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| 2-6 | 12+ | 2-8 hr | $35 |
Leap right into the Dresdenverse!
Welcome to Dresden Files Accelerated Edition, a pared-down, pick-up-and-play RPG set in the world of Jim Butcher’s NYT bestselling novel series. Take a jaunt through the Nevernever, stand up to the Black Court, and sit down for a pint at Mac’s. This book contains all you need to make it happen.
In this book, Ivy the Archive will walk you through everything you need to know to get your game running, including:
- An introduction to the major supernatural players in the Dresdenverse and the places you might meet them.
- A new mantle system that speeds up character creation and gets you into the game faster.
- Faction-based campaign creation that creates immediate drama and action for your group.
- Easy-to-learn Fate Accelerated-style gameplay, with a few clever Dresdenverse tweaks.
- A scale system to support interacting with and playing at various power levels.
Dresden Files Accelerated. Fun. Fast. Fuego.
GAME INFORMATION
Number of players: 2-6
Age of players: 12+
Game Length: 2-8 hours
Type of Game: Roleplaying Game
Languages Available: English
Product Code: EHP0032
ISBN: 978-1-61317-133-2
Length: 256 pages
Suggested Retail: $35
Availability: Check here
Game Designers: Leonard Balsera, Clark Valentine, Brian Engard, Pamela Alexander, Priscilla Spencer, and Amanda Valentine.
Release Date: June, 2017
Fred-
Thanks so much for the quick response. I’ve got a small follow-on question if you have time:
I was basing my assumption that GM payouts don’t apply until the end of the scene because that seems to be the rule for the players (p. 108, “A fate point spent on this invoke is awarded to that character at the end of the current scene.”) This is also the rule in Fate Core (p. 81). I’m guessing this rule is to create situations where players can get tapped out on Fate Points during a scene, rather than having perpetual expenditures. Perhaps the GM isn’t similarly constrained in this way, and the FPs become available immediately?
BTW- this is NOT to imply that the rules are poorly drafted. To the contrary, I’ve found it to be really easy to pick up on and teach this system. I think its just that the fate point economy by its very nature requires a few fiddly rules.
Anyhow, thanks again for responding.
Matt,some additional clarifications:
1.) So, the reason for the distinction about hostile invokes is because the assumption as regards the GM’s FP pool is that it belongs to her NPCs in the same way that a player’s FP pool belongs to his PC. Compels and concessions are not part of that action, so the GM can pay for them from the theoretically infinite supply.
2.) “Still owed” can happen in the case of a concession or compel ending a scene, as you indicate, but also as part of the process of hostile invokes against NPCs, which follow the same rule as for PCs.
In both cases here, the thing that isn’t so clear in the rules is that there’s a distinction for the GM when she’s acting on behalf of NPCs as a player would, and when she’s acting as the arbiter for the world/game in general. That’s on me. Sorry.
Compel awards don’t wait for the end of the scene in any case. They do for hostile invokes for a couple of reasons: 1.) That zero-sum effect Fred mentioned was found, after lengthy study, to also be a problem in slowing down the pace of conflict across alternating sets of turns, and 2.) it incentivizes the hostile invoke as a tactic that doesn’t screw over the invoker in the context of that whole conflict, making it much more likely that people will do it as opposed to invoking their own aspects or an aspect they create.
3.) After.
4.) You can do it either way, but it works best when the GM and player rules are both the same. If you let the players keep their extra chips, the GM keeps hers, or vice versa if not.
Hope this helps.
@Leonard-
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I think I’ve got it now. The piece that I was missing was that, FPs from hostile invokes, FPs from compels don’t have to wait until the end of a scene to become available, same from the rare situation where there is a concession, but the scene isn’t over for some reason.
I also appreciate the design insight – it makes sense that you want to avoid a zero-sum standoff where invokes are constantly available to all of the characters.
Again, thanks.
So with the book debuting at origins, when will the books ship? >;D
Shipping out will start 6/14.
I want to run a demo of this at Free RPG Day at my LFGS . I have the PDF (kickstarter backer) but was looking if there were any pregens and or a quick oneshot available?
Thanks in advance
Topher – I’d encourage you to look at the sample campaign in the back of the book. There are several PCs there that work as pregens.
Jon – Actually, let me clarify this a bit more. Our street date for the books is June 14th — that’s when we expect the book to show up in stores, at Origins, etc. We’ve already sent over the shipping information to Alliance to ship out preorders that were placed on our web store, so I expect those to be rolling out already and into next week (we got hundreds of preorders), with the intent of arriving fuzzily around the same timeframe as the street date whenever possible — maybe a little before, maybe a little after, but overall within the zone.
@Fred-
My order for the CRB has shown as “Preparing” for the last few days. Can you tell me what that means? Still waiting to go out?
– Matt
I have the same question as Matt: it’s after 06/14 and my book is still listed as “Preparing” in the shop. Will the delivery be delayed? Thanks in advance.
I just got mine today, unfortunately one of the pages was ripped in the book
Glen, hope you’ve emailed our customer service address to report that w/ your shipping address, we replace all defective copies.
