FATE & The Dresden Files

About two years ago I ran across a Fudge based/derived RPG named FATE (see my "other stuff" links). I liked alot about Fudge, the dice, the probabilities, the trait ladder, the scale system, it's whole open source toolkit make-it-your own structure... but never was really able to find a good use for it or way of making it appeal to anyone I'd been gaming with. At the time, I also had some issues with the inherent skill/attribute disconnect. I'd sorta started planning out a Harry Potter campaign idea using it (and tacking on something akin to the Spiritual Attributes from The Riddle of Steel RPG) but that didn't quite pan out. That's around when I found FATE. It takes the basic structure of Fudge and ditches attributes in favor of Aspects which give the player extra ability to influence the story. Aspects could be like an attribute (strong, intelligent), a bit more than an attribute (bookworm, charming ladies man), part of the character's history or future (War Veteran, The Chosen One, The Boy Who Lived), something important to the character (Ancestral Home, Excalibur)... just about anything that you want to have important to the story. Aspects allow many things. One thing that I rather liked is that t hey make "attributes" only as important to the story as you want them to be , and give a direct influence for them when needed (Conan might have "Mighty Thews" to invoke when his strength is important.) Basically, they highlight what's important to the character and their story, and they can be used to influence the story, both by the player and the GM. Another thing I liked alot was their Skill Pyramid. It costs the same to increase any skill by one level, but you need to balance your skills in a pyramid, with higher rated skills supported by a great quantity of lower rated skills. This seemed pretty natural to me, under the reasoning that you're bound to pick up a little bit of different skills over the time it takes to increase your primary/ higher skills noticeably.

Well... I strayed a bit. Basically, I think FATE rocks. I've been keeping up with the evolution of FATE, and the creators are getting ready to make their first licensed product, an RPG based off a series of books called "The Dresden Files." I hadn't heard of this series, and the descriptions I saw interested me. Basically, it's a detective/noir style story set in the modern day, except with alot of the supernatural tossed in (the main character's a Wizard, but they're always down on their luck like a hard-nosed private eye.) The writing might not be top-notch, but the story makes for a pretty fun read. It's nice to see new game designers getting to publish a pretty cool licensed product, even if it's somewhat of a niche. I'm definitely looking forward to it, and hope a game like this could find it's way into the mainstream.

(Note: This is one of those babbling about games things I mentioned in the first post. )