The Questions:


1 ) Harry usually has a few supporting characters in each book.  Who do you think will be the main sidekick in Cold Days and in what way will they help?  Who else will have a significant contribution to the plot?

Oh this is a good one... I'm going to go with the one companion everyone always forgets about... Mouse.

As for other characters who will have a significant contribution:

1. Molly - She is Harry's apprentice, his responsibility, Wizard or not Harry won't leave her out to die under the Doom of Damocles.
2. Lea - Harry is the Winter Knight now, his Godmother will likely play a more significant role than normal.

2 ) At the end of Ghost Story, Harry has said goodbye to all his friends in Chicago. 

a. Who will be the first friend to find out Harry isn't dead? 
b. What shenanigans/snark will Harry use when he "re-appears"?
c. Who will have the coolest reaction?
d. Who will have the most touching reaction?

- In each case, remember to specify for extra credit.

a. Molly - He has to go to Molly. His death hurt her so much it radically damaged her character. She is under a death sentence and is being hunted by the Wardens. Harry has to go to her.

b. This will depend on who he reappears to of course. A lot of people are quoting a Ghandalf the White quote and that is very possible... However I will be very disappointed if Jim neglects his comic book references if he doesn't make a Jean Grey or Captain America comment about his revival.

c. Coolest... Probably Murph. She's going to probably make some kind of comment that SHE plans on killing him.

d. Most touching... Michael Carpenter... Or alternatively Harry's child. I expect to see Michael hug Harry tightly and I expect him to cry.

3 ) In nearly every book, Harry usually comes up with a new powerup/tool/way of making things go boom.  Given that he just became the new WK, what new abilities will he rely on and which new ability will be the most useful to him during the story (and how)?

I am probably very wrong here, and if I am, oops... BUT... Jim seems to really like physics in his magic. He really is a fan of the laws of thermodynamics. So what I'd love to see the Winter Knight do is... Exploding ice. Mix ice with Harry's personal flare for fire. IE a spiky ice ball that, at the center, super heats, which can cause the ice to explode (no joke, you can make water explode in a microwave) so an ice shrapnel grenade just seems freaking awesome to me.

4 ) Harry generally has a "Big Bad" to worry about.  In fact, according to the blurb, Harry is going after someone very specific.  Who will that enemy be, and how will Harry take him/her/it down?

Odin. It was recently revealed that Odin is the head of everyone's favorite mystical security firm. I would love to see Harry have to tangle with the All Father.

5 ) Harry usually faces some sort of "Choice" in every book.  A point where the easy way out will cost his soul/humanity in some way. According to the blurb, this book will be no different.  What will be the most crucial "choice" Harry makes?

I think that, in order to kill the "Immortal" in the blurb, he will have to kill an innocent. As in there is no way to kill the "Immortal" without killing the innocent. I just don't think Harry will do it, but he is under his geas to Winter... It will be a no win situation.

6 ) As the new Winter Knight, Harry is pretty much garunteed to encounter his Summer counterpart -- Fix.  What will their interactions be?  Will Fix survive?

I don't see them coming to blows. I see it being kind of what was done before. When they were talking "as friends" it will be as friends, when they are talking "as knights" it will be very (heh) cold and Fix will be very matter of fact. If Harry and him meet in the field, and they are on opposing sides, Fix will tell Harry plainly that he will kill him.

7 ) Jim has mentioned that it's about time now to start revealing some of the motivations/dealings of the shadowy figures working behind the scenes (i.e. what Harry calls the "Black Council").  What Black Council secrets/actions will be revealed in this book?

I'm going to go with Cowl. Now that Harry has "died" and he has "sold himself" to Winter, I think Cowl will offer to let him join them. Maybe even offer to free Harry from his servitude in exchange. I think that Cowl's motivation is going to be pretty typically super villain, but he will try to sell it as something other than that, and I think Harry will call him for being a "comic book villain" to his face for it.

Most likely Cowl's motivation is something along the lines of, "We have power, yet we hide and we let this lesser people rule this world. They will destroy it, they squander what they have, we will take control and we will show them a better way... In order to do this we have to take extreme measures however..."

Somewhere in there Cowl will make some comment about how the White Council is weak.