Matt and Rene (and others) —
Your preorders went over to the warehouse along with their 600+ cousin preorders for our various Dresden Files things… the warehouse got overwhelmed a bit by that, plus the guy who extracts and reports on tracking information for us got sick, all while on our side we were off to Origins to launch the new releases. It’s my understanding that those orders are all shipped, but it may be another day or two before the warehouse service can get all that tracking data to us so I can fire off the notifications. Keep an eye out for those soon, I hope!
As of today, mine shows as shipping as of last Friday. I figured you were busy, what with Origins and all. Thanks for the update!
Thanks for the answer. Hm, mine shows furthermore “Preparing”… (Jealous look to Matt 😉
Do you need the first RPG to play or is this a standalone/ combo?
The first RPG came out 7 years ago; it is the crunchier, pre-Fate-Core way to RPG the Dresden Files.
This is a stand-alone fully playable book in 2017, post-Fate-Core, and does not require the other, earlier game.
Thanks.
Has anyone made a fillable PDF character sheet yet?
Eagerly awaiting my print copy as the copy my FLGS received was one of the damaged ones so they ordered a replacement
So, let’s say I want to make and publish a game that takes certain concepts from DFA (like the Mantle system). Am I allowed to do that under the OGL license?
Is it an error or is it correct that a WCV can take only ONE Core Stunt? Therefore she has either Emotional Vampire or a Vampire Stunt?
Thomas, you may need to get a better handle on how open licensing works. Just because DFA is based on Fate Core, and Fate Core is open, doesn’t mean that DFA is open. It is not!
Open content for the Fate System can be found by perusing the system reference documents linked at http://www.faterpg.com/licensing/
Rene, what’s the page citation/specific quote you’re looking at?
Hi Fred,
it’s on page 156:
“CORE STUNTS
In addition to those from your mortal mantle, you also select one of the following:
– Emotional Vampire: Page 167.
– One of the three vampiric stunts (Physique, Toughness, Recovery) as
detailed for Red Court vampires on page 165.”
In the True Fae mantle, there are four steps. Step four states, “Select at least one more stunt from your Court stunts or All Fae list, to further delineate your Fae’s nature.”
1.) The wording “at least” implies that you could choose more than one. Is this so? could you just take them all then?
2.) Would this free stunt(s) count as the “choose a stunt” stunt detailed in the seventh step of general character creation?
Thanks.
At least means that you have to choose at least one, but you could choose more, but then you have to pay for them, Quin. That is my reading. If you are referring to the steps on page 91 than you’re completely correct.
Quin:
1.) Yes.
2.) Yes. Though technically speaking, you’re not obligated to use your free stunt to get a Fae or Court stunt, if you decide to buy additional stunts as per the option on page 96. You just need to have one of the stunts you obtain during character creation go to the general Fae list or your Court.
Rene:
That is an erratum. It should say, “You select the following,” not “one of the following.”
I’ve made a note of it and passed it up the chain. Good eyes.
Thank you Leonard 🙂
But your answer to 1.) of Quin irritates me… With yes you mean that a player can choose all of them – but he have to pay for them with Fates points oder Milestones. Is this assumption correct?
The way I’m seeing it is that Mantle requirements are their own separate thing, apart from the rest of the things you eventually add to your character.
in the case of the True Fae Mantle, This is how I’m reading it:
First you take the core stunts and conditions for All Fae,
Then you decide if you are affiliated with a court,
If so, take all their core stunts and conditions,
and finally, separate from the free stunt you get later and the potential two you could buy, you choose one more stunt from the additional stunts list from All Fae or your Court to further define your Fae (do they have claws, can they fly, etc…)
To me, this makes more sense than the last step of the mantle making you spend your freebie stunt (which you would think it would tell you that that’s what you were spending) during a much earlier and separate step.
NPC creation question:
When creating a supporting NPC (page 213) it gives an example of a stunt to give a supporting NPC. However, the stunt example says, “The public defender has a stunt called Greasing the Wheels that provides +2 to create advantages with Guile to use in legal proceedings, representing bribes and other favors.”
This stunt uses an approach (Guile), which supporting NPCs do not have. How exactly does this work?
@Quin: The public defender will use his talent with his actions they are skilled at (+2) or doing poorly (-2). All other actions are +0. As he ist skilled at defending clients and bending the rules he will get the Stunt bonus when he tries this actions. There is a paragraph about this on page 214: “If a mantle specifies use of a particular approach but the given NPC cannot have approaches, the GM makes a judgment call as to whether the roll fits within the scope of what the NPC is skilled at.” I very much think that this is also true in the case you have mentioned.
@René: Ah, I see now. Thank you. I think I was just confused by the stunt being a custom stunt, designed for that character, and using mechanics that that character doesn’t have. I was trying to get a better handle on stunt crafting for NPCs that don’t have approaches.
I’ve got the hang of it now, and in the specific case I was working on, that character grew to be more important than my original concept, so I made her a Main NPC.
