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On Bias

In Short

The Good:  Magic works extremely well in play. The nature of the mechanics allows for the creation of a large variety of characters without severe power discrepancies. Aspects enable characters to engage in an unlimited variety of interesting actions for all the right reasons. The level of setting detail and engagement is incredible. The production values are extremely high and the use of in-character dialogue is well done and setting appropriate. Frequent examples clearly illustrate the mechanics while being enjoyable to read.

The Bad: Those completely unfamiliar with the Dresden Files may have a hard time engaging the book at first, and it is impossible to read the RPG without being frequently spoiled on the novels. The artwork is largely taken from the comic book and, for fans of the book series, doesn't always match up with the books as well as could be hoped for.

The Physical Thing

Both books are particularly charming because they're written by Billy the werewolf to be an actual RPG in the Dresdenverse. Harry, Bob, and Billy comment on events, NPCs, and mechanics along the way and the writing is top notch. Since Harry is part of Billy's gaming group in the fictional universe, this style works well and does a great job of reminding those familiar with the setting of various important events. More importantly, it's downright entertaining and makes the RPG books a lot more fun to read.

Under the Cover

A lot of territory is covered here, but before I delve into the mechanics I should start with some setting background for those unfamiliar with the book series and discussion of how that setting shines through in the product. The Dresden Files book series focuses on Harry Dresden, a wizard for hire and magical prodigy who often finds himself at the center of supernatural crime and intrigue. The series is very enjoyable, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys urban fantasy. The fantasy elements occur largely behind the scenes, thereby resulting in a world that is just like ours until the curtains are pulled back. The major factions include the High Council of Wizards (who police their own kind), the Summer and Winter Faerie Courts, the Vampire Courts, and the forces of Heaven and Hell. Various unique and special beings exist as well, often having some sort of specific purpose in the setting.

Part of what makes the setting so unique and enjoyable is that the author, Jim Butcher, does a great job of providing rules for each of the supernatural groups. Wizards, for example, disrupt technology by their presence. This results in the protagonist, Harry, often avoiding hospitals, airplanes, and other situations where tech disruption could result in a disaster. Wizards have harsh rules regarding how magic is used, with an empowered police force executing those who violate these rules. For example, a wizard found to be murdering other people with magic would be hunted and killed. These rules often have loopholes, however, and while harming people with magic is forbidden the other supernatural entities tend to be fair game.

To support this imaginative setting this game has been written to accommodate playing a wide variety of appropriate character concepts. Additionally, setting creation rules are provided to allow a group to create their city together and populate it with interesting NPCs and conflicts from the get-go. In play the mechanics shined through to create a very Dresdeny play experience. With this in mind, allow me now to turn to the game mechanics and why they have been so successful with my group.

The core mechanic here is simple enough. When faced with a task a player rolls four FATE dice and adds their Skill to the roll. FATE dice are d6 that each have two minus sides, two plus sides, and two blank sides. Rolled four at a time they provide a modifier of -4 to +4 with a very strong curve. This results in Skill ranks being very important to consistently performing well at a task. In addition to this, each character and some scenes and objects have Aspects that may be Tagged, often at the cost of one FATE point. Tagging an Aspect can provide a +2 bonus or a reroll, allowing characters to take advantage of their nature or environment to perform at their best. I'll detail all of this below, but before that let's look at setting and character creation.

Group setting and character creation are integral to getting the most out of a Dresden Files game. Having done it individually and as a group, I can easily say that the group option results in more coherence among character concepts and provides existing character bonds right off the bat. Setting creation begins with the group discussing what sort of city or similar environment they want to occupy. The book does a fantastic job of recommending varied considerations here, suggesting such useful activities as visiting the city or contacting the tourism department, and addressing options for games not set in a specific city. Several Themes or Threats are loosely built for the city using a city creation sheet, each of which has one or more Faces and Aspects attached to it. The idea here is that these are a major part of the campaign, but over time they may change. A crime ridden area might be cleaned up, changing an Aspect of The Streets Run with Blood to Hope Shines Through the Pain. This is the top level of city design, and other factors such as the big movers and shakers and the current status quo of the city are also addressed at this point.

Example: In my most recent campaign one threat was PSI, Inc. The idea is that the company is a front for a Big Bad trying to open the Outer Gates and end the world. The Aspect here is “Big Brother Corporate Sharks” and the primary Face is Audred Nightingale, a mid-level manager who puts on the friendly face of an ally but is really trying to establish control.

