Super fun one shot to play Dresden Files with. Loved it a lot. I wouldn't play this is your first DFRPG experience though.

All and all, a solid little adventure with a few twists and a overall enjoyable experience for the players I ran it for.

Dresden files should be about the player characters and their entanglements with the mortal and supernatural world. This scenario isn't. You've got a bunch of characters watching a bunch of powerful NPCs doing their thing. They might be able to get an idea of what's going on in advance, but none of the the pregenerated PCs has a real motivation (or even possibility) to really get involved or interfere. Generally, it makes no difference to the story if the PCs are there or not, they are basically just spear carriers and parts of the audience.

The basic idea is really nice, the setting with the theatre is really inspiring and a cool one. The pregenerated PCs fit into the genre and setting and we had fun playing around with them a bit, creating our own little conflicts, but weren't really involved in the story. Basically what happens is the PCs exploring the locale and the other characters for a while, and then - BAM! - an unexpected monster gets thrown at them.

The easiest workaround I could imagine would be having Prospero, Miranda et al as the actual player characters (which would result in a real one shot scenario, though). Otherwise the potential PCs need reworking and aspects that really draw them into conflicts with each other and the story.

The title, "Evil Acts," misleads a little. You expect some sort of game of treachery - then you discover that the term refers to the Acts of "The Tempest," the William Shakespeare play around which this scenario centres.

The game comes with partially-generated potential PCs, and some NPC characters essential to the game - Prospero, Miranda, Ariel, an evil entity called Sycorax, and so on. All actors playing the roles of the characters in the play. All wizards or supernatural entities that pass for human.

The story goes that Prospero, sensing that his magic and age have conspired to start tearing his soul apart, seeks to use the enactment of this play as a ritual to allow him to "break his staff" and abjure his rough magic once and for all, without killing him. However, asl always, things do not go as planned - so the player characters have to do something to make sure that they do.

After all, the play's the thing, wherein we'll catch the conscience of the King ...

A solid, yet light hearted, introduction to The Dresden Files RPG. In terms of ite presentation, the article looks solid and stylish, with the whole book looking like an occult investigator's case notes dossier, and nice, clean line art throughout.

Overall, a good way to start the game, if you want a pre-generated adventure to use as your first story for the game.

I love the Dresden file books so was curious about the game. This casefile was well written and easy to follow in general terms. The more open roleplaying system is interesting as well. I will be checking out the sourcebooks because of this casefile.