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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: iago on January 18, 2011, 03:15:40 PM
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Evil Hat released a FREE downloadable one-shot adventure for the Dresden Files RPG yesterday: http://www.dresdenfilesrpg.com/2011/01/17/casefile-neutral-grounds/
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Thanks for the heads up! Just the thing for a new GM!
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I am still a PnP noob but I DL'ing it! =D
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Vielen Dank, Fred, that's great stuff! :)
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DL'ed, looking it over now. The real irony is, there's a Convention up here this weekend that I'm already running a one-shot for.
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YAY! Fred is awesome sauce!
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And now for the nitpicking... (sorry!)
Okay, the kinetomancer, Maria Emana, has Refinement which adds to her Control and Power--which is explicitly not possible according to Your Story, which says that if you have Channeling, you can only buy Refinement for the additional item slots. With italics, even.
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Thanks EHP & Friends! It looks great--can't wait to break it out!
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move to resource board?
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And now for the nitpicking... (sorry!)
Okay, the kinetomancer, Maria Emana, has Refinement which adds to her Control and Power--which is explicitly not possible according to Your Story, which says that if you have Channeling, you can only buy Refinement for the additional item slots. With italics, even.
Maybe Lawbreaker repeals that restriction. Might explain why Russel from YS seems to have 3 refinement even though he doesn't have the base restrictions for a sorcerer, (then again, it doesn't actually show what he spent them on, since his stats seem to cover only 1.5 counts of Refinement, and his focus items would be covered by his Channeling and Thaumaturgy powers)
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Yeah... that's probably a goof-up.
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Yeah... that's probably a goof-up.
Which one, Maria or Russel?
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Which one, Maria or Russel?
Maria. Bad guys? They cheat.
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Maria. Bad guys? They cheat.
Russel must be really bad at it then, because he's missing a Refinement and a half. ;D
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Russel must be really bad at it then, because he's missing a Refinement and a half. ;D
That's more "room for growth" and "slots for potions". :)
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That's more "room for growth" and "slots for potions". :)
Probably could have used a line to mention that :D
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Probably could have used a line to mention that :D
Enh. We don't stat out every bit of refinement on every NPC in the game, but you have a point.
Anyway, the author's reviewing Maria.
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I quite like most things about this adventure, but there are a few things that bother me.
First, Eric's name is spelled Erick in the label for his picture. Second, the benefits of Sponsored Magic (Leyline) aren't made clear. It looks like Eric has an extra specialization and two extra minor consequences, but I'm not sure that that's all. Third, the description of Eric's spirit attack rote says that he rolls Discipline at +7, but my count says +8. Fourth, the Rock Demon's Vise Grip stunt treats grappling as a non-attack trapping. Given the existence of the Wrestler stunt in YS and the attack-like nature of grappling, I don't think that this is appropriate.
I also don't like mental attacks with spellcasting or the skill list of Damocles Ravenborn, but that's more personal opinion than anything else.
PS: Who is Russel?
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I quite like most things about this adventure, but there are a few things that bother me.
First, Eric's name is spelled Erick in the label for his picture. Second, the benefits of Sponsored Magic (Leyline) aren't made clear. It looks like Eric has an extra specialization and two extra minor consequences, but I'm not sure that that's all. Third, the description of Eric's spirit attack rote says that he rolls Discipline at +7, but my count says +8. Fourth, the Rock Demon's Vise Grip stunt treats grappling as a non-attack trapping. Given the existence of the Wrestler stunt in YS and the attack-like nature of grappling, I don't think that this is appropriate.
I also don't like mental attacks with spellcasting or the skill list of Damocles Ravenborn, but that's more personal opinion than anything else.
PS: Who is Russel?
This is set in Baltimore, which is detailed in the last chapter of Your Story. Russell and the ley line are both covered in there. Damocles' character sheet is a straight lift from that chapter.
I'll point the eggheads at the rest of your comments.
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Oh, I realized that Damocles was in there. I disliked it there, too.
But I totally missed Russell and the stats for the leyline. In fact, I still can't find leyline stats.
Thanks for the tip.
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But I totally missed Russell and the stats for the leyline. In fact, I still can't find leyline stats.
Don't have the book with me but I recall it as being in a text box somewhere in the Baltimore chapter. I'll research.
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YS391 and YS292 are the things to look at, assuming I didn't forget the page numbers in the time between finding them and writing this. :)
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Hey Sanctaphrax,
Thanks for the feedback!
I'm batting this around behind the scenes.
- Clark
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And now for the nitpicking... (sorry!)
Don't apologize, this is good feedback. Thanks for posting!
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Toturi, no offense, but can we avoid turning this into another "Toturi's gaming group and gaming philosophy are idiosyncratic" thread? There's enough of those back on Dumpshock.
As for the Casefile:
Another one for Maria and Zack: there's been a debate on the forum previously on whether or not you can craft focus items for spells if you only have Channeling/Evocation, when crafting is part of Ritual/Thaumaturgy, and the debate more or less concluded that you need Ritual/Thaumaturgy to be able to craft foci. However, Maria has a focus-ring and Zack has a focus-staff and both have only Channeling.
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Toturi, no offense, but can we avoid turning this into another "Toturi's gaming group and gaming philosophy are idiosyncratic" thread? There's enough of those back on Dumpshock.
How is wanting a level playing field for both NPCs and PCs idiosyncratic?
Focus items: Would the character be able to use focus items that were given to them (that they did not craft themselves)?
