Another conversion

[Tirs]

With a great help (especially Haru), I finished the conversion of one World of Darkness ready-made character in DF.
During this I:
-finally get how DF RPG actually work
-understood the base template of WoD-werewolves in DF, and now can (I think) write all the template for 2.0
-I radically revised opinion about power-level of Dresdenverse (I really thought, that WoD monsters will be way stronger, but... no, they are actually equal)

The character I conversed were quite strong and cool, but here he is just strong-but-not-overpowered-dude. Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome

Mahmoud "WALKS-FROM-THE-LIGHT" Abdul-Rahim

Aspect
High Concept: Monster, who hunting monsters
Trouble: Lone Wolf
Other Aspects: When you look long into an abyss...
                      Bad-ass motherfucker
                      Cold eyes
                      When you’ve got a big-ass hammer, why look for anything but a nail?
                      Tired of being alone
                      It wasn't THAT bad (in response to gossip about his achievement)

Background:

As a lost cub in his mid-20s, Mahmoud was taken in by a mixed Blood Talon and Iron Master pack that was alerted to his Change by local spirits. Over the years, the sensitive and good-natured young man became a ferocious killer and savage protector of his family and territory. Clever (or malicious) spirits would target Mahmoud as the most dangerous of the local pack, and attempt to harm his family as a way of getting to the werewolf. The foulest of these attacks involved the rape of his sister. Mahmoud tore the culprit torn limb from limb, shredding both its mortal host and the spirit responsible.
On that night, Mahmoud went to war against the darkest pits of Shadow.
Now in his early 40s, Mahmoud wanders the world alone, seeking out suitable Uratha for induction into the Lodge of Night. He is not averse to joining a pack — in fact, he deeply desires the unity of such a bond — but, in his eyes, his lone questing is a necessary sacrifice. The Lodge of Night must be spread and new members brought in; and none know the truths of the lodge as well as Mahmoud. He never took the name “Walks-From-the- Light,” and instead smiles with grim amusement every
time he hears it spoken. It was awarded to him (perhaps forced upon him is a better term) in light of his journeys and deeds. Every lodge member has heard of him, and his exploits may well have been exaggerated.
Walks-From-the-Light looks old for his age. His dark skin is weathered, and his face shows grayish stubble that rarely sees a razor. He is handsome in a rugged way, appealing to anyone with an eye for the older man. When his anger is suppressed, he is good-natured with a dark and sarcastic sense of humor. When angered or merely trying to threaten someone, his expression is little short of murderous and utterly barbaric. No matter his state of mind, his dark eyes are impenetrable — deep, dark and unreadable.

Skills
5: Endurance, Intimidation
4: Might, Fists, Weapons, Alertness, Conviction, Discipline, Presence
3: Athletics, Driving, Survival, Scholarship, Lore, Stealth
2: Craftsmanship, Contacts, Rapport
1: Guns, Resources

Stunts
Linguist (2), Strong Lungs (Endurance +2 to breath holding-checks)

Powers
Feeding Dependency (Essence) [+1] affect:
Supernatural Recovery [–4]
The Catch [+2] - silver
Echoes of the Beast [–1]
Beast Change [–1]

Human Form [+1] affect (one way, or another):
Claws [–1]
Inhuman Strength [–2]
Inhuman Speed [–2]
Incite Emotion [–1] - Lunacy (delirium)
Human Form [+2] (the strongest form, with some complications) affect:
Inhuman Toughness [–2]
Mythic Recovery [–6]
The Catch [+2] - silver

Feeding Dependency (Essence) [+1] affect:
Ritual [–2]
Channeling [–2] (Gifts is not normal spell-craft and mostly similar to Minor Talents/Stunts, but they are diverse, can be improved, and there's many of them)

Stress
Mental oooo Physical oooo(oo) Social oooo, Armor: 1

Total Refresh Cost: -17

[Haru]

I think you're still a bit mixed up with the powers.

