AugustusGloop
2011-10-25, 08:53 PM
I've picked up the books for DFRPG recently, and I'm eager to play. I am going to GM for a group of local friends soon, and I've typed up an example scene to help introduce them to the important concepts and rules. The problem is, I'm not altogether sure I've got things straight myself. If you have experience with the system, I'd be grateful if you would read this with a critical eye and let me know where I'm confused, or handing things incorrectly. The fewer mistakes I make teaching them the system, the more fun they'll have and the less time we'll have to spend looking things up and arguing about them.
Here it is:
Let's say Detective Karrin Murphy (at or around Storm Front level of badassery, a long way from what she'll become) is facing off against a red court vampire mook in a deserted library (after hours I suppose).
First we set the scene: I describe the library as being dimly lit by street lights shining through windows on all walls. The room is full of book and media shelves about 4 feet high; easily seen over, but also easy to hide behind. At one end is a large table, and at either end are stairs down to the first floor. I decide that there are 3 zones to this fight, the main one being the entire floor of the library, and the other two being the stairs.
Zones: an arbitrary amount of physical space that a small number of combatants can occupy and be close enough to touch each other in the course of one movement and action. If Karrin was at one end, and the vampire at the other, Karrin could charge forward and knock the slimy smile off its face without having to use any extraordinary movement abilities. Neighboring zones are typically the range of thrown projectiles, and guns might reach two or three zones away.
I also decide on the scene aspects, those apparent to the participants as well as any hidden. We talked about how the light level was low, so it's pretty obvious the area has "Dimly Lit". Since there are full bookshelves everywhere, I'll also add the obvious "Shelves Full of Literary Cover". Not so obvious without a search, or perhaps foreknowledge, is "The Sprinkler System is Armed".
Second we establish the groups and motivations in the conflict. Karrin will be one group, and the vampire mook will be a second group. Usually it will just be PC's vs NPC's, but occasionally each group will have different goals, such as one group might need to pass through the zone in pursuit of a Big Bad, while the other might want to mop up the henchmen who are staying behind to buy their boss time to escape. In this case, the vampire is here to retrieve a manuscript that its mistress needs to craft a dark ritual. Karrin is here to kill the vampire. I decide that both Karrin and the mook are in the library floor zone.
As we come into the scene, Karrin has followed the vampire into the library, so far managing to remain unnoticed in her sneakers. She's done her homework, and made a couple Assessments about the vampire and the situation. Karrin has asked Harry Dresden about the Red Court Vampires, and he's told her about their stomachs are unarmored and more vulnerable than the rest of them. This is their Catch, the chink in their supernatural power of toughness. She has a free tag on his aspect of "Soft Underbelly". She also knows why he's here, that he's searching for the manuscript, and that he has the aspect "Looking for a Good Book".
Assessments: A plan, research, or observation that uncovers an existing aspect on an individual or area. This aspect, once uncovered, does not have an expiration time limit, and may be tagged once for free to gain an advantage by the person who made the Assessment (or whoever they trade the tag to). From then on, fate points may be spent to tag the aspect by anyone in the know.
Third is Initiative order. In physical conflicts, the individual with the highest Alertness will usually go first, unless it's an ambush, or other special situation. In the case of tie, we can talk about going to highest Athletics, or just roll off, or whatever. Play proceeds in the order of Alertness scores, unless someone wants to Delay. In the case of more than two combatants, Delay allows you to skip your turn until whenever you want to go. You then rejoin the conflict at that position in the turn order, unless you Delay again.
Since this is an ambush, the vampire doesn't know Karrin is here yet, we give her the first Initiative.
Fourth comes the actual actions in the conflict. You describe what your character tries to do in terms of one of the different types of Basic Actions. There are five different Basic Actions:
Attack: Roll against an opponent to try to inflict physical, mental, or social stress.
Maneuver: Roll against an opponent or zone to try and place a temporary aspect on them or the scene.
Block: Roll to set up a preemptive defense against a specified future action.
Sprint: Roll to change zones, with a higher result allowing a greater number of zones to be traversed.
Full Defense: Concentrate fully on avoiding damage.
