We've just finished the first story of City on the River, and our party is shaping up to be quite a capable bunch of people. However, we have three melee-ists; my character (the Scion), a Knight of the Cross and an Emissary of Power (see the PCs). The latter two are melee weapon-focused and unarmed-focused (via an IoP granting Inhuman Strength and Claws).

My character is currently thus:


I know what I want with my next point of Refresh, Supernatural Strength. After that, though, I'm really not sure. For reference, we're playing Scions like Changelings; there's an ultimate "parent" Power set towards which you can develop but may eventually face a Choice between the sides of your heritage.

My "parent" Power set was agreed thus:


Which is quite a meaty lot, leaving loads of room to grow into that without being in too much risk of triggering the Choice. I was originally thinking I'd get Supernatural Strength and Speed, and Claws (and switch to Fists as my primary), but the latter one feels a bit too much like I'm stepping on the Emissary's toes. Similarly, though, if I stick to using Weapons, I'm going to inevitably impinge on what the Knight does.

I don't want the magic, and the Claws do feel a lot like indulging the demonic side that he's trying to avoid, which is why I'm leaning towards the melee weapons. It feels more like attempting to remain within the human realm, even if that's boosted by demon powers, as compared to using bare hands (and feet).

Anyone got any thoughts, barring just waiting to see how the three characters progress?

In our Dresden Files game, my Scion is going to be taking on a Russian ghoul in what is basically a no-holds barred cage match.

If you're interested in the why, there's been a murder of a connected Fae alchemist on our Accorded Neutral Territory, and the local Fae are offering up some juicy information on the killer to whomever wins the match. The ghoul is part of a Russian clan of them who have turned up mob-handed in response to a bounty from the triumvirate of hags who run the city. There's several other mercs/bounty hunters who've turned up, but that's not really relevant here.

The Fae were looking for an entertaining match of supernatural-on-supernatural, but no one was willing to fight Boris, the rather burly ghoul offered up as one side of the fight. My Scion accepted the offer of providing the other half, though (Compel! He's a former slave-soldier with a great deal of martial pride) declined to throw the fight and share the information (Boris' cousin who was organising the fight, seemed unconvinced my character could actually win). Winner takes the spoils! This is not to the death, mind, though it won't be gentle.

I might be presuming much that it will be a fair fight (ie no prepared magic items or thaumaturgical enchantments), but for the purposes of this thread, let's assume it is. The GM has said it will be a "challenging" fight, meaning he's tailored the ghoul to provide a tough fight. First combat of the game, too, by the way. Let's assume this is going to be unarmed combat, no weapons.

My character's relevant stuff is as follows:
Great (+4): Athletics and Fists
Good (+3): Alertness, Discipline and Endurance
Fair (+2): Intimidation and Might
Average (+1): Empathy

Inhuman Recovery, Speed, Strength and Toughness
6 Physical Stress boxes and Armour:1 when all powers are active (which they will be)
4 Fate Points going into the fight (I've been storing them up)

I've listed the Intimidation and Empathy, but I'm not sure either will be hugely relevant.

A standard ghoul would be a near-even match as it is:
Great (+4): Athletics and Fists
Good (+3): Alertness, Endurance and Intimidation

Inhuman Speed and Strength, Supernatural Recovery, Claws
4 Physical Stress boxes

I'm guessing old Boris might have Superb (+5) Fists and at least Good (+3) Might - pertinent because I'm expecting grappling to factor in. Possibly Inhuman Toughness, which would eliminate the one distinct edge I have if that's true. I'm hoping he doesn't have Supernatural Strength or I'm toast! We may have a "gentleman's agreement" not to use Claws, but we'll see how that bears up.

If we're equal, then it's down to luck on the dice and FP expenditure, which isn't exactly a great strategy. So what can I do to tip things in my favour (without simply cheating and possibly getting disqualified from the fight)?

One notion I have is my cornerman (likely to be one of the other PCs) pulling manuevers that aid me, possibly the odd Assessment or Declaration. It's also a way to bring some of the other PCs into what could otherwise be a solo scene.

What else can be done to prevent a roll-off that's down to luck?

