#dresden files rpg

[majingojira]

Boiling Down a Character to a Single Line...

So, I recently brushed off my copy of The Dresden Files RPG books and decided to do some writeups of a few character concepts (Pro-Wrestler Emotional Vampire, Draconic Pi-Ma-Wen), including favorite characters.

The way the system works, characters have aspects. One Aspect rules over the basic idea of the character. Their "High Concept".

Like, The Titular Harry Dresden's "Wizard Private Eye" is his High Concept. When I wrote up Buffy Summers, her High Concept ended up as (for season 1) "The Chosen One is a Cheerleader."

A High Concept is generally broad but can be read as both a positive and a negative (all Aspects are like this).

But what about one of my favorite characters, Cassandra Cain?

Coming up with Aspects was pretty easy.

Specifically:

My First Language Is Movement

No One Dies Tonight

If I Can Change, So Can You

Peak Human Ability

‘ the Heck are Social Norms?

Even her Trouble (Haunted by Assassin Past and Assassin Family) was easy to figure out.

But what of her High Concept?

I've toyed with a lot of things (Silent Protector, Shadow of the Bat, etc) but nothing quite fits.

I've been stumped on it for over a day now. Anyone got any ideas?

[foundry-fabrications]

System Spotlight: Monster of the Week

Hello everyone, and welcome to another System Spotlight! Today I've got a pulpy game full of mysteries and monsters, so let's split up, gang, and Investigate a Mystery on Monster of the Week by Evil Hat Productions!

MotW is a mystery solving and monster hunting RPG inspired by shows like Scooby-Doo, Supernatural, The X-Files, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You play as a team of investigators out to solve mysteries and fight evil, usually in short, self-contained or “episodic” adventures strung together into a larger campaign, each surrounding a new mystery or monster, hence the name.

Character Creation

You start by picking one of several “playbooks”, each based on a popular archetype or trope from the genre, such as The Chosen, The Spell-Slinger, The Mundane, The Wronged, or The Monstrous. Think of them like classes in other RPGs. Each playbook has everything you need to make and play that character until their inevitable death or retirement, including character advancement.

Then you pick one from five attribute arrays. There are five attributes (Charm, Cool, Sharp, Tough, and Weird) and each array has some strong attributes and some weaker attributes, with the others being in between.

From there, we can start getting into the real meat of the playbooks by picking moves and other details specific to each playbook. Every playbook has their own set of moves in addition to all the basic moves, which we’ll talk about those later. For example, the Expert has things like “I’ve Read About This Sort Of Thing”, which lets you roll using Sharp instead of Cool when you act under pressure, or the Spell-Slinger has “Shield Spell”, which lets you reduce the damage of an attack when you protect someone. Each playbook has a lot of options so you have a lot to play with.

In addition to the moves, many of the playbook have other special features that are unique to them. For example, the Professional works for an agency that gives you resources in missions, but you have to deal with some kind of restrictions on what you can do, while the Wronged has a background that gives them benefits as well as a connection to the supernatural underworld. Again, there are a lot of fun options.

Finally, you pick from a list of special gear that you can use on missions such as weapons or equipment, then you establish your history with the other characters in your group. This is a fun little activity that really helps to get the group dynamic going. Each playbook has a list of prompts for what each other character could be to you. For example, they could a blood relation, saved you from a monster, act as your moral compass, or maybe you’re really attracted to them. Lots of fun options.

Resolution Mechanic & Moves

MotW is a Powered by the Apocalypse game (huh, two in a row) that uses 3d6 and a few basic moves for pretty much everything. There are 8 moves, each pretty self-explanatory: Act Under Pressure, Help Out, Investigate a Mystery, Kick Some Ass, Manipulate Someone, Protect Someone, Read a Bad Situation, and Use Magic. Whenever you want to do one of those things, roll 3d6 and add any relevant rating bonus or situational modifiers. On a 10+ you do exactly what you set out to do. 7-9 whatever you’re doing is less effective and usually has some kind of downside. But anything under a 7 is a failure and nothing happens. Each move tells you exactly what happens at each threshold, but that's the gist of it.

Each move also has an Advanced effect that can trigger if you roll 12+, but you have to have taken one of the Advanced Move options as part of character advancement, which we’ll talk about in a bit.

Harm & Luck

Running around fighting monsters and thwarting evil is dangerous, so sooner or later you’re bound to get hurt. Whenever you take damage, you subtract it from any armor you have and mark the remainder as points of Harm. Once you mark 4 harm, you’re Unstable, and at 7 Harm, you’re Dying! If you take any more Harm, that’s the end for you and your character is dead. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to heal in MotW through downtime and certain moves across various playbooks.

