Questions about how some things work

[Jancarius]

Hi.  My group and I recently picked up the Dresden Files RPG after the majority of our gaming group has started reading the series.  We have three players who haven't read the series (through Changes), 3 who have, and 1 whose back at Dead Beat or so.  When we were sitting down and making characters, the 'in the know' players decided to stick one of the players who hasn't read the book with Tarsiel's Denarian coin.  I had him keep his refresh high so that I could drop a power or two on him without removing his character to the NPC pool.  The other party members are a midget girl werewolf, a changeling girl half-pixie (and when I asked "how did that work... physically?" we just decided to go with magic), a Kincaid-expy (except without the half-demon part), a native american shaman/anthropology student, a 'paintomancer', a Catholic Priest White Court Virgin, and a until recently clueless bartender who has Tarsiel's silver coin.

Now there, are a couple things I kind of had some questions about, and at least one I guess only Jim could really answer for sure, but if you don't mind the info dump, I'd appreciate the hand.

1) How does it work when multiple people handle a Denarian coin?  The bartender got the coin when a guy (another Denarian) paid his tab with it, intentionally delivering it to him.  He showed it to the Kincaid-expy, who handled it briefly before handing it back.  Now, for the time being, I assumed the coin has one particular person it's 'intended' for at a time, so I didn't have Tarsiel leave a little piece of himself in the Kincaid-expy's head.  Though in retrospect, it might consider him a better possession target, but I didn't want to take away the concept from the other player.  But say he passed it around the bar... what would happen then?

2)  Similarly, I am having Tarsiel essentially pose as a completely helpful angel.  The player knows somethings up, because we are all practically giggling about him having the coin, and I as a DM never just give away freebies like that.  Tarsiel is basically pushing the character to keep getting involved in more and more supernatural stuff, and when he does, his main resource is to call upon Tarsiel's power and knowledge.  As he gets more dependent on it, I presume it both gradually increases Tarsiel's influence over him, and his own natural inclination to resort to angel powers when in danger.  At some critical moment, Tarsiel brings out the stick ("Oh, you don't want that sidhe to freeze your heart in your chest?  Then I guess you'll have to let me take over") and bam, Denarian.  Is this how it is generally understood to work?  And is it too long term a plan to experience the drawbacks (IE, in the same way the Wizard's Constitution is a 0 cost power because it's effect on gameplay is virtually null)?

3) In our first case file (http://thegamesweplay.net/ The Bad Dog case files posts), I generally feel everything went pretty well except the final confrontation with the sin eater spirit.  Short version: They forced a spiritual creature to manifest in it's physical form (a huge dog) to kill it and so that it wouldn't affect their spirits when it attacked back.  During this fight, the changeling tried to use her glamor powers a couple different ways.  First, she tried to use it to blind the dog.  I was okay with this, but it seemed weird that since she was basically making a maneuver, the dogs blindness only mattered when people had fate points to spend.  Then, she tried to make duplicates of the Kincaid-expy, as he was the one it was focused on, and it bypassed it by using the smell of blood from a consequence he had taken.  I know it made the player feel kinda useless, and I didn't really like the functionality of "well, you can make veils and illusions, but they only work kinda."  Did we misinterpret how much she can do with the glamor power, or did I misunderstand aspects/maneuvers?

4) Related note: Consequences seem to greatly extend a fight without reducing fight capacity, besides just making easily invoked aspects.  The dog was one turn away from inflicting an extreme consequence on the Kincaid-expy when they finally dropped it, because it's 'Bruised Ribs' 'Bullet wounds' and 'Shattered Leg' didn't really affect it in a material way after the aspects had each been invoked once (and they can only be invoked once per scene, yes?).  I also am a bit iffy on giving fate points for invoking consequence aspects, on account of it being something of an entirely negative aspect. 