I’ve created rules for DFA for Hexings and Thresholds, some important things that aren’t specified in the rules. Thresholds are mentioned but how they are working in the rules set of DFA I don’t know. Fortunately I have the old rules and made my own house rules. It’s not easy for me as I’m a total newbie of Fate. Therefore I would be glad to see a new product as PDF only with new mantles and monstrous adversaries.
I was hoping to find a site or link to download sheets for the pregen characters in the DFA book, but I guess I’ll have to do it the old fashion way. Thanks for nothing.
In a world where we provide a free PDF with every physical copy of the book, where printing out the pregen characters’ statblocks is as easy as typing in a page range when printing from that PDF, when I personally took care to make sure that each pregen character is presented in a two-page spread where you can either print those two pages doublesided for an easy handout or landscape formatted at two-pages-per-page scaling for another kind of easy handout, I can’t exactly agree that we’ve provided you “nothing”, but I am sorry to hear that it’s resulted in no gratitude.
Not having a PDF to print I have to retype everything and my reaction was in part to getting no response when I first asked the question.
It should also be noted that I hope to pick up the DFCC (everybody in my area is sold out) and have an order in for a few things from the Evilhat store. A touch of frustration will not effect my enjoyment or further product interest. It was just that, a touch of frustration.
Now I habe played my first session of DFA – ant even of a FATE system!
If there is a scene and a player have to make an Overcome action, can he first make a Create an Advantage action? Or is it only possible in Contests and Conflicts? A player will always try to Create an Advantage to save FATE points. Is this correct?
Players will often attempt to create an advantage to help them out on difficult tasks… assuming they have the time to do so. Create an Advantage still takes your turn, after all, and any GM running a story in the Dresden Files universe should definitely be laying on the time pressure.
Thanks, Fred. I have thought so, too, and told my players that, if they want to create first the advantage and they don’t have enough time that there will be a complication, a cost. But if the have enough time and can prepare for the overcome (create the aspect “Pleasant Atmosphere” when they question a NPC) they can make it at no cost.
Question #1: Under the various Vampire and Knight Mantles, it says the player can cross off the boxes for bonuses (Hungry/Seasonal Power, respectively). Do those bonuses last for the entire scene or is it merely for that one effort (as I think the book implies)? I always imagined such critters gradually using up their resources during a fight, and the book says nothing about duration; ergo, the box (es) checked off are only good for that one particular effort.
Question #2: Concerning a Vampire’s Grapple and feeding. Assuming it invokes the grapple, I assume it automatically inflicts whatever Condition(s) upon the target it wants to?
1) Unless it says otherwise in the text, any advantage gained by crossing off a box of a condition applies only to the action at hand. It’s essentially equivalent to spending a fate point for a temporary advantage, except that it has a baked in narrative complication of running out of the resource and having to feed (or whatever) to top it up again.
2) No. The vampire must establish a Grappled aspect to justify being able to feed from the target, but after that they must attack the victim with an attack action to actually inflict a condition (and thus feed). They *can* invoke the ‘Grappled’ aspect to aid them on a later feeding attack.
We are putting together a Dresden accelerated game and I am trying to make a priest with true believer powers and I am hitting a huge toadblock as there isnt a mantle for a true believer mortal. Can anyone help or point me in the right direction. Was thinking of trying to use the true believer stunts in the core books but trying to translate them to accelerated. Any help would really help.
Hi Andy! I’d start with the Leader of the People mantle (“You might be a priest, an activist, or a social worker…”, page 126) and then borrow a few stunts (and conditions) from Knight of the Cross and/or Focused Practitioner, depending on how you see your character’s particular take on faith functioning.
Hi Andy,
There’s an explicit example of a True Believer in the book, but it’s tucked away in the ritual magic section, on page 177.
Father Gabriel Beaumont’s belief justifies him using ritual magic to achieve a goal aligned with his faith; in the example he creates a ward.
Fred’s suggestion to use the Leader of the People mantle is a great one, and then they don’t need any stunts or other justification to be able to perform faith-based ritual magic, but you could swap out one of the other stunts of the mantle for a variant of the Thaumaturgy stunt if you’d like to create a specific True Believer mantle.
Really liking the concept of mantles and conditions as a way to model what makes a character distinctive.
I had a question about the Summer/Winter Courtier conditions on p. 160/162 though. They look like they should be Special conditions that are always marked, but they’re not always marked and there wasn’t any way I could find to mark or clear them. There aren’t any sample characters with the mantle either, exactly, but the Faerie Queens and Faerie Ladies have those eponymous conditions and they’re always marked.
Are Summer/Winter Courtier there to be descriptive conditions like Faerie Queen/Lady, so they should be always marked? Or are they there to do something else, like let you scale up a Summer/Winter invocation on a limited schedule, and if that’s the case, should the Queens and Ladies also have that condition?
They are special rather than sticky or lasting conditions, and the book doesn’t give any information about when they’re marked or how to clear them. There are also no stunts listed that require them to be marked. All of this makes me believe they are supposed to be always marked.