Setting creation continues to greater levels of specificity. The discussion is excellent as it focuses in on NPC motivations. Who wants to alter the status quo? Who wants to maintain it? Two additional sheets are used, one for smaller locations and another for major recurring NPCs, and the group fills them in together. This results in everyone having some input into the game, takes the setting creation work off of the GM, and helps to establish the setting as more of a sandbox to play in. In play this worked very well. One of our recurring locations, for example, was the local bowling alley which also served as neutral ground between factions. It was the brainchild of just one player, but everyone else happily embraced it and it became a recurring focus for action and intrigue throughout the game.

With setting creation out of the way, it's now time to begin building characters. The Dresden Files offers four different power levels for starting characters, from minor players such as cops and changelings to wizards and knights of the cross. Different power levels receive different numbers of Refresh points and Skill points. The lowest level receives 6 Refresh and 20 Skill points while the highest, that of Harry and friends in the books, receives 10 Refresh, 20 Skill points, and a higher Skill cap (+5). Most games are likely to use the higher power levels, as they enable wizards, knights, vampires, and similarly powerful beings as player characters.

Let me explain what each of those concepts means. Refresh is a currency used to buy supernatural abilities in the game from a long list later in the book. It is also the number of FATE points a character returns to at an appropriate lull in the action – often at the start of a new session. A character with 10 Refresh, then, regains 10 FATE points every refresh unless they spend of those points on powers. Characters may spend all but 1 point of Refresh on Stunts and powers, with that last point representing the difference between those with free will and those that are slaves to their nature (such as the fae). As with many rules in this game, though, a group can easily ignore it especially if they want to bring in fae characters as PCs.

Skill points are used to purchase Skills at different ranks, from +1 to +5 for the highest power level. Each Rank of a Skill must have other Skills supporting it below, such that there is one more Skill of the previous level than the current level. For example, in order to have a Skill at +3 the character must also have two Skills at +2 and three Skills at +1 supporting the +2s. This means that characters who have exceptionally high Skills have a large number of supporting Skills, while those who lack one or two very high Skills have a very broad knowledge of everything else.

In addition to Refresh and Skills, characters gain a further degree of customization in the form of Aspects. Aspects can be any word or phrase that refers to any part of a character concept. Brave, Last Follower of Tzi'Naroo, Friend of CW, I'm Going to Kill Bob Smith, or whatever else could work out just fine. I further discuss the use of Aspects below, but suffice it to say for now that having a mix of interesting good and bad Aspects is important to every character. Each character has one High Concept Aspect to represent who they are, one Trouble Aspect, and then additional Aspects (up to around 7) to reflect stories they've been a part of in the past. Below is a detailed, step by step character creation.

Example: With all of that in mind, let's walk through character creation. I am creating Anthony Kinsley, a Wizard and librarian. His High Concept Aspect is Enforcer of the 451 Doctrine. While this doesn't specifically say he's a White Council Wizard, it does imply it as the group decides together that the 451 Enforcer is a special position created by the Council to police dangerous books concerning magic. Anthony's key Aspect, then, reflects his wizardly background, his responsibilities with the council, and his special knowledge of dark texts best kept out of the hands of others. For his Trouble Anythony has Burned by Love, a reflection of the fact that his past love still haunts him and he just can't say no to her no matter how much it hurts. The first character phase is the Background Phase where players will write down a brief summary of the big events of a character's background. Anthony had a close relationship with his parents, but while he is a middle-aged Wizard they've been elderly for quite some time. To reflect the deteriorating health of his father he takes Dad's Going Senile. This Aspect is interesting because it works well as both an advantage and disadvantage, as his father could be helpful or a problem. Further, it could also be invoked to represent emotional stress on the character or the character's knowledge gained from watching out for elderly parents. The second phase is the Rising Conflict Phase focused on what shaped the character. Anthony has spent his life in libraries and was shaped by his observation of the human condition as it related to the acquisition of knowledge. He learned that many people could better their lives with just a little wisdom, but that others could find a great deal of destruction in the wrong book. Anthony takes Head Librarian for the Oldest Bay Area Branch as his Aspect. This Aspect is interesting because it reflects his knowledge and gives him a resource to work with. In play it was also Compelled through legal threats against the library. The third phase is the Story Phase and focuses on the character's first adventure. For Anthony it was investigating a crime involving books of dark magic that began popping up around the city. Anthony takes Bi-Monthly Book Club and Bowling at Candlelight Lanes to reflect a location that became a major part of his character's life after the event. The remaining phases involve Anthony guest starring in other characters' stories. He'll gain an additional Aspect for each one, and even more importantly he will have a tie to each other PC at the start of the game. Next, Anthony's player turns his attention to the Skills, powers, and Stunts needed to succeed as a White Council Wizard.

