The Dresden Files

[Maria Dwight]

Okay, so I was hanging out with my friends at lunch on my birthday earlier this month when we got into a conversation about the books I was reading.

Right now I'm reading Storm Front by Jim Butcher and told them I thought Harry WAS SO ADORABLE. 

And I also said: "I'm only four chapters into this and I have a million ways I can ruin the Dresden Files by turning it into a romance." 

Then I heard someone across the restaurant start laughing at my comment. 

So, yeah. I'm like halfway through the first book and am kind of sad that Mr. Butcher has to cram a bunch of stuff into such a small book. 

I'm hoping I'm not disappointed by the climax or ending because the size of this book is too small for the awesomeness that is Harry. 

I was also told Harry's love affairs always end badly. That makes me a sad panda. ): Because Harry is exactly the kind of guy I would love to marry. /cue fangirl.

Anyway. Does anybody else like this series? I don't want spoilers... I just wanna see how many people have read the series. 

[Rev Douglas Trouten]

Good book series, rereading it right now, currently on book 4 Summer Knight myself. Also reading through a friends copy of the Dresden Files RPG books. If you havent read the Dresden Files series up Small Favor (Book 10) then might not want to look into the RPG, as Volume 2 Our World has some spoilers in it when it talks about characters from the novels, Volume 1 Your Story while containing some spoilers more focuses on the creation of your characters, city your campaign will be set in, npc creation, etc...  Volume 3 Paranet Papers covers up through Changes (Book 12) with hints at some of the content of Ghost Story (Book 12). All three books for the RPG are written as IN universe draft of the books, ie they are written to seem like one of the Characters (Billy Borden, who is introduced in Book 2 Fool Moon) in the Dresdenverse wrote them, him Harry, and Bob make comments through out them. The comments might be something like Harry telling Billy to omit certain info in the final copy, or Billy asking Harry a question if the stats of so and so seem to be about right, to simple self reminders such as Harry saying that something reminds him to check out something else, etc...

Even if you arent into playing RPGs the DFRPG Volume 2 Our World could be viewed as a Dresden Files companion guide as it has info on major characters (Harry Dresden, Karrin Murphy, Micheal Carpenter, John Malcone,  The Winter Queen, etc...) and organizations (such as the White Counsel and the Senior Counsel that acts as heads of the White Counsel, Chicago PD S.I.,  the  Vampire Courts, etc...). Though some info might be only a few sentences long saying something like the entry for the jade Court (one of the Vampire Courts), Located mostly in eastern Asia. Not much is known about them (this was paraphrased as I dont have the book in front of me at this time iirc the Jade Court's entry was a little longer then two sentences).

[Maria Dwight]

THERE'S A TABLETOP RPG?! 

Now I definitely need to get through this series... (:

[Rev Douglas Trouten]

Yup it uses the Fate RPG system from Evil Hat Production, in fact Evil Hat are the ones who produced the Dresden Files RPG, you can find info along with downloadable character sheets and some other goodies here  Dresden Files RPG  (character sheets and other downloadable goodies are under the downloads header on that page).

As it looks like I will be the game master for the Dresden Files RPG I am currently working on creating my own campaign city based of of Flint, MI (right now I am drawing up my ideas for the city and they will also come up with theirs and we will then combine different items we all came up with, such as say instead of the local new age store being in the mall in Flint township it will be a cafe/bookstore downtown Flint that is an accorded neutral ground. or that GM world headquarters is located in Flint and the CEO is a White Counsel Wizard, the New Age store as a Cafe/Bookstore Downtown is actually one of the ideas a have written down, the GM one was just an example I made up on the fly probably wont be used or even brought up by me, in the end since they are helping "build" the city , instead of just me creating it, they will have an investment in the campaign beyond just being players). Plus for us, living here and most of us growing up here, we see Flint as being ripe for turning into a campaign setting, we can easily mention locations (both past and present) and most of use would be familiar with where it is, we can also use the headlines straight out of the news (water crisis, possible current mayor taking donations to help the crisis for use as her own campaign funds, city in financial troubles, high crime rate, numerous abandoned businesses and homes, etc...) for both the mundane and the supernatural (ie the serial stabbing in Flint a few years ago could have been done by say a Denarian {introduced in later books} looking to cause further strife or by vassals of one of the houses of the White Court {one of the Vampire Courts in the series} to help feed their Vampire masters, or the water crisis could have been actually caused by a corrupt politician with some knowledge of the fae mistakenly thinking the fae have a weakness to lead instead or iron after a deal he made with one didnt end how he was expecting {the fae are notorious for making deals that will be in their favor} while at the same time figuring that the water crisis might be a way to make a quick buck by creating a false environmental consulting firm and convincing the city to hire them to do all the water testing, with most the money that the city is paying the Firm for the tests going in his pocket, while pawning the actual tests off on a legit group who have volunteered to do the tests for free after he approached them to do the testing in return for a small donation ( the donation could be the part of the fee his fake firm is charging the city that he isnt putting into his pocket), or some of the murders in the city are actually the actions of a ghoul who works in Genesee County Medical Examiners office as a way to have a steady supply of food).

The Books basically work out as Volume 1 Your Story being a combined Players handbook and Game Master manual. Volume 2 Old World is more akin to a Monster Manual/Whos who guide. While Volume 3 Paranet Papers gives you a couple new campaign/adventure locations along with some rule updates, new npcs and a few new rules.

Edited June 9, 2016 by Rev Douglas Trouten