I've come from two worlds.
On the one hand, I've come from the number crunching half of things. I played video games where the immersion was frankly secondary to the system used to hit things harder and harder. Games like that appeal to the logic center of my brain. I like math. On that level, things like tower defenses and Final Fantasy are awesome. So are Chess, or Magic: The Gathering. It's a huge part of why I love World of Warcraft.
On the other hand, though, I am a writer, and I understand that sometimes, the system needs to be put away so that you can tell a story like Ender's Game, or War of the Spider Queen, or Harry Potter. Sometimes, there just can't be rules for a situation because the situation is there to further a story. The creative part of your brain hates constraints, and that is what I bring to the table from my creative half.
So, as a fan of the books, picking up an RPG that claimed to be true to the books, I was skeptical. So much of the world of Dresden was tied up in the characters. I'd come to love Murphy and Michael. I'd felt for Thomas and Lash. All these characters mattered so much more to me than the sum of their combat statistics, that I wasn't sure if the system could effectively recreate that experience without being mind-numbingly complicated.
I didn't follow the beta test much, except to know the general “how far along are we” of it. I did, however, get the books at the first chance, and immediately started learning how to make a character.
Boy. Was that a surprise.
I've built characters in World of Darkness and DnD. I've story-boarded more novels than I can count. I've got enough dice that I'm thinking of investing in a bigger bag for them, and this is by far one of the most robust systems for character creation that I've experienced in ages.
Step1: Character Concept
Unlike most systems, don't roll anything. Your first step, honestly, is to come up with a character concept. I know that they write that down in every manual and you completely ignored it – especially in DnD. “Well, the party needs a healer. So I'll grab all the requisite healing stuff, and then make up a back story about being some kind of traveling priest.” Tell me you've never had a group with that mentality. This is not a game that you can do that with. Character concept is critical, because you really need to have a solid grip on your character to do step 2.
Step 2: High Concept, Trouble, and Aspects
In the same way that ability scores, class, and race (to a lesser degree) are central to DnD, your aspects are the central part of your character. When describing your character to other people, very often, it will be your High Concept that you cite. In some way, it should be a small, one phrase long description of the character. Some examples being “Millionaire Vampire Hunter”, “Teenage Hydromancer,” or even the classic example based on the books' protagonist: “Wizard Private Eye.”
Linked to that is your trouble. This one is a little tougher to pin down. For one, it shoots out of the water every character without flaws ever (Thank God.) Keep in mind that your character should be constrained and limited by their trouble. “Destined for Greatness” sounds like the kind of two-edged thing you would want to choose. “Out of Her Depth” is a personal favorite from my campaign. Regardless of what you pick, it should be something that can often actively provide difficulty for your character. If it's something that'll show up once in a blue moon, probably not Trouble-worthy.
Once you've got those sorted out, you need up to five more aspects. These should be less things that describe your character, and more things that define your character. Sure, your character might work at a Stop 'N Shop, but that's not going to be something that really defines him. “They Killed Everyone I Loved” for example, is much more likely to be a defining trait than “Prefers wheat bread.” The key to making some good aspects is twofold. First, they need to describe your character. Second, they need to be useful to you in some way. By useful, I mean either that you can see it coming into play on your side of things (Who couldn't think of a good use for “I know Kung Fu”?) – or that it could be useful for your friendly neighborhood GM to use against you. (Personal favorites again: “Works Best Alone” and “I can help!”)
Why would you ever want to give the GM something to use against you? We'll get there.
Step 3: The Rest
From here, it's a lot of filling in boxes. Skills, stunts, and powers should all be fairly simple now that you've got your background and all the pertinent information. It's important to note here that the system actively encourages you to talk with your GM and invent new ones. The book is fairly expansive in their choices, but by no means should they be considered exhaustive. The book, unlike a lot of other sourcebooks, gives basic guidelines for how you should build a new stunt or ability. When in doubt, again, ask your GM.
As for the system itself, it works off of a concept called Fate points. To paraphrase someone describing a similar system in DnD: “Action Points? Those are the things that make me awesome, right?” In most systems, action points are reserved for giving you bonuses to dice rolls. Not so in Dresden. While you can use them for a numerical advantage (even after the fact!), this is probably the weakest use of them. You get Fate Points equal to the amount of refresh (basically, the amount of character power) that you don't spend. You get them back when your characters rest for a significant amount of time, or if a GM compels you (using one of your aspects) to do something in accordance with your character, but decidedly not something smart for them to do. Using Fate Points can give you crazy benefits. The most potent of which is the ability to make a Declaration. You say something, and pending GM approval, it happens. You've already been frisked? Burn a fate point and pull out that holdout pistol that you definitely had this whole time. Remember that backup that you'd spoken to a while ago? They show up just in the nick of time.
Declarations are (in my sessions) sorely underused, and extremely powerful. They really set the Dresden Files RPG apart from other similar systems. Giving the players something that allows them to drastically improve their combat skills, then having them forego it for another benefit altogether takes a lot of doing. Players like causing damage to bad guys. The fact that Declaring is even an option that players consider speaks to it's potential power.
Ultimately, the Dresden Files RPG gives me something that's been missing in a lot of my RPG's as of late – a story. Too many of my DnD sessions amount to combat with cut scenes for plot. I like the change of pace in Dresden, making the characters care more about their backstories, making them care about what happens between battles, and basically, making the game more about Role instead of Roll, to use a common phrasing.
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