Let's start with Human Form. That one is usually there to put a lid on a bunch of powers you don't have when in your default form. In the case of a werewolf, for example, you would put all the powers they get as a werewolf under Human Form, so they only get it, when they shift. For example:

Human Form [+1] affecting:
 Claws [-1]
 Inhuman Strength [-2]

So that would cost our werewolf 2 refresh, 3 refresh for the powers and he gets one back for the Human Form. The +2 version of Human Form is reserved for cases where you can't voluntarily change. There is an outside condition that always changes you, no matter what. Like at a full moon or during the night, etc. But you can never take both. It might be possible to allow a willing change part and an unwilling change part, but even then, the unwilling part would only add +1, since it's already covered under the willing transformation as well.

Same with Feeding dependency, you only get that once. It also adds a hunger stress track, if I'm not mistaken.

I still don't really understand what you are trying to do here, it seems a bit all over the place. It seems there are multiple forms to him? Can you describe the powers and forms in a way that leaves the mechanics out of it?

[Tirs]

Year, you right. But it's quite difficult to converse everything, cuz mechanics work really in different way.

About forms. Actually, it's look like this

Every one has it's own combination of powers and available stunts. Gauru (Loup-Garou-like one) is the toughest one, and any werewolf has Inhuman Toughness and Mythic Recovery in this (with Silver as the Catch). But werewolf can use it only for very limited time (for example, for exchanges equal to her Endurance+some additional turns), than she must shapeshift or fall in Rage (it would be really like Loup-Garou).

About Essence and Feeding Dependency. In WoD, it is a magic fuel for werewolves, like blood for vampires or mana for mages. They use it for different things, including healing and activation of tricks (Gifts, Rites, items)/ So, actually, the werewolf in non-Gauru forms have mostly Inhuman Recovery, but he can make it better, spending Essence. More than that, even shapeshift sometimes take Essence

[Haru]

Well, you could go with something like modular abilities to have a set of different powers for each form.

Though at the end of the day, I don't think Dresden is a very good fit. If you want to use Fate, you may want to look into Fate Core and the Toolkit and build a WoD conversion from scratch. As a matter of fact, I think there even are some of them around. There's a Google+ community for Fate Core that's very active, and there are a lot of people working on all kinds of conversions, you might find a lot of help and inspiration there.

[Tirs]

Thank's.
But why the DF isn't good for this? I mean, as DF as WoD are urban-fantasy adventurous RPG (maybe WoD is quite darker). I used physical meaning of traits and influence of stats to probability of success.

[Haru]

Part of the idea behind why the DFRPG is designed the way it is was to make it work with the idea of "free will vs. power". Also the different creatures in the world work completely different than in the WoD. You can see yourself that there's a lot of stuff that simply doesn't work all that well. You'll probably lose a lot of the feel of WoD if you try to squeeze it into the DFRPG.

[Tirs]

Part of the idea behind why the DFRPG is designed the way it is was to make it work with the idea of "free will vs. power". Also the different creatures in the world work completely different than in the WoD. You can see yourself that there's a lot of stuff that simply doesn't work all that well. You'll probably lose a lot of the feel of WoD if you try to squeeze it into the DFRPG.

I actually have some crazy "Clash of worlds" crossover ideas, but I made this conversion more for fun, not for serious game. However, exactly WoD werewolves will not lost to much, cuz they a bit like DF-fairies. I mean, morally-neutral (mostly) creatures with their own role in the world. Mahmoud could even team up with Harry, however their relations will not be easy (it's like... you know, if Harry is Daredevil, Mahmoud is Punisher).

[Tirs]

Anyway, considering thewide range of the forms, the easiest way is to give them "improved" Beast change [–2], and Human Form can be considered as [+2], because of some complications.
So, the final Power-set of Mahmoud is:

Powers
Echoes of the Beast [–1]
Beast Change [–2]
Human Form [+2] affect (one way, or another):
Claws [–1]
Inhuman Strength [–2]
Inhuman Speed [–2]
Incite Emotion [–1] - Lunacy (delirium)
Inhuman Toughness [–2]
Mythic Recovery [–6]
The Catch [+2] - silver
Feeding Dependency (Essence) [+1] affect:
Supernatural Recovery [–4]
The Catch [+2] - silver
Ritual [–2]
Channeling [–2] (Gifts is not normal spell-craft and mostly similar to Minor Talents/Stunts, but they are diverse, can be improved, and there's many of them)

So, 19 FP.

