Season 1 Recap

Last year started off strong with fairly regular game play, then we hit the mid-season slump and didn't play very often. The last game session was in August. I'm happy to report that our game got renewed for a second season, with hopefully more episodes to see actual play.

The game centers around three characters (and we always have room for a fourth...):

• A part-time Wizard of the White Council who happens to be the local TV weatherman. He hasn't had a problem with being around so much technology...yet.
• An ex-military grunt and gun-nut now working as a bodyguard. He has eyes only for his MP5 and his boss's luxury cars.
• A healer and ally to the fairy-folk who who fell through time from the future via a fairy circle. She's a dedicated physician - to both mortals and fairies.

The bodyguard and healer work for a wealthy philanthropist who happens to be a retired occult investigator. He often uses them and the local wizard as a field team to look into suspicious activity.

Here are some notes about this seasnon's episodes. The investigators were engaged in:

• Hunting down a serial killer who turned out to be a local woman possessed by the spirit of an ancient goblin shaman. This first adventure also introduced the group to a few recurring characters: the local homicide detective and a local group of amateur paranormal investigators.
• Aiding a member of the White Council in removing a cursed suit of armor from a rich wannabe wizard's collection.
• Stopping the kidnapping and torture of fairies by a crazed veterinarian who was giving the captured creatures to a mad scientist for use in his research.
• Found that said mad scientist was trying to distill the essence of fairy creatures in order to give their magical powers to normal mortals. The investigators learned that he had succeeded in duplicating Dr. Henry Jekyll's formula for instilling great strength into a person.
• The mad scientist was working for a vampire of the Red Court who seemed to be a fan of local theatre while eschewing the politics of the Red Court. He had hired the mad scientist to find a cure for his "solar allergies."
• In trying to capture and question the mad scientist, who happened to be a respected professor of historical anthropology at UVA, they triggered a booby trap and blew up his kitchen.
• In their final encounter with the mad scientist and the vampire, which also turned out to be the final episode of the season, the body count rose higher than ever. (The group had actually been careful about using extreme violence.) The episode resulted in the deaths of the mad scientist's three henchmen (who had been supernaturally enhanced with the "Hyde" formula), and the wizard being paralyzed by a dart from the scientist's concealed airgun. When the evening ended, the vampire had fled, the paranormal investigators were rescued, and the mad scientist was dead from surgically placed knife wounds at the hands of the physician.

I can't tell you how happy I was to hear how much the players fretted about that ending during our hiatus! We've started Season 2 of the game and they were happy to find themselves NOT in jail. But more on that later.

A look at the Big Picture - an urban fantasy game

It occurred to that I've been immersed in the details of this game setting, but haven't talked about the more generic side of it. So let's take a look. The novels that are our source material are housed in a new genre called "urban fantasy." They're first and foremost fantasy fiction - wizards, magic, monsters, swords, faeries, etc. They happen to be set in a modern day setting. And thus the genre label.

Our game will probably be the same. Because I'm familiar with our play styles, I know the focus will be on action & adventure, with just enough intrigue and mystery thrown in to keep the characters moving. Since the game is set in the modern day, there'll be guns, cars, computers, and modern sensibilities and moder gear. But there'll also be lots of supernatural elements hiding just inside the shadows. So one of the PCs might have a Sig Sauer in one hand and an enchanted sword in the other, while another PC reads from a musty tome from inside a protective circle. Meanwhile a third character triggers his Changeling blood and morphs into some kind of werebeastie.

The field is also wide open for the characters. During character generation, we'll create enough backstory to explain who the PCs are and why they hunt monsters together. Or whatever it is that they do. The PCs might be a die-hard group like the A-Team or Buffy's Scooby Gang; or they might only come together to solve the occasional mystery, which is more what we see in the Dresden Files. And with you guys, I have no idea what kind of characters you'll put together. There might not be ANY wizards in the group, or you might ALL want to play mages. And either extreme is fine with me. This game is going to give us the opportunity to have a lot of fun, very different from all the D&D we've played most recently.

