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The Dresden Files => DF Spoilers => Topic started by: dspringer1 on September 06, 2017, 05:41:01 PM
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Ok You are Harry Dresden and you are going to spend 200K on a brand new house for yourself. You picked a prime location that is at the convergence of three helpful ley lines, away from innocent bystanders most times, in a part of Chicago that is easily accessible and covers a half acre lot (so plenty of room, but not ridiculous like the Marcone or White court mansions). There is already a long occupied house on the lot that can be heavily remodeled, but still retain "most" of the threshold benefit that the house had accumulated. (ie - location is nearly perfect).
What are the key elements of the design? Assume you are Dresden's architect and are designing him the right house.
Obvious Bits
1) The house will be built of thick stone or similar sturdy material that is not flammable.
2) Doors will be heavily reinforced security type doors - although not obviously so
3) Good wood burning stoves provide central heat and/or the basics of a stove/oven in the kitchen
4) Good spacious underground basement for the laboratory
5) The lot will be surrounded by a 5' tall brick or stone wall that will (slightly) slow down attackers, keep out ghosts, and give some degree of privacy so neighbors are not easily annoyed by the zombies attacking
6) the place will look like a residence, not a fortress.
7) multiple guest rooms
8) Big freezer to hold the pizza
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All of the above, but 200 K will only buy him a modest house at best these days..
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Ok You are Harry Dresden and you are going to spend 200K on a brand new house for yourself. You picked a prime location that is at the convergence of three helpful ley lines, away from innocent bystanders most times, in a part of Chicago that is easily accessible and covers a half acre lot (so plenty of room, but not ridiculous like the Marcone or White court mansions). There is already a long occupied house on the lot that can be heavily remodeled, but still retain "most" of the threshold benefit that the house had accumulated. (ie - location is nearly perfect).
What are the key elements of the design? Assume you are Dresden's architect and are designing him the right house.
Obvious Bits
1) The house will be built of thick stone or similar sturdy material that is not flammable.
2) Doors will be heavily reinforced security type doors - although not obviously so
3) Good wood burning stoves provide central heat and/or the basics of a stove/oven in the kitchen
4) Good spacious underground basement for the laboratory
5) The lot will be surrounded by a 5' tall brick or stone wall that will (slightly) slow down attackers, keep out ghosts, and give some degree of privacy so neighbors are not easily annoyed by the zombies attacking
6) the place will look like a residence, not a fortress.
7) multiple guest rooms
8) Big freezer to hold the pizza
His 200K is gone the moment he files his taxes, so I'm going to assume a reasonable, middle-class-budget accommodations based on the sale of an existing house.
1. Base the overall design of the house and its feng shui on Mac's place so that maybe, just maybe, Dresden can keep a water heater and working lights.
2. That wall around the house should be a circle, for obvious reasons.
3. A sprinkler system that is hooked up to a tank of holy water (for Black Court vampires).
4. A garage, hopefully, so that he can stick the Beetle somewhere aside from on the street, where it seems to get messed up frequently.
5. This probably goes without saying, but a big swing set, with monkey bars, one of those wooden fort things, and all of the assorted equipment for Maggie.
6. Mouse-sized doggy doors.
7. Bunk beds.
8. This wouldn't necessarily cost money, but Dresden should spend some time scrolling the walls with the right runes so that Bonnie can effectively use the house as her skull. Instant Smart House, literally.
9. A really, really, really, really good fire suppression system.
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My assumption is that he already has the lot. So the 200K is just his budget to build his dream house. That goes a lot farther, but you are right it is not going to be some luxury mansion.
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After his disdain for Rudolph's home, I don't see Harry as the home-owner.
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This is Harry. He's going to take that $200K and blow it all on magical components or parts for a miniature Chicago, or on Star Wars memerobilia. Then he's going to find some poor unsuspecting saps that are renting out a basement apartment and fill it with as much secondhand furniture as he can get. Because protection be damned, he's not going to live somewhere unless it feels like home.
His 200K is gone the moment he files his taxes, so I'm going to assume a reasonable, middle-class-budget accommodations based on the sale of an existing house.
The man hasn't had a drop of reported income since his office exploded, and he's got dozens of teeny tiny pizza-devouring dependents. What taxes?
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This is Harry. He's going to take that $200K and blow it all on magical components or parts for a miniature Chicago, or on Star Wars memerobilia. Then he's going to find some poor unsuspecting saps that are renting out a basement apartment and fill it with as much secondhand furniture as he can get. Because protection be damned, he's not going to live somewhere unless it feels like home.
The man hasn't had a drop of reported income since his office exploded, and he's got dozens of teeny tiny pizza-devouring dependents. What taxes?
