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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: blackheart on July 28, 2009, 02:08:04 PM
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Hello, new to the forums but a long time RPGer and Dresden Files fan.
Like everyone else, I'm awaiting the game with baited breath, but I did have one question.
How hard/easy would it be to use the game mechanics to kit bash other urban fantasy concepts into DFRPG?
Such as Slayers from Buffy, animators from Anita Blake, and such?
Thank-you and best of luck!
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I can't speak for DFRPG specifically, but FATE -- the system which runs the game -- can handle Slayers without much of an issue. The first time I was ever exposed to FATE, I was doing a Fudge hack for a Buffyverse game. (Fudge, FYI, is the system on which FATE is based.) I was almost done to my satisfaction when I discovered FATE, at which point I had to redo it to handle Aspects and Stunts, because they helped out so much with getting things exactly right.
Based on the spoilers it looks like you'd end up with a Slayer if you took the Stunts for super strength, toughness, and recovery. High fighting skills take care of much of the rest. What those don't do, you hit up with appropriate Aspects; this can cover things like flashes of insight from the dreams that come with being a Slayer.
If such a character had an okay Refresh to start, you could take a Stunt for super speed just to round things out.
The Buffyverse is definitely one of the things I intend to run with DFRPG. So I've been reading the teasers with an eye toward that type of thing.
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Personally, I thought the Emissary of Power (http://www.dresdenfilesrpg.com/2009/01/19/emissary/) character type seemded tailor-made for making Slayers, with or without the serial number still attached. ;)
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Personally, I thought the Emissary of Power (http://www.dresdenfilesrpg.com/2009/01/19/emissary/) character type seemded tailor-made for making Slayers, with or without the serial number still attached. ;)
I don't know. Emissaries make pacts with beings. Slayers are chosen, whether they want it or not. There's a bit of a disconnect there unless you really abstract the notion of the pact to be the responsibility of the Slayer to the line of previous Slayers.
I don't think that templates are strictly necessary if you're just going to hack something from some other source; most people who'd want to make a Slayer would probably want to try to be as true as possible to the idea of the thing.
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One thing that you have to remember about the animators from anita blake is that using death magic on humans is illegal in the dresdenverse. So if you ever get caught raising a zombie the wardens will try to kill you.
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Yeah, I realise that, but I was also considering using the DFRPG for other custom game settings, and was trying to feel out the crunch levels involved in converting other source material.
I am considering a "kitchen sink" (as in "throw in everything but the"...) universe that has all sorts of urban fantasy influences and origins, as I have a potential player who wants to play an Anita Blake style animator without having the Wardens on her tail every five seconds.
I was considering a "Factions" type universe where the White Counsel isn't the only magic oversight organization in the world, and in past history has led to a standing truce with other magic groups.
This will allow for voodun priests in New Orleans, animators, wicca willworkers, exorsists, demon-pact powers (a'la Jill Kismet from Lilth Saintcrow's Night Shift), all in the same game group.
Just an idea I'm kicking around until the game comes out.
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As long as you don't drag Edward into the world, I am all for it. I doubt that you could even make him with all the attributes he has
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As long as you don't drag Edward into the world, I am all for it. I doubt that you could even make him with all the attributes he has
Especially since Edweird as a concept screams "god-moding twink who's just asking for the GM to yell 'Rocks Fall! Everyone Dies!'."
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I am wanting to play a Changeling character. Half Human and half Wild Fae. It would be the Morning Ogre. Just like me. From Sunrise to Sunset as Human. From Sunset to Sunrise as an Ogre.
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This will allow for voodun priests in New Orleans, animators, wicca willworkers, exorsists, demon-pact powers (a'la Jill Kismet from Lilth Saintcrow's Night Shift), all in the same game group.
From what I have seen on the web site all of these except for the animator can be accomplished with no change to the rules.
-voudoun priest: true believer or emmissary of power, depending on the strength of the relationship with the loa
-wicca willworker: if going for the religiose aspect a true believer, for the magic aspect a minor talent ofr focussed practitioner
-exorsists: a true believer
-demon-pact: an emmissary of power
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I want a DF card game if only as an off shoot so I can collect the characters :D
I know that's dorky but I want!! I want!!! *pouts*
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And here I thought this thread was going to be about different character concepts within the game as outlined already :)
so here it goes:
Marcus Woodsen
Lycanthrope
High Concept: Wolf Brother in Arms
Other aspect: I did my time in the Delta Stockade
Marcus is a former member of a team of lycanthropes currently assigned to Delta Squad Special forces in the US Army. The vast majority of the US Military is not clued in, but enough are to want some guys on their side who can throw down in some hairy circumstances. Unfortunately, he got caught on camera executing some ghouls, and was cashiered for the 'good of the service' aka the good of the rest f the team. Marcus still has some favors to call in from the brass in the know, and his wolf brothers in arms are always willing to fight the good(or bad or ugly) fight, if they're not headed elsewhere.