Karrin has initiative, and wants to try a Maneuver to gain an advantage on the vampire. Karrin describes how she sneaks up on the vampire, using the bookshelves as cover, while it aimlessly searches for the manuscript. She rolls her Stealth, which is Fair (+2) against the vampire's Alertness (which also happens to be Fair). She rolls +OO-, which is +0, and combined with her +2 in stealth is a total of Fair (+2). The vampire rolls: -+++, which combined with his Alertness is a Great (+4). He isn't too bright, so instead of pretending to be oblivious to catch her off guard, he immediately turns and strikes at her with a fist.
The vampire's Fists skill is Good (+3), and he rolls: ++O-, for a total of Great (+4). Karrin automatically gets a defense check, no matter how many attacks come at her before her turn comes again. She defends with her own Fists: Good (+3) and decides (the first time for free due to her Assessment) to tag the vampire's aspect "Looking for a Good Book" to gain a +2 to her Fists defense, rationalizing that the vampire is still more focused on finding the book than it is in killing her. She rolls +-+-, +2 for her tag, and +3 (Good) Fists, for a total of Superb (+5). Now Karrin is a martial arts expert, and has the Mortal Stunt: Redirected Force. This enables her sacrifice her next action to treat a successful Fists defense against close-combat attacks as a successful maneuver against her opponent. Some stunts require the expenditure of a fate point, this one does not. Karrin describes how she dodges his fist, catches his arm, and throws him over her hip, hard, into a bookshelf. Her Maneuver places the temporary aspect "Thrown to the Floor" on the vampire, without needing a contested roll. Since it was an automatic success, I rule that it is the same as a contested roll in which she tied the vampire, so it is considered "fragile" and will only last until it is tagged once. If she had succeeded by +1 or more "Shifts", it would last through that many extra tags (although only the first one is free).
Shifts: The positive difference between the target difficulty number and your skill+roll. A difficulty of Fair (+2) and a roll of Great (+4) would result in 2 Shifts.
Karrin sacrificed her action last turn during her defense, so it is the mook's turn. The vampire scrabbles around on the floor in surprise, trying to get to its feet. It rolls Athletics at Good (+3) in an attempt to remove "Thrown to the Floor", and Karrin opposes that with her Fists. In its shock at being thrown by a mortal, the normally inhumanly graceful creature slips on some books that were knocked to the floor in the struggle and rolls an Athletics of O-O- for a total of Average (+1). Karrin, a veteran of many hand to hand fights, is prepared for tricky footwork and rolls a Fists O+++ for a total of Fantastic (+6) to defend the "Thrown to the Floor" maneuver. Unfortunately, her extra 5 Shifts are discarded in this situation, since defense only requires matching the "attack" roll.
With the Initiative once again, Karrin decides to get more serious. She knows that vampires are tougher than normal mortals, and doubts she'll be able to seriously hurt her opponent with her fists. Instead she uses a Supplemental Action to pull a combat knife from the sheath at her belt and attacks.
Supplemental Action: A "quick" and simple action performed alongside a Basic Action. The Supplemental Action doesn't take a lot of time, but is more complicated than a Free Action, requiring a little bit of concentration. This is applied as a -1 modifier to the main action roll.
Free Action: Any action that takes almost no time at all: Flipping on a light switch, shouting a warning, etc.
Ordinarily, melee attacks other than Fists are handled by the Weapon skill, but Karrin employs another Mortal Stunt called "Extensive Training" to substitute her Fists skill for simple weapons such as clubs or knives. Her Fists is a Good (+3) and she rolls +O+- for a total of Great (+4). She isn't certain this will be enough to overcome the vampire's thick hide, so she tags the temporary aspect "Thrown to the Floor" for a +2 bonus, and wanting to end things quickly, also tags her assessment "Soft Underbelly" (in this case as a bonus, not in its capacity as a "Catch") for an additional +2 or a total of Legendary (+8). The vampire rolls Fists O--- to defend for a total of Mediocre (+0), and an astounding 8 Shifts of success for Karrin, which translates directly into 8 Stress for the vampire.
Stress: Creatures have at least three different stress tracks, physical, mental, and social; one for each of the types of combat. The vampire has OOOOO stress spots available. Three are granted by its Endurance of Fair (+2), and two more by its Inhuman Toughness (-2). In contrast, Karrin has OOOO stress spots: two to start, and Two more granted by her Endurance of Good (+3).
