History TabletopGame / TheDresdenfiles

''TheDresdenFiles RPG'' (DFRPG) is Evil Hat's TabletopRPG adaptation of the popular UrbanFantasy series of novels. After the events of ''Small Favor'', [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis Billy Borden and the Alphas have set out to make a monster-slaying manual for the 21st Century with the help of Harry Dresden, framing it as a roleplaying game so that people who are unaware of the supernatural won't reject it outright.]] Their efforts produce two mud-splattered spiral-bound rough drafts with Harry, Billy, and Harry's spirit friend Bob having conversations in the margins and on sticky notes about the rules, the setting, and whatever else happens to pop into their heads. The resulting commentary manages to be simulatenously informative and side-splittingly hilarious, making the books a worthwhile read even for those not interested in playing the game.

Under the hood, the DFRPG uses the [[TabletopGame/{{FUDGE}} FATE 3]] rules originally seen in ''SpiritOfTheCentury''--in fact, that game was created to test Evil Hat's third edition of FATE in preparation for this outing while it was stuck in DevelopmentHell due to continual tweaking. As a FATE 3 game, the DFRPG mechanically rewards people for roleplaying their characters' traits ("Aspects") for good (granting rerolls or bonuses) or ill (giving you the Fate Points you need to power those rerolls and bonuses). Additionally, it focuses more on replicating the feel of a supernatural adventure novel than on faithfully modeling reality, allowing players to use their Fate Points or skills to cause a ContrivedCoincidence to aid (or hinder!) the party. Aside from adding supernatural powers to replace the mad science from ''SpiritOfTheCentury'', ''TheDresdenFiles RPG'' also standardized (and lowered) the power level of non-magical characters, avoiding the feeling of PlayerCharacter invincibility that plagued its predecessor.

!''TheDresdenFiles RPG'' provides examples of:

Under the hood, the DFRPG uses the [[{{FUDGE}} FATE 3]] rules originally seen in ''SpiritOfTheCentury''--in fact, that game was created to test Evil Hat's third edition of FATE in preparation for this outing while it was stuck in DevelopmentHell due to continual tweaking. As a FATE 3 game, the DFRPG mechanically rewards people for roleplaying their characters' traits ("Aspects") for good (granting rerolls or bonuses) or ill (giving you the Fate Points you need to power those rerolls and bonuses). Additionally, it focuses more on replicating the feel of a supernatural adventure novel than on faithfully modeling reality, allowing players to use their Fate Points or skills to cause a ContrivedCoincidence to aid (or hinder!) the party. Aside from adding supernatural powers to replace the mad science from ''SpiritOfTheCentury'', ''TheDresdenFiles RPG'' also standardized (and lowered) the power level of non-magical characters, avoiding the feeling of PlayerCharacter invincibility that plagued its predecessor.

* UnbreakableWeapons: The Swords of the Cross and other Items of Power are explicitly unbreakable, and can only be destroyed through a dedicated ritual.

** In ''The Paranet Papers'', Will and Butters manage to slip information relevant to ''Ghost Story'' into the text, despite the ''Papers'' pre-dating that novel. This is excused by Mort Lindquist having gotten sozzled at Mac's pub and blathered drunkenly to Will about his ectomancy.

* AudienceSurrogate: Mechanically, Harry, who often asks questions about game mechanics the audience might have so that Will can explain and clarify. Flavor-wise, Will, who requests clarification about the setting from Harry and Bob. In ''The Paranet Papers'', it's Murphy who fills Harry's role [[spoiler: because it was ostensibly compiled by Will and Butters after Harry got shot.]]

* AudienceSurrogate: Mechanically, Harry, who often asks questions about game mechanics the audience might have so that Will can explain and clarify. Flavor-wise, Will, who requests clarification about the setting from Harry and Bob. In ''The Paranet Papers'', it's Murphy who fills this role [[spoiler: because it was ostensibly compiled by Will and Butters after Harry got shot.]]

* AudienceSurrogate: Mechanically, Harry, who often asks questions about game mechanics the audience might have so that Will can explain and clarify. Flavor-wise, Will, who requests clarification about the setting from Harry and Bob.

* RocketTagGameplay: The combat system lends itself to this, as it really doesn't take much damage to wound or take out an opponent (barring the [[MadeOfIron various]] [[MadeOfDiamond Toughness]] [[NighInvulnerability powers]]), and wounds just make it much easier to finish someone off. As a result, it's rare for combat to take more than a handful of turns to resolve.

* RageAgainstTheAuthor: After having his "character" used as an example repeatedly, Harry starts to complain about what a dick [[JimButcher his GM]] is, and demands retroactive fate points because of all the crap he's been dragged through.

* TheCity: A central part of game planning is creating the game's city, usually including several aspects, locations, and "faces" for the player characters to interact with. The gamebooks include write-ups on Chicago, where the main series takes place, and Baltimore.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: While many of the examples come from Harry and his pals, quite a few involve a Baltimore-based group of characters unrelated to Dresden's adventures, and the "Our World" source book contains details on those characters and their setting for players who might want to use them.

