Dresden Files Accelerated

Anyone out there have a pdf copy?

Since alpha version has been put out to people who kickstarted the original Fate Core, the answer would have to be "yes." But I would also suppose those files are watermarked.

Remember to always check > first.

How do you feel about the Dresden Files Accelerated completely discarding any attempt at character balance?
The original Dresden Files RPG tried to balance different types of characters by having some character types "cost more" than others. This was imperfect, because pure mortals were still weak despite the attempts at giving them extra points and spellcasting was far too strong for its price, but the attempt at character balance was still there.

The Dresden Files Accelerated though...
>The first is abandonment of any intent to achieve balance between mantles. Recall that a mantle expresses the truth of existence of a distinctive type of entity in the universe and their influence on the world. Expression of that concept requires however many stunts and conditions needed for accuracy. However, GMs should beware of creating a mantle whose nature denies other players the meaningful participation by extreme, even overwhelming, strengths.

Are you a pure mortal? Good. You get some neat abilities, nothing major.
Are you the erlking's huntmaster, a knight of a faerie court, Kringle's seneschal, or a true fae? Congratulations! You also get some neat abilities, roughly the same amount as what a pure mortal receives. You also have some weaknesses, but nothing devastating. In exchange, you get to operate on the Otherworldly scale for nearly all actions!

There are five scales: Mundane, Supernatural, Otherworldly, Legendary, Godlike.
>When applying scale to two opposing forces or individuals, compare each side’s level and then apply one of the following benefits to whichever is scaled higher:
>+1 per scale level to their action before the roll
>+2 per scale level to the result after the roll, if the roll succeeds
>1 free invocation per scale level on a successful advantage after the roll
The character types are supposed to be imbalanced. While the strongest of the character types are obvious, everything in between is harder to judge the rough power and competence of.

Now, the book says:
>The mantles represented herein (page 119) are designed to give advantage to the appropriate party in the appropriate context.
>GM determines when scale applies; usually it's when you're using supernatural abilities.

This lines up with the way most mantles work. Changelings, werewolves, white court virgins, and the like only gain scale when using their powers. The book explicitly states this. For example:
>Fae stunts [for a changeling] operate at Supernatural scale (page 182).
>The Knight usually operates at Otherworldly scale (page 182) when battling evil.

The huntmaster, the knights, the seneschal, and others lack that "when using X" provision. They instead have a flat "operates at Otherworldly scale."
>The Huntmaster operates at Otherworldly scale (page 182).
>The Knights operate at Otherworldly scale (page 182).
>The Seneschal operates at Otherworldly scale (page 182).

If this is not how it is supposed to work, then the wording should change to match up with the wording of changelings, werewolves, white court virgins, etc.

True fae have a worse deal:
>True Fae USUALLY operate at an Otherworldly scale (page 182).
Though it is unclear if this means "a single true fae can sometimes be Otherworldly, or sometimes be at a different scale," or if "true fae vary wildly in power level, but most are Otherworldly." The latter would make more sense given pixies, but this could use better wording.

>mouse
>only coming up to harry's knee
but that's wrong

The book also says:

>Frequent and rigid application of scale rules may put mortal characters at a distinct disadvantage. Compensate by generously affording those players opportunities to subvert scale disadvantage in clever ways. Viable options include researching a target for weaknesses, changing the venue to one where scale doesn’t apply, or altering goals so that their opponent cannot leverage their scale advantage.

>Wizard Dresden is an expert at finding the Achilles’ heel of superior foes.
>Like using the sprinkler system against an army of hobs.

>ASPECTS AND SCALE
>Active situation aspects sometimes represent a supernatural effect, such as A Powerful Ward or The Telier Family Curse. In these cases, the GM may determine that invoking the aspect grants the additional benefit of its scale.

However, this is of little help against the various character types that give a global benefit of:
>The Huntmaster operates at Otherworldly scale (page 182).
>The Knights operate at Otherworldly scale (page 182).
>The Seneschal operates at Otherworldly scale (page 182).

Sure, you could probably force some kind of compel against them to lower their scale, but that grants them fate points, and might cost you fate points.

You could invoke an aspect in such a way that your scale increases, but if you think about it, what is stopping the Erlking's huntmaster, a knight of a faerie court, or Kringle's seneschal from doing the same with their own appropriate aspect, bumping themselves up to Legendary?

Never mind how ridiculous it is that being the Erlking's huntmaster, a knight of a faerie court, or Kringle's seneschal automatically places you at an übermensch level of competence for every single action, even mental and social actions.

The Dresden Files Accelerated manages to preserve the absolute worst part of Fate Accelerated: the rules heavily encourage you to shoehorn all of your actions into a single approach.

Usually, that approach is Clever (called "Intellect" in this new game), because it covers "Quick thinking, the solving of complex problems, or accounting for numerous variables at once," which is more generous than any other approach's definition.

The Dresden Files Accelerated is particularly cancerous about this because certain (common) character concepts actually call for hard-locked Intellect rolls for mandatory powers. Any magical practitioner's Sight and Soulgaze are Intellect-based, and any fae glamours are also Intellect-based.

I like how there is a Sneaky/Guile approach, and yet glamours use Clever/Intellect instead.

Just like in Fate Accelerated, you can also have one approach at Superb (+5) after only two significant milestones.

Fate Core is much better about this, because shoehorning in all of your actions into a single skill is much harder than doing the same with a single approach. It is also impossible to have a single, broad, all-encompassing statistic at Superb (+5) after only two significant milestones.

Core's skills are simply more robust than Accelerated's poorly-defined approaches.

Most unusually, for all the book talks about "no need for party balance":
>The first is abandonment of any intent to achieve balance between mantles. Recall that a mantle expresses the truth of existence of a distinctive type of entity in the universe and their influence on the world. Expression of that concept requires however many stunts and conditions needed for accuracy. However, GMs should beware of creating a mantle whose nature denies other players the meaningful participation by extreme, even overwhelming, strengths.

It also says, on the topic of character balance:
>Retire your character from the game. Such a thing should not be viewed negatively or sorrowfully: at times a character reaches the end of their tale or the game has exhausted all of their drama and surprise. Discuss the potential retirement with the entire group and then create a character for the next session of play. (GMs should note that characters created mid-campaign may need “free milestones” to place them near the capabilities of the other characters and thus provide a chance to share the limelight.)

Which is it, Leonard Balsera? Should characters be near each other in capabilities or not?

That's not mouse. That's a wolf. Mouse is a foo dog and looks like a chow.