The 8 Stress applied to the vampire's physical stress track are modified by the knife's automatic damage of +1, for 9 total stress, and the vampire's Inhuman Toughness providing a natural Armor: -1 to bring the total back down to 8. Since the vampire only has five OOOOO stress spots, the stress would "Roll Off" the track, and the vampire would be Taken Out. Not wanting to be at Karrin's mercy, the vampire decides to take a Consequence to reduce the amount of stress it would suffer.
Taken Out: When the stress inflicted on a character rolls off their stress track, they are defeated. The attacker is allowed to state the conditions under which they are Taken Out. This could be anything from humiliated and forced to flee in the case of a social conflict, or knocked out/killed in the case of a physical. Once the conditions of their defeat are set, the victim gets to decide the details of how they face their defeat.
Consequences: When the stress inflicted on a character would roll off the stress track and would cause them to be Taken Out, the character may choose to accept Consequences to ameliorate some of the stress. Consequences come in four levels of severity, although only the first three are used excepting in the most extreme of circumstances.
Accepting a mild consequence relieves 2 stress, a mild injury aspect is applied, such as "bruised ribs" or "winded", and the aspects aren't removed until one scene after Recovery begins.
A Moderate consequence relieves 4 stress, with a moderate injury aspect "Deep Gash" or "Sprained Ankle", which doesn't go away until the end of the game session after the one in which Recovery begins.
A Severe Consequence forgives 6 stress, and the injury aspect is much more serious, "Broken Leg", or "Phobia". Aspects aren't removed until an entire scenario has ended, after the scenario in which Recovery begins.
Recovery: When conditions are right for healing to begin on a Consequence, it is known as Recovery. In some cases, Recovery might require first aid to be administered, or a friendly ear to be available. In more serious cases, a trip to the hospital, or intensive therapy lasting months or years.
The vampire chooses to accept a Moderate Consequence, reducing the stress to 4, and it marks off the 4th stress spot OOOXO on its stress track. In addition, as the character accepting the consequence, the vampire describes how Karrin's knife stabs into its shoulder, leaving a deep wound and inflicting the aspect "Your Arm's Off`! No it's Not!". As the one who inflicted the wound leading to a consequence, Karrin has one free tag that she may exploit, or trade to someone else if circumstances warrant.
"Thrown to the Floor" has been tagged, and expires. The vampire is able to scramble to its feet again, and reeling at the damage done by this pesky mortal, the vampire backs away, putting several bookshelves between it and its attacker. It assumes a Full Defense action for +2 to its defense roll on any action Karrin might attempt until its turn comes again.
Karrin, desperate to keep it in the fight and afraid it will try to run, scoops a book of the floor and holds it up briefly before using Deceit to lie to the vampire and explain that she's already found the manuscript it is looking for, and she's going to destroy it. She is setting up a Block to prevent the vampire from leaving. A block only holds as long as it is maintained from round to round, or it is overcome, so Karrin is stalling for time. Maybe her friends will show up to help, or she'll be able to think of another solution. She isn't very good at Deceit, doesn't even have it listed, but she rolls at Mediocre (+0). ++OO earns her a total of Fair (+2). She tags "Your Arm's Off! No it's Not!" to add +2 to the roll, explaining that the vampire would be too hurt to think clearly. She considers spending a fate point to re-roll her dice, but +2 is actually pretty good, and she doesn't want to spend a fate point to tag another aspect to support a Deceit roll. She hopes that Great (+4) will be enough. The vampire rolls Alertness at Fair (+2) and gets -+++ for a total of Superb (+5). Lucky roll! It hisses in derision at her clumsy attempt.
A cowardly mook, it decides to come back another night with more muscle to retrieve the manuscript. It prepares to Sprint on its turn, and change zones to escape. Ordinarily a zone would be Mediocre (+0) to roll a Sprint against, but a lot of shelves and books have been spilled, so I rule the difficulty is Average (+1). He rolls Athletics, a Fair (+2) O++-, and generates 3 Shifts over the difficulty. In addition, the vampire has Inhuman Speed (-2), which grants an automatic +2 when sprinting. A total of 5 shifts means he's down the stairs and out the door almost faster than Karrin can see.