But what if you REALLY need to avoid taking a hit, or you just fumbled an important roll, that's where Luck comes in. Each character begins with 7 points of Luck. You can spend luck to reduce the harm taken from an attack to 0 or retroactively change the result of a roll to a 12. Here’s the kicker. Your luck is finite and does NOT come back (except in EXTREMELY specific circumstances that shouldn’t be relied on), and once it runs out, you’re Doomed! A Doomed character is at the end of the line and Fate isn’t happy with your existence. The GM, or Keeper, is allowed to make more and more bad stuff happen to you. Results of failure will be worse, monsters will target you more often, any bad, fate-related things in your playbook will begin to happen, and past decision will come back to bite you at the worst time. Doomed characters don’t last long, so don’t let it get to that point if you can help it.

Character Advancement

Ok, so character creation and actual play are pretty straightforward, and that trend continues with your advancement. You gain experience whenever you fail a roll, and once you have 5 experience, you can pick an Improvement from a list in your playbook. These are things like increasing a rating by one, gaining a new move, or taking a move from another playbook entirely. Once you have 5 Improvements, you qualify to take Advanced Improvements. These are even stronger things like gaining 2 Advanced Moves, changing your entire playbook, retiring your character while they still live, or even regaining one of your spent Luck!

Other Stuff

That’s pretty much everything as far as player-facing content goes, but there’s a good bit more for the GM to dig in to. There is advice for creating your own mysteries, stringing mysteries together in arcs, and running downtime and one-shots, an introductory mystery, suggestions for how to customize your game, and a big ol’ list of inspirational material.

Tome of Mysteries and Codex of Worlds

But if you’re looking for more MotW content (official, anyway), Evil Hat published the Tome of Mysteries and, just this last year, the Codex of Worlds. The Tome of Mysteries is just that, a collection of new pre-made mysteries you can run, while the Codex of Worlds is a full-blown expansion with all kinds of fun additions to spice up your game. There are new rules, special team playbooks that the whole group can use, and entire settings to shake up the game, each with their own rules and mysteries! It’s like a 400-page book and a delight to read.

My Thoughts

So, it took me a while to get into playing MotW. It was my first encounter with an RPG that was more narrative focused in its mechanics than D&D and I struggled to wrap my head around it. My friend was running a long-term campaign in it, so I heard a lot of what went on and the kinds of shenanigans the group got up to, and I was curious. Over the years, he ran a couple one-shots, and frankly I didn’t get much out of either. Something about it just didn’t click with me. But this last Halloween, he ran an SCP-themed game using some of the stuff from Codex of Worlds, and that one finally got me. I don’t know if it's because of my love for the SCP universe or that our one-shot quickly became a four-shot, giving us more time together and less pressure to finish in a timely manner, but that game really made me understand it and appreciate it for what it is. And I like what it is.

So, what do I like? Well for starters it's dummy simple, something that has become increasingly important for me over the years. The basic resolution mechanic is clean, the moves are clearly defined, but open-ended enough for creative uses, and because you’re mostly going to be rolling 7-9s it keeps the game interesting. And I could just gush about the playbooks! I think they’re my favorite part of the games, easy. They’re stupid simple to use, are completely self-contained, and have enough options to make a wide variety of characters but not so many options as to be overwhelming. You can hand a brand-new player a playbook, and they can be ready to play in 5 minutes, maybe 10. I wish more RPGs had their classes laid out like this (if you know any, let me know!).

Another great thing about the playbooks is that because they’re so well-structured, it makes it easy for people to make their own custom playbooks. There are quite a few custom playbooks made by fans online, and several of them are actually available on the Evil Hat website!

So yeah, I love this game and if you’re into things like Scooby-Doo, Supernatural, Buffy, The X-Files, or The Dresden Files, I think you’ll have a good time too. Anyway, that's all for now. As always, stay safe, don't forget to love each other, and I'll see you again soon.