What do you think, how tough this guy could be in Dresden-verse? I ask, cuz I'm not sure that the same-cast abilities of the RPG are equal, especially in combination with each other.

[Haru]

I think it would be easier if you were to write up the powers for each form individually. We can link them together later. If he has a power in each form, write that power down with each form, we'll figure these things out later. But I think we can get this into a bit of a better shape to work with.

And I have no idea what "improved beast change" is supposed to be, never heard of that. Beast change is mainly there for the skill swap, which allows you to take a second set of skills that makes you better at what you do in beast form. It isn't exactly necessary if you've got the same skills in all forms.

[Tirs]

It's easy.
Forms:
Dalu (wolf-man)
-Claws
-Improvement of Endurance, Might, Fists and Intimidation
Urshul (dire wolf, like Alphas)
-Claws
-Inhuman speed
-Inhuman strength
-Improvement of Alertness, Endurance, Athletics, Fists and perception as is
Urhan (just wolf)
-Claws
-Inhuman speed
-Improvement of Alertness, Endurance, Athletics, Stealth and perception as is (better than in Urshul)
Gauru (fight form)
-Claws
-Inhuman strength
-Inhuman Toughness [–2]
-Mythic Recovery [–6]
-Improvement of Alertness, Endurance, Athletics, Fists and perception

I used term "improved" because this Beast change give you more than one form. So, it's like you can take forms of different beasts.

[Haru]

Ok, that's something we can work with. Let me introduce you to modular abilities. What that power does is allow you to change out your powers at will. Now it's incredibly powerful if used freely, and that doesn't always make sense anyway, so I would write down your forms as possible choices to take.

The Gauru form seems to be the most expensive with at least 10 refresh in powers, so let's take that as our modular points. Though I think you forgot the catch of silver, which would bring it down to 8. Modular points are the number of variable refresh you can use to change in and out of powers via modular abilities. Modular abilities itself costs 2 refresh to be allowed to swap things around, so that will cost us 10 refresh for now. We'll add beast change etc. later.

Now all the "improvement to [skills]" you mention can be done in one of 2 ways.

1) you take beast change for that form. It allows you to set up a second skill pyramid in addition to your first, and when you shift, you use that secondary skill list instead of the first. You can take it as often as you like, though I think 2 additional skill lists should be able to cover everything you want to do here.

2) You take the remaining refresh for the forms with less requirements and add stunts to model the improvement in skills.

You can't put the beast change under modular abilities, because the ability to change is always there, that would kind of be cheating. Though you could put the once for the next higher one in there, but you would need to spend an action for each change, which could mean everything is done before you get to make a move. So that doesn't really cut it.

You would have a set of powers as a human as well, probably the channeling and ritual stuff. Human Form would no longer apply, since you get modular abilities for that, and your human form powers are in there as well. Any beast change will be there as well as echoes of the beast.

I'll see that I get it written together a bit better, but I got to run now, my RL RPG group is waiting for me.

[Haru]

Ok, let's see. I'll write him up as a player character, so I'll go with viable skill columns. You'll see, it'll work out fine.

Skills (40 skill points)

Human skills (Used for human form and wolf-man form) 5: Discipline, Lore 4: Intimidation, Conviction, Presence 3: Driving, Survival, Scholarship 2: Contacts, Rapport, Stealth 1: Guns, Resources, Athletics

Wolf skills (Used for Urshul, Urhan and Gauru form) 5: Endurance, Fists 4: Athletics, Might, Alertness 3: Intimidation, Survival, Stealth 2: Discipline, Contacts, Rapport 1: Lore, Conviction, Resources

Powers
Echoes of the Beast [–1]
Beast Change (wolf)[–1]
Modular abilities (8 modular points) [-10]

Modular sets:

Human -Ritual [–2] -Channeling [–2]

-4 more refresh for stunts or powers

Dalu (wolf man) -Claws [-1] -Threatening posture (+2 to intimidation when threatening someone) -6 more refresh for stunts or powers

Urshul (dire wolf) -Claws [-1] -Inhuman speed [-2] -Inhuman strength [-2] -3 more refresh for stunts or powers

Urhan (wolf) -Claws [-1] -Inhuman speed [-2] -5 more refresh for stunts or powers

Gauru (fighting form) Claws [-1] Inhuman strength [-2] Inhuman Toughness [–2] Mythic Recovery [–6] Catch (silver) [+2]

***

Ok, that'll do for now. There are still a few gaps, but the basic structure stands.

