''The Dresden Files'' Roleplaying Game is a licensed

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

based on ''

The Dresden Files ''The Dresden Files'' is a series of contemporary fantasy/Mystery fiction, mystery novels written by American author Jim Butcher. The first novel, ''Storm Front (The Dresden Files), Storm Front''—which was also Butcher's writing debut—was p ...

'' and using the Fate system. It was released in late 2010 in two hardcover volumes: ''Your Story'' with the rules information and ''Our World'' with setting information, and won numerous awards at all of the

Origins Awards The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the gaming industry. They are presented by the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for games released in the preceding year. For example, t ...

, the

ENnies The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN Worl ...

, and the

Golden Geek Awards Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall *Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...

Game

''The Dresden Files'' Roleplaying Game is written as an

in-universe A fictional universe, also known as an imagined universe or a constructed universe, is the internally consistent fictional setting used in a narrative or a work of art. This concept is most commonly associated with works of fantasy and scienc ...

artifact: a draft of tabletop role-playing game written by Billy Borden in order to explain to both his

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...

pack and to mortals how the supernatural world works. He hopes that in-universe it will allow him to reveal the weaknesses of

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

creatures, making the rest of the supernatural world as vulnerable as the

publication To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Convention, articl ...

Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...

made "Black Court"

Vampires A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

. Because it is supposedly a draft copy of the game, the book is covered in

annotations An annotation is extra information associated with a particular point in a document or other piece of information. It can be a note that includes a comment or explanation. Annotations are sometimes presented in the margin of book pages. For anno ...

by Harry Dresden, Bob the talking skull, and Billy Borden and these take the form of highlights, notes in the

margin Margin may refer to: Physical or graphical edges *Margin (typography), the white space that surrounds the content of a page * Continental margin, the zone of the ocean floor that separates the thin oceanic crust from thick continental crust *Leaf ...

, and

post-it notes A Post-it note (or sticky note) is a small piece of paper with a re-adherable strip of glue on its back, made for temporarily attaching notes to documents and other surfaces. A low-tack pressure-sensitive adhesive allows the notes to be easily ...

attached to the pages both as explanations of the rules and as snark between the characters. It is also split into two separate books; "Your Story" containing the rules and setting notes, and "Our World" containing a list of the movers and shakers in the ''Dresden Files'' universe as well as statistics for most supernatural creature types in the ''Dresden Files'' universe along the lines of a

monster manual The ''Monster Manual'' (''MM'') is the primary bestiary sourcebook for monsters in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game, first published in 1977 by TSR. The ''Monster Manual'' was the first hardcover ''D&D'' book and ...

in ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

''. While the game does not specify a city to use (or even to use a city at all), the key world-building example of the game is based around Baltimore, rather than using the main setting of the novels (

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

). This is both to avoid duplication of information already in the novels and so Harry Dresden and the

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

of ''The Dresden Files'' need not be an issue for roleplay at the table.Designing Dresden 1: Choosing a City

Evil Hat Productions Evil Hat Productions is a company that produces role-playing games and other tabletop games. They are best known for the free indie RPG system ''Fate'', '' Blades in the Dark'', and '' Thirsty Sword Lesbians'', all of which have won multiple awa ...

Volume One: Your Story

The first volume of the core ''Dresden Files'' RPG, this book covers ''"all the rules you need to build characters and tell your own stories in the Dresdenverse"''. It is a stand alone book and does not require an additional purchase of the Fate Core RPG Rules. ''The Dresden Files Roleplaying Game'' uses the Fate system; a very narrative system in which each character doesn't just have

skills A skill is the learned or innate ability Abilities are powers an agent has to perform various Action (philosophy), actions. They include common abilities, like walking, and rare abilities, like performing a double backflip. Abilities are in ...

and attributes but aspects; freeform traits that are true and can be made relevant to the narrative for a bonus - or for a penalty and a Plot Point to use later. Fate was chosen over the more popular

open gaming Open gaming is a movement within the tabletop role-playing game (RPG) industry with superficial similarities to the open source software movement. The key aspect is that copyright holders license their works under public copyright licenses that pe ...

d20 system The d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast, originally developed for the Editions of Dungeons & Dragons#Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition, 3rd edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. The system is named after ...

because it makes it easier for characters with very different power levels to work together without one overshadowing the other.Designing Dresden 6 - So Why Fate?
-

The characters are assumed to know each other in advance, and character creation includes inventing a couple of stories in their shared past. The magic system is broken up into immediate

Evocation Evocation is the act of evoking, calling upon, or summoning a Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit, demon, deity or other supernatural agents, in the Western mystery tradition. Conjuration also refers to a summoning, often by the use of a magic ...

and planned

Thaumaturgy Thaumaturgy () is the practical application of magic to effect change in the physical world. Historically, thaumaturgy has been associated with the manipulation of natural forces, the creation of wonders, and the performance of magical feats t ...

