Questions about the Dresden Files RPG

[iago]

My question is: do you have to go through a lot of rigmarole to cast a simple Thamutergy spell like Harry's tracking spell, or the old "Make a magic circle" trick?

For low-complexity thaumaturgies, you can do a "quick and dirty" fast-cast variety that's not as much of a hoop-jump, as I recall. 

Second question: Are there any magical tricks that even mundane mortals can do? (Like the above mentioned Circle; Butters used this trick pretty easily in Dead Beat).

There's a common ritual thing that mortals can do (though that's usually bad when it works), and symbols will still have some potency even if the mundane isn't magically talented, the same way that a cross in the hands of a normal dude might ward off evil if the dude has some actual faith in the symbol's power.

[Rechan]

Are there a few examples of good Mental tasks? That's one area I have trouble thinking of good examples of. And in some cases, it's tough to understand where Social and Mental tasks differ in practice.

[iago]

Are there a few examples of good Mental tasks? That's one area I have trouble thinking of good examples of. And in some cases, it's tough to understand where Social and Mental tasks differ in practice.

Spellcasting. Certain other powers use. Resisting psychological torture. Concentration

[Rechan]

... I meant mental CONFLICTS. Whoops.

[iago]

... I meant mental CONFLICTS. Whoops.

Heh. We've got a big section that talks about 'em. I'd rather not paraphrase on this one.

[SoulCatcher78]

First off, thank you for splitting into two books.  I picked up the Pathfinder rulebook (575 pages) last year and it's just a hassle to deal with a book that large (I tend to doze off when reading in bed and nearly brained my wife with that thing).

Second, have you settled on a price point yet?  For group play I would like to have more than one core book on hand (I don't like sharing my rulebook which is likely to have notes written in the margins, etc), especially for the character generation portion.  Pricing may make this difficult so the more notice I have, the more likely I am to be able to talk another player (or myself) into picking up another copy.

Third, there are several of us on the Gen Con forums anxiously awaiting a chance to play this game.  Is there any chance of the preorder going live before Origins?  If so, how soon would this be likely to happen?

That was spooky...no sooner did I finish this off then I get a twitter about the new blogpost with all the answers. 

[iago]

That was spooky...no sooner did I finish this off then I get a twitter about the new blogpost with all the answers. 

And that blog post is: http://www.dresdenfilesrpg.com/2010/02/09/physical-facts-about-the-books/

[Rechan]

Do Minions exist in the DFRPG? And, are they severely lethal or can they be taken out without imminent death?

There are instances where Harry has faced minions:

(click to show/hide)

Zombies from Dead Beat. The phages at Arctis Tor in Proven Guilty. The ghouls on the ship in White Night. The fey thingies that invaded the train station in Small Favor. Binder's friends in Turn Coat.

[iago]

Do Minions exist in the DFRPG?

Nope. Everything is dangerous. If you want to model a weak/easily disposed group, it's better to just treat that as a single character or as a challenge.  SOTC's minions rules are more... pulpy.

[Rechan]

If I recall, Demons (like Chauncy and the Toad Demon) are just entities from the Nevernever.

So what separates them from anything else in the Nevernever? Why is summoning a Demon something bigger than say, whipping out a fey or whatever it is Binder was calling up? Why are Demons bad news?

Are we given examples of any monsters that haven't appeared in the books? If our players have read them all, is there anything we'll have to surprise them from the Goes Bump chapter?

[traeki]

Nope. Everything is dangerous. If you want to model a weak/easily disposed group, it's better to just treat that as a single character or as a challenge.  SOTC's minions rules are more... pulpy.

Ah, I was wondering about this as well.  Does this apply also to companions?  That is, is there an analogue of the companions rules from SotC in DFRPG?

[iago]

Ah, I was wondering about this as well.  Does this apply also to companions?  That is, is there an analogue of the companions rules from SotC in DFRPG?

Nope. I mean, both are easily adaptable into DF if you want them there, but they didn't make sense to us as we worked up the DF version of things. In the Dresdenverse it seems more right to simply have them as outright characters or as side-effects of things like aspects.

So what separates them from anything else in the Nevernever? Why is summoning a Demon something bigger than say, whipping out a fey or whatever it is Binder was calling up? Why are Demons bad news?

That's a very good question.

Are we given examples of any monsters that haven't appeared in the books? If our players have read them all, is there anything we'll have to surprise them from the Goes Bump chapter?

Not really. Then again, building new monsters is easy, as is upgrading the pre-established models to do something unexpected.

[Rechan]

Fred, I seem to recall that in the early inception of DFRPG that you guys posted about, different weapons did different kinds of stress/effects. Some ate more boxes while others I think were likely to jump over boxes (to reach consequences faster). The example being a knife ate more stress boxes, a shotgun jumped to consequences faster.

Did that get changed?

Can we get a comparison of the knife vs. shotgun now? Or maybe a peek at the stats for one?

Edit: Here's what I was remembering.

Reading this, it sounds like you guys have boxes for Mild, Medium, and Severe tiers. Looking at Harry's sheet though, he only has a physical box set, a mental box set, adn a social one. So, what gives?

[iago]

Fred, I seem to recall that in the early inception of DFRPG that you guys posted about, different weapons did different kinds of stress/effects. Some ate more boxes while others I think were likely to jump over boxes (to reach consequences faster). The example being a knife ate more stress boxes, a shotgun jumped to consequences faster.

Did that get changed?

Yes

Can we get a comparison of the knife vs. shotgun now? Or maybe a peek at the stats for one?

Nope. Depends on the situation. Sometimes the knife is the nastier weapon. Often the shotgun is.

Reading this, it sounds like you guys have boxes for Mild, Medium, and Severe tiers. Looking at Harry's sheet though, he only has a physical box set, a mental box set, adn a social one. So, what gives?

Super old data from 2006. Ignore.

[Rechan]

So the damage is situational?! How does that work?