Once Aspects are determined, as above, it's time to move on to Skills. The Dresden Files uses twenty five distinct Skills, each of which has a clear use in the game and offers a character several different options for how to bring that Skill into play. There is a mix of combat, mental, and social Skills which works well especially considering that physical, mental, and social conflict are all very real possibilities. Skills can serve a variety of different functions. Alertness, for example, determines initiative in conflict. Presence, Endurance, and Conviction determine how many boxes of Stress a character can suffer in social, physical, and mental conflict, respectively, before Consequences must be taken (see below for a conflict discussion). Some Skills directly relate to magical ability, such as Discipline, Conviction, and Lore for Wizards. Others are very straightforward, such as Guns or Deceit.

It's important to keep in mind with Dresden's Skill system that every Skill on the list is valuable and that even powerful characters will have weaknesses that are vulnerable to exploit. Take the classic combat monster, for example. A character heavily invested in physical conflict Skills (say Guns 5, Athletics 4, Endurance 4, Fists 3, Weapons 3, Survival 3, etc.) is going to get humiliated at a party if and when they antagonize a socially active character. He is also going to have a hard time if a demon gets in his head and forces a battle on a mental landscape. Further, while the character will shine brilliantly when it's time to fight in many scenes the character will have a very limited ability to contribute as far as Skills are concerned. With this in mind, more balanced characters tend to be proficient in two areas with one tending to be their best. Nevertheless, one of the best things about the Skill system is that Skills matter and players have the option of building exactly what they want.

Example: Anthony is a Wizard and a librarian so his Skill picks are pretty easy. His player decides to build using a classic FATE pyramid – 1 five, 2 fours, 3 threes, four 2s, and five 1s. For his top Skill he takes Lore, a Skill that focuses on magical and occult knowledge that is valuable to Wizards since it aids them in certain magical tasks and impacts their magically created gadgets. Discipline and Scholarship take the 4 spots. Discipline determines how precisely Wizards can control their power while Scholarship reflects Anthony's broad knowledge from years of study. Conviction, Alertness, and Empathy take the 3 spots. Conviction determines mental strength and how much magical energy a Wizard can safely draw in. Alertness reflects Anthony's long life experience and attention to detail, while Empathy is used by Anthony to carefully study those around him. Anthony has four 2s and five 1s left, and those are reflected on his character sheet at the end of this review.

I'll discuss some other important qualities related to Skills in my discussion of Aspects and conflict below, but now let's turn to the really crunchy stuff – magical powers! Characters may spend Refresh to purchase powers and Stunts. Powers often come as part of a package and tend to quickly eat up points. For example, being a Wizard costs 7 Refresh points. Wizards are big hitters in the setting and have both versatile and powerful ability to overcome many obstacles. Pure Mortals, with no supernatural powers, are at the opposite end of the spectrum and actually gain 2 more points of Refresh. This is a nice way to provide an incentive for Murphy-like characters that are on the edge of the supernatural community while still being plain, normal human beings.

The powers here cover everything a person could want to play based on the Dresden Files book series. Knights of the Cross, Wizards, White Court Vampires, Changelings, Werewolves (all types), Red Court half-transformed, minor practitioners, and more are all supported. What makes the way these supernatural types are implemented particularly great is that it's easy to see how the designers built them. For one of my campaigns, for example, we had a knight of nature who took a lot of the framework from the Knights of the Cross but altered it in simple but well-done ways to result in a very distinct yet believable supernatural crusader.

For the big archetypes – the Wizards, Knights, and Vampires – special rules are provided. The simplest involve the vampires, who had an additional Stress track (see the discussion on Conflict below) dedicated to their Hunger. When they use their supernatural powers, such as super strength or speed, they have to check against this track. Eventually they become so hungry they begin taking Consequences and are forced to feed. A player wanting to play a Thomas-like vampire, then, could have a great deal of fun managing the Hunger track and trying to find other ways to gain sustenance.

The Knights of the Cross are clear badasses, with rules that support all of their abilities we've seen in the books. Their swords trigger the weakness of most adversaries, they can call on the Almighty for aid, and they can improve the Threshold (inherent magical protection) of a dwelling they stay in – just to name a few of their gifts. This doesn't come without a cost, however, as a sword-wielding Knight of the Cross costs 8 Refresh to pick up.