[crossoverworldtree]

Expanded Magical Abilities (Dresden Files)

Magical Thug/Magical Artisan (1 Point Quality) Some people have "Blunt Force" magic whilst others are good at delicate work but can't quite master strong attacks or forceful actions with their magic. The former is called a "Magical Thug" whilst the latter is called a "Magical Artisan". Either way, the caster gains a +2 for their special form of Magic and a -2 for the forms they are not good at. The spells of a magical thug's specialty include powerful attack spells and defensive magics. Artisans are better at illusions, influencing, and mental magic. Both stink at altering their physical form. Murphyonic Field Hexing (1 point drawback) Some wizards have problems controlling their magic and when their emotions run high, wild magic flies around them and fries Technology. This effect has a range of 100ft and is resisted with a Willpower (Doubled) with a negative modifier equal to the magic level + any additional modifier based on the degree of emotional stress (-1 to -3 usually, -4 for when someone's love is in danger or otherwise causing related stress). It can be intentionally activated but tends to be extremely wide in its reach. Any adjacent technology will also be fried (as will any technology on or adjacent to the user). Soulfire (5-point quality) Soulfire is a power that can be bestowed on those chosen by the Archangels. It is essentially the ability to tap into the “fires of creation” and make things “more than themselves”. By accessing the Soulfire ability, a person or being can put a piece of their soul into a spell and increase its power. Using too much Soul will weaken the caster and they will eventually die if it is overused to a significant degree.

A person with Soulfire may add a +5 bonus to any spell for every point of willpower they possess every day. They may also choose to do so more than once per spell, but suffer 3 + (SL of the spell roll) damage from each additional use on the same spell. Normal use of Soulfire deals 5 damage to the user, which usually manifests in the form of numbness in the extremities. If they use up all of their soul in padding spells (IE: a person with Willpower 5 uses Soul Fire 5 times), they are immediately dropped to -30 Life points and must make a survival test.

White Council Wizard Member (7-point quality) When Willow and Tara asked if they were registered and how powerful they were by the Watchers Council, it was with these guys that they were being rated. Members of the White Council gain one level of Magic (as they restrict their membership to mages who have at least 3 levels or more of magic). They train their wizards to open up their third eye. They gain both the Sight as well as Insight. However, the strength with which they enact this third eye is truly amazing--and almost detrimental (indeed, humans who have taken the Third Eye drug had their third eyes forcibly opened and were driven insane by it). Both abilities must be forcibly activated (dual form) and activated together. Opening the Third Eye can create long-term psychological damage if the person has been through something horrendous in their life (forcing a fear test at 1.5 times the normal penalty (rounded up)), and things that are currently horrifying to the viewer (say, a dead body), are doubly so). Furthermore, when making eye contact with a person, you gain insight into them, and they also gain insight into you. It reveals them but also reveals yourself.

Finally, there's the membership itself--which sucks. White Council Member (Hierarchical Order) (-4 point drawback)

Members are expected to aid one another when they are in need

(-1)

Share Knowledge and Teaching (+1)

Members Abide by code of Honor (7 Laws of Magic) (-1)

Members must obey commands of leaders (-2)

Cannot leave the group without permission/Will kill you if you break the laws (-3)

Wealthy/Powerful (+2)

Occult Library (5) (Bureaucratic hiding (-2)) (3)

Bonus, Occultism +2 (2)

Test to get in (-1)

Adversary (Unseelie Accords (a "peace" treaty between many magical groups and forces in the world including the two fairy courts and the major courts of vampires among others and a few individuals "Free Holding Lords". It mostly focuses on how to settle disputes between them--namely, dueling codes. So, you can be challenged to duels to the death by any of the other signatories) (-4)

The 7 Laws of Magic:

Thou shall Not Slay a Human with Magic

Though Shall Not Transform Another

Never Invade the Thoughts of Another

Though Shall Not Enthrall Another

Though Shall Not Reach Beyond the Borders of Life

Though Shall Not Swim Against the Currents of Time

Though Shall Not Seek Beyond the Outer Gates (Read: Open Hellmouths)

Yeah, Willow's broken most of them: She's killed with magic. Invaded the thoughts of others. Resurrected the dead (though it's really a law against Necromancy/making zombies) and did some temporal travel (in a sense). You could also call the mind wiping she did basic Enthrallment.

The White Council doesn't like her, and she has gone to a different group of powerful mages for protection. She is technically under the Doom, but as she's not a member, so it's not included on her sheet. She had the protection of the witch Agatha Harkness (and her pupil Wanda Maximoff) during her time in England recovering from her near apocalypse.