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Another one for Maria and Zack: there's been a debate on the forum previously on whether or not you can craft focus items for spells if you only have Channeling/Evocation, when crafting is part of Ritual/Thaumaturgy, and the debate more or less concluded that you need Ritual/Thaumaturgy to be able to craft foci. However, Maria has a focus-ring and Zack has a focus-staff and both have only Channeling.
YS, IIRC, stipulates that Channeling/Evocation allows you to have focus items. Ergo, it's possible to have a focus item, no? That's not connecting A to B, that's A to A. I'm not sure I'd allow you to change it once you establish it, tho. Regardless, the point is, with the item slot comes the item, as it were. No point in getting you a slot that you can't ever fill.
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YS, IIRC, stipulates that Channeling/Evocation allows you to have focus items. Ergo, it's possible to have a focus item, no? That's not connecting A to B, that's A to A. I'm not sure I'd allow you to change it once you establish it, tho. Regardless, the point is, with the item slot comes the item, as it were. No point in getting you a slot that you can't ever fill.
Awesome! I'll just link this message to the debate in question... (and thank goodness I didn't print up my pregenerated PCs for this weekend's con yet! I now need to give the geomancer some kind of foci)
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On a related note there has been some discussion as to whether they (channelers) can create enchanted items too. A quick Yea/nay?
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On a related note there has been some discussion as to whether they (channelers) can create enchanted items too. A quick Yea/nay?
I would go with nay on those, unless a good concept is advanced that seems to play inside the bailiwick of their focused spell work, and even then that's a real outlier. But a, so to speak, "natural" focus item doesn't feel so off.
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I would go with nay on those, unless a good concept is advanced that seems to play inside the bailiwick of their focused spell work, and even then that's a real outlier. But a, so to speak, "natural" focus item doesn't feel so off.
Makes sense. Thanks, that's been a big thing on the forums lately. Also constructs but you're on top of that one. :)
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Iago, would you ever consider running this One shot as a PbP here on the forums?
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Iago, would you ever consider running this One shot as a PbP here on the forums?
Well, would you? :) My ability to make time for that is pretty constrained, sadly.
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I be the first to play it, but I would not risk running it - all my attempts at GMing are jinxed.They tend to die to quickly.
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I might GM this at some point, so I can try my hand at GMing PbP, but not anytime in the nearish future. Maybe around spring break...
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Gotten some go-overs and fixes from my developers. I'll be folding the changes into the document sometime today and probably pushing out a new version. Will try to update here when I do.
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Okay, I've pushed out an update to Neutral Grounds. Should be re-downloadable via your DriveThruRPG controls.
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Looks excellent. I'm somehow surprised to see such attention being paid to audience feedback, although I probably shouldn't be given what I've seen from Evil Hat so far.
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MOAR NITPICKING!!!
A ring is described as not being suitable for more than 2 Focus Item Slots and she's got 4.
Maria's a little troublesome, isn't she?
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MOAR NITPICKING!!!
A ring is described as not being suitable for more than 2 Focus Item Slots and she's got 4.
Maria's a little troublesome, isn't she?
Don't care, on that one. Just don't. :)
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Don't care, on that one. Just don't. :)
Sorry if I'm being mean.
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Great work. I just read through it and it's a great start-up for new GMs. Hopefully we can get more short supplements (or another book ;D) in the future....
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I am excite to see these little one shot type adventures. This is a great one to get a group started, I hope there will be others.
Thanks Fred and all those at Evil Hat!
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There will be others.
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Great work! I love the idea of taking it in several possible directions (and guidelines for doing so) being outlined in the scenario.
There will be others.
Yay! Looking forward to more like this.
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There will be others.
First off, .
Secondly, will they be Baltimore-based or another location?
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First off, .
Secondly, will they be Baltimore-based or another location?
Another location, or location agnostic.
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Another location, or location agnostic.
Looking forward to this. :)
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Another location, or location agnostic.
Meaning (if it's l-a) it's not going to be city-specific? As in, <insert your game city here>?
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Meaning (if it's l-a) it's not going to be city-specific? As in, <insert your game city here>?
Some scenarios say "this occurs in this place" (but I honestly feel the NG scenario can be transplanted very easily). Others say "here's the situation" and don't dictate the city or country of location. The latter set is what I refer to as location agnostic. :)
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Personally, I liked having the background flavor there, but not have it be overly influential (like you said, Neutral Grounds could easily be adapted to any city, such as I'm doing for a game I'm starting IRL).
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Personally, I liked having the background flavor there, but not have it be overly influential (like you said, Neutral Grounds could easily be adapted to any city, such as I'm doing for a game I'm starting IRL).
Right. :)
In the works, we have a Shakespearean play, a haunted house, and a trip to New Zealand. So, variety. :)
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In the works, we have a Shakespearean play, a haunted house, and a trip to New Zealand. So, variety. :)
Cool stuff- is there a rough ETA for any of them?
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Cool stuff- is there a rough ETA for any of them?
Not really. We're going to try to have something new of this style available every 2 months, though. :) Still, we're also trying to make sure we get each of them up to a minimum quality level, and the one we were going to be releasing sooner is getting pushed a little later because of that, and the other two are still in earlier stages of development. But hey, we've got until mid- or late-March, I figure. :)
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I just discovered and downloaded Neutral Grounds. Thank you, I think it will help me and my players get our feet wet and I look forward to other adventures.