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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Brodie on April 18, 2007, 10:54:13 PM
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Thinking about a Dresden game of my own and seeing the house rules thread last night got me thinking about what my house rules will be for a Dresden game (because I'll have to be the one to run it; no playing for poor ol' me).
The house rules I've got in mind so far are pretty barebones right now:
A) Only one full fledged White Council wizard in the group.
B) Anyone else that wants to play a spellcaster has to be the wizard's apprentice.
C) Anyone craving to be a White Court vamp (there is one person in my group that wants to play one) has to give me a darn good backstory explaining why he/she is associating with the other PCs.
D) Anybody wanting to play Knight has to give me a great backstory explaining how they got the sword. (And even then, they wouldn't start the campaign with it.)
It seems a bit strict, sure, but it promotes diversity and - in my mind - communication in the group prior to playing so everyone can figure out how they'll interact.
There's one person in my group that will end up playing a human, primarily because it would be effort for the rest of us to get him read even one book in the series. This way, he learns about the world like a normal human in the Dresdenverse.
What about the rest of you?
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I hope you have a pretty mature gaming group, because having so many different power levels in the same party is a tough thing to play for many gamers.
Using the Lord of the Rings as an example, if one PC gets to be Pippin while another gets to be Gandalf, one of the players might not feel like the game is "fair". My first thought was that the apprentice might resent having to play second fiddle to the wizard, but then it occured to me that the regular human might dislike playing a character weaker than everyone.
To me, the ultiimate role playing experience is when all players can get into their own roles regardless of party balance, but this is sometimes a hard sell for the players.
Good luck. You've got some nice ideas and I hope you can pull it off!
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On the other hand, maybe Gandalf will be jealous of Mort Mortal's computer skills. Besides, Marcone and Murphy do all right for being mortals playing with vampires and fae. As long as you bring the iron and heavy weapons mortals can hold their own, especially with a wizard friend who can throw up a shield to protect the party.
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Oh, I agree as long as your group is willing to cooperate and doesn't get all hissy about some players wielding more powers than others.
I've GM-ed for both kinds of groups and sometimes you can't tell which kind you have until you try.
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My group's pretty mature about those kinds of rules. We had a similar set-up for a Star Wars game (only one person could be the Jedi) and a Highlander/Immortal (it used the World of Darkness ruleset) game, with only one PC immortal.
Granted, both campaigns fell about because the guy the wanted to play both the immortal and the jedi was an unreliable player (IE - showed up when he felt like it) and both campaigns were scrapped because of that... But that was the only reason they got scrapped.
I figure with my set-up, though, not everybody's playing the same thing, we have diversity, etc., yadda yadda. I'll have more to play off of storywise. It would get boring for me if everyone was playing a wizard.
Would any of you have house rules?
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Number one house rule will be:
No matter how improbable and outrageous it is, if it smacks of the spirit and fun of the books it will probably work.
Other than that we will have to play for a while before we actually get into house rules. These are generally an organic thing in our group.
I may actually set our campaign in our real city. Close enough to NYC that the regional High Council Warden would be able to travel here if necessary, but small enough that most of the action would escape the notice of anyone very important.
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I was considering setting my game in my city, as well. There's enough to play with, even though it's rather small and boring. But, we're on Lake Erie and Niagara Falls isn't too far away. Those smack of being large sources of elemental power.
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Setting an adventure in your home town hs many advantages: You do not have to draw up or work out times/distances. You can intgrate NPCs that are based on actual people you have met, (and rewrite them so that they get what they deserve.)
No one can say: that building wasn't there last week. (Well they can, but it will be silly.)
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Well, I would prefer to set a game in my favorite city, but I don't want them living in the same one as Harry Dresden. (One of the many reasons I love the Dresden Files is because they're set in Chicago.)
I forgot to mention that the World of Darkness game one of the group members runs is set in our hometown, too. Reason enough to not set my game here. It would get confusing. Not long ago, two members were both running L5R games and both had their own house/system rules, so it was hard to adjust when one ran after the other.
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I can see that.
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I think the thing to keep in mind is that part of the reason that they're using FATE to design the game is that it will allow for more balance in characters, like between a vanilla Police Officer and a Wizard of the White Council. If they had gone with a modified d20 system then there absolutely would be a power difference between characters, there'd be almost no incentive to play a vanilla human being. Not only that, but the use of Aspects in character building helps to build the character's backstory as the character is designed. The fact that a vanilla human being doesn't have a whole magical arsenal at his disposal isn't necessarily a disadvantage. That person can get medical treatment a lot easier, can rely on modern technology, can enter a home uninvited, and is a lot more likely to have contacts with the rest of the vanilla people then your Wizard. A party comprised entirely of Wizards might actually have a real hard time getting around and dealing with the modern world.
