Everyone wants to be Harry Dresden. Except maybe Harry Dresden. And people who haven’t read Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files books, in which case, get thee hence to a bookstore! Assuming you’ve done this already, the Dresden Files RPG is the perfect solution to the eternal wait for the next book in the series. This licensed product is made up of two core books: Volume One: Your Story, and Volume Two: Our World. Your Story provides all the game mechanics and systemy bits you need to get started using the popular Fate RPG system. Our World gives you everything you need to populate your game with awesome things from the books. Meet with your favorite characters for a pint at Mac’s or take a trip through the Nevernever to save the world. Don’t forget your blasting rod.
We’ll take an extra pint of Mac’s brew and a Whopper to celebrate the following Dresden Files RPG awards:
- 2011 Gold ENnies: Best Writing, Best Rules, Best New Game and Best Game
- 2011 Silver ENnies: Best Production Values and Product of the Year
- 2010 Golden Geek Game of the Year
- 2010 Golden Geek Best Art/Presentation (for Volume One)
- 2011 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game
- 2011 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Supplement (for Volume Two)
The Dresden Files RPG. More fun than riding an undead dinosaur through the streets of Chicago, and that’s saying a lot.
Hello,
Great game, but is there any chance, that you’ll publish a real adevnture or even a campaign?
How about the three free ones we published on DriveThruRPG in 2011? http://drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/2152/Evil-Hat-Productions-LLC/subcategory/3924_19295/Dresden-Files
I would like to add that as a person who has played each of those free games, they are enjoyable in different ways. They provide a good example of how adventures can be different and also how, depending on the “power level/Refresh” of your character, different situations can be viewed and handled from different viewpoints and not everything has to be hack and slash.
Thanks for the answers.
I downloaded those adventures some time ago and I was hoping for more adventures, longer ones.
Going into my fourth decade of GM’ing. I very rarely use pre-built/canned adventures.
However, designing & developing my own gameworld certainly does not pay the rent.
Thus, what I find useful isn’t so much adventures, as settings (like the very nice
Boston setting you guys have supplied).
Something I would like to see would be a few “world-wide plot-idea” settings, too.
These would all be optional (obviously), but should lay out some possible campaign
drivers: The Dark Council; The Knights of the Blackened Denarius; The Seige of the
Wall at the End of Winter; Political stances and infighting in the White Council; etc.
These would give some “meat”, possibly with “alternate interpretations” of the goals
and abilities of some of the “movers and shakers” of the Dresden universe (I think
the multiple variant descriptions of Amberites in the Amber Game is a good example).
These should be general, and not too detailed – mostly giving a framework for the GM
to build upon. Of course, these would also suggest new avenues of adventure for the
GM and players, as well.
For my second Dresden Files character, I attempted to build a Holy Warrior based loosely
on the Indian (Hindu/Vedic) mythos. I am treating most of the “smaller” mythic Indian
creatures (deva, rakshasa, etc.) as specialized Faerie, with their own shared and fought
over Realms. Not certain it really holds together, but it does work.
In this vein, I’d like to see some sort of “Regional Mythoi” interpretation for intersting
backgrounds. Mythic India, Mythic Japan, Aztec and/or Mayan mythos, etc., that would help
keep both verisimilatude, and a (hopefully) balanced way of incorporating non-western
cultures. Obviously, the books themselves have hints of Norse/Nordic powers, which are
technically western, but are definitely not mainstream “people of the book” derivatives.
Have you checked out the Paranet Papers supplement yet? Might scratch some of those itches you’ve got there.
I was wondering if your wonderful design team at Evil Hat had though about trying to incorporate the dresdenverse in a tcg or ccg because the word Epic would seem apporite
Hey all! I’ve played in a couple DFRPG campaigns, but I’m going to be running one soon. I’ve DM’d other tabletops before but I never seem satisfied with my performance as one. Any tips for running a campaign in the Dresdenverse, how to keep the story and encounters fun, etc.?
Jon, strongly recommend you head over to Jim Butcher’s online forums and hit up the DFRPG focused boards with this question. Lots of experienced DFRPG GMs there!
Hey all! Any chance of expanding this awesome universe to console gamers such as myself? Specifically the XBox One. Consoles have come a long way and with updates and DLC there is a potential for many riches to be acquired by this franchise. I love the series and I think it would to the console gaming world! Could be the next WOW.
Ran it for the first time in Thailand, using Thai language to my local Thai group. Everyone loved it! Thank you for making Dresden Files TRPG! We look forward to see more books!
Will there be any new updates to catch up to the world where it is in skin game?
The Paranet Papers book catches up to Ghost Story. Beyond Ghost Story, things get a little … odd. Folks should be able to figure out how to stat most things simply from reading the novels, and the upcoming lighter-weight Dresden Files Accelerated RPG will have stronger support for playing the sorts of power levels we see in the post-Changes/Ghost Story books.
Hey, I just purchased the Paranet pdf and was looking at getting Our World (print copy) finally. But I have the same question as at least one person posted earlier. Will there be any campaign or group of adventures published? I know there are the short free ones, but my friends and I have been looking for over a year for some kind of published outline or campaign, hence just owning “Your Story.” Working (too much) means there is only time to read through campaigns and understand the literature and flow, not come up with full plot lines and textual interactions, before playing. Are there any plans to have adventures/campaigns beyond just the rulebooks? Thanks!
