Alright, I've been thinking about what I'm going to do for my campaign.
First, and foremost, I've been trying to convince my friends to join in, because not everyone is sold on the idea of a Dresden Files game, which is insane because I think it's a fantastic idea.
What do your friends like to play? Assuming that they're gamers to begin with, of course. If they're a pack of loyal D&D-ers (or Star Wars nuts), you might have a bit of a challenge, less so if they're White Wolf fans. It might help us give better advice if you could establish which players are for the idea and which are against, and why each individual feels so.
Second, I've been trying to go over the system as best I can to familiarize my self with it. Does Spirit of the Century use the same core rules as Dresden will? Or, is something different?
Same system. Support the Evil Hat and shell out for a copy of the rules, if your budget will allow...
Okay, now onto the actual campaign. Comments will be greatly appreciated here.
It's going to begin in California somewhere, possibly a small town, but leading to San Francisco, and of course Alcatraz. There's a power struggle happening on the streets, (a supernatural power struggle) between three gangs. El Toros, Circle of the Serpent, and the San Fran Brand.
Each of the different groups have different things they want to do.
I might suggest that you describe each organization's broad goals. No need to give away too many secrets, in case your players are also members of this board. But you could share what the raw recruits from the three groups
think their respective groups want, since any group of PCs worth their character sheets will probably at least ask that question.
Now, here's where I'm running into problems. I would like for San Fran Brand to consist of nothing but Changelings, but would Changelings work together for something like that?
Changelings are not bound to Courts as tightly as full-fledged Fae are. I suggest that their members who make their Choices (in
either direction) might remain useful allies to the gang, but that remains up to you. They might have "Winter" and "Summer" alignments, but they might make a point of not taking it too seriously... since doing so means sacrificing the freedom of choice they get from their mortal parent.
Next, El Toros, I would like to be some sort of shape shifting Bull monsters, do we know if anything like that is going to exist in the world?
Given that Fool Moon establishes that there are several different types of werewolves, and given that world mythology includes shapeshifters of virtually every type of animal, I toss in my vote for "go ahead and do it if you think it would be cool". Even if (heaven forbid) the books eventually exclude such creatures from canon mythology, there's nothing that says they couldn't be something else, using the shape-shifting Bull form as some kind of smoke screen to keep their enemies from figuring out what their real weakness(es) might be.
And third, Circle of the Serpent is basically a group of really strong Wizards. Definitely White Council material, but not Senior Council, and their main goal is to try and open the Gates, and unleash the Old Ones. Now, when it comes to something like this, would Ramirez make an appearence because of something this large scale, and California is his territory... And if so, is someone like a Ramirez going to have a stat block premade for him, or will I have to make the stats for him and his trainees?
Briefly, this kind of thing would be Ramirez' business as Regional Commander of the Wardens by definition, since it clearly violates the Seventh Law of Magic. As far as his stat block goes, you've given yourself a valuable "cheat" in the structure of your campaign: Ramirez might not even get directly involved (to the point that stats are necessary) for quite a few game sessions. You could invoke "Gamemaster fiat" and adjust a few events so that he doesn't need to get involved until the main book is published.
In slightly more detail, how would you arrange the 'magical street gang' structure so that they don't attract the Wardens' attention while still working to achieve the Circle's goals? What kind of kids would they recruit for gang-activities? Just how sharply do they draw the line between the expendable street troops and the ones trying to open the Gates? On the one hand, the Wardens are supposed to monitor and investigate any magical aftershocks accompanying violations of the Laws of Magic, and even a passive search for 'spooky books' might be enough to trigger their interest.
On the other, the Wardens are still stretched pretty thin, given the war with the Red Court. Certain levels of obviously-magical mayhem might have to be ignored, because they just can't spare the boots on the ground to investigate anything that isn't an obvious violation of the Laws.
Going a step further, though, the Circle might take a draconian "use magic sparingly, leave no witnesses" policy, since the Red Court themselves might investigate magical activity for their own reasons...
Excellent idea for a campaign! Please keep us posted!