5) The Kincaid expy brought to my immediate and fore attention what just one player with very high resources can do to a game.  It reminded me of WoD games where the one Ventrue vampire basically bankrolled the coterie.  In this case, the Kincaid-expy is the owner of the bartender's bar, regularly employees the midget werewolf as a research assistant/tracker, and is armed to the teeth with high-grade military weapons and armor.  I know hte other players don't want him to just solve every problem by shooting it with the right bullets (I denied him the knowledge of depleted uranium rounds affecting spirit creatures on the basis he hadn't come up against it before, and he doesn't have Bob to tell him these things when he does).  Am I being over concerned here, or should I just find ways to hastle his armory/bank accounts so he doesn't feel like he can just buy a replacement suit of advanced armor after his gets torn up, no problem?

6) Coming from 3.5 and 4.0 D&D, I am having some difficulty deciding on what I really feel are good guidelines for difficulties.  Anyone have advice on this?

[Nyarlathotep5150]

   As far as question one, I'd say, since the Denarai are based thematically on the one ring, that it would try to corrupt all who touched it equally. It might have a target it would prefer over another, but it would take whatever it got to get out and moving in the world (besides, there's always time to work on the preferred target more directly once its out). I'd support this by pointing out that the first step in the temptation is to set up a shadow of itself within the targets subconscious. Since this shadow acts independently, and doesn't even require a line of power to the fallen itself, this basically comes down to a single spell that costs the Fallen next to nothing to cast.
   After that, it doesn't even need to (though probably still will) try to ensnare the Kincaid guy. It can focus on the bartender (its chosen host), while its shadow independently works on the Kincaid guy as a backup, to hedge its bets.

2) not necessarily. remember that some hosts work willingly with their fallen. If the Demon can corrupt the bartender to the point that he's willing to work with it, then it might be fine with the proposition (as long as he's carrying the coin, it gets what it wants either way). Either way, whether the Bartender becomes an evil co-conspirator, or a mindless slave, the change comes at the moment he has accepted enough powers from the Fallen to run him out of refresh.
   At that point, he becomes a full Denarian(and an NPC), no longer fighting against the fallen. The Fallen may roleplay instances to trick him into accepting the full power (thus speeding the descent), or it may temporarily take control of him as a consequence of one of his free compels garnered by hellfire use. But if the Fallen is pretending to be an angel (and keeping in mind that the Fallen are infinitely smarter than us), it will probably not be so heavy handed in how it corrupts him. It will likely play the part of the friendly helper, right up to the end (think like Lash. She was very good at being subtle in her corruption).

4) Not at all. Consequences are Aspects. When you inflict a consequence, you get a free tag on it (can invoke it once for free), but any PC, from then on, can invoke it any time he wants (but only once per action), as long as he's willing to pay the fate (the downside being he's giving those Fate points to the target).

5) I wouldn't worry about it. Look at Marcone. He can come up with any crap he needs without problem, but 1) it takes time, and 2) he has to have a reason to do it/ to know he needs it.

[admiralducksauce]

'Bruised Ribs' 'Bullet wounds' and 'Shattered Leg'

Consequences can also be compelled.  I know that it's kind of weird to compel "your" bad guy with its consequences, but when you decree that the dog can't get in range to chomp the Kincaidalike because of its wounds, that's a compel and the dog gets a FATE Point.

[luminos]

Denarians:  I'd give everyone that touched the coin a shadow.  As a GM, I'd have said to the players something along the lines of "are you sure you want to have your character handle that?", just to hedge against a group splitting misunderstanding, but otherwise, let the Denarian started sewing the seeds for all kinds of plans within each person.  Of course, only one person can take up the coin, and doing so would give them access to much greater power, along with a lot more temptation than Harry had to deal with.  So who ends up with the coin at the end could be an interesting story in itself.

The temptation plan looks sound.  If the denarian grants a character use of powers, such as hellfire, then of course that costs refresh.  If a character actually takes up the coin, you might push the Demonic Copilot power on the character.  You should also heavily, heavily encourage (perhaps make it a requirement) a coin holder to take an aspect related to the Denarian.  This aspect is what you compel to have the demon offer its temptations.

