So is Jim going to be there on Sunday at all?  

And a tangent, how do you like the Flip?  My b/f is thinking about getting something like that.

I know of three cases of people who had really bad experiences, i.e the Flip became non-function shortly after the (extremely short) warranty ran out.  The company was very unhelpful and generally unapologetic.

That said, it may be that they've fixed things since or that this the cheapest model, this was about 2 years ago.  I'd look online at recent reviews before giving out money.

As posted above, there are ways in which characters who start out as pure mortals can gain magical power:

From the books:
- Become an Emissary of Power (one of the Knights, Winter/Summer mantle, etc)
- Pick up a Denarian Coin (or other such items).
- Infected Red-Court Vampire.
- Become a "True Believer" (for any god or Adversary).
- Someone gives you hexunwulf pelt.  You need to roll against conviction not to turn evil every time you use it or something.

Other powers:
- Barter for power with entity/ritual.
- Someone gives you a Noose.
- Dragon Emissary.  Become a Monoc employee (good health plan).
- Find Bob on a shelf in a curio shop.

Not-quite-human possibilities (mainly works for younger characters):
- White Court but never knew it (hadn't killed anyone during sex yet).
- Changeling but never knew it.
- Scion but never knew it.
- Latent wizard powers:
      Molly only became a wizard around 18, and she has Council-level powers.  A minor talent might only manifest itself later on.
      Billy and the Alphas only became shapeshifters in college, and had to be taught by Tara.
      Shadowman in first book only found real magic later on in life.
      
Weirder:
- Involuntary body switch with necromancer into a wizard body (not sure what the rules are on that one).
- Involuntary shapeshift into more powerful body (ghoul)?
- Bob the skull takes over your body (maybe only partially).  He has the power to cast spells.
- Get killed.  Come back as ghost/zombie/undead/force ghost with free will.
- Accidentally stand in middle of a vortex at during a DarkHallow.
- Your mother just died.  Turns out she was the Archive.

Finally:
Get Cursed by a Saint to become a Loup-Garou.    

Edit:  Or maybe you are a relative of Macfinn.  The curse is that there would always be someone in the family who was afflicted.  Macfinn just died...

Ha ha, I really like your take on "chronomancy" rather than a very broad look its really narrow and in the here and now (ironic). I find the ball player thing hilarious since my buddy is doing something similar. A minor league ball player, an "aeromance" he uses wind to propel his landing hits clear out of the park. he decided to keep the player a minor league player by giving him a horrible batting average (and making him older and thus less likely to be upped to the majors)

Great character btw.. id say great minds think a like but i dont want to insult you (knowing my friend  )

How do you know I'm not this same friend you're talking about, Ed?   

I believe that Molly uses it on Luccio in TC ("You hit like a girl")
Others I seem to remember:

Harry (named so by Murphy)
Maggie Le Fay (Luccio in TC)
Murphy (Raith, Rawlins)
Georgia (Billy in FM.  I remember it shocked me a little)
Female FBI cop (Murphy in FM)
Bianca (Thomas in GP)
Marva (Harry in GP)

Others I'm pretty sure of:
Wife of Shadowman
Feline Phobophage(Harry)
Susan (Tara West?/ Cassius?)
Deirde (Susan)
Lara / any of the crazy ladies in Blood Rites/
Tara West (Harry)
Lash (Harry)
Madrigal (Thomas)

Need to check:
Murphy's sister? (by Murphy)
Maeve? (by Fix in GP/ Slate in SK)
Justine? (Madrigal)
Elaine (Molly)
Skavis/Priscilla (Elaine)
WC vampires in the deeps
Titania
Denarians in Shedd/on island (Maybe Nicodemus?)

Technically:
Rawlin's mother
Murphy's Ex-husband's mother
Papa Raith's mother
Justin Dumorne's mother
Marcone's Mother
Morgan's Mother

Weapon Focus: +1 skill rolls with your chosen weapon or gun.
Lethal Shot: +2 damage to unarmored and +1 damage to armor 1 targets with guns.
Precise Shot: If you have applied the "in my sights" aspect, you may place your shot to vulnerable areas, reducing the target's armor by 2.
Trick Shot: +2 to maneuver rolls with guns.
Rapid Aim: once per exchange, you may apply a guns "aiming" maneuer as a supplemental action, taking the usual -1 penalty
Dual Shot: once per exchange, if you shoot a target and your attack deals a consequence, you may sacrifice your next action to shoot again at a target at the same zone with the same attack bonus as your previous shot.