, with the casting itself being freeform and the role being to control the magic.

Volume Two: Our World

The second volume in the core ''Dresden Files'' RPG, this book gives ''"extensive detail on the factions, creatures, foes, and allies of the Dresdenverse"''. It also includes a section on the Chicago setting used in the Dresden novels.

Volume Three: The Paranet Papers

The third volume in the core ''Dresden Files'' RPG, this book provides information on ''"four key Dresdenverse times and places: Las Vegas, the Russian Revolution, the Neverglades, and Las Tierras Rojas / the Red Lands"''. In addition it details rules and setting information for navigating the spirit world known as the Nevernever. The magical rules are updated and expanded with new material on soulfire, sponsorship, and thaumaturgy. There are new and updated creatures to populate the game and provide possible opposition for players, including demons, archangels, creatures of the Nevernever, and scions. Character writeups are updated and new characters are introduced to the Dresdenverse. Information for ''Dresden Files'' novels is updated through the novel ''Changes'', with hints of ''Ghost Story''. In keeping with these two novels, rather than Harry and Bob, it is Waldo Butters and Karrin Murphy who discuss the contents within the pages along with Will (Billy).

Dresden Files Accelerated

Published in 2017 using the Fate Accelerated system, Dresden Files Accelerated simplifies the rules and is a standalone game from the rest of the Dresden Files RPG.

History and reception

Jim Butcher Jim Butcher (born October 26, 1971) is an American author., He has written the contemporary Fantasy literature, fantasy ''The Dresden Files'', ''Codex Alera'', and ''Cinder Spires'' book series. Personal life Butcher was born in Independence, M ...

, author of ''

'', was an old friend of some of the founders of

, and when his agent, Jennifer Jackson, started receiving queries about role-playing game rights to the series, Butcher contacted Evil Hat to create and publish an RPG based on the ''Dresden Files''. Evil Hat brought in Genevieve Cogman to research the six ''Dresden Files'' books that had been written by that time in 2004, as well as the ten more that were written by the time Evil Hat put a cap on the game several years later as to what material it would cover. Leonard Balsera became the Lead System Developer on ''The Dresden Files Roleplaying Game'' while Chad Underkoffler took on the role of lead setting developer. They also announced in 2006 that they had needed to discard the

alpha version The software release life cycle is the process of developing, testing, and distributing a software product (e.g., an operating system). It typically consists of several stages, such as pre-alpha, alpha, beta, and release candidate, before the fi ...

of ''The Dresden Files'' Roleplaying Game and go right back to the drawing board, and that '' Spirit of the Century'' would use the first version of the engine they'd created for ''The Dresden Files'' RPG.

acquired the ''Dresden Files'' license in December 2004 and originally intended to launch the game in Summer 2006. Evil Hat started recruiting playtesters for ''The Dresden Files'' in late 2007, starting external play-testing in January 2008 and playtesting continued through 2008 and 2009. The game was opened for preorders in April 2010 and released in June, to coincide with Origins 2010. Evil Hat later released lighter version of the ''Dresden Files'' RPG called ''Dresden Files Accelerated'' in 2017. Reception was extremely positive with ''The Dresden Files'' winning numerous awards. RPGamer awarded ''Dresden Files'' 5/5 in the review: "This a game where every mechanic, every example and the humour oozes of the ''Dresden Files'' setting, and even if you aren't a fan, it still delivers a well put together urban fantasy game or an awesome magic system you can hack into your current FATE game. I have no complaints, no constructive criticism, not one ill word for this book. This is my game of the year". '' The Penny Arcade Report'' made special note of how the character generation system gave everyone a history together.''The Dresden Files'' RPG loses the tavern by creating relationships during Character Creation
- The Penny Arcade Report, 25 June 2012

Awards

''The Dresden Files'' Roleplaying Game was received well, winning the following awards: * 2010

Best RPG Artwork/Presentation2010 Golden Geek Announcement
/ref> * 2010 Golden Geek RPG of the Year * 2010

- Best Roleplaying Game37th Origins Awards
* 2010 Origins Awards - Best Roleplaying Supplement * 2011 Gold ENnie for Best Game2011 ENnie Awards
/ref> * 2011 Gold ENnie for Best New Game * 2011 Gold ENnie for Best Rules * 2011 Gold ENnie for Best Writing * 2011 Silver ENnie for Best Production Values * 2011 Silver ENnie for Product of the Year

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dresden Files Roleplaying Game ENnies winners Evil Hat Productions games Fantasy role-playing games Indie role-playing games Origins Award winners Role-playing games based on novels Role-playing games introduced in 2010 Works by Jim Butcher