Also, don't forget that a player can play a "knight" character without being a Knight of the Cross. Michael and the other knights are just one example of a knighthood in Harry's world. The most important thing is spiritual strength (just like playing any Paladin). You're knight characters don't even have to use swords, or have magical weapons to begin with.
As for the Wizard and apprentice scenario. You really have to have two players really willing to roleplay that situation fairly. I'm always hesitant to put my players in a situation where one person is in charge of another, or the whole group. I usually find that a leader type character naturally evolves in the party, but you can't always predict who that leader will be. I've found that when I've assigned a leadership role to one person they either aren't interested in playing the leader or try to take advantage of the position.
Also with a game that uses aspects the apprentice and Wizard could even be of equal "level" when it comes to the number of aspects they have. The apprentice will just have more non-magical aspects and skills then the Wizard. Not necessarily a drawback if the aspects are useful in the game.
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Also, don't forget that a player can play a "knight" character without being a Knight of the Cross.
I'ma be a Knight of Thor and rock it with my sledgehammer. Whut.
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No one can say: that building wasn't there last week. (Well they can, but it will be silly.)
I dunno, downtown Pittsburgh has been through a lot lately...
We'll probably start with our standard three house rules, and build from there if we need to:
1. Characters are made with group input; nothing worse than multiple characters with the same skills.
2. Once a third of the people leave, the game's over for the night. Go home or start a new, smaller game.
3. No onions on the pizza. Hey, it's my house, my rules!
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I don't know, maybe I've just been lucky in the groups I've been in. We've always aimed for diversity. Part of it is that we're always conscious of covering all the major skill sets. One combat wombat, one skill monkey, one social monster, one reality-defying freak, etc. I think it would be pretty easy to just say, "Hey, people, try to get a range of things going," rather than any hard and fast rules. After all, I find that there are LOTS of excellent examples of character types in the books (and the TV series, for that matter) that aren't wizards at all.
As for balancing the players, that comes down to two things. One, make sure that when abilities have disadvantages, you enforce them. Make your wizard actually sit out of the action when he's brewing potions. Occasionally, make him regret using his evocation at full power. Two, make sure that when characters have advantages, opportunities come up in the game to use them. If a guy makes an IT worker whose advantages include significant disposable income and computer skills, make sure that your stories offer up ways to use money and/or hacking to solve the problem. Then, it doesn't really matter that the wizard might be, on some giant cosmic scale, "better" than the IT worker. Both characters are contributing equally to the story.
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House rules are looking to be the following:
1) No Knights of the Cross
2) No Wardens
3) No full fledged vampires of any court.
4) No senior council wizards
Council level wizards fine, but no power pools over 30 points, and no more than 40 points in powers. (See the Dresden in Hero's post for Harry's beginning NPC sheet).
I'm thinking about having them run 'powered' versions of themselves since we still have 'self' character sheets from a game we were running until the GM moved out of town. Which would mean that they won't get non-combat dice rolls if they miss things, and that they have to prove that they can do what they claim to be able to do. IE I claimed to be able to drop 15 round magazine of 9mm from a Glock into COM of a man sized target in 14 seconds, so I had to video tape doing it at the range before next game session. We had one guy break into his own car and hotwire it in a certain time frame. One some outre stuff it goes to GM fiat, as some things just aren't doable in the real world without breaking a law.
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House rules are looking to be the following:
1) No Knights of the Cross
2) No Wardens
3) No full fledged vampires of any court.
4) No senior council wizards
Seems totally reasonable to me. Part of the fun of an RPG is to find ways to do things you wouldn't normally be able to do without an unlimited amount of power *kinda takes the fun out of it to be super powered*. Same sort of thing goes for items of power as well...limit their use or the game will spiral out of control rapidly. Harry's been around for 9 books and change and he doesn't have an unlimited arsenal of magical gizmos so what makes you think a "from scratch" character would have access to them. To much power ruins a game *for those of you familiar with the term Monty Haul Campaign, you know what I'm talking about*.
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As for the Wizard and apprentice scenario. You really have to have two players really willing to roleplay that situation fairly. I'm always hesitant to put my players in a situation where one person is in charge of another, or the whole group. I usually find that a leader type character naturally evolves in the party, but you can't always predict who that leader will be. I've found that when I've assigned a leadership role to one person they either aren't interested in playing the leader or try to take advantage of the position.
