New Orleans Help

[LepRecon]

Hi guys

Ok so I am about to start my second game at our local rpg club. I have given over total control this time and they have voted as a group on the city.  Its looking New Orleans will be our city location.  Now surprisingly no one in the group including me have been there or know much about the location apart from TV and News.  We are UK based group.

So what I am looking for is any locations/history/information that maybe important in creating the city/region.  

Cheers in advance

LepRecon

[devonapple]

This is no substitute for a local's advice, but I found these links which may be helpful:
http://goneworleans.about.com/od/famouslandmarks/Landmarks_in_New_Orleans_New_Orleans_Famous_Landmarks.htm
http://goneworleans.about.com/od/famouslandmarks/tp/landmarkattract.htm

Neighborhoods and other info:
http://www.neworleansonline.com/tools/neighborhoodguide/

[Tedronai]

it's a Dresden Files game
if it's not in the wikipedia article, fudge it

[bobjob]

If you can find them, I suggest guide books on the area. I lived about 5 hours from New Orleans for years and I've been several times. The area is just chock full of history.

[Saedar]

Big thing about the area is that it is all below or right at sea-level. Cemeteries are almost all above ground. They are also big and can be dangerous.

The other suggestions are great, too.

[Katarn]

*French CULTURE/Louisana
*Mardi Gras
*Hurricane damage (constantly rebuilt)


when in doubt, wikipedia it.

[jeno]

Depends on why your group picked the location. Did they want to focus on voodoo, or the Mardi Gras season, or the French Quarter? Find out why they want New Orleans as a location and build on that.

[Shecky]

I used to live in south Louisiana, and my best friend lived in the Garden District in Nawlins. Been a long, long time since then, but if you have any questions, I'll try to answer.

[DFJunkie]

Interesting fact about the cemeteries: the above-ground mausoleums are essentially slow-burn bi-level crematoria that are generally owned by families.  The temperatures in there can exceed 200 degrees (Fahrenheit, that’s what, fifteen or sixteen degrees Celsius?) which causes the body of the occupant to disintegrate rapidly. 

The inside is made up of two compartments, the upper compartment is where the most recent cadaver is placed extends most of the way to the far wall, and below that is a larger compartment where the mostly disintegrated remains of the previous occupants are kept.  When a new person is added to the mausoleum the remains of the previous occupant are pushed towards the back and fall down into the lower compartment. 

Truly old mausoleums could have dozens, possibly even hundreds of concentrated remains in them.

Oh, and the best drinks are on Decatur street, at least the best ones I found.

[bitterpill]

The temperatures in there can exceed 200 degrees (Fahrenheit, that’s what, fifteen or sixteen degrees Celsius?) which causes the body of the occupant to disintegrate rapidly. 

200 Fahrenheit is 93 degrees Celcius, about the temperature of a slow cooker which is kind of morbid.

[Shecky]

You mean "home of the tourist traps and t-shirts" Decatur Street? Best thing you'll find there is the guy who'll bet you five bucks he can tell you where you got your shoes.

My favorite, though, for straight-up drinkin' will always be the Tropical Isle. Back then, you'd get a 16-oz plastic "collectible" tumbler full of Hand Grenade. Still don't want to know exactly what was in it, but I do know it 1) had grain alcohol, 2) was sweet and 3) had this truly horrible, Hollywood-nuclear-waste green color. It's $8 now, but back then, it was $4. I could walk in there, get enough booze to get seriously wobbly in the knees and STAY that way, tip the bartender 25% and STILL walk out down only $10.

I spent $30 there one time. I have no idea how I survived, much less retained any brain cells.

[DFJunkie]

Gotta challenge you on this one Shecky.  I got a 12 oz plastic cup of Embalming Fluid from a little bar on Decatur (it had maybe three tables, two booths, and room for about four people at the bar) for $5.  Embalming fluid is about 35% light rum, 35% dark rum, 25% blue curacao, 4% sour mix, and a dash of orange juice for color.  It tastes kind of like a pixy stick and hits like a mallet.

Also, the entire French Quarter is infested with t-shirt stores, all of which sell the same goddamn merchandise. 

[Shecky]

Gotta challenge you on this one Shecky.  I got a 12 oz plastic cup of Embalming Fluid from a little bar on Decatur (it had maybe three tables, two booths, and room for about four people at the bar) for $5.  Embalming fluid is about 35% light rum, 35% dark rum, 25% blue curacao, 4% sour mix, and a dash of orange juice for color.  It tastes kind of like a pixy stick and hits like a mallet.

I find this description intriguing and wish to subscribe to your newsletter. Hand Grenades tasted pretty much just like they looked - ugly but to the freaking point.

Also, the entire French Quarter is infested with t-shirt stores, all of which sell the same goddamn merchandise. 

Yes, but Decatur is the t-shirt vord queen nest. You can avoid them out in the wilds of the rest of the Quarter. All I know is that the natives wouldn't even go near Decatur except to cross it for something like Café du Monde or some mixed-customer-target (i.e., native + visitor) like Cafe Maspero (personally, I always preferred Cafe Pontalba for their roast beef po boys, but I'd definitely eat one from Maspero).

[DFJunkie]

Most of the streets get less and less crappy as you travel from Canal to Esplanade, with a bit of an uptick right as you're about to leave the Quarter. 

It's funny how much of our conversation is centering around a few dozen square blocks where a tiny percentage of the city's actual residents visit, much less live.  The touristy areas of NOLA are relatively safe, so it isn't like supernatural baddies are going to be stalking their alleys with anything like regularity, they'll be in the poorer, completely ignored areas where a few exsanguinated bodies won't even be noticed among the very nasty background "noise."  If you run into a vampire in the French Quarter he's probably reminiscing about the time he ate someone on that particular balcony back in 1836.

[Shecky]

Anne Rice hit on something with placing a fair amount of stuff in the Garden District; it's an old-money, genteel-but-run-down area. Perfect for weird stuff that's out of sight.

On the tangent, if you want the best po boys in the world, you gotta leave Nawlins and head to Lafayette, here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Lafayette,+218+West+Saint+Mary+Boulevard,+LA+70506&aq=0&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=24.236729,39.550781&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=218+W+St+Mary+Blvd,+Lafayette,+Louisiana+70506&ll=30.215558,-92.023244&spn=0.006434,0.017831&z=16&layer=c&cbll=30.215647,-92.023351&panoid=RwAThvUQZiZBqNSw0Qrf4A&cbp=12,86.9,,0,0.34