System: Dresden Files
We had a short session the other night. One of our players was sick, another was jet lagged and I needed to get up early in the morning.
Cast: Reginald, Seth Jordan and Zak
Black magic poisoning Zak’s community. Aaron in jail. Reggie committed to protecting Margaritte. A thief stole a dangerous book from Seth but comes to repent.
What rocked:
Evocation: Wow, was this fun. We had two evocations spells; both maneuvers.
Effect: Pull a lock of hair from a thief without her noticing it while she was running down a flight of stairs.
Type: Maneuver
Element: Air (in retrospect this probably should have been spirit)
Power: 6 (This was the difficulty on an Alertness Roll to notice the lock being pulled). Notably two shifts higher than Seth’s conviction (2 physical stress).
Discipline roll (contested by Endurance): Good (3) vs. Good (3).
Results. Mechanically the spell worked (it was a maneuver that matched the contested roll) but, as it was affecting someone else it had fall out. The three shifts he missed the power buy made the spell go out of control. A gale off wind picked up the thief and left her hanging over the edge of the stairwell, 4 stories down. A stolen book in one hand, the other barely holding on…. Leaving Seth dangerously close to breaking the First Law.
Effect: Cushion the fall of said thief so she doesn’t breaker her neck falling down 4 flights of stairs.
Type: Maneuver
Element: Air
Power: 4
Discipline roll (Difficulty is Great, based on power): Fair (2) +2 from Invoking “Wizard with Warden Aspirations” = Great (4).
Results. 4 levels of physical stress were “absorbed” from the fall, leaving the thief bruised but not broken. Phew.
Weaving: I was able to tie all of the characters into the same goal but for different reasons. Seth is seeking his stolen book and possibly trying to get a date with the thief. Zak must protect his community from a fifthly Bokor who would consume it. Reggie has sworn an oath to Aaron to watch over Margaritte.
The Sight: Zak opened up the sight to see his sister under the Bokor’s spell. Her heart trapped in a frozen vice, her veins filled with ice. Tortured as he was by the vision of his sister being slowly warped by the spell, he maintained the sight long enough to perform a ritual exorcism and counter it’s effects.
Social Conflict: We had a social conflict between a thief trying to come to terms with all the supernatural goings on she had seen and Zak, who was trying to find out who she worked for. It worked smooth.
Compels: Narrating PCs to be in convenient locations by use of a compel. Zak, you need to be at your temple consoling your community so you can be on the scene when the action starts. BAM! Hogoun: Priest of Legba. Here’s a fate chip and there you are.
What could have been improved:
I didn’t bring the pain, not nearly enough. Though I did tweak Seth quite a bit when he found out the book stolen had secret warden training information.
I didn’t frame scenes clearly enough. This is the scene. What is going on here? Let’s jump to the action.
We had one social conflict between Aaron and Reggie to convince Reggie to guard Margaritte. I tagged his “Time Lost Frontier Gentleman” during the conflict, when I really just should have compelled him.
We have yet to use city/location aspects. So far they have been at the Strip and the Police Department and none of the aspects have come up. I need to work on remembering them.