Assume Kinkaid has the above stunts, +5, maybe +6 guns skill and his Sniper Rifle has .50 cal APDH rounds (weapon 3, armor piercing 1).
One round he applies "In My Sights" as a supplemental and "Right in My Sights" as a normal action.
The next round he applies "perfect angle" as a supplemental, tags all 3 aspects and shoots with a -1 due to the supplemental.

A +6 guns skill from ambush means he has, on average, 5 shifts over the opponents' defense (due to the supplemental).
Tagging 3 aspects gives him another 6 shifts over the opponents' defense.
His weapon is weapon 3 and reduces armor by 1.
His "Precise Shot" stunt reduces armor by another 2, making most armor 0.
Due to armor being effectively 0, his Lethal Shot kicks in, dealing another 2 stress.
His "Dual Shot" stunt kicks in, enabling him to do a second attack at the same zone at the same bonus.


So, on an average roll, with one exchange of aiming, without fate points, without special bullets and satisfying catches, he does 16 stress per hit - and he does two hits . Anything short of Mythic Toughness is toast and even those guys would need to take almost all their consequences.

Maybe...

Remember that for the first shot, he kills the Denarian while he suddenly drops to the ground which would negate the "in my sights" aspect, or at least increase the difficulty of the shot.  He also disappears after taking the shot, moving immediately to another location, so I don't think the "Dual Shot" would be applicable.  Otherwise he'd be a sitting duck.

For the shot where he takes out two Denarians with a single bullet, you've got to assume that the difficulty is at least "epic" (that shot is one of his best maneuvers in the entire scene).  This makes it a bit harder.

 

One thing you might want to consider, which would simplify most of the above issues: make the character an Emissary of Power, rather than a mortal wizard with outsider connections.  To my understanding, the Laws of Magic (both in terms of Warden enforcement and metaphysically-enforced Lawbreaker stunts) only apply to practicioners of mortal magic, not to Emissaries who have spellcasting abilities of different types (or Changelings, or Vampires, etc).  Of course, killing Wardens might still piss them off, but that's a different issue.

Of course, if you're not really human, the wardens can then use magic against you without worrying about the first law.

Adding another two categories.  I'll change the OP shortly on to reflect all the changes, add acknowledgements, and change to version 1.2:

-------------------------------------

RP:  The RPG

RP++++++:  I am Fred Hicks.

RP+++++:  My name appears in the credits of the RPG.  Bask in the glory of my geek cred.

RP++++:  I am currently running a DVRPG campaign.  My players are in for a big surprise when they realize how screwed they are.

RP+++:  I am currently a player in an ongoing campaign.  We're kicking names and taking ass.

RP++:  I own both books, and have experimented with creating characters and cities.  I look forward to actually playing the game.

RP+:  I own at least one of the RPG books.  I've read them in order to gain further insight into the Dresdenverse.  I may play around with creating a character or two.

RP:  I do not own the RPG , but I have read some of the articles online.  I hope to get the books in the future.

RP-:  I am not planning to get the RPG.  My enjoyment comes from reading the books, and discussing the theories with my friends.

RP--:  Even though the books were written with Jim's blessing, I worry that reading them may taint my understanding of the Dresden Files.  I will never read them.

RP---:  I dislike all Role Playing games.  I refuse to waste time contemplating them.

RP----:  Role Playing games are the work of the Devil.  Anyone who plays them will suffer an eternity of Hell!  Paradoxically, I find the Dresden Files to be fun to read, as I actually took the time to figure out my DV geek code.

!RP: The books are an anathema to the Venators.  They must be destroyed!

?RP:  Is this the rules to the Aracnos game?



MC:  Mac's identity.

MC+++++: Mac is God.  Nough Said.

MC++++: Mac is a Dragon-level/Archangel/Odin power in his own right.  He is granted neutral status by the accords because everyone is afraid of angering him.

MC+++: Mac is minor god in terms of power.  He gained his power from a rite of ascention many years ago that involved getting a whole bunch of people stinking drunk (Bacchus?).

MC++: Mac is scion.  A union of a minor beer/drinking related diety (Dionysus?) and a mortal.

MC+: Mac is the original Merlin, who retired many years ago.

MC: Mac is former warden who renouced his powers (to give up a coin?).

MC-:  Mac is mortal who was cursed to roam the Earth until he serves up the perfect beer.

MC--:  Mac is a pure mortal.  He belongs to the Venators or some other secret society.

MC---: Mac is a pure mortal.  He currently works for the US government (FBI psychic division?), reporting on the local magic community.

MC---: Mac is an ex-military, clued in mortal.  He retired to Chicago a few years ago, and is beholden to nobody.

!MC: Mac is not a real person, but the physical manifestion of the living entity known as "the City of Chicago".

?MC: Harry never goes to MacDonalds.  Hail to the King!