Glimpses of the Dresdenverse
Well, I've had the opportunity to look over the Dreseden Files RPG to some degree.
First off, I was a little bothered by the "post-it notes" and frequent comments by in-universe characters. But that grew on me. It actually fits and carries flavor of the series into the rulebook, sometimes even explaining the rules by answering questions the reader might otherwise have.
A chapter or two in and I was actually looking forward to the comments and quips between Billy, Harry, and Bob.
I'm not familiar with the Fate system, so I can't really speak to any possible differences from the "norm." I can say what I see on paper seems to fit the setting quite well. Characters are made up largely of a skill list, a series of descriptive "aspects," and a balancing act of stunts/powers and refresh.
The refresh mechanic is made to work unusually well, in my mind. Characters start with a Refresh score based on the power level of the campaign. They can lower this to get Stunts (bonuses to certain skill rolls that even mundanes can have) or Powers (supernatural stuff like magic). Having a high refresh means getting more fate points at the start of the session to use to gain advantages and resist GM compels against your aspects. But gosh some of those stunts and powers are cool. And if a character is brought to 0 refresh by increasing such things, they become an NPC - given over to their supernatural nature and losing the free will/choice of mortals.
It's... unusually elegant, looking simpler and cleaner to me than White Wolf morality systems. It operates using the in-setting principle that fully-supernatural beings are ruled by the nature, and that mortality is about the ability to choose. Not that some mortals can't zero out their refresh with stunts, but that essentially makes them human "monsters." This meshes pretty well with my own view of fantasy cosmology, where beings from other planes tend to be primally influenced by their nature and mortals stand in the middle with free will.
Several character types walk a fine line between increasing their power and becoming ruled by it.
Magic is broken down into the fast and lengthy varieties, with elemental specializations and the like. I'll have to admit I haven't fully digested it all, but it looks fairly fitting.
The focus on aspects is... interesting. It makes the game highly interactive, where the PCs attempt to use not only their own aspects but play of those in the scene or on the NPCs - and vice versa. Outcomes are not entirely based on die rolls, but often a matter of "bargaining" between player and GM, with fate points gained and lost as currency. On paper, it appears to serve quite well to craft a story.
But it's very hard for me to wrap my head about in a practical sense. This sort of play seems increasingly common these days among second-(and greater-)tier games. I'm very much accustomed to "the GM sets/controls the scene and has the final say." Even stunting in Exalted took quite a bit of getting used to and me telling myself "it's okay, this is part of the game, go ahead and describe results." I guess you could say I was not brought up, as a gamer, to be that assertive in the role of player. And yet this is one of those games that expects, and to some degree rewards, players pushing their vision out to mingle into the story.
There's even at least a chapter on city creation, urging everyone in the game to contribute to making places and faces and major themes in what will be the sandbox for the game. And in chargen, players (by default) write their characters into the backstories of others as something of a supporting cast.
All-in-all, it looks like a fairly good game that supports the source material and works with a heavy emphasis on and interesting story that deeply involves the characters. And it feels so alien I can barely imagine myself playing. ;)
The books appear somewhat pricey, but I think seeing the PDFs may have actually made a sale when they come out.
First off, I was a little bothered by the "post-it notes" and frequent comments by in-universe characters. But that grew on me. It actually fits and carries flavor of the series into the rulebook, sometimes even explaining the rules by answering questions the reader might otherwise have.
A chapter or two in and I was actually looking forward to the comments and quips between Billy, Harry, and Bob.
I'm not familiar with the Fate system, so I can't really speak to any possible differences from the "norm." I can say what I see on paper seems to fit the setting quite well. Characters are made up largely of a skill list, a series of descriptive "aspects," and a balancing act of stunts/powers and refresh.
The refresh mechanic is made to work unusually well, in my mind. Characters start with a Refresh score based on the power level of the campaign. They can lower this to get Stunts (bonuses to certain skill rolls that even mundanes can have) or Powers (supernatural stuff like magic). Having a high refresh means getting more fate points at the start of the session to use to gain advantages and resist GM compels against your aspects. But gosh some of those stunts and powers are cool. And if a character is brought to 0 refresh by increasing such things, they become an NPC - given over to their supernatural nature and losing the free will/choice of mortals.
It's... unusually elegant, looking simpler and cleaner to me than White Wolf morality systems. It operates using the in-setting principle that fully-supernatural beings are ruled by the nature, and that mortality is about the ability to choose. Not that some mortals can't zero out their refresh with stunts, but that essentially makes them human "monsters." This meshes pretty well with my own view of fantasy cosmology, where beings from other planes tend to be primally influenced by their nature and mortals stand in the middle with free will.
Several character types walk a fine line between increasing their power and becoming ruled by it.
Magic is broken down into the fast and lengthy varieties, with elemental specializations and the like. I'll have to admit I haven't fully digested it all, but it looks fairly fitting.
The focus on aspects is... interesting. It makes the game highly interactive, where the PCs attempt to use not only their own aspects but play of those in the scene or on the NPCs - and vice versa. Outcomes are not entirely based on die rolls, but often a matter of "bargaining" between player and GM, with fate points gained and lost as currency. On paper, it appears to serve quite well to craft a story.
But it's very hard for me to wrap my head about in a practical sense. This sort of play seems increasingly common these days among second-(and greater-)tier games. I'm very much accustomed to "the GM sets/controls the scene and has the final say." Even stunting in Exalted took quite a bit of getting used to and me telling myself "it's okay, this is part of the game, go ahead and describe results." I guess you could say I was not brought up, as a gamer, to be that assertive in the role of player. And yet this is one of those games that expects, and to some degree rewards, players pushing their vision out to mingle into the story.
There's even at least a chapter on city creation, urging everyone in the game to contribute to making places and faces and major themes in what will be the sandbox for the game. And in chargen, players (by default) write their characters into the backstories of others as something of a supporting cast.
All-in-all, it looks like a fairly good game that supports the source material and works with a heavy emphasis on and interesting story that deeply involves the characters. And it feels so alien I can barely imagine myself playing. ;)
The books appear somewhat pricey, but I think seeing the PDFs may have actually made a sale when they come out.
That sounds like the typical Fate system. Houses of the Blooded uses a similar mechanic. The idea of losing Refresh intrigues us, how do you lose it?
ReplyDeleteBy picking up more powers/stunts, whether in chargen or later. Literally, the more supernatural your character becomes, the less human and more monster they become. Probably the easiest way to do that in play is by picking up the Lawbreaker power by breaking one of the Laws of Magic. A slippery slope indeed. Most of the vampire character types start as neophyte-types that, once they kill and feed on a person, must upgrade to the full vampire template, which costs more and will likely put them beyond their refresh limit - insta-NPC.
ReplyDeleteThough I should add that the PCs' Refresh score goes up as really important plot points are reached or stories are completed, so the overall power level of the campaign does advance.
ReplyDelete