Glamours:  As far as I'm concerned, you allowed the player to do a lot more with glamours than is strictly by the book.  Glamours grants veils, personal disguises, and the ability to create small fake objects, like a class ring or an I.D. badge.  If the player wants to be able to use the power as a substitute for a variety of combat actions, I'd suggest that they instead take channeling (spirit), which is more closely balanced for that sort of thing.  If it has to be a fae thing, and it has to give the functions that spirit channeling would, there is nothing preventing the player from taking the channeling power and calling it glamours.

Consequences:  Well, they grant one free tag, so remember that.  And let players pay a Fate point to the opponent to compel the consequence if you think its a good compel.  But otherwise, yeah, consequences are a good way to extend a fight without reducing fighting capacity.  Varying the amount of consequences a thing will take is a good way to model how important and serious a fight is supposed to be.

Resources:  You can only use the Buying Things trapping of resources once per session.  Thats a pretty effective way to stop it from dominating.  But if a player is making that one of their highest skills, then its supposed to be powerful.  So don't completely shut it down by doing things like "your bank accounts gone".  Thats just punishing the player.  Oh, and call for a Lore roll when he tries to buy something that would rely on knowledge of what hurts supernatural things.  And call for a contacts roll when trying to buy something illegal.

Target Numbers:  If you just don't know what the difficulty is, make it 3.  This lets characters that are experts at the thing usually succeed, and unskilled characters usually have to pay Fate points to succeed.  Don't make them roll for something just because there would be a logical chance of failure.  Only make them roll if you would be interested in seeing that failure occur.

[Tedronai]

The temptation plan looks sound.  If the denarian grants a character use of powers, such as hellfire, then of course that costs refresh.  If a character actually takes up the coin, you might push the Demonic Copilot power on the character. 

If they're only gaining the power temporarily, then it'll 'only' cost an amount of Fate points (or debt) equal to the usual refresh cost.
Demonic Co-pilot, on the other hand, is probably a reasonable power for them to be taking (or having 'pushed on them', if it won't put them into NPC territory) even with just the Shadow.

[Kommisar]

I think you have a good handle of the Denerian bit and are doing just what is suppose to happen there.  And, yea, I'm with the above on having had the Denerian hedge it's bets in the merc player.  Heck, give him a GM Aspect of "Touched by the Fallen" or something that rides quiet for now and can be compelled later.  You know, when the players is REALLY low on Fate points and in trouble and it feels the bartender angle is drying up.

Resources are not game-breakers if handled well.  No more than a wizard that can drop all sorts of effects with some creative Thaum.  He put the points into it as one of his character's big-time abilities and he shouldn't be penalized for that.  If it is really an issue and you (and the rest of the players) feel that having his character able to "Make It Rain" takes the story/game in a direction that you feel is not fun and in theme with what you want, then talk to him about it.  And, if agrees, then let him restructure his character.

On the other hand, having vast amounts of money does not equate to being able to get anything you want.  Especially when that "anything" is in the category of esoteric, exotic or down-right illegal.  Depleted Uranium is not something just anyone comes across regardless of how much money they have to spread around.  Not without a boat load of various governmental agencies (domestic and foreign) catching wind of the rich guy wandering around asking about it.  DU is highly regulated and tracked.  Boxes of it don't fall of the back of the truck very often.  I'm not saying that it is impossible to get a hold of (I have never tried to procure DU... so, I'm speculating here) but it is going to take, as said above, Contacts.  Superb Contacts at least.  With a good role and some Fate points going into it.

Same can be said for lots of combat related equipment.  If you are in the US and are a common purchaser of body armor, military grade ammunition and other gear through legal channels you are going to crop up on some lists.  It can be 100% legal that you have all of it; specific licenses and everything.  But you buy a pallet of 7.62 NATO with an order of 10 Class 3 Tactical Body Armor suits per month the ATF and FBI are going to have eyes on you.  Which, if you are expending all of that ammo chasing vampires and demons through the streets of America, is going get real awkward for you real quick when the ATF surveillance sees more than they should.

