An example of Dresden character creation

One of my players did a fantastic job of writing out the exact method he used to create his Dresden character, and I've been granted permission to post it, so here it is:

*Lae Erg (Faerie name - given by mother)
*Russell Carver (Given name by Sophia Abaris)

High Concept: "Half-Fae Battle Wizard" (All Evocation, All the Time)
Personal Struggle: "My Father's Bargain" (Constant approaches by mother's minions, occasional distrust by the White Council in dealing with matters of the Fae, absolute hatred of father)

*Early Childhood*
*Father - the wizard Walter Carver - made a pact with the Sidhe Lady Siofra (Winter Court) for the life of his first born son in exchange for POWER
*Siofra made power play, trying to fuse a mortal line of wizards and the Sidhe
*Inherited Mother's Willfulness
*Intuitive understanding of magic's ebbs and flows - closely parallels Faerie Magic
*Father goes Rogue, becomes a Warlock and is "killed" by Wardens of the White Council - obviously, not dead
*Refused to take part in mother's plan - requested Asylum with the White Council at the age of 15

Skill Biases: Discipline, Conviction, Rapport and Deceit, Performance
Aspect: "Kissed by the Winter Court" (Appearance, Demeanor, Implied
Political Ties, Magical Aptitude, Smoochies with Maeve???)

*Apprenticeship/Rising Conflict*

*Studied under the tutelage of the witch Sophia Abaris - a Warden of the White Council
*As a Warden - Sophia excels at Evocation - a talent she has passed on to her pupil
*Apprenticed for 10 years, found his natural understanding of magic (and incidental usage of Faerie magic patterns) rapidly increased the progression of his studies
*Passed the tests to become a Wizard and was voted in as a member of the White Council at the age of 25
*Possible undercurrents of romance with his mentor
*White Council sometimes doubts his loyalty due to Sidhe heritage

Skill Biases: Discipline, Lore, Weapons, Scholar
Aspect: "Pupil of Sophia Abaris - Witch, Warden and Evocator" (Magic use, Lore, Weapon/Combat Skills)


*Novel*

"An Unnatural Union"

When a Warden of the White Council of Wizards is found slain - killed by internal watermelon growth, the White Council dispatches Wizard Russell Carver to investigate the possibility of an alliance between the Faeries of Summer and the Red Court of Vampires. But the truth is even more sinister than the White Council could ever have imagined. Can the half-fae wizard break apart an unnatural union between Summer, Winter and Vampire before they tip the war not just against the Wizards, but against mankind itself?

(Frankie's Addition)
With it being mid-summer in Texas, Russell decides to use his powers of persuasion to coerce his cousin, and occasional collaborator, Private Investigator Liz Carver, to help him narrow down the investigation. After all, watermelons are plentiful in this area and could have come from many different locations. The impulsive wizard’s got some good ideas, but it’s going to take some major digging to unearth this mystery.

Skill Biases: Presence, Empathy, Fists
Aspect: "Blood of the Thunder Dragon" (Asshole extraordinaire, maybe could be used in combat given his grandpappy's propensity for it)


Other Aspects: "Heir to a Dying Rage" - From Will's Addition (Heir to Ramon's curse - can tap to summon Ramon, or as people accuse him of creating the curse itself, consequences of the curse) , "Stubborn as a Ram" - From my addition to Kele (Use is obvious - hates to agree with people, thinks he's always right, can also be tapped positively for Will Power kind-of checks)

The last of the Dresden rules fall into place.

So, yesterday the Dresden playtesters finally got our hands on the magic rues, and I'm just starting to tear into them. So far they look great, though I know this is an early draft, so I expect there to be some minor changes.

This is exciting to me, because I'm running two playtest campaigns, and thus far we've been glossing over magic, or postponing the game. I intend to get into the actual campaigns later, but I thought I should at least jump on real fast while I had a minute and let those who are waiting know that it's getting significantly closer to the finish line.

Now I'm off to actually finish reading all those rules. I'll post more when I'm done.

Austin in the Dresden-verse.