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I anticipate being the game master for this once it comes out, but if I were to be the player, I would *so* resurect an old PC of mine... Rupert Thomson: Egyptian scholar, linguist and alchemist! Smokes the pipe, has a sword cane (with delusion he can use it) and is so proper people feel compelled to agree with him.
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I was hoping that, under the assumption that someone out there would like to play one, that they would have a denarian character template, as well as templates for playing some of the more evil sides, but I can understand the pc vs monster with no will spine behind the entire setup.
As far as character concepts that haven't been covered yet, for sake of discussion, I'll throw this up in the air
Golem Maker
I had this character from a D&D game a while back ( may or may not be interested in resurecting for dfrpg) that was phsychic and made suits of armour which he controlled like a puppet master. This is different than binder because they were all custom made and the character himself was all but helpless when using it mid-combat. I got him to a point where he could use 3 at a time, was pretty cool.
But ya, there are probably tons of ways to make a puppet-master type character.
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If you want to see "golem magic" *fully* developed, I recommend the following
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Council by China Miéville.
One of the main character is basically a golem maker, but he does far more with his magic than just make animated lumps of clay. He animates iron spikes so he can nail them in with one blow for example. He makes gunpowder golems. It's a challenging book - very heavy, political angles, grim at times - but China Miéville has an incredible vision of magic.
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If you want to see "golem magic" *fully* developed, I recommend the following
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Council by China Miéville.
One of the main character is basically a golem maker, but he does far more with his magic than just make animated lumps of clay. He animates iron spikes so he can nail them in with one blow for example. He makes gunpowder golems. It's a challenging book - very heavy, political angles, grim at times - but China Miéville has an incredible vision of magic.
I will have to check that out.
Holy crap I learned something today.
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He's also worth reading because he's an incredible designers of cities. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perdido_Street_Station (written prior, and a few generations (roughly) in the past of the Iron council) is also good for this.
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Ok along the lines of bringing in Buffy style slayers I am working on fitting in the Reapers from the Showtime series "Dead Like Me" along with Gravelings. I'm not up on the mechanics but i think they fit well into the world.
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Here's what I've been working on so far using what I've read here in the RPG forum and looking off Harry's character sheet.
Character: Ash Sutek Aken
Inspirations for said name
Ash-egyptian god of oases/nature
Sutekh-another name for Set god of desert/storms/darkness/chaos
Aken-egyptian underworld god/ferryman
Template: Focused Practitioner(May have to be upgraded to Sorcerer since he does dabble in necromancy)
High Aspect: Ghost Busting P.I.
Trouble Aspect: Straddling the Veil
Phase I: Grew up son of Kesi Aken, she was a 2nd generation egyptian immigrant who held tight to her beliefs and who had been a minor practitioner. Raised by her alone as his american father had died before he and Kesi could wed. At the young age of 6 he began to see his 'invisable friends' causing him to become isolated from other children and relying on the spirits and his pets for companionship.
Phase Aspect: I watched too much Beastmaster
Phase II:Grew up apart from others all his life, his animals and the spirits around him his only friends and his mom his only family. He was bounced from therapist to therapist until his mom realised that the 'invisiable friends' he'd known all his life were actually ghosts and spirits and as an adolescent he began to show signs of having a bit of magical ability. Trained with a local ectomancer for a bit. Moved on best i could went to college in Chicago, where his mother was killed on Halloween. Becomes determined to never be caught unprepared and helpless again. He gave up attempts at a normal life and dropped out becoming a paranormal private eye.
Phase Aspect: Where was he keeping that?
Phase III:TBD
Phase IV:TBD
Phase V:TBD
Ghost Busting P.I. (That's Paranormal Investigator)
Who ya gonna call? No, seriously who ya gonna call?
Invoke: Your years of living alongside the spirits have made you more in tune into the things keeping them bound and you are better at dispelling or helping spirits move on that most.
Compel: Your years of living along side the spirits make most people think your a little nuts, always talking to the open air around you. You also take the needs and feelings of the spirits as seriously as the living and may decide the best thing for them is to stay put.
"Straddling the Veil" I see dead people...
Invoke: Allows easier, more clear communication with the spirits of the dead and also allows increases strength of beings raised from the dead while near this practitioner.
