Well it would take only a small houserule to allow an "Item of Quality" Stunt to be purchaseable, allowing Stunts or Skill bonuses for an item.

Since such items would be of very high quality and an obvious major benefit, this character's association with the other PCs could be used as justification for them buying the Item of Quality (Gun) stunt.

Perhaps, as an alternative, create a tree of Stunts along the lines of "Master Craftsman" built to allow for creation of a mundane version of Focus Items and Enchanted Items? Base the costs and rules in some way off of Thaumaturgy for how many slots of items he can have, and how to build more. A rifle made by your character, for example, could provide a +1 bonus for maneuvers or attacks from more than 2 zones from your target.

I'm running our first game this weekend, set in Boston. We've agreed that Boston is pretty much a White Council stronghold with several wizards in permanent residence. The White Council are weak but a new leader is ambitious and eager to increase his power. The Faerie Courts are locked in a stalemate, each one making grand displays of power in their own time of year so as not to appear weak, but neither able to commit the resources to alter the balance of power (Winter nominally rules, having control for a longer period than Summer) and the Ladies like to make appearances at college parties.

There is a hidden scourge of Black Court vampires which has been slumbering for some time, and as of yet, the Red Court hasn't managed to make any inroads to Boston.

My main players are a Knight of the Cross, a White Council wizard specialising in lore and crafting, a True Believer civilian administrator for the Cathedral of the Holy Cross who is an agent of the Ordo Malleus (she and a priest working in the Cathedral act as assistants and researchers/investigaors for the Knights of the Cross when they come to Massachusetts), and an undecided Emissary of Power.

At the moment, my plans for my first scenario are that one of Boston's wizards (who, if found out, will claim he received information from a trusted source that there are traitors within the White Council, even the Senior Council) who has made deals with local mafia and several fae, to have a list of people killed. These people will include my Wizard PC's younger sibling, the Ordo Malleus' PC's supervising priest, and other wizards, including a young, teenaged apprentice.

I'm hoping this will play on my group's knowledge of the books and the Black Council, making them suspect that the villain might be teling the truth, but making them choose between loyalty to those they care about and the possibility of a traitor in the White Council. If some of the killings are successful, it'll help me further one of my Threat Aspects for Boston: The Coming Storm, since I want Boston to start off fairly safe and peaceful, but become more under threat as the campaign continues.

I'm just worried this is all a little too big for new PCs to handle, or at least, too major an even to start off a campaign.

Any opinions? Should I go ahead, or just do a simple "solve the murder, stop the ritual, defeat the bad guy" plot to start off?

Cool, thanks. I wasn't sure where the rules stood on the way the Knights tend to conveniently show up where they're needed.

Awesome!

We've got a whole weekend set aside for our first game coming up this Saturday.

My game's going to be set in Boston. I'd love to see anything you've got.

I live in Ireland, but while I know I could do a lot with that (a veritable battleground for Winter and Summer, not to mention Bram Stoker was from Dublin) I've decided to set my campaign in Boston. I like the Old World vs New World themes from games set in America.

At the moment I've decided that Harvard used to be a White Council stronghold until the local Warden commander was killed by the Red Court. The Cathederal of the Holy Cross operates as an East Coast HQ for the Knights of the Cross, and there's a coven of Focused Practitioners based in Salem, who used to be watched closely by the Wardens, but now that the White Council's power in Boston has been weakened they're more free to get into trouble.

I'm thinking about Boston being, up to now, relatively pleasant compared to Chicago or Baltimore in the Dresdenverse. Lots of secrets and themes of the corruption of forbidden knowledge, and the idea of it being more a good place coming under growing threat, that needs to be protected, rather than a fallen city in need of saving.