Fate Core Dresden Ideas

[fantazero]

I know there is a thread about this somewhere, but me and the search function don't get along (aka it hates me)

So
Ideas

1. Less Aspects
7 is too darn many.
So lets keep
High Concept and the Trouble. They work pretty well, and they are simple to use and simple to understand.
Then two more that flesh out your character
The last one, this is the one I know I will get the most flak about which leads me to

It's too many to keep track of as a GM (3-5 players each with 7 Aspects, plus any scene aspects, stick aspects, city aspects, theme aspects, and the NPCS aspects is too many) Also after 3-4 they start to lose their "bite"

2. Drop the Guest Star Aspects
Instead of complicating character creation with somehow tying everyone to everyone else. Make your last Aspect tie into the game you are playing. So tie it to the City Aspect, or City Threat.

Example You are playing in a game where you are the Justice League and you are fighting Darksied. You play Batman, and the other two players are Aquaman and Plastic man
Batman
High Concept: Millionaire Playboy who dresses like a Bat and fights crime (or something along those lines)
Trouble: My Parents are Dead
Aspect: Where does he get those wonderful toys
Aspect: I'm the God D*mn Batman
Campaign Aspect: A Man among Gods

IF we did it the Dresden Files current way I would have to tie an Aspect to Plastic Man, and another to Aquaman. Meaning my Plastic man Aspect would be as important as the one that deals with my parents death. Thats nonsense.

3. Mental, Physical, and Social? Social and Mental need to be smashed together. Social Stresses could be better used as Sticky Aspects placed on Characters "Destroyer of the Red Court" or "That rude guy"

4. I really like contests in the Fate Core, and would love for them to be used in a new Dresden game. I also would like to steal, I mean pay homage, to Diasporas Social Conflict map. As is in the game, Social Conflict between characters means jacking them up. Which is nonsense. If I disagree with my friend about what movie to see it doesn't involve my scaring them for life so I can watch Kangaroo Jack (which is already scaring for life)

5. Magic. Um...to say the Magic system can get complicated, is well, um yeah. So feel free to add what you want to see in magic here.

6. Stress boxes. I'm mixed on this. I like that you can be taken out easily. I just don't like that if I have open stress boxes you can still be taken out. Hmmm.. Maybe it's fine the way it is.

7. Skill problems.
-Oh you took Performance at a +5, because you are a great actor. Now you're going to tell this guy a lie, roll me deceit. Why couldn't I roll Performance instead? Anyone? Maybe make some sort of buy in when it comes to skills? As I see it now, not all skills are not created equal.

8. Don't make me roll if it's not interesting.

Anyway, thats my ramble, I'm sure I can come up with more

[Tedronai]

8. Don't make me roll if it's not interesting.

That's actually in DF the rules already.

[fantazero]

That's actually in DF the rules already.

Then they are breaking their own rules.

I should edit it to say "Don't make me roll unless it's interesting and their are success and failures with that roll that are interesting"

[Haru]

I think a lot of those things will be done pretty much like that in the accelerated version, though that will be a while.

Two things:

5. Magic. Um...to say the Magic system can get complicated, is well, um yeah. So feel free to add what you want to see in magic here.

I would simply make it a power to allow you to attack, defend and maneuver with magic. I had done a crude version of this already during a discussion in another thread, where I tried to divide evocation into 1 refresh powers. Ah, found it.

(click to show/hide)

The Basics:
Each of the basic Spellcasting powers grants 1 Element to do your spells with. Once you have an element, you can use it on every magical action you know, so you will not have to buy all 3 powers for each element. None of the basic spellcasting powers use casting stress.

Magic Attack [-1]:
You are able to do magical attacks. Roll your discipline as a ranged attack with a weapon rating of 2.

Magical defense [-1]:
You are able to use your magic to block attacks. Roll your discipline to put up a block. The strength of the block is equal to your roll.

Magic Maneuver [-1]:
You are able to do maneuvers with magic. Roll your discipline to put up an aspect.

Upgrades:
These Powers require their basic counterparts to work.

