what playable stuff are you hoping for?

[Old_n_Wise]

Greetings and Salutations.

I started reading the Dresden Files with Turn Coat.  I'm hooked, and now waiting for the RPG.
I'm an old D20 RPG gamer from way back. As a social gathering Dresden Files RPG,
I would suggest several things.

Remember to keep it fun:
Sometimes Magic works, sometimes not the way we really want it to.
Bob helped Harry with potions and spells, Because you cook the potion for too long or add the
wrong ingredient and all heck breaks loose.

The fun of the Dresden files is when the magic is just sitting, waiting for some fool to touch it.
For Example: Storm Front, Harry mixes two potions.  One a Love Potion, the other an Escape Potion.
Well, surprise surprise, just when things are getting crazy, the gal he is with drinks the wrong potion.
But I digress, also, she drinks a second potion. She lives, but becomes very sick.
Remember to please keep the fun in the game, as you do in the books.
Thus, I would suggest a form of wild magic outcomes.

We all know there are some very basic spells that always work the way they are suppose to work.
Like the CIRCLE. We make a circle and we are safe, sort of. But we can also be trapped.

MAGIC: Many RPGs have books dedicated to the Pursuit and Mastery of Magic.
And I'll not go into detail here.

Learning Magic:
Also from Storm Front, seems to be a few ways to learn magic.
You can train yourself: Thus you can be very strong, but not very precise.
You can be trained by a mentor:
You can be trained by a school:
Or you are born with some natural magic.
Each one has positives and negatives, and will help guide you on your journey.

Socialization:
How good is your character at being social.
It seems that you need friends to survive.
Harry, and the council often rely upon others to help them out of a jam or sometimes do a bit of dirty work.
(Even some wing work - if we talk about the Fairies.)
But getting those friends to do what we want them to, is not always an easy task.
NPCs should have a level of motivation from very hard to easy.
You have to set just the right trap to catch a Faery.


All in all, I am very excited to play the RPG.
It will allow us to explore the Alternate Reality the Harry Dresden lives in.
There are those who will be
Guardians: Keepers of Magic and or Laws.
Teachers: Those who guide those who can be taught.
Seekers: Those who seek the truth in all things.
Preachers: Some people who think they have a connection to the devine.
Warriors: Those who go out into the night to fight.
The masses: The poor sheep that are preyed upon by the wolves, and more often the vampires.

conflicts
Magic vs. Technology
Mortal vs. Immortal
Heaven vs. Hell


It is my hope that when people sit down together to game, the find the joy,
entertainment and excitement that we all find in the books.

Sorry, some of the suggestions in this message may be a bit rambling,
but I hope it makes sense to someone. 

Cheers to you all and keep up the good work.


 

[Bosh]

Old_n_Wise: a great deal of that can be covered very well and easily through the Fate aspect system.

Oh I know the magic system is a pretty gargantuan beast (and probably easily the hardest part of the system to build since the magic systems in Fate 2.0 and SotC are pretty sparse on the crunch) but how many basic kinds of magical "tricks" are there? What I mean is how many sorts of things are there for a Focused Practitioner to have as their focus or for a wizard to learn?

Of the top of my head I can think of:
-Pyromancy
-Ectomancer
-Alchemist/Potion brewer
-Thaumaturgy
-Earth Magic
-Veils/glamours
-Mind magic
-Summoning/binding
-Entering the Nevernever
-Force magic

I'm curious if there some crunch for Enthropy magic since it seems to appear a good bit in the books (enthropy curses and Warden Ramirez's shield that turns bullets into dust). Would like to give playing a Focused Practitioner who only knows Enthropy magic a shot since it seems like a pretty straight-forward kind of magic that could have a wide range of creative applications (making buildings fall down, defense, offense, tool creation, water purification (by zapping any bacteria in the water), undermining people's footing, escaping by creating holes in walls too small to fit whatever's chasing me, etc.).

[Old_n_Wise]

Thank Bosh,
That is understood. The Fate 2.0 system is not something I am familiar with.
With Rifts, D&D, Star Wars, Gurps and others. Magic, spells and more, can take up a tome of their own.

My thoughts, though scattered, are the idea, that many RPGs out in the world are based on group interaction and achievements.
Often, when we read the Dresden Files, we see Harry the hailed hero. (Hailed, as in beaten up too)
Just wanted to interject that, each person's world or worlds should not look exactly like his, as he is a unique character.
In the first book, "Storm Front" we encounter a Rouge Wizard, who is very strong, and self trained.
We also encounter a great bar, where Harry describes a room of lower magic users.
Wizards in the Dresden Files, would be similar to Paladins in D&D. (Few and Far between).