Wizards are the most detailed of all the supernatural types, and with good reason considering that the entire book series is about the adventures of Harry Dresden, Wizard for Hire. The 7 point package includes Evocation, Thaumaturgy, The Sight, Soulgaze, and Wizard's Constitution. Wizard's Constitution reflects the long life of Wizards and the fact that they can eventually heal serious wounds. Soulgaze allows a Wizard to look into the eyes of another being and see them for what they are – with potential consequences. The Sight allows a Wizard to see the mystical side of the world, though doing so exposes a Wizard to serious mental dangers (clearly reflected on the mechanics). The last two require additional explanation.

Evocation allows a character to perform immediate magic. It's used for blasts of fire, freezing a lake immediately, or throwing up an emergency shield. Wizards are automatically proficient in three of the five classic areas of magic – Fire, Water, Air, Earth, or Spirit (Force) – and may buy the others if they wish. The effect is primarily limited to the player's imagination and the amount of power they're willing to draw in. When a Wizard casts a spell they first determine what sort of effect they want to achieve. Then they suffer 1 point of Mental Stress for taking in power up to their Conviction and one point for every point of power above their Conviction. This means that Wizards with a high Conviction can consistently bring more power to bear in a fight than others. Once that power is gathered the Wizard makes a Discipline roll against a set difficulty, normally the amount of power taken in, to actually cast the spell. Discipline, then, reflects a character's fine control over magic. Both of these rolls are modified by any enchanted items a Wizard is carrying, such a a Wizard's staff which may add to the power or control of a specific element.

Thaumaturgy works in a similar way, but it's spread out over several rolls during a set time period. Thaumaturgy tends to be used for more meta effects, such as creating a tracking spell to find someone or summoning a demon to gain knowledge. The rolls here can be boosted by spending time on the spell, skipping a scene, acquiring appropriate ingredients, or through various other factors. Thaumaturgy tends to be used as a general resource in the game, often filling in gaps of character expertise. Investigation is going to be faster and easier to use to find a clue, and the Contacting Skill will work better when it comes to hitting the streets for information. Thaumaturgy is for those times when the existing character Skills just won't cut it, and the group has the time to use.

Wizards also gain access to single use magic items such as potions, enchanted rings, or warded cloaks. These are set in power based on a character's Lore, thereby allowing characters who want to be skilled more in artifice and planning than raw power to invest heavily in this Skill so that when they do bring their tokens to bear in a fight they can still deliver quite a kick. In play we found designing magic items to be immense amounts of fun, and those who wanted to do a potion-of-the-week sort of approach similar to what Harry does in the first few books could definitely make that happen.

Speaking of play, we found Wizards to be extremely powerful, but needing to be at least somewhat careful about overextending themselves. Mental Stress can build up quick in a major fight, but more often than not the Wizards were able to avoid major fights. This is because Wizards can deliver a Death Curse, nicely modeled in the system, to anyone who kills them. It's an extremely strong deterrent against those who are aware of it and often resulted in some really fun ethical discussions between the heroes and villains, neither of whom were really willing to move given that they were keenly aware that both sides would lose out. To say that this inspired scenes similar to the novels is an understatement – we felt like we were creating a Dresden novel the entire time.

While the various power options are quite sexy, Stunts support Skills by allowing a character to do something new or better with a given Skill. They may allow for one Skill to substitute for another, or for part of it (such as using Burglarly to hack computers), they may give the character a bonus (such as a bonus to combat when outnumbered from martial arts training), or they may simply enable a character to have something (such as a particularly fine weapon). Stunts are inherently less powerful than powers, by design, but that doesn't mean that Stunt-focused mortals can't dish out the pain. El Defenser, a former Lucha champion, was able to take down vampires with the best of them in my campaign. His honorable fighting moves put terror into their hearts of darkness time and time again. Stunts each cost 1 Refresh to purchase, meaning that a pure mortal (12 Refresh) could have up to 11 kick-ass tricks up his sleeve.

While having crunchy goodness is nice, using it is better. Conflicts in The Dresden Files are easily run. Initiative is determined based on the Alertness Skill. Characters then perform some sort of aggressive Attack, engage in a Maneuver, or Block an enemy. Attacks are simple enough. The attacking Skill is rolled and compared with the defender's roll. Weapon damage bonuses are applied and armor is subtracted, with the difference added to the margin of success thereby determining the total stress inflicted. For example: A character with Weapons 4 is attacking with a dagger, and the opponent is trying to dodge out of the way using Athletics 3. The attacker rolls a +2, for a total of a +6 attack. The defender isn't so lucky, rolling a +1 for a total of 4. The dagger deals two extra damage, which, when added to the margin of success (6-4), results in a 4 (from 2 + 2). A four point Stress hit is inflicted on the defender. Characters typically have two to four Stress boxes. Each hit fills one of these boxes, and when a second hit fills the same box the damage is pushed up to a higher box. If a character takes a hit and can not place it in a Stress box then he is Taken Out. This need not be death, but definitely represents a crushing defeat.