Marcone has all of this covered through a vast array of fronts, blind purchases, black market contacts and bribes to local, state and federal agency personnel.  He can get a pallet of 7.62mm NATO, a pallet of assault rifles to use the ammo and even a Huey to fly everyone around it.  But it still would take him time to set it all up.

So, the best advice here is to deny him instant gratification for the rare stuff.  Let him buy everyone a good pair of Wolverine boots, flashlights and, heck, even pump action shotguns if he wants.  But speed bump him on the stuff that you can not go pick up at a big box retailer and throw in the Contacts roll to boot.

[Eunomiac]

I too used to have issues with what I started calling the "hollow aspects" problem, where an aspect could say anything and it wouldn't have an effect unless someone invoked or compelled it. I got past this by remembering how stories work.  (That's not meant to sound patronizing; it's seriously how I did it.)  Almost anything can be explained in the narration.

Imagine Harry Dresden being struck blind in a story: one of the worst things that can happen to you in a fight.  He takes "Blindness" as consequence.  Now, something bad would happen to enforce the disadvantage -- that's the NPC's free tag, and the GM would be criminal not to use it.

But after that, you'd probably find that the "Blindness" aspect didn't have as much of an effect as you might have expected.  He may have taken a few soft hits, been spun around a few times, frantically and tensely sought his bearings -- but all this is narration, with no game effect (even the soft hits; nothing says the enemies can't touch you outside of a successful attack roll; they just can't inflict stress).  But, when push comes to shove (i.e. a roll hits the table), that's when, ahem, "fate" kicks in:  He hears a foot fall at the last moment and dodges just in time (getting his full defense roll) and swings around for a counterattack (getting his full attack roll).  And that's assuming the aspect stays "hollow", with no NPCs spending fate points.

Taking your example: With 'Bruised Ribs', 'Bullet Wounds' and a 'Shattered Leg', you've used consequences to make your opposition a formidable and tenacious beast.  Without spending Fate points, those aspects are "hollow" and that animal remains able to act normally, mechanically-speaking.  It's up to you as GM to determine whether this makes sense or not.  I think it does (his rage overcomes his pain and he still has three legs to walk on).  But, if you'd instead given that dog "Shattered Hip" as a consequence, then yeah, it wouldn't make any sense for him to maintain pursuit, and you should compel that dog's aspect (giving him a fate point) to prevent it. 

Your players should be on the ball here, too, reminding you every chance they get about potential compels.  It's up to you to decide whether they're compelling the dog, costing them a fate point (this is how I'd rule it for "Shattered Leg"), OR if they're just reminding you of a compel you'd have done anyway had you thought of it first (as I'd rule for "Shattered Hip").  It's important to distinguish between the two, because you don't want your players to be afraid to suggest worthy compels -- you have a lot to keep track of and need all the help you can get!

[Jancarius]

The trick is I guess how high to set the DC roll of some of these illegal things.  Before I said "No, you don't know about the depleted uranium thing" he was arguing that it couldn't be THAT hard to get some, given how much DU ordinance was fired in the Afghan and Iraq warzones each year, some of it would definitely go unaccounted for.  In this game, certain areas in which I have no real expertise (for example, weapons, restricted weapons, and how hard it is to get them), I'm having to just take the collective players word for it.

So far, it's been 'temporary' power grants, which as I understand don't cost permanent refresh?  Basically, he has to ask Tarsiel each time for the grant of power.  The first few times will be free (he's only asked for it once, and been offered it for free when Tarseil first made his appearence) and he's getting the weaksauce version of Tarsiel's power (inhuman tiers).  I figure since Tarsiels form is an obsidian statue, he'd have supernatural or mythic toughness (with the catch being the Swords of the Cross) and at least inhuman recovery, and probably supernatural strength.  The power he has more continually is inhuman recovery (which he has paid out refresh for), the inhuman strength, and inhuman toughness come out only when he asks Tarsiel for them.

Yeah, I totally missed the section on tagging, and I didn't even think about them using the consequences as compels.  That should make them more interesting than 'random injury of x severity that has the same effect as any other injury of x severity'. 

