I just wanted to share how I will have my players keep track of their current Fate Point. I found a site that sells real metal coins that I think are perfect for keeping track of Fate Points in the game. The coins are rather small, but have a really nice weight to them and they feel very solid. I chose coins that had a "I" on them, to prevent the players commenting that some have "5" or a "10" on them. The main coins, in "silver", (bought 50 pcs) will be used for tracking Fate Points (should be enough for four players). I have not yet found a good way of using the "copper" ones (I bought ten of those). They cost 7 AUD for ten coins, but they are definately worth it (even if one includes the cost of the freight).

I also bought a nice bag to store the coins from a tarot-type shop here in Sweden (I also bought a nice note book with a pentagram on the cover).





http://www.campaigncoins.com/

How would rules handle characters wanting body armor on their characters (like a kevlar vest)?

The most simple way would perhaps be to say that the character has an Armor value of 1 or 2, but that seems too good, as they could wear it all the time (under clothes), with no negative aspects (!) and as there are no hit locations, there is 100% that the armor will work against any attack - too overpowered, in my opinion.

Would it simply be simulated by an Aspect (WEARING MY KEVLAR VEST), so that the player have to spend a Fate point to essentially get a 2 point worth of protection?

The kind of problem comes as a modern vest is relatively light and easy to wear. I could see that a full chainmail could provide 1-2 points of protection all the time, but have an aspect like HEAVY ARMOR, that can be compelled when running etc.

What is your take on using body armor in the game?

One of the things that I am not really fond of in the FATE-system is certain Declarations. I understand the theory behind Declarations, and some "types" of Declarations are perfectly fine - the player states something about the game world, rolls the dice, and if successful, the statement is true (most likely resulting in an Aspect).

I have no problems in Declarations relating to Contacts, Resources or knowledge-based skills like Scholarship. My problem comes when dealing with skills like Investigation to "add" stuff to the scene. For example:

For example, if your character has a strong Alertness or Investigation skill, you might use a declaration to add features to a scene for you to use to your advantage—when the fire starts, your character just “happens” to notice that the janitor left a bucket of water in the hallway.

The fact that you can roll Investigation to "add" a bucket of water just by looking for it is the part that I don't really like. What I mean is that, to be able to do that, one has to establish that there is a bucket of water there to begin with, and that the skill roll is to find it (not to add it). Technically, one could then use Investigation to "find" the characters new shiny car using the same philosophy (sure, Resources would be the proper skill to use here, stating that you have previously bought the car).

Don't get me wrong, I don't really dislike the use of Declarations in this way. I want to understand how it is intended to work, to see that I understand the rules as intended.

Or is the problem with certain Declarations (such as Investigation based ones) more of how you get to the point where you roll the dice? Two examples:

Player: “I really could use a bucket of water to extinguish the fire. I am rolling my Investigation to make a Declaration about me finding one.”
GM: “OK, roll against difficulty 4.”

Player: “I really could use a bucket of water to extinguish the fire. Is there one that I can find?”
GM: “There might be, roll your Investigation against difficulty 4.”

The first example is what I kind of don’t like. The second one is more what me as a GM would like to see, but that is more of an Assessment than a Declaration… or?

Thanks for your help.

Anyone that have any ideas for other RPG's, which have suitable scenarios that can be adapted to be run with the DFRPG?

In Blood Rites, Harry wants to get the magic of one of his enemies “locked down”, and I am thinking about how he would go about doing that by using the rules. I assume that it is Thaumaturgy, and that the strength/complexity of the ritual acts like a block against magic. Complexity is based on the strength of the block, the area covered (+2 per zone?) and the duration.

If so, would it negate all magic inside the area (unless the power of the spell cast is equal or higher than the block strength? Would it be possible to target only one individual and block just that person’s magic (given a proper symbolic link) within the area? Would it even be possible to create an effect so that the magic of the target would be blocked regardless of if he or she moves away? In that case, it seems like a bit too powerful, given that a Wizard with Discipline 5+ can cast very high Complexity rituals with little or no real risk of failure.

In my current preparation for starting up the DFRPG I have looked a bit into a few aspects (!) of the game that I think that can be abused by the players. My recent finding is the enchanted items, when maximizing the rules. What about this one?

The player creates a Wizard, and sets Lore to +5 and chooses Crafting (Strength) as the specialization for Thaumaturgy (meaning that all items will have a default power level of 6, and that the maximum power level is 10 (or is it 12?)). He then chooses to have all four focus items to be replaced by eight enchanted item slots, and creates two items; one wand (offensive fire evocation, strength of 6) and one duster (defensive spirit block, strength of 6).

He then sacrifices two enchanted item slots to increase the strength of the wand to 8. Finally, he sacrificed the last four enchanted item slots to increase the strength of the duster to 10. Both items can only be used once (but he can take one mental stress to increase the number of uses by one for each point of stress).

This means that, for one point of mental stress, he can make an attack of strength 8 – without risking any backlash/fallout (if this were considered a Rote spell, just as a comparison, it would be equivalent of having an effective Conviction and Discipline of 8 ). In regards to the duster, he can for each attack choose to activate the defensive spells equal to a block of strength 10 – without risking any backlash/fallout (if this were considered a Rote spell, just as a comparison, it would be equivalent of having an effective Conviction and Discipline of 10!). A defensive block of 10 would avoid most attacks, and if they went through, he could use it as Armor 5 instead – for just 1 point of mental stress, without any roll!. In combat, why should he ever bother using “normal” magic?

Please let me know in case I have used the rules in an incorrect way, or if you don’t think this is overpowered.

In the Template for the Changeling (YS74), the rules say:

"In play, this means that any time a changeling purchases new powers, it comes with a clear alteration of the changeling’s body, moving him towards a more fae appearance in line with that of his faerie parent (like suddenly growing horns or hooves and so on)."

Does this mean that most of the Powers taken by the Changeling affects the physical appearence of the character (when applicable, of course)?

I would assume that the character ought to choose "Glamours" as one of the abilities in case he or she would like to be able to move around among "normal people".

I have a question about spells as maneuvers: If a spell is cast as an evocation maneuver, it basically places an Aspect on the target – does it actually do anything else (in terms of rules mechanics) than to give the target an Aspect? And what about players compelling that Aspect?

As an example, if you use the Whirlwind spell (YS295) to place the Aspect “KNOCKED PRONE” on the target, does anything actually happen to the target or is someone required to spend Fate points for the target to physically stay prone? If a Fate Point is required to actually make the target stay put (through a compel), would it really be that simple to take out a target by spending a Fate Point, compelling the “KNOCKED PRONE” Aspect and then have the target locked in place?

If the "KNOCKED PRONE" Aspect is not good enough for taking someone out of combat, one could change that Aspect to "LEVITATE OFF THE GROUND". Can a player then simply compel that Aspect to have the NPC hanging helpless in the air? In that case, taking out any target with negative Fate Point scores (i.e. most powerful NPC’s!) is extremely simple…

Or how would you otherwise treat such a spell that places such an Aspect on a target? Is it only there to provide an opportunity to get a +2 modifier or a re-roll (Invoke)?

Or is it fair to say that if the players want to use (read: exploit!) such an Aspect (except getting a +2, re-roll or invoking for effect to state a minor fact), then the player must compel the Aspect (thus costing a Fate Point, and passing the approval of the GM)?

I can see that in case one wanted to lock targets in a zone in place, creating a Block is much more suitable (but as I can’t really get a grip on the Aspect placed by the spell and compelling that Aspect, I ask the question). And afterall, the "Whirlwind" spell is in the rule book...