Doom of Damocles (3 point drawback) When someone breaks a law of magic under mitigating circumstances, the White Council puts them on parole. This is the Doom of Damocles. A person with this drawback is under the near-constant watch of the White Council's enforcers/cops, the Wardens, to see if you break another law (or breaks the same one again). If they catch you, they take your head right then and there. Further, if people know about it, all influence rolls are done at a (variably) negative modifier based on the severity of the crime. Warden (8-point quality, Prerequisite: White Council member) Wardens are the cops of the White Council, as well as their front-line troops. They protect people from monsters and track down rouge wizards (and kill them) among other duties. A Warden receives a +1 to any 2 Physical Attributes (that cannot stack) as well as +1 to any two combat skills, and +1 to Occultism. They gain 2 levels of contact with other Wardens (and can gain many more) and have the force of law in their organization. However, they gain another level of Adversary beyond that of the White Council due to their role. Warden’s Sword (7 Point Quality)

Most Wardens receive a specially crafted sword upon their inception (though since Halloween of 2002, those swords have been in short supply). These swords are extremely sharp (+4 damage per SL) and are specially designed with silver to cut through enchantments. This activates with a strike and forces a dispel attempt against an incoming or ongoing spell. The Success Levels/Power Level of the spell defends against the Success Levels of the swing +4. It grants a +1 to getting medieval and may strike ghosts and other incorporeal beings freely.

[captainbuhh]

Zooting and teaching myself how to run Fate accelerated while my partner is at work having never played anything from Fate core

Send prayers y’all

[lenuer]

The magical twins, Hailey and Haiden. From the same Dresden Files TRPG as the priest and paladin from this.

[badassbutterfly1987]

Copy+Paste since there are no pics:

Eva Marino Suggested Player Character Idealistic White Court Neophyte Motivation: I will show people that peace is possible. I have known Eva Marino for close to two years, since shortly after she found out what she is. Eva is a vampire of the White Court and the youngest daughter of the Marino family, a criminal family who are secretly White Court vampires unaffiliated with the White King. When I met her, Eva was kneeling over the body of a man in the street. I knew what she was, but apparently she hadn’t known until that moment. My intention was to kill her but...I could not. The dead man had clearly beaten her badly and she had fed on his wrath. The rage of his beating had only strengthened her, fueled the demon within her. In the end, the man’s fury had killed him. Eva had no idea what had happened; she was hurt, terrified, and nearly paralyzed with confusion. I took pity on her. Over the years, Eva and I remained in contact. I would not call us friends but we were...of mutual benefit to each other. She gave me infor- mation on the supernatural goings-on in South America, poised as she was on the heartbeat of that information network, her family. I trained her. Showed her how to defend herself. Showed her how to control her Hunger. She was in a situation that I knew very well, that I feared more than anything. I felt it my duty to help her avoid killing again. Sadly, that was not to be. Eva has control most of the time. However, when she sees innocents hurt, she becomes someone else. She becomes the demon. When she is feeding off of one of the underground boxing matches she frequents, or defending herself against an attacker, she is able to restrain her Hunger. She feeds just enough to leave the mortal exhausted and confused, but not in any real danger. When it is someone else, someone who cannot defend himself or herself, she kills without hesitation or mercy. Let me be clear. I like Eva. I enjoy spending time with her, I enjoy talking with her. I do not trust her. She is a monster; she is what I might have become, were it not for your actions. And if she ever loses control completely, if she ever gives in fully to her demon, I will kill her. Without hesitation or mercy.

Ooh, new White Court House! One that feeds on rage and seems separate from the main Court.

Eva sounds a bit like Inari if she hadn't escaped.

[willczek-art]

11, 19?

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what?

When I'm in the "Figuring Out" stage of the drawing, when I need to think about what I'm doing or fix previous mistakes (so projects or/and animation) I try to limit distractions and usually just end up sitting in silence.

Oooor I have some synth/soundtracks playing at a very low volume somewhere barely within my reach, but it's mostly quiet.

When I'm in the "This will get itself done, I just need to pack hours into it" phase (sketching for fun, coloring/rendering) I'm usually listening to music (Spotify and whatever rock-ish mess it curated for me (i can't make playlists for the life of me), Astral Throb when I don't want to hear words ;P).

Sometimes when music gets boring I get either an audiobook or a podcast (currently I'm slowly making my way through Distractable c: It's the first not-RPG podcast I'm listening to, Just Some People Talking About StuffTM isn't really my genere, but I've been watching them for so long I smile automatically whenever they laugh, so it's a good time ;P)

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.)

This made me realise I don't draw that many inanimate objects...