I'm lucky to have gotten to know my friends/groupmates' role playing capabilities, so for me, it isn't too much to worry that they'll cry foul and hang me upside-down while they make off with my comics. :) Speaking seriously, though, they would go for that, especially the two players that haven't read the books and don't know how magic works in the Dresden world. One player's brother will be rejoining us when he comes back for summer break from college, and would likely take the apprentice role if his brother's the full-fledged wizard.
But yeah, it definitely comes down knowing the group's habits and nature. I'm lucky to be in a group that's diverse and has the "combat wombat, one skill monkey, one social monster, one reality-defying freak, etc" like Samldanach's group, as well as a player that's a jack-of-all-trades and can pick up the slack when needed.
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I don't think I'll ever get to play the game IRL. But if I did, I think my house rules would involve a Burger King crown and accepting bribes for small favors.
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BK crowns are easily ripped/crushed/burned/destroyed. Get something made out of metal, if possible. Oh, and a scepter of sort for bonking unruly players on the head. :)
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Oh, I do have a "Wand of Player Control". It's a dagger that's about a foot long. ;D
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BK crowns are easily ripped/crushed/burned/destroyed. Get something made out of metal, if possible. Oh, and a scepter of sort for bonking unruly players on the head. :)
I really recommend against the chain mail shirt, though. It gets very uncomfortable after a couple hours.
Also, beware this scenario.... (http://devilspanties.keenspot.com/d/20070413.html)
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I really recommend against the chain mail shirt, though. It gets very uncomfortable after a couple hours.
Also, beware this scenario.... (http://devilspanties.keenspot.com/d/20070413.html)
It sounds like you have a cheap set of maile. Chainmail can be very comfortable for long periods if you are using more historically accurate flat riveted maile. It is much lighter than a shirt made out of the more standard 18 gauge butted maile. It also helps if you are wearing a gambeson under the maile.
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I don't really want to wear a gambeson for six hours, either. Besides, sitting on the chain shirt that long isn't good for the chair, either. ;D
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I don't really want to wear a gambeson for six hours, either. Besides, sitting on the chain shirt that long isn't good for the chair, either. ;D
No, but it's great if you have been in melees for six hours. Chainmail doesn't really protect against rattan without one. :)
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I think one house rule that should be inforced is, have fun.
as far as limiting what the players can be, well i'd have to see the game first but I was playing with the Idea that maybe the white council would want a small team of trouble shooters to investigate possible paranormal activities, they wouldn't send a full fledge wizard seeing how they are at war, so maybe some young bucks can go look and report back. Of course things won't go smooth and they'll sometimes have to deal with the problem first hand. but it would give them room to grow as chacters and you wouldn't have one powerful character hogging the glory or bailing the others out, not to mention having a balanced situation where it would be a challenge to the powerful player as well as the weaker ones not getting slaughtered, so I'm sure they'd be some basic starting aspects/stunts "limit" that each player can use, and as pointed out a good mix of both wizards and mortals would be able to work as a team and back each other up. And again till I see the actual game in print I can only speculate what to do with the players.
And since like Spirit of the Century the GM'ing will be swinging between a couple of us so we can play a character at times we'd have to come into agreement on what the role of the players should be.
my 2 cents.
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What I like most about the way magic works in the Dresdenverse is how it's really only limited by what the user is capable of thinking up and channelling. When I'm a magic user (very rare), I tend to be like Harry, using a handful of tried and true standby's and the occasional different spell.
A team dynamic for a group of casters - with this in mind - is golden, as everyone is coming in with their own arsenal of ideas. Then, everyone is subconciously taking notes and getting ideas for themselves. It's definitely something worth me considering if everyone in my group wants to be a wizard.
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I haven't had many GM-spots (my first horrendous game is to blame) in my group since I'm mostly a player, but I will be GM-ing this RPG for sure.
Rules will probably be something along the lines of:
1) A preference of not highly powered characters. Dresden has said that there are lots of lower powered people in the city, as is evident in WN - lots of dabblers with good intentions.
2) White Court/Order of St. Giles will be allowed with a VERY good back story.
3) Humans need an even BETTER back story than the Vamps. they are not supposed to know in the first place. It'll be like running a Call of C'thulhu game without a good back ground.
4) Group input on the characters. I like some balance, but overlap can work well occasionally...
They'll probably evolve while we actually play the game and the players get a better grasp of the system.