DFRPG has social combat.  So, really, an argument can be made that the game has turned rping into a mechanic that can be min/maxed.  Why role-play when you can just roll your +7 rapport and win? 

GM: The man is asking you to leave.
Player: "I attack with Rapport"


Sorry if this has come across too strong, but I think you should leave your prejudices out of your posts.

Fantazero, you're trying hard to de-rail this thread!

I disagree.  D&D is a great role playing system.  I actually think its combat system stinks.  It's too crunchy.  Some of my  BEST rp sessions were playing D&D.  There's way more to D&D than combat.

Maybe you weren't playing right...

Then again, my group Role-Played. Even playing D&D.  I'm sorry, but Role playing is not exclusive to FATE or DFRPG.

My experience with D&D is, often, people make these long background stories which, if the GM is good, will use to add plot and excitement to the game.

What I like about Fate is that they take things like "background" and incorporate it into the mechanics of the game.

I actually think the combat system is way better in DFRPG.  Consequences are better than HP's (IMO) and so are maneuvers (instead of static bonuses and penalties that you see in D&D).

Edit:

I'd also like to add that I've played 1st/2nd ed D&D where things like SOCIAL SKILLS didn't exist.  In fact, Skills didn't exist.  We still rp'd.  When certain decisions needed to be made, sometimes we rolled our stats.  Mostly, though, we just put the dice away and played our characters.

DFRPG has social combat.  So, really, an argument can be made that the game has turned rping into a mechanic that can be min/maxed.  Why role-play when you can just roll your +7 rapport and win? 

GM: The man is asking you to leave.
Player: "I attack with Rapport"


Sorry if this has come across too strong, but I think you should leave your prejudices out of your posts.

Agreed with Sancta -- this is a terrible suggestion. There are dozens of better ways to enforce lawbreaker without yanking the rug out from under a PC like this.

A couple of notes from our home game:
-Use Declarations. They're free, so everyone should use them whenever they're appropriate. In our game, I was literally the only one using them, and got a lot of mileage out of them.
-Use maneuvers. We had a bruiser in that game with Supernatural Strength/Speed who only ever attacked, without doing anything else. Needless to say, she failed to outperform the other characters, even though they were nowhere near that level of ability.
-Be creative. Certain skills like Scholarship and Burglary depend on proactive use to get any mileage out of them.

I see (on this board and elsewhere) where people basically want to start off as Batman and work their way up to Superman. I think few people want to start off as Robin.

I'd agree if they're more roll-player than role-player then Fate based systems might not work out best for them, but as far as character concepts go, I'd say keep it simple at first. Start them as Pure Mortals and introduce a new concept of the game world with each adventure, just like the books do. Ex-cops, retired military, ex-cons, hackers who suspect something, they all would work for giving a solid foundation to understand how to play the game while simultaneously giving them a good footing without assigning homework. After they start to 'see' how the world works, then open up other options for them. Maybe that retired marine has Cherokee roots and rediscovers his heritage as a shamanistic shapeshifter, learning to be a theriomorph who, over time, can learn to master many different animals using totems. Maybe the ex-con has a history of violence because he has the blood of a Winter Fae in his veins and after a run in with Summer it comes to the surface... Lots of great ways to start off as a straight and 'discover' your hidden talents.

Then play the game. Do what all good story tellers do and SHOW them how to play using NPC's. Have a Social Battle with a contact or the police to 'wear' them out, give them a taste of that VERY different battle style. Then send them off after gangsters working for the restless shade of Al Capone and the Ectomancer that he communicates through. Have some mooks for them to plough through and slip an NPC in there that keeps throwing around declarations and assessments to give the mooks a leg up, you could even make said NPC be just another simple mook possessed my the spirit and use the ghost's powers to affect the terrain. OR BETTER YET, each time they target the possessed one, a different mook takes up the reins as the spirit moves to another body... Sorry... hit a creative streak...

 Rather than tell them how to use the system to their advantage, show them.