I guess the concern is more the utter disregard to cost he seems to exhibit in regards to his expensive weapons and gear.  I mean, top military grade body armor, and it got the crap torn out of one of the arms of the suit, and he's just like "eh, I'll buy another." 

Is there anywhere that gives some guidelines on how long some of these research and contact/resource checks should take?  And should it take the characters full attention, or should it be "Alright, I study for an hour each evening when I get home from work... what do I learn?"

Also, hexing.  How much do low power practioners (with say, just thaumaturgy) affect technology around them?  Or just Ritual?  If the changeling took Seelie Magic and Channeling (spirit), would it have the same effect on technology as wizards/sorcerers?

[Eunomiac]

I've got an idea to bring Kincaid and his Resources in line, but you've got a big group and it requires a bit of focus on him for awhile.  So you may want to spread the following out over a series of unrelated scenarios, to keep your players from getting bored.

In dealing with One-Man-Army, I think you're too focused on the rules, when you forget that you hold the whole freaking world in the palm of your hands (literally, if you write your scenario notes in a palm-sized notebook).  Be fair, but firm.  The things he's doing CANNOT be done without difficulty, without consequence, but those consequences should be tense, interesting and fun.

So let's shake things up. 

Question: What's the FBI/NSA/ATF/CIA going to think when they hear of a guy running around buying up depleted uranium shells by the bushel and ordering weekly deliveries of military-grade body armor?  Time to answer that, while blindsiding the hell out of all your players at the same time. (What FUN we GMs get to have!)

Step One: Have a terrorist attack happen nearby, completely removed from whatever story you're running.  Mention it a few times, whenever you're in a scene with CNN playing in the background.  Throw in some details that wouldn't be out of place in a real-world act of terrorism, but that are actually red herrings designed to make your players think there's "just another monster" behind this one.  Get them excited about a potential showdown waiting in the wings.

Step Two: One-Man-Army hears an odd click on his phone the next time he uses it.  He notices the same car has been parked outside his house each night (it hustles away if he approaches; cops intercede if he pursues).  Make him think the government is watching him.  Try to get him super-paranoid about being a suspect in the terrorist investigation, but try to keep him away from any "direct" confrontations, as that will make Step Three a mite difficult. 

Step Three: Now, run a scenario involving a paranoid-schizophrenic who raves about vague things like "watchers in the wings" and "listeners on the line".  At some point, make a production of revealing that the schizophrenic was in the bar when the coin was passed around: This could be the reveal that anyone who touches the coin, gets Tarsiel's shadow.  It could wake up simultaneously in all their minds, somewhere along the way.  The point of all this is to get One-Man-Army to "see through" your "cleverly constructed" mystery, to make him doubly-certain that this is what it's all about: "The car, the clicks, they aren't real!  Of course, it's been Tarsiel this whole time! Well, I'm stronger than that nut in the bar! Screw you, Tarsiel, I'm not falling for it!"

Step Four: Once One-Man-Army is merrily on his way back to being his old self, convinced that the constant watchers and clicks and cars are Tarsiel's influence, he'll soon start requisitioning more equipment (and if he doesn't, well, problem solved!).  Don't change your tone on this; be as reluctant as always, but eventually give in.  It's Christmas in Kandahar, hurray!

Then he gets a phone call.

It's his <insert family/friend>.  The FBI has been asking questions.  There's a knock at the door, while he's still on the phone. (Why? Why else? FUN!) It's an FBI agent.  And at such an inopportune time, too, what with the plutonium warhead on the coffee table and a Blackhawk helicopter in the garage.  Practice your aggressive, pointed questions beforehand, and lean HARD on social compels to trip him up.  Make him feel like the whole weight of the US government is about to rain holy hell on his head, Waco-style, if they find a hint of contraband anywhere near him.  It dawns on him: This is the real fight, the real challenge, and it's one that, despite all of his easy-earned weaponry, he's hopelessly ill-equipped to fight (what sweet, sweet irony).  It wasn't Tarsiel at all!  In fact, Tarsiel is taunting him about this, engaging in a simultaneous mental contest, trying to trip him up in his social contest with the FBI Agent; after all, if he's caught, who else will be able to get him out of federal custody?  You could even give Tarsiel's shadow and/or the FBI agent to other players to roleplay (I do this with a "How To Host A Murder"-style character card, detailing motivations, what the NPC knows, typical reactions and the like).

