Thanks to all who have responded ! I'm thinking over your comments, and want to make a few responses to your questions, and report on my own current-thinking...
@Sanctaphrax -- I can replace some characters, sure. But a lot of that just comes with a City-Build: they'll hardly run into Murph, or the Alpha's, if the game is set in "San Francisco" or "California Wine Country" or whatever (I pick those as local-to-us). It's more the organizations and institutions where I want to twiddle the details... preserve the overall "feel" of the Dresdenverse, but have players (who are fans of the books) NOT automatically recognize and categorize every foe, every group.
When I began gaming -- Lo! those many years ago -- I read and re-read the AD&D MM cover-to-cover between the time I got my grubby little mitts on it, and the next time the group met to play. I recognized EVERY creature as soon as the GM described it, and for the next several game-sessions I could recite HP/AC/Damage, special attacks & special weaknesses, faster than the GM could turn to the page... The same happened when I met "Gamma World," etc. I know other gamers who are the same... and I have more than one of them in my group! Sure, having everyone know I was The Guy who could tell them if it was a pushover or a run-away was fun egoboo for my teen self... But actually, the most gaming fun seems to be had by "discovery" (always presuming you aren't caught-out by making stupid presumptions that, IC'ly, your PC wouldn't have made!) .
Anyone who's a "Wizard's Apprentice" (or has other alliance to the White Council), in stock D'verse, will be able to quickly check on the bona fides of any caster they meet. Players will assume any Council-governed wizard will adhere to the Laws of Magic and more or less follow approved standards of behavior. With many Council's, around the world ... ? Not so much. Etc Etc Etc for each of the significant power-players in the canon. Then there is the issue of varying player info: some players are fully up-to-date with the novels, all shorts, the graphic novels, etc. Some are still lagging by some years' of publication. Some have clearer recollection than others. Etc. So my differences will "level the playing field" for IC-vs-OOC info.
There is NO way in the stock Dresdenverse to get that genuine "learn about it by encountering it" feel. That sense of discovery is a wondrous thing!
I'll probably need to do some player-handout notes for each of my new power-groups & Famous Entity... maybe a 3x5 for "what everyone who's Clued-In knows about <X>" and a half-sheet or more for "closer acquaintance with <X>" ...
@Shaft (and others who followed up this point) -- YES to keeping the "Laws of Magic." They are an inherent part of the Dresden "feel," IMHO. I'm probably going to have some of the Wizard Councils keep one or another of the Laws a bit more lax than others keep them... Also, thanks for the tip RE "GURPS Voodoo!" GURPS books are usually top-notch resources for ANY gamer in ANY system, so that goes to the top of my Shortlist! Also, FWIW, I have (and plan to mine for setting-inspiration) the same author's "Witchcraft" (the standalone Unisystem rpg).
@Sanctaphrax/@Nepene/@etc RE travel -- Yes, they might go places where odd/foreign monsters exist. Also, the USA has enough "regional enclave" subcultures that MANY oddities may get imported (or grow locally); and don't forget that many monsters might be entirely capable of getting on board an airliner or a cargo-ship, too! They could show up in Middle America entirely without their traditional trappings... and where folks don't know their traditional weaknesses!!!
@ Nepene (and others) RE the power-level -- yeah, I'll start them on weak things; stuff that will terrorize a town filled with Muggles (no-Clue, 1-3 Refresh) will probably be not too much of a challenge to a coordinated team of semi-Clued 5ish-Refresh PCs. I expect to grow them FAST, too: likely a milestone every session or every other session. However (at y'all's suggestion) I'm revisiting the starting power-level. It's a fine line between "powerful enough to be interesting" but not "so powerful the characters should/would already know at least a little bit about most of the major players." Murphy, for example, went from wild-eyed-at-the-existence-of-the-supernatural in
Restoration of Faith to "Toe-to-Toe with a Supernatural Heavyweight" in
Changes; I'd like something closer to early-Murphy than early-Dresden, so the
PLAYERS get that full progression...
RE city-building and character-building in "ignorance" of the world -- These are some VERY valid points. I confess I hadn't actually gotten that far in my own planning
I'll take a stab at it. As always, comments welcome... encouraged... c'mon, don't make me beg...
- This will be standared DFRPG steps, I expect. Break out them 3x5's!
- Players will know up-front that it's using the DFRPG rule-set in an "inspired by the DF" setting, so they'll have a sense of the world, the scope of character, etc.
- Obvious major Powers -- faeries and other beings of the Nevernever, certain Old Gods, those touched by the Divine, etc, will clearly be A Thing (but WHICH specific Ones -- ahhh, there's the rub!).
- They will understand that they are just-barely-clued-in, and will learn more in-play.
- During the "Build" steps, the PC's 3x5 cards will be floating around.
- My own "what everybody knows" 3x5's will be doled out as part of that.
Anyone whose High Concept and/or Trouble justify special knowledge will be handed the specific 3x5 to study, and asked to hand that one 'round the group when done (cos EVERYBODY WITH A CLUE knows it, yo!)
THEN they will get the expanded info on a "For Your Eyes Only" basis, to keep and refer to later. - Anyone who gets an "expanded info" sheet will be welcome to engage with me secretly, or with the whole group if they prefer, to alter or expand that "expanded info" to make it better match their character or the campaign.
- At some point (probably near-ish the end), any of my "what everybody knows" 3x5's that got mentioned or touched-upon will get handed 'round, so ideas they had will have an instance in the game-world; the "expanded info" sheets obviously reserved for later.
- Other 3x5's & "expanded info" sheets I will set aside, and only introduce as-needed or if-needed.
So... Where are we at now?
Ahh, yes -- @Taran, I think, has seen the way I want to approach this: lots of Discovery, both as a trope in play and likely formalized in City Aspects (although I want to be open-minded about "City" -- might call it "Campaign" instead, so they aren't too bound to Urban or even Suburban games). The achievement of "Disovery" as not just a
character but a
player experience!