* MasterSwordsman: Shiro of the Knights of the Cross is said to be an artist with his blade. The RPG codifies this, giving him a Weapons skill of 6, with stunts to boost it further in certain situations (for reference, skills top out at 4 or 5 for most non-wizard, non-"PlotDevice level" characters), and on top of that, one of the powers of his sword gives ''another'' +1 to hit when it's in keeping with its true purpose. His profile outright says if you try to take him on one-on-one, you're going to lose. Even Nicodemus, who hates Shiro, grudgingly respects Shiro's abilities

* DevelopmentHell: The Dresden Files tabletop RPG had been in production for years, but was finally released in June 2010.
* {{Diary}}: Refers to these as "case files."

* HealingFactor: Puts it at three levels, the highest of which allows a creature to heal from something that would normally take months or years within minutes.

Under the hood, the DFRPG uses the [[{{FUDGE}} FATE 3]] rules originally seen in ''SpiritOfTheCentury''--in fact, that game was created to test Evil Hat's third edition of FATE in preparation for this outing while it was stuck in DevelopmentHell due to continual tweaking. As a FATE 3 game, the DFRPG mechanically rewards people for roleplaying their characters traits ("Aspects") for good (granting rerolls or bonuses) or ill (giving you the Fate Points you need to power those rerolls and bonuses). Additionally, it focuses more on replicating the feel of a supernatural adventure novel than on faithfully modeling reality, allowing players to use their Fate Points or skills to cause a ContrivedCoincidence to aide (or hinder!) the party. Aside from adding supernatural powers to replace the mad science from ''SpiritOfTheCentury'', ''TheDresdenFiles RPG'' also standardized (and lowered) the power level of non-magical characters, avoiding the feeling of PlayerCharacter invincibility that plagued its predecessor.

* BackStab: Using Stealth to set up a successful ambush makes it so the victims are flat-footed, and roll their defenses from 0 instead of whatever the stat actually is. This is a lethal prospect, especially for those characters whose blocking or dodging stat is normally 4 or 5, or higher via powers, since it means the best possible roll is, at best, an 'average' result for them.

* CanisLatinicus: The main series' use is laborated on here. In order to cast a spell, the caster has to form a "construct" around it. Basically a psychic container to shape and direct the energy in use, the words of a spell are a key element of any construct. Another reason for using a language they're not really familiar with is that using your first language for your constructs can carry over into every day speech. For example, if Harry used "fire" instead of "fuego" he'd run the risk of conjuring a ball of flame anytime he happened to be talking about fire (and then the burning building really would be his fault).

* RuleOfCool[=/=]RuleOfFun: The books advise that [=GMs=] take these rules into account regarding invoking aspects for effect. Specifically, it says that if an invoke makes the game cooler and more fun for the group, it should be a lot more likely to work.

* RunningGag: A handful; whenever something from the ''Blood Rites'' case (where Harry was working at a porn shoot) is mentioned, Bob pipes up, asking whether someone can give him some "research material." Likewise, in the index, "Shut Up, Bob" is one of the longer entries, as is "Jerks." The last is lampshaded in the margin comments, when Billy calls Harry out for calling a lot of people jerks, to which Harry responds, well, he meets a lot of jerks. Also, one carrying over from the books is Harry's infamous, "The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault," which is counted as one of his Aspects.

** On a ShoutOut note: One possible side effect of necromancy is arrogance "turned up to eleven."
--> [[FootnoteFever Harry]]: Thirteen!
--> Will: Why don’t you just make eleven more arrogant and make eleven be the top number and make that a little more arrogant?
--> Harry: …these go to THIRTEEN.

* ViolationOfCommonSense: Harry considers some of the more "evil" powers to be these. In particular, he rants about how you'd have to be out of your mind to take [[EvilIsVisceral Demonic]] [[EvilTastesGood Co-Pilot]]
** FunnyAneurysmMoment: Harry mentions that it'd be an indication he was out of his mind if he abandoned his naming scheme for his major case files. And it turns out that [[spoiler:fae mantles (such as say, the knights, for example...) ''also'' come with Co-Pilots.]]

* LateArrivalSpoiler: The GM's rulebook, ''Our World'', spoils pretty much everything of significance from the first ten books, especially the character listing. ''Your Story'' is a bit better about it, but still gives away quite a few things, like that [spoiler: Thomas is Harry's brother, the existence of the Alphas and that they become friends with Harry], and the entirety of the plot of ''Literature/StormFront''.

* LateArrivalSpoiler: The GM's rulebook, ''Our World'', spoils pretty much everything of significance from the first ten books, especially the character listing. ''Your Story'' is a bit better about it, but still gives away quite a few things, like that Thomas is Harry's brother, the existence of the Alphas and that they become friends with Harry, and the entirety of the plot of ''Literature/StormFront''.

* UnreliableNarrator: In-universe, Billy calls Harry out for the various mistakes in his case files, such as giving Wrigley Field a parking lot in one of the books.

* GeniusBonus: The illustration of Eldest Gruff (page 46 of ''Our World'') shows Norse runes carved into his staff. Substituting in the phonetically equivalent letters in the Latin alphabet gives the message "DONUTS ARE TASTY."

* AsYouKnow: If a PC should really know something already, the rules encourage the GM to 'borrow' them specifically to avoid this ploy while [[InfoDump Info Dumping]].