If you're feeling really artful, slap down a scene aspect: "JUST BECAUSE I'M PARANOID DOESN'T MEAN THEY AREN'T REALLY AFTER ME!"  If you're feeling REALLY artful, make this a direct quote of something the schizophrenic said, or painted on the walls in blood as he committed suicide (you want it to stick in their minds), way back before they had any idea of its significance.

If this doesn't make One-Man-Army more careful about both the Fallen AND requisitioning stray nukes, your next step is to do exactly what you promised: Rain the entire might of the US government down on his head, and let the cards fall as they may.  He did, after all, ask for it!

[mostlyawake]

1) Difficulties:

Use the guidelines, think about how much knowledge someone with the lore skill would know about spirits.  How common - for characters in the know - is the depleted uranium thing? 

Let's say it's good (+3).  It's something anyone who has seriously studied magic has come across.  MAYBE, if they've read anything current, and know what the crap depleted uranium is.  (Think this is something your 400 year old wizard has heard of? Really?)

So let's modify it by weapons. (-1 if weapons is lower than lore, +1 if weapons is higher than lore).

Now, let's talk about access.  Is it harder to pay for the bullets, or get access to the bullets?  I'd say, cost-wise is fairly negligible. So access is the key.  Acquiring the bullets is going to take a difficulty 4 contacts roll, modified by resources. (so his resource 5 helps him). It's high because he is trying to buy something that is illegal, heavily monitored, and carries a big risk for someone down the line (like a court martial).

If something feels like an all-solution, except maybe well spell-casting, then you're probably better off looking at what other skills the character would need for the situation.  Just because you can actually buy people still, doesn't mean that doing so without any risk is going to be a simple resource roll.

Lastly, assess how much interest everyone else has in the bullets, and how important they are to the story.  Roleplay the "getting the bullets scene" out depending on how much it adds to the story, or hand-waive it with a few rolls.  This could be a great time to bring in other complications, or introduce side-plots, like the contact needing help with another issue.

[noclue]

During this fight, the changeling tried to use her glamor powers a couple different ways.  First, she tried to use it to blind the dog.  I was okay with this, but it seemed weird that since she was basically making a maneuver, the dogs blindness only mattered when people had fate points to spend.

You could think about it like the Dogs blindness only mattered when it mattered. The dog is blinded, but if someone wants to take advantage of its blindness, there's a currency operating to say how you do that. Basically, you pay a fate point to bring story elements in your favor, you receive a fate point when story elements make your life hard.

Then, she tried to make duplicates of the Kincaid-expy, as he was the one it was focused on, and it bypassed it by using the smell of blood from a consequence he had taken.  

Bypassed it how? Did you invoke the aspect for effect? Was it a tag?  It sounds like an invoke for effect, which I don't think I would have allowed in a roll to "see" through a glamour. I would have called for a roll vs. the power of the spell, with doggy getting a tag on the dude's consequence. You shouldn't be able to use an invoke for effect to get out of a contested role.

4) Related note: Consequences seem to greatly extend a fight without reducing fight capacity, besides just making easily invoked aspects.  The dog was one turn away from inflicting an extreme consequence on the Kincaid-expy when they finally dropped it, because it's 'Bruised Ribs' 'Bullet wounds' and 'Shattered Leg' didn't really affect it in a material way after the aspects had each been invoked once (and they can only be invoked once per scene, yes?).  I also am a bit iffy on giving fate points for invoking consequence aspects, on account of it being something of an entirely negative aspect.  

They can be tagged once, then everyone can use them by spending a fate point. I don't believe there's a limit on how many times a consequence can be used against you in a scene, but don't have the book handy. You're supposed to get Fate points when your aspects cause you problems.

5) The Kincaid expy brought to my immediate and fore attention what just one player with very high resources can do to a game.

