when are they play testing it?

Keep in mind that the basic Fate3 system really needs no playtesting because that was done for Spirit of the Century. The majority of the work now is tinkering with the magic system (which is different from SotC) as well as development of "Dresden Baltimore" (which will be a potential "default" setting designed to compliment but not conflict with "Dresden Chicago" and Jim's writings).

I'd be interested in seeing the rules you use for this. I've never gotten "into" LARPs and the logistics seem pretty huge. How do you coordinate so many people? How do you regulate what players may or may not attempt to do? How do you run magic?

Etc, etc. Any hints or details would be appreciated. 

A couple things to comment upon:

1. As far as the linear d20 vs bell 3d6, I find that at extremes both systems tend to break down. I suppose each can have a preference, but at least a d20 is more predictable than 3d6. What I mean is that a +1 is the same no matter where on the d20 you are, but a +1 can mean different things in the 3d6 roll. Far too many gamers and game designers really don’t have a good feel for numbers and haven’t a clue what this means as far as play or game balance goes.

2. In a level-based game, a higher level character is better than a lower level character. In a skill-based game, a more skilled character is better than a less skilled character. If a character has more luck, karma, fate points, fate dice, or whatever, that character will be better than another who is lacking those things. Any imbalance in the game is a function of the GM running the campaign, not a fault of the rules.

3. While not a fan of the d20 system, I am a fan of the original rules on which they are based. Original D&D was built on a level system and allows for progression at a slow or fast rate, depending upon how the GM wants to make it happen. In my campaign, I don’t bother to count experience points but instead award levels as they are deserved. I often start characters out at third level and we slowly advance until eighth or so, then generate new characters and start over. Do characters get better in jumps? Sure, but it’s really more gradual than it sounds because not all characters gain a +1 for everything each time they advance. A skill system does a similar thing, only the players have a bit more control over where their advancement goes. I prefer a class system because it has a nice template and makes it easier to generate NPCs and easier to advance characters.

All of this is academic. Dresden Files will be based on Fate3. Track down a copy of Fate and look at it rather than debating the merits of other game systems which are not really part of these boards anyway.

Just my two cents. 

It's worth pointing out that while the d20 system is a fine system for doing lots of different types of campaign settings, it is also weak at doing any single setting.

In other words, it's a rules system designed to do certain things and as long as a campaign setting makes use of those things then d20 can handle it just fine. However, some aspects of the game (such as the magic system) are nothing like Dresden magic. The entire concept would have to be reworked in order to make Dresden fit d20.

Just my two cents.

Just wanted to report that my hardback SotC book came in the other day. As neat as the PDF might be, the printed version is much nicer!

Way to go, Evil Hat!

And of course, the advantage to using SPIRIT would be that there would be fewer changes to your campaign later on when DFRPG comes out.

I've played in campaigns where we started under one rules set and switched midstream. It's not impossible to do, but it's a lot of work. Using SPIRIT would save you some time....

Thanks for the peek. Another hundred or so of those and we won't need to buy the game. 

At first I thought "dang, that's a lot of columns on one page!" Then I realized that these were side-by-side pages. Duh. 

Interesting border, nice mix of text and graphics, visually pleasing. I know I can't wait!