Compel: Brings unwanted attention from Wardens, or tempts practitioner to resort to black magic.
I watched too much BeastMaster
I like animals better than most people.
Invoke: Allows you to communicate your desires more easily with animals even if they are untrained. This is however more of an empathic understanding than true communication.
Compel: Due to empathic nature of this aspect sometimes a message or warning is misconstrued. Also animals seem to sense this ability and often approach you at inopportune moments.
Where was he keeping that?
Your person is often compared to a clown car. You always seem to be pulling out some inconceivable object.
Invoke: Allows you to produce an item in your inventory even if you've been thoroughly searched.
Compel: If ever required to completely disarm the time taken is far longer than what is the norm. It can also sometimes take multiple attempts to produce the right item. (I.E. Your attempting to pull your hidden revolver and instead pull out a knife or a tome.)
He has a whole big story behind him but that may work better as a fanfic later. :D And yes the Halloween when his mother died is DB.
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I was also considering using the DFRPG for other custom game settings, and was trying to feel out the crunch levels involved in converting other source material.
This is always a tricky thing to address. The quick answer is that it would be great for other custom game settings.
The longer answer is that it would require some tweaking, depending upon how exotic the setting. If you want to run Anita Blake, Buffy, Diana Tregarde, or other modern magic settings it should be a pretty quick conversion, but keep in mind that some of the balance might be off slightly. In other words, since DFRPG was designed for the Dresdenverse, certain elements might vary from one setting to another. For example, Ghouls in the Dresdenverse seem a heck of a lot nastier than in Anita Blake's world, but vampires are pretty comperable in both settings. It all depends upon what you're trying to do with it.
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In the DFRPG Anita Blake would have been in the negative Refreshes a llllooooonnnnggggggg time ago. Hamilton just can't stop compelling the same stupid aspect. ;D
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I wouldn't mind playing a Psychic Jellyfish from Planet X, but I'm not really sure so far how that should be stated out... ;)
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Speaking of interesting RPG ideas...
I just watched a Swedish film called "Let the Right one In."
What fascinated me about it is in most stories even Dresden Files, you hear the whole "Vampires etc can't cross a threshold for this that or the other reason." But you never really SEE or hear what happens when they try but in rare occurrences. I don't even recall roleplaying it in the Vampire RPG games.
So... this movie had a very visual version of what happens when the vampire girl crosses this boy's threshold when he dares her to cross, and refuses (just to be smart alec) to not invite her in. She crosses of course w/o an invite but suddenly starts to fall apart. Blood pouring from every where. It was an interesting concept although albeit graphic.
Anyone else rpg'ed this kind of thing? I really have the chance to play anything in a while but it was interesting nonetheless.
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The "Can't come in uninvited" thing has always been described to me as "Like hitting a brick wall". I've never prg's this but if I did it would be depicted like that. In the case of being forced into a threshold it would be the same unless there were extreme forces, like say falling out of a plane onto someone's house.
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An idea for my rural area idea:
Randall Stuckey (but you can call me "Randy")
Wise old farmer: Minor talent
Phase 1 Background:
You know that something has gone wrong in your neck of the woods lately. Things just aren't like they were when you were growing up and you've decided that if the authorities won't do something about it, you will. Your wife died years ago and the children have all moved away from the area.
Phase Aspect:
"Knows where all the bodies are buried" Your knowledge of the locals (particularly of gossip about their dark deeds) gives you the upper hand when negotiating if they have something to hide.
Invoke: Able to use knowledge of the area to pressure others into revealing information.
Compel: The people who buried the bodies want to protect their secrets (preferably by silencing you).
Phase 2 Rising Conflict (what shaped you):
You've always had what you called "intuition" but it might be better described as precognition. Rarely is it more than a flash of warning or an image that doesn't make much sense until after you've seen it again (déjà vu) but of late the feelings and images have become stronger and more detailed.
Phase Aspect:
"You look really familiar, I wonder why?" Events and people seem familiar, you think of it as your intuition.
Invoke: You feel like you've had this conversation/problem/question before and the answer is right on the tip of your tongue.
Compel: You spend to much time analyzing coincidences looking for the answer that just isn't there.
Phase 3 The Story (first adventure):
"Something's not right and I'm gonna find out what's goin' on!"
Several local farmers had complained that they had lost cattle lately and when the carcasses were found they had been mutilated. The sheriffs and conservation officers chalked it up to wild dogs or coyotes but you knew something else was happening. No one took you seriously except that nice young lady from Louisville offered to help you catch what was doing it. Little did you know that you would be facing something from another realm but the two of you did just fine against those thieving little green men. At first you were surprised at the evidence of faeries and magic but seeing it first hand has helped you explain a lot of things that have been going on lately (both with your self and the surrounding community).