With a sigh, she looks around at the wreckage of the shelves, and the pages fluttering to the ground, and wonders how she's going to explain this.
Here it is:
Let's say Detective Karrin Murphy (at or around Storm Front level of badassery, a long way from what she'll become) is facing off against a red court vampire mook in a deserted library (after hours I suppose).
First we set the scene: I describe the library as being dimly lit by street lights shining through windows on all walls. The room is full of book and media shelves about 4 feet high; easily seen over, but also easy to hide behind. At one end is a large table, and at either end are stairs down to the first floor. I decide that there are 3 zones to this fight, the main one being the entire floor of the library, and the other two being the stairs.
Zones: an arbitrary amount of physical space that a small number of combatants can occupy and be close enough to touch each other in the course of one movement and action. If Karrin was at one end, and the vampire at the other, Karrin could charge forward and knock the slimy smile off its face without having to use any extraordinary movement abilities. Neighboring zones are typically the range of thrown projectiles, and guns might reach two or three zones away.
I also decide on the scene aspects, those apparent to the participants as well as any hidden. We talked about how the light level was low, so it's pretty obvious the area has "Dimly Lit". Since there are full bookshelves everywhere, I'll also add the obvious "Shelves Full of Literary Cover". Not so obvious without a search, or perhaps foreknowledge, is "The Sprinkler System is Armed".
Second we establish the groups and motivations in the conflict. Karrin will be one group, and the vampire mook will be a second group. Usually it will just be PC's vs NPC's, but occasionally each group will have different goals, such as one group might need to pass through the zone in pursuit of a Big Bad, while the other might want to mop up the henchmen who are staying behind to buy their boss time to escape. In this case, the vampire is here to retrieve a manuscript that its mistress needs to craft a dark ritual. Karrin is here to kill the vampire. I decide that both Karrin and the mook are in the library floor zone.
As we come into the scene, Karrin has followed the vampire into the library, so far managing to remain unnoticed in her sneakers. She's done her homework, and made a couple Assessments about the vampire and the situation. Karrin has asked Harry Dresden about the Red Court Vampires, and he's told her about their stomachs are unarmored and more vulnerable than the rest of them. This is their Catch, the chink in their supernatural power of toughness. She has a free tag on his aspect of "Soft Underbelly". She also knows why he's here, that he's searching for the manuscript, and that he has the aspect "Looking for a Good Book".
Assessments: A plan, research, or observation that uncovers an existing aspect on an individual or area. This aspect, once uncovered, does not have an expiration time limit, and may be tagged once for free to gain an advantage by the person who made the Assessment (or whoever they trade the tag to). From then on, fate points may be spent to tag the aspect by anyone in the know.
Third is Initiative order. In physical conflicts, the individual with the highest Alertness will usually go first, unless it's an ambush, or other special situation. In the case of tie, we can talk about going to highest Athletics, or just roll off, or whatever. Play proceeds in the order of Alertness scores, unless someone wants to Delay. In the case of more than two combatants, Delay allows you to skip your turn until whenever you want to go. You then rejoin the conflict at that position in the turn order, unless you Delay again.
Since this is an ambush, the vampire doesn't know Karrin is here yet, we give her the first Initiative.
Fourth comes the actual actions in the conflict. You describe what your character tries to do in terms of one of the different types of Basic Actions. There are five different Basic Actions:
Attack: Roll against an opponent to try to inflict physical, mental, or social stress.
Maneuver: Roll against an opponent or zone to try and place a temporary aspect on them or the scene.
Block: Roll to set up a preemptive defense against a specified future action.
Sprint: Roll to change zones, with a higher result allowing a greater number of zones to be traversed.
Full Defense: Concentrate fully on avoiding damage.
Karrin has initiative, and wants to try a Maneuver to gain an advantage on the vampire. Karrin describes how she sneaks up on the vampire, using the bookshelves as cover, while it aimlessly searches for the manuscript. She rolls her Stealth, which is Fair (+2) against the vampire's Alertness (which also happens to be Fair). She rolls +OO-, which is +0, and combined with her +2 in stealth is a total of Fair (+2). The vampire rolls: -+++, which combined with his Alertness is a Great (+4). He isn't too bright, so instead of pretending to be oblivious to catch her off guard, he immediately turns and strikes at her with a fist.