Often in development, so much focus goes into trying to get all the big stuff correct, that the fun can be forgotten.
So, just wanted to remind the powers that be, that the Dresden Files world is huge, and Jim, still has not created everything yet.
We have seen some really cool things in the books, but there is still more to come, and the game, should allow for flexibility
and creativity. Something that Harry often relies upon. Not to mention, a bunch of friends and allies and even a few enemies
that bail him out. (Morgan)

The Dresden Files Wiki is a great place to see some general concepts.
For example: 88% of the Dresden File world is made of general ordinary humans.
In the RPG, the group, or organization's missions will accomplish what ?
I think there is great opportunity here.
For example: You could start out as a normal everyday human, work your way up.
Have your character killed, and due to X amount of (reputation/honor) points, you then can be an Archangel to
return to help out the group, or fallen angel.
There is the whole mortal vs. Immortal path to follow.
I for one, wouldn't want to be able to roll an Angel right off the bat.
I am sure there are way too many rules, and it would be hard to get into the pub's door with those wings.

cheers to you all.

[Bosh]

Old_n_Wise: not to be snarky, but it would probably be a good idea to read up on the Fate 3.0 rules (SRD of those rules in their SotC incarnation here: http://www.novusimperia.net/FATE_SRD/Fate3SRD.php). A lot of the suggestions you're making are a lot like a skilled mechanic who specializes in car brand X making suggestions for design of the new model of car brand Y without bothering to take a look under the hood of last year's model of car brand Y. Fate (which the Dresden Files RPG rules will be a version of) functions quite a bit differently than Rifts, D&D, etc. in a lot of pretty fundamental ways.

[rickayelm]

I was just reading a synopsis of Changes and it says that Susan and Harry have a kid. Will there be rules for playing the children of the red court infected in the game? If there are not, how difficult would it be to make such rules yourself?

[Uriel_spook]

I was just reading a synopsis of Changes and it says that Susan and Harry have a kid. Will there be rules for playing the children of the red court infected in the game? If there are not, how difficult would it be to make such rules yourself?

Recall reading something that said the RPG would be stopping (in terms of content included) somewhere around white knight i think.  Could be wrong on the exact book but don't believe content from Changes will be present.  Hope that helps!

[iago]

Recall reading something that said the RPG would be stopping (in terms of content included) somewhere around white knight i think.  Could be wrong on the exact book but don't believe content from Changes will be present.  Hope that helps!

Small Favor is our cutoff -- we figured ten books was enough!

[rickayelm]

Will you be writing up foo dogs? If you do will I be able to have one as a companion, like Mouse? Will it be possible to play a were-form foo dog?

[rickayelm]

Will there be rules for having a spirit familiar?

[iago]

Will you be writing up foo dogs? If you do will I be able to have one as a companion, like Mouse? Will it be possible to play a were-form foo dog?

We'll write up Mouse, yes. I haven't looked at the numbers to figure out what it'd take to play what you're talking about.

[iago]

Will there be rules for having a spirit familiar?

I don't recall an explicit conversation about that, no. I don't think it'd be hard to cook up a rule to cover it, though.

[IrishSailor]

Really looking forward to the True Believer class. I already have an idea for a group of priests, brothers and lay people within the Vatican formed to help and augment the Knights of the Cross. Of course, the Church would disavow them if something were to happen. You know, because all of this supernatural stuff is just hogwash anyway.

They would act as the eyes and ears for the KotC. When the KotC were engaged with the Denarians (or some other evil) they would be responsible for the safety of people in their area. The new leader of this organization is pressuring the Vatican to allow him to open channels with the White Council and specifically the Wardens. After all, they are on the same side (for the most part) and with the Wardens streched thin due to the war with the Red Court, they could use people who:

A) know what is up
B) know how to blend in
C) have no love for the things that go bump in the night
and
D) have intelligence gathering capabilites that Wardens could use.

For a name, I'm leaning toward the Knightly Order of St. George. He was a martyr and famous for...slaying a dragon.

[iago]

We've actually got a lot of potential for positive religious characters in the game, thanks to the source material. In our Baltimore example setting, there's a quartet of True Believers running around: a nun, a rabbi, an imam, and a reverend.

[TheMouse]

a nun, a rabbi, an imam, and a reverend.

And they walk into a bar...

[iago]

And they walk into a bar...

Or in this case Neutral Grounds, a coffee bar run by a kitchen witch.