Not much "buzz" about the
official DFRPG here recently, so I thought I'd start a new discussion. The "Playtester Prototype" rules are out there for playtesters to look at and react to, but the game is essentially complete. You've seen the cover artwork (and some of the interior art) for a long time on the Evil Hat pages, so you can probably imagine what it looks like. The book looks visually stunning and the rules flow well. I think this looks a lot nicer than earlier products from Evil Hat. (Not to put down SotC or other games, but to elevate DFRPG.) Lots of color, sidebar boxes with key rules highlighted, and lots of goodies. I liked the early layout, but this one blows the old one away.
DGRPG playtesters are encouraged to talk about the game but are not supposed to give out too many specific details so I'm not so sure how specific I can be about this, but having had an opportunty to look through the revised playtest materials, let me say that the DFRPG is quite simply going to be amazing.
After a four-year wait, you may think that this game is bound to be a let-down because it can't be as cool as the home-brew version you've already been playing. Or can't possivly live up to your expectations. I think it will.
The basics of the game are still very much FATE-like, but are evolved in order to handle elements specific to the Dresdenverse. What I mean here is that if you know FATE and/or SotC you're pretty close to being ready to do DFRPG, only with a few key tweaks (mostly in terms of magic). Pretty much every character type you can imagine from Jim's books has been handled in good detail. I think that folks are going to agree that it was worth the wait, and then some!
This is the game that encouraged me to learn FATE in the first place, and Fred & Co. have certainly hit a home run with the DFRPG.
Just my two cents.