8 ) There are many WAG theories on the boards.  Write up to three WAG theories you believe are correct that will be confirmed (or at least have evidence in favor of) in Cold Days.

I am not sure what the acronym WAG means?

9 ) Extra credit:  Write down any prediction about that you think might improve your final score.  Only issues aluded to within Cold Days will be counted.

Bob the Skull will tell Harry that he knew he wasn't dead all along, Harry will ask why he didn't say anything, Bob will either reply "because that wouldn't have been any fun" or he will reply that, "Harry, you never asked."

Given that it is only allowed to "pure fae of considerable power" I think this is one of those things that was never really intended to be used by PCs in the normal course of affairs. It is more of a model than a carefully balanced power.

Yeah.

That is what I gathered.

Basically I was GM'ing the system, and had to set the game and learn it in a very short amount of time, because our main group GM was desperate for a break. So I told the group, pretty much, "Okay, I'm new at this, and still learning this system so things are going to be a little rocky." and the group was cool with it, it was just supposed to be a change of pace to give our main GM a couple of weeks off anyway. When the PC in question took the power we both missed the requirement, and the implications for some of the horrendously powerful things that the True Seeming was capable of.

At the time, my assumption that it worked like other veils and what not, made me consider "sure, okay, I can work with that" afterward the scrutiny of what the power was capable of and the ensuing deluge of questions regarding it however has prompted me to reconsider the power.

For those wondering my final decision was to strip the PC of the power, then allow them to re-spend the 4 refresh points as they see fit.

I figure that is more fair for everyone involved.

I'm not new to the pitfalls of GM'ing though, having done it for 22 years now, but again system familiarity was lacking in this case.

Thanks for the feedback all.

Jumping in here for a moment...

(I'm actually Beyr's GM)

I, granted, am new to running the Dresden Files RPG (and the FATE system in general) and since he's seeking information for the group I'm going to need page quotes before I can make a final decision here.

I'm slamming into a couple problems:

Tedronal, you made the statement:
"Glamours (and Greater Glamours by extension) act neither as evocations nor as thaumaturgy.  They are simply what they are."

While it is nice to say this, and technically you are correct as far as thematic reasoning goes, as far as game mechanics however that is a completely different situation.

According to the information in "Your Story" the heading under "Glamour" gives no rules, nor does it say that it does not follow the standard rules for "Veils" which are laid out on page 276 of "Your Story" this leads me to believe that a player character with "Glamour" can use glamour to create a veil as per Evocations.

Which sends us to "Your Story" page 255 - Utilizing the side bar found there we see the system for veils.

Thus, not only do they cause mental stress, as per any spell casting, but they do it in the exact same way. You spend your power, you take your hit, and you move on. Remember, in the books Harry also doesn't get mentally winded every time he hurls a spell either. He's done some pretty impressive things without seemingly taking any mental stress. Game mechanics however work differently.

The reason why characters wouldn't take (as much) noticeable stress is because Veils take a smaller amount of power than other uses of power and because they last until pierced.

So, whereas Harry will (in the books) have to cast 3-4 spells before getting winded (which when we look at this game that means, assuming he is using rotes) around 3-4 mental stress total. A veil, which is kept up for however long the scene is, would only require one activation and would only cost effectively 1 "power" and thus only 1 mental stress, thus only accumulate 1/4 as much mental stress.

As to the game itself the question becomes, "Well then what good is Glamour?"

Well, for one thing, Glamour is cheap.

At a total cost of -2 Refresh Glamour is a bargain.

As it can be used for veils, it seems to indicate that it can be used for Evocation style veils. As such though it would follow the same rules, and would still generate mental stress. The main difference here is that you use a skill, and not "power" to determine the strength of the veil.

Not only that, but it allows the creation of a "seeming" which allows you to change an appearance (a power not mimicked in Evocations or Thaumaturgy) as a non-stress causing action. This allows you to simply make a defense or block roll against attempts to recognize the seeming.

The biggest benefit of the Glamour is that you don't have to concentrate to maintain it.

The main reason we don't see Fae usually winded from this is because we rarely see the Fae throw down in the novels. They usually have agents that do things for them (such as Harry's Faerie Godmother's dogs) or we are seeing ridiculously powerful entities like the Summer/Winter Ladies, the Queens, and other True Fae.