Wereforms in the Dresdenverse have a distinct disadvantage in the winter, and its becoming a major issue for one of my PCs (he's a werehawk).  We've been discussing if it's possible to have the wizard enchant some pants or something that'll transform with him and then transform back.  (The wizard currently has a Lore of 3, btw).  Help?

My local RCV is getting promoted to Baron and I need to stock the guest list.  Timeline is seven months before Changes, power level is Submerged.  The Baron-to-be has a mild beef with some of the PCs (they embarrass him by calling him by his mortal name) but he's an immature figurehead; the real power of the court is a RC-Infected mob boss who is also the wizard's father.  So, with that out there, I'm looking for suggestions for stocking the guest list.

I have a warlock NPC in my game that's, to put it bluntly, a self-modification artiste; one of his aspects is "I Have A Heart--It's Just Not Where You Expect It To Be".  Him being something of a transhumanist and a trained anatomist to boot, I had an interesting little realization when playing with his mindset: I see no reason why he wouldn't have modified his own body to eliminate all of the little vestigial organs and compromises of evolution--things like the backwards retina, the appendix, certain arteries and veins that are poorly routed, things like that.  He's still human... genetically.  But his physiology has been intelligently redesigned.  

Obviously, his skills reflect this: his Alertness and Investigation are higher than they would be, thanks to the increased visual acuity, his Endurance and Athletics are boosted thanks to the better designed anatomy, and so forth.  

So now I'm just trying to decide if that aspect is sufficient to cover everything else or if I need to build a custom stunt or power to cover his modifications.  I figure I can compel/invoke the aspect in combat, especially melee combat, as his body simply doesn't work exactly like everyone else's does anymore; alot like Mal in Serenity, "that neural cluster... had it moved".  

Thoughts?  

When I'm in the gamemaster mode, half of what I do is rules adjudication, half is improv theater, and a quarter is stand up comedy.  Part of this is my own persona--I'm an incorrigible punster--and part of this is me trying to be faithful to the feel of the books, given Harry's sense of humor.  However, no offense to my group, but they're not used to trying to throw off bon motts and assorted one liners, leaving me to pick up some of the slack (which I do--with gusto).  But the feel of the world feels somewhat off without the occasional outbreak of witty banter.

This got me thinking: Dresden himself is an Epic Wiseass (says so right on his sheet), and that humor greatly colors the novels.  But that's a character trait, not necessarily a setting trait. 

So... the point of this is as such: who has games with wiseasses and who doesn't?  And for those of us whose groups are a little more serious, does it affect the feel of the world tremendously?

And, on a side note, I will occasionally throw in bits of humor to see if anyone notices.  The WCV compound they infiltrated last scenario had a bunch of fun "No Trespassing" signs; personal favorite being "Trespassers Will Be Violated"; nobody noticed that one.  Anyone got any good bits of wit they'd like to share?

So in Turn Coat we're introduced to the lovable Binder, and earlier we meet Ms. Gard.  Apparently there's an entire little "community" of magical mercenaries out there if you know where to look and hire.  So, wondering what people have come up with in this vein.

Myself, I've come up with two:

Marcus Colby Martel, Hammerspace Assassin
Built around the Hammerspace power from the custom powers thread, Marcus laughs at metal detectors; a quiet, professional man, he is very skilled at getting in, doing the job cleanly and getting back out. 

High Concept
Assassin With A Hyperspace Arsenal

Aspects
Bear Mallets Towards None
Retired Special Air Service
A Clean Job
Unflappable


Skills:
Great (+4): Resources, Guns
Good (+3): Might, Presence, Stealth, Alertness, Endurance
Fair (+2): Rapport, Deceit, Empathy, Investigation, Athletics
Average (+1): Burglary, Conviction, Scholarship, Lore, Driving

Stunts:
Mongolian Striptease: Marcus always has a weapon hidden somewhere, along with gear “that might be useful”.  By spending a fate point, he can produce from somewhere an item ideal for his situation that is fairly small and non-outrageous; lockpicks, yes.  Rope and grappling hook, yes.  A plasma rifle in the 40 terawatt range, no.  (And for comedy, trying to completely disarm Marcus will result in a pile of weapons and gear of immense size… and they didn’t get it all)

Licenses for Everything: You have a license, real or fake, to own everything under the sun. If the difficulty of the Resources roll made to acquire something would be increased due to legal restrictions you may ignore up to 2 shifts worth of increased difficulty.
Inexplicable Procurement: You can get a hold of anything, no matter how bizarre. If the difficulty of the Resources roll made to acquire something would be increased due to item rarity you may ignore up to 2 shifts worth of increased difficulty.

Arsenal: You have access to an impressive supply of weaponry. Resources checks made to obtain weaponry get a two shift bonus.