Yeah, he has proven that he needs little to be comfortable, give him plenty of paperbacks for reading, a place furnished in early Salvation Army accented with Good Will and modern yard sale and he is happy.... However he will not spare expense on a decent lab for himself... Remember when he did get a little wind fall from becoming a Warden the first thing he did was upgrade his summoning circle.. I also hope he gets a bed that fits his six foot nine frame... Like the hot water issue, having a son almost that tall I've wondered how he could be comfortable in a twin bed...
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A room for Maggie, equipped with a more permanent version of the Faraday Cage runs like he did on his hidey-hole in "Turn Coat" so that Maggie can have electronics in her room. That's until her own powers start to manifest.
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Okay, I didn't read the thread, but ...
Harry needs a basement lab. I realize that Chicago is a swamp, but he still needs to be underground for much of his experimentation, and that of (eventually) Maggie's.
Also, the location needs to be on a bus line. Just saying.
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I think he'll just sub-lease Molly's place. As Winter Lady, she's not going to be there much... it has a 2nd room for Maggie, all he'll still need is a lab.
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I think he'll just sub-lease Molly's place. As Winter Lady, she's not going to be there much... it has a 2nd room for Maggie, all he'll still need is a lab.
I was thinking the same thing, though that may be a bit too close to Michael for Harry's comfort.
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I was thinking the same thing, though that may be a bit too close to Michael for Harry's comfort.
? not sure why that would be an issue?
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Okay, I didn't read the thread, but ...
Harry needs a basement lab. I realize that Chicago is a swamp, but he still needs to be underground for much of his experimentation, and that of (eventually) Maggie's.
Also, the location needs to be on a bus line. Just saying.
The lab doesn't need to be in a basement.. But he does need a lab that can be secured.
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The lab doesn't need to be in a basement.. But he does need a lab that can be secured.
No, it doesn't, but if it is, it is safer. All that earth surrounding you is a great insulator.
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I think he'll just sub-lease Molly's place. As Winter Lady, she's not going to be there much... it has a 2nd room for Maggie, all he'll still need is a lab.
I thought that there was a recent WOJ in which it was pretty much explicitly stated that at the time of PT, Harry will be living in Molly's apartment, who won't be there most of the time. I'd have to look around, but I thought it was earlier this year.
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Harry would be uncomfortable staying at Molly's house for too long for many reasons, not the least of which is that would be a favor owed to the Winter Lady.
He would also buy a real home as he has Maggie. Parenthood changes parents - at least those who want to be good parents.
I visited this mansion in NC that this really cool setup for AC that involved no electronics at all. Open a few strategic windows, and cool air flowed from subbasement. Open different windows and warm air flowed from the furnace throughout the house. All done with air pressure. Perfect for a wizard's house.
I would argue that lighting is a concern as well. Some nice bared skylights would give good light in a largish house during the day. But at night you are pretty much stuck with candles or oil lamps unless he goes the magic route or buys a few warehouses of glow sticks. But it is possible some obscure places has chemical lighting he can use -- although it would take someone like Butters to identify that something like that even existed.
I like the idea of holy water dispensers, but a full sprinkler system could too likely be triggered by a battle and handicap him. But I can see 'safety equipment" to be stashed in every room and some kind of emergency UV lighting system that may - or may not - work.
Of course Harry will equip the house with a top notch circle as that is so useful for so many types of magic.
A well equipped medical/hospital room with the ability to triage most gunshot/blade/claw wounds would allow harry to treat his normal combat damage without going to the hospital.
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Big thumbs up to this thread. ;)
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8. This wouldn't necessarily cost money, but Dresden should spend some time scrolling the walls with the right runes so that Bonnie can effectively use the house as her skull. Instant Smart House, literally.
Yes! I love it. Don't see it happening but I love it lol. Harry needs at least a couple means of secret egress in the event of being under siege both mundane and magical you know pull a book on a bookshelf and it swings out uncovering a underground tunnel. Even better if in addition to a portal somewhere in the house the escape tunnel has both an exit far enough away to not be seen from the house and outside a reasonable siege area and a separate portal hidden in it. Of course if I were Harry I would have several tunnels complete with mundane and magical traps. Wouldn't stop someone from tracking him by scent to discover what tunnel but would hinder a lot coming after him. Of course that's after they battle through his defenses at the perimeter of his land and before or after the defenses of his house depending on if he wants to attempt to fight or wait them out or flee before hand. Much like a castle with a moat as its first line of defense Harry would have a warded wall and wards and other magical traps keyed to not trigger from select people ie him, daughter, Mouse, etc. Then the warded walls and whatever threshold he can get out of his house which might be more if he has his daughter living with him are like the walls of the castle. Go one step further and have wards on his floors inside to trap/hinder the already weakened creatures that bash through his threshold. Then of course he needs variants to protect him from vanilla humans. Oh and might as well throw a panic room or two in here. This is in addition to the lists that others came up with.