And that's where I am now with game prep: I need to know what you guys are interested in, both in terms of what you want to see, and what kinds of characters you want to play. Expect an email from me shortly.

Generating Aspects

Each character will begin the game with five Aspects and gain an additional Aspect with each rank advancement. While the number of Aspects is fixed, individual Aspects can change over time. A character could gain or lose a group affiliation, incur an injury that makes him no longer "Dazzlingly handsome," etc. An Aspect may or not be tied to game stats; some will, some won't.

On the other hand, if the character has a Hindrance that is meant to be roleplayed and not directly represented by mechanics, like Overconfident, Curious, or Connected, then that Hindrance needs to be reflected in an Aspect. So, if your character has the Addicted Hindrance, he should have an Aspect like "Stoner," "Loves the bottle," or just plain old "Drunk all the time." Whatever best describes his situation.

I think it's time for an example using real characters. Let's try Harry Dresden himself. Some examples we could consider are:

• Hard-boiled detective
• Warden of the White Council
• The only wizard in the phone book
• Impulsive smartass
• Chivalrous to a fault, Knight in shining armor, or Old fashioned boy
• I have a fairy godmother
• I've seen the Dark Side and I spat in its face
• Guided by my conscience
• My dog is smarter than me
• Friend of the little people (this one can be applied both figuratively AND literally)
• Honor demands it!
• Dysfunctional family
• Electronics hate me
• I have powerful friends…and more powerful enemies
• Underworld ties (again, this could be used to refer to his ties to Marcone or to the Nevernever)
• Can't keep a good man down
• Hard to kill

All of these statements can be applied to Harry. The better ones for our purposes are those that can be used to create interesting situations in the game, or to pull into play when the character is stuck. So how would we use some of these Aspects? I'll start at the top.

"Hard-boiled detective" could be used to introduce plot elements. Say Harry is very busy thinking about his current difficulty, when the GM holds up a bennie and says, "A distraught woman approaches you. She has one of your business cards." If the player accepts the bennie, then he and the GM play out a quick encounter.

If he turns it down, the woman excuses herself with a promise to call him later or maybe he quickly takes her name and number with a promise of the same. Point is, if the player accepts the offer, then it becomes an interesting scene, possibly at the expense of distracting the player and the character from matters at hand. If he doesn't accept, then the situation dissolves.

From the player's standpoint, say Harry is in the same situation as above, trying to put together the pieces of his current mystery, and he's either stumped, or needs something done that he doesn't have time to do. He could spend a bennie to invoke "Hard-boiled detective" and suggest that he calls in a favor to get information or have someone run an errand for him. Either way, this idea helps move the game and story forward, so the GM would likely accept the suggestion.

My favorite of Harry's Aspects is probably "Impulsive smartass." We can all see how the GM would invoke this – the same way Butcher does in the books: by having Harry mouth off in the most inappropriate way at the worst time, insulting the person he really needs to favor. The player could use it to have the perfect comeback when facing an annoying NPC or to bait someone with a verbal distraction. Personally, I highly recommend this as an Aspect.

Personality Aspects

Here is where I've decided to do something different. I'm adding my favorite mechanic from another game, Spirit of the Century, to this game. It's an easy add-on that won't change how Savage Worlds works, but I think will add to the roleplaying.

Aspects are short, descriptive phrases that convey something about the character, like "Smarter than the average bear," "With great power comes great responsibility," or "Hunted by the Red Court." These Aspects are used in the game in a couple of ways, beyond describing the character.