Phase Aspect:
"There isn't much I can't track" You've grown up hunting, fishing, and tracking things in your region. You are familiar with the tricks of the trade (camouflage, scent masking, etc). You have access to materials required (guns, bows, camouflage coveralls, UV flashlights, etc).
Invoke: Able to follow a trail left by something. Patience is something that you've learned over the years and keeping still and quiet comes naturally to you.
Compel: Have to much faith in your ability to track something and will pursue an incorrect lead or trail until proven wrong.
Phase 4 Guest Star:
Rebekah Rehlam
Phase Aspect:
"A country boy can survive" You have a talent for making do with what's at hand. Macgyver could learn a thing or two from you.
Invoke: With a pair of socks, some duct tape, and a paper clip we can set a trap for those little green bastards.
Compel: The socks, duct tape, or paper clip are wildly ineffective for what you were trying to use them for.
Phase 5 Guest Star Redux:
Anthony Pallentine
Phase Aspect:
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Speaking of interesting RPG ideas...
I just watched a Swedish film called "Let the Right one In."
What fascinated me about it is in most stories even Dresden Files, you hear the whole "Vampires etc can't cross a threshold for this that or the other reason." But you never really SEE or hear what happens when they try but in rare occurrences. I don't even recall roleplaying it in the Vampire RPG games.
So... this movie had a very visual version of what happens when the vampire girl crosses this boy's threshold when he dares her to cross, and refuses (just to be smart alec) to not invite her in. She crosses of course w/o an invite but suddenly starts to fall apart. Blood pouring from every where. It was an interesting concept although albeit graphic.
Anyone else rpg'ed this kind of thing? I really have the chance to play anything in a while but it was interesting nonetheless.
Maybe it is just cause I am a (as my PC players put it) "sick twisted evil bastard" but the phrase "I dare you" could be considered an invite...
as matter of fact there is an EP of BtVS that plays off that very effect.
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Sorry to cross-post, but this is pertinent to this topic as well:
I have an old Call of Cthulhu supplement called "Golden Dawn" (published by Pagan Publishing, not Chaosium), which gave an interesting twist on Victorian Era CoC gaming. I had adapted it for a Modern Era campaign some years back, and totally intend to adapt it to a Dresden Files campaign, in turn (or vice versa).
The premise that members, students, or other associates of such an occult fraternity would naturally be drawn into either a Call of Cthulhu or Dresden-type investigation is completely sensible, and this system gives PCs well-defined and specific advantages. As certain occult fraternities were represented at meetings of the White Council, such a Character base should fit easily into the Dresden universe
In real life, there are a number of Golden Dawn groups still in existence in many - if not most - urban areas (definitely in Chicago & Baltimore), as well as a number of other occult fraternities & initiatory societies (many of which adhere, to varying degrees, to the Golden Dawn system & curriculum). With Jim Butcher's well-defined rules, and well-reasoned descriptions, of how & why magic works, I've found myself wondering what, if any, familiarity he might have with groups like this (I have a few friends in Kansas City....).
With all this in mind, I'm posting the following link as a potential resource -- as I see that copies of the original supplement are fetching quite a price:
http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/callofcthulhu/goldendawn/handout.pdf
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Was Allister Crowley associted with Golden Dawn?
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Was Allister Crowley associted with Golden Dawn?
sort answer YES
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sort answer YES
Correct; that's the short answer; the following Wiki entry sums it up, but there's a lot more to it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetic_Order_of_the_Golden_Dawn#Golden_Age
Despite the ill-will, Crowley celebrated his "birthday" (the date of his Golden Dawn initiation) throughout his life. Crowley started his own version of the Golden Dawn system - but firmly based in his philosophy of the New Aeon - called the A.'.A.'., which is distinct from the O.'.T.'.O.'.
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Correct; that's the short answer; the following Wiki entry sums it up, but there's a lot more to it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetic_Order_of_the_Golden_Dawn#Golden_Age
Despite the ill-will, Crowley celebrated his "birthday" (the date of his Golden Dawn initiation) throughout his life. Crowley started his own version of the Golden Dawn system - but firmly based in his philosophy of the New Aeon - called the A.'.A.'., which is distinct from the O.'.T.'.O.'.
Actually, here's a much better history from a LARP group:
http://www.vialarp.org/GD/background_5_detailed_gd_history.html
Considering the source, the top-level page is a good gaming resource (I forgot about this link - I would have put it in my OP):
http://www.vialarp.org/GD/