The vampire's Fists skill is Good (+3), and he rolls: ++O-, for a total of Great (+4). Karrin automatically gets a defense check, no matter how many attacks come at her before her turn comes again. She defends with her own Fists: Good (+3) and decides (the first time for free due to her Assessment) to tag the vampire's aspect "Looking for a Good Book" to gain a +2 to her Fists defense, rationalizing that the vampire is still more focused on finding the book than it is in killing her. She rolls +-+-, +2 for her tag, and +3 (Good) Fists, for a total of Superb (+5). Now Karrin is a martial arts expert, and has the Mortal Stunt: Redirected Force. This enables her sacrifice her next action to treat a successful Fists defense against close-combat attacks as a successful maneuver against her opponent. Some stunts require the expenditure of a fate point, this one does not. Karrin describes how she dodges his fist, catches his arm, and throws him over her hip, hard, into a bookshelf. Her Maneuver places the temporary aspect "Thrown to the Floor" on the vampire, without needing a contested roll. Since it was an automatic success, I rule that it is the same as a contested roll in which she tied the vampire, so it is considered "fragile" and will only last until it is tagged once. If she had succeeded by +1 or more "Shifts", it would last through that many extra tags (although only the first one is free).
Shifts: The positive difference between the target difficulty number and your skill+roll. A difficulty of Fair (+2) and a roll of Great (+4) would result in 2 Shifts.
Karrin sacrificed her action last turn during her defense, so it is the mook's turn. The vampire scrabbles around on the floor in surprise, trying to get to its feet. It rolls Athletics at Good (+3) in an attempt to remove "Thrown to the Floor", and Karrin opposes that with her Fists. In its shock at being thrown by a mortal, the normally inhumanly graceful creature slips on some books that were knocked to the floor in the struggle and rolls an Athletics of O-O- for a total of Average (+1). Karrin, a veteran of many hand to hand fights, is prepared for tricky footwork and rolls a Fists O+++ for a total of Fantastic (+6) to defend the "Thrown to the Floor" maneuver. Unfortunately, her extra 5 Shifts are discarded in this situation, since defense only requires matching the "attack" roll.
With the Initiative once again, Karrin decides to get more serious. She knows that vampires are tougher than normal mortals, and doubts she'll be able to seriously hurt her opponent with her fists. Instead she uses a Supplemental Action to pull a combat knife from the sheath at her belt and attacks.
Supplemental Action: A "quick" and simple action performed alongside a Basic Action. The Supplemental Action doesn't take a lot of time, but is more complicated than a Free Action, requiring a little bit of concentration. This is applied as a -1 modifier to the main action roll.
Free Action: Any action that takes almost no time at all: Flipping on a light switch, shouting a warning, etc.
Ordinarily, melee attacks other than Fists are handled by the Weapon skill, but Karrin employs another Mortal Stunt called "Extensive Training" to substitute her Fists skill for simple weapons such as clubs or knives. Her Fists is a Good (+3) and she rolls +O+- for a total of Great (+4). She isn't certain this will be enough to overcome the vampire's thick hide, so she tags the temporary aspect "Thrown to the Floor" for a +2 bonus, and wanting to end things quickly, also tags her assessment "Soft Underbelly" (in this case as a bonus, not in its capacity as a "Catch") for an additional +2 or a total of Legendary (+8). The vampire rolls Fists O--- to defend for a total of Mediocre (+0), and an astounding 8 Shifts of success for Karrin, which translates directly into 8 Stress for the vampire.
Stress: Creatures have at least three different stress tracks, physical, mental, and social; one for each of the types of combat. The vampire has OOOOO stress spots available. Three are granted by its Endurance of Fair (+2), and two more by its Inhuman Toughness (-2). In contrast, Karrin has OOOO stress spots: two to start, and Two more granted by her Endurance of Good (+3).