1. The GM can use aspects to award bennies to the players by bringing an appropriate aspect into play at times when embracing that aspect would present the player character with an interesting or troublesome roleplaying opportunity. This is called "tapping" or "invoking" an aspect.
     For example, say a PC is trying to break into a necromancer's lair and needs to sneak past a guard to do so. Say the character succeeds in making his Stealth roll, but the GM thinks this is good opportunity for more action and recalls that the PC has "Two left feet." So the GM, while holding up a bennie, suggests that the PC stumbles into a table, sending lot of stuff clattering to the floor, spoiling the attempt at sneaking.
     This doesn't mean that the PC gets caught, but it does present him with a more exciting situation. Of course, if the player decides that it's more important to successfully bypass the guard, he could just say no thanks to the bennie, and all goes according to plan.
     Naturally, this works both ways. In the same situation, the player could be the one suggest invoking the aspect and make things more interesting in exchange for a bennie from the GM.

2. Players can use aspects to assert some narrative control over the story. Say the PCs need some info aobut the eccentric and reclusive scientist outside of town, and so far, they've hit a brick wall. One of the characters has the aspect "Hardcore Wahoo" and suggests that maybe the guy with season seats next to his works in the college science department. And just maybe that guy can give them some info.
     If the GM thinks this is a reasonable idea, the player can spend a bennie to invoke the aspect and gain some useful information from his stadium-neighbor.

3. Finally, players can spend a bennie to tap an appropriate aspect and receive a +2 on a trait roll. Say a thief is trying to pick a lock. He could tap his aspect "Steady hands" to get a +2 on the attempt.This being Savage Worlds, bennies can already be used to reroll a failed action, so at first this might not seem all that useful. But consider that you could tap several aspects, each giving a +2, so long as they are appropriate and the player has the bennies to spend.

The purpose behind aspects and using them in this game is to give the GM (me) a more straightforward and balanced way of handing out bennies, while also giving players opportunities to have their characters shine. Going back to the source, here are some examples of aspects and how they could be used. Be sure to page down to the big chart!

Coming next: Character generation and choosing aspects.

Factions & Groups

All of the below is just political flavor for the game. And a bare-bones encapsulation of Jim Butcher's sweat and tears. But any of these groups are excellent fodder for stuff in the game.

1. White Council – already covered and full members get the Wizard background edge. But I wanted to add that it's the only mages guild we know of. There could be other smaller, less official guilds that just haven't registered on the White Guild's radar. Or guilds/covens that are avoiding the White Council's radar…


2. Black Council – this is a group of powerful wizards and/or monsters that are trying, for whatever reason, to subvert the White Council's world dominance. At first, only Harry Dresden believed they existed, and he coined the term. But as of the events in Turncoat, at least some members of the White Council were willing to believe his crazy theories.

3. Paranet – This group figures heavily for us. Most likely, the PCs are, or will be, a local cell. This is an underground, laymen's organization of practitioners who act to alert Harry to suspicious occult activity. (Harry's responsibility as a Warden of the White Council includes policing most of North America, so he created this network to assist him in his duties.) If something local happens that the Paranet cell can't handle, the call Harry. Similarly, if he needs to spread word about an invasion of the fey, he sends an alert down the line.

4. The Vampire Courts – I might cover this in more detail in a separate post. Vampires come in three colors of political and biological persuasion: Red, White, and Black Courts. They are ALL evil with only one exception that we know of. I am not going to run an Ann Rice "touch me, I'm ambiguously oriented" vampire campaign. If you encounter a vampire of ANY shade in this game…kill it.

5. Denarians – Fallen angels, now demons. What more do you need to know? They give a mortal incredible power at the cost of his soul. Move along. Seriously.

6. Alphas – A local group of werewolves, and a good example of a Paranet cell. They also represent how superheroes could work in Savage Dresden.

7. Nevernever – Jim Butcher's only failing as a writer - don't hurt me; I recognize that he chose this name very deliberately. It's the faerie world where all the monsters come from. Also used as an in-between point for dimensional travel and teleport. And it's dangerous. Things there don't like things from here. It's controlled by two opposing forces: the Summer House and the Winter House. And each house has three rulers who aren't necessarily aligned with one another. Lots of infighting and use of mortal pawns.