But I know I enjoy doing this weird wood texture, I love drawing smoke (thx Danica Sills) and I kinda like drawing random objects/simplified machinery? Or at least that's what I'm interested in learning how to draw (other than people), especially vintage tech~ :D

(Which means I should probably consider making a series of drawings of malfunctioning machines with wooden parts... xD)

[ghoul-haunted]

the writing pertaining to the law of magic relating to necromancy fucking slaps

[anim-ttrpgs]

Promotional art by team artist @chaospyromancy

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is a neo-noir investigation-focused RPG with (as you can probably guess from the title) a supernatural twist. Eureka fills several voids we have noticed in the TTRPG space. Eureka supports investigation to a degree we haven’t seen before, ensuring that searching for clues is a granular and player-driven process, but also ensuring that the whole story doesn’t grind to a halt after one single failed investigation check.

Though most PCs will be mundane humans—or perhaps because most PCs will be mundane humans—Eureka also supports playing monstrous PCs, such as a vampire, in a way we have never seen before. This isn’t just a watered-down stat bonus, it’s like playing an almost entirely different game, with all the monster’s strengths and weaknesses to account for while solving the mystery, plus the added incentive to keep it a secret from the other PCs as well as their players.

If you like or are interested in Call of Cthulhu, Monster of the Week, Dresden Files, X-Files, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Apocalypse Keys, or Gumshoe, you’ll probably find something in Eureka to really enjoy.

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is kickstarting from right now until May 10th! Back it while you still can!

If you want to try before you buy, you can download a free demo of the prerelease version from our website or our itch.io page!

If you’re interested in a more updated and improved version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy than the free demo you got from our website, subscribe to our Patreon where we frequently roll our new updates for the prerelease version!

You can also support us on Ko-fi, or by checking out our merchandise!

Join our TTRPG Book Club At the time of writng this, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the current game being played in the book club, and anyone who wants to participate in discussion, but can’t afford to make a contribution, will be given the most updated prerelease version for free! Plus it’s just a great place to discuss and play new TTRPGs you might not be able to otherwise!

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

[haveyouplayedthisttrpg]

Have you played EUREKA : Investigative Urban Fantasy ?

By A.N.I.M

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is a neo-noir investigation-focused RPG with (as you can probably guess from the title) a supernatural twist. Eureka fills several voids we have noticed in the TTRPG space. Eureka supports investigation to a degree we haven’t seen before, ensuring that searching for clues is a granular and player-driven process, but also ensuring that the whole story doesn’t grind to a halt after one single failed investigation check.

Though most PCs will be mundane humans—or perhaps because most PCs will be mundane humans—Eureka also supports playing monstrous PCs, such as a vampire, in a way we have never seen before. This isn’t just a watered-down stat bonus, it’s like playing an almost entirely different game, with all the monster’s strengths and weaknesses to account for while solving the mystery, plus the added incentive to keep it a secret from the other PCs as well as their players.

If you like or are interested in Call of Cthulhu, Monster of the Week, Dresden Files, X-Files, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Apocalypse Keys, or Gumshoe, you’ll probably find something in Eureka to really enjoy.

Currently being crowdfunded on Kickstarter

[theresattrpgforthat]

Got anything that lets you play as monsters (vampires/monsters/etc) in the modern world in the vein of VTM? Ideally something in the PBTA/FITD area of system, but open to others for sure (: Thanks as always for your recs!!

THEME: Urban Monsters

Friend, the difficulty with this post isn’t that I don’t have recommendations for it - it’s that I’m trying to find recommendations that I haven’t talked about ad nauseam to this point. So I hope you don’t mind a fairly extensive “Past Recommendations” at the bottom of this post, because most of the PbtA games I know of are going to be there. I have limited experience with Vampire: the Masquerade, but I’m a big fan of Changeling: the Lost and other World of Darkness games, so I’m going off of general knowledge rather than specifics.

Bubblegum Vampires / Bubblegum Wizards 2, by Gormengeist.

You're a vampire in an infinite urban cauldron of muck and rot, of psionics and wizards, of danger and shadows. Though you are surely terrible, great, horrifying, (etc.), half the day is an enemy to your people; so set forth through the night to make your coin, secure your dwellings, and vanquish your infinite enemies.

You're a wizard who chews bubblegum and collects trading cards. That is to say, cards with the trapped souls of items and enemies within, obviously. An insignificant wizard in an infinite city has lots to prove and you've got to get help somehow. Break heads, steal money, drive stupid, chew gum, trap souls. Simple as.

