Throwing my two cents into the mix here. . .
Hello all,
I am hoping to find someone who can help me. I have purchased both the books and as a test group to learn the rules and such I have myself and two friends. We are all very into Dresden Files and are excited however trying to read the books I am finding it to be very different from any other RPG I have ran, and I have ran many types.
Well, hello to you, congrats on the purchase, and good job with finding a group! As you've already noticed, the DFRPG has a great deal of things different from most RPGs. I ran into the same problem at first, but trust me, it has gotten better as soon as my players realized that this was NOT going to be like the games they are used to.
We are having problems with character creation and city creation. We are finding it hard to come up with the parts needed to fill in. I have to admit we mostly are all used to having a menu of options to choose from. We are relishing in the idea of the emphasis on RP however also feel a little at a loss for how to get started.
Ah, good old creation. Don't feel bad, most people hit snags there, especially when they are used to number-heavy or mechanics-heavy systems (d20 and World of Darkness, for example). The first step is to forget numbers and mechanics and focus on the idea of a story. Telling a story of your character tends to be the easiest way to make your character, and gives it more than just random aspects. With the character sheet, as soon as the player knows the type of character they want (probably pulled from a template), have them start filling it in with a story, even if it is a skeleton. You'll be amazed at how much actually comes out of this, and how fast you can hand an aspect over to someone based on just a few sentences.
City creation is a little more difficult. If you are running a city that isn't already created for you, you have two options: make the city with the players, or make it without them. From there, all you're doing is adding certain themes and threats, and from there, anything goes. It really is MUCH simpler than the book makes it out to be, especially if you choose to make the city "grow" from game to game. For example, I am setting a game in an alternate London in 1867. My current themes/threats are "The Smoke," "Class Unrest," and "Black Heart of the Empire." Otherwise, I just throw in what is needed when it is needed. Then again, I've got some extra experience on most, so. . .
In order to keep it more simple we wanted to start at a level of "Waist Deep" however both of my players wanted to start as "Apprentice Wizards". It seemed like due to them not being full wizards that it should be ok to allow that but I wanted to know from others who have ran this over and over to know if it would work.
Concepts are key, simple as that :-p
Take a look at the Neutral Grounds scenario, like everyone else is suggesting; you have some samples as to how this can work, and yes, it CAN work. A friend of mine did the equivalent of the Scooby Gang from Buffy using this type of thought process, and from the sounds it of, it turned out well.
Also one of my players wants to run a character based on herself. However she has problems with idealizing herself and coming up with Aspects. In fact all of us have a hard time with the creation of aspects. While the book spends a lot of time on them it still feels very much like being thrown into the deep end here.
Playing a version of yourself is a chancey thing at best. At times, people get annoyed when they play themselves and bad things happen. Others play themselves and realize that it is boring or harder than it seems. Even worse: when you design "yourself," other players may look at you and say that something "isn't you." From my experience, playing oneself tends to add to the drama at the table, and I often suggest against it for a long-term campaign.
Now, taking certain parts of yourself and putting them into the character is an interesting way to go. Certain character quirks someone may have may fit in perfectly, or knowledge from an occupation can be a real boon. You can pull inspiration from yourself, but it is easier when it is a small part and not everything.
As a side note: you can run into the same problem with a city that everyone is familiar with (like your home town), as everyone will argue over semantics and not pay attention to the game.
Basically as a new GM for this is there any suggestions people have or resources I can use to help get a grasp on the fundamentals of the game. I know that the city of Baltimore was detailed out but I didn't see anything that could be considered a "sample adventure" or anything which would let me jump in. I learn best by doing.
The closest thing we have to a "sample adventure" is the aforementioned Neutral Grounds casefile. If you are new to the DFRPG and don't know what to run for a first game or as a test run, I would suggest glancing over the "Character Creation on the Fly" section, read over the casefile until you have an idea what is in store, review those rules and the basics, then begin. You can see how well that works.
Before I converted my steampunk~ish game to the DFRPG rules, I ran the first two scenes from Neutral Grounds. At that point, I noticed that my players were throwing around comments that made up new aspects for them to fill in the gaps, such as "Twisted Temptress," "The Snake Charmer," "He Who Fights and Runs Away. . .", and "I Punch Vampires In the Face!" Of course, this was all in good fun, and it was amusing to see what they would come up with.
Of course, with all this, don't forget Rule 0, or The Golden Rule: Have fun!
--Crion