Sometimes a character will suffer a really nasty hit, or a character simply doesn't have the Stress boxes to lose. In this case the character can take a Consequence. A Consequence can normally soak up 2, 4, or 6 points of Stress based on the severity of the Consequence. In the example above the character took a four point hit. Instead, the character could choose to suffer a Moderate Consequence such as Vicious Stab Wound. Consequences take time to heal and allow antagonists a free Tag to hurt you even more. On the plus side, it keeps the character in the fight.

In addition to normal attacks and defenses a character may engage in a Maneuver. A Maneuver is all about accomplishing some other task, often reflected by placing a temporary Aspect on a person or place. For instance, instead of stabbing with the dagger the aggressor above could have tried to push his opponent off balance with aggressive attacks. A similar opposed roll takes place, the result of which is the temporary Aspect Off Balance is placed on the opponent. The aggressor could then take advantage of this in the next exchange, Tagging it for a reroll or a +2 bonus at no FATE point cost. Alternately, the dagger fighter could try Blocking the opponent. Blocking actions are used to prevent others from acting, and are more common with spellcasting or automatic weapons. The attack here would set a difficulty the opponent has to beat in order to act in the Blocked way. All of these Conflict rules work just as well for mental and social conflicts as they do physical ones.

Speaking of Aspects, Tags, and FATE points, let's consider them in more detail. Everything can have Aspects, from characters to locations to even campaigns. A FATE point can be spent to Tag an Aspect and gain a +2 bonus or a single reroll. Both can be purchased, which happens from time to time with extremely important rolls. Aspects created by Maneuvers can be Tagged once for free, giving characters an incentive to engage in setup actions before landing a big hit. In play this results in constant use of the environment, frequent reference to what makes a character unique, and a lot of description at the table.

What's more, a player can gain FATE points to spend to do awesome things by having something bad happen to his character. GMs reward FATE points when an Aspect is Compelled. The Compel forces a character to engage in certain behavior, typically something negative, but grants the player one or more FATE points as compensation for this. Having a mix of good and bad Aspects is important for any character, since generating FATE points is a big part of having a good time, and the impact of this at the gaming table is that players tend to be very happy when bad things are happening to their character.

All this praise isn't to say that the product doesn't have a few downsides. The biggest that my group dealt with was how lengthy conflicts could become, especially between actors that were evenly matched and fairly tough. Fortunately, the mechanics do find a way to largely avoid this by stressing that those who are losing Conflicts should offer a meta-concession. This amounts to a small amount of table talk to resolve the situation, and it works well in play.

The biggest problem I have with reviewing this book is that I can't cover all the excellent content found within. The GM advice, for example, does a great job of offering suggestions for how to create a Dresdeny play experience. There is an enormous amount of setting discussion focused on how the supernatural world works, providing details regarding magic, special abilities, social conventions, and similar information. Further, the game brilliantly illustrates every concept through constant use of examples. A full example city filled with NPCs, suggested plot hooks, and examples of every mechanic in action all serve to clarify every aspect of the system.

Here's an example character, based on the information above, that follows the character creation rules.

Example: Name: Anthony Kinsley High Concept: Enforcer of the 451 Doctrine Aspects: Burned by Love, Dad's Going Senile, Head Librarian for the Oldest Bay Area Branch, Bi-Monthly Book Club and Bowling at Candlelight Lanes, The Black Art Style, and Winter Emissary. Powers: Wizard (Evocation, Thaumaturgy, The Sight, Soulgaze, Wizard's Constitution), Sponsored Magic: Winter (allows Anthony to supercharge his spells when drawing from winter's wellspring). Refresh: 1 Physical Stress: 2 Mental Stress: 4 Social Stress: 3 Evocation: Air, Water, Spirit (Specialization of Control +1). Thaumaturgy: Divination Specialization (+1). Skills: Lore 5, Discipline 4, Scholarship 4, Conviction 3, Alertness 3, Empathy 3, Fists 2, Investigation 2, Deceit 2, Resources 2, Driving 1, Athletics 1, Contacts 1, Presence 1, Rapport 1.

One final note – I have not covered all of the mechanics found in The Dresden Files Roleplaying Game here. Movement through zones, more specifics involving Stunts and Wizard benefits, how supernatural strength, speed, and endurance work, and more have been left out. Look to the review thread or the main forum for answers to any specific questions, but I can say with confidence that the entire mechanical implementation has survived over a dozen trying play sessions at the hands of my group.

My Take

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