This is my group's first attempt to create a city using the city-creation rules in the Dresden RPG. I've only read the first four novels, so what I have here may not jive completely with what came after, but here goes:

Outsiders point to Austin, Texas as an eclectic blend of the liberal and conservative, tech savvy and environmentalism, party town, and business center. This perception, however, barely reaches below the surface, no matter how hard the chamber of commerce tries to force the illusion.

This city isn’t some beautiful blend of ideology; it’s a town at war with itself. Environmentalists strike socially, politically, and economically at any attempt to bring business into town. New businesses bring pressure against the city council to extort rules exceptions and tax abatements. The city council leans on its citizenry, rewording long-standing ordinances to fit their agendas and transforming the roads that form the city’s arteries into illegal toll-ways. And all the while the citizens argue with each other, fighting over special interests and private agendas to the point where reform is impossible.

Nothing but rats, fighting for high ground on a ship slowly sinking into chaos.

Aspects:

• State capital
• Warring ideology
• College town
• Live music capital
• Partying on 6^th street.
• Keep Austin Weird
• Environmental battles
• Silicon hills
• Plugged in
• Bats at sundown
• Robert Venaliter owns this town

Who cares about the city?

Since the city was nearly abandoned by vampires of the Red Court in favor of better picking just to the south in San Antonio it has become a sort of haven for young wizards and hedge mages seeking to avoid the war. None of these are particularly powerful, but all feel a sort of vested interest in keeping the town neutral, and they’ve proven themselves willing to fight when necessary.

Just because the Red Court has abandoned the city, however, it doesn’t mean that the town is free of vampiric influence. Austin is well known as a party town, with 24/7 live music, bars, and college students out looking for a thrill. This is an image perpetuated and financed by the White Court, who find the young party-goers to be a virtual smorgasbord of emotion and appetite every weekend night.

Finally there’s the striking figure of Robert Vinaliter himself. A much-loved politician who keeps his fingers in every pie in the city, carefully riding the fence, simultaneously avoiding tying himself to any cause while convincing the people of the city that he supports them completely. Unimpeachable and untouchable, there is a darker side to Mr Venaliter however. The hedge mages of the city are convinced that he dabbles in the dark arts, and that the endangered bats that call the city home and give it its identity somehow answer to him, going forth at night as a legion of tiny spies gathering information for him to use against his enemies. Then again, they also believe that the toll roads serve as some sort of mystical process by which he purchases pieces of your energy a tiny bit at a time, so no one really takes such stories seriously.

Who keeps the peace?

For the longest time Austin was sort of a haven for the supernatural, kept as elysium by mutual unspoken accord. A group of aging hippy hedge mages did their best to keep the worst offenders in line, while the White Court made an example out of any of their own who went too far and began to scare away party goers and tourists.

Recently, however, there has been a subtle shift in the balance that threatens to ignite the chaos boiling just under the city’s surface. A new group of technologically adept vigilantes seems to be very aware of the supernatural in the city, and very willing to bring the finances and technology of the city’s formidable tech center to bear against it. No one knows quite what they do with the creatures they capture, but it’s clear that they see no difference between creatures of the Nevernever and mortal practitioners. Anyone who draws too much attention makes themselves a target. It’s true that they serve to keep the peace, but without a clear idea of who might really be behind their attacks (though hushed whispers speculate that a member of the Black Court might be seeking victims), one begins to wonder about their deeper motivations.

How do mortals cope?

Until recently the supernatural activity in Austin has been seen as little more than a joke, an urban myth the college kids use to scare one another when walking home from a late night on 6^th street. Lately, however, one is forced to wonder. No one outright says that they believe something weird is going on; well, not supernaturally weird, but everyone can feel the subtle shift in the air, and they seem to subconsciously draw themselves into small groups of like-minded individuals, fighting their little economic and political struggles as a prelude to real war.

All the while they laugh at themselves and proudly proclaim: Keep Austin Weird, as though the mantra would ward off the truly disturbing creatures that roam their streets.

What interests a supernatural tourist?

As noted above, Austin is home to a number of supernatural creatures and practitioners. Most of whom would be glad to help a visitor to the city in exchange for their service in whatever is to come. The White Court makes an appealing offer to the young and disenfranchised, with party’s drugs, liquor, and music available on-call, and the town’s hedge mages work well together to provide holistic and spiritual guidance to those new to their power.