I have to say that what I'm really looking for in this game is something that's easy to prepare for, easy to run, and set in the modern day. Savage Worlds certainly gives me the first two criteria, and using the Dresden Files as a setting amply provides the third. All of the people in this group, except for one guy, have absorbed the books and short stories. I've probably read nearly all of the short stories, and am working my way through a second reading of the novels. Everyone else in the group can boast more than that. Except of course for that one guy, but he is the hardest-core gamer of all of us, so he'll adapt.


The real question is when am I going to run the game? This blog is supposed to be a way to help me dispense my thoughts and pre-game prep-work. But if I'm not careful, it'll just be a way of postponing the game.

To my players, I want to give this list of responsibilities:

1. Given what you know of the game world, or in Rich's case, the generic modern supernatural genre, think about what kind of character you'd like to run.

Like most games set in the modern world, this game is scaled to modern human norms. Yes, you'll encounter supernatural stuff, but not necessarily anything that Karl Kolchak couldn't handle. Do you want to play the psionic noob, the hard-boiled detective/reporter/conspiracy blogger, the college co-ed witch, the soldier just back from overseas, or the normal guy just getting caught up in his friends' situation?

2. What sorts of things would you like to see in a modern day, supernatural game?

Do you want to meet (or be?) Sam & Dean from Supernatural? Prefer to recapture the horror of your Buffy-style high school days? Or do you want to be a military clean-up crew who sweeps this scary stuff under the rug so the norms don't have to worry about it? Or, do you want to be part of a biker club who, amongst other bikery things, looks out for the well being of your town?

3. Bitch at me to run the damned game.

Seriously, without YOU motivating ME, it's not going to happen. I need to know that you guys want to play this thing.

Wizards vs mages

Another distinction the world of the Dresden Files makes about magic is about the kinds of people who practice magic. Anyone who has the talent for it can become a practitioner of magic, and they are referred to generically as mages or sorcerers or any other such term.

The distinction comes with the capital W, as in Wizards. A Wizard is someone who has taken the professional track to study magic and joined the White Council of Magic. This is the secret brotherhood of mages who police the world, protecting us normal people from all the things that go bump in the night. They also abide by and enforce the Seven Laws of Magic, which basically state that you can only use magic for good, can't use magic to kill a normal human, can't bind a being's will to yours (mind control), and that you cannot practice necromantic magic. There's more to it, but you get the idea.

Along with membership in the White Council comes professional training (every Wizard has a mentor), a knowledge base to draw upon for research, and a potential pool of allies and back-up, should you have good reason to call upon them. The downside is LOTS of beauracracy, more experienced wizards sometimes meddling in your affairs and telling you what to do, and the possibility of being called to fulfill some duty or other. Basically, plot motivators.

And if you're familiar with the Savage World rules, you might notice that membership in the White Council sounds very similar to the description of the Wizard edge. And that's how I'm going to use it. Any character wanting to belong to the White Coucil needs to take this edge.

Most of the time the converse will also be true: if you have the Wizard edge, it normally means you are a member of the White Council. But I'm not going to paint myself in a corner. It's highly possible that there are other schools or societies out there with a similar degree of training and support. For example, that mysterious "Black Council" that Harry Dresden is always theorizing about could very well be larger than anyone realizes. Or maybe the Wiccans become a professional force in the world. Who knows?

By and large though, I'm using the Wizard edge to represent membership in the White Council. And I think that will cover that topic. Up next: factions and groups.

How to handle the magic

One of the first things I decided is that this game will not be a literal interpretation of the novels. Not every person who uses magic will have it function exactly the way Harry Dresden's magic works. There's precedent for this in the books: Molly doesn't need a physical focus to cast her veils. But on the other hand, very few people will be as powerful as Harry. Similarly, those with the Arcane Background (Miracles) will probably be able to cast more overt spells than we ever saw from Michael.

