Kevin, Jen, CJ, and Troll discuss their experiences with the Dresden Files RPG. All in all, we had a very positive time with this game.  We discuss our reactions to Aspects, the Fudge Dice, City and Character Creation, and how faithful the game is to the Dresdenverse.

Relevant Links

• Evil Hat
• Dresden Files RPG
• Jim Butcher
• Letter Jacket
• Perry, IA
• FUDGE
• D&D 3.5
• Urban Dictionary
• 4DFate probabilities
• Lighting Lad
• Cosmic Boy
• Shadowrun
• Twilight
• Smallville & it’s RPG
• Silverado
• Weapons of the Gods
• Ptolus
• Mutants and Masterminds
• Arcana Evolved
• Burning Empires
• Yojimbo
• Fringe
• X-files
• Eureka
• Diaspora
• Starblazer Adventures
• Flash Gordon
• Traveller
• Kurt Vonnegut
• Dean Koontz
• In A Wicked Age
• Penny for My Thoughts
• H.P. Lovecraft
• White Wolf
• LARP Episode
• Mage: The Awakening
• RPG Geek Thanks for the Nomination!

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro music from “The Wizard” by  of Idle Thumbs
• Outro Music “Magic Carpet Ride” by Steppenwolf remixed by Fatboy Slim

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Due to some lucky circumstances, I managed to land an interview earlier this week with Ryan Macklin and Lenny Balsera. This was a serendipitous event, as Evil Hat had just released their official press release announcing the release date and info about the Dresden Files RPG. I sit down with these two and BS about the challenges of creating a game from the Dresden Files license, then we dive into some of the nitty gritty about how FATE was used to create the world of Harry Dresden.

Relevant Links

• Dresden Files RPG
• Evil Hat
• Lenny’s Blog
• Ryan’s Blog
• The Sunless Citadel
• Duke Nukem Forever
• Urban Fantasy
• Perdido Street Station
• Endgame Oakland
• Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies
• Ptolus
• Chris Hanrahan’s Blog
• Scribd
• bittorrent
• GURPS
• Hero
• D20
• Starblazer Adventures
• Diaspora
• Spirit of the Century
• Jared Sorenson’s 3 Questions
• The Wire
• Clark and Amanda Valentine
• Caine  (Kung Fu)
• Las Vegas: The Strip, Sumerlin, Henderson
• Steve Wynn
• Burning Empires
• The Bracelet Problem
• Mage (The Awakening and the older Ascension)
• In Nomine
• In Nomine Fate Fan Conversion
• Robert Bohl (and our interview with him)

Crunchy Bits!

• Intro and Outro music provided by .

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Unfortunately we had a bit of a technical failure when we recorded our “real” session 2. Only an hour or so was saved, so in actuality this is session 3. Fortunately the serial nature of In a Wicked Age stories gave us some considerable leeway. There shouldn’t be any problem picking up with the narrative here. Dan picks up the GMing mantle this time around, and we  start off in the city of Kal-Nirar, where Demon Lord Nirar has been ruling for many generations. Nirar was Kevin’s character in the previous session, he started off as a Merchant Prince who made some sorcerous deals in the name of vengeance. Little is left of his humanity now as unseen forces move against him…

Oracle:  The Unquiet Past

Kevin chose:The son of a great tyrant, born crippled and denied his inheritance.

A scholar and antiquarian, unmindful of danger.

A thick gold ring, torn by a powerful sage from a demon’s ear.

The captain of a foreign troop, sent to collect tribute.

Roles

Kevin: The Demon-King Nirar, formerly a merchant prince of the city now called Kal-Nirar.
Special Strength: Minions of the Pit (far-reaching)
Best Interests: To retrieve the ring containing my soul; To send the Red Horde screaming back to their cowardly masters.

CJ: General Darius of the Red Horde
Special Strength: The Ninja dervishes of the Red Horde (potent).
Best Interests: To survive my negotiations with Nirar and convince him I’m only there for the tribute; To find some weakness in the demon-king’s armor (such as any random phylactery or disloyal heir that might be sitting around).

Brandon: Zaheil
Special Strength: The demon ring, which makes him invisible and silent.
Best Interests: To learn the secrets that power the gate – so other uses may be found for it; To make a blunder out of the Red Horde’s envoy, just like I did 20 years ago when I stole their ring.

NPCs:

Dem Ashur, blind and disowned son of Nirar.
Special Strength: The power to jump through shadows, and see shadows for what they really are (far reaching).
Best Interests: To banish my father and claim my throne; To steal the ring and seal the gate.

Relevant Links

• In A Wicked Age
• Lumpley Games
• Ptolus: City by the Spire
• Hardcore History Podcast
• Radiolab Podcast about Genghis Khan
• Marvel GI Joe comics
• Vincent’s rules hack to play Conan in a Wicked Age.
• Tom Bombadil
• Prince of Persia again – but Sands of Time this time.
• Sword +5, Holy Avenger
• The Wizaaaaaard

Crunchy Bits

• Intro and Outro Music from The Prince of Persia by Inon Zur and Stuart Chatwood published by Ubisoft.

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Our normal format is play game, review game, interview designer. But when we heard Monte Cook had posted on his blog asking about RPG related podcasts, we knew this was too good a chance to pass up. Besides, we’d played 3.0 D&D for years, followed by a full campaign of Arcana Evolved, and our final hurrah of D20 fantasy gaming was a run through Ptolus. So while we didn’t record any of that, we’re pretty sure we got the “play game” part covered pretty well.

It was a real pleasure to talk to Mr. Cook about his new foray: Dungeon-a-day.com, and we’re all very glad to see him back in the gaming industry. We discuss his masterfully diplomatic opinion on D&D 4E, what style of play he expects at his table, how he feels about player vs. player conflict, what games he’s looking forward to playing, and his use of Gygaxian Lexicography. We wish him luck on all his future endeavors!

Crunchy Bits!

• Music by Mark Morgan from the soundtrack to Planescape: Torment

Relevant Links:

• Dungeon-A-Day
• Wizards of the Coast
• Malhavoc Press
• Monte Cook’s World of Darkness
• Call of Cthulhu
• Call of Cthulhu (D20)
• Trail of Cthulhu
• Pagan Publlishing’s new Mysteries of Mesoamerica
• Burning Wheel
• Burning Empires
• Paul Tevis
• Inside The Game Designer Studio
• Bruce R. Cordell
• Stephen R. Donaldson / Thomas Covenant

Bumpers and Promos

• Spooky Outhouse Productions
• Have Games Will Travel

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