Neon-Bright art and d6-based rolls, that’s what’s common across both of these games. This is the same world, but you’re living in two different spheres of it, depending on which game you play. As wizards, you collect spell cards that hold the souls of creatures you’ve vanquished, and use them to get yourself out of sticky situations. As vampires, you accrue vampiric powers through blood sacrifice, and your opponents are usually folks with especially tantalizing veins. Both games have various factions that have different goals than you, so if what you like about Vampire: the Masquerade is the amount of different ideologies that have the ability to fuck you up, you might like this game. Thematically, it looks a little more upbeat and pulpy than your typical V:tM game, but if you like one, you have another game in the same system ready to go.

The Hidden, by Dragons Are Real.

As children our parents read us fairy tales, ghost stories and recounted local myths. We’ve always assumed these stories are told to entertain or scare….what if these aren't just stories….everything you have been told is true. 

The creatures from fairy tales, mythology and folklore all exist.  Have you ever thought you saw something strange out of the corner of your eye but when you look again all looks normal. These creatures live in plain sight, unseen by the majority of people, only those who know they exist see them in their true form. Every culture has a name for these creatures but we know them simply as The Hidden.

The Hidden is a modern urban fantasy game powered by the Breathless RPG. It is inspired by such media as Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Constantine and The Dresden Files.

Another pulpy sort of game, the Breathless system that powers The Hidden is great for replicating diminishing resources, putting your characters in more and more difficult situations every time they pause to take a breath. This makes this game great for horror-style stories, and World of Darkness games firmly find a home in the horror genre. If you want something that’s fast-paced and can cover a lot of ground in a short session, The Hidden might be for you.

Tween Wolf, by Ibi Deficit Orbis.

Tween Wolf is a micro-RPG about middle schoolers experiencing both the fantasy of being exceptional, and the fear of being humiliated. As these kids come to terms with their awkwardly developing human bodies, they will also be faced with lycanthropy. And in the process they will experience supernatural heroism and intense shame—and learn to manage both.

It is designed to be played with a bent towards exploring the unforgiving social cruelty of middle school, self-image, and dysphoria. It requires one Game Master, 1 to 4 additional players, a few hours, one six sided die for each player, and two additional six sided dice for the table to share.

This is a very short game, with very few rules and a big focus on trying to keep your wild side under wraps. If what you like about WoD games is the struggle between the monstrous and the human, this might be the game for you. There’s not nearly as many big moral quandaries as there are in typical WoD games - you’re middle schoolers, not eons-old bloodsuckers - but to a middle-schooler, your problems are massive. I feel like the movie Seeing Red might be a good touchstone for this game.

Glamour of Our Youth, by Yuri Runnel.

Glamour of Our Youth is a roleplaying game based on the Forged in the Dark system. Drawing inspiration from media like Riverdale, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina among others, it works to tell stories of supernatural teenage adventures.

Building on the FitD framework, Glamour serves to tell exciting stories with high stakes, putting the youths through their paces as they try to make their way through a strange and hostile world, struggling with conflicts both internal and external, arcane and mundane. 

This game doesn’t cast your characters as specific supernatural beings, but the character options certainly make it possible. You cobble your character together from two different halves: Archetypes and Arcana. Your Archetype hails from classic high school cliques, such as Rebel, Outcast, Socialite and Athlete, while your Arcana details your supernatural ability, including Shapeshifter (which might translate to werewolf), Oceancaller (which you could turn into a selkie) or Shadow (which feels rather ghost-like to me). There’s also plenty of ways to play a teenage mage.

This game is in playtest, but it’s considerably far a long, with recent updates that indicate that the crew is hard at work refining the final product.

Protect the Child, by MintRabbit (that’s me!)

Humans have always been protective of their young, sometimes overly so. Humans have also always feared that which might make their young strange or different, and so insist that only humans can raise their own young. Monsters cannot raise human young. This is known. You have a human baby. You cannot find its parents. What is even worse, is that this child has powers, powers that others covet, and so everyone wants it. If you want to prove that you’re not the heartless monster that everyone says you are, that means you’ll have to raise it, at least until you find someone who is better suited to it than you.  You are creatures of fur, scales and fangs. You have claws that can rend flesh, faces that can crack mirrors, howls that can cause ears to bleed.  And your charge wants a blankie.

Protect the Child is a Forged in the Dark game about monsters caring for a young human, a human who contains strange and mystical powers that make them a valuable asset in any monster crew. The setting and factions present in this game are flexible: you might be aliens in a far-flung future galaxy, fantasy monsters from rival kingdoms, or even everyday wild animals that fear human society. 