I play D&D so I tend to try to think over prepared. Played a rogue once that had a longsword, 7 daggers, 2 sets of lockpicking tools, bow and arrows, throwing darts, blowgun, several various magical grenade type things and a couple other specific items that I can't think of right now. 1 dagger was hidden in the sole of his boot you know spy style and one set of lockpicking tools was hidden in the other sole. 1 dagger at his side, 1 inside of each boot (bootknife) 1 up each sleeve and one at his lower back. Basically he had his main weapon the sword and several backups to hopefully not get found if searched lol. Think the DM said that it would take 10-15 minutes to fully dearm myself. So yea Harry needs to design his home like I made that rogue. Try to prepare for anything. Oh and if any of you that played are thinking about the weight for one I had a slightly high strength score for a rogue as well as the backpack version of the bag of holding, the whatever the belt of holding is called. I was rich...rogue duh I...acquired valuables.
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I'd be a bit concerned with the concept of my entire house being a sanctum for SOIs. think about how much Bob would have been able to bug Harry if he could have just followed him around the apartment begging to be let out.
I'm not saying that's what Bonnie would do, but ....
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The spirit can reside in any house, so long as he is protected by a threshold during the day. Same deal with Ghost Dresden surviving the day in the grave. Many examples of Bob moving around the house when given permission to leave the skull.
The skull is something very different.
1) It provides control over the spirit
2) It gives the spirit some mobility during the day -- ie carry the skull
3) It provides a private residence for the spirit.
Making the home "the new skull" achieves none of these in any useful way. You cannot make the house a control object or the loyalty of the spirit will change every time somebody knocks on the door. The house cannot move, so the spirit cannot be moved during the day. And having access to the house is a trivial improvement on the accommodations Bob already has within the skull. It achieves nothing beyond exposing Bob (Or bonnie) to risk. I suspect it is also really hard to do.
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AND not privacy. LOL
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Yes! I love it. Don't see it happening but I love it lol. Harry needs at least a couple means of secret egress in the event of being under siege both mundane and magical you know pull a book on a bookshelf and it swings out uncovering a underground tunnel. Even better if in addition to a portal somewhere in the house the escape tunnel has both an exit far enough away to not be seen from the house and outside a reasonable siege area and a separate portal hidden in it. Of course if I were Harry I would have several tunnels complete with mundane and magical traps. Wouldn't stop someone from tracking him by scent to discover what tunnel but would hinder a lot coming after him. Of course that's after they battle through his defenses at the perimeter of his land and before or after the defenses of his house depending on if he wants to attempt to fight or wait them out or flee before hand. Much like a castle with a moat as its first line of defense Harry would have a warded wall and wards and other magical traps keyed to not trigger from select people ie him, daughter, Mouse, etc. Then the warded walls and whatever threshold he can get out of his house which might be more if he has his daughter living with him are like the walls of the castle. Go one step further and have wards on his floors inside to trap/hinder the already weakened creatures that bash through his threshold. Then of course he needs variants to protect him from vanilla humans. Oh and might as well throw a panic room or two in here. This is in addition to the lists that others came up with.
if he was going to go to this extreme, he'd be better off building it on the island... Otherwise, he's going to need something a bit smaller and less remote to still be in Chicagoland...
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If Harry gets to use some of the money that will come from the diamonds he got in Skin Game, I could see Harry buying out several properties in a cul-de-sac so he could avoid collateral damage to neighbors should his new domicile ever get attacked. Wherever Harry decides to move to I bet avoiding collateral damage will be a concern.
One thing I think could be added to the list of items Harry would want for his new home. The back yard, not the interior. A brick fired pizza oven.
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I like the cul de sac idea. Will and Georgia could live on one side and butters and his lady on the other.
I think somehow he is going to end up close to the carpenters. There is no safer bolt hole from the supernatural
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Maybe he'll take the house that Molly bought, just down the street from Michaels house...
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I like the cul de sac idea. Will and Georgia could live on one side and butters and his lady on the other.
I think somehow he is going to end up close to the carpenters. There is no safer bolt hole from the supernatural
I like that thought. And they remove all the fences in the back yards to give Mouse (and the Alphas) room to run.
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hmm.... well the Lighthouse is made of the glyphed stones which hold amazing power. would just rebuild and add a practice field outside to add some feng shui (sp?). I mean the island has a built in summoning circle better than anything he could afford to build. most would be cosmetic adjustments and at least a nice workshop/ lab.