Powerful Attack [-1]:
Your magical attacks are more powerful. Add +2 to your roll, when doing a magical attack. To use Powerful Attack, you need to take 1 shift of mental stress. (I know, usually it's +1 to add to an attack roll, but with the stress cost and the fact that it is a power, I think it is ok.)

Potent Attacks [-1]:
You can do magical attacks for an additional 2 shifts of damage. To use Potent Attacks, you need to take 1 shift of mental stress.

Massive Attacks [-1]:
You can use your spells to attack an entire zone. To use Massive Attacks, you need to take 1 shift of mental stress.

Potent Maneuver [-1]:
Your magical maneuvers are more powerful. Add +2 to your roll, when putting up a magical maneuver.

Potent Defense [-1]:
Your magical blocks are more powerful. Add +2 to your roll, when putting up a magical block.

Lasting Defense [-1]:
Your magical blocks last 2 exchanges (for a total of 3 exchanges) longer, without freshing them up. To use Lasting Defense, you need to take 1 shift of mental stress.

Additional Element [-1]:
You can cast spells in one additional element.

Focus Item [+1]:
You can attach part of your magical powers to a focus item. If you lose that item, every roll you do for those powers will be reduced by 2, until you recover or rebuild the item. You need to attach at least 2 points of refresh to benefit from the refresh bonus.

Enchanted item [-1]:
You have 2 free uses per session for any evocation power that would normally take mental stress to use. This power may be taken multiple times.

You could even take other skills for the 3 action types. Maybe weapons for attacks (throwing fireballs) or conviction for maneuvers. Would probably be best, so wizards don't rely on only one skill. Maybe even different skills for different wizards, depending on their style, as long as it's three different ones.
If you want more powerful wizards, you can let them take multiple Upgrade powers of one kind and let their uses stack. But if you only take one each, a wizards power should be manageable and on par with other templates. Maybe even a bit weaker compared with speed, strength, etc.

7. Skill problems.
-Oh you took Performance at a +5, because you are a great actor. Now you're going to tell this guy a lie, roll me deceit. Why couldn't I roll Performance instead? Anyone? Maybe make some sort of buy in when it comes to skills? As I see it now, not all skills are not created equal.

That's looking at it the wrong way, I think. I would certainly allow someone to use performance here, if he was trying to convince someone of a carefully prepared lie. But if he was trying to come up with something on the spot, I would have him roll deceit. Or maybe performance limited by deceit. However, I think delivery of a lie can definitely be covered by performance. This could even be one of those times, where the character falls back on the scene from that audition he had a while back, which had a similar scene. It's all about how you go about it.

[Tedronai]

@Haru
You've got what appear to be some copy-pasting errors in the enhanced maneuvers, and possibly elsewhere.
By the same logic that is used to allow +2 to the accuracy of the enhanced attack, the stress, maneuver, and block boosters should provide more than they do.


@fanta
I'm not sure what you're getting at, because I recall that to be essentially the explicit rule already.
I suspect this may be an issue with a failure to implement that rule sufficiently in games you've been involved with.

[Haru]

Oh right. No, it's not a copy-paste error, this is how I wrote it up back then. Never really got back to testing or revisiting it.

You're right, maneuvers and blocks should probably not cost any stress then. I'll edit it. More than a +2 bonus is a bit much, I think.

[Tedronai]

Oh right. No, it's not a copy-paste error, this is how I wrote it up back then. Never really got back to testing or revisiting it.

It looks like a copy-paste error from the original version.
The maneuver-boosting power talks about blocks.

[Haru]

Ah, there it is. I really didn't see that. Thanks.

[KOFFEYKID]

Combining Social and Mental stress tracks is... problematic. I'd much rather see a rework of the social combat system that makes the social track more prominently important like Physical and Mental tracks are.

[Cadd]

Then they are breaking their own rules.

I should edit it to say "Don't make me roll unless it's interesting and their are success and failures with that roll that are interesting"

How are they breaking their own rules?

The dice only come
out when there is an interesting challenge with
meaningful consequences.

There's also an almost ˝ page long margin note about how important that part is.