So I’ve only just started play testing this game, which means that it’s very much in barely-playable mode. This game is also setting-agnostic, meaning that you can decide exactly when and where your game takes place - including as modern-day monsters trying to take care of a human baby with magical powers. The game is very specific in the themes of the story you’ll be telling - that is, themes about monstrosity, parenthood and responsibility, but if you all want to play different kinds of vampires, you can absolutely do that!

BloodLite, by ruan8000.

BloodLite is a role-playing game (RPG) designed to be played solo, but can be played in a group. In this game, you will create a Vampire following the rules and you will also create the world that this vampire interacts with, as well as the conflicts and obstacles that he will face. The world in BloodLite is like ours, but a little darker and more dangerous, full of supernatural creatures.

This game has no ties to PbtA or FitD, but it cites Vampire: the Masquerade as a direct inspiration, and you can see it in the Bloodline options available at character creation. You have a supernatural gift that give you advantages and also trigger your Hunger, which is your character’s thirst for blood. The goals of the game are represented through an Oath track, which fills when you fight enemies, overcome obstacles, and solve problems. This a fairly stripped-down game, but if you’re familiar with V:tM, then you probably won’t have a problem filling the world with factions, back-alley deals, and political wars.

Hearts of Yokai, by Lowell Francis.

So, this game isn’t out yet. But I can’t stop myself from talking about it a little bit. It’s the product of a Changeling:The Lost PbtA hack that Lowell has been working on for a very long time. I’ve been a bit fan of Changeling: the Lost and I also love PbtA games so I’m really excited to see more of this.

The link in the title leads to the current google spreadsheets that detail the current content of the game and the associated playbooks. The link for Lowell is to a blog post he wrote about the game, talking about the history, the changes he’s made, and the ideas behind what the current iteration is. What really intrigues me is how it incorporates "the actions of the Gentry through the lens of colonialism.” I’m really eager to follow the progress of this game.

Games I’ve Recommended in the Past

Urban Shadows 1e, by Magpie Games.

Bite Marks, by Black Armada Games.

Monsterhearts 2e, by Buried Without Ceremony.

Strays, by kumada1.

Eldritch Investigative Drama Rec Post

[neonlitlesbians]

more electra cuz hes my dresden files rpg character

[dungeonofthedragon]

Your Favourite Book: the Game

Sometimes a good book leaves us with a hankering to spend more time in that world. Fanfiction only goes so far- here are ten titles that allow you to adventure with friends in the world of your favourite book!

Angel Mage by Garth Nix

This one doesn't have its own dedicated system, but the author himself ran a game in this world using the $6 rpg Flashing Blades! Given the book was inspired by The Three Musketeers, this makes perfect sense- although you'd need to modify the game a bit to include angel summoning.

Discworld Roleplaying Game by Phil Masters, Terry Pratchett and Steve Jackson Games

Cost: $20.00

I can imagine an entire campaign revolving around the Unseen University, or a one-shot about the antics of the Watch. This game runs on the popular GURPS system which, like many other games, uses only six-sided dice. You've probably got a bunch of those lying around at home already!

Dresden Files Accelerated by Evil Hat

Cost: $17.50

This game uses the lightweight Fate: Accelerated system, making it very easy to learn. Character creation is incredibly flexible- if you can think of a character or archetype within this setting, you can play it in this game.

Good Society: a Jane Austen rpg by Storybrewers Roleplaying

Cost: $23

Regency roleplaying at its finest. Long, longing glances, heartfelt letters and scandal! Also a good choice for fans of the Bridgerton series.

Rivers of London: The Roleplaying Game by Chaosium

Cost: $29.99

This game is pricier than some on this list, but at 400 pages it's well worth the cost. With just the one rulebook, and several free adventures (including at least one solo adventure!), after that initial investment it's very easy to get in there and get sleuthing.

The game uses the Basic Role-Playing system. If you're familiar with Call of Cthulhu or RuneQuest, you're well on your way to learning the rules!

Stormlight Archive RPG by Brotherwise Games

This game hasn't been released yet, but you can sign up here for a chance to be involved in beta testing!

The Kyme Summit by Malcolm Harbrow

Cost: $5

Change the particulars and you have yourself a perfect little Dune LARP you can complete in a single evening.

The Warren by Bully Pulpit Games

Cost: $12

Suitable for a single session or a multiple session adventure, this game lets you play out the survival horror that is Watership Down (from which I have never fully recovered.)

The Witcher: Pen and Paper RPG by R. Talsorian Games

Cost: $24.99

Be a witcher, bard, mage, or even a doctor! This game does a pretty good job of evoking the feel of the books (and the Netflix series too), but I've only read a free demo myself.