Hi Michael,
We’ve got the free ones publsied that you mentioned, but just in cases someone else hasn’t see them here are our current Dresden Files RPG adventures:
Dresden Files RPG Casefile: Neutral Grounds
Dresden Files RPG Casefile: Night Fears
Dresden Files RPG Casefile: Evil Acts
As for additional content beyond that, we don’t have anything in production at the moment, but as Dresden Files Accelerated gets closer to completion we’ll discuss creating more adventure content and/or quick starts internally.
Thanks Sean. I did a lot of roaming around the net and realised there was nothing outside of bespoke campaigns. With the Fate Accelerated, maybe more will come, so that’s good to think on. “Your Story” is one of the best, art-wise and the paper and book itself is great. The content and rules are awesome. Without the published adventures, it’s limited for myself and my busy group, but I doubt that’ll stop me from getting “Our World” at some point for my own reading pleasure (and I’m not saying I won’t use “Your Story” rules & characters for a Dragonlance campaign here shortly…hopefully). Seems like all publishers are going for the settings now instead of campaigns and adventures.
You might be looking for Paranet Papers, really. Or rather: the closest thing we’re doing in the DFRPG space to what you’re talking about is the Paranet Papers book.
as Dresden Files Accelerated gets closer to completion we’ll discuss creating more adventure content and/or quick starts internall <<<<< HOORAY!!!! Please make adventure books!
I’m currently reading the Dresden Files and I’m on book 6 right now.
I have an opportunity to give this game a try at a Boardgaming Convention in a couple weeks. I’ll likely be better than half way through the series by then.
My question is whether there will be any spoilers in the game. I hate spoilers! Am I safe?
Assuming you’re talking about the RPG (and not the card game), if you’ve read up to book #10, you’re safe for spoilers on the first two volumes of the RPG. If you’ve read up through Ghost Story, you’re safe for spoilers on the 3rd volume (Paranet Papers).
Thanks, Fred.
It’s under the RPG section and is called “Uncivil War”. I suppose I could not do housework or sleep enough and just finish the series before the convention XD hehe j/k… or am I?
I would like to see a long campaing….
Do you need the fate core books for this or can it be played straight from the two Dresden files books.
This RPG was published three years before Fate Core, so you definitely do not need Fate Core to play it. 🙂
Where can I get ahold of this to try it out? A link to buy it? Or is it something to be ordered to a games store?
A good place to start would be the big green “buy now” button at the top of this page. You can also ask for a specialty games store to order you a copy, we’re with most major games distributors.
Hey, do you guys have a looking for game, or a place people who want to run a Dresden game and are looking for players can post to?
We don’t but social media offers several options, such as Jim Butcher’s online forum (there’s an RPG specific board), the Google+ Fate group, RPG Geek, etc.
Hi Jennifer, thanks for checking in. All our forum-y activity is over in the Fate Core G+ community: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/117231873544673522940
There is also a smaller community just for the Dresden Files RPG: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/103044538408330345444
Both have “Looking for Group” sections. Hope you find some great peeps to game with!
Hey, the runes you use in the books, are there letter equivalents posted anywhere?
I believe I used a font named Zhayad, strictly decoratively.
Awesome! Thank you for that … now do remember what font was used to create the images on page 112 of Your Story? It looks familiar, but I can’t remember where.
Have you ever considered setting up an organized play society? Like Paizo did for Pathfinder, or Wizards did with Adventurer Leage? I think a Dresden FIles RPG society would be AWESOME! Call it the Paranet Adventures or something, like all the players are actually paranet memebers. Allows people to play your official adventures, and they can take a character they built one place and play someplace else cause of a set standard of rules. I haven’t gotten to play much, so I am not sure if the systen would really work for that, but it would be something I know would do great in every gaming community I have ever been part of. And I know several people who have contributed writings and content to Paizo and Wizards who might be willing to help out too.
I am looking into starting my own game (I’ve never played a tabletop) and I love the Dresden Files. Does everyone need to have read all the books? What is the best way to start playing? Also, are there any new expansions coming out? I saw something called “Nevermore,” but I don’t see where you can purchase that. Please contact me via Twitter @Kingkoward or email me on the board! Hope to talk to some Dresdenites soon! Ciao~
Nevermore was a preview of one of the chapters found in the first volume, Your Story.
DFRPG was published in two volumes (Your Story / Our World) in 2010, before our release of Fate Core in 2013. This original set potentially spoilers information from the books up to book #10. We added volume 3, Paranet Papers a few years later, which caught things up through Ghost Story.
The 2010 DFRPG line ends with Paranet Papers. It is not as streamlined as our newer work in Fate, and is more of a “heavyweight” implementation.
In an effort to produce a lighter-weight, single-volume, streamlined-and-modern version, we released Dresden Files Accelerated in 2017, which is a separate, stand-alone, self-contained implementation of Fate Core for the Dresden Files setting. I tend to recommend it as the better option, since it benefits from us getting 7 years smarter. That said, you should still be able to adapt the setting information and material found in the earlier RPG’s books. Dresden Files Accelerated benefits also from being done later in the novel series’ timeline, so it covers (and spoils) material up to Skin Game.