Improved Arsenal: (Requires Arsenal) You have access to an armoury better than that of some national armies. Ignore all legal restrictions when purchasing weaponry.

Scope User: You know how to use a scope. Add two to your Guns skill when using it to make manoeuvres related to aiming while using a scope or laser sight.

Long-Range Combat: You're most comfortable when your enemies are a ways away. Add 1 to your guns skill when using it to attack a character at least 2 zones away.

Powers
Hyperspace Arsenal [-2]

Description: You seem to be able to fit an entire warehouse in your pockets. No-one’s really sure where stuff goes when you’re not using it.

Skills Affected: Might

Effects:
Hammerspace. You can carry a full load (as determined by your might) without hindrance in an extradimensional compartment. The compartment exists outside time, so everything in it stays exactly as it was when it was put in.
Secure Hammerspace [-1]. Nobody but you can access your extradimensional compartment. Metal in it doesn’t trigger metal detectors and so on. If you are unconscious or dead, the compartment cannot be opened at all.

---

And the second:

Kalyn “Avis” Adele, Animal Enchantress. 
Her skillset is completely based around the control, domination and use of animals.  She prefers to use vertebrates, but just about anything in the animal kingdom is fair game.  This, of course, puts her well into the gray areas of the Third and Fourth laws.  She prefers to mostly take industrial espionage work and spying work (her squad of pet special-ops raccoons are smart enough that she needs only a light touch to "ride" them and hack an airgapped system, which reduces the risk of spell-induced burnout), and absolutely refuses to even consider using her animals as assassins.  That’s First Law territory.

A tall, ordinary woman of light olive complexion, with dark hair and dark brown eyes, of middle age (chronologically, she’s in her 40’s).  Not ugly, but not stupendously attractive either.

Kalyn “Avis” Adele

High Concept:
Freelancing Animal Enchantress

Trouble:
Toeing the Line of the Laws

Other Aspects:
Independent Information Reallocation Specialist
It’s All Just Business, Nothing Personal
Secret Sentimental Streak
The Animal Kingdom is my Armory
Music Soothes The Savage Beast

Skills
Superb: Discipline, Lore
Great: Scholarship, Burglary, Investigation
Good: Resources, Survival, Deceit, Presence
Fair: Empathy, Performance, Conviction, Alertness
Average: Rapport, Stealth, Athletics, Driving, Endurance


Powers:
Wizard’s Constitution [-0]
The Sight [-1]
Soulgaze [-0]
Ritual [-2] (Animal Enchantment)
Refinement [-2] [4 Item slots]

Stunts:
Hacker
Animal Handler (Raccoons)

Enchanted Items: Thaumaturgy Foci:

Animal Mask; Complexity +4; a decorated leather mask with a variety of animalistic features on it; look at it from one angle in one lighting and it’s a mouse; from another angle in different lighting and it’s a wolf, or a bird.

Charming Flute: Control +2; a piccolo, etched with musical notes fused with runes. 

---

So, anyone else got any memorable magical mercs?  Even just at the concept level?

It has been observed by a friend of mine (who actually just stopped into town, thus prompting this thread) that the superstitions, rituals and beliefs gamers have about their dice practically border on an unorganized religion.   "Lucky" dice, "training" your dice, sadistic dice...  the permutations are endless.  Heck, I, personally, will occasionally incinerate one of my d10s to "encourage the rest" for the nWoD game I'm in (and it works  ).  One of my other friends threatens low performers with time in the microwave.  Another lines up all of his d6s precisely with the table edge, with all of the dice in the same orientation (I threw in a die that had a different number arrangement into his pile once as a prank; that was entertaining).  My Dresden group, before we bought the Dresden-dice premium sets, would roll each set in five-pack we had at the beginning of each session and give the lowest rolling set to me, the GM.  And so on. 

So, share the tales of those fun, bizarre and bemusing superstitions about our favorite purveyors of randomness, our dice.  *sits back, munches on popcorn* This ought to be fun. 

According to Bob, in the margins of pg 79 of YS,

Technically, the term “lycanthrope” only applies to those who draw a wolf-like spirit into them near the time of the full moon. You’ll need to further torture some helpless ancient language to describe another kind of –anthrope.

This, to me, sounds like an invitation. 

So, what powers and abilities would other -anthropes have?  And how would they express themselves?  Would they always be at the full moon, or perhaps some other time of the month?  Are somatic changes possible?  etc and so forth.

After torturing a helpless latin dictionary as directed, I have the following -anthropes to toss out there as a starter:

Vulpinanthrope (fox)
Felinaenthrope (cat)
Corvanthrope (crow)
Ursidaethrope (bear)
Serpentanthrope (snake)

That should be enough to start with.  Ready... set... Template!