I'm confused on this one. What's his gun skill and the weapon rating you've assigned to his guns? I haven't had this problem.

6) Coming from 3.5 and 4.0 D&D, I am having some difficulty deciding on what I really feel are good guidelines for difficulties.  Anyone have advice on this?

You could try using the descriptions on the ladder. So assign a Fair difficulty, or a Good Difficulty or a Great Difficulty, depending upon how much of a challenge you want it to be.

[Jancarius]

Bypassed it how? Did you invoke the aspect for effect? Was it a tag?  It sounds like an invoke for effect, which I don't think I would have allowed in a roll to "see" through a glamour. I would have called for a roll vs. the power of the spell, with doggy getting a tag on the dude's consequence. You shouldn't be able to use an invoke for effect to get out of a contested role.

Invoked the consequence to essentially say "Well, I may not be able to visually tell them apart, but I can smell which one is real from the blood dripping from his arm", which I'm pretty sure a dog could do, even if it wasn't supernatural.  So it was a mixture of invoking the dogs already superior sense of smell combined with the scent of fresh blood from the consequence.  I liked Eunomaniac's discussion and examples of the story side and hollow aspects.  I think the existence of hollow aspects bugs me a lot more though, as in all aspects should be as actively in play as possible at all times.

That does remind me of another question: Is there any limit on when a player can compel/invoke an aspect?  During the fight, the players just started pumping out fate points around the table to trigger aspects for other players, or against the sin eater.  I was like "huh... can you do that?" especially the player whose character wasn't even present on the scene.

I'm confused on this one. What's his gun skill and the weapon rating you've assigned to his guns? I haven't had this problem.

I believe it's 4 (Great) for his gun skill.  His weapons of choice are MP7s, and a 50 cal sniper rifle when he can.  I gave the dual wielded MP7s weapon 3.  I'm actually currently discussing some options in regards to that dual wielding.  I decided to penalize his accuracy when dual wielding (or using any gun 1 handed, for that matter.  Any improper firing technique reduces to hit), but in exchange I had to discuss 'could he fire and benefit from both guns'?  Right now, I said I might go with making him roll 2 attack actions at -2 -2 or possibly higher.  Is there any rules for that sort of thing?

[admiralducksauce]

I believe it's 4 (Great) for his gun skill.  His weapons of choice are MP7s, and a 50 cal sniper rifle when he can.  I gave the dual wielded MP7s weapon 3.  I'm actually currently discussing some options in regards to that dual wielding.  I decided to penalize his accuracy when dual wielding (or using any gun 1 handed, for that matter.  Any improper firing technique reduces to hit), but in exchange I had to discuss 'could he fire and benefit from both guns'?  Right now, I said I might go with making him roll 2 attack actions at -2 -2 or possibly higher.  Is there any rules for that sort of thing?

I use a Stunt from Spirit of the Century, "Two Gun Joe", for akimbo gunplay:
When using two guns, add 1/2 the damage bonus from the second gun on successful hits.  You also get a +1 to resist disarms and similar attempts.  You still only roll one attack, though.  The way FATE works is you get one primary (rolled) action, a possible supplemental action, and then free actions.

I also wouldn't say MP7s are Weapon:3.  They're submachineguns.  They can make spray attacks, but IMO you need to go get a proper rifle caliber for Weapon:3.

Now, you could rule that the Stunt idea above could just be rules, no stunt required.  You could also use a Guns declaration to place aspects like "Hail of bullets" or "Give him two guns, he's God!" or something.  Then make spray attacks and tag them to counteract the damage reduction inherent in spray attacks.

[Kommisar]

Firearms advice:

MP-7's huh?  He likes his exotic firearms.  They fire the HK proprietary 4.6x30mm round with three variants:  Military (Germany is the only country using it currently and in limited amounts), Law Enforcement (again, Germany) and Ball round.  There are differences for the tech-gun-geek-wonk; but will not make any difference in your game what-so-ever.  But, this is NOT a round that you can walk into a gun/ammo store and buy.  This is special order only.  From Germany.  Meaning that the only place he could stock up on reloads is probably his personal stash.  If you want, that is a weakness that a GM could exploit once in a blue moon.  Make a Compel "Out of Rare Ammo" on his guns.  Especially fun if going home at that time would be awkward or problematic.

