You can't hide a sword during a full search.

Agreed.  That's what I was getting at with the "hiding a small object in plain sight"...  A pat-down or a reasonably competent search turns all of your pockets, clothing and carrying cases into "plain sight", at least by my reasoning, it does.  You might be able to sneak a switch-blade past that, but not a sword.

Retractable claws would give you a chance to get the equivalent of a sword past a pat-down, or a full search.  It's a very situational benefit, but a concrete one.

But if you're carrying a weapon while walking down the street and you come across someone who tries to guess whether you're armed, you can use your Deceit. That's not a contrived scenario:

Agreed.  And sometimes they don't even have to be trying to guess... maybe a not-quite-right-detail just happens to catch the eye of an observant passer by.

You can also BS your way past a search, but that's probably a different trapping.

Agreed.  You're talking your way out of it, rather than trying to physically hide something.

Though distracting someone properly could mess up a patdown.

Agreed...  Invoking an aspect or using a complementary skill would cover that quite nicely.

They even mention that as a possibility in YS IIRC. Can't find it though, it was something about DISTRACTING BEAUTY. Sometimes I wish I had a searchable PDF, then I remember I could get one free and realize I can't be bothered.

YS20...  They use one of two sample aspects called "Always Armed" or "Distracting Beauty" along with a fate point to make a declaration that the character is armed, after they've already been searched.  A completely different, but absolutely nifty way of getting around searches.

PS: Personally, I'd say that a roll of 17 or so on Deceit could conceal an aircraft carrier. You just need to make sure that everyone looks in the exact opposite direction. Which is practically impossible, but only practically.

Yeah, see that's the sort of slippery slope I'm trying to avoid by using a little bit of common sense.  Sure, there's ways to hide truly immense things, but It reminds me of times playing D20 games, when a player would say something like, "Ha!  With all the extra bonuses, I just rolled a 67 to hide that aircraft carrier!"  And when you'd try to get them to explain how they hid it, they'd reply, "I dunno...  I rolled a 67."

I have no problem letting player-characters do extraordinary things, so long as they can come up with a reasonable (reasonable for the game, setting and genre, at least) explanation of how they're doing it...  That gets them a chance to try, at least.

I think we're mostly on the same page here...  We were just talking past each other.

(Oh, and you can definitely use Deceit to hide a weapon: 2 weapon. This is not even a question, it's certain.)

You must have a very different definition of "hiding small objects...  ...in plain sight" than I do. 

You can feasibly hide any object, but you can't really hide a sword or a baseball bat or an semi-automatic .45 in your jacket pocket without the bouncer finding it when he frisks you (or casually glances at you, for that matter). 

Sure, Harry and Michael routinely "hide" their staff and sword, respectively, by stuffing them into a big duffel bag, but they'd never get that past Marcone's bodyguards...  not even by accepting a compel.  It doesn't have to be a compel...  It's as simple as the bouncer saying, "Sorry, you can't come in here with weapons," or "Hey, I'll need to look inside that duffel bag."

In fact, it SHOULDN'T be a compel, because simply carrying a weapon doesn't give the character an aspect to compel, unless some other character takes the trouble to generate that aspect using an appropriate action.

Retractable-ness has no mechanical value.

Sure it does.  The mechanical value is that it allows you to use the Deceit skill to hide a Weapon:2 weapon, when you ordinarily can't...  The mechanical value is that the character will still be armed (or more heavily armed) in situations where the other characters might not be.

Haha, oh; cool.  I haven't tried it.  Stop in to the Billy's Game Den forum after you play a couple times and tell us what you/they think of it?

As a house rule, though, we're allowing DFRPG powers (with DM permission) to emulate certain character types.  I've got a "Moreau" human-bear mutant character with Inhuman Strength and Claws, and a slightly psychic character with Inhuman Recovery and Incite Emotion (Fear).

As for the whole "compels are not bad" thing, I think this goes back to the discussion we've had elsewhere about how other players, many of them, don't just consider the raw mechanics and how many fate points you can get.

Do I want a fate point? Yes. But do I also want to be able to save the damsel/stop the evil wizard/not blow my cool and have to give up a powerful artifact in recompense? Also yes.

Not every compel is something the character or the player wants. That's why the game bribes you with a fate point for it, and why there's an option to buy out of it.

If you want to talk raw mechanics though, go back to the example previously: Wolverine and Sabertooth want to get through somewhere unnoticed. Wolverine's claws are retractable, so he faces no compel. Sabertooth's, however, don't retract, so he gets compelled. As mentioned, he doesn't want to be noticed, so he buys off the compel. Which means if they started from the same total, he's a fate point behind Wolverine for the same result.

Compels aren't a bad thing, but they're not always what the player wants either. They can cost Fate Points just as much as they're a source of Fate Points.

Your signature amuses me.      

Creatures that have claws actually have claws.  They don't just hit harder (unless they have supernatural strength, which is provided as a separate power).  Claws as a power was written to be claws.

Not exactly...  Reread the power. 

"You have claws, fangs, or other natural weapons that let you add damage when attacking with your “bare” hands."  -YS162

"You have claws (or something similar) which act as Weapon:2 for your Fists attacks." -YS162

"Could you take Claws multiple times so you have, say, claws AND fangs?" -YS162 [Harry's comment at the bottom of the page.]

It doesn't have to be claws, really, just anything that makes your natural attacks -- "Fists" -- more powerful.  It could be claws, fangs, spines, horns, antlers, hooves, a stinger on a tail, an ankle spur, razor-like bone ridges, or unusually hard knuckles.

It just has to be something that's A) natural, rather than supernatural, and B) obvious to the casual observer.

Of course you don't have to. My point was that the further away you go from the way the game is described in the books, the more stuff you have to figure out by yourself. At some point the game can cease to be Dresden Files and become another FATE variant. So if I think about DFRPG in other time periods, I focus first on settings that produce something that is as close to DFRPG as possible except for the time period. What is it after all that makes a game Dresden Files? The mechanics? The genre? The setting?

The Title.

Really, you can play any gerne-setting (Dresden Files, in this case) using practically any game system.  Some are going to be a lot more work than others to convert appropriately, and, as you suggest, some will simply suit the setting-genre better than others.

But, my plan is to play Dresden Files in a different time...  the same genre-setting slightly tweaked for the period.  So, I think it'd be best to use DFRPG similarly slightly tweaked.  Converting DFRPG to a different time period will be less work, I think, than converting a different game to DFRPG.

Anyway, what's got to change?

• Skills & Stunts Some skills, stunts and trappings won't fit the time period (mostly, anything related to cars and computers, in DFRPG).  A few others may need to be added (notably sailing and ship-related stuff, if I'm going with the Pirate-based game).
• Hexing Complex electronics don't exist, and so another target for hexing will need to be identified...  Gunpowder and chemical processes?  Early clockworks and other machinery?  Compasses?  Or perhaps it's the classic signs of of the power of witchcraft, like nearby fires burning odd colors, animals spooking in the presence of wizards, milk curdling, etc...
• Other Incidental Changes There's going to be some other relatively minor changes that are simply based on the change in scenery...  In a pirate game, for example, the list of gear will need to be changed to include muskets, cannons and cutlasses, but it doesn't really affect any mechanics, it is a rather obvious change, and can be handled as you play the game.

Am I missing anything?  It seems that, mechanics-wise at least, there aren't a lot of changes to be made.  Most changes will lie in the historical background and plot.