Alright, so, Friday night I ran my usual session for my six-pack of college freshmen newbie players, and things went massively off the rails.  So massively so that I had to think of a legitimate reason that I couldn't just kill half the party for being too stupid to live.  And that got me thinking on newbie players and basic tactical training/thinking.

Backing up: Here's the precipitating incident: I had half of the PCs and most of the allied PCs in custody elsewhere, having been captured at the end of last session.  The warden, the photomancer and the NPC hydromancer have just returned from Edinburgh via L-Space and are in the 4th subbasement of the local university's main library.  I ask them to roll Lore for magical awareness, and the wizard get's a +7.  I tell him that he's detecting a malevolent presence that's extremely unhappy with him; the trio moves towards the elevators as the creepy background music I'm playing builds to a crescendo; the numbers roll down, the elevator dings, the music hits the high point, the door opens...

It's a janitor.    He starts walking out of the elevator, pushing his cleaning cart; they can hear the bass beat from his headphones.

Relieved laughter, but the wizard isn't satisfied; he rolls a perception check with a +5 result, to see if he notices anything about the janitor as he walks by, and asks for a self-compel on one of aspects.  I sigh.  So much for my foreshadowing.  The janitor isn't breathing. 

The warden panics, lightning bolts the suspected zombie, and fries its' MP3 player.  Almost instantly, a drumbeat starts playing over the building speakers as the zombie twitches on the ground, and the trio bolts for the stairs--and the doors refuse to open.  They end up having to blow down the doors in question, and again on ground level.

They run to their car in a nearby parking lot... which refuses to start. 

And here's the major tactical blunder.  The wizard's player asks me where the nearest, highest point is.  Since we're playing on the campus in question, I mutely point towards the library that they had just exited out of.  The wizard casts levitating spells on the three of them and they head for the roof.  "Now what?"  "Um... is there an open window around?"  To make a long story short, the wizard lead them back inside the library's upper floors, inside the enclosed, close, unlit environment of a office wing on a weekend--or, in other words, a battlefield perfect for ambushes by Dresdenverse zombies, and where evocation might bring the roof down on their heads. 

I ended up rationalizing that their opponent couldn't get enough forces into place fast enough, and, as this side-tracking had gone on long enough, so I paid them two fate points each, told them to take two consequences each and that they had managed to escape without debilitating injuries (or, was implied, they could refuse the fate points and see how much deeper a hole they could dig for themselves). 

As for what's going on behind the scenes
So, after the session was over, I had a little talk with the players about tactics; all of them are college freshmen, and the most experienced ones have had all of their tactical experience happen on a grid with 30 ft movement rates.  I told them very straight that I do not want to start killing PCs, but I will if they act stupid.  After the little talk and when I got home, I sent out the following attached to the "here's what happened this week; clarifications/links/details/stuff to discuss" email:

Now, advice time.  Specifically, tactics.

First, state the obvious.  Usually, this will feel redundant, but it helps to remind you of where you are and sometimes of things you've overlooked.

Second, assess your assets.  Weapons, gear, allies, information, etc.  Your environment is always an asset if you're creative enough.  As a subset of that, pick your battlefields carefully, and choose ones that maximize your advantages and minimize your disadvantages.  Try not to let your enemy pick the battlefield, because he'll be doing the same thing.

Third, determine your goal.  What are you trying to accomplish?  Keep this in mind; too many battle plans, in real life as well as gaming, are embroidered to the point of obscuring the original goal.  Remember that someone actually stated, in a matter of fact tone, "It has become necessary to destroy the village in order to save it."

Fourth; no plan survives contact with the enemy; keep your goal in mind, and keep that goal and your plan open to revision--and scrapping, if necessary.  Don't keep on revising a plan past the point where it is no longer useful.

Fifth: the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid.  The more details and complications you throw into your plan, the more likely it is to fail; that doesn't mean complicated plans can't work, but in a battle between complicated plans, the least complicated plan usually wins, all other things being equal.  Thinking laterally, however, can often be a simple, winning tactic.

Sixth: the Indy Ploy--making it up as you go along--only works if you have a solid grasp of 1-3.

Seventh, the hardest part: Know thine enemy.  Know what he can do, what he can't do.  Know his numbers, their disposition, their command structure, their goals, their plans.  And take what you can and try to figure out the rest--and then, figure out how to disrupt it.

So, first, asking what people think of my little primer.  Second, anything to add to it?  And third: of my PCs, two of the characters themselves should know better tactics from their backstories; one is retired SAS, and the other was the apprentice of Morgan's best friend and occasionally trained with Morgan himself.  Can they compel those high concepts of theirs to ask the GM for tactical advice?

Thanks in advance.