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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: BobForPresident on July 20, 2011, 03:56:07 AM
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Is the DFRPG easier to pick up than say....3.5 D&D?
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Well...I have the attention span of a gnat and I'm been in a game for a year. I never got through making an entire character in any version of D&D.
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It really kinda depends on your mindset. DFRPG is very abstract and story driven. If that's something you like, and have done before then it's plenty easy to pick up. However I've known a couple of people who would have had a much easier time with D&D because the like concrete concepts and numbers, etc.
If you're ok with modifiers only being effective when the story dictates it (I.E. even if you're "Behind cover" it doesn't matter unless you make it matter), attacks not hitting even when they hit (I.E. damage can actually represent injuries taken while avoiding an attack), and the player having almost as much narrative control over the story as the GM does then you should have a great time.
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I found it very very easy.
And the forum here will be very helpful if you have questions. Plus, the PbP board can be a great help.
So try it. I doubt you'll regret it.
PS: What's up with the title?
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The rules were easy for me to learn, but the application is taking some time, I have a pretty heavy history of DnD which is not a good mindset to be in for playing this game heh.
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I found it very very easy.
And the forum here will be very helpful if you have questions. Plus, the PbP board can be a great help.
So try it. I doubt you'll regret it.
PS: What's up with the title?
I guess I meant "now that enough time has gone by, what's the final verdict..."
But I'm tired.
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I've definitely had a far easier time bringing people with no tabletop-RPG experience into Dresden Files than D&D. Here are some factors that I think contribute:
* 90% of actions boil down to one skill roll against a DC or opposing roll, and there's one unified system for handling them. This is very different from D&D where skill rolls are a separate system from attack rolls which are separate from saving throws.
* You can do almost anything you want with a high enough roll or enough fate points. Maneuvers give a great way to represent all kinds of unconventional combat tactics without worry about whether you have the right feat or enough bonuses to, say, bull rush attempts, to pull it off.
* Fate Points, Stress, and Consequences generally seem to be a much easier system of resources for players to grasp and manage than things like spells-per-day.
* Fate uses small, consistent numbers, which makes math easier. Having to add above 10 is rare, and most bonuses/penalties come as + or -2.
* Aspects and skills allow a new player to make any kind of complex character archetype they want without worrying about difficult or complex mechanics (like multiclassing) needed to make hybrid characters in games like D&D.
* Balance is somewhat less of a concern due to the emphasis on plot and the back-and-forth of the fate point economy. It's much harder to make a character who is weak and will never get the spotlight in Fate-based games than D&D.
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I see the HDFRP much easier to play, because you don't have to worry about specific rules all the time. The most important rule is about spending and getting fate points because this rule defines how the game is played. In D&D, so much is covered in very strict rules that you have to be very familiar with them.
In our D&D campaign a couple of years ago, some players didn' have all the (relevant) rules in their mind after two years, I don't see this happen with HDFRP.
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Is the DFRPG easier to pick up than say....3.5 D&D?
To me it was, and I like the FATE system much better than D&D. And you can't really be a munchkin that can do everything in DFRPG.
I really don't like that in D&D, especially considering a friend of mine who only plays D&D and hates any other system. He is the biggest munchkin in the world, even we he is the DM. The only way to survive in his campaigns is to make a munchkin character, and that ruins most of the fun for me. :-\
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I agree with Sinker, it all depends on your game style and mind set. I am personally loving the DF system over D&D but I am not a rulesy person. If your focus is on RP and story building DF is for you, but if you're all about combat and mechanics then D&D is your game. Both are fun but for different reasons.
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I was listening to a podcast (http://"http://www.thewalkingeye.com/?p=973+") recently where Fred Hicks & Jim Butcher were being interviewed together where Fred Hicks Gave a great summary of fate while talking about something "Fate is not concerned with the gamer notion of reality. It is concerned with the idea of the ebb and flow of the importance of elements of characters in a story and making the system come alive around those moments, but at the same time it wants a little bit of grounded familiarity, so it still has the skills and that sort of stuff."
As long as you stay away from casting evocation/thaumaturgy/sponsored magic/etc (which have some [simple] rules only applying to them because of their huge range of capabilities), dfrpg is incredibly easy to learn. It feels rules light & well developed in both combat & RP aspects while managing to be extremely fluid & flexible. I heard someone say it's "awesome how it lets you have things like 'strong' or 'ass kicking vampire hunter' as a stat instead of trying to incorperate "strength 18 into that concept"
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Fate is notoriously light on the crunch side of things and the basic ruleset (Minus the magic specific to DFRP) can fit on a few pages. The most compact of which I've seen is a folder made up out of 4 standard A4 sized pages.
It works a little diffrently in concept compared to DnD but is very simple once you grasp that concept. And doesn't require a whole bookcase full of splats.
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Honestly, I'm the only one in my group who has tabletop gamed before. They all do pretty well. In D&D, we'd still be having problems.
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I got a couple groups of long-time gamers I run with... mostly D20, and most of that Mutants and Masterminds... both groups have picked this system up very easily.