You want to make sure that both
outcomes are interesting—though “interesting”
isn’t the same as “good.”

Again highlighting that if there's no interesting result from both results of the roll, don't call for one!

If your GM doesn't follow that, take that up with your GM. That kind of thing can't really be worked into the rules other than through repeating the message above.

[fantazero]

How are they breaking their own rules?There's also an almost ˝ page long margin note about how important that part is.
Again highlighting that if there's no interesting result from both results of the roll, don't call for one!

If your GM doesn't follow that, take that up with your GM. That kind of thing can't really be worked into the rules other than through repeating the message above.

I see it a lot in the magic system, I'll post more later

[Lavecki121]

The magic system has an issue with the result of your roll? How?

Also the aspect that you derive from guest star aspects isn't necessarily related to the person, it's related to the situation. In fact you could probably get that same aspect in your example when batman guest stars in superman's story with the green lantern or really any non mortal.

[Sanctaphrax]

(click to show/hide)

The Basics:
Each of the basic Spellcasting powers grants 1 Element to do your spells with. Once you have an element, you can use it on every magical action you know, so you will not have to buy all 3 powers for each element. None of the basic spellcasting powers use casting stress.

Magic Attack [-1]:
You are able to do magical attacks. Roll your discipline as a ranged attack with a weapon rating of 2.

Magical defense [-1]:
You are able to use your magic to block attacks. Roll your discipline to put up a block. The strength of the block is equal to your roll.

Magic Maneuver [-1]:
You are able to do maneuvers with magic. Roll your discipline to put up an aspect.

Upgrades:
These Powers require their basic counterparts to work.

Powerful Attack [-1]:
Your magical attacks are more powerful. Add +2 to your roll, when doing a magical attack. To use Powerful Attack, you need to take 1 shift of mental stress. (I know, usually it's +1 to add to an attack roll, but with the stress cost and the fact that it is a power, I think it is ok.)

Potent Attacks [-1]:
You can do magical attacks for an additional 2 shifts of damage. To use Potent Attacks, you need to take 1 shift of mental stress.

Massive Attacks [-1]:
You can use your spells to attack an entire zone. To use Massive Attacks, you need to take 1 shift of mental stress.

Potent Maneuver [-1]:
Your magical maneuvers are more powerful. Add +2 to your roll, when putting up a magical maneuver.

Potent Defense [-1]:
Your magical blocks are more powerful. Add +2 to your roll, when putting up a magical block.

Lasting Defense [-1]:
Your magical blocks last 2 exchanges (for a total of 3 exchanges) longer, without freshing them up. To use Lasting Defense, you need to take 1 shift of mental stress.

Additional Element [-1]:
You can cast spells in one additional element.

Focus Item [+1]:
You can attach part of your magical powers to a focus item. If you lose that item, every roll you do for those powers will be reduced by 2, until you recover or rebuild the item. You need to attach at least 2 points of refresh to benefit from the refresh bonus.

Enchanted item [-1]:
You have 2 free uses per session for any evocation power that would normally take mental stress to use. This power may be taken multiple times.

You could even take other skills for the 3 action types. Maybe weapons for attacks (throwing fireballs) or conviction for maneuvers. Would probably be best, so wizards don't rely on only one skill. Maybe even different skills for different wizards, depending on their style, as long as it's three different ones.
If you want more powerful wizards, you can let them take multiple Upgrade powers of one kind and let their uses stack. But if you only take one each, a wizards power should be manageable and on par with other templates. Maybe even a bit weaker compared with speed, strength, etc.

Are you still working on this? Because although it does need work, I think I see the potential for an interesting Incite Effect-like Power.

[Haru]

Are you still working on this? Because although it does need work, I think I see the potential for an interesting Incite Effect-like Power.

Hmm, kind of. I had it in the back of my head ever since the first crude version here, and it came back when I posted this here. I know some things I would change now for sure. If you like, I'll open a new topic so we can work on it, so we don't derail this thread too much. I'd certainly like your input.

[Dougansf]

We're currently running a Dresden Core game with some hybrid rules we've put together.  I like what I see above, so I'd like to see / help with more.