Some thinking I'm doing for our DFRPG game, starting in earnest (City/Character Generation done!) tomorrow. This is a bit of a thought exercise I'm doing for two reasons; firstly, as a way to interrogate my existing Aspects to check that they are "double-edged"; secondly to give our GM some examples of things I'd really like to be Compelled on. I figured I'd share it with everyone so that if they feel like doing so they've got an example to inspire/aid.

See the thing is, I'm playing a low-Refresh character (and everyone bar our Champion of God is too; and that will change after the first story, Know Your Enemy), so Compels are going to be the primary source of FPs for me. And you need FPs (let's face it, finding ways to spend them is easy; it's coming up with good reasons to earn them that can be hard). The good thing about a Compel is that it's a complication that you want to happen. Thus you've written your Aspect in such a way as to highlight those sorts of conflicts and situations, that are bad for your character, yet interesting for you as a player to deal with.

So here goes.




I think that's probably enough to be going on with, some of them are meatier than others. But I think that's a useful exercise in and of itself. Does anyone do something similar?

We've made a start on the City Generation for City on the River. It was planned to be one session to get it all done, but discussing Aspects and such took a lot longer than expected. All useful stuff, and helped us get on the same page, but it means we'll need another session to finish it all off. We've agreed that the Aspect stuff in particular we'd like to discuss collectively.

We got halfway through the character side of things, discussing High Concept, Trouble, Background and Rising Conflict. What we'd gone away to think about with those is the precise wording of the Aspects, which is what I'm after some ideas for here.


High Concept: Repentant Scion of Vlad Drakul

Obviously your High Concept has to tie into your template (Scion - a spin on Changeling) and the various things your character can do. What I'm not entirely decided on is whether I need a simpler one that isn't such a mouthful. Sure it covers all the important things - he's a Scion, his sire is Vlad Drakul and he's on a redemption mission. But I wonder if something like "Half Demon" might be snappier than "Scion of Vlad Drakul". Primarily because I don't know that his sire is really all that important, even if it's a link to the canon of the Dresdenverse. "Reformed Half-Demon"?

Compels here are probably around his nature complicating matters if people realise what he is, and those demonic urges. His sire is not a nice person, not at all.


Trouble: History is Written in Blood

My trouble Aspect is all about the sins of the past and the way they have stained my character and still have an impact on his present. An alternative spin on it is "The Beast of Novgorod"; where Kincaid was the Hellhound, Faris was the Beast, nothing more than a brutal killer. The one I'm going with at the moment neatly ties to one of the campaign Aspects, "Blood Money", and seems more generically applicable than a call-out to a notorious incident in the past.

I'm imagining a lot of Compels from this around not repeating his past mistakes and modes of behaviour, proving to himself that he's grown beyond them. Also things from his long past (he's almost four centuries old) turning up and complicating matters. Maybe the odd righteous holy avenger wanting to bring him to justice for his crimes.


Background: Former Mamluk Slave-Soldier

The intent of this one is multi-fold. Firstly, it links him to a fairly ancient regime that has been gone a long time, so there's history. It's the call-back to the things he's lived through in his long life and events he may have been a part of. Secondly, it calls out his training as a warrior-fanatic following the code of Furusiyya. Lastly, it's a reminder that slavery (which is a major founding part of Bristol's economy) has a personal resonance. It's not just something he could have read about, it's something he lived.

What I'm not so clear on here is whether this is a good formulation of it. It's a lot of words and possibly trying to squeeze too many things in at once.


Rising Conflict: Hope something-something

My Aspects so far have been pretty laden with gloom, ancient evils, demons and such. That's a lot of his past that he's reformed away from, and I wanted something distinctly positive to represent the break with that past. This Aspect is all about his encounter with Esperacchius and the power of Hope that broke the chains of his heritage and gave him a chance to become a different person.

There's some cliched ideas, "Hope Springs Eternal" or "Where There's Life There's Hope" or "Through Hope I Was Reborn". Maybe something to do with mercy too or Esperacchius specifically.

Compels are around helping seemingly hopeless causes, not giving in to the inevitable and generally behaving like a superhero. Sanya is an example of that. It's to keep this character positive, not some angsty, brooding loner.


Any of that sparking off ideas for people?