Alright, I finished reading San Francisco. My thoughts:
-Initial bit well-done but not terribly interesting. Despite competent execution, it didn't feel new. Probably would have liked it better if I was less familiar with Dresden cities.
-Themes are good.
-Feels like too much detail in some places. I don't need those lists of names. But I guess they aren't a big deal one way or another.
-Location selection is solid. None of them really grabbed me, though.
-Character backstories are excellent. I like these people.
-Not a fan of the way you present skills. It doesn't scan well, to my eyes. I prefer the PC-sheet format.
-Wow, there are a lot of people with Superb Conviction here.
-NPCs are slightly more powerful but less optimized than I'd expect across the board. Probably just a playstyle thing.
-It would be nice if characters that are built at a specific power level were marked as such.
-Mechanical sections of characters are uneven. I've noticed some problems and some semi-problems. For example:
1. The Bilingual stunt is pointless. One stunt is worth 4 languages, and a single point of Scholarship makes you bilingual anyway.
2. Stephanie Adams' Weight Of Reputation stunt is really unimpressive since she only has Average Presence.
3. Daniel's rotes are off. 2 exchanges of armour 2 is only 5 shifts. And you don't need both bracelets on offensive spells, or the earring on defensive ones.
4. Daniel's ring should only take 3 slots. 1 slot base, 1 slot for extra power, 1 slot for 2 extra uses.
5. For Whom The Bell Tolls is hilariously underpowered, unless I'm missing something.
6. A Power that isn't Sponsored Magic isn't Sponsored Magic.
7. Spider Sense is not a valid rote.
8. Skeleton Key seems too complex for Evocation.
9. Janet's Animal Handler stunt should be broader.
10. I don't think that Focused Chi is balanced. It's hard to judge exactly because it's once/adventure, but still.
11. I have no idea what Act The Part is supposed to do.
12. Commanding Presence is vague and poorly written. Needs a full Power writeup.
13. I don't think it's possible to combine Juggler and Hand-Eye Coordination like that. But taking Juggler as a Guns stunt ought to be kosher.
14. Lilly's Walking Stick looks weak. 4 Refresh for a Fantastic Block against attempts to stop his movement? Seems like a waste to me. In general, these Powers should be written up more completely.
15. You may want to reword Off-Hand Weapon Training on page 49; if I didn't already know how it worked, I'd have been confused.
16. Cat Eyes seems weak; Cloak Of Shadows does that and more.
17. The Jade Lady stats are pretty useless. This kind of thing barely works with Mab because we know what her capabilities are already to some extent. Here I just have no idea what The Jade Lady can do. She's implied to be powerful, but does that mean 20 Refresh or does that mean godlike invincibility?
18. Pretender should be reworded. I had to look this up to work out how it works.
19. It seems weird that a werewolf would have Average Fists in wolf form. And if you're spending 1 Refresh on Spirit Speaker, it should not be strictly worse than Ghost Speaker.
20. I don't follow the shift calculation for Earth Speak. Also, I don't think Evocation can do that.
21. It would be nice if it were clear which Lawbreaker bonuses applied to Dominic's spells. Also, mental evocation attacks are in no way fair.
22. Good Resources doesn't seem like enough for the White Court boss.
23. I'm not sure how the Growl Power is different from just trying to Intimidate people normally. Also, does more than For Whom The Bell Tolls at one fourth of the cost.
