Billy and Michael) or would you want to test out new creations?
• Would you want a game set in Chicago, Baltimore or somewhere else?
• What sort of power level whould you like the game set at? Chest Deep? Submerged?
• When would you like to see the game set? Around the same time as Storm Front (so its spoiler free), around the end of Small Favor (which seems to tally with the game) or after Changes (current)?
• Would you be interested in a game all playing the same type of character? A pack of were-wolves? A group of Wardens etc?

Basically what do you think would make a great con game?

Nearby Gamers, one of the best ways of finding gamers on the internet is currently suggesting there are only 16 people in the world interested in the Dresden Files RPG.

http://nearbygamers.com/tags/Dresden_Files

Surely we can do better than that?

Hi,

I'm planning to run a Dresdenverse game using the RPol Portal. Since the Dresden Roleplaying Game isn't available I'm using the next best thing - a hacked version of FATE 3. If anyone is interested the game page is here.

And the Game description is:

Brown Cloak Orphans (an adventure in the Dresden-verse)
System: FATE 3 (Note: This is NOT the Dresden Files RPG, just a hacked version of FATE 3).

Since the Vampire attack on Archangel four years ago, when Simon Pietrovitch was killed, council losses have been painfully high. The council tries to protect its young untested apprentices, keeping them out of danger. Losses amongst full wizards has resulted in something the council has never had to deal with before, a large number of apprentices who've lost their master. They call them 'Orphans' and they are viewed with pity.

Players ideally should have read at least one of the Dresden Files Books, but that's not an actually requirement. Familiarity with FATE is entirely optional too since its easy enough to pick up, and available for free to download (as the SRD). However I recommend buying Spirit of the Century, not because you'll need it but because its excellent

Note: The game is set some time between Proven Guilty and White Night. The White Council and the Red Court are at war (and have been for close to five years), and Harry Dresden has taken on Molly as an apprentice. Any events detailed in White Night, It's My Birthday Too, Heorot, Small Favor, Backup, Day Off, The Warrior, Last Call, and Turn Coat haven't happened yet (and may not happen in this world if you change things).

I view character generation as a group activity, so I wont be starting anything until I have a full quota of players, but I am accepting applications to join now. Feel free to drop by.

Cheers,

Declan (a.k.a. R00kie)

For those of us who would like to get our players used to the FATE rules, but aren't lucky enough to be in the Dresden Alpha, the new version of Spirit of the Season has magic rules which could viably be used for a Dresden type campaign, as a stop gap until we get the real Dresden rules.

On page 35 we get the new rules for Mystic Spellcraft. Mystic Rites covers thaumaturgy type magic rather well.  For a Wizard you would then probably have to add a few Rite of X powers. Perhaps Rite of Evocation to cover guns, and Rite of Protection (page 36).

Rite of the Ethereals would probably need to be renamed something like Rite of Veils. Other Rites could well be used to customise the Wizard and what they are good at, but I'd probably do that through an aspect or two.

You could point out that this makes evocation no better or no worse than a gun. Well thats the nature of SOTC. When you remember that a police marksman probably has a guns of average, fair or good, whilst the PC Wizard may well have a Mysteries of Great or Superb it actually makes a pretty good fit.

There are obviously no rules for blasting rods, foci etc. You could handle it with a bit of hand waving or just claim any Rite of X power requires a foci (Blasting Rod for Evocation, Shield Bracelet for Protection, etc.) and if they dont have it they have to use the Mystic Rites rules.

These rules aren't going to be a patch on proper dedicated Dresden rules, but as a stop gap measure for those would would like to play Dresden using a FATE based rules set...