This is SMG/Pistol cartridge designed specifically for increased penetration against modern body armor. 

I would model this as a Weapon 3 when firing bursts or auto.  Weapon 2 in single shot (if you want that level of distinction).

I like the rules from Spirit of the Century for 2 gun Joe myself if I am going more for a cinematic type game.  Who doesn't enjoy the thought of their character going all Morpheus with 2 thumping SMGs in their hands?  For a less cinematic stunt, I would make the stunt for 2 Gun Mojo give a +2 for suppression attempts (blocks and maneuvers where weight of fire would count).  Here, it doesn't matter that you are not accurately controlling your fire and putting bullets on target, you just need lots of lead zipping in the area to keep heads down and make it a generally unsafe environment that deters people moving about.


Depleted Uranium Rounds.

Hard, hard, hard to get.  They are not using much DU rounds in Iraq and Afghanistan today as the insurgents and Taliban do not have much in the way of targets that need that level of armor penetration to justify expending expensive, heavy ammo that has health risks associated with it.  Seriously, if you have a 20mm chain gun you don't need DU rounds to take out a Toyota pickup.

During the first Gulf War and in the open invasion of Iraq, US forces did expend DU rounds.  More during the first war over all.  But, the military does have teams that deploy to try and recover that DU after the fighting is done.  It's expensive and dangerous after all.  This is made difficult by the fact that the high-energy impacts created by the rounds hitting armored targets will vaporize the DU round as it penetrates creating a very deadly and nasty plasma stream explosively super heats the inside of the target after penetration due to the pyrophoric properties of the uranium alloys used (this means it ignites when exposed to air in a aerosol form).  By super heat, of course, I mean melting steel and all of that. Armor penetrating rounds kill the target and crew through heat and over-pressurization which will, hopefully, cook off stored ammunition, not by "exploding" in the way a High Explosive round would.  The most common use of DU rounds is the 30 mm PGU-14/B used by the airforce.  A-10 holy crap cannon.  It is also used as the 120mm "Silver Bullet" used by the M1 series tanks.  They have also created 25mm rounds for the Bradley and Apache cannons.

Best bet for getting DU off a battlefield will be to find rounds that missed.  Missed, in most cases, in the open deserts of Iraq.  Good luck if you don't have the right equipment.

There are civilian uses of DU.  As shielding in medical radiological equipment and even as counter-weighting in things like boats and planes.  The use of DU for production of planes, though, was discontinued in the 80's due to concerns of the DU doing bad things in a crash.  The US nuclear regulatory agency does permit for commercial use in the US.  But, doing so means you are on a watch list and you have to show a valid need for it.  Still you best bet for procuring DU and probably where Harry got a hold of his bag.

Now, saying you get a hold of a source of expended DU rounds, you still need the facilities to make that mass of DU into a small arms cartridge.  You ain't doing that in your garage.  Or even a really good machine shop.  DU is dense and tough and requires special techniques and equipment to work.  Off the top of my head here (going back to my mineralogy classes) DU is about 70% denser than lead!

And then there is weight.  Carrying a 30 round mag of DU rounds is no joke.  Using standard rounds, you are looking at 30 rounds weighing about .5 pounds.  Going to DU, assuming you are not using a military grade alloy, you are looking at about a pound.  Yea, doesn't sound like a lot; but it adds up and can throw off the weight balance of a weapon.  The MP-7 itself weighs 4.19 pounds after all.

A lot of useless information; but hey, I'm a geek and this is my area.     But DU is not easy to get in the form of a small arms bullet.

[ways and means]

When duel wielding guns I just use a variant of the two weapons stunt, so in the case of duel wielding SMG's that would be +5. You would really need a fast reloading stunt doing this because otherwise you are talking about a -1 due to supplemental reloading every other round.