Now you see that I've set up 2 skill lists. You get the second one from beast change, that's basically what it's there for. Usually you need one beast change per form you take, but I think in this case, we only need one, since they aren't all that different, and we can lump them together. Now what happens is that you use the "human skills" when in human or Dalu form, and the "wolf skills" in the other forms. I've optimized the human skills around using magic, but you can change that around to however you like it.

The power lists are separate, you can only ever use one of the lists and not mix and match. If you change into a Gauru, you use the wolf skill list and the gauru powers. if you change into Urshul form, you use the wolf skill list and  the Urshul powers. Changing takes you 1 action, since you need to do it via modular abilities.

Now since every form gets 8 points of powers, some of them still have points left over to fill up. You could take "supernatural sense (smell)" to represent the increased perception. Or some other stunts that give you a bonus on alertness. You can get creative there.

I left out the feeding dependency, because I don't really know what to do with it, to be honest. But it feels like it could well stay within the realm of aspects and not need a mechanical representation. If you insist on having it, I've got an idea, but I'd need to work on that a bit.

[Tirs]

Thank you very much!
Now, I get the system and and you suggestion look pretty fair.
About essence - here is description:

ESSENCE
Essence is the ephemeral energy of the Hisil. It’s the food and fuel of spirits. It’s the manna that keeps the Shadow
pulsing. It’s a currency, a resource that motivates an entire food chain to predate. To the Uratha, it fuels Gifts, it heals, it speeds shapeshifting, and it activates fetishes.
It flows through every spirit, and comes into existence usually at loci, but sometimes in other, stranger places.
GAINING ESSENCE
Uratha gain Essence through a few key places:
• They can absorb Essence through the wellspring of a locus (analog of Nevernever doors). In the Hisil, this means physically touching the locus at its heart. In the physical realms, this means devouring the strange bits of meat and vegetation that appear near the locus.
• The Sacred Hunt rite, the Siskur-Dah, allows a pack to hunt and devour spirits in the Hisil. When eaten, the spirit’s Essence flows through the Uratha.
• They can eat the flesh of wolves and humans. For every point of damage caused by an Uratha’s bite, they can choose to
ingest the flesh and gain a point of Essence. This is a stark violation of the Oath of the Moon, and always a Harmony breaking point toward the spirit. When devouring flesh for Essence, the Uratha causes aggravated wounds.
• Fetishes store Essence. By destroying a fetish, the Uratha can take the Essence within.
• The first time an Uratha sees her auspice moon at night, she gains a point of Essence.
USING ESSENCE
Uratha use Essence for numerous purposes. How much Essence a werewolf can spend in a turn is dictated by her Primal
Urge score, as detailed on p. 93. If a Gift or other effect would require she spend more Essence than she may in a turn,
she can spend the required Essence over a number of turns, with the ability activating once she has spent the total needed.
• Uratha normally regenerate bashing damage every turn. By spending a point of Essence, the werewolf regenerates
lethal damage instead. See p. 93 for details.
• Uratha can reach across the Gauntlet with time. Spending Essence can speed the process. See p. 101 for details.
• Depending on Harmony, some werewolves need to spend Essence to change shape. See p. 104 for details.
• Certain Gifts require Essence to activate.
• Fetishes often require Essence for use.

[Haru]

Thank you very much!
Now, I get the system and and you suggestion look pretty fair.

Yeah, it can take a bit to get through it. This was probably not the easiest example to start with, too.

Well, I don't think I would put essence in there. It's going to just complicate things further. I would just assume the character has enough essence most of the time, and if you want to force him to gather some essence, throw in a compel for him to do so.

[Tirs]

This was probably not the easiest example to start with, too.

Yes. For WoD this char is quite heavyweight (may be, Harry-level) so there is many abilities and calculations.