The Driskill Hotel, a famous Austin landmark, is also home to the Suicide Brides, a pair of ghosts who each committed suicide in room 525, 20 years apart on their wedding day. For years the room was bricked up and sealed off from the rest of the hotel to try and contain their curse, but ten years ago the current owns tore down the brick as part of the hotel’s renovation, only to find the bath tub filled with crystal clear water, though the faucet didn’t drip and the floor was completely dry. To this day it is said that one can go to the room and refill the tub with water to speak with the brides, who seem very self-aware and tuned into the spiritual happenings in the city.

Lastly, there dwells in Barton Springs an exiled noble fairy of the summer court who calls the underground spring and pool her home. She is said to make deals with other fey creatures and mortals alike to protect her home and grant her a measure of power in our world. This fairy, fashioning herself as “Lady of the Springs”, may well have given rise to the environmental movement that seems to have completely gripped south-west Austin, a movement most easily identified with the “Save Our Springs” (or, SOS) Alliance.





A note: The character of Robert Venaliter is completely fictional and not based on anyone really (except maybe a tad on our corrupt governor :) ). Also, I can't help but equate Willie Nelson in my mind with the hippy hedge wizards. Does that make Matthew McConaughey an apprentice?

A busy couple of weeks.

Wow, I let two more weeks slip by...

Anywho, I've been keeping busy, which is good I suppose, but I took Saturday night off and vegged out, no games, no work, no planning adventures, and played a couple of mindless Flash games on the internet.

The primary reason I've been so busy was that I finally got around to running a Riddle of Steel one-shot that I've been thinking about for a while now. I called it Cry Havoc, and it was set in Briton in 419 AD. It was a lot of work, but it was a heck of a lot of fun. I spent most of the time boning up on the RoS rules, researching the time period, and writing up histories, descriptions, and character sheets for the pregens. If I get a chance I'll post them here some time, I think they turned out well.

Anywho, the game went great, with nearly everyone playing their characters to the hilt. I did have a couple who just couldn't seem to run their characters as written, but it didn't really matter at all. The roleplay was fantastic, the story was great, and the system held up well. Or, at least I thought so...

Some of my players weren't too happy with Riddle of steel, which is unfortunate, because I really want to use it to run my Pendragon campaign. Sigh. It is pretty darn crunchy, and the one combat we ran did take an hour and a half, but I think a lot of our problems simply came with lack of familiarity.

Ah well, maybe we'll try it again some time.

Other than that I didn't do a huge amount of game-related stuff. I own a small business and the end of January is a tough time, taxes and paperwork eat every free moment.

I did get a whole slew of Dresden stuff, and I'll be running my first playtest Thursday. I finally managed to get NDAs to all of my players Saturday, so thing with that will start rolling fast now.

I can't even begin to describe how impress I am with what I've gotten so far. City creation, which I'll be doing this week, is a neat addition, and the non-supernatural stunts are pretty damn cool. I desperately want to make a martial artist who uses Conviction and Fists to kick supernatural butt. A dedicated Taoist...

Anywho, I'll post more after we finish the first session later this week, but it's pretty darn hot.

Speaking of Dresden.... I've been putting off reading the background stuff we got pretty much first thing because I was afraid of spoilers, but I can't really do that anymore. I just finished book 4, Summer Knight, earlier this morning, and I don't see myself getting to the others any time soon. It's too bad really, they're a heck of a lot of fun.

Huzzah! We have Dresden!

Ok, so I will soon have Dresden, in some form or fashion, but I'm very hyped at the moment.

If the new tag on the left isn't obvious enough, my group was selected to be a part of the Bleeding-edge alpha playtest that Evil Hat is doing, and from the briefest of teases I've seen so far I simply can't wait.

I've been wanting to run Dresden since I first caught the show on Sci-fi, in fact, I intentionally tapped a little of that vibe with the Eternal Warriors game that I recently finished up, but having really gotten into Spirit of the Century over the last few months I really can't wait to sink my teeth into this.

There will definitely be more to come.