The 8 Stress applied to the vampire's physical stress track are modified by the knife's automatic damage of +1, for 9 total stress, and the vampire's Inhuman Toughness providing a natural Armor: -1 to bring the total back down to 8. Since the vampire only has five OOOOO stress spots, the stress would "Roll Off" the track, and the vampire would be Taken Out. Not wanting to be at Karrin's mercy, the vampire decides to take a Consequence to reduce the amount of stress it would suffer.
Taken Out: When the stress inflicted on a character rolls off their stress track, they are defeated. The attacker is allowed to state the conditions under which they are Taken Out. This could be anything from humiliated and forced to flee in the case of a social conflict, or knocked out/killed in the case of a physical. Once the conditions of their defeat are set, the victim gets to decide the details of how they face their defeat.
Consequences: When the stress inflicted on a character would roll off the stress track and would cause them to be Taken Out, the character may choose to accept Consequences to ameliorate some of the stress. Consequences come in four levels of severity, although only the first three are used excepting in the most extreme of circumstances.
Accepting a mild consequence relieves 2 stress, a mild injury aspect is applied, such as "bruised ribs" or "winded", and the aspects aren't removed until one scene after Recovery begins.
A Moderate consequence relieves 4 stress, with a moderate injury aspect "Deep Gash" or "Sprained Ankle", which doesn't go away until the end of the game session after the one in which Recovery begins.
A Severe Consequence forgives 6 stress, and the injury aspect is much more serious, "Broken Leg", or "Phobia". Aspects aren't removed until an entire scenario has ended, after the scenario in which Recovery begins.
Recovery: When conditions are right for healing to begin on a Consequence, it is known as Recovery. In some cases, Recovery might require first aid to be administered, or a friendly ear to be available. In more serious cases, a trip to the hospital, or intensive therapy lasting months or years.
The vampire chooses to accept a Moderate Consequence, reducing the stress to 4, and it marks off the 4th stress spot OOOXO on its stress track. In addition, as the character accepting the consequence, the vampire describes how Karrin's knife stabs into its shoulder, leaving a deep wound and inflicting the aspect "Your Arm's Off`! No it's Not!". As the one who inflicted the wound leading to a consequence, Karrin has one free tag that she may exploit, or trade to someone else if circumstances warrant.
"Thrown to the Floor" has been tagged, and expires. The vampire is able to scramble to its feet again, and reeling at the damage done by this pesky mortal, the vampire backs away, putting several bookshelves between it and its attacker. It assumes a Full Defense action for +2 to its defense roll on any action Karrin might attempt until its turn comes again.
Karrin, desperate to keep it in the fight and afraid it will try to run, scoops a book of the floor and holds it up briefly before using Deceit to lie to the vampire and explain that she's already found the manuscript it is looking for, and she's going to destroy it. She is setting up a Block to prevent the vampire from leaving. A block only holds as long as it is maintained from round to round, or it is overcome, so Karrin is stalling for time. Maybe her friends will show up to help, or she'll be able to think of another solution. She isn't very good at Deceit, doesn't even have it listed, but she rolls at Mediocre (+0). ++OO earns her a total of Fair (+2). She tags "Your Arm's Off! No it's Not!" to add +2 to the roll, explaining that the vampire would be too hurt to think clearly. She considers spending a fate point to re-roll her dice, but +2 is actually pretty good, and she doesn't want to spend a fate point to tag another aspect to support a Deceit roll. She hopes that Great (+4) will be enough. The vampire rolls Alertness at Fair (+2) and gets -+++ for a total of Superb (+5). Lucky roll! It hisses in derision at her clumsy attempt.
A cowardly mook, it decides to come back another night with more muscle to retrieve the manuscript. It prepares to Sprint on its turn, and change zones to escape. Ordinarily a zone would be Mediocre (+0) to roll a Sprint against, but a lot of shelves and books have been spilled, so I rule the difficulty is Average (+1). He rolls Athletics, a Fair (+2) O++-, and generates 3 Shifts over the difficulty. In addition, the vampire has Inhuman Speed (-2), which grants an automatic +2 when sprinting. A total of 5 shifts means he's down the stairs and out the door almost faster than Karrin can see.
With a sigh, she looks around at the wreckage of the shelves, and the pages fluttering to the ground, and wonders how she's going to explain this.