So, what kind of characters can we expect? Mages and wizards, certainly. Perhaps a werewolf or other forms of shapeshifters. Street-saavy cops, ex-military snipers, or hardboiled detectives should all be capable characters. That's one reason I decided to go with Savage Worlds as the game system - it's specifically designed for characters of differing abilities to be able to work together. I'll talk more about other character options in a later post.

Let's start with mages. I'm using the Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition rules, and not much else, so I need to be able to duplicate the types of things we see with the core rules. Harry's magic seems to follow two different routes: either he channels his own energy through a focus item (blasting rod, shield bracelet, etc.), or he uses items that have their own supply of stored energy (like his force rings).

When I first began this conversion, the first thing I had to figure out was whether Harry had the Weird Science background, or straight Magic. I mean, he uses lots of magic items, right? But the power for those items comes from Harry, not the items themselves - that's clearly Magic rather than Weird Science. The items represent added flavor to his powers, more specifically, his need for these external foci sounds a lock like some kind of Hindrance to me.
So, Harry would have the standard Magic arcane background, but with a Focus Hindrance. This was suggested by one of the smart people (Noshrok Grimskull) on the Pinnacle Entertainment message boards. Here's how I'll define it:

Arcane Focus - the mage requires a physical item to focus his magic. Without the focus, channeling magic is more difficult for him; spells are harder to cast or drain more power then normal. As a minor hindrance, the mage receives a -2 penalty on his Spellcasting skill rolls OR the spells cost 2x the power points. As a major hindrance, both versions of the minor form apply (-2 on skill checks AND 2x point cost), OR the spellcasting penalty is increased to -4, OR the caster cannot cast at all without his focus. The player may choose how the hindrance affects his or her character.

In Harry Dresden's case, each spell requires its own focus for best control, but we've also seen him use his staff as a multipurpose focus when his preferred item wasn't available. And when he doesn't have the focus, his spells are less accurate, more difficult to cast, and use up more of his energy supply.

Magic items have their own internal power supply and work just like items created by someone with the Weird Science arcane background. Other characters could spend an advance to purchase a magic item, although some in-game explanation is required too. To play a character who relies on their own arsenal of magic items, I'll use a magic version of the Weird Science arcane background. I'll call that the Artificer or something. I'll let someone else come up with a name for it.

So as I mentioned, this was the first hurdle I needed to cross in order to feel like I could successfully pull off a rendition of Butcher's world. In my next post, I'll discuss the different kinds of mages that'll be showing up in my game.

So...what is a Savage Dresden?

I currently have two fanboy loves: the Savage Worlds roleplaying game and the Dresden Files series of novels and short stories by Jim Butcher. My goal for this blog, as mentioned in the header, is to share my notes and thoughts for making my homebrew Dresden Files game setting using Savage Worlds as the rules.Because both are so awesome.

The first thing I'll make note of is that I don't want to set the game in Chicago. Chicago and its environs are amply covered by Butcher's works. There's no room for a group of player characters to show off there. Rather, my plan is to set the game in a different city, quite possibly Charlottesville, Virginia, since that's near where I am. At least one of the PCs will be tied into the Paranet (a loose network of occultists, sorcerors, hedge mages and other people keyed into the supernatural).

For a while, I was very tempted to set the game in 12 to Midnight's Pinebox setting because it's a great setting, it has the mood I want my game to have, and they have a lot of high-quality adventures and source material. I hesitated and finally decided not to use it because I'm afraid the setting might be too rural and it's really designed for a horror game, where I'm looking for an urban fantasy setting. Once I put my finger on that distinction, I quickly realized Pinebox wasn't right for this game. So, while I won't be using the setting, there's a good chance I'll use a couple of their adventures. But if I were looking to run a modern horror game, I'd go to Pinebox in a heartbeat.

So that's the plan: I'm putting together a modern fantasy game set in the world of Harry Dresden. I'll be incorporating a lot of the factions and groups, character types, and magic styles from those works. And hopefully I'll be able to channel some of Butcher's detective-noir stylings as well. Wish me luck.