Originally published at The Game That May Be. You can comment here or there.

I’m finally finding the time to take advantage of the fact that I’m one of those rarified souls who is “bleeding for The Dresden Files RPG” by taking part in the alpha playtest of the emerging system, and over the past few days I’ve been doing a lot of reading and some writing, including what I’m calling my “minority report” write-up for the Dresdenized version of Metro Louisville (the Rolemonkeys are developing the “group” version). In the process of coming up with my own spin on the city write-up, I realized I want to do it from the point-of-view of a character who knows the city well, and so I formed just such a character in my mind. Then, Fred Hicks released a draft of the supernatural stunts and powers chapter to the DFRPG Bleeders group, and I decided it was the perfect time to try it out by actually designing the character who is authoring my version of the Louisville overview.

It is liberating, interesting, challenging, and frustrating to be doing this pretty much on my own. I think overall I do better when my creativity unfolds in collaboration with others. But this is essentially the situation I’ve chosen for myself (although in a few weeks I think I’ll be collaborating with the TGMS crew on their Dresden playtesting) and for now, I’m sort of representing those few potential roleplayers who might buy the DFRPG and use it lone-wolf style, without a group. There probably won’t be a lot of those, but I imagine there will be a few, because I’d be that guy if I were in that situation. I’ve made characters for several of the rpgs I own but haven’t played, because for me, that’s the most effective way to find out what I like or don’t like about a game.

So, all that said, here’s my first TGTMB post about my experience as a Dresden Alpha Bleeder. Eventually, I’ll be sharing my “minority report” overview of Louisville here, along with other musings and comments on how things are going between the game and me. For now though, I introduce you to Ms. Sophie McBride, my first Dresden Files RPG character. I’m sure that those of you who are not in the Dresden playtest will note some intriguing and tasty new Fate-system concepts just from looking over the character write-up. Those folks over at Evil Hat are kicking ass and taking names with making an already great system even greater for the Dresdenverse.

And those of you who know anything about me will also notice that once again I've played right into my most infamous trope with this character. I admit that, but as I told David Moore last night, I sort of think that  Sophie has been in my head for years, waiting for the right setting to come along for her to be the character she is most thematically capable of being - and I'm convinced the the Dresdenverse is that setting.

Feel free to comment if you are so moved.

Sophie McBride: Changeling Information Broker

Sophie’s Vitals: 35-year-old (born February 2^nd) female, 5’10”, Auburn hair, blue eyes. Strikingly attractive due to her sidhe heritage, but also bearing a very visible and livid scar along the right side of her face. Probably played by Kate Beckinsale in the movie.

• High Concept: Changeling Information Broker
• Personal Struggle: Caught Between Two Worlds

Phase 1: Background

• Aspect: Scion of the Summer Sidhe

Sophie’s father is Grey Faolin, a sidhe knight in service to Queen Titania. He once had a romantic liaison with Sophie’s mother, a human artist named Maggie McBride, and out of their romance, Sophie was born. Shortly after Sophie’s birth, however, Faolin was forced into repaying a debt to a White Court vampire named Stannis Raith by effectively “giving” Maggie to Stannis, which resulted in Maggie’s eventual death due to Stannis draining too much of her energy. Upon Maggie’s death, Faolin found he felt remorse and rage over Maggie’s loss, and plotted to revenge himself upon Stannis. He sought a boon from Titania herself in order to gain the power to bring Stannis down. She publicly denied the boon, but secretly gave Faolin what he needed. The price for the boon, however, was Sophie. She would be raised as a human, but her life would be Titania’s, and one day at a time of the Queen’s choosing, Sophie would be marked as Titania’s pawn and thereafter live in the Summer Queen’s service. Meanwhile, Sophie grew through childhood and her early teens with the advantages of her sidhe blood, and her natural charisma, beauty, and talents made her a relatively famous rising teen pop-star in the late 1980s. Through all this, she had no idea of her true heritage. But that was about to change.

