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Dresden Files RPG

Wednesday Boy

The Nerd WhoFell to Earth
Ok, the character creation detailed in that link has me just cringing, wondering what the hell the writers were thinking. Looks like I'll save my $. Thanks.

Out of curiosity, what in the character creation made you cringe? I found some of the instructions and rules are poorly written but are easy to deal with in play.
 

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Blue

Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
I haven't played Dresden yet, but Rick Neil's descriptions of his various campaigns (including the first playtest) on his blog at What's He On About Now? - ...And why would anyone care? have made me really want to. It does have a different feel than any flavor of D&D, both in mechanics and also how much authorial control players have. I think that if you went in, as player or DM, expecting "D&D in the Dresden-verse", you'd be disappointed.

For those trying to get a handle on the system, he's also written a bunch of articles. I think this is the full list: What's He On About Now? » Dresden Files Articles
 

Stumblewyk

Adventurer
I'm a big fan of the system. I've played in one short campaign that died off only because the GM felt like he got in over his head (he didn't, but he wasn't enjoying running a game, so he got out before we got TOO far in) and one one-shot game with it. I'm also about to start a message board game where I'm running a Mask of the Red Death campaign set in 1890's London using the Dresden Files RPG rules.

The big draw for the game isn't combat, and it isn't the skill system. It's role playing, pure and simple. From the very beginning, the game gives you roughly a bajillion excuses for your characters to know (and likely like) each other. Character and party creation actually feels organic. You have a reason to know and work with each other. My Pure Mortal tech geek was the secretive bakery-themed wizard's boyfriend, and was the "how in the hell does this world work?"-contact for the party's White Court vampire. I was also the info dealer for the party's clued-in private investigator. My girlfriend/party White Council Wizard was the master to the party's sorcerer, who also just happened to be my professor at the local community college where I audited a Paranormal Studies class.

I was so motivated by the character and party generation, that I made a Twitter account and blog for my PC. I live-Tweeted our game sessions, in character. I never had more fun.

The system requires RP buy-in from everyone at the table. If you can get it, you will enjoy the heck out of the game. It does require a capable GM, who is willing to hand-wave stuff, or just say "I've got GM fiat, and THIS is how things go down." If you've got a weak GM, I can see the game system letting things fall to pieces since you don't have the framework of an all-encompassing ruleset to fall back on.
 

sabrinathecat

Explorer
Out of curiosity, what in the character creation made you cringe? I found some of the instructions and rules are poorly written but are easy to deal with in play.
It's a disorganized mess. I don't need a rule-set to tell me how my character knows the others--we take care of that all by ourselves.
To be honest, I can't remember anything about the skill system, but I was wincing, trying to figure any of it out.

I don't need something as structured as D&D, but this was just a confused mess.

Honestly, I think I'd take the source material and convert it to West End Games d6 Fantasy. If you want fast & loose, that system provides about the best I've ever run into.
 

Treebore

First Post
It's a disorganized mess. I don't need a rule-set to tell me how my character knows the others--we take care of that all by ourselves.
To be honest, I can't remember anything about the skill system, but I was wincing, trying to figure any of it out.

I don't need something as structured as D&D, but this was just a confused mess.

Honestly, I think I'd take the source material and convert it to West End Games d6 Fantasy. If you want fast & loose, that system provides about the best I've ever run into.

I wouldn't judge Dresden Files by how the SRD is written.

You may find this free fan made 48 page PDF better written:

Free FATE


.
 


Wednesday Boy

The Nerd WhoFell to Earth
It's a disorganized mess. I don't need a rule-set to tell me how my character knows the others--we take care of that all by ourselves.

To be honest, I can't remember anything about the skill system, but I was wincing, trying to figure any of it out.

I don't need something as structured as D&D, but this was just a confused mess.

Honestly, I think I'd take the source material and convert it to West End Games d6 Fantasy. If you want fast & loose, that system provides about the best I've ever run into.

I think that's a fair assessment of the book's organization. That was one of my major complains with it as well. I found that once you get the skill system and character creation down, it can be very fast and loose like WEG SW.
 



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