Thirsty Space Necromancers by Grahame (Understory Games)

Cost: None!

This supplement for Thirsty Sword Lesbians allows for narrative-focused adventures in the universe of The Locked Tomb. There are playbooks for necromancers of each of the nine houses, as well as a cavalier playbook.

If you don't already own the base game, you can pick up Thirsty Sword Lesbians here for $15 or nab a community copy for free!

[narastories]

Hi Nara, I hope you had a good day!

For Fanfic Writer Friday, do you want to tell me what you're working on (if you are on something currently)?

And if you've got time, I'd love to hear your opinion about the use of the past or present tense in fanfic, because it always gives me so much trouble. I don't really have a logic for using one or the other, so I'd like to know yours.

Thank you <3

Hi! Yes, thank you, I had a great day <3

Ooh, these are two very interesting questions.

1.

I'm sort of working on something... By working, I mean writing notes in my notebook and trying to figure out how to tackle this idea ^^" I really want to write a Dresden Files/FPA crossover! (Let's see if by announcing it publicly I can successfully shame me into going through with it... I doubt it, but we'll try it...)

I've never actually written a crossover, so that's already a bit daunting. Having to juggle twice as many characters/ships as I would normally is also a challenge... Currently, I'm trying to decide what POV/s to use, and how not to make this too long. But I think it would be fun to draw some parallels between the characters, and it would also be fun to bring two of the fandoms I like together like this.

Another, perhaps silly consideration is that I now have 99 fics on AO3... To make the 100th one a little bit special would be cool. (Okay, that might not happen because I have already uploaded my Yuletide fic, and I'm not actually sure where AO3 will put it in the order of fics once the authors are revealed on Jan 1st...)

Anyway, wish me luck, I can tell you that Philes would very much be on the menu ;) 2.

You're asking me this because of the tags on my last fic, right? xD

Oh dear, where do I even start? I actually wouldn't say I have a well-developed opinion on this. And I think maybe it's better if we split it into two categories: what I think of past/present tense, and how I would decide what to use.

Just from vibes alone, I would say past tense is very comfy. It sort of "disappears" because we're so used to it. No one will be turned off by you using the past tense. You can do anything with it.

Present tense, on the other hand, feels a bit more intimate to me. It can work well for a more poetic tone. It has an urgency to it like you don't know what's going to happen. But it will also very much turn some people off ^^"

I will also add that if I'm talking about multiple layers of past events, the English past tenses can give me a bit of a hard time, so using the present tense can gloriously simplify that lol

I do like reading either btw, but how do I decide what to use when writing?

I use past tense 99% of the time. (I mean, literally. I think I have 98 fics written in the past tense, wrote one in present, and I'm pretty sure the next one will be in the past tense as well lol) So I’m no expert here, although I do have some WIPs where I also used present tense and I would totally consider experimenting with it more.

To be honest, there is only one scenario where I would opt for the present tense always, and it’s the 2nd person "you" fics... Dare I say: *whispers* reader-insert. Which is a whole different can of worms altogether that we are now opening.

Personally, in my opinion, if you think old forum role playing was cool but you think self-insert fic is cringe, that’s a *skill issue*. Luckily, I have mastered my destiny and overcame feelings of cringe lmao (I'm joking, you only read what you want, of course.)

What I mean is, I find it very charming how self-insert or reader-insert fic specifically about RPG games kind of circles back around to the roots of the “role-playing” in RPG. I might not read certain types of reader-insert fics, but I think they have their rightful place in fandom.

Now, getting back to the topic of present tense lol To me, sometimes certain things will just fit better for a fic. For example, when I started writing my first Dresden Files fic, I started writing it in 3rd person, because 1st person felt intimidating. But the canon is in 1st person, and something in me knew that it just had to be done that way for the right tone, you know? (It doesn’t mean you have to stick to the way canon is written, of course. It’s more about what fits better with the mood you are going for and what effect you want to achieve.)

Same thing with my last fic: the fandom I wrote it for uses present tense and uses 2nd person for the main character. Yeah, sure you can write an OC and write 3rd person, but the right vibe I was going for was begging me to use the present tense. So yeah, in a sense it was me wanting to stick more with the canon vibe, even if that challenged me. Which is interesting because usually it’s the other way around, no?

That is a really long way of saying I tend to stick to what is closes to canon. But I think you should always listen to your gut and just write how you like it better.

Thank you for the thought-provoking questions and sorry for the long ramble.

[lenuer]

Commission of characters from a Dresden Files TRPG