Phase 2: Rising Action

• Aspect: Pawn of the Summer Queen

On her 16^th birthday, after a concert appearance in Louisville (her mother’s hometown) Sophie visited a popular nightclub with some of her entourage, where she met a large and mysterious man with mesmerizing eyes and an exotic but mysterious smile. Eventually she decided to sneak out of the club with him, leaving her handlers behind. The two of them walked a couple of blocks to a nearby park, where the mysterious stranger suddenly turned to Sophie, declared that she is “now summoned to service by the Queen of Summer”, and then slashed the right side of Sophie’s face with an iron dagger, permanently marking her as a Pawn of the Summer Queen. Sophie reeled from the sudden attack but the man dropped his human guise and revealed himself to be fae before disappearing into the Nevernever, leaving only the sobbing, bleeding teenager and a steaming iron dagger behind.

Four years later, Sophie has been attending college in Louisville while coping with losing her career and fame due to the livid scar that now mars her face. She’s found that she has a knack for research, investigation, and information gathering, and has been pursuing a degree in Library Science. Since the night she was marked by the iron dagger, she has gradually become more aware of the truth and dangers of the supernatural world, and finds she has some odd natural talents for reading peoples’ emotions and seeing through pretenses and deceit. But at this point she is still unaware of her true heritage and has not been directly approached by the fae. Without her knowledge, though, Titania and members of her court have been subtly manipulating her life in a direction advantageous to their schemes. And once again, Sophie’s life is about to take another dramatic turn.

Phase 3: First Story – Pawn and Powerbroker

• Aspect: Information is Power

When sidhe-blooded librarian Sophie McBride is whisked away to the Chicago undercity to serve the Summer Queen on an information-gathering mission that is much more than it first seems, Sophie must contend with a strange new world, strange new powers, and a web of intrigue, loyalties, and double-crosses. Will she be able to learn the rules of the game and tap her inner-strength in order to survive the mission and secure a role in the court on her own terms?

Phase 4: Crossing Paths with Another Character

• Aspect: A Thorn in Raith’s Side

Sophie returns to Louisville with a fuller understanding of her heritage and ability, and also a strong desire to use her talents to thwart the ongoing schemes of House Raith (who are very powerful in Louisville) in honor of her dead mother. She gets her chance to do just that when she meets Theo Mendaharin, a worldwalker who has his own beef with the White Court. Together they form an alliance that manages to undermine an inter-house power play between Raith and Skavis, but also puts Sophie on the Raith’s radar as an enemy. Only the fact that Sophie is marked and claimed by Titania keeps the Raith leaders from outright vengeance. But they may yet have their chance, if Sophie ever lets her guard down.

Phase 5: Crossing Paths with a Second Character

• Aspect: TBD

I’m leaving this one open in the hopes of connecting with an actual character created by another Bleeder. Any takers, contact me and we’ll chat about it. Ideally, the Aspect that would come out of this would be one that supports Sophie’s desire to remain in the human world for the foreseeable future, although she’s not prepared yet to make The Choice, and she realizes eventually she’ll probably become fae. That’s certainly part of the character, but it hasn’t been aspected yet, so here’s where that makes sense. Ideas are welcome.

Noteworthy: I love the idea of eventually giving Sophie the Aspect “White Queen’s Pawn to d7” but that’s definitely something for the future. But it’s cool.

Skills:

• Superb: Empathy
• Great: Presence, Lore, Investigation
• Good: Performance, Alertness, Fists
• Fair: Discipline, Contacts, Rapport
• Average: Resources, Endurance, Scholarship

Permissions, Powers, & Stunts:

• Permission: Sidhe-Blooded Changeling -1
• Marked by Power (Summer Queen) -1
• The Sight -1
• Inhuman Toughness - 2
• Capable Researcher -1
• Occultist: Vampires (White Court) -1

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